Methods, apparatus and device for channel state information measurement in communications

Abstract

Disclosed is a method comprising, based on availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in an apparatus, multiplexing uplink control information, UCI, to allocated HARQ-ACK uplink shared channel resources to indicate, to a device, the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus.

Description

[0001] CHANNEL STATE INFORMATION MEASUREMENT IN COMMUNICATIONS

[0002] FIELD

[0003] The following example embodiments relate to wireless communication.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Channel state information reference signal (CS1-RS) measurement and CS1 reporting may be configured to be performed before or after reception of a layer-l / layer-2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility cell switch command (LTM CSC) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or layer-3 (L3) mobility handover command.

[0006] SUMMARY

[0007] The scope of protection sought for various example embodiments is set out by the claims. The example embodiments and features, if any, described in this specification that do not fall under the scope of the claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments.

[0008] According to a first aspect, there is provided a method comprising: based on availability of channel state information, CS1, measurements in an apparatus, multiplexing, by the apparatus, uplink control information, UC1, to allocated uplink shared channel HARQ-ACK resources to indicate, to a device, the availability of the CS1 measurements in the apparatus.

[0009] According to a second aspect, there is provided a method comprising: receiving, by a device from an apparatus, an indication on availability of channel state information, CS1, measurements in the apparatus, wherein uplink control information, UC1, multiplexed to allocated uplink shared channel resources indicates the availability of the CS1 measurements in the apparatus.

[0010] According to a third aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for causing the apparatus to perform at least the method of any of the first to second aspects.

[0011] According to a fourth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of any of the first to second aspects.According to a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of any of the first to second aspects.

[0012] According to a sixth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of any of the first to second aspects.

[0013] According to a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, perform the method of any of the first to second aspects.

[0014] According to an eighth aspect, there is provided a system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform at least the method of any of the first to second aspects.

[0015] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] In the following, various example embodiments will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

[0017] FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a wireless communication network;

[0018] FIG. IB illustrates an example of a system;

[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates channel state information, CS1, acquisition;

[0020] FIG. 3 illustrates resource mapping;

[0021] FIG.4 illustrates a signal flow diagram;

[0022] FIG. 5 illustrates a signal flow diagram;

[0023] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart;

[0024] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart;

[0025] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an apparatus; and

[0026] FIG.9 illustrates an example of an apparatus.

[0027] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The following embodiments are exemplifying. Although the specification may refer to “an”, “one”, or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations of the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same embodiment(s), or that a particular feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments within the scope ofthe claims. Furthermore, the words "comprising" and "including" should be understood as not limiting the described embodiments to consist of only those features that have been mentioned, and such embodiments may also contain features that have not been specifically mentioned. Reference numbers, in the description and / or in the claims, serve to illustrate the embodiments with reference to the drawings, without limiting the embodiments to these examples only.

[0029] Further, it should be appreciated that, as used herein, the terms “the at least one” and “the one or more” mean “any one of the at least one” and “any one of the one or more”, respectively. Furthermore, as used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0030] Some example embodiments described herein may be implemented in a wireless communication network comprising a radio access network based on one or more of the following radio access technologies (RATs): global system for mobile communications (GSM) or any other second generation (2G) radio access technology, universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS, 3G) based on basic wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA), long term evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), 5G new radio (NR), 5G-Advanced (i.e., 3GPP NR Rel-18 and beyond), sixth generation (6G), or seventh generation (7G). Some examples of radio access networks include the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN), the evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRA), or the next generation radio access network (NG-RAN). The wireless communication network may further comprise a core network, and some example embodiments may also be applied to network functions of the core network.

[0031] It should be noted that the embodiments are not restricted to the wireless communication network given as an example, but a person skilled in the art may also apply the solution to other wireless communication networks or systems provided with necessary properties. For example, some example embodiments may also be applied to a communication system based on IEEE 802.11 specifications, or a communication system based on IEEE 802.15 specifications. IEEE is an abbreviation for the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers.

[0032] FIG. 1A depicts an example of a simplified wireless communication network showing some physical and logical entities. The connections shown in FIG. 1 may be physical connections or logical connections. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the wireless communication network may also comprise other physical and logical entities than those shown in FIG. 1A.

[0033] The example embodiments described herein are not, however, restricted to the wireless communication network given as an example but a person skilled in the art may apply the example embodiments described herein to other wireless communication networks provided with necessary properties.

[0034] The example wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1A includes a radio access network (RAN) and a core network 110.

[0035] FIG. 1A shows user equipment (UE) 100, 102 configured to be in a wireless connection on one or more communication channels in a radio cell with an access node 104 of a radio access network.

[0036] The access node 104 may comprise a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the access node 104 and to be in a wireless connection with one or more UEs 100, 102. The access node 104 may also be referred to as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS), an access point, a cell site, a network node, a radio access network node, a RAN node, or a network device.

[0037] The access node 104 may be, for example, an evolved NodeB (abbreviated as eNB or eNodeB), or a next generation evolved NodeB (abbreviated as ng-eNB), or a next generation NodeB (abbreviated as gNB or gNodeB), providing the radio cell. The access node 104 may include or be coupled to transceivers. From the transceivers of the access node 104, a connection may be provided to an antenna unit that establishes a bi-directional radio link to one or more UEs 100, 102. The antenna unit may comprise an antenna or antenna element, or a plurality of antennas or antenna elements.

[0038] The wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from a UE 100, 102 to the access node 104 may be called uplink (UL) or reverse link, and the wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from the access node 104 to the UE 100, 102 may be called downlink (DL) or forward link. A UE 100 may also communicate directly with another UE 102, and vice versa, via a wireless connection generally referred to as a sidelink (SL). It should be appreciated that the access node 104 or its functionalities may be implemented byusing any node, host, server, access point or other entity suitable for providing such functionalities.

[0039] The radio access network may comprise more than one access node 104, in which case the access nodes may also be configured to communicate with one another over wired or wireless links. These links between access nodes may be used for sending and / or receiving control plane signaling and also for routing data from one access node to another access node.

[0040] The access node 104 may further be connected to a core network (CN) 110. The core network 110 may comprise an evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or a 5thgeneration core network (5GC). The EPC may comprise network entities, such as a serving gateway (S-GW for routing and forwarding data packets), a packet data network gateway (P-GW) for providing connectivity of UEs to external packet data networks, and / or a mobility management entity (MME). The 5GC may comprise one or more network functions, such as at least one of: a user plane function (UPF), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a location management function (LMF), and / or a session management function (SMF).

[0041] The core network 110 may also be able to communicate with one or more external networks 113, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet, or utilize services provided by them. For example, in 5G wireless communication networks, the UPF of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network via an N6 interface. In LTE wireless communication networks, the P-GW of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network.

[0042] It should also be understood that the distribution of functions between core network operations and access node operations may differ in future wireless communication networks (such as 6G and beyond) compared to that of the LTE or 5G, or even be non-existent.

[0043] The illustrated UE 100, 102 is one type of an apparatus to which resources on the air interface may be allocated and assigned. The UE 100, 102 may also be called a wireless communication device, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, or a user device, just to mention but a few names. The UE 100, 102 may be a computing device operating with or without a subscriber identification module (SIM), including, but not limited to, the followingtypes of computing devices: a mobile phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handset, a computing device comprising a wireless modem (e.g., an alarm or measurement device, etc.), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet, a game console, a notebook, a multimedia device, a reduced capability (RedCap) device, a wearable device (e.g., a watch, earphones or eyeglasses) with radio parts, a household appliance with radio parts, a sensor comprising a wireless modem, or a computing device comprising a wireless modem integrated in a vehicle or in a house.

