Multiplexing transmission of BFR and LTM measurement report mac ce

Abstract

A method is provided that is performed by a wireless device. The method includes performing (200) measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; and, when one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, determining (202) to transmit an event triggered layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) measurement report.

Description

MULTIPLEXING TRANSMISSION OF BFR AND LTM MEASUREMENT REPORT MAC CE TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure is related to methods and apparatus for measurements on reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; and, when one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, determining to transmit an event triggered layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) measurement report.BACKGROUND

[0002] Fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) defines LTM to reduce handover latency in legacy layer 3 (L3) handover by leveraging lower layer signaling. LTM is specified as a lower layer mobility procedure in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) Rel-18 in which a network node (e.g., gNodeB (gNB)) receives a measurement report(s), sent by a user equipment (UE), using LI signaling. The LI -measurement reports are utilized by the network to make different mobility-related decisions such as LTM cell switch execution to another target cell by sending a LTM cell switch medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) command.SUMMARY

[0003] In some embodiments, a method is provided that is performed by a wireless device. The method includes performing measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; and, when one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, determining to transmit an event triggered LTM measurement report.

[0004] In some embodiments, the configuration includes a primary cell (PCell), at least one secondary cell (SCell), and / or at least one beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS) set containing at least one beam failure recovery reference signal (BFR-RS) to measure on. Further, performing includes performing a measurement on a reference signal in at least one of the PCell and / or SCell according to a respective corresponding measurement resource configuration in the configuration. Performing further includes performing a measurement on the at least one BFR-RS provided in the configured at least one BFD-RS set. The method further includes triggering a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure upon detecting a beam failure on the reference signal in at least one of the PCell and / or the at least one SCell and / or in the at least one beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS) set.

[0005] In other embodiments, the event includes an LTM event, and the method further includes, upon detection of (i) a beam failure on a reference signal in at least one of a PCelland / or a SCell and / or in at least one BFD-RS set, and (ii) that the one or more conditions are fulfilled for the event, initiating transmission of a BFR MAC CE and a LTM measurement report MAC CE. The method further includes, when a configured uplink grant is sufficient to accommodate one of the BFR MAC CE and the LTM measurement report MAC CE, transmitting either the BFR MAC CE or the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the configured uplink grant.

[0006] In yet other embodiments, a wireless device is provided. The wireless device includes processing circuitry; and memory coupled with the processing circuitry. T memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to perform operations. The operations include to perform measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; and, when one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, to determine to transmit an event triggered LTM measurement report.

[0007] In still other embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium is provided that includes program code to be executed by processing circuitry of a wireless device. Execution of the program code causes the program code to perform operations. The operations include to perform measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; and, when one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, to determine to transmit an event triggered LTM measurement report.

[0008] Certain embodiments may provide one or more technical advantages. A technical advantage may include that the network is informed of either / both a reference signal measurement for a LTM candidate cell and a selected beam for a BFR procedure, depending upon the more suitable procedure (LTM or BFR) to retain network connectivity. Yet a further technical advantage may include that the network receives information about channel conditions at the wireless device in a timely way and can make better handover or BFR decisions, for example. Yet another technical advantage may include a framework for the wireless device to multiplex either of / both a BFR MAC CE and an LTM measurement report MAC CE when uplink (UL) scheduling resources to transmit MAC CEs are limited.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0009] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of inventive concepts. In the drawings:

[0010] Figure 1 is a signaling diagram of an example LTM signaling procedure;

[0011] Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating operations of a wireless device according to some embodiments;

[0012] Figure 3 is an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

[0013] Figure 4 is another example of a communication system according to some embodiments;

[0014] Figure 5 is a block diagram of a wireless device according to some embodiments;

[0015] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a network node according to some embodiments; and

[0016] Figure 7 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment according to some embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] 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, in which examples of embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of present inventive concepts to those skilled in the art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present / used in another embodiment.

[0018] Figure 1 is a signaling diagram of an example LTM signaling procedure. The steps in Figure 1 are summarized below.

[0019] In a first step, a wireless device (a user equipment (UE) in this example) sends a measurement report(s) for the measurements performed on one or more cells to a network node (a gNB in this example). Based on the received measurement report(s), the gNB decides to configure one or more LTM candidate cell(s). This procedure can be referred to as LTM preparation.

[0020] In a second step, the gNB transmits a radio resource control (RRC) Reconfiguration message to the UE including the LTM candidate configuration(s).

[0021] In a third step, the UE stores the LTM candidate configuration(s) and responds to gNB with an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message.

[0022] In step 4a, the UE may perform an early downlink (DL) synchronization with the LTM candidate cell(s) before LTM cell switch execution. The DL pre-synchronization isperformed upon reception of a “Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE” by the UE for the transmission configuration indication (TCI) states in the configured LTM candidate cell(s). Since the DL synchronization is already acquired before the LTM cell switch, the UE is not required to wait for performing synchronization signal block (SSB) reference signal (RS) measurements after moving to the target cell which consequently reduces the mobility interruption.

[0023] In step 4b, the UE may also perform uplink (UL) pre-synchronization with the LTM candidate cell(s) if it receives the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order for early timing advance (TA) acquisition for those candidate cells. This means that delay occurring in the random-access procedure after the baseline L3-moblity can be reduced from the overall mobility interruption in LTM.

[0024] In a fifth step, the UE performs LI measurements on the configured LTM candidate cell(s) and transmits LI measurement reports to the gNB. The LI measurement should be performed for the LTM candidate cell(s) that were configured in step 2.

[0025] In a sixth step, the gNB decides to execute a cell switch to a candidate target cell and transmits a MAC CE triggering cell switch by including the candidate configuration index of the LTM target cell. The UE switches to the target cell and applies the LTM candidate configuration indicated by candidate configuration index.

[0026] In a seventh step, the UE performs a random-access procedure towards the target cell if the UE does not have valid TA of the target cell. Otherwise, if the UE receives a valid TA value in a LTM cell switch command using the early TA acquisition method in step 4b, the UE is not required to perform random-access. Moreover, if the target cell TCI state, which is included in the LTM Cell Switch MAC CE, is different from the TCI state activated in early DL synchronization, the UE may experience some delay in synchronization with the new TCI.

[0027] In an eighth step, the UE completes the LTM cell switch procedure by sending a RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to the target cell. If the UE has performed a randomaccess procedure in step 7, the UE considers that LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the random-access procedure is successfully completed. For random access channel (RACH)-less LTM, the UE considers that LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the UE determines that the network has successfully received its first UL data. See e.g., 3GPP TS 38.300, V18.0.0 (2023-12); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 18).

