Selecting reference signal measurements to include in truncated mac ce report in ltm

Abstract

This disclosure relates to methods and devices for layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) measurement reporting. In some embodiments, a method includes performing measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device. When one or more conditions are fulfilled for a LTM event, the method includes 5 determining to transmit on an uplink grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a MAC CE report. When an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, the method includes selecting for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements. In some embodiments, selecting comprises prioritizing inclusion of reference 0 signal measurements for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed.

Description

SELECTING REFERENCE SIGNAL MEASUREMENTS TO INCLUDE IN TRUNCATED MAC CE REPORT IN LTM TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and devices in communication networks, in particular methods and devices for layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) measurement reports.BACKGROUND

[0002] Fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) defines layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (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 (3GPP) 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 Ll-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. FIG. 1 is a signaling diagram of an example LTM signaling procedure. The steps in FIG. 1 are summarized below.

[0003] In a first step, the UE sends a measurement report(s) for the measurements performed on one or more cells to a gNB. 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.

[0004] In a second step, the gNB transmits a radio resource control (RRC) Reconfiguration message to the UE including the LTM candidate configuration(s).

[0005] In a third step, the UE stores the LTM candidate configuration(s) and responds to gNB with an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message.

[0006] 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 is performed 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.

[0007] 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.

[0008] 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.

[0009] 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.

[0010] 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.

[0011] 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).

[0012] 3GPP 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. Seee.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-rl8 ::= SEQUENCE {Itm-CSI-ReportConfigld-rl 8 LTM-CSI-ReportConfigld-rl 8,Itm-ResourcesForChannelMeasurement-rl 8 LTM-CSI-ResourceConfigld-rl 8, Itm-ReportConfigType-r 18 CHOICE {periodic-r 18 SEQUENCE {reportSlotConfig-r 18 CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, pucch-CSI-ResourceList-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofBWPs)) OF PUCCH-CSI-Resource},semiPersistentOnPUCCH-r 18 SEQUENCE {reportSlotConfig-r 18 CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, pucch-CSI-ResourceList-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofBWPs)) OF PUCCH-CSI-Resource},semiPersistentOnPUSCH-r 18 SEQUENCE {reportSlotConfig-r 18 CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, reportSlotOffsetList-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O-2-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O- 1 -r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),pOalpha PO-PUSCH-AlphaSetld},aperiodic-rl8 SEQUENCE {reportSlotOffsetList-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O-2-r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl6)) OF INTEGER (0..128),reportSlotOffsetListDCI-O- 1 -r 18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E. maxNrofUL- Allocations-rl6)) OF INTEGER (0..128)}},Itm-ReportContent-r 18 LTM-ReportContent-r 18 ,}LTM-ReportContent-rl8 ::= SEQUENCE {nrOfReportedCells-rl8 ENUMERATED {nl,n2,n3,n4}, nrOfReportedRS-PerCell-rl8 ENUMERATED {nl,n2,n3,n4}, spCellInclusion-rl8 ENUMERATED {true}

[0013] 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).

[0014] A 3GPP 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, 3GPP 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 CSLRS measurements for LTM procedures and enable CSLRS based beam management [RANI]• Specify CSI acquisition on candidate cell(s) based on CSI-RS before or during LTM cell switch [RANI]As part of the “Measurements-related enhancements” in LTM, Rel-19 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.

[0015] It has been agreed that MAC CE shall be used as a report container to carry the event-triggered LTM measurement reports.

[0016] There currently exist certain challenge(s). According to the most recent 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, it is possible to support the transmission of an event-triggered LI measurement report via a truncated MAC CE, given that the available UL grant for sending the report is not sufficient to carry the entire MAC CE report:RAN2#128 Agreement:Support the truncated measurement report MAC CE.RAN2# 129 Agreement:Truncated MR MAC CE includes the triggered beam information:One report config ID (event config ID).At least one triggered beam D (SSBRI / CRI) + Ll-RSRP

[0017] However, there has been no discussion about the way to include more beams from the measurement resource configuration in the truncated MAC CE report. A further problem includes that the logic of the truncated MAC CE is different from how the truncated MAC CE is typically used in MAC procedures. In other approaches, a truncated MAC CE is used for cases where a UE has limited information to send to the network, and to prevent the UE from including a lot of padding bits within the MAC CE, a truncated MAC CE is specified.