[0044] It should be appreciated that the UE 100, 102 may also be a nearly exclusive uplink-only device, of which an example may be a camera or video camera loading images or video clips to a network. The UE 100, 102 may also be a device having capability to operate in an Internet of Things (loT) network, which is a scenario in which objects may be provided with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

[0045] The wireless communication network may also be able to support the usage of cloud services. For example, at least part of core network operations may be carried out as a cloud service (this is depicted in FIG. 1A by “cloud” 114). The UE 100, 102 may also utilize the cloud 114. In some applications, the computation for a given UE may be carried out in the cloud 114 or in another UE.

[0046] The wireless communication network may also comprise a central control entity, such as a network management system (NMS), or the like. The NMS is a centralized suite of software and hardware used to monitor, control, and administer the network infrastructure. The NMS is responsible for a wide range of tasks such as fault management, configuration management, security management, performance management, and accounting management. The NMS enables network operators to efficiently manage and optimize network resources, ensuring that the network delivers high performance, reliability, and security.

[0047] 5G enables using multiple-input and multiple-output (M1M0) antennas in the access node 104 and / or the UE 100, 102, many more base stations or access nodes than an LTE network (a so-called small cell concept), including macro sites operating in co-operation with smaller stations and employing a variety of radio technologies depending on service needs, use cases and / or spectrum available. 5G wireless communication networks may support a wide range of use cases and related applications including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of datasharing and various forms of machine-type applications, such as (massive) machinetype communications (mMTC), including vehicular safety, different sensors and realtime control.

[0048] In 5G wireless communication networks, access nodes and / or UEs may have multiple radio interfaces, such as below 6 gigahertz (GHz), centimeter wave (cmWave) and millimeter wave (mmWave), and also being integrable with legacy radio access technologies, such as LTE. Integration with LTE may be implemented, for example, as a system, where macro coverage may be provided by LTE, and 5G radio interface access may come from small cells by aggregation to LTE. In other words, a 5G wireless communication network may support both inter-RAT operability (such as interoperability between LTE and 5G) and inter-Rl operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as between below 6GHz, cmWave, and mmWave).

[0049] 5G wireless communication networks may also apply network slicing, in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) may be created within the same physical infrastructure to run services that have different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

[0050] In an embodiment, an access node 104 may comprise: a radio unit (RU) 103 comprising a radio transceiver (TRX), i.e., a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx); one or more distributed units (DUs) 105 that may be used for the so-called Layer 1 (LI) processing and real-time Layer 2 (L2) processing; and a central unit (CU) 108 (also known as a centralized unit) that may be used for non-real-time L2 and Layer 3 (L3) processing. The CU 108 may be connected to the one or more DUs 105 for example via an Fl interface. Such an embodiment of the access node 104 may enable the centralization of CUs relative to the cell sites and DUs, whereas DUs may be more distributed and may even remain at cell sites. The CU and DU together may also be referred to as baseband or a baseband unit (BBU). The CU and DU may also be comprised in a radio access point (RAP).

[0051] The CU 108 may be a logical node hosting radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) and / or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), of the NR protocol stack for an access node 104. The CU 108 may comprise a control plane (CU-CP), which may be a logical node hosting the RRC and the control plane part of the PDCP protocol of the NR protocol stack for the access node 104. The CU 108 may further comprise a user plane (CU-UP), which may be a logical node hostingthe user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol of the CU for the access node 104.

[0052] The DU 105 may be a logical node hosting radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC) and / or physical (PHY) layers of the NR protocol stack for the access node 104. The operations of the DU 105 may be at least partly controlled by the CU 108. It should also be understood that the distribution of functions between the DU 105 and the CU 108 may vary depending on the implementation.

[0053] Cloud computing systems may also be used to provide the CU 108 and / or DU 105. A CU provided by a cloud computing system may be referred to as a virtualized CU (vCU). In addition to the vCU, there may also be a virtualized DU (vDU) provided by a cloud computing system. Furthermore, there may also be a combination, where the DU may be implemented on so-called bare metal solutions, for example applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) or customer-specific standard product (CSSP) system-on-a-chip (SoC).

[0054] Edge cloud may be brought into the radio access network by utilizing network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN). Using edge cloud may mean access node operations to be carried out, at least partly, in a computing system operationally coupled to a remote radio head (RRH) or a radio unit (RU) 103 of an access node 104. It is also possible that access node operations may be performed on a distributed computing system or a cloud computing system located at the access node 104. Application of cloud RAN architecture enables RAN real-time functions being carried out at the radio access network (e.g., in a DU 105), and non-real-time functions being carried out in a centralized manner (e.g., in a CU 108).

[0055] 5G (or new radio, NR) wireless communication networks may support multiple hierarchies, where multi-access edge computing (MEC) servers maybe placed between the core network 110 and the access node 104. It should be appreciated that MEC may be applied in LTE wireless communication networks as well.

[0056] A 5G wireless communication network (“5G network”) may also comprise a non-terrestrial communication network, such as a satellite communication network, to enhance or complement the coverage of the 5G radio access network. For example, satellite communication may support the transfer of data between the 5G radio access network and the core network 110, enabling more extensive network coverage. Possible use cases may include: providing service continuity for machine-to-machine(M2M) or Internet of Things (loT) devices or for passengers on board of vehicles, or ensuring service availability for critical communications, and future railway, maritime, or aeronautical communications. Satellite communication may utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, or low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, such as mega-constellations (i.e., systems in which hundreds of (nano)satellites are deployed). Alternatively, the satellites may be airborne devices, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or a high-altitude platform system (HAPS). A given satellite 106 may provide communication services on Earth via one or more satellite beams. The one or more satellite beams create one or more cells over a given service area that may be bounded by the field of view of the satellite 106.

[0057] It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the access node 104 depicted in FIG. 1A is just an example of a part of a radio access network, and in practice the radio access network may comprise a plurality of access nodes 104, the UEs 100, 102 may have access to a plurality of radio cells, and the radio access network may also comprise other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay access nodes or other entities. At least one of the access nodes may be a Home eNodeB or a Home gNodeB. A Home gNodeB or a Home eNodeB is a type of access node that may be used to provide indoor coverage inside a home, office, or other indoor environment.

[0058] Additionally, in a geographical area of a radio access network, a plurality of different kinds of radio cells as well as a plurality of radio cells may be provided. Radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells) which may be large cells having a diameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro-, femto- or picocells. The access node(s) 104 of FIG. 1A may provide any kind of these cells. A cellular radio network may be implemented as a multilayer access networks including several kinds of radio cells. In multilayer access networks, one access node may provide one kind of a radio cell or radio cells, and thus a plurality of access nodes may be needed to provide such a multilayer access network.

[0059] For fulfilling the need for improving performance of radio access networks, the concept of “plug-and-play” access nodes may be introduced. A radio access network, which may be able to use “plug-and-play” access nodes, may include, in addition to Home eNodeBs or Home gNodeBs, a Home Node B gateway (HNB-GW) (not shown in FIG. 1A). An HNB-GW, which may be installed within an operator’s radio access network, may aggregate traffic from a large number of Home eNodeBs or HomegNodeBs back to a core network 110 of the operator.

[0060] 6G wireless communication networks are expected to adopt flexible decentralized and / or distributed computing systems and architecture and ubiquitous computing, with local spectrum licensing, spectrum sharing, infrastructure sharing, and intelligent automated management underpinned by mobile edge computing, artificial intelligence, short-packet communication and blockchain technologies. Key features of 6G may include intelligent connected management and control functions, programmability, integrated sensing and communication, reduction of energy footprint, trustworthy infrastructure, scalability and affordability. In addition to these, 6G is also targeting new use cases covering the integration of localization and sensing capabilities into system definition to unifying user experience across physical and digital worlds.

[0061] It is envisaged that 7G, which will succeed the 5G and 6G technologies, will be able to satisfy the requirements of extremely high bandwidth, almost zero latency, and universal integration.