[0028] 3 GPP Rel-18 LTM defines four different types of measurement reporting related to the LTM procedures such as early synchronization, LTM cell switch, and / or provided in LTM reporting configuration. In Rel-18 LTM, the following four different types of measurement reporting related to the LTM procedures include periodic reporting on physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), semi -persistent reporting on PUCCH, semi-persistent reporting on physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and aperiodic reporting methods. See e.g., 3GPP TS 38.331, VI 8.0.0, (2023-12); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 18). All of these measurement reports are carried via uplink control information (UCI). The following excerpt from the information element (IE) LTM-CSI-ReportConfig in Clause 6.3.2 of 3GPP TS 38.331, V18.0.0 (2023-12) shows LTM measurement report configurations for each of these reporting types:LTM-CSI-ReportConfig-rl 8 ::= SEQUENCE {Itm-CSI-ReportConfigld-r 18 LTM-CSI-ReportConfigld-rl 8,Itm-ResourcesForChannelMeasurement-r 18 LTM-CSI-ResourceConfigld-rl 8, Itm-ReportConfigType-rl 8 CHOICE {periodic-rl 8 SEQUENCE {reportSlotConfig-rl 8 CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, pucch-CSI-ResourceList-rl 8 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofBWPs)) OF PUCCH-CSI-Resource},semiPersistentOnPUCCH-r 18 SEQUENCE {reportSlotConfig-rl 8 CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, pucch-CSI-ResourceList-rl 8 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofBWPs)) OF PUCCH-CSI-Resource},semiPersistentOnPUSCH-r 18 SEQUENCE {reportSlotConfig-rl 8 CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, reportSlotOffsetList-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (L. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl 6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O-2-rl 8 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl 6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O- 1 -r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl 6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),pOalpha PO-PUSCH-AlphaSetld},aperiodic-rl 8 SEQUENCE {reportSlotOffsetList-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl 6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O-2-rl 8 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl 6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O- 1 -r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl 6)) OF INTEGER (0..128)}},Itm-ReportContent-rl 8 LTM-ReportContent-rl 8,}LTM-ReportContent-rl 8 ::= SEQUENCE {nrOfReportedCells-rl 8 ENUMERATED { nl ,n2,n3,n4 } , nrOfReportedRS-PerCell-rl8 ENUMERATED {nl,n2,n3,n4}, spCelllnclusion-rl 8 ENUMERATED {true}

[0029] As indicated in the above except from the IE LTM-CSI-ReportConfig, the periodic report in LTM can only be carried via PUCCH and the associated PUCCH resource configuration for report transmission, reporting periodicity, and offset are provided via RRC configuration in the serving cell. The semi-persistent report in LTM can be carried via PUSCH or PUCCH, and the transmission of semi-persistent report is activated via MAC CE. Aperiodic report in LTM can only be carried via PUSCH and the transmission of the aperiodic LTM channel state information (CSI) report is polled via downlink control information (DCI).

[0030] A 3 GPP Rel-19 work item for LTM aims to remove limitations in Rel-18 LTM. One of the objectives for the Rel. 19 work item description (WID) is “NR mobility enhancements Phase 4”, RP-241515, New WID: NR mobility enhancements Phase 4, 3 GPP TSG RAN Meeting #104, Shanghai, China, June 17-20, 2024 as shown below:Measurements related enhancements for purpose of supporting LTM: [RAN2, RANI]• Measurement related enhancements are applicable to Intra-CU MCG / SCG LTM and Inter-CU MCG / SCG LTM• Specify necessary components to support event triggered LI measurement reporting [RAN2, RANI].• Specify support for channel state information reference signal (CSLRS) measurements for LTM procedures and enable CSLRS based beam management [RANI]• Specify CSI acquisition on candidate cell(s) based on CSLRS before or during LTM cell switch [RAN 1 ]As part of the “Measurements-related enhancements” in LTM, ReL19 LTM defines “Event-triggered LI -Reporting” in LTM to address the following issues:• Excessive energy consumption at the UE due to high reporting overhead in periodic and semi-persistent LI -report types in LTM.• Inefficient use of UL resources in periodic and semi-persistent LI -report types in LTM.• If the reporting interval in the periodic and semi-persistent LI -reports is increased in LTM to enhance energy and UL resource efficiency, it may result in handover failures and / or radio link failures (RLF) due to delayed updates in the channel quality at the network.• Aperiodic LI -report in LTM may result in RLF if the report is not requested by the network in a timely manner.

[0031] It has been agreed that MAC CE shall be used as a report container to carry the event-triggered LTM measurement reports.

[0032] A beam failure recovery (BFR) process in 5G NR is used to maintain connectivity when a UE experiences beam failure due to blockage, mobility, or signal degradation. A BFR process can enable the UE to recover communication with the network by selecting an alternative beam or cell without triggering a full radio link failure (RLF) and subsequent reestablishment.

[0033] In an example BFR process, the UE continuously monitor the quality of active beams using Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) from serving cell reference signals (e.g., SSB or CSLRS). If the UE detects a beam failure, the UE attempts to find a suitable alternative beam. The UE may send a beam failure indication (BFI) MAC CE to indicate the failure to the gNB. The UE searches for potentialgood quality beams from beam measurements or a beam sweeping procedure to find a viable replacement. The UE transmits a BFR MAC CE which carries information about the selected candidate beam that the UE intends to use for recovery. The gNB processes the BFR request and responds with necessary configuration adjustments, allowing the UE to resume communication on the recovered beam without triggering a full connection re-establishment. See e.g., 3GPP TS 38.300, V18.4.0 (2025-01); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and next generation-radio access network (NG-RAN) Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 18).

[0034] When beam failure occurs on the PCell (a primary cell in Long Term Evolution (LTE) or a primary master cell group (MCG) cell in NR), the UE initiates a random-access procedure to recover, prioritizing dedicated contention-free random-access (CFRA) resources if provided by the gNB. If contention-based random-access (CBRA) is used, the UE includes a BFR MAC CE indicating the failure. For secondary cell (SCell) beam failure, the UE directly transmits a BFR MAC CE, selecting a suitable beam if available and providing failure details. The SCell recovery completes when the UE receives a PDCCH UL grant for a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process associated with the BFR MAC CE transmission. If beam failure is detected on a beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS) set, the UE transmits a BFR MAC CE, indicating whether a new beam is found along with failure details. See e.g., 3GPP TS 38.300, V18.4.0 (2025-01); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and next generation-radio access network (NG-RAN) Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 18).

[0035] The BFR MAC CE can be multiplexed with the other MAC CEs and other radio link control (RLC) protocol data units (PDUs) in the available UL grant dedicated for the UE. However, the BFR MAC CE is given high priority and should be included before lower-priority MAC CEs or RLC PDUs if UL resources are limited. If the UE does not have an uplink grant, it may trigger a Scheduling Request (SR) using the dedicated SR resources to request UL grant for sending BFR MAC CE. If the UE cannot send the BFR MAC CE due to no available UL resources, it will initiate a random access (RA) procedure to request uplink resources via CFRA or CBRA resources. See e.g., 3GPP TS 38.321, VI 8.4.0 (2025-01); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; 5G; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 18).

[0036] There currently exist certain challenge(s). According to agreements in LTM ReL 19 “Measurement-related enhancements” work item (WI), RP-241515, New WID: NR mobility enhancements Phase 4, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #104, Shanghai, China, June 17-20, 2024, the transmission of the event-triggered measurement report MAC CE is prioritized over the transmission of data from any other logical channel, e.g., RLC PDUs. Also, both the event-triggered measurement report MAC CE and the BFR MAC CE share the same logical channel priority (LCP) for being transmitted in the available UL grant:RAN2#129 Agreement:The Measurement Report MAC CE is transmitted with a higher LCP than 'data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH'The Measurement Report MAC CE is transmitted with the same LCH priority as MAC CE for (Enhanced) BFR

[0037] However, there has been no discussion about ways of scheduling both / either of the measurement report MAC CE or BFR MAC CE in each UL scheduling grant. The LTM measurement report MAC CE and the BFR MAC CE are used for different procedures. Upon receiving the LTM measurement report MAC CE, the network performs LTM cell switch to a different cell while upon receiving a BFR MAC CE, the network initiates a BFR procedure within the serving cell. Therefore, it is important for the network to receive the right information at the correct time to make the intra-cell or inter-cell handover decisions without causing significant user plane (UP) interruption.