[0018] In the context of measurement-related enhancements, the truncated MAC CE has been specified to help the UE to send measurements in a faster way, in case the UE has a lot of measurements to transmit, corresponding to either triggered or the non-triggered beams, and all such measurements do not fit in the UL grant currently available to the UE.SUMMARY

[0019] The lack of framework for reporting the remaining segments in the event-triggered measurement report MAC CE may cause different challenges including, for example:• The UE has no information about the ways of transmitting the truncated MAC CE report if the available UL grant is not sufficient to carry the complete measurement report.• The UE has no information about the ways of prioritizing certain beam / reference signal measurement(s) over the others if the available UL grant is not sufficient to carry the all the available measurements.• The network may get insufficient information about the LTM candidate cell beams / reference signals from the truncated MAC CE report and, therefore, cannot take suitable handover decisions based on the limited measurements, leading to handover and radio link failures

[0020] 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 transmit a truncated MAC CE report in event-triggered LI -measurement reporting.

[0021] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The method may provide a complete framework for the UE to transmit the Ll-measurements in a truncated MAC CE report which are related to the same event-triggered Ll-measurement report, when the available UL grant is not sufficient to carry the entire measurement report MAC CE. A further technical advantage may include that the UE prioritizes the transmission of certain beam / reference signal measurement(s) in the truncated MAC CE report when the available UL grant is not sufficient to carry all the measurements in measurement report MAC CE. Yet another technical advantage may include that the network receives relevant measurements and, hence, sufficient information about the channel quality of the beam(s) / reference signal(s) in the LTM candidate cells.

[0022] In some embodiments, a method is performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: performing measurements on a plurality of reference signals according to a configuration of the wireless device; when one or more conditions are fulfilled for a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) event from one or more LTM events, determining to transmit on an uplink grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) report; and when an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, selecting for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements , wherein selecting (204) comprises prioritizing inclusion of the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed.

[0023] In some embodiments, a wireless device comprises: processing circuitry; memory coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that whenexecuted 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; when one or more conditions are fulfilled for a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) event from one or more LTM events, determine to transmit on an uplink grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) report; and when an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, select for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements, wherein selecting comprises prioritizing inclusion of the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed.

[0024] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium includes program code to be executed by processing circuitry of a wireless device, 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; when one or more conditions are fulfilled for a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) event from one or more LTM events, determine to transmit on an uplink grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) report; and when an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, select for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements, wherein selecting comprises prioritizing inclusion of the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed.

[0025] Additional embodiments are provided herein.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 illustrates an example L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM) signaling procedure.

[0027] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method in accordance with some embodiments.

[0028] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0029] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0030] FIG. 5 illustrates a wireless device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0031] FIG. 6 illustrates a network node in accordance with some embodiments.

[0032] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] 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.

[0034] Embodiments herein are applicable for LTM. As used herein, the term “L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility (LTM)” includes as it is defined in 3GPP 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”.

[0035] A principle of LTM is that a UE receives a lower layer signaling from the network (e.g., a MAC Control Element - 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 (a primary cell in Long Term Evolution (LTE) or a primary master cell group (MCG) cell in NR) 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 SecurityConfig withSecurity AlgorithmConfigIndication 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

[0036] 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.

[0037] 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.

[0038] The reference signals on which lower layer measurements are performed can be provided in the LTM CSI-SSB 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 CSI-RS-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 signalresource identifier can be as described by the field LTM-CSI-SSB-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

[0039] 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.

[0040] 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.

[0041] 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.

[0042] 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 thatLTM reporting configuration. Additionally or alternatively, the event definition is like one or more conditions to be evaluated. As per 3GPP 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).