[0062] FIG. IB illustrates an example of a system, to which some example embodiments may be applied. FIG. IB may be understood to depict a part of the wireless communication network of FIG. 1A, but with greater accuracy with respect to a mobility scenario.

[0063] The system comprises at least a UE 100 and a plurality of access nodes 104, 104B, 104C, 104D controlling a plurality of cells 121, 122, 123, 124. Herein the term “cell” refers to a radio cell. Although four cells 121, 122, 123, 124 and four access nodes 104, 104B, 104C, 104D are shown in FIG. IB, it should be noted that the number of cells and access nodes may also be higher or lower than four.

[0064] Moreover, in FIG. IB, each of the cells is managed by a separate access node. However, it should be noted that one access node (e.g., 104, 104B, 104C, or 104D) may manage or control one or more cells 121, 122, 123, 124.

[0065] Referring to FIG. IB, during a cell change (or handover), the connection of the UE 100 is transferred from the current serving cell (e.g., source cell) 121 controlled by a source access node 104 to a target cell 122 controlled by a target access node 104B, while preserving the ongoing voice call or data session.

[0066] The cell change procedure may be initiated by the network (e.g., the source access node 104), when certain pre-defined conditions are met, such as when the signalquality of the current serving cell 121 falls below a specified threshold, or when the signal quality of the neighboring cell 122 becomes better than that of the current serving cell 121 by a pre-defined offset. The decision to perform a cell change may be based on various factors, including radio measurements such as reference signal received power (RSRP) and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ), network load, UE mobility, and network configuration parameters.

[0067] Upon initiation of the cell change procedure, the network (e.g., the source access node 104) may transmit a configuration message to the UE 100. This configuration message may include information about the target cell 122 and any needed configuration parameters. The UE 100 may then establish a connection with the target access node 104B controlling the target cell 122, synchronize its timing and frequency, and exchange control information to confirm the successful completion of the cell change. Once the cell change is completed, the UE 100 releases its connection with the previous serving cell 121, and the communication continues through the new serving cell 122.

[0068] The handover may be an intra-radio-access-technology (intra-RAT) handover or an inter-radio-access-technology (inter-RAT) handover. The cell change may also be an intra-frequency cell change or an inter-frequency cell change.

[0069] An intra-RAT handover means that the source cell 121 and the target cell 122 are based on the same radio access technology. For example, in an intra-NR handover, both the source access node 104 and the target access node 104B may be gNBs (i.e., NR base stations).

[0070] An inter-RAT handover means that the source cell 121 and the target cell 122 are based on different radio access technologies. For example, in an inter-RAT handover, the source access node 104 may be an eNB or ng-eNB (i.e., 4G base station), and the target access node 104B may be a gNB (i.e., NR base station), or vice versa.

[0071] There are various types of handover procedures. For example, a conditional handover (CHO) may be defined as a handover that is executed by the UE 100, when one or more handover execution conditions are met. In other words, the UE 100 receives (e.g., from the source access node 104) a configuration message with a CHO configuration indicating one or more handover execution conditions, but the UE 100 does not execute the handover until the one or more handover execution conditions are met. The UE 100 may start evaluating the one or more handover execution conditionsupon receiving the CHO configuration, and stop evaluating the one or more handover execution conditions once a handover is executed.

[0072] An advantage of CHO is that it improves the mobility robustness compared to legacy handover by reducing the number of radio link failures and handover failures. This is achieved by de-coupling the handover execution phase from the preparation phase, thus enabling the UE 100 to receive the configuration message early, when the radio link of the source cell 121 is still sufficient, and executing the handover later when the radio link of the target cell 122 is strong enough.

[0073] The CHO configuration may be included in an RRC reconfiguration message, for example. The CHO configuration comprises the configuration of CHO candidate cell(s) 122, 123, 124 generated by the candidate target access node(s) 104B, 104C, 104D, and the one or more handover execution conditions generated by the source access node 104. The one or more handover execution conditions may comprise, for example CHO event A3 and / or CHO event A5. One or more reference signal types may be supported and one or more trigger quantities may be configured for the evaluation of the CHO execution condition of a given candidate cell 122, 123, 124. The one or more trigger quantities may comprise, for example, reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and / or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (S1NR).

[0074] CHO event A3 means that a trigger quantity (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, and / or S1NR) of a CHO candidate cell 122 indicated in the CHO configuration exceeds the trigger quantity (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, and / or S1NR) of the source cell 121 by an offset for a certain time-to-trigger (TTT) period.

[0075] CHO event A5 means that the trigger quantity of the source cell 121 becomes lower than a first threshold, and the trigger quantity of a CHO candidate cell 122 indicated in the CHO configuration exceeds a second threshold for a certain TTT period.

[0076] CHO may also be supported for the integrated access and backhaul (LAB) mobile terminated (MT) in context of intra- and inter-donor 1AB node migration and backhaul radio link failure recovery.

[0077] L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM) was introduced in NR Release 18. LTM cell switch is a procedure in which an access node 104 (e.g., gNB) receives L3 or LI measurement report(s) from a UE 100, and on their basis the access node 104 changesthe UE’s serving cell by a cell switch command signalled via a MAC control element (CE), for example. The cell switch command indicates an LTM candidate configuration that the access node 104 previously prepared and provided to the UE 100 through RRC signalling. Then the UE 100 switches to the target configuration according to the cell switch command. The LTM cell switch procedure can be used to reduce the mobility latency.

[0078] The original idea of LTM was to use LI measurement reporting and trigger cell change via a MAC CE. However, L3 measurement reporting using beam level information has been allowed to be used (at least for frequency range 1) as a source of information for the network in deciding which cell to trigger for LTM and whether to trigger early UL / DL synchronization.

[0079] It is expected that a mechanism like Release 18 LTM and / or Release 19 LTM will be available in 6G, as it seems attractive to move the mobility triggering to lower protocol stack layers (i.e., faster processing, mobility with reduced delay, etc.) and enable early UL / DL synchronization (i.e., no need to perform the synchronization at the time of the actual cell change).

[0080] The UE 100 may perform measurements of the radio signals that the UE 100 receives from one or more cells 121, 122, 123 (or from the corresponding access nodes 104, 104B, 104C), and the UE 100 may report these measurements to the access node 104 of the serving cell 121. For example, these measurements maybe based on at least one of the following metrics: reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (S1NR), or received signal strength indicator (RSS1).

[0081] For example, in NR, the UE measurements and reporting may be used for beam management, carrier aggregation and / or mobility purposes (e.g., handovers). The UE measurements may be performed and reported at Layer 1 (i.e., physical layer) and / or Layer 3 (i.e., RRC layer). The measurements may be based on a synchronization signal block (SSB) or, if configured in a measurement configuration (e.g., CS1-MeasConfig), also based on a channel state information reference signal (CS1-RS).

[0082] LI measurements refer to physical layer measurements. LI measurements are beam-level measurements that were originally introduced for the purpose of beam management (BM) and for the serving cell only. Later LI measurement support for LI RSRP for inter-cell BM was introduced (enabling measurements and reporting for anon-serving cell). Additionally, LI measurements and reporting have been introduced for cell change or cell switch, such as LTM. LI RSRP measurements may be reported by the UE 100 in channel state information (CS1) based on CSl-ReportConfig. LI measurements and reporting may be configured for the serving cell for beam management purposes and for neighboring cells 122, 123 for example for lower-layer mobility purposes (e.g., LTM).

[0083] LI measurement reporting may be done as CS1 reporting on LI. LI measurement reporting for serving and neighboring cells may be configured as periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. Furthermore, In NR Release 19, event-triggered LI reporting for beam management and LTM purposes may be defined. The periodic reporting means that the UE transmits the reports with a configured periodicity. The semi-persistent reporting means that the reporting is either activated by the network by a MAC CE for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or triggered by the network by downlink control information (DC1) for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The aperiodic reporting means that the reporting is triggered by the network by a DC1 for one cell at a time on PUSCH.

