CN116918359A - Method and system for 5GS and EPS interworking for UAV communications - Google Patents

Abstract

A method performed by a network node for storing context for at least one unmanned aerial vehicle system, comprising: a notification is received that includes information indicating an identifier of a drone system and a service anchor node of the drone system corresponding to the identifier changing from a first anchor node to a second anchor node. Updating a stored context for the drone system, wherein the stored context includes a service anchor node of the drone system to indicate the second anchor node as the service anchor node.

Description

Method and system for 5GS and EPS interworking for UAV communications

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application number 63/150120 filed on month 17 of 2021, U.S. provisional patent application number 63/183822 filed on month 5 of 2021, and U.S. provisional patent application number 63/253218 filed on month 10 of 2021, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Background

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of communications, software and coding, including, for example, methods, architectures, devices, systems related to processing unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UASs).

Drawings

A more detailed understanding can be obtained from the following detailed description, which is given by way of example in connection with the accompanying drawings. As with the detailed description, the drawings in such figures are examples. Accordingly, the drawings (figures) and detailed description are not to be taken in a limiting sense, and other equally effective examples are possible and contemplated. In addition, like reference numerals ("ref") in the drawings denote like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system;

fig. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communication system shown in fig. 1A;

fig. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary Radio Access Network (RAN) and an exemplary Core Network (CN) that may be used within the communication system shown in fig. 1A;

fig. 1D is a system diagram illustrating a further exemplary RAN and a further exemplary CN that may be used within the communication system shown in fig. 1A;

figure 2 shows a high level UUAA procedure during 5GS registration;

fig. 3 shows an advanced UUAA procedure during PDU session establishment;

FIG. 4 shows a system architecture for 5GS and EPS interworking;

fig. 5A and 5B illustrate UUAA context alignment in the case of a UE moving from EPS to 5GS according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate UUAA context alignment in the case of a UE moving from EPS to 5GS in accordance with another implementation of the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of UAS-NF establishment of a UAV context during UUAA according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a method of UAS-NF updating of a UAV context during re-authentication/authorization in accordance with an implementation of the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a method of UAS-NF querying during interworking according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention; and is also provided with

FIG. 10 illustrates a method of network triggered UAV re-authentication during interworking according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates an AMF change processing method according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention; and is also provided with

Fig. 12A and 12B illustrate a method of UUAA context alignment in the case of a UE moving from 5GS to EPS.

Detailed Description

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments and/or examples disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that such embodiments and examples may be practiced without some or all of the specific details set forth herein. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the description below. Furthermore, embodiments and examples not specifically described herein may be practiced in place of or in combination with embodiments and other examples that are explicitly, implicitly, and/or inherently described, disclosed, or otherwise provided (collectively, "provided"). Although various embodiments are described and/or claimed herein, wherein an apparatus, system, device, etc., and/or any element thereof, performs an operation, procedure, algorithm, function, etc., and/or any portion thereof, it is to be understood that any embodiment described and/or claimed herein assumes that any apparatus, system, device, etc., and/or any element thereof, is configured to perform any operation, procedure, algorithm, function, etc., and/or any portion thereof.

Exemplary communication System

The methods, apparatus and systems provided herein are well suited for communications involving both wired and wireless networks. An overview of various types of wireless devices and infrastructure is provided with respect to fig. 1A-1D, wherein various elements of a network may utilize, perform, adapt and/or configure the methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein, according to and/or with respect to the methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein.

Fig. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. Communication system 100 may be a multiple-access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messages, broadcasts, etc., to a plurality of wireless users. Communication system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, communication system 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero Tail (ZT) Unique Word (UW) Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-sOFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block filtered OFDM, filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

As shown in fig. 1A, the communication system 100 may include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, radio Access Networks (RANs) 104/113, core Networks (CNs) 106/115, public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) 108, the internet 110, and other networks 112, although it should be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. As an example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d (any of which may be referred to as a "station" and/or a "STA") may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include (or may be) User Equipment (UE), mobile stations, fixed or mobile subscriber units, subscription-based units, pagers, cellular telephones, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptop computers, netbooks, personal computers, wireless sensors, hotspots or Mi-Fi devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or automated processing chain environment), consumer electronics devices, devices operating on a commercial and/or industrial wireless network, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

Communication system 100 may also include base station 114a and/or base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, for example, to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106/115, the internet 110, and/or the network 112. As an example, the base stations 114a, 114B may be any of a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a Node B (NB), an evolved node B (eNB), a Home Node B (HNB), a home evolved node B (HeNB), a g node B (gNB), an NR node B (NR NB), a site controller, an Access Point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. Although the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it should be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and/or network elements.

Base station 114a may be part of RAN 104/113 that may also include other base stations and/or network elements (not shown), such as Base Station Controllers (BSCs), radio Network Controllers (RNCs), relay nodes, and the like. Base station 114a and/or base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as cells (not shown). These frequencies may be in a licensed spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage of wireless services to a particular geographic area, which may be relatively fixed or may change over time. The cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, a cell associated with base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in an embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of a cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each or any sector of a cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and/or receive signals in a desired spatial direction.

The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio Frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, millimeter wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable Radio Access Technology (RAT).

More specifically, as noted above, communication system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, or the like. For example, a base station 114a in the RAN 104/113 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) terrestrial radio access (UTRA), which may use Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) to establish the air interface 116.WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and/or evolved HSPA (hspa+). HSPA may include High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA), which may use Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-advanced (LTE-a) and/or LTE-advanced Pro (LTE-a Pro) to establish the air interface 116.

In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR radio access that may use a new air interface (NR) to establish the air interface 116.

In embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, e.g., using a Dual Connectivity (DC) principle. Thus, the air interface utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and/or transmissions sent to/from multiple types of base stations (e.g., enbs and gnbs).

In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi)), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000 1X, CDMA EV-DO, tentative standard 2000 (IS-2000), tentative standard 95 (IS-95), tentative standard 856 (IS-856), global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

The base station 114B in fig. 1A may be, for example, a wireless router, home node B, home evolved node B, or access point, and may utilize any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connections in local areas such as businesses, homes, vehicles, campuses, industrial facilities, air corridors (e.g., for use by drones), roads, and the like. In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-a Pro, NR, etc.) to establish any of a micro-cell, pico-cell, or femto-cell. As shown in fig. 1A, the base station 114b may be directly connected to the internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not need to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106/115.

The RANs 104/113 may communicate with the CNs 106/115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, application, and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102 d. The data may have different quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as different throughput requirements, delay requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106/115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location based services, prepaid calls, internet connections, video distribution, etc., and/or perform advanced security functions such as user authentication. Although not shown in fig. 1A, it should be appreciated that the RANs 104/113 and/or CNs 106/115 may communicate directly or indirectly with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RANs 104/113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104/113 that may utilize NR radio technologies, the CN 106/115 may also communicate with another RAN (not shown) employing any of GSM, UMTS, CDMA, wiMAX, E-UTRA, or Wi-Fi radio technologies.

The CN 106/115 may also act as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and/or other networks 112.PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS). The internet 110 may include a global system for interconnecting computer networks and devices using common communication protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), user Datagram Protocol (UDP), and/or Internet Protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. Network 112 may include wired and/or wireless communication networks owned and/or operated by other service providers. For example, network 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as RANs 104/114 or a different RAT.

Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communication system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in fig. 1A may be configured to communicate with a base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with a base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

Fig. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary WTRU 102. As shown in fig. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a Global Positioning System (GPS) chipset 136, and/or other elements/peripherals 138, etc. It should be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of Integrated Circuit (IC), a state machine, or the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any other functions that enable the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to a transceiver 120, which may be coupled to a transmit/receive element 122. Although fig. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it should be understood that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together, for example, in an electronic package or chip.

