CN116209036A

CN116209036A - User equipment and method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN116209036A
Application number: CN202111460434.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 肖芳英; 刘仁茂
Original assignee: Sharp Corp
Current assignee: Sharp Corp
Priority date: 2021-12-01
Filing date: 2021-12-01
Publication date: 2023-06-02
Also published as: WO2023098668A1

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a user equipment and a method thereof. A method performed by a user equipment, UE, the UE being configured to provide multi-global user identity, MUSIM, assistance information, in case the UE needs to leave a radio resource control, RRC, connected state, performing at least one of the following steps: the UE initiates transmission of a UE auxiliary information message to provide the MUSIM auxiliary information; starting a timer T, and setting the value of the timer T to be a timer musim-LeaveWithoutResponseTimer or a time for the UE to leave the RRC connected state without waiting for a network response; a timer T346f is started, and the value of the timer T346f is set to a prohibit timer releasepreseferenceprohibit timer for releasing the preference assistance information report.

Description

User equipment and method thereof

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and more particularly, to a user equipment and a method thereof.

Background

In recent years, multiple USIM card devices have become increasingly popular. For example, one user installs two USIM cards on a mobile phone supporting multiple USIM cards, one USIM card for subscribing to private services and the other USIM card for subscribing to office services. Existing devices supporting multiple USIM cards are vendor-based implementations and have not been standardized by 3 GPP. Resulting in different vendors using different implementations, the behavior of the user equipment UE is also different. In the existing implementation, if these USIM cards are registered with networks respectively (the USIM cards can be registered with the same network or two or more networks respectively), the UE needs to receive pages from these networks, and based on the transceiving capability of the UE, there may be a situation that another network initiates a page to the UE when receiving the page of the current network, or another network initiates a page to the UE when communicating with one network. One result that may result if the UE switches between different networks is that the UE can no longer receive data from the current network when the UE switches to another network. This would compromise network performance, e.g., the network sent a page to the UE but the UE did not receive this page due to a handover to another network, or the UE handed over to another network and could not receive the current network schedule. Some manufacturers propose to perform 3GPP standardization study on the network access behavior of the UE with multiple USIM cards and related networks, which has the advantage of improving network performance based on predictable UE behavior.

For the reasons described above, at 12 months 2019, on the third generation partnership project (3rd Generation Partnership Project:3GPP) ran#86 full meeting, the vivo proposed work items for multi-SIM card devices of version 17 (see non-patent literature: RP-193263:New WID:Stupport of Multi-SIM devices in Rel-17) and approved. One of the goals of this work item is to define a mechanism for the UE to notify network a when leaving network a, where network a is NR, network B is LTE or NR, and UE Single-receive Single-transmit (Single-Rx/Single-Tx) or UE Dual-receive Single-transmit (Dual-Rx/Single-Tx).

The present disclosure discusses the relevant issues involved in achieving the above-mentioned objectives.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to provide a user equipment and a method thereof, which can save UE power consumption by reporting auxiliary information to inform a network (or a base station) about a preference of a UE to leave an rrc_connected state.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment, UE, the UE being configured to provide multi-global user identity, MUSIM, assistance information, in case the UE needs to leave a radio resource control, RRC, connected state, at least one of the following steps is performed: the UE initiates transmission of a UE auxiliary information message to provide the MUSIM auxiliary information; starting a timer T, and setting the value of the timer T to be a timer musim-LeaveWithoutResponseTimer or a time for the UE to leave the RRC connected state without waiting for a network response; a timer T346f is started, and the value of the timer T346f is set to a prohibit timer releasepreseferenceprohibit timer for releasing the preference assistance information report.

In the above method, when the UE is configured with a music-preference rrcstatepositzer, it is further required to satisfy that the music-preference rrcstatepositzer is not operated, and at least one of the steps is executed in no sequence.

In the above method, when the timer T expires, the UE may perform an operation that needs to be performed when entering the RRC idle state.