[0084] L3 measurements involve the radio resource control (RRC) layer, which manages higher-level tasks such as configuring measurement parameters, filtering LI measurements, and / or making decisions based on long-term channel conditions. L3 measurements may be cell-level or synchronization signal block (SSB) level measurements. In frequency range one (FR1), SSB-level measurements may, in some cases, be generated from the LI measurements by applying L3 filtering. Cell-level measurements may be derived from the LI measurements using certain rules. L3 RSRP measurements may be reported in an RRC measurement report in the MeasResults information element.

[0085] L3 measurement reporting may be done on the RRC level. L3 measurement reporting may be configured as periodic, event-triggered, or event-triggered periodic. The periodic reporting means that the UE transmits the reports with a configured periodicity. The event-triggered reporting means that the UE transmits the report when a configured condition for event-triggered reporting is fulfilled (multiple different events may be supported for mobility purposes). The event- triggered periodic reporting means that the UE starts periodic reporting once a configured condition for event- triggered periodic reporting is fulfilled.3GPP NR Release-19 may involve mobility enhancements, e.g. enhancements to layer 1 / 2 triggered mobility (LTM), with CS1-RS measurements. Enabling CS1 acquisition, e.g. acquiring channel information, such as channel quality indicator (CQ1), rank indicator (Rl), precoding matric indicator (PM1), on candidate cell(s) based on the CS1-RS, may be one of the objectives. The UE may be able to acquire and report CS1 parameters, such as CQ1, PM1, R1 and / or LI, for the candidate cell, which may then be used for transmission and / or reception in a target cell after a cell switch. This may reduce the need for additional measurements for CS1 acquisition in the target cell for initial transmissions / receptions.

[0086] Measurements related enhancements for supporting LTM may be applicable to intra-CU master cell group (MCG) / secondary cell group (SCG) LTM and / or inter-CU MCG / SCG LTM. Components to support event-triggered LI measurement reporting may be specified for RANI, RAN2. Support for CS1-RS measurements for LTM procedures may be specified and CS1-RS based beam management may be enabled for RANI. CS1 acquisition on the candidate cell(s) based on the CS1-RS before or during an LTM cell switch may be specified for RAN 1. RAN 1 WG may decide whether to support CS1 reporting before or during the LTM cell switch, as part of the CS1 acquisition procedure.

[0087] CS1 acquisition related measurements and reporting may be performed in various ways. One option may be to perform CS1-RS measurement and CS1 reporting operation before reception of LTM cell switch command (CSC) MAC CE. The report may be sent to the serving cell and transferred to the candidate / target cell(s). Another option may be to start CS1-RS measurement before the reception of LTM CSC MAC CE. The CS1 reporting operation may be performed after the reception of the LTM CSC MAC CE. The report may be directly sent to the target cell. Yet another option may be to perform the CS1-RS measurement and CS1 reporting operations after the reception of the LTM CSC MAC CE. Most likely, the CS1-RS measurement and CS1 reporting operations may be performed after reception of LTM CSC MAC CE. The report may be sent directly to the target cell. The introduction of the UE capability for the CS1-RS measurement may start before the reception of LTM CSC MAC CE.

[0088] FIG. 2 illustrates CS1 acquisition procedure before / during the LTM cell switch. For target cell CS1 acquisition, the UE may be provided with RRC configurations for periodic CS1-RS resource(s) and CS1 report(s) for one or more candidate cells. For acandidate cell, a single CS1 report configuration may be configured, or multiple CS1 report configurations may be configured. For a candidate cell, a single CS1-RS resource for CMR may be associated with a CS1 report configuration, or multiple CS1-RS resources for CMR may be associated with a CS1 report configuration. Semi-persistent CS1-RS resources may be applied for the target cell CS1 acquisition. After the RRC configuration and before the reception of the CSC, the UE may measure the CS1 based on the configured CS1-RS resource(s), which may be subject to UE capability. It may be defined whether or how to select a subset of CS1-RS resources to measure. It may be defined when the UE may start measuring the configured CS1-RS resources. The UE may determine the CS1 report configuration based on the CSC. After the reception of a cell switch command, the UE may measure, depending on the timeline, CS1-RS resource(s) associated with the determined CS1 report configuration. The latest available measured CS1 on target cell resource(s) may be conveyed at least by a single report, and the report may be sent to the target cell. Option 1 may be to use UC1. Option 2 may be to use MAC CE.

[0089] The LTM may involve a cell switch procedure where the UE serving cell (PCell or PSCell) may be switched by the network by sending an LTM cell switch command. The LTM switch command may be assumed to be delivered by MAC signaling using a MAC CE. In that case, RRC signaling is not used as a L3 based handover which is one of the options for changing between cells. LTM cell switch decision may be based on measurements (for example, LI measurements) that may be performed and reported (for example, LI measurement report) by the UE. Measurements and reporting may be based on an LTM candidate cell configuration provided by the network for one or more LTM candidate cells. The LTM candidate cell may be neighboring cells or the UE serving cells (e.g. one of the current secondary cells). In Release- 18, LTM measurements on a neighboring candidate cell may be performed using SSBs transmitted by the candidate cell for which the SSB configuration may be provided to the UE. Before the cell switch, the network may optionally activate one or more TCI state(s) for one or more candidate cells for early DL synchronization. Once a candidate cell TCI state is activated, the UE may start tracking the downlink time / frequency synchronization using reference signals associated with the activated TCI state(s). The UE may also perform early UL synchronization before the cell switch, if this is requested by the network. Release- 18 may only cover intra-CU LTMhandovers.

[0090] The procedure for the LTM may involve the UE sending a MeasurementReport message to the gNB. The gNB may decide to configure the LTM and initiate LTM preparation. The gNB may transmit an RRCReconfiguration message to the UE, including the LTM candidate configurations. The UE may store the LTM candidate configurations, and transmit an RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the gNB. The UE may perform DL synchronization with the candidate cell(s), e.g. via early TCI activation, before receiving the cell switch command. The UE may perform early TA acquisition with the candidate cell(s), as requested by the network, before receiving the cell switch command. This may be carried out via a CFRA triggered by a PDCCH order from the source cell. Then the UE may send a preamble towards the indicated candidate cell. In order to minimize the data interruption of the source cell due to CFRA towards the candidate cell(s), the UE may not receive a random access response from the network for the purpose of TA value acquisition. The TA value of the candidate cell may be indicated in the cell switch command. The UE may not maintain the TA timer for the candidate cell. The UE may rely on the network implementation to guarantee the TA validity. The UE may perform LI measurements on the configured candidate cell(s), and transmit LI measurement reports to the gNB. The LI measurement may be performed as long as RRC reconfiguration is applicable. The gNB may decide to execute a cell switch to a target cell, and transmit a cell switch command MAC CE triggering the cell switch, by including the candidate configuration index of the target cell. The UE may switch to the target cell, and apply the configuration indicated by candidate configuration index. The UE may perform the random-access procedure towards the target cell, if the UE does not have a valid TA of the target cell. The UE may complete the LTM cell switch procedure by sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target cell. For RACH-based LTM, if the UE has performed the random access procedure, the UE may consider that the LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the random-access procedure is successfully completed. For RACH-less LTM, the UE may consider that the LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the UE determines that the network has successfully received its first UL data. Some of the steps may be performed multiple times for a subsequent LTM using the LTM candidate configuration(s) provided.