[0038] The lack of framework for multiplexing both / either of the LTM measurement report MAC CE or BFR MAC CE in the given UL grant may cause different challenges in different scenarios including, for example:• For a UE at the cell edges, the scenario in which the beam quality for the indicated beam as well as the beam(s) / RS in the BFD-RS set deteriorates leading to the simultaneous initiation of the BFR procedure and the fulfilment of the LTM event condition(s). In such case, the UE may prefer sending both the LTM measurement report MAC CE as well as the BFR MAC CE if the available UL grant can accommodate both the MAC CEs plus their respective headers. However, if the available UL grant can accommodate only one of the MAC CEs, the UE cannot determine the MAC CE to be transmitted if both the MAC CEs have the same LCP.

[0039] Further, while the UE can multiplex two MAC CE within the same MAC PDU, if the grant is big enough, there are other cases where the grant available at the UE is quite small and the UE needs to make a choice and select only one of the MAC CEs to include in the MAC PDU.

[0040] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. Some embodiments include a method that is implemented in a UE to multiplex the transmission of an event-triggered measurement report MAC CE and BFR MAC CE in an available UL grant.

[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] Methods herein are applicable for LTM. As used herein, the term “L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility (LTM)” includes as it is defined in 3 GPP Release 18, but also may be interchangeable and replaced with the terms “L1 / L2 mobility”, “LI -mobility”, “LI based mobility”, “Ll / L2-centric inter-cell mobility”, “L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility”, “Ll / L2-Triggered Mobility (LTM)”, “Lower-layer triggered Mobility” or “LTM”.

[0043] A principle of LTM is that a UE receives a lower layer signaling from the network (e.g., a MAC CE) indicating to the UE a change, a switch, or an activation of its serving cell. The serving cell can be, e.g., a PCell or a PSCell (a primary secondary cell in LTE or a primary secondary cell group (SCG) cell in NR). A lower layer signaling is a message / signaling carried via a lower layer protocol, which may be referred as a L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility execution command or a LTM cell switch command. Before the UE receives the LTM cell switch command, the UE is configured by the network with one or more LTM candidate cell configurations (e.g., reception of an RRC Reconfiguration message, with at least one LTM candidate cell configuration). An LTM candidate cell configuration may include parameters in the IE CellGroupConfig per candidate cell and / or an embedded RRC Reconfiguration per LTM candidate cell. An LTM configuration may include one or multiple of the following type of elements where each element contains a configuration of one aspect of LTM, for example as follows:• LTM candidate cell configuration(s),• Inter-central unit (CU) LTM candidate cell configuration(s),Lower layer information, such as physical layer configuration, MAC layer configuration or radio link control (RLC) layer configuration, Cell Group configuration, serving cell configuration.• Higher layer information, such as RRC protocol parameters, such as timer values, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer configuration, radio bearer configuration or measurement configuration• Configuration of measurements for LTM• Configuration for measurement reports for LTM• Channel state information (CSI) resource configuration(s) for LTM• CSI report configuration for LTM• Configurations of early synchronization procedures, such aso Configurations for DL pre-sync for LTM, such as configurations for early TCI state activationo Configurations for UL pre-sync for LTM, such as configurations for reception of PDCCH ordered triggered preamble transmission and reception of TA.• Configurations for the execution of an LTM cell switch procedure for a given LTM candidate cell configuration or inter-CU LTM candidate cell configuration (e.g., whether to perform a random access procedure, whether to perform a RLC reestablishment, or MAC reset, or PDCP recovery), a timer value, configured UL grants, dedicated random access (RA) preambles.• A configuration which the UE needs to start to operate accordingly when it performs an LTM cell switch procedure to an LTM candidate cell which is controlled by a different base station, e.g. gNB, from the current source base station, e.g. serving gNB ofthe UE.• Information to perform security key refresh, e.g. the RRC IE MasterKeyUpdate or a RRC IE RadioBearerConfig that includes Security Config withSecurity AlgorithmConfig.Indication to perform a full configuration, e.g. the RRC field fullConfig.Indication to perform L2 re-establishment, such as an indication to perform PDCP reestablishment for one or multiple bearers

[0044] An LTM candidate cell is a cell on which the UE may be configured to perform lower layer measurements, such as LI reference signal received power (RSRP), on the synchronization signal block (SSB) and / or channel state information reference signal (CSL RS), e.g., LTM CSI measurements. Lower layer measurements are measurements reported to support lower layer procedures such as beam management, TCI state activations / deactivations, early TA acquisition, and link adaptation; and they are not filtered based on Layer 3 (L3) parameters, although there may, or may not, be some filtering of these measurements based on lower layer parameters. The UE reports these measurements, and the network can take an educated decision on which beam (e.g., TCI state) and / or cell the UE is to be switched to. In the case of an LTM fast failure recovery, when a failure is detected, the UE selects a cell and when the cell is an LTM candidate cell, the UE does not have to perform re-establishment, but instead performs an LTM cell switch towards the selected LTM candidate cell e.g., by applying the LTM candidate cell configuration associated to the selected LTM candidate cell.

[0045] An LTM cell switch procedure or LTM execution procedure may be triggered in the UE by reception of an LTM cell switch command (e.g., LTM Cell Switch MAC CE), or alternatively, triggered in response to the detection of a failure, e.g. in case of LTM fast failure recovery. An LTM candidate cell refers to a cell the UE is configured with when configured with Ll / L2-triggered mobility. That is, a cell the UE can move to in an LTM cell switch procedure upon reception of an LTM cell switch command. Such cells may also be referred to as candidate cell(s), candidates, candidate target cell, implied target cell, mobility candidates, non-serving cells, additional cells, or deactivated cells etc. An LTM candidate cell may also pertain to a candidate cell in a 5G radio access technology (RAT) such as NR or a sixth generation (6G) RAT.

[0046] The reference signals on which lower layer measurements are performed can be provided in the LTM CSLSSB Resource Set, under LTM CSI Resource Configuration. A resource identifier for a reference signal resource, such as a serving cell or an LTM candidate cell SSB-Index or CSLRS-Resource ID, can uniquely identify the resource in the LTM configuration and among all the serving and LTM candidate cells. The resource identifier can be understood by both the UE and the serving gNB. In the context of LTM, the reference signal resource identifier can be as described by the field LTM-CSLS SB -ResourceSet in TS 38.331 V18.2.0:LTM-CSI-SSB-ResourceSet-rl8 ::= SEQUENCE {ltm-CSI-SSB-ResourceList-rl8 SEQUENCE {SIZE (1. .maxNrofLTM- CSI-SSB-ResourcePerSet-rl8)} OF SSB-Indexltm-CandidateIDList-rl8 SEQUENCE {SIZE (L.maxNrofLTM- CSI-SSB-ResourcePerSet-rl8)} OF LTM-CandidateId-rl8

[0047] In an example, the ith position of the list in the field Itm-CSI-SSB-ResourceList indicates the SSB ID of the reference signal resource, while the same ith position of the list in the field Itm-CandidateldList indicates to which LTM candidate configuration index the SSB belongs to.