In the above method, if the UE is configured to provide release preference release reference and the timer T346f is not running, the following operations may be performed: if the UE determines that a preference is to leave the RRC connected state, or if the UE is configured with a connection report and the UE determines that a preference modifies a previously indicated leave the RRC connected state, the timer T346f is started, the value of the timer T346f is set to the releasepresenceProportTimer, and transmission of the UE assistance information is initiated.

In the above method, if the UE is configured to provide release preference release reference and the timer T346f is not running and the prohibit timer T346x is not running, the following operations may be performed: if the UE determines that it prefers to leave the RRC connected state, or if the UE is configured with the connection report and the UE determines that it prefers to modify the previously indicated leave the RRC connected state, the timer T346f is started, the value of the timer T346f is set to the releasepresentation timer, and transmission of the UE assistance information message is initiated to provide the release preference releasepresence.

In the above method, the timer T346x may be further started when the timer T346f is started.

In the above method, transmitting the UE assistance information to provide the release preference release reference may include: and the UE auxiliary information comprises the release preference releasePreference, and the preference RRC state in the release preference domain is set to be the RRC state expected by the transmission of the UE auxiliary information.

In the above method, it may be that the UE cannot be configured with the release preference configuration domain and the MUSIM-assisted configuration domain at the same time.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions; wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, perform the above-described method.

Effects of the invention

According to the present disclosure, by reporting assistance information to inform the network (or base station) about the preference of the UE to leave the rrc_connected state, UE power consumption can be saved.

Drawings

The above and other features of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

fig. 1 shows a flow chart of a method in a user equipment, UE, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a user device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The disclosure is described in detail below with reference to the drawings and detailed description. It should be noted that the present disclosure should not be limited to the specific embodiments described below. In addition, for the sake of brevity, detailed descriptions of well-known techniques, which are not directly related to the present disclosure, are omitted to prevent confusion of an understanding of the present disclosure.

The following describes some terms related to the present disclosure, and specific meanings of the terms are found in 3GPP latest relevant documents, such as TS38.300, TS38.331, TS36.300, TS36.331, and the like.

NAS: non-access stratum, non-access stratum.

AS: access stratum, access stratum.

RRC: radio Resource Control, radio resource control.

Rrc_connected: and an RRC connected state.

Rrc_inactive: and the RRC is inactive.

Rrc_idle: and RRC idle state.

RAN; radio Access Network, radio access layer.

USIM: universal Subscriber Identity Module, global subscriber identity card.

MUSIM: multi-Universal Subscriber Identity Module, multiple global subscriber identity cards.

Tx: transmitter, transmitter.

Rx: receiver, receiver.

NR: new RAT, new radio Access technology.

In the present disclosure, a network, a base station, and a RAN are used interchangeably, and the network may be a long term evolution LTE network, an NR network, an enhanced long term evolution LTE network, or other networks defined in a later evolution version of 3 GPP.

In this disclosure, a user equipment UE may refer to an apparatus that physically supports multiple USIM cards (two or more USIM cards) equipped with two or more USIM cards, each of which is associated with one network. The multiple USIM cards may come from the same operator or different operators. From the network point of view, different USIM cards correspond to different UEs, one for each USIM card. This disclosure does not distinguish between this, unless otherwise specified. One skilled in the art can easily determine whether the UE refers to a UE supporting multiple USIM cards or a UE respectively corresponding to each USIM card in an apparatus supporting multiple USIM cards according to the context. The user equipment configured with the multiple USIM cards may receive and/or transmit data from multiple networks using single or double receipts by means of time division multiplexing or the like, and for a UE having two Rx's, may receive data from both networks at the same time. Further, the USIM of the present disclosure may be a physical SIM or eSIM (USIM can be a physical SIM or eSIM).

The embodiment of the disclosure takes UE configuration of two USIM cards as an example, and a person skilled in the art can easily extend to the case of multiple USIM cards. The user equipment UE with two USIM cards has at least Single-receive-Single-transmit (Single-Rx/Single-Tx) or Dual-receive-Single-transmit (Dual-Rx/Single-Tx) capability. Different UEs corresponding to two USIMs may share a pair of Tx and Rx or share one Tx but have respective Rx.

The following describes the procedure in which the UE initiates a request to the network to release the RRC connection for MUSIM purposes.