[0091] The procedure over the air interface described above may be applicable toboth intra-gNB-DU LTM and inter-gNB-DU LTM. For eCSI reporting, the UE may be configured to measure / acquire the CSI prior to entering the connected mode (e.g. prior to transition from inactive / idle mode to the connected mode, or during the random access procedure when entering the connected mode) or during the cell switch operation (e.g. LTM or L3 / RRC mobility or conditional handover or conditional LTM). This may be applied for serving cell beam management / CSl reporting or mobility, i.e. L3 mobility and / or LTM.

[0092] In case the UE is configured to perform early CSI acquisition, i.e. acquire the CSI measurements (e.g. CQ1, Rl, PM1, LI, RSRP, and / or CR1) prior to entering the connected mode or prior to the cell switch, the network may not have the exact timing or knowledge when or whether the UE has been able to perform the CSI measurements (that it has been configured to report). For example, in case of a cell switch where the UE is configured to perform early CSI measurements for the target cell after receiving the cell switch command, the target cell may not be able to determine the exact timing of the cell switch command, as it is sent by the source cell. Consequently, the target cell may not be able to determine the timing of the measurement RS occasion relative to the cell switch command timing. As a result, the target cell may not know, whether the UE was able to compute the CSI at the time of reporting, particularly when the reporting is scheduled to be transmitted over predefined uplink channels.

[0093] In one embodiment, the cell switch operation as described herein may refer to L3 handover (i.e. RRC level handover). In any of the examples herein the cell switch may refer to LTM cell switch or L3 handover (these terms may be used interchangeably). In any of the examples herein the cell switch command (CSC) may refer to the cell switch command MAC CE or L3 handover command (i.e. RRC reconfiguration message).

[0094] Some example embodiments are described below using principles and terminology of 5G radio access technology without limiting the example embodiments to 5G radio access technology, however.

[0095] The UE may be configured to indicate the status of the CSI, e.g. whether it has (valid) CSI available. A mechanism may be provided which is efficient and has a low signaling overhead.

[0096] In an embodiment, the UE may be configured to multiplex uplink control information (UC1) to allocated UL-SCH (PUSCH) resources to indicate whether the UEhas CSI measurements available or not. The UC1 information may be transmitted as HARQ-ACK information, or HARQ-ACK like information, or the UC1 information is transmitted on the resources reserved for HARQ-ACK (in PUSCH). In some examples, the UC1 information may be mapped to HARQ-ACK resources or the HARQ-ACK signaling may be used to carry / indicate the CSI availability information. A first value (e.g. HARQ-ACK value = 0) for the HARQ-ACK may indicate that no CSI measurement is available. A second value (e.g. HARQ-ACK value = 1) for the HARQ-ACK may indicate that CSI measurement is available.

[0097] No CSI measurements may be available e.g. in a situation where the UE was not able to perform measurements and compute the CSI by the time the reporting is performed. This may depend on the UE CSI computation capability, e.g. the minimum time the UE needs to compute the CSI, which may vary depending on the CSI quantity, and the time between the measurement RS and the reporting instance.

[0098] In an embodiment, a network device may configure whether the UE is allowed to perform the multiplexing. This may be performed, for example, in a RRC Resume / Suspend or SIB message to access the cell from the inactive / idle / low-power mode to switch to the connected mode, or in the cell switch configuration (e.g., in an LTM configuration or handover configuration), or indicated in the cell switch command to access the cell due to a cell switch.

[0099] In an embodiment, the CSI may be an early CSI, wherein the UE may have acquired early CSI measurements prior to entering the connected mode or as part of the handover / cell switch procedure.

[0100] In an embodiment, the UE may be configured to perform the multiplexing when the UE has been configured with early CSI reporting, for a cell switch or L3 mobility or serving cell CSI reporting when entering to the connected mode.

[0101] In an embodiment, the UE may be configured to perform the multiplexing when the UE is capable to perform the CSI measurement only after a predefined event, e.g. after receiving the cell switch command from the network device or after a configured conditional cell switch execution condition is met. For example, the UE may be configured to perform the multiplexing when the UE does not indicate the support of performing measurements irrespective of a predefined event. For example, the UE may be configured not to indicate support for the CSI measurement before receiving the cell switch command or before a conditional cell switch execution condition is met.The UE may be configured to multiplex HARQ-ACK information to the PUSCH resources, in case the UE is to provide HARQ-ACK feedback, i.e. the PUCCH and PUSCH signaling may not be sent at the same time. In case the UE has no downlink transmission to be acknowledged, the reserved resources for HARQ-ACK may be used for the CS1 / DATA. In that case, the UE may have no uplink feedback to be included in the PUSCH signaling. Instead, the HARQ-ACK resources may be used for indicating the CS1 availability. Since the network device and the UE may know certain uplink grants when this is allowed, the network device may expect the CS1 indication on the HARQ-ACK resources.

[0102] In an embodiment, the used UC1 format for the CS1 indication may be an extended HARQ-ACK where one more bits may be added to the HARQ-ACK bit(s). The total number of HARQ-ACK bits may be 2 or 3 or more, wherein the HARQ-ACK bit may be a 1-bit or more based on the HARQ-ACK codebook.

[0103] For example, if a 2-bit indication is used, the UE may use the certain two codepoints for the indication, e.g. as follows:

[0104] 00 -> HARQ NACK and no CS1 measurements available,

[0105] 01 -> HARQ NACK and CS1 measurements are available,

[0106] 10 -> HARQ ACK and no CS1 measurements available,

[0107] 11 -> HARQ ACK and CS1 measurements are available.

[0108] In this format, the UE may multiplex the feedback information for downlink transmission (ACK / NACK) and the CS1 availability indication.

[0109] For example, when the CS1 measurements are available, it may be further indicated with a multi-bit indication, whether the report is sent / multiplexed / mapped in the same UL-SCH, e.g. as follows:

[0110] II -> CS1 measurements are available and reportis also multiplexed, 10 -> CS1 measurements are available and report is not multiplexed, or III -> HARQ ACK and CS1 measurements are available and report is also multiplexed,

[0111] Oil -> HARQ NACK and CS1 measurements are available and report is also multiplexed,

[0112] 010 -> HARQ NACK and CS1 measurements are available and report is not multiplexed.

[0113] In an embodiment, the used UC1 format for the CS1 indication may be anyPUCCH format that maybe multiplexed to PUSCH resources.

[0114] In an embodiment, if the 2-bit indication is used, the UE may use the certain two codepoints for the indication, e.g. 00 -> no CS1 measurements available, 01 -> CS1 measurements available.

[0115] In an embodiment, the UE may multiplex the UC1 information to an uplink resource allocation.

[0116] In any of the embodiments herein the UE may be configured to multiplex the CS1 availability information (or HARQ feedback and CS1 availability information) on an uplink grant. The uplink grant may be dynamically scheduled or configured grant (i.e. periodic resource allocation). In some examples the UE may be configured to use UC1 format comprising the CS1 availability indication. In some examples the UE may be configured to use UC1 format comprising the CS1 availability indication and HARQ feedback. The resource allocation may be a configured grant allocation for a RACH-less cell switch. The resource allocation may be the configured grant allocation for the serving cell. The resource allocation may be a dynamically scheduled uplink grant for provisioning a first uplink message in a cell switch procedure (such as LTM or L3) or a configured grant allocation for RACH-less cell switch / handover. The resource allocation may be a dynamically scheduled uplink grant for provisioning the first uplink message as part of or after the completion of a RA procedure (CFRA / CBRA) procedure (for a cell switch or for cell access) or a resource allocation for a third uplink message, MSG3, as part of the CFRA procedure or a third uplink message (MSG3) of random access procedure (CFRA and / or contention based random access (CBRA)) (for cell switch or for cell access). The resource allocation may be a dynamic grant allocation for the first uplink message when the UE enters the connected mode. The resource allocation may be the first uplink resource allocation after a random access channel (RACH) procedure that is scheduled with a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNT1).