[0043] 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).

[0044] A measurement quantity can refer to either a Ll-RSRP from SS-RSRP or CSI-RSRP; an LI- signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) from SS-SINR or CSI-SINR; or a LI- reference signal received quality (RSRQ) from SS-RSRQ or CSI-RSRQ.

[0045] A measurement quantity value can refer to the value which the UE reports for the measurement quantity of an SSB or a CSI-RS 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.

[0046] 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 Ll-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.

[0047] 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 lossof meaning with the terms “radio resources”, “beams”, “TCI state”, or “tracking reference signal (TRS)”. For example, a method in accordance with 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 identify a set of configurations, field, parameters, or ASN.l 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).

[0048] 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.

[0049] 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., CSLRS, SSB) or synchronization signal (e.g., SSB) transmitted in a beam, 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.

[0050] Further, in the context of some embodiments, a “non-triggered cell” refers to a nontriggered LTM candidate cell, which is a cell for which any beam, or reference signal (e.g., CSLRS, SSB) or synchronization signal (e.g., SSB) transmitted in a beam, does not fulfill the triggering condition the UE is configured with, for transmitting an LTM measurement report. A non-triggered LTM candidate cell may have been configured as part of the LTM resource configuration.

[0051] Moreover, in the context of some embodiments, a “non-triggered beam” refers to a beam, or reference signal (e.g., CSLRS, SSB) or synchronization signal (e.g., SSB) transmitted in a beam, which does not fulfill a triggering condition for transmitting an LTM measurement report. A non-triggered beam may have been configured as part of the LTM resource configuration and associated to an LTM candidate cell. In other words, for a given LTM measurement report, triggered to be transmitted according to a specific triggering condition configured in a specific reporting configuration, the non-triggered beam is a beam which does not fulfill that condition.

[0052] 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) to 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.

[0053] In some embodiments, the term “truncated MAC CE report” herein is interchangeable and may be replaced with the term “segmented MAC CE report”. Both terms identify a case where the UE has a list of LTM candidate cell beam(s) measurements or reference signal(s) measurements to be transmitted, but such measurements do not fit in a single measurement report (e.g., because the available UL grant is too small).

[0054] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operations of a wireless device according to some embodiments.

[0055] Referring to FIG. 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 a LTM event from one or more LTM events, determining 202 to transmit on an UL grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a MAC CE report. The method further includes, when an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, selecting 204 for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0056] 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 beamincludes 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. If the available UL grant size is not enough to accommodate the entire event- triggered LI measurement report MAC CE, the UE selects the beams / reference signals to be included in the truncated MAC CE report according to one or more or a combination of rules.

[0057] In some embodiments, the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements includes more than one reference signal measurement.

[0058] 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.

[0059] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report the subset of reference signal measurements that fulfilled the one or more conditions of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report. For example, a UE selects one or more beam(s) / reference signal measurement(s) which have fulfilled the event condition(s) of the triggering LTM event for transmission in the truncated MAC CE.

[0060] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report (i) a reference signal measurement belonging to a serving cell and (ii) the subset of reference signal measurements that have fulfilled the one or more conditions of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report. For example, the UE selects the indicated beam belonging to the serving cell for transmission in the truncated MAC CE, in addition to one or more beam(s) / reference signal measurement(s) which have fulfilled the event condition(s) of the triggering LTM event.

[0061] In some embodiments, a triggering reference signal for the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report belongs to a serving cell, and selecting 204 includes selecting for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report (i) the triggering reference signal measurement and (ii) at least one reference signal measurement from a candidate configuration. In an example, the triggering beam for the LTM event belongs to the serving cell and the UE selects that triggering beam / reference signal from the serving cell and at least one beam from the candidate configuration for transmission in the truncated MAC CE.

[0062] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes sorting the plurality of reference signal measurements in a decreasing order of a value of the respective reference signal measurement in the plurality of reference signal measurement, and prioritizing the transmission of the subset of reference signal measurements that have a value greater than a threshold value. In an example, a UE sorts the beam(s) / reference signal(s) in a decreasing order of their measurement quantity (e.g., Ll-RSRP) and prioritizes the transmission of the beam(s) / reference signal(s) measurements with better quantity in the truncated MAC CE.

