Systems and methods using associated identifier for artificial intelligence mobility

Abstract

A method (400) by a User Equipment, UE, (612, 712, 800) for using associated identifier, ID, for Artificial Intelligence, AI, mobility. The method includes receiving (402), from a first network node (610, 710, 900), at least one of: one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprises associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell served by the first network node or another network node; and associated ID information related to the first configuration. The UE reports, to the first network node or another network node, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations from the first network node; first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node; second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; and associated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

Description

[0001] SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING ASSOCIATED IDENTIFIER FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MOBILITY

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates, in general, to wireless communications and, more particularly, systems and methods using associated identifier (ID) for Artificial Intelligence (Al).

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Artificial Intelligence (Al) and Machine Learning (ML) have been investigated, both in academia and industry, as promising tools to optimize the design of the air-interface in wireless communication networks. Example use cases include using autoencoders for Channel State Information (CSI) compression to reduce the feedback overhead and improve channel prediction accuracy; using deep neural networks for classifying Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Non-LOS (NLOS) conditions to enhance the positioning accuracy; using reinforcement learning for beam selection at the network side and / or the User Equipment (UE) side to reduce the signaling overhead and beam alignment latency; and using deep reinforcement learning to leam an optimal precoding policy for complex Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) precoding problems.

[0006] In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) standardization work, a new Release 18 study item (SI) on AI / ML for the NR air interface started in May 2022. The SI explores the benefits of augmenting the air-interface with features enabling improved support of AI / ML based algorithms for enhanced performance and / or reduced complexity / overhead. Through studying a few selected use cases (e.g., CSI feedback, beam management, and positioning), the SI aims at laying the foundation for future air-interface use cases leveraging AI / ML techniques. The analysis carried out during the Release 18 SI is now considered in the context of Release 19.

[0007] Additionally, during the Release 19, a new SI addressing AI / ML for mobility has been approved. In the context of this new SI, 3GPP is investigating methods for cell-level and / or beam-level Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement predictions, and mobility event predictions (e.g., Radio Link Failure (RLF), handover failure (HOF), andmobility-related events predictions such as A3 / A5).

[0008] RRM Measurement Prediction in NR

[0009] In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) standardization work, a new Release 19 SI on AI / ML for the NR mobility started in 2024. This SI explored the benefits of augmenting the mobility with features enabling improved support of AI / ML based algorithms for enhanced performance and / or reduced complexity / overhead in such use cases in mobility as RRM measurement prediction, measurement event prediction and RLF / HOF prediction.

[0010] RRM measurement prediction in this SI includes RRM measurement prediction in temporal domain, spatial domain, and frequency domain. For temporal-domain prediction, one Al model predicts RRM measurement results for the future time instances, and / or may predict unavailable RRM measurement results for partial time instances in the past and / or present, based on available RRM results measured by the UE. For spatial-domain prediction, one Al model predicts RRM measurement results for the beams / cells in Set A according to available RRM measurement results of the beams / cells in Set B. In frequency-domain prediction, one Al model predicts RRM measurement results for the frequency (ies) in Set A according to available RRM measurement results for the frequency(ies) in Set B. Some examples for intra-frequency temporal RRM measurement prediction are shown in FIGURE 1, FIGURE 2, and FIGURE 3. FIGURE 1 illustrates a first example of intra-frequency temporal RRM measurement prediction. FIGURE 2 illustrates a second example of intra-frequency temporal RRM measurement prediction. FIGURE 3 illustrates a third example of intra-frequency temporal RRM measurement prediction.

[0011] Associated ID

[0012] The notion of associated ID has been discussed and agreed in Release 19 Al for Physical Layer (PHY) Work Item and enables the UE and the network to be in-synch on the network state at the time of training and inference. The model trained with a configuration associated with the associated ID may provide the best performance at the time of inference if the network uses the same configuration represented by the same associated ID. The information of the associated ID represents can be left to the network implementation in Release 19 Al for PHY.Data Collection over Xn Interface

[0013] To support Al use cases for Next Generation-Radio Access Network (NG-RAN), NR introduces Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure and Data Collection Reporting procedure.

[0014] In the Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure, the source NG-RAN node can send DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message to the target NG-RAN node via Xn interface to start information reporting or to stop information reporting, and then the target NG-RAN node shall initiate the requested information reporting or stop all measurements and predictions and terminate the reporting according to the parameters given in this request. If the target NG-RAN node is able to provide all or partial of the requested information, the target NG-RAN node shall initiate the corresponding information reporting as requested by the source NG-RAN node and respond with the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message. Otherwise, the target NG-RAN node needs to respond with the DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value. The DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may indicate NG-RAN nodel Measurement ID, NG-RAN node2 Measurement ID, collected data type (e.g., predicted radio resource status, predicted number of active UEs, predicted RRC connections, average UE throughput downlink (DL), average UE throughput uplink (UL), average packet delay, average packet loss DL, energy cost, measured UE trajectory), cell ID list for data collection, report periodicity (500ms, 1000ms, 2000ms, 5000ms, 10000ms), requested prediction time (Is, ..., 60s), UE trajectory collection configuration (i.e., collection time duration starting at successful handover for UE trajectory and maximum number of intra-node visited cells), UE performance collection configuration (i.e., collection time duration starting at successful handover for UE performance) and data collection activation and deactivation indication.

[0015] The Data Collection Reporting procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node to report information accepted by this node following a successful Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure.

[0016] If Data Collection ID (i.e., NG-RAN nodel Measurement ID and NG-RAN node2 Measurement ID) is contained in the handover request message, the target NG-RAN node shall, if supported, report to the source NG-RAN node after successful handover, via the Data Collection Reporting procedure, the requested information configured via the previous Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure corresponding to the NG-RAN nodell Measurement ID IE, allocated by the source NG-RAN node, and the NG-RAN node2measurement ID IE, allocated by the target NG-RAN node.

[0017] There currently exist certain challenge(s), however. For example, in order to perform predictions for the AI / ML mobility use cases (e.g., temporal, spatial, and frequency predictions), a UE may need to collect input measurements not only from its own serving cell but also from other neighboring cells. By doing this, the UE would gather input data that an AI / ML based process would take to infer measurements for, for example, a specific cell on a specific frequency.

[0018] However, the model used to infer the measurements is derived by a training process that includes collecting training data from the network in particular conditions. As an example, training data might have been collected while a certain coverage area was configured with specific cells / beams, following specific configurations that, for example, enabled specific cell / beam shapes.

[0019] The AI / ML models used by a UE to infer mobility measurements are, therefore, based on training processes that correspond to very specific network configuration conditions. It is, therefore, important that, when the network is configured in a specific way (e.g., specific cell / beams configurations in a given area), the UE select the models that were trained with training data derived from the same network configuration.

[0020] A problem is how to make the UE aware of the configuration for the radio environment surrounding the UE. Without achieving knowledge at the UE of how the radio environment surrounding the UE (e.g., serving cells, neighbour cells) is configured, it would be impossible for the UE to select an AI / ML model that would be able to correctly infer mobility measurements from a set of measurement inputs in a specific RAN coverage area. In this case, the UE might use a wrong AI / ML model, thus deriving inaccurate or wrong inferred measurements. This would have a very high impact on mobility performance, and it might result in an increased number of failures.

[0021] SUMMARY

[0022] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, methods and systems are provided for making the UE aware of the configuration for the radio environment surrounding the UE.

[0023] According to certain embodiments, a method by a UE for using associated ID for Al mobility includes receiving, from a first network node, at least one of: one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprises associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell served by the first network node or another networknode; and associated ID information related to the first configuration. The UE reports, to the first network node or another network node, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations from the first network node; first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node; second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; and associated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

[0024] According to certain embodiments, a UE for using associated ID for Al mobility includes processing circuitry configured to receive, from a first network node, at least one of: one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprises associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell served by the first network node or another network node; and associated ID information related to the first configuration. The processing circuitry is configured to report, to the first network node or another network node, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations from the first network node; first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node; second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; and associated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

[0025] According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a first network node for using associated ID for Al mobility includes transmitting, to a UE, at least one of: one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprise associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell associated with at least one of the first network node and another network node; and associated ID information related to the first configuration. The first network node receives, from the UE, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations; first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node; second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell that the UE expects to receive theassociated ID information from the first network node, and wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; and associated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

[0026] According to certain embodiments, a network node for using associated ID for Al mobility includes processing circuitry configured to transmit, to a UE, at least one of: one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprise associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell associated with at least one of the first network node and another network node; and associated ID information related to the first configuration. The processing circuitry is configured to receive, from the UE, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations; first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node; second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell that the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, and wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; and associated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

[0027] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). For example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of making the UE aware of the configuration for the radio environment surrounding the UE.

[0028] As another example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of informing the UE that the coverage areas serving and neighboring the UE follow a specific network configuration.

[0029] As yet another example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of enabling the UE to select an AI / ML model for mobility measurement predictions, which has been trained for the network configuration in place at the time of inference. As such, the UE may correctly infer mobility measurements from a set of measurement inputs in a specific RAN coverage area.

[0030] As yet another example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of improving mobility performance and / or reducing the number of failures.

[0031] Other advantages may be readily apparent to one having skill in the art. Certain embodiments may have none, some, or all of the recited advantages.