[0117] In an embodiment, any of methods herein may be used in connected mode operation i.e. the CS1 availability may be indicated in RRC connected mode or in active mode. The UE may be configured to include the UC1 information comprising CS1 availability indication or of HARQ-ACK information and the CS1 availability indication on an uplink scheduled or configured by network. The UE may perform random access signaling in connected mode and provided CS1 availability indication as part of the RAprocedure (as described for cell switch / cell access).

[0118] In an embodiment, the UE may not expect to have any downlink data to be acknowledged when multiplexing the indication. In case the UE has HARQ-ACK information for the downlink to be multiplexed to the PUSCH resources, the UE may prioritize the HARQ-ACK information over the CS1 indication.

[0119] In an embodiment, the UE may have downlink data to be acknowledged when multiplexing the indication. In case the UE has HARQ-ACK information for the downlink to be multiplexed to the PUSCH resources, the UE may use of configured to use the UC1 format comprising of HARQ-ACK information and the CS1 availability indication.

[0120] In an embodiment, the UE may multiplex the UC1 information to the UL-SCH resources, in a same manner as to the HARQ feedback for the DL transmission. The UC1 information may be transmitted on the reserved HARQ-ACK resource elements in the physical resource block (PRE), as illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 3. illustrates resource mapping of multiplexing UC1 / HARQ- ACK bits to the PRE (PUSCH transmission).

[0121] In an embodiment, the UE may multiplex the UC1 information to the UL-SCH resources. The UC1 information may be interpreted by the network device as a CS1 availability indication when the UE multiplexes the UC1 on a specific UL resource allocation.

[0122] In an embodiment, dedicated resource elements may be configured in the UL-SCH for the CS1 availability indication. These may be similar to the HARQ-ACK, but separate resource elements.

[0123] In an embodiment, the CS1 availability indication may be mapped to the HARQ-ACK resources, such that that the number of the HARQ-ACK bits may be less than or equal to a threshold value (e.g. less than or equal to 2 bits).

[0124] In an embodiment, the CS1 availability indication may be mapped to the HARQ-ACK resources, such that the number of the HARQ-ACK bits may be above a threshold value (e.g. more than 2 bits).

[0125] In an embodiment, existing signaling may be used to convey information on the availability of the CS1 measurements for early CS1 acquisition. This may facilitate fast access to high data rate.

[0126] FIG. 4 illustrates a signal flow diagram according to an example embodiment.Referring to FIG.4, at 401, a device 121 which may be a network device, such as a gNB, of a serving cell, may transmit to an apparatus 100 which may be a user device, such as a user equipment UE, a configuration for early CSI measurements for at least one candidate cell. The apparatus 100 may receive the configuration 401. At 402, the device 121 may transmit to the apparatus 100 a cell switch command, a handover command or an indication to perform CSI acquisition on the at least one candidate cell. The apparatus 100 may receive the command 402. At 403, the apparatus 100 may perform CSI measurements on the at least one candidate cell. At 404, the apparatus 100 may determine whether or not the CSI measurements are available in the apparatus 100. At 405, a device 122 which may be a network device, such as a gNB, of the candidate cell, may transmit to the apparatus 100 an uplink grant message. The uplink grant may be a configured or dynamically scheduled grant. The apparatus 100 may receive the uplink grant 405. At 406, the apparatus 100 may based on the availability of CSI measurements in the apparatus 100, multiplex a CSI availability indication to HARQ-ACK resources in the allocated PUSCH resources. At 407, the apparatus 100 may transmit, to the device 122, PUSCH signaling comprising at least the CSI availability indication. The device 122 may receive the signaling 407.

[0127] Thus, in an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may, based on availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus, multiplex uplink control information, UCI, to allocated HARQ-ACK uplink shared channel resources to indicate, to the device 122, the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus 100. The UCI information may be transmitted on hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, resources. The UCI information may comprise a first value transmitted on the HARQ-ACK resources, indicating that the CSI measurements are not available in the apparatus 100, or the UCI information may comprises a second value transmitted on the HARQ-ACK resources, indicating that the CSI measurements are available in the apparatus 100.

[0128] The apparatus 100 may determine whether the UCI information is multiplexed on the HARQ-ACK resources in the allocated uplink resources based on at least one criterion. The apparatus 100 may multiplex the UCI information to an uplink resource allocation. The resource allocation may be at least one of: a configured grant allocation for a RACH-less cell switch, a configured grant allocation for a serving cell, a dynamically scheduled uplink grant for provisioning a first uplink message in a cellswitch procedure, a dynamically scheduled uplink grant for provisioning the first uplink message as part of or after a completion of a CFRA procedure, or a resource allocation for a third uplink message, MSG3, as part of the CFRA procedure, a dynamic grant allocation for a first uplink message when the apparatus enters a connected mode, or a first uplink resource allocation that is scheduled with a cell radio network temporary identifier, C-RNT1, after a random access channel, RACH, procedure.

[0129] The apparatus 100 may determine whether the apparatus has the CS1 measurements available or not. The CS1 measurements may be performed based on a cell switch command or a handover command received by the apparatus from the device or as part of mobility procedures. The apparatus may determine whether the apparatus has the CS1 measurements available or not, based on a configuration for performing early CS1 measurements, received by the apparatus from the device 121.

[0130] The apparatus may transmit, to the device 122, a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, message, or a negative hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-NACK, message comprising CS1 availability information. One or more bits in the HARQ-ACK or HARQ-NACK message may indicate that the CS1 measurements are not available in the apparatus, or one or more bits in the HARQ-ACK or HARQ-NACK message may indicate that the CS1 measurements are available in the apparatus.

[0131] The uplink control information, UC1, may comprise physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, information that is multiplexed to physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, resources.

[0132] In an embodiment, the device 122 may receive, from the apparatus 100, the indication on availability of channel state information, CS1, measurements in the apparatus 100, wherein uplink control information, UC1, multiplexed to allocated uplink shared channel resources indicates the availability of the CS1 measurements in the apparatus.

[0133] FIG. 5 illustrates a signal flow diagram according to an example embodiment.

[0134] Referring to FIG.5, at 501, a device 121 which maybe a network device, such as a gNB, of a serving cell, may transmit to an apparatus 100 which may be a user device, such as a user equipment UE, a configuration for early CS1 measurements for at least one serving cell. The apparatus 100 may receive the configuration 501.At 502a, the device 121 may transmit to the apparatus 100 an indication to perform CSI acquisition on the at least one serving cell in a specific RRC mode, e.g. inactive / idle mode or low-activity state in the connected mode. The apparatus 100 may receive the indication 502a. At 503a, the apparatus 100 may determine to enter the connected mode / active mode based on uplink data arrival or request by the network.

[0135] Alternatively, at 502b, the device 121 may transmit to the apparatus 100 an indication to perform CSI acquisition on the at least one serving cell based on a determination to enter the connected mode / active mode. The apparatus 100 may receive the indication 502b. At 503b, the apparatus 100 may determine whether the CSI measurements are available in the apparatus 100.

[0136] At 504, the apparatus 100 may, based on the availability of CSI measurements in the apparatus 100, multiplex a CSI availability indication to HARQ-ACK resources in the allocated PUSCH resources as part of random access signalling, or uplink grant after a completion of a random access procedure, or as part of uplink signalling when switching to connected / active mode. At 505, the apparatus 100 may transmit, to the device 121, PUSCH signaling comprising at least the CSI availability indication. The device 121 may receive the signaling 505.

[0137] Thus, in an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may multiplex availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus, to allocated uplink shared channel resources, to indicate, to a device, the availability of CSI measurements in the apparatus. The availability may be provided as part of contention based random access, CBRA, signalling, uplink grant signalling, or contention free random access , CFRA, signalling.