The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to and receive signals from a base station (e.g., base station 114 a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals. In one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an emitter/detector configured to emit and/or receive, for example, IR, UV, or visible light signals. In an embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive both RF signals and optical signals. It should be appreciated that the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

Although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted as a single element in fig. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit/receive elements 122. For example, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate signals to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 122 and demodulate signals received by the transmit/receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. For example, therefore, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers to enable the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs (such as NR and IEEE 802.11).

The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to and may receive user input data from a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, and/or a display/touchpad 128, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display unit or an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display unit. The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. Further, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include Random Access Memory (RAM), read Only Memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. Removable memory 132 may include a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a Secure Digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may never physically locate memory access information on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or home computer (not shown), and store the data in that memory.

The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134 and may be configured to distribute and/or control power to other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry battery packs (e.g., nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to or in lieu of information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from base stations (e.g., base stations 114a, 114 b) over the air interface 116 and/or determine its location based on the timing of signals received from two or more nearby base stations. It should be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may obtain location information by any suitable location determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

The processor 118 may also be coupled to other elements/peripherals 138 that may include one or more software modules/units and/or hardware modules/units that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wired or wireless connections. For example, the elements/peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (e.g., for photos and/or videos), universal Serial Bus (USB) port, vibration device, television transceiver, hands-free headset,Modules, frequency Modulation (FM) radio units, digital music players, media players, video game player modules, internet browsers, virtual reality and/or augmented reality (VR/AR) devices, activity trackers, and the like. The element/peripheral 138 may include one or more sensors, which may be one or more of the following: gyroscopes, accelerometers, hall effect sensors, magnetometers, orientation sensors, proximity sensors, temperature sensors, time sensors; a geographic position sensor; altimeters, light sensors, touch sensors, magnetometers, barometers, gesture sensors, biometric sensors, and/or humidity sensors.

WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for both uplink (e.g., for transmission) and downlink (e.g., for reception)) may be concurrent and/or simultaneous. The full duplex radio station may include an interference management unit for reducing and/or substantially eliminating self-interference via hardware (e.g., choke) or via signal processing by a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for uplink (e.g., for transmission) or downlink (e.g., for reception)).

Fig. 1C is a system diagram illustrating a RAN 104 and a CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c over the air interface 116 using an E-UTRA radio technology. RAN 104 may also communicate with CN 106.

RAN 104 may include enode bs 160a, 160B, 160c, but it should be understood that RAN 104 may include any number of enode bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The enode bs 160a, 160B, 160c may each include one or more transceivers to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the evolved node bs 160a, 160B, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the enode B160a may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to and receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a, for example.

Each of the evolved node bs 160a, 160B, and 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to process radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, user scheduling in the Uplink (UL) and/or Downlink (DL), and so on. As shown in fig. 1C, the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160C may communicate with each other over an X2 interface.

The CN 106 shown in fig. 1C may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, a Serving Gateway (SGW) 164, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. Although each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it should be understood that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

MME 162 may be connected to each of evolved node bs 160a, 160B, and 160c in RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating the user of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. MME 162 may provide control plane functionality for switching between RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) employing other radio technologies such as GSM and/or WCDMA.

SGW 164 may be connected to each of the evolved node bs 160a, 160B, 160c in RAN 104 via an S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to/from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102 c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions such as anchoring user planes during inter-enode B handover, triggering paging when DL data is available to the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c, managing and storing the contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c, etc.

The SGW 164 may be connected to a PGW 166 that may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to a packet switched network, such as the internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to a circuit-switched network (such as the PSTN 108) to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and legacy landline communication devices. For example, the CN 106 may include or may communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks owned and/or operated by other service providers.

Although the WTRU is depicted in fig. 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in some representative embodiments such a terminal may use a wired communication interface with a communication network (e.g., temporarily or permanently).

In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

A WLAN in an infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more Stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired/wireless network that carries traffic to and/or from the BSS. Traffic originating outside the BSS and directed to the STA may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STA. Traffic originating from the STA and leading to a destination outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may pass the traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and/or referred to as point-to-point traffic. Point-to-point traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs using Direct Link Setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z Tunnel DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and STAs (e.g., all STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS communication mode may sometimes be referred to herein as an "ad-hoc" communication mode.

When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or similar modes of operation, the AP may transmit beacons on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20MHz wide bandwidth) or a width dynamically set by signaling. The primary channel may be an operating channel of the BSS and may be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) may be implemented, for example, in an 802.11 system. For CSMA/CA, STAs (e.g., each STA), including the AP, may listen to the primary channel. If the primary channel is listened to/detected by a particular STA and/or determined to be busy, the particular STA may backoff. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

High Throughput (HT) STAs may communicate using 40MHz wide channels, for example, via a combination of a primary 20MHz channel with an adjacent or non-adjacent 20MHz channel to form a 40MHz wide channel.

Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support channels that are 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, and/or 160MHz wide. 40MHz and/or 80MHz channels may be formed by combining consecutive 20MHz channels. The 160MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 consecutive 20MHz channels, or by combining two non-consecutive 80MHz channels (this may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration). For the 80+80 configuration, after channel coding, the data may pass through a segment parser that may split the data into two streams. An Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) process and a time domain process may be performed on each stream separately. These streams may be mapped to two 80MHz channels and data may be transmitted by the transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the operations described above for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, entity, or the like.

The 802.11af and 802.11ah support modes of operation below 1 GHz. Channel operating bandwidth and carrier are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah relative to those used in 802.11n and 802.11 ac. The 802.11af supports 5MHz, 10MHz, and 20MHz bandwidths in the television white space (TVWS) spectrum, and the 802.11ah supports 1MHz, 2MHz, 4MHz, 8MHz, and 16MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to representative embodiments, 802.11ah may support meter type control/Machine Type Communication (MTC), such as MTC devices in macro coverage areas. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, such as limited capabilities, including supporting (e.g., supporting only) certain bandwidths and/or limited bandwidths. MTC devices may include batteries with battery lives above a threshold (e.g., to maintain very long battery lives).

WLAN systems that can support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, include channels that can be designated as primary channels. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and/or limited by STAs from all STAs operating in the BSS (which support a minimum bandwidth mode of operation). In the example of 802.11ah, for STAs (e.g., MTC-type devices) that support (e.g., only) 1MHz mode, the primary channel may be 1MHz wide, even though the AP and other STAs in the BSS support 2MHz, 4MHz, 8MHz, 16MHz, and/or other channel bandwidth modes of operation. The carrier sense and/or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the state of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, because the STA (supporting only 1MHz mode of operation) is transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency band may be considered busy even though most of the frequency band remains idle and possibly available.

The available frequency band for 802.11ah in the united states is 902MHz to 928MHz. In korea, the available frequency band is 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency band is 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz, depending on the country code.

Fig. 1D is a system diagram illustrating a RAN 113 and a CN 115 according to an embodiment. As noted above, RAN 113 may employ NR radio technology to communicate with WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over an air interface 116. RAN 113 may also communicate with CN 115.

RAN 113 may include gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c, although it will be appreciated that RAN 113 may include any number of gnbs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. Each of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may include one or more transceivers to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, the gnbs 180a, 180b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102 c. Thus, the gNB180a may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to the WTRU 102a and/or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a, for example. In an embodiment, the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation techniques. For example, the gNB180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on the unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on the licensed spectrum. In embodiments, the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement coordinated multipoint (CoMP) techniques. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB180a and gNB180 b (and/or gNB180 c).

The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with the scalable parameter sets. For example, the OFDM symbol interval and/or OFDM subcarrier interval may vary from transmission to transmission, from cell to cell, and/or from part of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c using various or scalable length subframes or Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs) (e.g., including different numbers of OFDM symbols and/or continuously varying absolute time lengths).

The gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in an independent configuration and/or in a non-independent configuration. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c may communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c while also not accessing other RANs (e.g., such as the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160 c). In an independent configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may use one or more of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c as mobility anchor points. In an independent configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may use signals in unlicensed frequency bands to communicate with the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180 c. In a non-standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c may communicate or connect with the gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c, while also communicating or connecting with other RANs (such as the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160 c). For example, the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c and one or more enodebs 160a, 160B, 160c substantially simultaneously. In a non-standalone configuration, the enode bs 160a, 160B, 160c may serve as mobility anchors for the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102c, and the gnbs 180a, 180B, 180c may provide additional coverage and/or throughput for serving the WTRUs 102a, 102B, 102 c.

Each of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in UL and/or DL, support of network slices, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, and so on. As shown in fig. 1D, gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with each other through an Xn interface.

The CN 115 shown in fig. 1D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and at least one Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 115, it should be understood that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

AMFs 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of gNB 180a, 180b, 180c in RAN 113 via an N2 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the AMFs 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slices (e.g., handling of different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selection of a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of registration areas, termination of NAS signaling, mobility management, and so on. The AMFs 182a, 182b may use network slices to customize CN support for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, e.g., based on the type of service used by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102 c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases, such as services relying on ultra high reliability low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced large-scale mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, etc. AMF 162 may provide control plane functionality for switching between RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) employing other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-a Pro, and/or non-3 GPP access technologies, such as Wi-Fi.

The SMFs 183a, 183b may be connected to AMFs 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may also be connected to UPFs 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. SMFs 183a, 183b may select and control UPFs 184a, 184b and configure traffic routing through UPFs 184a, 184b. The SMFs 183a, 183b may perform other functions such as managing and assigning UE IP addresses, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notifications, etc. The PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP-based, ethernet-based, etc.

UPFs 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gnbs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to a packet-switched network, such as the internet 110, for example, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. UPFs 184, 184b may perform other functions such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-host PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

The CN 115 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include or may communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks owned and/or operated by other service providers. In embodiments, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may connect to local Data Networks (DNs) 185a, 185b through UPFs 184a, 184b via an N3 interface to UPFs 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between UPFs 184a, 184b and DNs 185a, 185b.

In view of fig. 1A-1D and the corresponding descriptions of fig. 1A-1D, one or more or all of the functions described herein with reference to any one of the following may be performed by one or more emulation elements/devices (not shown): the WTRUs 102a-102d, base stations 114a-114B, eNodeBs 160a-160c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-180c, AMFs 182a-182B, UPFs 184a-184B, SMFs 183a-183B, DNs 185a-185B, and/or any other elements/devices described herein. The emulated device may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more or all of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation device may be used to test other devices and/or analog network and/or WTRU functions.

The simulation device may be designed to enable one or more tests of other devices in a laboratory environment and/or an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices can perform one or more or all of the functions while being fully or partially implemented and/or deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices can perform one or more functions or all functions while being temporarily implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for testing purposes and/or may perform testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

The one or more emulation devices can perform one or more (including all) functions while not being implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. For example, the simulation device may be used in a test laboratory and/or a test scenario in a non-deployed (e.g., test) wired and/or wireless communication network in order to enable testing of one or more components. The one or more simulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and/or wireless communication via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation device to transmit and/or receive data.

Introduction to the invention

The number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, has grown rapidly in recent years, and the applications implemented by UAVs are expanding to a variety of industries. However, conventional unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UASs) (i.e., UAVs and controllers) rely primarily on direct point-to-point communication via unlicensed industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, which limits the range of operation, and communication is often unreliable, unsafe, and low data rates. To further explore the potential of UAV applications, advanced cellular technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G may be utilized to enable over-the-horizon flight (BVLOS) operation and higher performance and more reliable communication of UASs.

Ubiquitous mobile network coverage can provide a range of operation far beyond the limits of point-to-point communications using ISM frequencies. Advanced communication capabilities of modern cellular networks (especially 5G networks) such as high bandwidth, low latency, guaranteed QoS, etc., may help to improve performance of UAV applications. Advanced security mechanisms of modern cellular networks may address security issues involved in managing UAV applications.

SUMMARY

In addition to the primary authentication and authorization of 3GPP systems, unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and unmanned aerial vehicle controller (UAV-C) devices need to be authenticated and authorized by UAS service provider/UAS traffic management (USS/UTM) under the support of 3GPP systems. This additional authentication and authorization process is known as USS UAV Authentication and Authorization (UUAA).

In a 5G system (5 GS), UUAA may be performed during a 5GS registration procedure or during a PDU session establishment procedure.

Fig. 2 shows a high level UUAA procedure during 5GS registration. If the UE 22 (i.e., UAV) intends to use UAV-related services, it may send a registration request to the AMF 24 in step S202 to indicate its support for UAV services and include its Civilian Aviation Administration (CAA) level UAV identifier. After successful primary 3GPP authentication and authorization (a & a), AMF 24 may send a registration accept message to UE 22 in step S206, indicating UUAA is pending in step S204. AMF 24 may then trigger the UUAA procedure based on the information received in the registration request as well as other information such as UE subscription information and local policies. The AMF 24 may request UUAA services of the USS/UTM 28 by sending a request to the UAS network function 26 (UAS-NF) in step S208. UAS-NF 26 is a 3GPP network function interfaced with USS/UTM 28 for UAV-related procedures such as UUAA and UAV tracking; for example, it may be co-located with a Network Exposure Function (NEF) or a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF). The UAS-NF 26 discovers the USS/UTM 28 address based on pre-configured address information or CAA-level UAV ID sent by the UE 22. The USS/UTM 28 address may alternatively be provided by the UE 22. In step S210, the UAS-NF 26 invokes the API provided by the USS/UTM 28 and provides the necessary information such as CAA-level UAV ID, 3GPP UAV ID (e.g., common public subscription identifier GPSI)) to request UUAA services, i.e., "a & a request. In step S212, the USS/UTM 28 may also exchange information with the UAV or UAV-C via the UAS-NF 26 and the 3GPP network to complete a UUAA, i.e., an "A & A message round trip". In step S214, the USS/UTM 28 notifies the UAS-NF 26 of the UUUAA result, i.e., "A & A response", and then in step S216, the UAS-NF 26 notifies the AMF 24, i.e., "UUUAA response". As a result of a successful UUAA, a new CAA-level UAV ID may be assigned by USS/UTM 28, stored in UAS-NF 26 and AMF 24, and provided to UE 22 in step S218, i.e. "UE configuration update (UUAA result)". The USS/UTM 28 may provide security information to the UAV 22 that the UAV 22 may use to establish secure communications with the USS/UTM 28.

If UUAA is not performed during 5GS registration, UUAA procedures may alternatively be triggered during establishment of PDU sessions related to UAV operation, as shown in fig. 3. In this case, in step S302, the UE 32 (i.e., UAV or UAV-C) includes its CAA-level UAV ID in the PDU session establishment request sent to the SMF 34. Based on the received information, such as CAA-level UAV ID, DNN/NSSAI corresponding to UAV-related services, and other information (e.g., subscription information), the SMF initiates a UUAA request to UAS-NF 36 in step S304, which forwards the a & a request to USS/UTM 38 in step S306. The rest of the process is similar to UUAA during registration: the a & a message round trip in step 308, the a & a response in step S310, the UUAA response in step S312 may be the same as described with reference to fig. 2, and in step S314 the UUAA result is sent by the SMF to the UAV in a PDU session establishment accept message.

In Evolved Packet System (EPS), UUAA procedures are performed during an attach/PDN connection establishment procedure. The UAV-related information may be included in a Protocol Configuration Option (PCO) of an EPS Session Management (ESM) container in the attach request. The MME may select an Access Point Name (APN) and a packet data network gateway (PGW) (or PGW-c+smf) corresponding to the UAV service based on UE subscription information, such as "over-the-air UE information. The PGW determines that an auxiliary a & a is required by USS/UTM and initiates a UUAA request via UAS-NF. UUAA results are notified to UAS-NF and PGW (or PGW-c+smf).