In the MUSIM scenario, the UE is in RRC connected state at network a (i.e. the base station), but the UE needs/wishes to communicate with network B, e.g. to establish an RRC connection with network B. At this time, the UE transmits indication information to release the RRC connection of the current UE to the network a. Specifically, when the UE having the MUSIM assistance information needs to leave the rrc_connected state, if the UE is configured to provide the MUSIM assistance information and the UE needs to leave the rrc_connected state, the UE performs the following operations:

initiating transmission of a ueassistance information message to provide MUSIM assistance information; a timer T is started and the value of the timer is set to musim-leavewithauthoutresponsetimer.

It should be noted that if the timer T is an optional configuration, the timer T is started only when the UE is configured with a music-leavewithoutresponse timer. The UE may set the MUSIM-PreferedRRC-state contained in the ueassanceinformation message to the desired RRC state when it needs to leave the rrc_connected state (for MUSIM purposes). The UE may determine whether to be configured to provide MUSIM assistance information according to whether a MUSIM-assanceconfig field is configured, and the base station configures the UE to report assistance information through the MUSIM-assanceconfig field carried in an RRC message (e.g., rrcrecnonconfiguration message). Furthermore, the UE being configured to provide MUSIM assistance information may instead be configured to indicate a preference to leave the RRC connected state for MUSIM purposes.

Furthermore, if the UE initiates transmission of a ueassistance information message to provide MUSIM assistance information, the following operations are performed:

if the UE needs to leave the RRC_CONNECTED State, the musim-PreferedRRC-State is set to the desired RRC State.

The following describes a procedure in which the UE initiates a request to the network to release the RRC connection for power saving purposes and the like.

In a scenario for power saving or the like, having a UE providing assistance information to leave (transition out of) the RRC connected state, upon determining to prefer to leave the RRC connected state or change (reverse) its preferred (preferred) RRC state, a UE assurelnformation message transmission procedure will be initiated. For example, a UE in RRC connected state has no uplink data to send, and for power saving purposes, the UE may initiate a UE assureinfo message transfer procedure to provide release preferences. If the UE initiates UE assayinformation message transmission to provide release preference of the UE, a releasePreference field is included in the UE assayinformation message, and a preferredRRC-State field included in the releasePreference field is set to an RRC State (set preferredRRC-State to the desired RRC State on transmission of the UEAssistanceInformation message) expected when the UE assayinformation message is transmitted. The base station may instruct/configure the UE to report its release preference through a release reference configuration field carried in an RRC message (e.g., rrcrecnonconfiguration message) for configuring the UE to inform the network (or base station) about the UE's preference to leave the rrc_connected state by reporting assistance information (Configuration for the UE to report assistance information to inform the gNB about the UE's preference to leave RRC _connected state). However, after receiving the UE assuredly information message including the release preference indication from the UE, the base station determines whether to release the current RRC connection immediately according to downlink service information of the current UE, and the like. In other words, in this case, if the UE has downlink data, even if the base station receives a UE assistance information message containing release preference from the UE (i.e., the message contains a preferredRRC-State field for indicating the RRC State of the UE preference), the RRC connection of the current UE is not necessarily released immediately. Specifically, if the UE is configured to provide its released preference and the timer T346f is not running, the following operations are performed:

if the UE determines that it prefers to leave the RRC CONNECTED state, or if the UE is configured with connectidreort and the UE determines that it prefers to modify the previously indicated leave RRC CONNECTED state (it would prefer to revert an earlier indication to transition out of RRC _connected state), a timer T346f is started, the value of the timer is set to releasepresenterenceproduction timer, and transmission of a ueassanceinformation message is initiated to provide release preference.

The transmitting the ue assistance information message to provide the release preference specifically includes the following operations:

the ue assurelnformation message includes releasePreference, and the preferredRRC-State is set to be the RRC State expected for transmitting the ue assurelnformation message.