[0138] The apparatus 100 may use the uplink grant signalling, or contention based random access, CBRA, signalling, after completion of a random access procedure. The apparatus 100 may use the contention free random access, CFRA, signalling, when the apparatus switches to a connected mode or active mode.

[0139] The apparatus may transmit, to the device 121, uplink control information, UC1, on hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, resources. The UC1 information may comprise a first value transmitted on the HARQ-ACK resources, indicating that the CSI measurements are not available in the apparatus 100. The UC1 information may comprise a second value transmitted on the HARQ-ACK resources, indicating that the CSI measurements are available in the apparatus 100.The uplink control information, UC1, may comprise physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, information that is multiplexed to physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, resources.

[0140] The apparatus may determine whether the UC1 information is multiplexed on the HARQ-ACK resources in the allocated uplink resources, based on the at least one criterion. The apparatus may multiplex the UC1 information to an uplink resource allocation. The resource allocation may be at least one of: a configured grant allocation for a serving cell, a dynamically scheduled uplink grant for provisioning the first uplink message as part of or after a completion of a CFRA procedure, or a resource allocation for third uplink message, MSG3, as a part of the CFRA procedure, a dynamic grant allocation for a first uplink message when the apparatus enters a connected mode, or a first uplink resource allocation that is scheduled with a cell radio network temporary identifier, C-RNT1, after a random access channel, RACH, procedure.

[0141] The apparatus may determine whether the apparatus has the CS1 measurements available or not. The apparatus may determine whether the apparatus has the CS1 measurements available or not, based on a configuration for performing early CS1 measurements, received by the apparatus 100 from the device 121.

[0142] The apparatus 100 may transmit, to the device 121, a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, message, or a negative hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-NACK, message comprising CS1 availability information. One or more bits in the HARQ-ACK or HARQ-NACK message may indicate that the CS1 measurements are not available in the apparatus. One or more bits in the HARQ-ACK or HARQ-NACK message may indicate that the CS1 measurements are available in the apparatus.

[0143] In an embodiment, the device 121 may receive, from the apparatus 100, an indication on availability of channel state information, CS1, measurements in the apparatus, as part of contention based random access, CBRA, signalling, uplink grant signalling, or contention free random access, CFRA, signalling.

[0144] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method (e.g., a computer-implemented method). The method of FIG. 6 may be performed by an apparatus 800 depicted in FIG. 8. For example, the apparatus 800 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a user equipment (UE) 100, 102.

[0145] In block 601, the apparatus 800 may receive from a network device 900, aconfiguration for early CSI measurements for at least one candidate cell or serving cell. At 602, the apparatus 800 may determine whether or not the CSI measurements are available in the apparatus 800. At 603, the apparatus 800 may multiplex a CSI availability indication to HARQ-ACK resources in the allocated PUSCH resources. At 407, the apparatus 100 may transmit, to the device 122, PUSCH signaling comprising at least the CSI availability indication. In an embodiment, the apparatus 800 may, based on availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus, multiplex uplink control information, UC1, to allocated HARQ-ACK uplink shared channel resources to indicate, to the device 900, the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus. In an embodiment, the apparatus 800 may multiplex availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus, to allocated uplink shared channel resources, to indicate, to the device 900, the availability of CSI measurements in the apparatus.

[0146] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method (e.g., a computer-implemented method). The method of FIG. 7 may be performed by a device 900 depicted in FIG. 9. For example, the device 900 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a network node 104 of a radio access network.

[0147] In block 701, the device 900 may transmit to the apparatus 800 a configuration for early CSI measurements for at least one serving cell or candidate cell. At 702, the device 900 may receive from the apparatus 800, PUSCH signaling comprising at least a CSI measurements availability indication. In an embodiment, the indication may be an indication on the availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus 800, wherein uplink control information, UC1, multiplexed to allocated uplink shared channel resources indicates the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus 800. In an embodiment, the device 900 may receive, from the apparatus 800, the indication the availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus 800, as part of contention based random access, CBRA, signalling, uplink grant signalling, or contention free random access, CFRA, signalling.

[0148] In some embodiments, the uplink resource allocation for CSI reporting or availability indication may be the resource allocation for event triggered reporting.

[0149] In an embodiment, the CSI reporting may be provided in an uplink grant wherein the UE provides the event triggered report. As an example the event triggeredreport may be transmitted when at least on reference signal of a candidate cell (target cell for cell switch / L3 handover) is measured to be offset better than the serving cell reference signal (such RS corresponding to the transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state). The measurement may be RSRP measurement. This event may be referred to as LTM3 event. Similarly the UE may be configured to transmit event triggered report when at least on reference signal of the serving cell (Pcell or SCell) is measured to be offset better than the current serving cell reference signal (such RS corresponding to the transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state). This may be referred as UE initiated beam management, In some examples, for the event triggered reporting, the LI may perform measurements and send them to the MAC layer for event evaluation (such as LTM3 or event2 for BM) and triggering the measurement reporting. In some examples the event may be evaluated by LI. Since event-triggered reporting may use only periodic RSs (SSBs or CSl-RSs), LI may continuously perform measurements and compute CS1 (e.g., Ll-RSRP) to forward to the MAC layer. Such measurements may occupy (use or reserve) CS1 processing units at the UE side i.e. the CS1 computation for Ll-RSRP may consume 1 CS1 processing unit (for event triggered reporting / per reporting configuration). The UE may have limited amount of available CPUs i.e. it may be capable of perform limited amount of CS1 computations. This may require defining the CPU occupancy rules, i.e. how many CPUs in which timeline the CS1 computation occupies CPUs. In some examples, the CPU timeline for event-triggered reporting may be defined with the starting point as the first symbol of the earliest RS resource associated with the event-triggered LI measurement reporting and the endpoint as the deactivation or reconfiguration of the event- triggered reporting.

[0150] The blocks, related functions, and information exchanges (messages) described above by means of FIGS. 2 to 7 are in no absolute chronological order, and some of them may be performed simultaneously or in an order differing from the described one. Other functions can also be executed between them or within them, and other information may be sent, and / or other rules applied. Some of the blocks or part of the blocks or one or more pieces of information can also be left out or replaced by a corresponding block or part of the block or one or more pieces of information.

[0151] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an apparatus 800 comprising means for causing the apparatus 800 to perform one or more of the example embodiments (e.g., the method of FIG. 6) described above. For example, the apparatus 800 may be anapparatus such as, or comprising, or comprised in, a user equipment (UE) 100, 102. The user equipment may also be called a wireless communication device, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, or a user device.

[0152] The apparatus 800 may comprise a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, the apparatus 800 may comprise at least one processor 810. The at least one processor 810 interprets instructions (e.g., computer program instructions) and processes data. The at least one processor 810 may comprise one or more programmable processors. The at least one processor 810 may comprise programmable hardware with embedded firmware and may, alternatively or additionally, comprise one or more applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0153] The at least one processor 810 is coupled to at least one memory 820. The at least one processor is configured to read and write data to and from the at least one memory 820. The at least one memory 820 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic randomaccess memory (SDRAM). Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM). The at least one memory 820 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the at least one processor 810 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the at least one processor 810 executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and / or instructions. The computer readable instructions may refer to computer program code.

[0154] The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the at leastone memory 820 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions by the at least one processor 9710 causes the apparatus 9700 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. That is, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and / or blocks described above.

[0155] In the context of this document, a “memory” or “computer-readable media” or “computer-readable medium” may be any non-transitory media or medium or means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0156] The apparatus 800 may further comprise, or be connected to, an input unit 830. The input unit 830 may comprise one or more interfaces for receiving input. The one or more interfaces may comprise, for example, at least one of: one or more temperature, motion and / or orientation sensors, one or more cameras, one or more accelerometers, one or more microphones, one or more buttons and / or one or more touch detection units. Further, the input unit 830 may comprise an interface to which external devices may connect to.