[0048] In some examples, the ‘measurement configuration’ may correspond to an LTM resource configuration , and / or a resource set configuration, which the UE receives in an RRC Reconfiguration or RRC Resume message. Each ‘LTM resource’ to be measured and to be possibly reported (depending on further rules as discussed herein) corresponds to a reference signal indication (e.g., an SSB index and / or a CSI-RS resource indication) and its associated LTM Candidate Identity (ID), to indicate a specific RS (e.g., SSB index) of an LTM candidate.

[0049] A measurement configuration (e.g., resource configuration, resource set configuration), in some examples, is associated with a reporting configuration or LTM reporting configuration, by including within a reporting configuration an indication of a resource configuration or a resource set configuration. For example, when the reporting configuration is configured in the IE LTM-ReportConfig, the instance of the IE LTM-ReportConfig includes a resource configuration or resource set configuration identifier, pointing to the associated measurement configuration.

[0050] Some examples include the ‘measurement reporting configuration’, or reporting configuration corresponding to an LTM reporting configuration the UE receives in an RRC Reconfiguration or RRC Resume message, in which an event for triggering an LTM measurement report (e.g. over MAC CE and / or UCI) is configured. An event, for example, can be defined as “a measurement quantity (e.g., LI RSRP) of an SSB or CSI-RS or beam of an LTM candidate cell becomes an offset better than the same measurement quantity (e.g. LI RSRP) of an serving SSB (e.g. SSB of the PCell associated to an activated and / or indicated TCI state)”. The actual SSBs of the LTM candidate cell(s) to be measured can be configured in the measurement configuration, or resource set or resource configuration, associated to that LTM reporting configuration. Additionally or alternatively, the event definition is like one or more conditions to be evaluated. As per 3 GPP Rel-18 LTM, the different types of measurement reports in LTM include periodic reporting, semi-persistent reporting, and aperiodic reporting.However, 3GPP Rel-19 also introduces event-triggered report type in LTM which is transmitted upon the fulfilment of the associated event condition(s).

[0051] An LI event type in LTM can be a class of events, e.g. LTM2, LTM3, LTM4, LTM5. An LI event or event instance can be an instance of an event type, e.g. an LTM3 event configured with certain parameters such as offset, threshold, time-to-trigger (TTT) etc., and associated with an LTM resource configuration. An LI event identifier uniquely can identify an event instance and can be understood by both the UE and the serving gNB. The condition(s) defined in the LTM events can also be referred to herein as triggering condition(s), event condition(s), LTM event condition(s), event trigger condition(s) or trigger condition(s).

[0052] A measurement quantity can refer to either a Ll-RSRP from SS-RSRP or CSL RSRP; an LI- signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) from SS-SINR or CSLSINR; or a LI - reference signal received quality (RSRQ) from SS-RSRQ or CSLRSRQ.

[0053] A measurement quantity value can refer to the value which the UE reports for the measurement quantity of an SSB or a CSLRS resource. In 3GPP Rel-18, LTM LI -reporting, the measurement quantity is primarily the SS-RSRP for the LTM measurement resource with the highest measurement and differential SS-RSRP value(s) with respect to the highest SS-RSRP measurement. A triggering measurement quantity value for an event can be a measurement quantity value that meets the conditions for the event throughout the TTT duration and hence triggers the UE to send the measurement report.

[0054] The term “LTM reports” herein includes a lower layer report, a lower layer measurement report, lower layer reporting, LI -report, LI -measurement report, LI event triggered measurement report, and / or LI -reporting, “LTM report” herein also may be interchangeable and replaced with the term “LTM measurement report”. The term “event-triggered LTM reports” herein is interchangeable and may be replaced with the terms event-triggered LI -report, event-triggered LI -measurement report, event-triggered lower layer measurement report, event-triggered lower layer reporting, event-triggered Ll-reporting, Ll-measurement report, LI event triggered measurement report, LTM measurement report, and / or LTM event triggered measurement report interchangeably.

[0055] The term “cell” herein is used to identify a location, or coverage, on which the UE is located. Additionally or alternatively, the term “cell” can also be exchanged without any loss of meaning with the terms “radio resources”, “beams”, “TCI state”, or “tracking reference signal (TRS)”. For example, the method of some embodiments does not target specifically a scenario where there is a cell, but rather when a UE uses a set of source radio resources and needs to switch to a target set of radio resources. In such a case, radio resource can also identifya set of configurations, field, parameters, or ASN.1 structures or IES. The terms “non-fulfilling beams” or “non-fulfilling reference signals” herein can include the SSB-RS / CSI-RS which do not fulfil the condition(s) defined for the given LTM event. Moreover, the term “first network node” herein refers to a source cell / serving cell / source gNB -distributed unit (DU) / source SU (S-DU).

[0056] In the context of some embodiments, a “triggered cell” refers to a triggered LTM candidate cell, which is an LTM candidate cell for which a beam, or reference signal (e.g., CSI-RS, SSB) or synchronization signal (e.g., SSB) transmitted in a beam, fulfill a triggering condition for transmitting a measurement report. A triggered LTM candidate cell may have been configured as part of the LTM resource configuration.

[0057] In the context of some embodiments, a “triggered beam / triggering beam” refers to a beam of a triggered LTM candidate cell, e.g., a beam, or reference signal (e.g. CSI-RS, SSB) or synchronization signal (e.g. SSB) transmitted in abeam, which fulfills a triggering condition for transmitting an LTM measurement report. A triggered beam may have been configured as part of the LTM resource configuration and associated to an LTM candidate cell.

[0058] Further, in the context of some embodiments, a “selected beam for BFR” refers to the beam which belongs to a UE’s serving cell, e.g., a special cell (SpCell) that is the primary cell of a MCG or SCG, and is selected by the UE as a candidate beam in the serving cell used for the BFR procedure. In other words, upon the completion of BFR procedure, the network may potentially allocate the “selected beam for BFR” to the UE as an alternative serving beam.

[0059] Some non-limiting embodiments are applied to “LTM”, “LTM candidate cell”, “LTM event”, “LTM measurement configuration (e.g., LTM CSLSSB Resource Set)”, or “LTM reporting configuration”. However, the present disclosure is not so limited and includes, without limitation, applying the method(s) a case when LTM is “conditional”. In this case, a main difference between an LTM candidate cell and a conditional LTM (CLTM) candidate cell is when the LTM candidate cell configuration includes execution conditions, the UE can trigger an LTM cell switch procedure when such conditions are fulfilled. Therefore, in this case, the method(s) of some embodiments also can be applied to “CLTM”, “CLTM candidate cell”, “CLTM event”, “CLTM resource configuration”, or “CLTM reporting configuration.

[0060] In some embodiments, the term “truncated BFR MAC CE” is interchangeable and may be replaced with the term “segmented BFR MAC CE”, and the term “truncated LTM measurement report MAC CE” is interchangeable and may be replaced with the term “segmented LTM measurement report MAC CE”. Both terms, truncated and segmented, identify a case where the UE has a list of reference list or a BFR, but such measurements orBFR do not fit in a single LTM measurement report or BRR report (e.g., because the available UL grant is too small).