The UAV-related connection (PDU session or PDN connection) can only be established after the UAV or UAV-C has successfully completed the UUAA. The UAV or UAV-C may establish a single common connection for both general communication with USS/UTM (e.g., sending UAV tracking data such as network remote ID, or receiving USS/UTM configuration information) and C2 communication with UAV-C; or it may use a dedicated connection for general communication with USS/UTM and another separate connection for C2 communication with UAV-C.

To enable C2 communication with the UAV-C, the UAV needs to be authorized by USS/UTM to pair with the UAV-C. In the case of a single connection, the pairing authorization may be performed with the UUAA procedure during the connection establishment procedure or may be initiated later using a connection modification procedure. In the case of a separate connection, pairing authorization may be performed during connection establishment dedicated to UAV-C C2 communications. Pairing information (e.g., peer CAA-level UAV identifier) may be provided by the UAV or preconfigured in USS/UTM. If pairing authorization is successful, the USS/UTM may provide traffic routing policies or filters for C2 communications to the 3GPP system, so that the 3GPP system may execute these policies/filters to ensure that the connection only allows C2 communications between the UAV and UAV-C. Similarly, for UUAA, USS/UTM may provide it with a new CAA-level UAV ID via the network and security information that the UAV may use to establish secure communications with UAV-C.

Fig. 4 shows a system architecture for interworking between 5GS and EPS, including Home Subscriber Server (HSS) + Unified Data Management (UDM), policy Control Function (PCF), smf+pgw-C, UPF +pgw-U, SGW, MME, E-UTRAN, AMF, NG-RAN and UEs on both sides. In addition, interfaces between different parts are shown.

The combined entities such as smf+pgw-C, UPF +pgw-U support similar functions in 5GS and EPS, respectively, and achieve interworking between them. The N26 interface between the AMF and MME is an optional interface that enables the AMF and MME to exchange information such as UE context.

The UE may operate in a Single Registration (SR) mode or a Dual Registration (DR) mode between 5GS and EPS. In SR mode, the UE maintains a single coordinated registration for 5GS and EPS, while in DR mode, the UE handles independent registration for 5GS and EPS.

Now, when a UAV or UAV-C that has been USS/UTM authenticated and authorized in 5GS moves from 5GS to EPS (without using the N26 interface) in idle mode or connected mode, it can be re-authenticated in EPS by USS/UTM. When the UAV or UAV-C returns from EPS to 5GS, the 5GS may still maintain the old UUAA context (e.g., in AMF). For example, if the UAV fails UUAA in the EPS (e.g., after re-authentication) and returns to 5GS, then 5GS may still consider the UAV correctly authenticated by USS/UTM according to the now outdated UUAA context and allow the UAV to establish a connection for UAV communication, which should not be allowed in this case. As another example, the UAV may be assigned a new CAA-level UAV ID (e.g., when it is re-authenticated by USS/UTM or at any time in the EPS), but after it returns to 5GS, the 5GS system may still use an outdated CAA-level UAV ID (e.g., stored from a previous UUAA), which may cause problems in UAV-related procedures using CAA-level UAV IDs, such as pairing authorization and/or requesting UAS connections (e.g., with USS/UTM and/or UAV-C), tracking, and so forth. In the case of UAV tracking, when reporting the position of the UAV to USS/UTM (e.g., from a set of UAVs in a given location area), the 3GPP system may provide inconsistent (e.g., different) CAA-level UAV IDs, depending on whether the UAV is connected via EPS or via 5 GS. When requesting UAS services from 5GS (e.g., during pairing authorization), the UAV may provide its current CAA-level UAV ID to the network (e.g., newly allocated by USS/UTM when it is in EPS), which may be rejected by 5GS in the event of a mismatch with this value in the 5GS UUAA context. Similar problems may also occur in the opposite case when the UAV is re-authenticated in 5GS by USS/UTM or a new CAA is allocated while the EPS maintains an outdated UUAA context.

In addition, if the UAV is authenticated and authorized in 5GS via a UUAA-MM procedure (i.e., a UUAA procedure optionally performed during 5GS registration) and then moves to the EPS system, the EPS system does not have any UUAA context for the UAV and does not know which PDU sessions are associated with UAS traffic.

Thus, it would be desirable to address these potential UUAA context consistency issues and provide a way to allow 5GS to synchronize UUAA contexts with EPS.

Furthermore, if the UAV or UAV-C has established PDU sessions for UAV communication in 5GS, these PDU sessions will be transferred to EPS as PDN connections/EPS bearers when it moves from 5GS to EPS (using N26 interface). However, the MME is unaware that the transferred PDN connection/EPS bearer is related to UAV services. This would allow the UAV or UAV-C to continue UAV communications without allowing USS/UTM to re-authenticate or revoke the pairing/C2 communications authorization of the UAV in the EPS. In some cases USS/UTM reauthentication/reauthorization may be necessary or even mandatory according to regulatory requirements, especially when the UE is in idle mode and service continuity is not an issue. Typically, the UUAA procedure in EPS is triggered during PDN connection establishment. But in this case the UAV PDN connection has been transferred from the 5GS PDU session and the UAV does not need to initiate a PDN connection establishment.

Thus, in this case, it is desirable to be able to implement reauthentication/reauthorization or revocation of pairing/C2 communication by USS/UTM (i.e., transfer PDU sessions for UAS services for 5GS transfer to EPS as PDN connections/EPS bearers).

Further, the AMF serving the UAV may change (e.g., during mobile registration). In this case, the UAS-NF needs to locate the correct AMF for the USS/UTM initiated procedure (e.g., UAV position tracking and authorized revocation).

Thus, it may be desirable to notify the UAS-NF about a new AMF serving the UAV.

UUAA context alignment between 5GS and EPS

In one embodiment, the UE indicates its most recent UUAA status when moving to a different system (e.g., 5GS or EPS), as will be described.

When the UE (e.g., UAV or UAV-C) completes USS/UTM authentication and authorization or re-authentication and re-authorization in 5GS or EPS, the UE may store the most recently authenticated and authorized system type (e.g., EPS or 5 GS) of USS/UTM and a timestamp indicating when the most recent UUAA was completed, in addition to conventional UUAA context information such as UUAA status (successful authentication/authorization or not) and CAA-level UAV ID. When a UE moves from one system to another due to movement, it may indicate this information (e.g., the type of system and the timestamp of the UE's last UUAA) to the new system so that the new system may use this information to determine whether to initiate USS/UTM reauthentication and re-authorization or to retrieve the UUAA context from the previous system and continue to use the UUAA context in the new system. This information can also help the new system discard and avoid using any outdated UUAA context that it can hold. In the case of UAV re-authentication by USS/UTM, the current system (e.g., 5 GS) may detect that the UAV has been authenticated by USS/UTM on the previous system based on the UE-provided system type (e.g., EPS) and may decide to trigger the fast re-authentication procedure of the UAV by USS/UTM, whereby the UAV may use its most recent CAA-level UAV ID (e.g., as a re-authentication identity) and security information provided by USS/UTM (e.g., including a re-authentication key) from the previous UUAA procedure (as previously described) instead of performing a complete authentication procedure (e.g., using credentials associated with a long-term UAV identifier).