[0157] The apparatus 800 may also comprise an output unit 840. The output unit may comprise or be connected to one or more displays capable of rendering visual content, such as a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD) and / or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display. The output unit 9740 may further comprise one or more audio outputs. The one or more audio outputs may be for example loudspeakers.

[0158] The apparatus 800 further comprises a connectivity unit 850. The connectivity unit 850 enables wireless connectivity to one or more external devices. The connectivity unit 850 comprises at least one transmitter and at least one receiver that may be integrated to the apparatus 800 or that the apparatus 800 may be connected to. The at least one transmitter comprises at least one transmission antenna,and the at least one receiver comprises at least one receiving antenna. The connectivity unit 850 may comprise an integrated circuit or a set of integrated circuits that provide the wireless communication capability for the apparatus 800. Alternatively, the wireless connectivity may be a hardwired application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The connectivity unit 850 may also provide means for performing at least some of the blocks or functions of one or more example embodiments described above. The connectivity unit 850 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE), analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), frequency converter, (de) modulator, and / or encoder / decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

[0159] It is to be noted that the apparatus 800 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 8. The various components may be hardware components and / or software components.

[0160] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of an apparatus 900 comprising means for causing the apparatus 900 to perform one or more of the example embodiments (e.g., the method of FIG. 7) described above. For example, the apparatus 900 may be an apparatus such as, or comprising, or comprised in, a network node 104 of a radio access network.

[0161] The apparatus 900 may comprise, for example, a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. The apparatus 900 may be an electronic device comprising one or more electronic circuitries. The apparatus 900 may comprise a communication control circuitry 910 such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 920 storing instructions 922 which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus 900 to carry out one or more of the example embodiments described above. Such instructions 922 may, for example, include computer program code (software). The at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and / or blocks described above.

[0162] The processor is coupled to the memory 920. The processor is configured to read and write data to and from the memory 920. The memory 920 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or moreunits of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM). Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM). The memory 920 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the processor. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the processor executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and / or instructions.

[0163] The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the memory 920 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions causes the apparatus 900 to perform one or more of the functionalities described above.

[0164] The memory 920 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and / or removable memory. The memory may comprise a configuration database for storing configuration data, such as a current neighbour cell list, and, in some example embodiments, structures of frames used in the detected neighbour cells.

[0165] The apparatus 900 may further comprise or be connected to a communication interface 930, such as a radio unit, comprising hardware and / or software for realizing communication connectivity with one or more wireless communication devices according to one or more communication protocols. The communication interface 930 comprises at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx) that may be integrated to the apparatus 900 or that the apparatus 900 may be connected to. The communication interface 930 may provide means for performing some of the blocks and / or functions (e.g., transmitting and receiving) forone or more example embodiments described above. The communication interface 930 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE), analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), frequency converter, (de) modulator, and / or encoder / decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

[0166] The communication interface 930 provides the apparatus with radio communication capabilities to communicate in the wireless communication network. The communication interface may, for example, provide a radio interface to one or more UEs 100, 102. The apparatus 900 may further comprise or be connected to another interface towards a core network 110, such as the network coordinator apparatus or AMF, and / or to other access nodes of the wireless communication network.

[0167] The apparatus 900 may further comprise a scheduler 940 that is configured to allocate radio resources. The scheduler 940 may be configured along with the communication control circuitry 910 or it may be separately configured.

[0168] It is to be noted that the apparatus 900 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 9. The various components may be hardware components and / or software components.

[0169] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in analog, digital and / or quantum circuitry); and b) combinations of hardware circuit(s) and software, such as (as applicable): i) a combination of analog, digital and / or quantum hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and ii) any or all portions of hardware processor(s) (including digital and / or quantum processor(s)) with software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile device, computing device, or server, to perform various functions; and c) any or all portions of hardware circuit(s), such as microprocessor(s), processor(s) and / or quantum processor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0170] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for exampleand if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0171] The techniques and methods described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or combinations thereof. For a hardware implementation, the apparatus(es) of example embodiments may be implemented within one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation can be carried out through modules of at least one chipset (for example procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in a memory unit and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or externally to the processor. In the latter case, it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means, as is known in the art. Additionally, the components of the systems described herein may be rearranged and / or complemented by additional components in order to facilitate the achievements of the various aspects, etc., described with regard thereto, and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

[0172] It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the proposed concept may be implemented in various ways within the scope of the claims. The embodiments are not limited to the example embodiments described above, but may vary within the scope of the claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the embodiments.

Claims

1. 35CLAIMS1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:based on availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus,multiplex uplink control information, UCI, to allocated HARQ-ACK uplink shared channel resources to indicate, to a device, the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the UCI information is transmitted on hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, resources, wherein- the UCI information comprises a first value transmitted on the HARQ-ACK resources, indicating that the CSI measurements are not available in the apparatus, or- the UCI information comprises a second value transmitted on the HARQ-ACK resources, indicating that the CSI measurements are available in the apparatus.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, being caused to:determine whether the UCI information is multiplexed on the HARQ-ACK resources in the allocated uplink resources based on at least one criterion.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, being caused to multiplex the UCI information to an uplink resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation is at least one of:a configured grant allocation for a RACH-less cell switch,a configured grant allocation for a serving cell,a dynamically scheduled uplink grant for provisioning a first uplink message in a cell switch procedure,36a dynamically scheduled uplink grant for provisioning the first uplink message as part of or after a completion of a CFRA procedure, or a resource allocation for a third uplink message, MSG3, as part of the CFRA procedure,a dynamic grant allocation for a first uplink message when the apparatus enters a connected mode, ora first uplink resource allocation that is scheduled with a cell radio network temporary identifier, C-RNT1, after a random access channel, RACH, procedure.

5. The apparatus according to any preceding claim, being caused to: determine whether the apparatus has the CS1 measurements available or not.

6. The apparatus according to any preceding claim, being caused to: determine whether the apparatus has the CS1 measurements available or not,wherein the CS1 measurements are performed based on a cell switch command or a handover command received by the apparatus from the device or as part of mobility procedures.

7. The apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, being caused to: determine whether the apparatus has the CS1 measurements available or not,based on a configuration for performing early CS1 measurements, received by the apparatus from the device.

8. The apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, being caused to: transmit, to the device, a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, message, or a negative hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-NACK, message comprising CS1 availability information, wherein- one or more bits in the HARQ-ACK or HARQ-NACK message indicate that the CS1 measurements are not available in the apparatus, or- one or more bits in the HARQ-ACK or HARQ-NACK message indicate that the CSI measurements are available in the apparatus.

9. The apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the uplink control information, UC1, comprises physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, information that is multiplexed to physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, resources.

10. The apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus is or comprises a user device.

11. A device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to:receive, from an apparatus, an indication on availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus,wherein uplink control information, UC1, multiplexed to allocated uplink shared channel resources indicates the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus.

12. A method comprising:based on availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in an apparatus,multiplexing, by the apparatus, uplink control information, UC1, to allocated uplink shared channel HARQ-ACK resources to indicate, to a device, the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus.

13. A method comprising:receiving, by a device from an apparatus, an indication on availability of channel state information, CSI, measurements in the apparatus,wherein uplink control information, UC1, multiplexed to allocated uplink shared channel resources indicates the availability of the CSI measurements in the apparatus.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:based on availability of channel state information, CS1, measurements in the apparatus,multiplexing uplink control information, UC1, to allocated uplink shared channel resources to indicate, to a device, the availability of the CS1 measurements in the apparatus.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform at least the following:receiving, from an apparatus, an indication on availability of channel state information, CS1, measurements in the apparatus,wherein uplink control information, UC1, multiplexed to allocated uplink shared channel resources indicates the availability of the CS1 measurements in the apparatus.

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