[0061] Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating operations of a wireless device according to some embodiments.

[0062] Referring to Figure 2, some embodiments are directed to a method performed by a wireless device. The method includes performing 200 measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device. The method further includes, when one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, determining 202 to transmit an event triggered LTM measurement report.

[0063] In an example, a UE is configured with an LTM candidate cell (e.g., one or more LTM cells), and an LTM measurement resource configuration which indicates a set of reference signals to measure (e.g., each indicated by an SSB index and its associated LTM candidate cell ID) and an LTM reporting configuration configuring one or more LTM events (or in more general terms, an event- triggered LTM measurement report), each of them with one or more conditions to be evaluated by the UE. In this example, the UE performs measurements on one or more reference signals (e.g., SSB(s) of an LTM candidate cell and / or of a serving cell) according to the measurement configuration that the UE receives. A beam includes a reference signal(s); and the term “reference signal” herein is interchangeable with and can be replaced with the term “beams”. When conditions are fulfilled for an event, the UE determines to transmit an event-triggered LTM measurement report.

[0064] In some embodiments, the configuration includes a LTM candidate cell, an LTM measurement resource configuration that indicates the plurality of reference signals to measure, and an LTM reporting configuration that configures one or more LTM events that respectively comprise the one or more conditions to be evaluated by the wireless device.

[0065] In other embodiments, the configuration includes a PCell, at least one secondary cell (SCell), and / or at least one BFD-RS set containing at least one BFR-RS to measure on. Performing 200 includes performing a measurement on a reference signal in at least one of the PCell and / or SCell according to a respective corresponding measurement resource configuration in the configuration; performing 200 further includes performing a measurement on the at least one BFR-RS provided in the configured at least one BFD-RS set, and the method further includes: triggering 204 a BFR procedure upon detecting a beam failure on the reference signal in at least one of the PCell and / or the at least one SCell and / or in the at least one BFD-RS set.

[0066] In an example, a UE is configured with a PCell and one or more SCell(s), and one or two BFD reference signal (BDF-RS) sets containing BFR-RSs, e.g., SSB or CSI-RS, to measure on, and the method includes performing measurements on the indicated beams / reference signals in the PCell and SCell(s) according to their corresponding measurement resource configuration; performing measurements on the beams / reference signals provided in the configured BFD-RS set(s); and triggering a BFR procedure upon detecting the beam failures on the indicated beam(s) / reference signal(s) within the PCell, SCell(s) and / or BFD-RS set(s).

[0067] In other embodiments, the event includes an ETM event, and the method further includes upon detection of (i) a beam failure on a reference signal in at least one of a PCell and / or a SCell and / or in at least one BFD-RS set, and (ii) that the one or more conditions are fulfilled for the event, initiating 206 transmission of a BFR MACCE and a ETM measurement report MAC CE. The method further includes, when a configured uplink grant is sufficient to accommodate one of the BFR MAC CE and the LTM measurement report MAC CE, transmitting 208 either the BFR MAC CE or the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the configured uplink grant.

[0068] In an example, upon detecting beam failure and the fulfilment of the LTM event condition(s), the UE initiates the transmission of BFR MAC CE and LTM measurement report MAC CE but the available UL grant is only sufficient to accommodate only of the MAC CEs. That is, the UE can either transmit BFR MAC CE (plus MAC header) or the LTM measurement report MAC CE (plus MAC header) in the configured UL grant.

[0069] In other embodiments, the wireless device prioritizes transmission of the MAC CE as determined by a quality of the measurements of a LTM candidate cell beam and a selected beam for BFR in the SCell or the BFD-RS set.

[0070] For example, a UE prioritizes the transmission of the MAC CE as determined by the quality of the LTM candidate cell beam(s) and the selected beam for BFR in the SCell or the BFD-RS set. In one embodiment, the beam quality, e.g., the Ll-RSRP measurement, for the LTM candidate cell beam is better than the quality of the selected beam for BFR. In such a scenario, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the available UL grant. In another embodiment, the beam quality, e.g., the Ll-RSRP measurement, for the selected beam for BFR is better than the quality of the LTM candidate cell beam. In such a scenario, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the BFR MAC CE in the available UL grant.

[0071] To measure this, for example, multiple simulations may be performed where a UE is provided with at least a candidate configuration which includes multiple reference signals to be measured and with the BFD-RS set containing one or more BFD reference signals. In this example, the event condition(s) associated to the ETM event are fulfilled, the UE undergoes the BFD and the subsequent BFR procedure, the ETM candidate cell beam measures better than the selected beam for the BFR (or vice versa), and the available UE grant for the UE can accommodate either only the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE. It is then observed that the UE transmits the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the available UL grant.

[0072] In other embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether a DL pre-synchronization has been performed with a LTM candidate beam that triggered the LTM event and / or a UL pre-synchronization has been carried out for the LTM candidate cell which includes the LTM candidate beam that triggered the LTM event.

[0073] For example, a UE determines the transmission of either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depending upon whether the DL pre-synchronization has been performed with a LTM candidate beam that triggered the LTM event and / or UL presynchronization has been carried out for the LTM candidate cell which includes the triggered beam. In one embodiment, there has not been any UL and / or DL pre-synchronization performed with the LTM candidate cell beam which triggered the LTM event and, therefore, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the BFR MAC CE in the available UL grant. In another embodiment, a UE performed early UL synchronization with the LTM candidate cell which includes the triggered beam and / or has also carried out the early DL synchronization for the triggered beam, e.g., the TCI state associated to the triggered beam has been activated and, therefore, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the available UL grant.

[0074] To measure this, for example, multiple simulations may be performed where a UE is provided with at least a candidate configuration which includes multiple reference signals to be measured and with the BFD-RS set containing one or more BFD reference signals. In this example, the event condition(s) associated to the LTM event are fulfilled, the UE undergoes the BFD and the subsequent BFR procedure, the TCI state associated to the triggered beam is activated and / or the UE has performed an early UL synchronization procedure with the LTM candidate cell containing the triggered beam, and the available UL grant for the UE can accommodate either only the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE. It isthen observed that the UE transmits the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the available UL grant.

[0075] In some embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether an available uplink grant can accommodate the BFR MAC CE or the LTM measurement report MAC CE, and transmission of the MAC CE which can be transmitted in the available UL grant, without truncation or requesting more uplink resources is prioritized.

[0076] In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depending upon whether the available UL grant can accommodate the BFR MAC CE or the LTM measurement report MAC CE. In this example, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the MAC CE which can be transmitted in the given UL grant without any truncation or requesting more UL resources.

[0077] To measure this, for example, multiple simulations may be performed where a UE is provided with at least a candidate configuration which includes multiple reference signals to be measured and with the BFD-RS set containing one or more BFD reference signals. In this example, the event condition(s) associated to the LTM event are fulfilled, the UE undergoes the BFD and the subsequent BFR procedure, and only the BFR MAC CE (or conversely only the LTM measurement report MAC CE) can be transmitted in the available UL scheduling grant. It is then observed that the UE prioritizes the transmission of the BFR MAC CE (or conversely the LTM measurement report MAC CE) in the given UL grant.