[0063] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes prioritizing inclusion of the subset of reference signal measurement in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early UL and an early DL synchronization have been performed. In an example, the UE prioritizes the inclusion of the beam(s) / reference signal(s) measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which an early UL and / or DL synchronization has been performed.

[0064] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes prioritizing inclusion of the subset of reference signal measurement in the truncated MAC CE report that belong to a same LTM candidate cell that contains a triggering reference signal for the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report. In an example, the UE prioritizes the inclusion of the beam(s) / reference signal(s) measurements in the truncated MAC CE report which belong to the same LTM candidate cell which contains the triggering beams.

[0065] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal measurement has fulfilled one or more leaving condition for the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether it has fulfilled the leaving condition(s).

[0066] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal measurement has fulfilled one or more entering condition for a portion of a time of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether it has fulfilled the entering condition(s) but not for the entire time-to-trigger.

[0067] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a L2 reset is needed for an LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs. In anexample a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether L2 reset is needed for the LTM candidate cell to which the beam belongs.

[0068] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a change of security is needed for a LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether a change of security is needed the LTM candidate cell to which the beam belongs.

[0069] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs is both an LTM and a conditional LTM (CLTM) candidate cell. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether the LTM candidate cell to which the beam belongs is both an LTM and a CLTM candidate cell.

[0070] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs is both an LTM and a conditional handover (CHO) candidate cell. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether the LTM candidate cell to which the beam belongs is both an LTM and a CHO candidate cell.

[0071] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal has associated contention free random access (CFRA) resources. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether the reported beam / reference signal has associated CFRA resources.

[0072] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal has an associated transmission grant in uplink and / or downlink. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on whether the reported beam / reference signal has an associated transmission grant.

[0073] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on a frequency and / or subcarrier spacing of a LTM candidate cell to which a reference signal measurement of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report belongs. In an example,a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on the frequency and / or subcarrier spacing of the LTM candidate cell to which the triggered beam, i.e., the beam which fulfilled the event condition(s) and triggered the measurement report, belongs.

[0074] In some embodiments, selecting 204 includes selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on a random selection. In an example, a UE selects to include a beam for transmission in the truncated MAC CE based on random selection.

[0075] In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting 206 the truncated MAC CE report in the uplink grant.

[0076] In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting 206 the truncated MAC CE report in the uplink grant; retaining 208 remaining reference signal measurements from the plurality of reference signal measurements; and transmitting 210 the remaining reference signal measurements in one or more subsequent available UL grants when the wireless device does not have an updated reference signal measurement to be transmitted in the one or more subsequent available UL grants. In an example, a UE sends the truncated MAC CE report in the UL grant and retains and transmits the remaining LI -measurements in the subsequent available UL grant(s), given that the UE does not have any updated Ll-measurements to be transmitted in the subsequent available UL grant.

[0077] In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting 206 the truncated MAC CE report in the uplink grant; and transmitting 212 an updated reference signal measurement in a subsequent available UL grant. In an example, a UE sends the truncated MAC CE report in the UL grant and only reports the updated LI -measurements in the subsequent available UL grant.

[0078] In some embodiments, prioritizing inclusion of a set (or subset) of reference signal measurements based on a characteristic includes selecting a first subset having that characteristic over (e.g., before, instead of, and / or using a higher weighting, priority, or ranking than) a second subset not having that characteristic. For example, prioritizing inclusion of a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed can include selecting a first subset of reference signal measurements for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed and forgoing selecting a second subset of reference signal measurements for which at least one ofan early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have not been performed. In such example, the first subset is selected for inclusion into the truncated MAC CE report over (e.g., instead of) the second subset. Examples of characteristics that can be used for prioritizing inclusion of a subset of measurements include those discussed herein, such as: reference signal measurements that have a value greater than a threshold value, reference signal measurements for which at least one of an early UL and an early DL synchronization have been performed, and reference signal measurements that belong to a same LTM candidate cell that contains a triggering reference signal for the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report.