[0032] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their featuresand advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0034] FIGURE 1 illustrates a first example of intra-frequency temporal RRM measurement prediction;

[0035] FIGURE 2 illustrates a second example of intra-frequency temporal RRM measurement prediction;

[0036] FIGURE 3 illustrates a third example of intra-frequency temporal RRM measurement prediction;

[0037] FIGURE 4 illustrates an example method by a UE for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments;

[0038] FIGURE 5 illustrates an example method by a neighboring network node for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments;

[0039] FIGURE 6 illustrates an example method by a serving network node for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments;

[0040] FIGURE 7 illustrates another method by a UE for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments;

[0041] FIGURE 8 illustrates a method performed by a first network node for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments;

[0042] FIGURE 9 illustrates an example communication system, according to certain embodiments;

[0043] FIGURE 10 illustrates another example communication system, according to certain embodiments;

[0044] FIGURE 11 illustrates an example UE, according to certain embodiments;

[0045] FIGURE 12 illustrates an example network node, according to certain embodiments; FIGURE 13 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized, according to certain embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] 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.

[0047] As used herein, ‘node’ can be a network node or a UE. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi -standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB (eNB), gNodeB (gNB), Master eNB (MeNB), Secondary eNB (SeNB), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (e.g., in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g., in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node (e.g., Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), etc.), Operations & Maintenance (O&M), Operations Support System (OSS), Self-Organizing Network (SON), positioning node (e.g., E-SMLC), etc. The terms network node and radio network node are used interchangeably herein.

[0048] Another example of a node is user equipment (UE), which is a non-limiting term and refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and / or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, vehicular to vehicular (V2V), machine type UE, MTC UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), Unified Serial Bus (USB) dongles, etc.

[0049] The term radio access technology (RAT), may refer to any RAT such as, for example, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRA), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRA), narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT), WiFi, Bluetooth, next generation RAT, NR, 4G, 5G, etc. Any of the equipment denoted by the term node, network node or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs.

[0050] The term signal or radio signal used herein can be any physical signal or physical channel. Examples of DL physical signals are reference signal (RS) such as Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) signals in SS / PBCH block (SSB), discovery reference signal (DRS), Cell Specific Reference Signal(CRS), Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), etc. RS may be periodic. For example, RS occasions carrying one or more RSs may occur with certain periodicity (e.g., 20 ms, 40 ms, etc.). The RS may also be aperiodic.

[0051] Each SSB carries New Radio-Primary Synchronization Signal (NR-PSS), New RadioSecondary Synchronization Signal (NR-SSS) and New Radio-Physical Broadcast Channel (NR-PBCH) in four successive symbols. One or multiple Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) are transmitted in one SSB burst which is repeated with certain periodicity such as, for example, 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, and 160 ms. The UE is configured with information about SSB on cells of certain carrier frequency by one or more SS / PBCH block measurement timing configuration (SMTC) configurations. The SMTC configuration comprising parameters such as SMTC periodicity, SMTC occasion length in time or duration, SMTC time offset with regard to reference time (e.g., serving cell’s SFN) etc. Therefore, SMTC occasion may also occur with certain periodicity (e.g., 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, and 160 ms). Examples of UL physical signals are reference signals such as Sounding Reference Signals (SRS), Demodulation Reference Signals (DMRS), etc. The term physical channel refers to any channel carrying higher layer information such as, for example, data, control, etc. Examples of physical channels are Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Short PUSCH (sPUCCH), Short PDSCH (sPDSCH), Short PUCCH (sPUCCH), Short PUSCH (sPUSCH), MTC PDCCH (MPDCCH), Narrowband PBCH (NPBCH), Narrowband PDCCH (NPDCCH), Narrowband PDSCH (NPDSCH), Narrowband PUSCH (NPUSCH), Enhanced PDCCH (E-PDCCH), etc.

[0052] The term time resource used herein may correspond to any type of physical resource or radio resource expressed in terms of length of time. Examples of time resources are symbol, time slot, subframe, radio frame, transmission time interval (TTI), interleaving time, slot, sub-slot, mini-slot, system frame number (SFN) cycle, hyper-SFN (H-SFN) cycle, etc.

[0053] Certain embodiments described herein can be applied to all the Radio Access Networks (RANs) where the UE collects measurements and information concerning the surrounding radio environment to support processes that are able to derive information such as measurements, metrics, and events that help in taking mobility decisions.For reasons of simplicity, certain embodiments are described herein using the 5G system as example framework. However, the methods can be applied to other systems such as 6G, for example.

[0054] The techniques used to derive such information may be based on AI / ML or not. For example, they may be based on rule-based algorithms. Herein, the description of the methods is made assuming that the techniques used to derive such information are AI / ML based, but that should not limit the applicability of the methods to non- AI / ML techniques.

[0055] The methods in this disclosure are described by taking the 5G network as an example. This does not limit the applicability of the methods to other radio access networks such as, for example, 6G networks.

[0056] Certain embodiments described herein include the reporting of information. As used herein, the phrase reporting of information may include transmitting, obtaining, or receiving the information.

[0057] Certain methods, systems, and embodiments described herein are based on a first RAN node (serving node) providing, to a UE, information concerning the configuration of the serving radio environment such as, for example, information concerning the configuration of the serving cells. The methods include that the first RAN node receives from other RAN nodes (neighboring RAN nodes) information concerning the configuration of the radio environment that neighbors the coverage area where the UE is served. In an example, the first RAN node receives from neighboring RAN nodes information concerning the configuration of cells / beams neighboring the cell serving the UE. If the configuration of the radio environment served by neighboring RAN nodes changes, the neighboring RAN nodes affected by these changes would update their configuration information towards the first RAN node.

[0058] Once information concerning neighboring coverage areas (e.g., cells, beams, etc.) served by neighboring RAN nodes are available at the first RAN node, the first RAN node signals, to the UE, information concerning the configuration of the cell / beams serving the UE, as well as information about the configuration of the cells / beams neighboring the serving cell / beam. It should be noted that such information may also include cells / beams neighboring the serving cell / beam but still under the serving node domain. If the configuration of any of the serving cell / beam or neighboring cell / beam changes, the first RAN node updates such information towards the UE (either via signalling the changeswith respect to the previously signaled information or by signalling a full list of configuration information).

[0059] With this information, the UE becomes aware of the configuration of the serving and neighboring environment, and based on that the UE can select an appropriate model that is able to run accurate AI / ML mobility measurement predictions based on input measurements taken from the serving and neighboring radio environment.

[0060] Example Methods and Embodiments by a UE

[0061] According to certain embodiments, for example, methods and systems are provided for making the UE aware of the configuration for the radio environment surrounding the UE. Certain methods and systems relate to informing the UE that the coverage areas serving and neighboring the UE follow a specific network configuration and, thus, enable the UE to select an AI / ML model for mobility measurement predictions, which has been trained for the network configuration in place at the time of inference.

[0062] According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a UE includes one or more of:

[0063] • receiving, from one first network node, one or more first configurations and at least one of the first configurations includes associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell which may be served by a second network node or the first network node or a third network node,

[0064] • receiving, from the first network node, associated ID information related to a first configuration,

[0065] • reporting, to the first network node, data requested by the first network node according to at least one of the first configurations from the first network node,

[0066] • reporting, to the first network node, one or more first recommended configuration information and at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell / beam which may be under the first network node or under the second network node or the third network node,

[0067] • reporting, to the first network node, one or more second recommended configuration information and at least one of the second recommended configuration information indicates at least one neighbour cell for which theUE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node and the neighbour cell may be under the second network node or under the first network node or the third network node,

[0068] • reporting, to the second network node, associated ID information related to the first configuration, and

[0069] • receiving, from the second network node, an indication of whether the model is applicable or not.

[0070] In a particular embodiment, the first configuration may be data collection configuration for training and may be partial inference configuration for only applicability report and may be inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report and may be performance monitoring configuration.

[0071] In a particular embodiment, the first configuration may be network specific configurations such as, for example, certain cell configurations such as Uma / UMi, antenna height, cell size, site distance, transmission power, and / or neighbour relations.

[0072] In a particular embodiment, the first recommended configuration information may be information concerning a recommended cell / beam configuration corresponding to the configuration used for data collection configuration for training and may be the information for partial inference configuration for only applicability report and may be the information for inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report.

[0073] In a particular embodiment, the second recommended configuration information may be the information for recommended data collection configuration for training and may be the information for recommended partial inference configuration for only applicability report and may be the information for recommended inference configuration for measurement, inference, and inference report.

[0074] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0075] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0076] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the second recommended configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0077] In a particular embodiment, the UE receives one first message from the first network node, where the first message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the first recommended configuration information to the network (e.g., the first network node).In a particular embodiment, the UE receives one second message from the first network node, where the second message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the second recommended configuration information to the network (e.g., the first network node).

[0078] In a particular embodiment, the neighbour cell(s) in at least one of the first configuration are one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE, and / or where the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configuration information refers to one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

[0079] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first configurations may be an updated first configuration with updated associated ID information.

[0080] In a particular embodiment, such updated configuration consists of a full update of the information signaled in the last received configuration, namely including both changed and unchanged information such as, for example, an update of the Associated IDs for the cells that are affected by such change and for the cells that are not affected by any such change.

[0081] In a particular embodiment, such updated configuration consists of an update of the information changed with respect to the last received configuration such as, for example, an update of the Associated IDs for the cells that are affected by such change.

[0082] In a particular embodiment, the UE may receive one information from the first network node, where the information indicates the removing of at least one of the first configurations. As an example, such removing may consist of removing a neighbour cell together with the configuration information corresponding to it.