[0078] In other embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether an available uplink grant can accommodate a truncated BFR MAC CE or a truncated LTM measurement report MAC CE, and transmission of the truncated MAC CE which can be transmitted in the available uplink grant without requesting more uplink resources.

[0079] In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either a truncated LTM measurement report MAC CE or a truncated BFR MAC CE depending upon whether the available UL grant can accommodate the truncated BFR MAC CE or the truncated measurement report MAC CE. In this example, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the truncated MAC CE which can be transmitted in the given UL grant without requesting more UL resources.

[0080] To measure this, for example, multiple simulations may be performed where a UE is provided with at least a candidate configuration which includes multiple reference signals to be measured and with the BFD-RS set containing one or more BFD reference signals. In thisexample, the event condition(s) associated to the LTM event are fulfilled, the UE undergoes the BFD and the subsequent BFR procedure, and only the truncated ETM measurement report MAC CE (or conversely only the BFR MAC CE) can be transmitted in the available UE scheduling grant. It is then observed that the UE prioritizes the transmission of the LTM measurement report MAC CE (or conversely BFR MAC CR) in the given UL grant.

[0081] In some embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether there is a configured grant (CG) associated to a selected beam for BFR or the LTM candidate beam that triggered the LTM event.

[0082] In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depending upon whether there is any configured grant (CG) associated to the selected beam for BFR or the triggered beam for the LTM event. In one embodiment, the beam / reference signal which triggered the LTM measurement report MAC CE has an associated CG available, given that the UE performs a cell switch to the LTM candidate cell and uses that beam as the serving beam upon cell switch whereas there is not a CG associated to the selected beam for BFR procedure. In that case, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the available UL grant. In another embodiment, the selected beam for the BFR procedure has an associated CG grant available, given that the UE selects that beam upon the completion of the BFR procedure while there is no associated CG available for the beam which triggered the LTM measurement report MAC CE. In that case, the UE prioritizes the transmission of the BFR MAC CE in the available UL grant.

[0083] To measure this, for example, multiple simulations may be performed where a UE is provided with at least a candidate configuration which includes multiple reference signals to be measured and with the BFD-RS set containing one or more BFD reference signals. In this example, the event condition(s) associated to the LTM event are fulfilled, the UE undergoes the BFD and the subsequent BFR procedure, and there is an associated CG available for the beam which triggered the LTM measurement report. It is then observed that the UE transmits the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the available UL grant.

[0084] In other embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether there is a contention free random access (CFRA) resource available for the LTM candidate cell beam which triggered the LTM measurement report MAC CE transmission.

[0085] In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depending upon whether there is any CFRA resourceavailable for the LTM candidate cell beam which triggered the LTM measurement report MAC CE transmission.

[0086] To measure this, for example, multiple simulations may be performed where a UE is provided with at least a candidate configuration which includes multiple reference signals to be measured and with the BFD-RS set containing one or more BFD reference signals. In this example, the event condition(s) associated to the LTM event are fulfilled, the UE undergoes the BFD and the subsequent BFR procedure, and there is at least a CFRA resource available in the triggered beam which fulfills the LTM event condition(s). It is then observed that the UE transmits the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the available UL grant.

[0087] In yet other embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on a size of the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE.

[0088] In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depending on the size of the LTM measurement report MAC CE or BFR MAC CE. In this example, the UE checks the size of the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE (e.g., how many octets) and may decide to send the one which is the biggest. In another example, the UE checks the size of the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE (e.g., how many octets) and may decide to send the one which is the smallest.

[0089] In some embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on how many LTM candidate cells are included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE.

[0090] In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either LTM measurement report MAC CE or BFR MAC CE depending on how many LTM candidate cells are included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE. In this example, if the number of the LTM candidate cell included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE is greater than a threshold T, this means that the UE is at the cell boarder or in an overlapping coverage area and thus moving the UE to a more robust cell can be a priority in this case. Therefore, the sending of the LTM measurement report MAC CE is prioritized in this case. In another example, if the number of the LTM candidate cell included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE is lower than a threshold T, this means that the UE has very limited options for performing a mobility procedure and this may not guarantee that the performance of the UE would be better. In this case, sending BFR MAC CE may be a better option to restore the connectivity with the serving cell.

[0091] In other embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on how many reference signals are included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE.

[0092] In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depending on how many beams are included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE. In this example, if the number of the beams included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE is greater than a threshold T, this means that the UE is at the cell boarder or in an overlapping coverage area and thus moving the UE to a more robust cell can be a priority in this case. Therefore, the sending of the LTM measurement report MAC CE is prioritized in this case. In another example, if the number of the beams included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE is lower than a threshold T, this means that the UE has very limited option for performing a mobility procedure and this may not guarantee that the performance of the UE would be better. In this case, sending BFR MAC CE may be a better option to restore the connectivity with the serving cell.

[0093] In still other embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether the wireless device is configured with dual connectivity.

[0094] In an example, if a UE is configured with dual connectivity, this means that in certain cases (such as BFR happening on a SCG) it is easier for the UE to recover if the serving cell is bad. Therefore, in such cases the UE may decide to send the BFR MAC CE and try to keep the current SCG, if a handover can be avoided. In another example, if the UE is configured with dual connectivity, this means that in certain cases (such as BFR happening on a master cell group (MCG)) is important to avoid the RRC re-establishment procedure if the serving cell is bad. Therefore, in such cases the UE may decide to send the LTM measurement report MAC CE and try to change the current MCG.

[0095] In yet other embodiments, transmitting 208 either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether the wireless device is configured with carrier aggregation. In an example, a UE determines the transmission of either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depending on whether the UE is configured with carrier aggregation.

[0096] Operations 204-208 of Figure 2 may be optional with respect to some embodiments of wireless devices and related methods.

[0097] Operations discussed with reference to the flow chart of Figure 2 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by a wireless device (implementedusing the structure of Figure 5). For example, modules may be stored in memory 510, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by respective computing device processing circuitry 502, wireless device 500 performs respective operations of the flow chart.

[0098] In certain embodiments, a wireless device (312, 412, 500) includes processing circuitry 502; and at least one memory 510 connected to the processing circuitry and storing instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to perform operations. The operations include to perform some or all of the functionality described herein.

[0099] As discussed herein, certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. A comprehensive framework is provided for a wireless device to multiplex either / both the BFR MAC CE and the LTM measurement report MAC CE when the UL scheduling resources to transmit both the MAC CEs are limited. A further technical advantage of some embodiments may include that the network is informed of either / both the measurements for the LTM candidate cells and the selected beam for a BFR procedure, depending upon the more suitable procedure (LTM or BFR) to retain the network connectivity. Yet another technical advantage of some embodiments may include that the network receives information about the channel conditions at the UE in a timely way and can make better handover or BFR decisions.

[0100] Figure 3 shows an example of a communication system 300 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0101] In the example, the communication system 300 includes a telecommunications network 302 that includes an access network 304, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 306, which includes one or more core network nodes 308. The access network 304 includes one or more access network nodes or base stations of various types, access network nodes 310A and 310B are depicted (which may be collectively referred to as network nodes 310), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (APs). Some embodiments of the access network 304 may include more than one access network technology. The network nodes 310 of access network 304 facilitate direct or indirect connection of wireless devices, also referred to as user equipments (UEs), such as by connecting UEs 312A, 312B, 312C, and 312D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 312) to the core network 306 over one or more wireless connections.