Example 1: the UAV is authenticated and authorized by USS/UTM in EPS and has established a PDN connection for UAV communication in EPS, UAV moves from EPS to 5GS in idle mode, and there is an N26 interface between EPS MME and 5GS AMF. The UAV follows the procedure specified in clause 4.11.1.3.3 of TS23.502 to register in 5GS and transfer the PDN connection for UAV communication to the PDU session in 5 GS. However, the AMF may not have any UUAA context at all, or it may have an outdated UUAA context from a previous UUAA program in 5 GS. The AMF may not be aware that the PDU session transferred from the EPS PDN connection is for UAV communication. In this case, the UAV may indicate in the 5GS registration request message that it was most recently authenticated and authorized by USS/UTM in the EPS, a timestamp of UUAA completion, a CAA level ID that may be generated from a previous UUAA procedure in the EPS, etc. From this information, the AMF may:

discard any outdated UUAA context it owns or retrieves from the old AMF.

-determining which PDN connections/EPS bearers are associated with UAV communication according to EPS UE context received from MME, and associated serving PGW-c+smf addresses.

-retrieving EPS UUAA context from PGW-c+smf.

-determining whether to trigger a new UUAA procedure in 5GS based on network policies and regulatory requirements.

In the case where the AMF determines to trigger a new UUAA procedure in 5GS, one possibility is not to transfer a PDN connection for UAV communication to 5GS; another possibility is to transfer the PDN connection for UAV communication to a 5GS PDU session, but instruct the SMF/UPF to suspend these PDU sessions until USS/UTM reauthentication/reauthorization is successful. The AMF may also discard UUAA context information received from the UE or from the PGW-c+smf.

In the event that the AMF determines that a new UUAA procedure is not triggered in 5GS, it may store UUAA context information received from the UE and from the PGW-c+smf and may use the UUAA context information for future UAV-related procedures.

Fig. 5A and 5B illustrate UUAA context alignment in the case of a UE moving from EPS to 5GS, where there is an N26 interface between EPS and 5GS, according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention.

In step S502, the UE (e.g., UAV or UAV-C) 52 registers in the EPS and is authenticated and authorized by the USS/UTM. The UE 51 stores UUAA context (UUAA state, CAA level UAV ID, timestamp of last UUAA completion, etc.) generated by UUAA in EPS. The UE 51 may also establish PDN connections/EPS bearers for UAV communications in the EPS.

In step S504, when moving to 5GS in idle mode, the UE initiates a registration procedure with the AMF 53 in 5GS by transmitting a registration request. The registration request may include an EPS UUAA indication indicating that the UE has been recently authenticated/authorized by USS/UTM 58 via EPS, a CAA-level UAV ID obtained from USS/UTM 58 while the UE is in EPS, and a timestamp of previous, recent UUAA completion.

In step S506, the AMF 53 receiving the 5GS registration request may have previously served the UE 51 and may maintain the UE context including the UUAA context. The AMF 53 may be able to retrieve the UE context from some other AMF (not shown in the figure). If the UE indicates in the registration request that it has been USS/UTM authenticated/authorized in the EPS, the AMF 53 discards the old UUAA context it may have for the UE.

In step S508, the AMF 53 retrieves the EPS Mobility Management (MM) context of the UE from the MME 52 in the EPS. The received EPS MM context may include a bearer context for a PDN connection/EPS bearer that has been used for UAV communication, and the bearer context may include an indication of the PDN connection/EPS bearer for UAV communication.

In step S510, 3GPP primary authentication is performed by the UE 51, AMF 53, and hss+udm 57. The following steps in fig. 5A and 5B assume that UE authentication and authorization is successfully performed in 5 GS.

In the case where the bearer context received in step S508 indicates that the PDN connection/EPS bearer is used for UAV communication, the AMF 53 may locate the PGW-c+smf 54 and retrieve a Session Management (SM) context (nsmf_pduse_contenxtrequest) of the PDN connection/EPS bearer in step S512. The SM context may contain UAV-related context information, including UUAA context.

In step S514, the AMF 53 determines whether to initiate a reauthentication/reauthorization in 5GS by USS/UTM taking into account at least one of the following factors:

a: operator policies or local regulations may require that the UAV or UAV-C be re-authenticated and re-authorized when the service network/system changes.

b: in the event that the timestamp of the last (e.g., previous) UUAA completion indicates that the time period since the last UUAA exceeds a particular threshold, AMF 53 may decide to initiate a new UUAA.

c: in the case that the UUAA context received from PGW-c+smf in step S512 does not coincide with the context received from UE 51 in step S504, AMF 53 may decide to initiate a new UUAA.

d: in the event that no UAV-related PDN connection is to be transferred to 5GS (i.e., the bearer context received in step S508 indicates no UAV-related PDN connection), AMF 53 may decide to initiate a new UUAA.

In the case where AMF 53 determines to initiate a new UUAA in 5GS, if there are any UAV-related PDN connections, it may have two options in handling these connections:

option 1: AMF 53 may determine not to transfer the PDN connection to 5GS. In this case, steps S516-S520, S526, and S528 may be skipped.

Option 2: the AMF 53 may transfer the PDN connection to the 5GS PDU session, but may instruct the SMF 54/UPF 55 to suspend data transmission on these PDU sessions until the new UUAA completes successfully.

In the case of option 2, AMF 53 indicates to SMF 54 that the PDU session is suspended (nsmf_pduse_createsmcontext), i.e. data transmission over these PDU sessions is not allowed, in step S516. In step S518, the SMF 54 establishes an N4 session for the PDU session with the UPF 55, and instructs it to suspend data transmission. In step S520, the SMF 54 returns a context response (nsmf_pduse_controlresponse) to the AMF 53.

In step S522, the AMF 53 returns a registration acceptance to the UE 51.

In step S524, the AMF 53 initiates a new UUUAA procedure with the USS/UTM 58 via the UAS-NF 56. The CAA-level UAV ID and other security information generated by the prior EPS UUAA procedure may be used to enable fast reauthentication/reauthorization by USS/UTM.

In the event that the reauthentication/reauthorization by USS/UTM 58 is successful and there is a suspended UAV-related PDU session (transfer from EPS PDN connection), the AMF 53 informs the SMF 54 to resume PDU sessions (i.e. allow data transfer over these PDU sessions) in step S526, and the SMF 54 forwards this information to the UPF 55, i.e. "N4 session modification", in step S528. If the reauthentication and reauthorization by USS/UTM 58 fails, AMF 53 should initiate the release of these PDU sessions. AMF 53 may also send new UUAA context information to SMF 54 that stores the new UUAA context or replaces the old UUAA context with the new UUAA context received from AMF 53.

Example 2: the UE is authenticated and authorized by USS/UTM in EPS, has established a PDN connection for UAV communication in EPS, and moves from EPS to 5GS in idle mode. There is no N26 interface between EPS MME and 5GS AMF. Similar to example 1, the AMF may trigger USS/UTM reauthentication/reauthorization during the registration process based on the indication received from the UAV. In addition, the AMF may determine not to trigger USS/UTM re-authentication/re-authorization, but may notify the SMF UAV to undergo USS/UTM re-authentication/re-authorization. And when the UAV requests to establish a PDU session for UAV communications, the SMF may trigger the UUAA procedure.

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate UUAA context alignment in the case of a UE moving from EPS to 5GS, where there is no N26 interface between EPS and 5GS, according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention.

In step S602, the UE 61 (UAV or UAV-C) registers in the EPS and is authenticated and authorized by the USS/UTM 68. UE 61 stores UUAA context (UUAA state, CAA level UAV ID, timestamp of last UUAA completion, etc.) generated by UUAA in EPS. UE 61 may also have established a PDN connection/EPS bearer in EPS for UAV communication.

When the UE moves to 5GS in idle mode, in step S604, the UE 61 initiates a registration procedure with the AMF 63 in 5GS by sending a registration request, which may include an EPS UUAA indication (68 in fig. 6B) indicating that the UE (e.g., most recently) has been authenticated/authorized by USS/UTM, a CAA-level UAV ID obtained from USS/UTM 68 while it is in EPS, and a timestamp of the last UUAA completion. If UE 61 is operating in dual registration mode, it may keep a separate context for 5GS (including the UUAA context generated from the previous UUAA in 5 GS) and UE 61 should use EPS UUAA context instead of the outdated old 5GS UUAA context because it is not the nearest UUAA context.