[0079] In some embodiments, multiple selection criteria can be used to select reference measurement signals to include in a subset of transmission in a truncated MAC CE report. For instance, multiple selection criteria can each serve as separate thresholds for being selected (e.g., such that a selected reference signal measurement satisfies both). For example, selecting 204 can include selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal measurement has fulfilled one or more entering condition for a portion of a time of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report, and can also include prioritizing inclusion of a reference signal measurement for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed. In this example, a reference signal measurement can be selected based on whether it has fulfilled an entering condition and is a measurement for which an early UL or DL synchronization have been performed.

[0080] Operations 206-212 of FIG. 2 may be optional with respect to some embodiments of wireless devices and related methods.

[0081] Operations discussed with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 2 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by a wireless device (implemented using the structure of FIG. 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.

[0082] In some embodiments, a method is performed by a wireless device, the method including performing 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 a LTM event from one or more LTM events, determining 202 to transmit, onan UL grant, an event triggered LTM measurement report via a truncated MAC CE report. For example, the wireless device determines to transmit a truncated MAC CE report (rather than a non-truncated MAC CE report) in response to an available size of the uplink grant not being sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report. The method further includes selecting a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report. For example, the selection of the subset can include prioritizing reference signal measurements as described herein. In some embodiments, the wireless device transmits the truncated MAC CE report in the UL grant.

[0083] 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.

[0084] As discussed herein, certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. A complete framework is provided for a wireless device to transmit reference signal measurements (e.g., LI -measurements) in a truncated MAC CE report which are related to the same event- triggered LI -measurement report, when the available UL grant is not sufficient to carry the entire measurement report MAC CE. A further technical advantage of some embodiments may include that the wireless device can prioritize the transmission of certain beam / reference signal measurement(s) in the truncated MAC CE report when the available UL grant is not sufficient to carry all the measurements in measurement report MAC CE. Yet another technical advantage of some embodiments may include that the network receives relevant measurements and, thus, sufficient information about the channel quality of the beam(s) / reference signal(s) in the LTM candidate cells.

[0085] FIG. 3 shows an example of a communication system 300 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0086] 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 includemore 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.

[0087] 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.

[0088] 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.

[0089] 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 wirelesssignals 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 / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0090] 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.

[0091] 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 networknode 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 Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0092] 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.

[0093] As a whole, the communication system 300 of FIG. 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 setsor with different components or sub-systems within the communication system 300 supporting different standards, protocols, or rule sets.

[0094] 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.

[0095] 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.

[0096] 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).

[0097] 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 maybe received from the UEs, network nodes 310, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 314.

[0098] 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 314 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0099] 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.

[0100] FIG. 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, BSS420D. 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.

[0101] 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 ST A 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 a frequency spectrum that is shared on the basis of a contention-based mechanism, e.g., an unlicensed or license exempt band like 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band, the 5 GHz band, the 6 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band.

[0102] 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, FIG. 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.

[0103] FIG. 5 shows a wireless device 500, which may be configured to operate in communication system 300 of FIG. 3 or in communication system 400 of FIG. 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, asmart 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.

[0104] A wireless device 500 may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, 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).

[0105] 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 FIG. 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.

[0106] The processing circuitry 502 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructionsstored 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).

[0107] 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 wireless device 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.

[0108] 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.

[0109] 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 erasableprogrammable 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.

[0110] 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 universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 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.

[0111] 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.

[0112] 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.

[0113] 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 device 500 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).

[0114] 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.

[0115] 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 vacuumcleaner, 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 FIG. 5.

[0116] 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 3GPP context 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.

[0117] 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.

[0118] FIG. 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 FIG. 3, like network nodes 308 or 310, or in communication system 400 of FIG. 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).

[0119] 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).

[0120] 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).

[0121] 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.