For a UE configured with a releasepresenceconfig field and a MUSIM-assanceconfig field, after the UE sends an RRC message requesting to release the RRC connection to the network a for the purpose of MUSIM (i.e. the RRC message ueassanceinfo contains a MUSIM-preferederrc-State field), the procedure of providing assistance information to leave the RRC State is triggered for the purpose of energy saving (e.g. no uplink data) before the UE receives an rrcrease message from the network a to release the RRC connection or before the timer T expires (i.e. it is determined that it is preferred to leave the rrc_connected State). At this time, since the UE has indicated to the network that it wants the network to release the current RRC connection, it is not necessary to send an RRC message requesting to release the RRC connection again to the network, so as to save signaling overhead. The following provides embodiments to achieve the object.

Example 1

Since the MUSIM destination starts the timer T346f after sending a ueassistance information message containing an indication of the request to leave the RRC connection state to the network.

Specifically, when the UE having the musi assistance information provided needs to leave the rrc_connected state (because musi purpose needs to leave the RRC CONNECTED state), if the UE is configured to provide musi assistance information (or configured with musi-assanceconfig) and the UE needs to leave the rrc_connected state, at least one of the following operations is performed:

(1) The UE initiates transmission of a ueassistance information message to provide MUSIM assistance information.

(2) A timer T is started and the value of the timer is set to musim-leavewithoutresponse timer. (the UE is configured with musim-LeaveWithoutResponseTimer to perform this operation)

(3) A timer T346f is started and the value of the timer is set to releasepresenceProportTimer. (the UE is configured with releasePreferenceProhibiTimer to do so)

It is to be noted that embodiments obtained by changing the execution sequence of the above (1) to (3) are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

Optionally, when the UE is configured with a music-preferedrrcstateProhibiTimer, the above embodiment further needs to satisfy that the timer T346x corresponding to the music-preferredrrcsstateProhibiTimer is not running to perform the above operations (1) - (3), and/or perform the following operation (4):

(4) The prohibit timer T346x is started and the value of prohibit timer T346x is set to the music-preferredRRCStatProhibitTimer (the UE is configured with music-preferredRRCStatProhibitTimer to do so).

It is to be noted that embodiments obtained by changing the execution sequence of the above (1) to (4) are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

Further, when the timer T expires, the UE performs an operation (perform the actions upon going to RRC _idle) that needs to be performed when entering rrc_idle. Operations performed by the UE entering the rrc_idle state may include resetting the medium access control MAC, releasing all radio resources (including releasing the radio link control RLC entity, the backhaul adaptation protocol BAP entity, the packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity and the service data adaptation protocol SDAP entity for MAC configuration and all established radio bearers, backhaul BH RLC channel), indicating release of the RRC connection and release reasons to the upper layer, etc.

Example two

Only if neither timer T nor timer T346f is running, a UE having the assistance information to leave the RRC connected state can initiate a ueassureinformation message to indicate its preference to leave the RRC connected state (request to leave the RRC connected state for energy saving purposes) or change its preferred RRC state.

Specifically, if the UE is configured to provide its released preference and timer T346f is not running and timer T is not running (UE is configured to perform this judgment condition only with music-leavewithoutresponse timer), the following operations are performed:

In this disclosure, transmitting the ueassistance information message to provide the release preference specifically includes the following operations:

the ue assurelnformation message includes a releasePreference, and the preferredRRC-State in the releaseprerence domain is set to be the RRC State expected for transmitting the ue assurelnformation message.

Example III

Only if neither the prohibit timer T346x nor the timer T346f is running, the UE with assistance information provided to leave the RRC connected state can initiate a ueassistance information message to indicate its preference to leave the RRC connected state (request to leave the RRC connected state for energy saving purposes) or change its preferred RRC state

Specifically, if the UE is configured to provide its released preference and timer T346f is not running and prohibit timer T346x is not running (the UE is configured to perform this judgment condition only with music-preference rrcstateprodurtizer), the following operations are performed:

if the UE determines that it prefers to leave the RRC CONNECTED state, or if the UE is configured with connectidreort and the UE determines that it prefers to modify the previously indicated leave RRC CONNECTED state (it would prefer to revert an earlier indication to transition out of RRC _connected state), a timer T346f is started, the value of the timer is set to releasepresenterenceproduction timer, and transmission of a ueassanceinformation message is initiated to provide release preference. Optionally, a timer T346x is also started when a timer T346f is started.