In the case where UE 61 is operating in dual registration mode, it may maintain a separate context for 5GS (including the UUAA context derived from the previous UUAA in 5 GS) and the UE should use EPS UUAA context instead of the old 5GS UUAA context. A UE operating in dual registration mode may perform 5GS registration before moving from EPS to 5 GS. If the UE has performed a UUAA procedure in EPS, the UE may include an "EPS UUAA indication" in the registration request to 5 GS. If the UE has not registered with 5GS before moving to 5GS, it may perform a registration request with a "handover" indication when moving to 5 GS. As described, the UE may also include an "EPS UUAA indication".

The AMF 63 receiving the 5GS registration request may have previously served the UE and may maintain a UE context that includes the UUAA context, or the AMF 63 may be able to retrieve the UE context from some other AMF (not shown in the figure). If the UE 61 indicates in the registration request that it has been USS/UTM authenticated/authorized in the EPS, the AMF 63 should discard the old UUAA context it may have in step S606.

In step S608, the UE 61 is authenticated and authorized in the 5G core (5 GC), for example using 3GPP primary authentication. In the remainder of fig. 6A and 6B, it is assumed that the authentication and authorization is successful.

In step S610, the AMF 63 returns a registration acceptance to the UE 61.

In step S612, the AMF 63 determines whether to initiate a reauthentication/reauthorization in 5GS by the USS/UTM 68 taking into account at least one factor such as described with reference to example 1.

In the event that AMF 63 determines that UE 61 should be re-authenticated by USS/UTM 68, AFM 63 may notify PGW-c+smf 64 that UE 61 is subject to re-authentication/re-authorization by USS/UTM 68 in step S614. AMF 63 may also forward the new CAA-level UAV ID received from UE 61 to SMF 64. Alternatively, AMF 63 may send the indication during PDU session establishment along with an nsmf_pduse_createsmcontext request (see step S620), i.e. the UE is subject to re-authentication.

In the event that PGW-C + SMF 64 receives an indication from AMF 63 as described in step S614, PGW-C + SMF 64 shall discard the old UUAA context information it may have in step S616.

In step S618, the UE 61 transmits a PDU session establishment request to the AMF 63 to initiate a PDU session establishment procedure in order to transfer the PDN connection for UAV communication established in the EPS. In dual registration mode, the UE may perform PDN connection transfer from EPC to 5GS with a "handover" indication. When transferring the PDN connection to the PDU session, the UE may include an indication "EPS UUAA SM indication" in the PDU session request message.

In step S620, AMF 63 indicates that USS/UTM reauthentication is required by sending an NSmf_PDUSation_CreateSMontext request to PGW-C+SMF 64. As described above, AMF 63 may include an indication that reauthentication/reauthorization is required by USS/UTM 68 and a CAA-level UAV ID received from the UE.

Based on the indication, PGW-c+smf 64 may reinitiate the UUAA procedure in step S622. PGW-c+smf 64 receives UUAA results and other UUAA contexts (e.g., new CAA-level UAV IDs) from USS/UTM 68.

In step S624, PGW-C+SMF 64 forwards the new UUAA context to AMF 63 in an Nsmf_PDUSation_CreateSMContext response.

In step S626, AMF 63 forwards the PDU session establishment accept message and the new UUAA context to UE 61.

Example 3: a method of UUAA context alignment in the case of a UE moving from 5GS to EPS is shown in fig. 12A and 12B. In step S1202, the UE (UAV or UAV-C) 1201 has registered and is authenticated and authorized in 5GS by USS/UTM 1205 via a UUAA-MM procedure (i.e., during 5GS registration). In step S1204, the UE moves from 5GS to EPS in idle mode and performs TAU or attach procedure.

If the UE has not established a PDU session related to the UAS service in 5GS or the 5GS has determined not to transfer a PDU session related to the UAS service to the EPS, the UE needs to establish a PDN connection for the UAS service when the UAS service is triggered in step S1206. In step S1208, the UE sends a PDN connection establishment request for the UAS service to the smf+pgw-C1203, where the UE may indicate that it has been authenticated and authorized by USS/UTM in 5GS, and also provide other UAV context information such as a UAV identifier (e.g., CAA level UAVID, timestamp of previous UUAA success).

Upon receiving the PDN connection request and the aforementioned indication, in step S1210, the smf+pgw-C may determine whether a UUAA procedure is required (i.e., skip or initiate the UUAA procedure) based on a network policy or other conditions (e.g., whether the time elapsed since the previous UUAA is longer than a threshold value), regardless of the fact that the UAV has been authenticated and authorized.

In the event that smf+pgw-C1203 determines that the UUAA procedure is to be skipped (i.e., UUAA is not required in step S1210), smf+pgw-C may retrieve UUAA context information from UAS-NF 1204 in step S1212 a. The smf+pgw-C may compare the context information retrieved from the UAS-NF with the context information provided by the UAV. In case of a match, in step S1214a, smf+pgw-C completes the PDN connection establishment procedure.

However, in case of a mismatch, smf+pgw-C may discard the context information and initiate a new UUAA procedure, i.e. "UUAA-SM procedure", in step S1212b, after which the PDN connection establishment procedure is completed in step S1214 b.

In case smf+pgw-C determines that the UUAA procedure is not skipped (i.e. is required in step S1210), i.e. it may initiate a new UUAA procedure, i.e. "UUAA-SM procedure", in step S1212b, after which it completes the PDN connection establishment procedure in step S1214 b.

In any event, in step S1216, the smf+pgw-C may update the UAS-NF, which is now the service function for the UAV, and future requests from USS/UTM 1205 (such as UUAA re-authentication and revocation) should be directed to the smf+pgw-C.

UAS-NF as a public for shared UE context managementCommon interworking function

Another solution is to use UAS-NF as a common function of the architecture for interworking between 5GS and EPC/E-UTRAN. UAS-NF may represent 5GC and EPC to maintain UAV context (e.g., including UUAA context). The UAV context includes the latest CAA-level UAVID, 3GPP UAV ID, information about the anchor network function (e.g., AMF, SMF or MME, PGW) serving the UE, information about USS/UTM (e.g., FQDN) serving the UAV, C2, and pairing authorization information (e.g., whether it is authorized for pairing/C2 communications, peer UAV-C information). Various methods will now be described.

When the UE performs UUAA, the UAS-NF associates the UE's service anchor functions, including system type (AMF, SMF or MME, PGW), with the UAV context. When the UUA is successfully completed, the UAS-NF receives the UUA result from the USS/UTM, including a new CAA-level UAV ID stored by the UAS-NF into the UAV context, and the USS/UTM address. The UAS-NF may resolve the address of the USS/UTM based on the CAA-level UAV ID during UUAA and store the USS/UTM address in the UAV context.

Figure 7 illustrates a method of UAS-NF establishment of a UAV context during UUAA according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention.

In step S702, the UAS-NF receives an authentication/authorization request message from a network anchor function (e.g., AMF or SMF/PGW-C). The request message may include the CAA-level UAVID, the 3GPP UAVID, and information about the USS/UTM serving the UE.

In step S704, the UAS-NF stores the information received in the request message and information about the network anchor function (e.g., including system type: EPS or 5 GS) in the UAV context.

In step S706, the UAS-NF sends an authentication/authorization request message to the USS/UTM. The request message may include a CAA-level UAV ID and a 3GPP UAV ID.

In step S708, the UAS-NF receives an authentication/authorization response message from the USS/UTM. The message may include the 3GPP UAV ID and authorization results, including the new CAA-level UAV ID, authorization information for UAS communications (e.g., peer UAV-C MAC/IP address, C2 QoS parameters).