[0102] 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 302 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a network node in the telecommunications network 302 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 302, including one or more access network nodes 310 and / or core network nodes 308.

[0103] 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 O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies.

[0104] The network nodes 310 facilitate direct or indirect connection of one or more UEs 312 to the core network 306 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 300 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 300 may include and / orinterface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0105] The UEs 312 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 310 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 308, 310 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., via other devices of telecommunications network 302) with the UEs 312 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunications network 302 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 302. More specifically, UEs 312 may send messages, data, and / or other signals to network nodes 308, 310 or other elements of the telecommunications network 302 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 308, 310 may send messages, data, and other signals to UEs 3122, other network nodes 308, 310, and other devices in telecommunications network 302 directly or indirectly. As one specific example, a core network node 108 may transmit a particular message to a UE 312 by transmitting the message to an access network node 310 that will then transmit the message to the intended UE 312. Similarly, a core network node 108 may receive a particular message from a UE 312 by receiving the message from an access network node 310 that itself received the message from the UE 312.

[0106] In the depicted example, the core network 306 connects elements of the access network 304 (e.g., one or more of the network nodes 310) to one or more host computing systems, such as host 316. 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 306 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 308) of various types, one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 308. Network nodes 308 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 308. 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 MobilityManagement 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).

[0107] The host 316 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 304 and / or the telecommunications network 302. The host 316 may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 316 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.

[0108] As a whole, the communication system 300 of Figure 3 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 300 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / 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) 502.11 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 300 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 300 supporting different standards, protocols, or rule sets.

[0109] As one example, in certain embodiments, access network 304 may contain some access network nodes 310 that support 3GPP radio access technologies (RAT), such as LTE or NR, while other access network nodes 310 support (or the same access network nodes 310 additionally support) non-3GPP RATs, such as Wi-Fi or a proprietary RAT. As another example, telecommunications network 302 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.

[0110] Telecommunications network 302 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunications network 302. For example, the telecommunications network 302 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.

[0111] In some examples, one or more of the UEs 312 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 304 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 304. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi- standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0112] In the example, the hub 314 communicates with the access network 304 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 312C and / or 312D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 310B). In some examples, the hub 314 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 314 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 306 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 314 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 310, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 314.

[0113] As another example, the hub 314 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 314 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 314 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 314 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 314acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0114] The hub 314 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 310B. The hub 314 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 314 and UEs (e.g., UE 312C and / or 312D), and between the hub 314 and the core network 306. In other examples, the hub 314 is connected to the core network 306 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 314 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 304 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 310 while still connected via the hub 314 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 314 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 310B. In other embodiments, the hub 314 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 310B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0115] Figure 4 is another example of a communication system 400 according to some embodiments. As used herein, the communication system 400 includes multiple access points (APs) 410 (with four exemplary APs 410A, 410B, 410C, and 410D being depicted) and multiple wireless devices, referred to in the context of communication system 400 as stations (STAs) 412 (referred to individually as STA 412A, STA 412B, STA 412C, STA 412D, and STA 412E). STA 412A is served by AP 410A in a first basic service set (BSS) 420A. STA 410B and STA 410C are served by AP 410B in a second BSS, BSS 420B. STA 412D is served by AP 410C in a third BSS, BSS 420C. STA 412E is served by AP 410D in a fourth BSS, BSS 420D. Stations 412 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 412 could, for example, correspond to other kinds of equipment like smart home devices, printers, multimedia devices, data storage devices, or the like.

[0116] Each of STAs 412 may connect through a radio link to one of APs 410. For example, depending on location or channel conditions experienced by a given STA 412, 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 afrequency 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.

[0117] Each AP 410 may provide data connectivity to STAs 412 connected to a particular AP 410. As illustrated, APs 410 may be connected to a data network 430. In this way, APs 410 may also provide data connectivity between STAs 412 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 412 and its serving AP 410 may be used for providing various kinds of services to STA 412, e.g., a voice service, a multimedia service, or other data service. Such services may be based on applications that are executed on STA 412 and / or on a device linked to STA 412. By way of example, Figure 4 illustrates an application service platform 432 provided in data network 430. The application(s) executed on STA 412 and / or on one or more other devices linked to STA 412 may use the radio link for data communication with one or more other STA 412 and / or the application service platform 432, thereby enabling utilization of the corresponding service(s) at STA 412.

[0118] Figure 5 shows a wireless device 500, which may be configured to operate in communication system 300 of Figure 3 or in communication system 400 of Figure 4. The wireless device 500 may be alternatively referred to as a UE 500, like a UE 312 within the context of communication system 300, or as a station (STA) 500 or as a non-access-point station (non-AP STA) 500, like a STA 412 within the context of the communication system 400, 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.

[0119] A wireless device 500 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 500 may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, wireless device 500 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 500 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).

[0120] In particular embodiments, wireless device 500 includes processing circuitry 502 that is operatively coupled via a bus 504 to an input / output interface 506, a power source 508, a memory 510, a communication interface 512, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain embodiments of wireless device 500 may include all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 5. The level of integration between the components may vary from one embodiment of wireless device 500 to another. In general, in a particular embodiment of wireless device 500, processing circuitry 502, input / output interface 506, power source 508, memory 510, and communication interface 512 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 500. Further, certain embodiments of wireless devices 500 may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0121] The processing circuitry 502 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 510. The processing circuitry 502 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 502 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0122] In the example, the input / output interface 506 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 wirelessdevice 500. 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.

[0123] In some embodiments, the power source 508 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 508 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 508 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of wireless device 500 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power source 508 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to make accessible power suitable for the respective components of the wireless device 500 to which power is supplied.

[0124] The memory 510 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 510 includes one or more programs 514, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 516. The memory 510 may store, for use by wireless device 500, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0125] The memory 510 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 universalintegrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a US IM and / or IS IM, 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 510 may allow wireless device 500 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 510, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0126] The processing circuitry 502 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network via or using the communication interface 512. The communication interface 512 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 522. The communication interface 512 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another wireless device or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 518 and / or a receiver 520 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 518 and receiver 520 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 522) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0127] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 512 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication (e.g., according to an IEEE 502.11 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 502.11, 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.

[0128] In particular embodiments, wireless device 500 may provide an output of data captured via a sensor, through its communication interface 512, via a wireless connection to a network node, and / or in any appropriate manner. Data captured by sensors of a wireless device500 can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another wireless device 500. 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).

[0129] As another example, wireless device 500 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 500 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.

[0130] Wireless device 500, 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 500 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 500 shown in Figure 5.

[0131] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, wireless device 500 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 500 may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPPcontext be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, wireless device 500 may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, wireless device 500 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.

[0132] In practice, any number of wireless devices 500 may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first wireless device 500 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 500 that is a remote controller operating the drone. When a user makes changes from the remote controller, the first wireless device 500 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 500 can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, wireless device 500 might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0133] Figure 6 shows a network node 600 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 600 may be configured to operate in communication system 300 of Figure 3, like network nodes 308 or 310, or in communication system 400 of Figure 4, like an AP 410 or a station 412. 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).