[0083] In a particular embodiment, the UE may receive one information from the first network node, where the information indicates the addition of at least one of the first configurations. As an example, such addition may consist of adding a neighbour cell together with the configuration information corresponding to it.

[0084] It should be noted that when “configuration information” is mentioned herein, such information includes at least an associated ID representing the configuration of the coverage area. The ID may refer to, for example, a cell or a beam.

[0085] Example Methods and Embodiments by a Neighboring Network Node

[0086] According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a second (neighbour) network node, includes one or more of:

[0087] determining one or more associated ID information for one or more cell / beam,• transmitting, to the first (serving) network node, at least one of the configuration information such as, for example, associated ID information via one or more third messages in one network interface,

[0088] • receiving, from the UE, associated ID information related to the first configuration, and

[0089] • transmitting, to the UE, an indication of whether the model is applicable or not.

[0090] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the associated ID information may include all or partial associated ID information for the first network node and may include all or partial associated ID information for one or more third network nodes, wherein one of the third network nodes may be the first network node.

[0091] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the associated ID information may be the associated ID for one or more cells within one or more network nodes and may be the associated ID for one more beams within one or more network nodes and may be the associated ID for one or more configuration within one or more network nodes.

[0092] In a particular embodiment, the second network node may be one RAN node and may be one network central node and may be a system such as the 0AM and may be AMF and may be other kind of network nodes.

[0093] In a particular embodiment, the network interface may be the Xn interface, or it may be the Fl interface or it may be other kind of network interfaces terminating at a RAN node.

[0094] In a particular embodiment, one of the third message may be XN SETUP REQUEST message, and may be XN SETUP RESPONSE message, and may be NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message and may be NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message.

[0095] In a particular embodiment, one of the third message may be the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message, which is signaled only after the second network node received a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message requesting the reporting of the associated IDs for one or more cells and where the second network node replied with a DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message accepting the reporting of such information.

[0096] In a particular embodiment, the second network node may update or delete the associated ID information for at least one of the reported cells / beams and may transmit the updated associated ID information to the first network node and may transmit the deleting information to the first network node.Example Methods and Embodiments by a Serving Network Node

[0097] According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a first (serving) network node includes one or more of:

[0098] • receiving, from the second network node, at least one of the associated ID information associated to, for example, a cell, a beam, a RAN node, via one or more third messages in one network interface,

[0099] • transmitting, to one UE, one or more first configurations and at least one of the first configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell and one neighbour cell, where the one or more neighbour cells may be under the first network node or under one second network node or under one third network node,

[0100] • transmitting, to the UE, associated ID information related to a first configuration,

[0101] • receiving, from the UE, data requested by the first network node according to at least one of the first configurations from the second network node,

[0102] • receiving, from the UE, one or more first recommended configuration information and at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one serving and / or neighbour cell, where neighbour cells may be under the second network node or under the first network node or under the third network node,

[0103] • receiving, from the UE, one or more second recommended configuration information and at least one of the second recommended configuration information indicates at least one neighbour cell which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node and the neighbour cell may be under the second network node or under the first network node or the third network node, and

[0104] • transmitting, to the second network node, configuration information related to the associated ID.

[0105] In a particular embodiment, the first configuration may be data collection configuration for training and may be partial inference configuration for only applicability report and may be inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report and may be performance monitoring configuration.In a particular embodiment, the first recommended configuration information may be the information for data collection configuration for training and may be the information for partial inference configuration for only applicability report and may be the information for inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report.

[0106] In a particular embodiment, the second recommended configuration information may be the information for recommended data collection configuration for training and may be the information for recommended partial inference configuration for only applicability report and may be the information for recommended inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report.

[0107] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0108] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0109] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the second recommended configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0110] In a particular embodiment, the first network node transmits one first message to the UE, where the first message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the first recommended configuration information to the network (e.g., the second network node).

[0111] In a particular embodiment, the second network node transmits one second message to the UE, where the second message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the second recommended configuration information to the network (e.g., the first network node).

[0112] In a particular embodiment, the neighbour cell(s) in at least one of the first configuration, the first recommended configuration information, and the second recommended configuration information are one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

[0113] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first configurations may be the updated first configuration with updated associated ID information.

[0114] In a particular embodiment, such updated configuration consists of a full update of the information signaled in the last signaled configuration, namely including both changed and non-changed information such as, for example, an update of the associated IDs for the cells that are affected by such change and for the cells that are not affected by any such change.

[0115] In a particular embodiment, such updated configuration consists of an update of the information changed with respect to the last signaled configuration such as, for example, an update of the associated IDs for the cells that are affected by such change.In a particular embodiment, the first network node may transmit one information to the UE, where the information indicates the removing of at least one of the first configurations. As an example, such removing may consist of removing a neighbour cell together with the configuration information corresponding to it.

[0116] In a particular embodiment, the first network node may signal one information to the UE, where the information indicates the addition of at least one of the first configurations. As an example, such addition may consist of adding a neighbour cell together with the configuration information corresponding to it.

[0117] In a particular embodiment, the first network node may receive the updated associated ID information from the second network node and / or may receive the deleting information from the second network node, whenever the second network node updates or deletes the associated ID information for at least one of the reported cells / beams

[0118] Derivation of Associated ID

[0119] According to certain embodiments, to align with Al model training and Al model inference for one Al functionality or one group of Al functionalities or one group of Al models, one second network node (e.g., one second RAN node) or one central network node derives one or more associated IDs, where one associated ID may be for the second network node, and / or may be for one cell and / or may be for one beam and / or may be for one configuration and / or may be for one group of cells and / or may be for one group of beams and / or may be for one group of configurations. The second network node or the central network node sends this associated ID information to one first network node (e.g., one first RAN node) over one interface, for example, Xn interface via Xn Setup Procedure (e.g., XN SETUP REQUEST message, XN SETUP RESPONSE message), or via NG-RAN Node Configuration Update procedure (e.g., NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message), or via Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure (e.g., DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message) or via Data Collection Reporting procedure.

[0120] In another example embodiment, the information is signaled over the Fl interface, for example as part of the Fl Setup Request, Fl Setup Response or Fl: gNB-DU Configuration Update messages. If the associated ID information of the second network node is changed, the second network node or the central network node informs the updated associated IDinformation to the first network node over the interface, for example, Xn interface via NG-RAN Node Configuration Update procedure (e.g., NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message). In a particular embodiment, the second network node and the first network node may be part of the same RAN node (e.g., they could be a gNB-DU and a gNB-CU within the same gNB) or part of different RAN nodes (e.g., part of different gNBs).

[0121] According to certain embodiments, the first network node sends one or more configurations (e.g., data collection configuration for training, partial inference configuration, inference configuration, performance monitoring configuration) to one UE, with some examples below.

[0122] Example Group# 1

[0123] In one example, for model training purpose for one Al functionality, one data collection configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates to the UE how to measure one set A and one set B, where the set A is expected model output and the set B is model input and both the set A and the set B are only related to the first network node. This data collection configuration includes one related associated ID information of the second network node, and in particular the associated ID included may correspond to specific cells of the second network node. The UE may use the measured set B and the measured set A for the training of one or more Al models for the functionality, or the UE may directly or indirectly send the measured set B and the measured set A to one server for the training of one or more Al models for the Al functionality.

[0124] In one example for alternative solution one, for model training for one Al model functionality, the UE is indicated with an associated ID from the first network node. The UE performs training for that associated ID and the network node keeps track of the configuration that the associated ID is applicable to.

[0125] In another corresponding example, for applicability report purpose rather than inference purpose for one Al functionality, one partial inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of cells / beams of the second network node, and then the UE reports to the network regarding whether the partial inference configuration (or inference configuration(s) corresponding to the partial inference configuration) is applicable or not for this Al functionality according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration.In another corresponding example, for inference purpose for one Al functionality, one inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of cells / beams of the second network node and the UE reports the applicability information of the inference configuration according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration and may activate (or deactivate) model inference for this Al functionality according to at least one of the inference configuration and other received network configuration(s).

[0126] In an associated example for alternative solution one, for inference purpose of one Al model functionality, the network may, based on the received associated ID, determine whether the UE can activate or deactivate the Al model functionality. The network may indicate to the UE whether the Al model is applicable or not and whether the UE can activate or deactivate the Al model functionality.

[0127] Example Group#2

[0128] In one example, for model training purpose for one Al functionality, one data collection configuration from the second network node to the UE indicates to the UE how to measure one set A and one set B, where the set A is expected model output and the set B is model input and both the set A and the set B are only related to the first network node. This data collection configuration includes one related associated ID information of cells of the first network node. The UE may use the measured set B and the measured set A for the training of one or more Al models for the functionality, or the UE may directly or indirectly send the measured set B and the measured set A to one server for the training of one or more Al models for the Al functionality.

[0129] In another corresponding example, for applicability report purpose rather than inference purpose for one Al functionality, one partial inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of a cell / beam of the first network node, and then the UE reports to the network regarding whether the partial inference configuration (or inference configuration(s) corresponding to the partial inference configuration) is applicable or not for this Al functionality according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration.

[0130] In another corresponding example, for inference purpose for one Al functionality, one inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of a cell / beam of the first network node and the UE reports theapplicability information of the inference configuration according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration and may activate (or deactivate) model inference for this Al functionality according to at least one of the inference configuration and other received network configuration(s).