In step S710, the UAS-NF stores the authorization information received from the USS/UTM in the UAV context.

In step S712, the UAS-NF sends the authorization result to the network anchor function.

During UAV re-certification by USS/UTM, or if USS/UTM assigns a new CAA-level UAV ID, UAS-NF updates the UAV context accordingly (e.g., stores the new CAA-level UAV ID). During UAV-C replacement by USS/UTM, UAS-NF informs the appropriate anchor function (e.g., SMF/PCF) and updates peer UAV-C information in the UAV context.

Figure 8 illustrates a method of UAS-NF updating of UAV context during re-authentication/authorization in accordance with an implementation of the principles of the present invention.

In step S802, the UAS-NF receives a request message from the USS/UTM. The request message may include the 3GPP UAV ID, as well as any of a new CAA-level UAV ID and new authorization information for UAS communications (e.g., a new peer UAV-C MAC/IP address).

In step S804, the UAS-NF stores the authorization information received from the USS/UTM in the UAV context, including replacing the current CAA-level UAV ID and current authorization information for UAS communications with new authorization information for UAS communications.

In step S806, the UAS-NF retrieves information about the network anchor function serving the UE from the UAV context identified by the 3GPP UAV ID.

In step S808, the UAS-NF sends new authorization information (e.g., new CAA-level UAV ID, new peer UAV-C address) to the network anchor function.

As the UAV moves between 5GS and EPS, the anchor function may retrieve recent UAV information (e.g., UAV and/or C2 communication authorization status, CAA-level UAV ID) from the UAS-NF based on the UAV context. The anchor function may determine to send a request for UAV information to the UAS-NF based on the type of system provided by the UAV and update the UAS-NF with information about the UAV service network anchor function. If the UAV authorization has been revoked or if no authorization information is available for the UAV in the UAS-NF, the UAS-NF indicates that the UAV is not authorized to the network function (which may result in re-authentication, as will be described).

Figure 9 illustrates a method of UAS-NF querying during interworking in accordance with an implementation of the principles of the present invention.

In step S902, the UAS-NF receives an information/registration request message from a network anchor function (e.g., AMF or SMF/PGW-C), including a 3GPP UAV ID.

In step S904, the UAS-NF retrieves authorization information about the UAV from the UAV context corresponding to the 3GPP UAV ID, and stores information about the network anchor functionality (e.g., including system type: EPS or 5 GS) in the UAV context.

In step S906, the UAS-NF sends an information response message to the network anchor function. The response message may include a 3GPP UAV ID, an authorized CAA-level UAV ID, an authorized status for C2 communications (e.g., including a peer UAV-C IP address).

When the UE moves from one system to another, the UAS-NF forwards the authentication request to USS/UTM using the address stored during UUAA if the network anchor function determines to initiate UAV re-authentication by USS/UTM.

Figure 10 illustrates a method of network triggered UAV re-authentication during interworking according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention.

In step S1002, the UAS-NF receives a reauthentication/authorization request message from a network anchor function (AMF or SMF/PGW-C), including a 3GPP UAV ID.

In step S1004, the UAS-NF retrieves the CAA-level UAV ID and information about the USS/UTM of the serving UE from the UAV context identified by the 3GPP UAV ID, and stores information about the network anchor function (e.g., including system type: EPS or 5 GS) in the UAV context.

In step S1006, the UAS-NF sends an authentication/authorization request message to the USS/UTM, the message including the CAA-level UAV ID and the 3GPP UAV ID.

In step S1008, the UAS-NF receives an authentication/authorization response message from the USS/UTM, the message including the 3GPP UAV ID and the authorization result, the authorization result including: new CAA level UAVID, authorization information for UAS communication (e.g., peer UAV-C MAC/IP address, C2QoS parameters).

In step S1010, the UAS-NF stores the authorization information received from the USS/UTM in the UAV context.

In step S1012, the UAS-NF sends the authorization result to the network anchor function.

When USS/UTM revokes authorization for UAV or paired/C2 communications, UAS-NF informs the registered anchor function in 5GS and/or EPS (e.g., based on information stored in the UAV context) such that UAV information (e.g., in UE context information in the network anchor function) and associated resources allocated for the UE (PDU session/PDN connection) are released.

During location tracking by USS/UTM, the UAS-NF contacts the activity service function (e.g., AMF) and provides location information to USS/UTM as applicable along with the latest CAA-level UAV ID as stored in the UAV context.

Changes to AMF in 5GS

Fig. 11 illustrates an AMF change processing method according to an implementation of the principles of the present invention. When a change of AMF occurs in 5GS for a UAV that has performed UUAA during the registration procedure (e.g., during mobility registration), the new AMF obtains information about UAS-NF (e.g., UAS-NF ID) when UAV/UE context is transferred from the old AMF to the new AMF.

In step S1102, the new AMF notifies the corresponding UAS-NF of the change of the AMF, but the UAS-NF may also or alternatively be notified by the old AMF. Thus, the UAS-NF may receive a message (e.g., registration/subscription request) from the new AMF (and/or old AMF) that includes the UAV identification (e.g., 3GPP UAV ID, CAA-level UAV ID) and AMF change information (e.g., new AMF ID, new notification callback).

In step S1104, the UAS-NF updates information about the newly registered AMF as an anchor network function (during UUAA as described above) in the UAV/UUAA context stored in the UAS-NF, thereby replacing information about the old AMF. The UAS-NF may use the newly registered AMF information to, for example, inform the new AMF of the authorized revocation of the USS/UTM, or when to request location information on behalf of the USS/UTM, as already described.

In step S1106, the UAS-NF may inform the old AMF about the UAV context control complete transfer to the new AMF, e.g., by sending a de-registration request, which may include the CAA-level UAV ID and the 3GPP UAV ID, confirming the UAV context control transfer to the new AMF.

Conclusion(s)

Although features and elements are provided above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with other features and elements. The present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments described in this patent application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the application, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the application unless explicitly described as such. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatus, other than those enumerated herein, which are within the scope of the present disclosure, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to a particular method or system.

For simplicity, the foregoing embodiments are discussed with respect to the terminology and structure of infrared-capable devices (i.e., infrared emitters and receivers). However, the embodiments discussed are not limited to these systems, but may be applied to other systems using other forms of electromagnetic waves or non-electromagnetic waves (such as acoustic waves).

It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the term "video" or the term "image" may mean any of a snapshot, a single image, and/or multiple images that are displayed on a temporal basis. As another example, as referred to herein, the term "user equipment" and its abbreviation "UE", the term "remote" and/or the term "head mounted display" or its abbreviation "HMD" may mean or include (i) a wireless transmit and/or receive unit (WTRU); (ii) Any of a number of embodiments of the WTRU; (iii) Devices with wireless capabilities and/or with wired capabilities (e.g., tethered) are configured with some or all of the structure and functionality of a WTRU, in particular; (iii) Wireless capability and/or wireline capability devices configured with less than the full structure and functionality of the WTRU; or (iv) etc. Details of an exemplary WTRU that may represent any of the WTRUs described herein are provided herein with respect to fig. 1A-1D. As another example, various disclosed embodiments herein are described above and below as utilizing a head mounted display. Those skilled in the art will recognize that devices other than head mounted displays may be utilized and that some or all of the present disclosure and various disclosed embodiments may be modified accordingly without undue experimentation. Examples of such other devices may include drones or other devices configured to stream information to provide an adapted real-world experience.

Additionally, the methods provided herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over a wired or wireless connection) and computer readable storage media. Examples of computer readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media (such as internal hard disks and removable disks), magneto-optical media, and optical media (such as CD-ROM disks and Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs)). A processor associated with the software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Variations of the methods, apparatus, and systems provided above are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. In view of the various embodiments that may be employed, it should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are examples only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the following claims. For example, embodiments provided herein include a handheld device that may include or be used with any suitable voltage source (such as a battery or the like) that provides any suitable voltage.