[0134] Network nodes 600 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 600 may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. Network nodes 600 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).

[0135] Other examples of network nodes 600 include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi- standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0136] In particular embodiments, network node 600 includes a processing circuitry 602, a memory 604, a communication interface 606, and a power source 608. In general, in a particular embodiment of network node 600, processing circuitry 602, memory 604, communication interface 606, and power source 608 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 600.

[0137] The network node 600 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 600 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 600 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memories 604 or portions of memory 604 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 610 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 600 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 600, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi (e.g., according to an IEEE 502.11 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 600.

[0138] The processing circuitry 602 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 logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other components, such as the memory 604, to provide network node 600 functionality.

[0139] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 602 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 602 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 612 and baseband processing circuitry 614. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 612 and the baseband processing circuitry 614 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 612 and baseband processing circuitry 614 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0140] The memory 604 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 computerexecutable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 602. The memory 604 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 602 and utilized by the network node 600. The memory 604 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 602 and / or any data received via the communication interface 606. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 602 and memory 604 is integrated.

[0141] The communication interface 606 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 606 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 616 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. In particular embodiments, network node 500 may be capable of wireless communication and communication interface 606 may also include radio front-end circuitry 618 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, an antenna 610. Particular embodiments of radio front-end circuitry 618 include filter(s) 620 and amplifier(s) 622. The radio front-end circuitry 618 may be connected to an antenna 610 and processing circuitry 602. The radio frontend circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 610 and processing circuitry 602. The radio front-end circuitry 618 may receive digital data that is tobe sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 618 may convert the digital data into a radio signal(s) having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 620 and / or amplifiers 622. The radio signal(s) may then be transmitted via the antenna 610. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 610 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 618. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 602. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0142] In certain alternative embodiments, network node 600 may be capable of wireless communication but does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 618, instead, the processing circuitry 602 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 610. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 612 is part of the communication interface 606. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 606 includes one or more ports or terminals 616, the radio front-end circuitry 618, and the RF transceiver circuitry 612, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 606 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 614, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0143] The antenna 610 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 610 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 618 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 610 is separate from the network node 600 and connectable to the network node 600 through one or more interfaces or ports.

[0144] The antenna 610, communication interface 606, and / or the processing circuitry 602 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 600. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 610, the communication interface 606, and / or the processing circuitry 602 may be configured to perform some or all of the transmitting or sending operations described herein as being performed by the network node 600. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0145] The power source 608 provides power to the various components of network node 600 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 608 may further comprise, or be coupledto, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 600 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 600 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 608. As a further example, the power source 608 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.

[0146] Embodiments of the network node 600 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 6 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 600 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 600 and to allow output of information from the network node 600. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 600.

[0147] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 700 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 700 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 700 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.

[0148] Applications 702 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 700 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0149] Hardware 704 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 706 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VM 708A and VM 708B (which may be collectively referred to as VMs 708), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 706 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to one or more of the VMs 708.

[0150] The VMs 708 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by virtualization layer 706. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 702 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 708, 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.

[0151] In the context of NFV, each of the VMs 708 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 708, and that part of hardware 704 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 708 on top of the hardware 704 and corresponds to an application 702.

[0152] Hardware 704 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 704 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 704 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 710, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 702. In some embodiments, hardware 704 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. Insome embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 712 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0153] 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 computing devices 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.

[0154] 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.

Claims

1. CLAIMS1. A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: performing (200) measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; andwhen one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, determining (202) to transmit an event triggered layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) measurement report.

2. The method of Claim 1 , wherein the configuration comprises a LTM candidate cell, an LTM measurement resource configuration that indicates the plurality of reference signals to measure, and an LTM reporting configuration that configures one or more LTM events that respectively comprise the one or more conditions to be evaluated by the wireless device.

3. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 2, wherein the configuration comprises a primary cell (PCell), at least one secondary cell (SCell), and / or at least one beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS) set containing at least one beam failure recovery reference signal (BFR-RS) to measure on,wherein performing (200) comprises performing a measurement on a reference signal in at least one of the PCell and / or SCell according to a respective corresponding measurement resource configuration in the configuration,wherein performing (200) further comprises performing a measurement on the at least one BFR-RS provided in the configured at least one BFD-RS set, and the method further comprising:triggering (204) a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure upon detecting a beam failure on the reference signal in at least one of the PCell and / or the at least one SCell and / or in the at least one beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS) set.

4. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the event comprises an LTM event, the method further comprising:upon detection of (i) a beam failure on a reference signal in at least one of a primary cell (PCell) and / or a secondary cell (SCell) and / or in at least one beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS) set, and (ii) that the one or more conditions are fulfilled for theevent, initiating (206) transmission of a beam failure recovery (BFR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and a LTM measurement report MAC CE; andwhen a configured uplink grant is sufficient to accommodate one of the BFR MAC CE and the LTM measurement report MAC CE, transmitting (208) either the BFR MAC CE or the LTM measurement report MAC CE in the configured uplink grant.

5. The method of Claim 4, wherein the wireless device prioritizes transmission of the MAC CE as determined by a quality of the measurements of a LTM candidate cell beam and a selected beam for BFR in the SCell or the BFD-RS set.

6. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 5, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether a downlink pre- synchronization has been performed with a LTM candidate beam that triggered the LTM event and / or a uplink pre-synchronization has been carried out for the LTM candidate cell which includes the LTM candidate beam that triggered the LTM event.

7. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 6, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether an available uplink grant can accommodate the BFR MAC CE or the LTM measurement report MAC CE, and transmission of the MAC CE which can be transmitted in the available UL grant, without truncation or requesting more uplink resources is prioritized.

8. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 7, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether an available uplink grant can accommodate a truncated BFR MAC CE or a truncated LTM measurement report MAC CE, and transmission of the truncated MAC CE which can be transmitted in the available uplink grant without requesting more uplink resources.

9. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 8, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether there is a configured grant (CG) associated to a selected beam for BFR or the LTM candidate beam that triggered the LTM event.

10. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 9, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether there is a contention free random access (CFRA) resource available for the LTM candidate cell beam which triggered the LTM measurement report MAC CE transmission.

11. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 10, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on a size of the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE.

12. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 11, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on how many LTM candidate cells are included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE.

13. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 12, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on how many reference signals are included in the LTM measurement report MAC CE.

14. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 13, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether the wireless device is configured with dual connectivity.

15. The method of any one of Claims 4 to 14, wherein transmitting (208) either the LTM measurement report MAC CE or the BFR MAC CE depends on whether the wireless device is configured with carrier aggregation.

16. A wireless device (312, 412, 500) comprising:processing circuitry (502);memory (510) coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to perform operations comprising:perform measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; andwhen one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, determine to transmit an event triggered layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) measurement report.

17. The wireless device of Claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise any of the operations of Claims 2 to 15.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium (510) including program code (514) to be executed by processing circuitry (502) of a wireless device (312, 412, 500), whereby execution of the program code causes the program code to perform operations comprising:perform measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; andwhen one or more conditions are fulfilled for an event, determine to transmit an event triggered layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) measurement report.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of Claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise any of the operations of Claims 2 to 15.

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