[0131] Example Group# 3

[0132] In one example, for model training purpose for one Al functionality, one data collection configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates to the UE how to measure one set A and one set B, where the set A is expected model output and the set B is model input and set A is only related to cells / beams of the first network node and set B is only related to cells / beams of the second network node. This data collection configuration includes one related associated ID information of cells / beams of the first network node for set A and one related associated ID information of the second network node for set B in one case, or vice versa in another case. The UE may use the measured set B and the measured set A for the training of one or more Al models for the functionality, or the UE may directly or indirectly send the measured set B and the measured set A to one server for the training of one or more Al models for the Al functionality.

[0133] In another corresponding example, for applicability report purpose rather than inference purpose for one Al functionality, one partial inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of cells / beams of the first network node for set A and one related associated ID information of cells / beams of the second network node for set B in one case, or vice versa in another case, and then the UE reports to the network regarding whether the partial inference configuration (or inference configuration(s) corresponding to the partial inference configuration) is applicable or not for this Al functionality according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration.

[0134] In another corresponding example, for inference purpose for one Al functionality, one inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of cells / beams of the first network node for set A and one related associated ID information of cells / beams of the second network node for set B in one case, or vice versa in another case and the UE reports the applicability information of the inference configuration according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration andmay activate (or deactivate) model inference for this Al functionality according to at least one of the inference configuration and other received network configuration(s).

[0135] In one further embodiment, the first network node may receive the associated ID information from more network nodes and send one or more configurations (e.g., data collection configuration for training, partial inference configuration, inference configuration) to one UE:

[0136] • In one example, the first network node selects one or more neighbour cell(s) with the strongest radio quality (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal interference to Noise Ratio (SINR)) for the configurations and signals to the UE associated IDs corresponding to such cells.

[0137] • In another example, the UE indicates for which (neighbour) cells the UE requests to receive associated ID information, and then the first network node signals to the UE the associated IDs corresponding to the cells requested by the UE. If any change in the associated ID information signaled to the UE occurs, the first network node sends the update to the UE. This solution could solve the case of bad inference performance at the UE due to the incorrect matching between functionality (or model) and association ID information. Namely, by providing to the UE an updated set of associated ID, the problem of selection of the wrong model at the UE, not matching with the radio environment serving / surrounding the UE, can be mitigated.

[0138] Inter -cell Spatial Prediction Involving Multiple Network Nodes

[0139] According to certain embodiments, to align with Al model training and Al model inference for one Al functionality or one group of Al functionalities or one group of Al models, one second network node (e.g., one second RAN node, one central network node) derives one or more associated IDs, where one associated ID may be for one or more configurations and at least one of the configurations is related to multiple network nodes (e.g., RAN nodes) or cells within multiple network nodes (e.g., RAN nodes). The second network node sends this associated ID information to one first network node over the available interface, for example Xn interface via Xn Setup Procedure (e.g., XN SETUP REQUEST message, XN SETUP RESPONSE message), or via NG-RAN Node Configuration Update procedure (e.g., NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message), or via Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure (e.g., DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, DATACOLLECTION RESPONSE message) or via Data Collection Reporting procedure. In another example, the information is signaled over the Fl interface, for example as part of the Fl Setup Request, Fl Setup Response or Fl: gNB-DU Configuration Update messages. If the associated ID information of the second network node is changed, then the second network node informs the updated associated ID information to the first network node over interface, for example Xn interface via NG-RAN Node Configuration Update procedure (e.g., NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message).

[0140] The first network node sends one or more configurations (e.g., data collection configuration for training, partial inference configuration, inference configuration, performance monitoring configuration) to one UE, with some examples below.

[0141] Example Group# 1

[0142] In one example, for model training purpose for one Al functionality, one data collection configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates to the UE how to measure one set A and one set B, where the set A is expected model output and the set B is model input and the set A and the set B are information related to one or more network nodes, which may include for example cell measurements for the first network node and / or the second network node. This data collection configuration includes one related associated ID information which the first network node receives from the second network node. The UE may use the measured set B and the measured set A for the training of one or more Al models for the functionality, or the UE may directly or indirectly send the measured set B and the measured set A to one server for the training of one or more Al models for the Al functionality. When developing the model from the training data derived, the model can be associated with the one or more associated ID corresponding to the configurations such as, for example, for the cells for which the measurements forming Set A and Set B were collected.

[0143] In another corresponding example, for applicability report purpose rather than inference purpose for one Al functionality, one partial inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information which the first network node receives from the second network node, and then the UE reports to the network regarding whether the partial inference configuration (or inference configuration(s)corresponding to the partial inference configuration) is applicable or not for this Al functionality according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration.

[0144] In another corresponding example, for inference purpose for one Al functionality, one inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information which the first network node receives from the second network node and the UE reports the applicability information of the inference configuration according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration and may activate (or deactivate) model inference for this Al functionality according to at least one of the inference configuration and other received network configuration(s).

[0145] Example Group#2

[0146] In one example, for model training purpose for one Al functionality, one data collection configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates to the UE how to measure one set A and one set B, where the set A is expected model output and the set B is model input and set A is only related to the first network node such as, for example, related to measurements for cells of the first network node, and set B is only related to the second network node such as, for example, related to measurements for cells of the second network node. This data collection configuration includes one related associated ID information of the first network node for set A and one related associated ID information, which the first network node receives from the second network node, for set B in one case, or vice versa in another case. The UE may use the measured set B and the measured set A for the training of one or more Al models for the functionality, or the UE may directly or indirectly send the measured set B and the measured set A to one server for the training of one or more Al models for the Al functionality. When developing the model from the training data derived, the model can be associated with the one or more associated ID corresponding to the configurations such as, for example, for the cells for which the measurements forming Set A and Set B were collected.

[0147] In another corresponding example, for applicability report purpose rather than inference purpose for one Al functionality, one partial inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of the first network node for set A such as, for example, related to measurements for cells of the first network node, and one related associated ID information, which the first network node receives from the second network node, for set B (e.g., related to measurements for cells ofthe second network node) in one case, or vice versa in another case, and then the UE reports to the network regarding whether the partial inference configuration (or inference configuration(s) corresponding to the partial inference configuration) is applicable or not for this Al functionality according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration.

[0148] In another corresponding example, for inference purpose for one Al functionality, one inference configuration from the first network node to the UE indicates at least one related associated ID information of the first network node for set A such as, for example, related to measurements for cells of the first network node, and one related associated ID information, which the first network node receives from the second network node, for set B (e.g., related to measurements for cells of the second network node) in one case, or vice versa in another case and the UE reports the applicability information of the inference configuration according to at least the associated ID information in this configuration and may activate (or deactivate) model inference for this Al functionality according to at least one of the inference configuration and other received network configuration(s).

[0149] Example Group#4

[0150] In one example for alternative solution one, for model training for one Al model functionality, the UE is indicated with an associated ID from the first network node. The UE performs training for that associated ID and the network node keeps track of the configuration that the associated ID is applicable to.

[0151] In an associated example for alternative solution one, for inference purpose of one Al model functionality, the network may, based on the received associated ID, determine whether the UE can activate or deactivate the Al model functionality. The network may indicate to the UE whether the Al model is applicable or not and whether the UE can activate or deactivate the Al model functionality.

[0152] In one further embodiment, the first network node may receive the associated ID information from more network nodes and send one or more configurations (e.g., data collection configuration for training, partial inference configuration, and inference configuration) to one UE, where

[0153] o In one example, the first network node selects one or more neighbour cell(s) / beam(s) with the strongest radio quality (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, SINR) for the configurations, where the configuration consists of tasking the UE to take measurements from such cells / beams. The network signals to theUE the associated ID of each of the cells the UE is tasked to measure. The UE can therefore know for what cell configuration the measured data are derived.

[0154] o In another example, the UE indicates for which (neighbour) cells the UE requires to receive associated ID information, and then the first network node makes the decision for the configurations based on the indication information from the UE.

[0155] If any change in the associated ID information signaled to the UE occurs, the first network node sends the update to the UE. This solution could solve the case of bad inference performance at the UE due to the incorrect matching between functionality (or model) and association ID information.

[0156] Example of Encoding of the Associated ID over the Xn Interface

[0157] As just one example, it is herein showed how the Associated ID could be added to existing message of the Xn interface such as messages for the Xn Setup procedure or NG-RAN node configuration update procedure. The example of addition in the Served Cell Information NR and Served Cells to Update NR is made, with the understanding that these IES carry information concerning served cells of the sending NG-RAN node. The added lE / Group Name is shown with italics and bold.

[0158] 9.2.2.11 Served Cell Information NR

[0159] This IE contains cell configuration information of an NR cell that a neighboring NG- RAN node may need for the Xn AP interface.

[0160]

[0161]

[0162]

[0163]

[0164]

[0165]

[0166]

[0167]

[0168]

[0169] 9.2.2.15 Served Cells To Update NR

[0170] This IE contains updated configuration information for served NR cells exchanged between NG-RAN nodes.

[0171]

[0172]

[0173]

[0174] Below an example of how the Associated ID can be added to neighbour Cell Information signaled over the Xn interface is shown. The Neighbour Information NR IE is modified, with the understanding that this IE carries information about neighbour cells of a served cell over various Xn messages. The added lE / Group Name is shown with bold and italics.

[0175] 9.2.2.13 Neighbour Information NR

[0176] This IE contains cell configuration information of NR cells that a neighbour NG-RAN node may need to properly operate its own served cells.