Transmitting the ueassistance information message to provide the release preference specifically includes the following operations:

Embodiment four UEs cannot be configured with releasepresenceconfig domain and musim-assanceconfig domain simultaneously

In this embodiment, the UE cannot be configured with both the releasepresenceconfig field and the musim-assanceconfig field. In other words, the musim-assanceconfig domain may be configured if and only if the UE is not configured with the releasepresenceconfig domain, and vice versa.

It should be noted that, in the present disclosure, the judging operation about whether the timer is running and the operation for starting the timer are performed only when the parameter corresponding to the timer is configured, otherwise, the corresponding operation is not performed.

The meaning of the partial messages or fields to which the present disclosure relates is explained below.

The UE assistance information message is used to indicate UE assistance information to the network.

The MUSIM-assanceconfig field (also known as MUSIM-assanceconfig-Leave field) configures the UE to report assistance information, i.e. to configure the UE to report its release preferences for MUSIM purposes. The base station may instruct the UE to report its release preference for MUSIM purposes through the MUSIM-assanceconfig field carried in an RRC message (e.g., rrcrecon configuration message).

The preferredRRC-State field (filtered) is used to indicate UE preference (preference)/desired RRC State (Indicates the UE's preferred RRC State), i.e. the RRC State to which the UE prefers to release from the RRC connected State. For example, if this field is set to IDLE, then the UE is instructed to prefer release from RRC connected state to RRC IDLE state (The value IDLE is indicated if the UE prefers to be released from RRC _ CONNECTED and transition to RRC _idle); if this field is set to inactive, indicating that the UE prefers to release from RRC connected state to RRC inactive state; this field is set to CONNECTED, an indication indicating that the UE preference change (reverse) previously left rrc_connected; if this field is set to outOfConnected, the UE is instructed to prefer to release the RRC connection and not to prefer the entered RRC state (has no preferred RRC state to transition to).

The music-PreferredRRC-State indicates the RRC State preferred by the UE when it leaves the rrc_connected State (or indicates that the UE prefers to leave the RRC State), which may be either IDLE or INACTIVE or outofrrcconnectioned. If this field is set to IDLE, indicating that the UE prefers to release from RRC connected state to RRC IDLE state; if this field is set to INACTIVE, then indicating that the UE prefers to release from the RRC connected state to the RRC INACTIVE state; if this field is set to outofrrcconnectioned, the UE is instructed to prefer to release the RRC connection and not to prefer the entered RRC state. The outofrrcconnectioned is only used to indicate that the UE wants the network to release the current RRC connection but does not indicate the RRC state entered after the release of the RRC connection is desired. In addition, the value of the musim-PreferedRRC-State field may be the same as or a subset of the value of the PreferedRRC-State field, e.g., the value of the musim-PreferedRRC-State field is { idle, inactive } or { idle, inactive, outOfConnected }.

The value of the timer T is configured for the UE by the base station through a musim-leavewithauthouresponsetimer field carried in the RRC message sent to the UE, which indicates the time (or timer) for the UE to leave the rrc_connected state without waiting for a network acknowledgement. When the timer T expires, the UE automatically leaves the rrc_connected state and enters rrc_idle for MUSIM purposes. If the musim-leavewithauthueresponse timer is a mandatory configuration (manager), then the musim-assureconfig field may not need to be configured, and accordingly, the determination of whether the musim-assureconfig field is configured may be replaced with whether the musim-leavewithauthueresponse timer field is configured.

The value of timer T346x is configured by the base station for the UE through the MUSIM-preferredrrcstatoprohibitertimer field carried in the RRC message sent to the UE, which is a prohibit timer for releasing the preference assistance information report for MUSIM purposes, i.e. for prohibiting the UE from frequently sending UE assureinformation messages containing MUSIM-PreferredRRC-State fields to the base station.