[0122] 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 thenetwork 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.

[0123] 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 logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other components, such as the memory 604, to provide network node 600 functionality.

[0124] 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.

[0125] 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 usedby 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.

[0126] 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 to be 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.

[0127] 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 interface606 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 614, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0128] 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.

[0129] 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.

[0130] 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 coupled to, 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.

[0131] Embodiments of the network node 600 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 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 allowoutput 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.

[0132] FIG. 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.

[0133] 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.

[0134] 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.

[0135] 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 more31of 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.

[0136] 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.

[0137] 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. In some 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.

[0138] 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 moreoperations 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.

[0139] 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

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;when one or more conditions are fulfilled for a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) event from one or more LTM events, determining (202) to transmit on an uplink grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) report; andwhen an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, selecting (204) for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements, wherein selecting (204) comprises prioritizing inclusion of the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements comprises more than one reference signal measurement.

3. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, 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.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report the subset of reference signal measurements that fulfilled the one or more conditions of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report (i) a reference signal measurementbelonging to a serving cell and (ii) the subset of reference signal measurements that have fulfilled the one or more conditions of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report.

6. The method of any one claims 1 to 3, wherein a triggering reference signal for the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report belongs to a serving cell, and wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report (i) the triggering reference signal measurement and (ii) at least one reference signal measurement from a candidate configuration.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein selecting (204) comprises sorting the plurality of reference signal measurements in a decreasing order of a value of the respective reference signal measurement in the plurality of reference signal measurement, and prioritizing the transmission of the subset of reference signal measurements that have a value greater than a threshold value.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein selecting (204) comprises prioritizing inclusion of the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report that belong to a same LTM candidate cell that contains a triggering reference signal for the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal measurement has fulfilled one or more leaving condition for the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal measurement has fulfilled one or more entering condition for a portion of a time of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a L2 reset is needed for an LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs.

12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a change of security is needed for a LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs.

13. The method of any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs is both an LTM and a conditional LTM, CLTM, candidate cell.

14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether a LTM candidate cell to which the reference signal measurement belongs is both an LTM and a conditional handover, CHO, candidate cell.

15. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal has associated contention free random access, CFRA, resources.

16. The method of any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on whether the reference signal has an associated transmission grant in uplink and / or downlink.

17. The method of any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE reportbased on a frequency and / or subcarrier spacing of a LTM candidate cell to which a reference signal measurement of the LTM event that triggered the event triggered LTM measurement report belongs.

18. The method of any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein selecting (204) comprises selecting a reference signal measurement for transmission in the truncated MAC CE report based on a random selection.

19. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, further comprising:transmitting (206) the truncated MAC CE report in the uplink grant.

20. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, further comprising:transmitting (206) the truncated MAC CE report in the uplink grant;retaining (208) remaining reference signal measurements from the plurality of reference signal measurements; andtransmitting (210) the remaining reference signal measurements in one or more subsequent available uplink grants when the wireless device does not have an updated reference signal measurement to be transmitted in the one or more subsequent available uplink grants.

21. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, further comprising:transmitting (206) the truncated MAC CE report in the uplink grant; and transmitting (212) an updated reference signal measurement in a subsequent available uplink grant.

22. 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;when one or more conditions are fulfilled for a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) event from one or more LTM events, determine to transmit on an uplink grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) report; andwhen an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, select for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements, wherein selecting comprises prioritizing inclusion of the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed.

23. The wireless device of claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise any of the operations of claims 2 to 21.

24. 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;when one or more conditions are fulfilled for a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) event from one or more LTM events, determine to transmit on an uplink grant an event triggered LTM measurement report via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) report; andwhen an available size of the uplink grant is not sufficient to accommodate an entirety of the event triggered LTM measurement report, select for transmission in a truncated MAC CE report a subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements, wherein selecting comprises prioritizing inclusion of the subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the truncated MAC CE report for which at least one of an early uplink and an early downlink synchronization have been performed.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the operations further comprise any of the operations of claims 2 to 21.

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