[0177]

[0178]

[0179] Example of encoding of the Associated ID over the Fl interface

[0180] As just one example, it is herein showed how the Associated ID could be added to existing message of the Fl interface such as messages for the FIXn Setup procedure or gNB-DU configuration update procedure. The example of addition in the Served Cell Information IE is made, with the understanding that these IES carry information concerning served cells of the sending gNB-DU. The added lE / Group Name is shown with bold and italics.

[0181] 9.3.1.10 Served Cell Information

[0182] This IE contains cell configuration information of a cell in the gNB-DU.

[0183]

[0184]

[0185]

[0186]

[0187]

[0188]

[0189]

[0190] FIGURE 4 illustrates an example method 100 by a UE for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments. As illustrated, the method includes one or more of a first receiving step 102, a second receiving step 104, a first reporting step 106, a second reporting step 108, a third reporting step 110, a fourth reporting step 112, and a third receiving step 114. For example, according to certain embodiments, the method may include one or more of:

[0191] • at first receiving step 102, receiving, from one first network node, one or more first configurations and at least one of the first configurations includes associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell which may be served by a second network node or the first network node or a third network node, and / or

[0192] • at second receiving step 104, receiving, from the first network node, associated ID information related to a first configuration, and / or • at first reporting step 106, reporting, to the first network node, data requested by the first network node according to at least one of the first configurations from the first network node, and / or

[0193] • at second reporting step 108, reporting, to the first network node, one or more first recommended configuration information and at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell / beam which may be under the first network node or under the second network node or the third network node, and / or

[0194] • at third reporting step 110, reporting, to the first network node, one or more second recommended configuration information and at least one of the second recommended configuration information indicates at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node and the neighbour cell may be under the second network node or under the first network node or the third network node, and / or• at fourth reporting step 112, reporting, to the second network node, associated ID information related to the first configuration, and / or

[0195] • at third receiving step 114, receiving, from the second network node, an indication of whether the model is applicable or not.

[0196] In various particular embodiments, the UE may perform any of the operations and steps or include any of the features described with respect to the Group A and D Example Embodiments below or any other embodiments described herein.

[0197] FIGURE 5 illustrates an example method 200 by a second network node (e.g., a neighboring network node) for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments. As illustrated the method includes one or more of a determining step 202, a first transmitting step 204, a receiving step 206, and a second transmitting step 208. For example, according to certain embodiments, the method may include one or more of:

[0198] • at determining step 202, determining one or more associated ID information for one or more cell / beam, and / or

[0199] • at first transmitting step 204, transmitting, to the first (serving) network node, at least one of the configuration information, e.g. associated ID information, via one or more third messages in one network interface, and / or • at receiving step 206, receiving, from the UE, associated ID information related to the first a configuration, and / or

[0200] • at second transmitting step 208, transmitting, to the UE, an indication of whether the model is applicable or not.

[0201] In various particular embodiments, the second network node may perform any of the operations and steps or include any of the features described with respect to the Group B and D Example Embodiments below or any other embodiments described herein.

[0202] FIGURE 6 illustrates another example method 300 by a first network node (e.g., a serving network node) for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments. As illustrated the method includes one or more of a first receiving step 302, a first transmitting step 304, a second transmitting step 306, a second receiving step 308, a third receiving step 310, a fourth receiving step 312, and a third transmitting step 314. For example, according to certain embodiments, the method may include one or more of:

[0203] • at first receiving step 302, receiving, from the second network node, at least one of the associated ID information associated to e.g. a cell, a beam a RAN node, via one or more third messages in one network interface, and / or• at first transmitting step 304, transmitting, to one UE, one or more first configurations and at least one of the first configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell and one neighbour cell, where the one or more neighbour cells may be under the first network node or under one second network node or under one third network node, and / or • at second transmitting step 306, transmitting, to the UE, associated ID information related to a first configuration, and / or

[0204] • at second receiving step 308, receiving, from the UE, data requested by the first network node according to at least one of the first configurations from the second network node, and / or

[0205] • at third receiving step 310, receiving, from the UE, one or more first recommended configuration information and at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one serving and / or neighbour cell, where neighbour cells may be under the second network node or under the first network node or under the third network node, and / or

[0206] • at fourth receiving step 312, receiving, from the UE, one or more second recommended configuration information and at least one of the second recommended configuration information indicates at least one neighbour cell which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node and the neighbour cell may be under the second network node or under the first network node or the third network node, and / or • at a third transmitting step 314, transmitting, to the second network node, configuration information related to the associated ID.

[0207] In various particular embodiments, the network node may perform any of the operations and steps or include any of the features described with respect to the Group C and D Example Embodiments below or any other embodiments described herein.

[0208] FIGURE 7 illustrates a method 400 by a UE for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments. As illustrated, the method begins at step 402 when the UE receives, from a first network node, at least one of: one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprises associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell served by the first network node or another network node, and associated ID information related to the first configuration. At step 404, the UE reports, to the first networknode or another network node, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations from the first network node; first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node; second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; and associated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

[0209] In a particular embodiment, the UE receives, from the other network node, an indication of whether or not one or more Al models is applicable.

[0210] In a particular embodiment, the UE reports, to the first network node and / or the other network node, an indication of whether or not at least one of the one or more configurations is applicable.

[0211] In a particular embodiment, the first configuration comprises at least one of: a data collection configuration for training of one or more Al models, a partial inference configuration for an applicability report, an inference configuration for measurement, inference, and inference report, and a performance monitoring configuration.

[0212] In a particular embodiment, the first configuration comprises a cell configuration comprising at least one of Uma / UMi, antenna height, cell size, site distance, transmission power, and neighbour relations.

[0213] In a particular embodiment, the first recommended configuration information comprises at least one of: information associated with a recommended cell configuration or a recommended beam configuration for data collection for training of the Al model, information for a recommended partial inference configuration for the applicability report, and information for a recommended inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.

[0214] In a particular embodiment, the second recommended configuration information comprises at least one of: information for a recommended data collection configuration for training of the Al model, information for a recommended partial inference configuration for the applicability report, and information for a recommended inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.

[0215] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the configurations comprises associated ID information associated with at least one serving cell of the UE.In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configuration information comprises associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0216] In a particular embodiment, the UE receives, from the first network node, at least one message indicating that the UE is allowed to report at least one of the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configuration information to the first network node.

[0217] In a particular embodiment, at least one of:

[0218] • the at least one neighbour cell associated with the first configuration comprises one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE, and • the first recommended configuration information and / or the second recommended configuration information refers to the one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

[0219] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the configurations comprises an updated first configuration with updated associated ID information.

[0220] In a particular embodiment, the updated first configuration comprises a full update of the information signaled in a last received configuration, wherein the full update comprises both changed and unchanged information, or the updated first configuration comprises an update of information changed with respect to a last received configuration.

[0221] In a particular embodiment, the UE receives, from the first network node, information indicating a removal of at least one of the configurations, or the UE receives, from the first network node, information indicating an addition to at least one of the configurations.

[0222] In a further particular embodiment, the addition comprises adding a neighbour cell together with the configuration information associated with the neighbour cell.

[0223] In a particular embodiment, the associated ID is associated with a least one of: ta coverage area, a cell, and a beam.

[0224] In a particular embodiment, at least one of:

[0225] • the first network node is a serving network node associated with a serving cell with respect to the UE, and

[0226] • the other network node comprises a neighboring network node that is associated with a neighboring cell.

[0227] FIGURE 8 illustrates a method 500 performed by a first network node for using associated ID for Al mobility, according to certain embodiments. The method begins at step502 when the first network node transmits, to a UE, at least one of: one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprise associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell associated with at least one of the first network node and another network node, and associated ID information related to the first configuration. At step 504, the first network node receives, from the UE, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations, first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node; second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell that the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, and wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; and associated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

[0228] In a particular embodiment, the first network node receives the associated ID information from the other network node, wherein the associated ID information is associated with at least one of a cell and a beam.

[0229] In a particular embodiment, the first network node receives, from the UE, an indication of whether or not at least one of the one or more configurations is applicable.

[0230] In a particular embodiment, the first network node transmits, to the other network node, configuration information related to the associated ID information.

[0231] In a particular embodiment, the first configuration at least one of: a data collection configuration for training of one or more Al models, a partial inference configuration for an applicability report, an inference configuration for a measurement, inference, and inference report, and a performance monitoring configuration.

[0232] In a particular embodiment, the first recommended configuration information comprises least one of: information for the data collection configuration for training of the Al model, information for the partial inference configuration for the applicability report, and information for the inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.

[0233] In a particular embodiment, the second recommended configuration information comprises at least one of: information for a recommended data collection configuration for training of the Al model; information for a recommended partial inference configuration for the applicability report; and information for a recommended inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.In a particular embodiment, at least one of the configurations include associated ID information associated with at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0234] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configuration information comprises associated ID information associated with at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0235] In a particular embodiment, the first network node transmits, a first message to the UE, and the first message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the first recommended configuration information and / or the second recommended configuration information to the first network node or the other network node.

[0236] In a particular embodiment, the at least one neighbour cell associated with the first configuration comprises one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE, and / or the first recommended configuration information and / or the second recommended configuration information refers to the one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

[0237] In a particular embodiment, at least one of the configurations comprise an updated first configuration with updated associated ID information. In a particular embodiment, the updated first configuration includes a full update of the information signaled in a last signaled configuration, wherein the full update comprises both changed and unchanged information. Alternatively, the updated first configuration includes an update of the information changed with respect to a last signaled configuration.