The value of the timer T346f is configured for the UE by the base station through a releasepresenterencepresentation timer field carried in the RRC message sent to the UE, and the releasepresenterencepresentation timer is a prohibit timer (Prohibit timer for release preference assistance information reporting) for releasing the preference assistance information report, that is, for prohibiting the UE from frequently sending a UE assistance information message containing a preferredRRC-State field to the base station.

connectidrepting indicates that the UE can report that the preference remains in RRC connected state (Indicates that the UE can report a preference to remain inRRC _ CONNECTED state following a report to leave RRC _connect state) after reporting to leave RRC connected state.

Computer-executable instructions or programs for implementing the functions of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. The corresponding functions can be realized by causing a computer system to read programs recorded on the recording medium and execute the programs. The term "computer system" as used herein may be a computer system embedded in the device and may include an operating system or hardware (e.g., peripheral devices). The "computer-readable storage medium" may be a semiconductor recording medium, an optical recording medium, a magnetic recording medium, a recording medium storing a program dynamically at a short time, or any other recording medium readable by a computer.

The various features or functional modules of the apparatus used in the embodiments described above may be implemented or performed by circuitry (e.g., single-chip or multi-chip integrated circuits). Circuits designed to perform the functions described herein may include a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The circuit may be a digital circuit or an analog circuit. Where new integrated circuit technologies are presented as an alternative to existing integrated circuits due to advances in semiconductor technology, one or more embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented using these new integrated circuit technologies.

Further, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Although various examples of the embodiments have been described, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Fixed or non-mobile electronic devices installed indoors or outdoors may be used as terminal devices or communication devices such as AV devices, kitchen devices, cleaning devices, air conditioners, office devices, vending machines, and other home appliances, etc.

As above, the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the specific structure is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the present disclosure also includes any design modifications without departing from the gist of the present disclosure. In addition, various modifications can be made to the present disclosure within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in the different embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present disclosure. Further, the components having the same effects described in the above embodiments may be replaced with each other.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment UE,

the UE is configured to provide multi-global subscriber identity card MUSIM assistance information,

in case the UE needs to leave the radio resource control, RRC, connected state, performing at least one of the following steps:

the UE initiates transmission of a UE auxiliary information message to provide the MUSIM auxiliary information;

starting a timer T, setting a value of the timer T to indicate a time or a timer music-LeaveWithoutRespon seTimer for the UE to leave the RRC connected state without waiting for a network response;

a timer T346f is started, and the value of the timer T346f is set to a prohibit timer releasepreseferenceprohibit timer for releasing the preference assistance information report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein,

when the UE is configured with a music-preferedrrrcstatepositzer, it is also required to satisfy that the music-preferredrrcstatepositzer is not running, and at least one of the steps is executed in no sequence.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein,

when the timer T expires, the UE performs an operation that needs to be performed when entering an RRC idle state.

4. The method according to any one of claim 1 to 3, wherein,

if the UE is configured to provide a release preference releasePreference and the timer T346f is not running, the following is performed:

if the UE determines that a preference to leave the RRC connected state is provided or if the UE is configured with a connection report and the UE determines that a preference to modify a previously indicated leave the RRC connected state, the timer T346f is started, the value of the timer T346f is set to the releasePref erenceProhibitTimer, and transmission of the UE assistance information is initiated.

5. The method according to any one of claim 1 to 3, wherein,

if the UE is configured to provide a release preference releasePreference and the timer T346f is not running and the prohibit timer T346x is not running, the following operations are performed:

if the UE determines that it prefers to leave the RRC connected state, or if the UE is configured with the connection report and the UE determines that it prefers to modify the previously indicated leave the RRC connected state, the timer T346f is started, the value of the timer T346f is set to the releasepresentation timer, and transmission of the UE assistance information message is initiated to provide the release preference releasepresence.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein,

the timer T346x is also started when the timer T346f is started.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein,

transmitting the UE assistance information to provide the release preference releasePreference includes:

and the UE auxiliary information comprises the release preference releasePreference, and the preference RRC state in the release preference domain is set to be the RRC state expected by the transmission of the UE auxiliary information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein,

the UE cannot be configured with both a release preference configuration domain and a MUSIM-assisted configuration domain.

9. A user equipment, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions;

wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.