Furthermore, in the embodiments provided above, processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and other devices including processors are indicated. These devices may include at least one central processing unit ("CPU") and memory. References to actions and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by various CPUs and memories in accordance with practices of persons skilled in the art of computer programming. Such acts and operations, or instructions, may be considered to be "executing," computer-executed, "or" CPU-executed.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU. The electrical system represents data bits that may result in a final transformation of the electrical signal or a reduction of the electrical signal and a retention of the data bits at memory locations in the memory system, thereby reconfiguring or otherwise altering the operation of the CPU and performing other processing of the signal. The memory location holding the data bit is a physical location having a particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic attribute corresponding to or representing the data bit. It should be understood that embodiments are not limited to the above-described platforms or CPUs, and that other platforms and CPUs may also support the provided methods.

The data bits may also be maintained on computer readable media including magnetic disks, optical disks, and any other volatile (e.g., random access memory ("RAM")) or non-volatile (e.g., read only memory ("ROM")) mass storage system readable by the CPU. The computer readable media may comprise cooperating or interconnected computer readable media that reside exclusively on the processing system or are distributed among a plurality of interconnected processing systems, which may be local or remote relative to the processing system. It should be understood that embodiments are not limited to the above-described memories, and that other platforms and memories may support the provided methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, any of the operations, processes, etc. described herein may be implemented as computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable medium. The computer readable instructions may be executed by a processor of the mobile unit, the network element, and/or any other computing device.

There is little distinction between hardware implementations and software implementations of aspects of the system. The use of hardware or software is often (but not always, as in some contexts the choice between hardware and software may become important) a design choice representing a tradeoff between cost and efficiency. There may be various media (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware) that may implement the processes and/or systems and/or other techniques described herein, and the preferred media may vary with the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or other techniques are deployed. For example, if the implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a medium of mainly hardware and/or firmware. If flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a particular implementation of mainly software. Alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Where such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples include one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In an embodiment, portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), and/or other integrated format. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and/or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of signal bearing media include, but are not limited to, the following: recordable type media (such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CDs, DVDs, digital tapes, computer memory, etc.); and transmission type media such as digital and/or analog communications media (e.g., fiber optic cable, waveguide, wired communications link, wireless communications link, etc.).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common in the art to describe devices and/or processes in the manner set forth herein, and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such described devices and/or processes into data processing systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described herein may be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a typical data processing system may generally include one or more of the following: a system unit housing; a video display device; memories such as volatile memories and nonvolatile memories; a processor, such as a microprocessor and a digital signal processor; computing entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications; one or more interactive devices, such as a touch pad or screen; and/or a control system comprising a feedback loop and a control motor (e.g. feedback for sensing position and/or speed, a control motor for moving and/or adjusting components and/or amounts). Typical data processing systems may be implemented using any suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in data computing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

The subject matter described herein sometimes illustrates different components included within or connected with different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Thus, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected," or "operably coupled," to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable," to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include, but are not limited to, physically mateable and/or physically interactable components and/or wirelessly interactable components and/or logically interactable components.

With respect to substantially any plural and/or singular terms used herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. For clarity, various singular/plural permutations may be explicitly listed herein.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "comprising" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those with skill in the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, where only one item is contemplated, the term "single" or similar language may be used. To facilitate understanding, the following appended claims and/or descriptions herein may include the use of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation object by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation object to embodiments containing only one such recitation object. Even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and/or "an" should be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"). The same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). In addition, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction has the meaning that one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have a alone, B alone, C alone, a and B together, a and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction has the meaning that one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B or C" would include but not be limited to systems having a alone, B alone, C alone, a and B together, a and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B and C together, etc.). It should also be understood by those within the art that virtually any separate word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the specification, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "a or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "a" or "B" or "a and B". In addition, as used herein, the term "…" followed by listing a plurality of items and/or a plurality of item categories is intended to include items and/or item categories "any one of", "any combination of", "any multiple of" and/or any combination of multiples of "alone or in combination with other items and/or other item categories. Furthermore, as used herein, the term "group" is intended to include any number of items, including zero. Furthermore, as used herein, the term "number" is intended to include any number, including zero. Also, as used herein, the term "multiple" is intended to be synonymous with "multiple".

Additionally, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize thereby that the disclosure is also described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the markush group.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, for any and all purposes (such as in terms of providing a written description), all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible sub-ranges and combinations of sub-ranges thereof. Any listed range can be readily identified as sufficiently descriptive and so that the same range can be divided into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily divided into a lower third, a middle third, an upper third, and the like. As will also be understood by those skilled in the art, all language such as "up to", "at least", "greater than", "less than", etc., include the recited numbers and refer to ranges that may be subsequently divided into sub-ranges as described above. Finally, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, the scope includes each individual number. Thus, for example, a group having 1 to 3 units refers to a group having 1, 2, or 3 units. Similarly, a group having 1 to 5 units refers to a group having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 units, or the like.

In addition, unless otherwise statedIt is to be understood that the claims are not to be read as limited to the order or elements provided. In addition, use of the term "means for …" in any claim is intended to invoke 35U.S. C. ≡112,6 or device plus function claims format, and any claims without the term "device for …" are not intended to be so. />

Claims (18)

1. A method performed by a network node storing context for at least one drone system, the method comprising:

receiving a notification comprising an identifier indicating a drone system and information indicating that a service anchor node of the drone system corresponding to the identifier changes from a first anchor node to a second anchor node; and

updating a stored context for the drone system, the stored context including a service anchor node of the drone system to indicate the second anchor node as the service anchor node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is received from at least one of the first anchor node and the second anchor node.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising informing the first anchor node of completion of the transfer of control of the drone system to the second anchor node.

4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the anchor node is one of an access and mobility management function, AMF, node or a session management function, SMF, node.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

receiving a request message from a further node, the request message comprising information indicating an identifier of the unmanned aerial vehicle system and further information;

retrieving a corresponding anchor node from a stored context for the drone system corresponding to the identifier in the request message; and

and transmitting at least a portion of the additional information to the corresponding anchor node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the further node is an authorization node and the further information comprises authorization information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the authorization information indicates one of a re-authentication and a revocation of the drone system corresponding to the identifier in the request message.

8. The method of any of claims 5 to 7, wherein the request message is a request for a service.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the service is a location tracking of the drone system corresponding to the identifier in the request message.

10. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the WTRU comprising:

a memory storing processor-executable program instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the program instructions to:

receiving a notification comprising an identifier indicating a drone system and information indicating that a service anchor node of the drone system corresponding to the identifier changes from a first anchor node to a second anchor node; and

updating a stored context for the drone system, the stored context including a service anchor node of the drone system to indicate the second anchor node as the service anchor node.

11. The WTRU of claim 10, wherein the notification is received from at least one of the first anchor node and the second anchor node.

12. The WTRU of claim 10 or 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the program instructions to notify the first anchor node of completion of the transfer of control of the drone system to the second anchor node.

13. The WTRU of any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the anchor node is one of an access and mobility management function, AMF, node or a session management function, SMF, node.

14. The WTRU of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the program instructions to:

receiving a request message from a further node, the request message comprising information indicating an identifier of the unmanned aerial vehicle system and further information;

retrieving a corresponding anchor node from a stored context for the drone system corresponding to the identifier in the request message; and

and transmitting at least a portion of the additional information to the corresponding anchor node.

15. The WTRU of claim 14 wherein the further node is an authorized node and the further information comprises authorization information.

16. The WTRU of claim 15, wherein the authorization information indicates one of a re-authentication and a revocation of the drone system corresponding to the identifier in the request message.

17. The WTRU of any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the request message is a request for service.

18. The WTRU of claim 17 wherein the service is location tracking of the drone system corresponding to the identifier in the request message.