[0238] In a particular embodiment, the first network node transmits, to the UE, at least one of: information indicating a removal of at least one of the configurations, and information indicating an addition of at least one of the configurations.

[0239] In a further particular embodiment, the information indicating the removal of the at least one of the configurations comprises a removal of a neighbour cell together with configuration information associated with the neighbour cell to be removed.

[0240] In a further particular embodiment, the information indicating the addition of the at least one of the configuration comprises an addition of a neighbour cell together with configuration information associated with the neighbour cell to be added.

[0241] In a particular embodiment, the first network node receives, from the other network node, updated associated ID information.

[0242] In a particular embodiment, the first network node is a serving network node associated with a serving cell with respect to the UE, and / or the other network nodecomprises a neighboring network node that is associated with the at least one neighboring cell.

[0243] FIGURE 9 shows an example of a communication system 604 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0244] In the example, the communication system 600 includes a telecommunications network 602 that includes an access network 604, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 606, which includes one or more core network nodes 608. The access network 604 includes one or more access network nodes or base stations of various types, access network nodes 610A and 610B are depicted (which may be collectively referred to as network nodes 610), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (APs). Some embodiments of the access network 604 may include more than one access network technology. The network nodes 610 of access network 604 facilitate direct or indirect connection of wireless devices, also referred to as user equipments (UEs), such as by connecting UEs 612A, 612B, 612C, and 612D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 612) to the core network 606 over one or more wireless connections.

[0245] 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 602 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a network node in the telecommunications network 602 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 602, including one or more access network nodes 610 and / or core network nodes 608.

[0246] 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 interfacedefined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN network node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies.

[0247] The network nodes 610 facilitate direct or indirect connection of one or more UEs 612 to the core network 606 over one or more wireless connections. Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 600 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 600 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0248] The UEs 612 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 610 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 608, 610 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., via other devices of telecommunications network 602) with the UEs 612 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunications network 602 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 602. More specifically, UEs 612 may send messages, data, and / or other signals to network nodes 608, 610 or other elements of the telecommunications network 602 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 608, 610 may send messages, data, and other signals to UEs 6122, other network nodes 608, 610, and otherdevices in telecommunications network 602 directly or indirectly. As one specific example, a core network node 108 may transmit a particular message to a UE 612 by transmitting the message to an access network node 610 that will then transmit the message to the intended UE 612. Similarly, a core network node 108 may receive a particular message from a UE 612 by receiving the message from an access network node 610 that itself received the message from the UE 612.

[0249] In the depicted example, the core network 606 connects elements of the access network 604 (e.g., one or more of the network nodes 610) to one or more host computing systems, such as host 616. 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 606 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 608) of various types, one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 608. Network nodes 608 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 608. 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).

[0250] The host 616 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 604 and / or the telecommunications network 602. The host 616 may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 616 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.

[0251] As a whole, the communication system 600 of FIGURE 9 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 600may 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) 802.11 standards (Wi-Fi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-Max), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, Li-Fi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. Moreover, the communication system 600 may be configured to support multiple different standards, protocols, or other rule sets, with individual components supporting all of the relevant rule sets or with different components or sub-systems within the communication system 600 supporting different standards, protocols, or rule sets.

[0252] As one example, in certain embodiments, access network 604 may contain some access network nodes 610 that support 3GPP radio access technologies (RAT), such as LTE or NR, while other access network nodes 610 support (or the same access network nodes 610 additionally support) non-3GPP RATs, such as Wi-Fi or a proprietary RAT. As another example, telecommunications network 602 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 606 that supports multiple different standard generations or may include multiple access networks 604 and / or multiple core networks 106 with individual networks 604, 606 supporting different standard generations.

[0253] Telecommunications network 602 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunications network 602. For example, the telecommunications network 602 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.

[0254] In some examples, one or more of the UEs 612 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 604 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 604. 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).

[0255] In the example, the hub 614 communicates with the access network 604 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 612C and / or 612D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 610B). In some examples, the hub 614 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 614 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 606 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 614 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 610, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 614.

[0256] As another example, the hub 614 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 614 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 614 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 614 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 614 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0257] The hub 614 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 610B. The hub 614 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 614 and UEs (e.g., UE 612C and / or 612D), and between the hub 614 and the core network 606. In other examples, the hub 614 is connected to the core network 606 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 614 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 604 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 610 while still connected via the hub 614 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 614 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 610B. In other embodiments, the hub 614 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a devicewhich is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 61 OB, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0258] FIGURE 10 is another example of a communication system 700 according to some embodiments. As used herein, the communication system 700 includes multiple access points (APs) 710 (with four exemplary APs 710A, 710B, 710C, and 710D being depicted) and multiple wireless devices, referred to in the context of communication system 700 as stations (STAs) 712 (referred to individually as STA 712A, STA 712B, STA 712C, STA 712D, and STA 712E). STA 712A is served by AP 710A in a first basic service set (BSS) 720A. STA 710B and STA 710C are served by AP 710B in a second BSS, BSS 720B. STA 712D is served by AP 710C in a third BSS, BSS 720C. STA 712E is served by AP 710D in a fourth BSS, BSS 720D. Stations 712 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 712 could, for example, correspond to other kinds of equipment like smart home devices, printers, multimedia devices, data storage devices, or the like.

[0259] Each of STAs 712 may connect through a radio link to one of APs 710. For example, depending on location or channel conditions experienced by a given STA 712, 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.

[0260] Each AP 710 may provide data connectivity to STAs 712 connected to a particular AP 710. As illustrated, APs 710 may be connected to a data network 730. In this way, APs 710 may also provide data connectivity between STAs 712 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 712 and its serving AP 710 may be used for providing various kinds of services to STA 712, e.g., a voice service, a multimedia service, or other data service. Such services may be based on applications that are executed on STA 712 and / or on a device linked to STA 712. By way of example, FIGURE 10 illustrates an application service platform 732 provided in data network 730. The application(s) executedon STA 712 and / or on one or more other devices linked to STA 712 may use the radio link for data communication with one or more other STA 712 and / or the application service platform 732, thereby enabling utilization of the corresponding service(s) at STA 712.

[0261] FIGURE 11 shows a UE 800, which may be an embodiment of the UE 612 of FIGURE 9, in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage 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-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0262] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0263] The UE 800 includes processing circuitry 802 that is operatively coupled via a bus 804 to an input / output interface 806, a power source 808, a memory 810, a communication interface 812, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIGURE 11. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.The processing circuitry 802 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 810. The processing circuitry 802 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 802 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0264] In the example, the input / output interface 806 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 the UE 800. 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.

[0265] In some embodiments, the power source 808 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 808 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 808 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 800 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 808. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 808 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 800 to which power is supplied.The memory 810 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 810 includes one or more application programs 814, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 816. The memory 810 may store, for use by the UE 800, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0266] The memory 810 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 810 may allow the UE 800 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 810, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0267] The processing circuitry 802 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 812. The communication interface 812 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 822. The communication interface 812 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 818 and / or a receiver 820 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 818 and receiver 820 may becoupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 822) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0268] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 812 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / intemet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0269] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 812, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected, an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0270] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0271] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, avoice 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 head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), 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. A UE in the form of an loT device 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 UE 800 shown in FIGURE 11.

[0272] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE 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 UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0273] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0274] FIGURE 12 shows a network node 900, which may be an embodiment of the network node 610 of FIGURE 9, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0275] 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 respectiveembodiments, network node 900 may be configured to operate in communication system 600 of FIGURE 9, like network nodes 608 or 610, or in communication system 700 of FIGURE 10, like an AP 710 or a station 712. 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).

[0276] Network nodes 900 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 900 may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. Network nodes 900 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).

[0277] Other examples of network nodes 900 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).

[0278] In particular embodiments, network node 900 includes a processing circuitry 902, a memory 904, a communication interface 906, and a power source 908. In general, in a particular embodiment of network node 900, processing circuitry 902, memory 904, communication interface 906, and power source 908 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 900.

[0279] The network node 900 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 900 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 900 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memories 904 or portions of memory 904 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 910 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 900 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 900, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi (e.g., according to an IEEE 802.11 family standard), Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 900.

[0280] The processing circuitry 902 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 904, to provide network node 900 functionality.

[0281] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 912 and baseband processing circuitry 914. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 912 and the baseband processing circuitry 914 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 912 and baseband processing circuitry 914 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0282] The memory 904 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 902. The memory 904 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 902 and utilized by the network node 900. The memory 904 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 902 and / or any data received via the communication interface 906. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 and memory 904 is integrated.

[0283] The communication interface 906 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 906 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 916 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. In particular embodiments, network node 800 may be capable of wireless communication and communication interface 906 may also include radio front-end circuitry 918 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, an antenna 910. Particular embodiments of radio front-end circuitry 918 include filter(s) 920 and amplifier(s) 922. The radio front-end circuitry 918 may be connected to an antenna 910 and processing circuitry 902. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 910 and processing circuitry 902. The radio front-end circuitry 918 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 918 may convert the digital data into a radio signal(s) having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 920 and / or amplifiers 922. The radio signal(s) may then be transmitted via the antenna 910. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 910 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 918. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 902. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0284] In certain alternative embodiments, network node 900 may be capable of wireless communication but does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 918, instead, the processing circuitry 902 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 910. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 912 is part of the communication interface 906. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 906 includes one or more ports or terminals 916, the radio front-end circuitry 918, and the RFtransceiver circuitry 912, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 906 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 914, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0285] The antenna 910 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 910 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 918 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 910 is separate from the network node 900 and connectable to the network node 900 through one or more interfaces or ports.

[0286] The antenna 910, communication interface 906, and / or the processing circuitry 902 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 900. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 910, the communication interface 906, and / or the processing circuitry 902 may be configured to perform some or all of the transmitting or sending operations described herein as being performed by the network node 900. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0287] The power source 908 provides power to the various components of network node 900 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 908 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 900 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 900 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 908. As a further example, the power source 908 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.

[0288] Embodiments of the network node 900 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIGURE 12 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 900 may includeuser interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 900 and to allow output of information from the network node 900. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 900.

[0289] FIGURE 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1000 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 1000 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 1000 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.

[0290] Applications 1002 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0291] Hardware 1004 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 1006 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VM 1008A and VM 1008B (which may be collectively referred to as VMs 1008), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1006 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to one or more of the VMs 1008.

[0292] The VMs 1008 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by virtualization layer 1006. Differentembodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1002 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1008, 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.

[0293] In the context of NFV, each of the VMs 1008 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 1008, and that part of hardware 1004 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 1008 on top of the hardware 1004 and corresponds to an application 1002.

[0294] Hardware 1004 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1004 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1004 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 1010, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1002. In some embodiments, hardware 1004 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 1012 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0295] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0296] 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.

[0297] EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0298] Group A Example Embodiments

[0299] Al. A method by a UE for using Associated ID for Al mobility comprises one or more of: receiving, from one first network node, one or more first configurations, wherein at least one of the first configurations comprises associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell served by a second network node or a first network node or a third network node; and / or receiving, from the first network node, associated ID information related to a first configuration; and / or reporting, to the first network node, data requested bythe first network node according to at least one of the first configurations from the first network node; and / or reporting, to the first network node, one or more first recommended configuration information, wherein at least one of the first recommended configuration information comprises associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell and / or beam associated with the first network node or the second network node or the third network node; and / or reporting, to the first network node, one or more second recommended configuration information, wherein at least one of the second recommended configuration information indicates at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, wherein the neighbour cell is associated with the second network node or the first network node or the third network node; and / or reporting, to the second network node, associated ID information related to the first configuration; and / or receiving, from the second network node, an indication of whether a model is applicable or not.

[0300] A2. The method of Example Embodiment Al, the first configuration comprises at least one of: a data collection configuration for training and may be partial inference configuration for only applicability report, an inference configuration for measurement, inference, and inference report, and a performance monitoring configuration.

[0301] A3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A2, wherein the first configuration comprises a network specific configurations such as, for example, comprising certain cell configurations such as Uma / UMi, antenna height, cell size, site distance, transmission power, or neighbour relations.

[0302] A4. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A3 wherein the first recommended configuration information comprises at least one of: information concerning a recommended cell / beam configuration corresponding to the configuration used for data collection configuration for training, information for partial inference configuration for only applicability report, and information for inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report.

[0303] A5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A4, wherein the second recommended configuration information comprises at least one of: information for recommended data collection configuration for training; and information for recommended partial inference configuration for only applicability report; and information for recommended inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report.A6. The method of any one of Claims Al to A5, wherein at least one of the first configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0304] A7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A6, wherein at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0305] A8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A7, wherein at least one of the second recommended configurations comprises associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0306] A9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A8, comprising receiving, by the UE, a first message from the first network node, wherein the first message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the first recommended configuration information to the network (e.g. the first network node).

[0307] A10. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A9, comprising receiving, by the UE, a second message from the first network node, wherein the second message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the second recommended configuration information to the network (e.g. the first network node).

[0308] All. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A10, wherein the neighbour cell(s) in at least one of the first configuration are one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE, and / or where the first recommended configuration information and / or the second recommended configuration information refers to one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

[0309] A12. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to All, wherein at least one of the first configurations comprises an updated first configuration with updated associated ID information.

[0310] Al 3. The method of Example Embodiment Al 2, wherein the updated configuration comprises a full update of the information signaled in a last received configuration, wherein the full update comprises both changed and unchanged information.

[0311] A14. The method of Example Embodiment A12, wherein the updated configuration consists of an update of the information changed with respect to the last received configuration.A15. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A14, comprising receiving, from the first network node, information indicating a removing of at least one of the first configurations.

[0312] A16. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A15, comprising receiving, from the first network node, information indicating an addition of at least one of the first configurations.

[0313] A17. The method of Example Embodiment Al 6, wherein the addition comprises adding a neighbour cell together with the configuration information corresponding to it.

[0314] A18. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to A17, wherein configuration information comprises at least one Associated ID representing a configuration of a coverage area and / or wherein the Associated ID is associated with a cell or a beam.

[0315] Al 9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Al to Al 8, wherein at least one of: the first network node is a serving network node associated with a serving cell with respect to the UE, and at least one of the second network node and the third network node comprises a neighboring network node that is associated with a neighboring cell.

[0316] Group B Example Embodiments

[0317] Bl. A method performed by one second network node, the method comprising one or more of: determining one or more associated ID information for one or more cell / beam; transmitting, to a first network node, at least one of configuration information and the one or more associated ID information, via one or more messages via one network interfaces; receiving, from the UE, the one or more associated ID information related to a first configuration; and transmitting, to the UE, an indication of whether a model is applicable or not.

[0318] B2. The method of Example Embodiment Bl, wherein at least one of: the associated ID information comprises all or partial associated ID information for the first network node; the associated ID information comprises all or partial associated ID information for one or more third network nodes, and wherein one of the third network nodes includes the first network node.

[0319] B3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Bl to B2, wherein at least one of: the associated ID information comprises the associated ID for one or more cells within one or more network nodes; the associated ID information comprises the associated IDfor one more beams within one or more network nodes; the associated ID information comprises the associated ID for one or more configuration within one or more network nodes.

[0320] B4. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Bl to B3, wherein at least one of: the second network comprises a RAN node; the second network node comprises a central node; the second network node comprises a system; the second network node comprises an 0AM; and the second network node comprises an AMF.

[0321] B5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Bl to B5, wherein the network interface comprises at least one of: an Xn interface, an Fl interface, or another network interface terminating at a RAN node.

[0322] B6. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Bl to B5, wherein the one or more messages comprise at least one of: an XN SETUP REQUEST message, an XN SETUP RESPONSE message, an NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, and an NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message.

[0323] B7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Bl to B6, wherein the one or more messages comprise message a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message signaled after the second network node received a Data collection Request message requesting the reporting of Associated IDs for one or more cells, and wherein the second network node replied with a Data Collection Response message accepting the reporting of such information.

[0324] B8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Bl to B7, comprising updating or deleting the associated ID information for at least one of the reported cells / beams and / or transmitting updated associated ID information to the first network node and / or transmitting deleting information to the first network node.

[0325] B9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Bl to B8, wherein at least one of: the first network node is a serving network node associated with a serving cell with respect to the UE, and at least one of the second network node and the third network node comprises a neighboring network node that is associated with a neighboring cell.

[0326] Group C Example Embodiments

[0327] CL A method performed by a first network node, the method comprising one or more of: receiving, from a second network node, associated ID information associated to a cell, a beam, and / or a network node, the associated ID information being received via one or more messages via a network interface; transmitting, to a UE, one or more firstconfigurations, wherein at least one of the first configurations comprise associated ID information related to at least one serving cell and / or at least one neighbour cell, wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with at last one of the first network node, the second network node, and a third network node; transmitting, to the UE, associated ID information related to a first configuration; receiving, from the UE, data requested by the first network node according to at least one of the first configuration from the second network node; receiving, from the UE, one or more first recommended configuration information, wherein at least one of the first recommended configuration information comprises associated ID information related to at least one serving and / or neighbour cell, wherein the neighbour cell is associated with the second network node or the first network node or the third network node; receiving, from the UE, one or more second recommended configuration information, wherein at least one of the second recommended configuration information indicates at least one neighbour cell that the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, and wherein the neighbour cell is associated with the second network node or the first network node or the third network node; and transmitting, to the second network node, configuration information related to the associated ID.

[0328] C2. The method of Example Embodiment Cl, wherein at least one of: the first configuration comprises data collection configuration for training; the first configuration comprises partial inference configuration for only applicability report; and the first configuration comprises inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report; and the first configuration comprises a performance monitoring configuration.

[0329] C3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C2, wherein at least one of: the first recommended configuration information comprises information for data collection configuration for training; the first recommended configuration information comprises information for partial inference configuration for only applicability report; the first recommended configuration information comprises information for inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report.

[0330] C3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C3, wherein at least one of: the second recommended configuration information comprises information for recommended data collection configuration for training; the second recommended configuration information comprises information for recommended partial inference configuration for only applicability report; and the second recommended configurationinformation comprises information for recommended inference configuration for measurement, inference and inference report.

[0331] C4. The methods of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C3, wherein at least one of the first configurations include associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0332] C5. The methods of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C4, wherein at least one of the first recommended configuration information includes associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0333] C6. The methods of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C4, wherein at least one of the second recommended configurations comprises associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

[0334] C7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C6, comprising transmitting, a first message to the UE, wherein the first message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the first recommended configuration information to the network (e.g. the second network node).

[0335] C8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C7, wherein the second network node transmits a second message to the UE, wherein the second message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the second recommended configuration information to the network (e.g. the first network node).

[0336] C9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C8, wherein the neighbour cell(s) in at least one of the first configuration, the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configuration information are associated with one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

[0337] CIO. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C9, wherein at least one of the first configurations may be the updated first configuration with updated associated ID information.

[0338] Cll. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to CIO, wherein such updated configuration comprises a full update of the information signaled in a last signaled configuration and may comprise both changed and non changed information.

[0339] Cl 2. The method of Example Embodiment Cll, wherein such updated configuration consists of an update of the information changed with respect to the last signaled configuration, e.g. an update of the Associated IDs for the cells that are affected by such change.Cl 3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 2, wherein the first network node transmits information to the UE, and wherein the information indicates the removing of at least one of the first configurations.

[0340] Cl 4. The method of Example Embodiment Cl 3, wherein the information indicating the removing of the at least one of the first configurations comprises a removing of a neighbour cell together with the configuration information corresponding to it.

[0341] Cl 5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 4, wherein the first network node signals information to the UE, and wherein the information indicates an addition of at least one of the first configurations.

[0342] Cl 6. The method of Example Embodiment Cl 5, wherein the information indicating the addition of the at least one of the first configurations comprises an addition of a neighbour cell together with the configuration information corresponding to it.

[0343] Cl 7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 6, wherein the first network node receives the updated associated ID information from the second network node and / or receives the deleting information from the second network node, whenever the second network node updates or deletes the associated ID information for at least one of the reported cells / beams.

[0344] Cl 8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 8, wherein at least one of: the first network node is a serving network node associated with a serving cell with respect to the UE, and at least one of the second network node and the third network node comprises a neighboring network node that is associated with a neighboring cell.

[0345] Group D Example Embodiments

[0346] DI. A user equipment comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A Example Embodiments.

[0347] D2. A user equipment configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group Example Embodiments.

[0348] D3. A wireless device comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A Example Embodiments.

[0349] D4 A network node comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B and / or Group C Example Embodiments.

[0350] D5. A network node configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B and / or Group C Example Embodiments.D6. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A, Group B, and Group C Example Embodiments.

[0351] D7. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A, Group B, and Group C Example Embodiments.

[0352] D8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A, Group B, and Group C Example Embodiments.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method (600) by a User Equipment, UE, (612, 712, 800) for using associated identifier, ID, for Artificial Intelligence, Al, mobility, the method comprising:receiving (402), from a first network node (610, 710, 900), at least one of:one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprises associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell served by the first network node or another network node, andassociated ID information related to the first configuration; and / or reporting (404), to the first network node or another network node, at least one of: data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations from the first network node,first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node,second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; andassociated ID information related to the one or more configurations2. The method of Claim 1, comprising receiving, from the other network node, an indication of whether or not one or more Al models is applicable.

3. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 2, comprising reporting, to the first network node and / or the other network node, an indication of whether or not at least one of the one or more configurations is applicable.

4. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the configuration comprises at least one of:a data collection configuration for training of one or more Al models,a partial inference configuration for an applicability report,an inference configuration for measurement, inference, and inference report, and a performance monitoring configuration.

5. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the configuration comprises a cell configuration comprising at least one of Uma / UMi, antenna height, cell size, site distance, transmission power, and neighbour relations.

6. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the first recommended configuration information comprises at least one of:associated ID information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node,information associated with a recommended cell configuration or a recommended beam configuration for data collection for training of the Al model,information for partial inference configuration for the applicability report, and information for inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.

7. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein the second recommended configuration information comprises at least one of:information for recommended data collection configuration for training of the Al model,information for recommended partial inference configuration for the applicability report, andinformation for recommended inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.

8. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein at least one of the configurations comprises associated ID information associated with at least one serving cell of the UE.

9. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 8, wherein at least one of the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configuration information comprises associated ID information related to at least one serving cell of the UE.

10. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 9, comprising receiving, from the first network node, at least one message indicating that the UE is allowed to report at least one of the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configuration information to the first network node.

11. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 10, wherein at least one of:the at least one neighbour cell associated with the first configuration comprises one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE, andthe first recommended configuration information and / or the second recommended configuration information refers to the one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

12. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 11, wherein at least one of the configurations comprises an updated first configuration with updated associated ID information.

13. The method of Claim 12, wherein:the updated first configuration comprises a full update of the information signaled in a last received configuration, wherein the full update comprises both changed and unchanged information, orthe updated first configuration comprises an update of information changed with respect to a last received configuration.

14. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 13, comprising:receiving, from the first network node, information indicating a removal of at least one of the configurations, orreceiving, from the first network node, information indicating an addition to at least one of the configurations.

15. The method of Claim 14, wherein the addition comprises adding a neighbour cell together with the configuration information associated with the neighbour cell.

16. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 15, wherein the associated ID is associated with a least one of: ta coverage area, a cell, and a beam.

17. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 16, wherein at least one of:the first network node is a serving network node associated with a serving cell with respect to the UE, andthe other network node comprises a neighboring network node that is associated with a neighboring cell.

18. A method (500) performed by a first network node (610, 710, 900) for using associated identifier, ID, for Artificial Intelligence, Al, mobility, the method comprising: transmitting (502), to a User Equipment, UE, (612, 712, 800) at least one of:one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprise associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell associated with at least one of the first network node and another network node, andassociated ID information related to the first configuration;receiving (504), from the UE, at least one of:data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations,first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node,second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell that the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, and wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; andassociated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

19. The method of Claim 18, comprising receiving the associated ID information from the other network node, wherein the associated ID information is associated with at least one of a cell and a beam.

20. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 18, comprising receiving, from the UE, an indication of whether or not at least one of the one or more configurations is applicable.

21. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 20, comprising transmitting, to the other network node, configuration information related to the associated ID information.

22. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 21, wherein the first configuration at least one of:a data collection configuration for training of one or more Al models,a partial inference configuration for an applicability report,an inference configuration for a measurement, inference, and inference report, and a performance monitoring configuration.

23. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 22, wherein the first recommended configuration information comprises least one of:associated ID information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network nodeinformation for the data collection configuration for training of the Al model, information for the partial inference configuration for the applicability report, and information for the inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.

24. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 23, wherein the second recommended configuration information comprises at least one of:information for a recommended data collection configuration for training of the Al model;information for a recommended partial inference configuration for the applicability report; andinformation for a recommended inference configuration for the measurement, inference, and inference report.

25. The methods of any one of Claims 18 to 24, wherein at least one of the configurations include associated ID information associated with at least one serving cell of the UE.

26. The methods of any one of Claims 18 to 25, wherein at least one of the first recommended configuration information and the second recommended configurationinformation comprises associated ID information associated with at least one serving cell of the UE.

27. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 26, comprising transmitting, a first message to the UE, wherein the first message indicates that the UE is allowed to report the first recommended configuration information and / or the second recommended configuration information to the first network node or the other network node.

28. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 27, wherein:the at least one neighbour cell associated with the first configuration comprises one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE, andthe first recommended configuration information and / or the second recommended configuration information refers to the one or more strongest neighbour cells of the UE.

29. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 28, wherein at least one of the configurations comprise an updated first configuration with updated associated ID information.

30. The method of Claim 29, wherein the updated first configuration comprises:a full update of the information signaled in a last signaled configuration, wherein the full update comprises both changed and unchanged information, oran update of the information changed with respect to a last signaled configuration.

31. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 30, comprising transmitting, to the UE, at least one of:information indicating a removal of at least one of the configurations, and information indicating an addition of at least one of the configurations.

32. The method of Claim 31, wherein the information indicating the removal of the at least one of the configurations comprises a removal of a neighbour cell together with configuration information associated with the neighbour cell to be removed.

33. The method of Claim 31, wherein the information indicating the addition of the at least one of the configuration comprises an addition of a neighbour cell together with configuration information associated with the neighbour cell to be added.

34. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 33, comprising receiving, from the other network node, updated associated ID information.

35. The method of any one of Claims 18 to 34, wherein at least one of:the first network node is a serving network node associated with a serving cell with respect to the UE, andthe other network node comprises a neighboring network node that is associated with the at least one neighboring cell.

36. A user equipment, UE, (612, 712, 800) for using associated identifier, ID, for Artificial Intelligence, Al, mobility, the UE comprising processing circuitry configured to: receive, from a first network node (610, 710, 900), at least one of:one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprising associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell served by the first network node or another network node, andassociated ID information related to the first configuration; and / or report, to the first network node or another network node, at least one of:data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations from the first network node,first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node,second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell for which the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node, andassociated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

37. The UE of Claim 36, configured to perform any of the steps of Claims 2 to 16.

38. A first network node (610, 710, 900) for using associated identifier, ID, for Artificial Intelligence, Al, mobility, the first network node comprising processing circuitry configured to:transmit (502), to a User Equipment, UE, (612, 712, 800) at least one of:one or more configurations, wherein at least a first configuration comprise associated ID information related to at least one neighbour cell associated with at least one of the first network node and another network node, andassociated ID information related to the first configuration;receive (504), from the UE, at least one of:data requested by the first network node according to the one or more configurations,first recommended configuration information related to the at least one neighbour cell and / or at least one beam associated with the first network node or the other network node,second recommended configuration information indicating the at least one neighbour cell that the UE expects to receive the associated ID information from the first network node, and wherein the at least one neighbour cell is associated with the first network node or the other network node; andassociated ID information related to the one or more configurations.

39. The first network node of Claim 38, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of Claims 18 to 35.

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