CN117793832A - Resource sharing method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

In one aspect of the invention, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. In some configurations, a UE enters a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station of a first network. The UE receives an indication from the first base station, the indication enabling the UE to send a first request to deactivate or release resources for communication with the first base station. In response to determining to enter a second RRC connection with a second base station of a second network, the UE sends a first request to the first base station to deactivate or release resources. The UE enters a second RRC connection with the second base station while maintaining the first RRC connection with the first base station.

Description

Resource sharing method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 63/377,356, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS TO HAVE EFFICIENT RESOURCE SHARING FOR UE WITH MULTIPLE SIM CARD," filed on 28 at 9 and 2022, the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to techniques for efficient resource sharing for User Equipment (UE) having multiple subscriber identity module (subscriber identification module, SIM) cards.

Background

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcast. A typical wireless communication system may employ multiple-access techniques capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple access techniques include code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (time division multiple access, TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (frequency division multiple access, FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (orthogonal frequency division multiple access, OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (single-carrier frequency division multiple access, SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (time division synchronous code division multiple access, TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access techniques have been employed in various telecommunications standards to provide a generic protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at the city level, the country level, the regional level, and even the global level. An example of a telecommunications standard is the 5G New Radio (NR). The 5G NR is part of the ongoing mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the third generation partnership project (Third Generation Partnership Project,3 GPP) for meeting new requirements related to latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., internet of things (Internet of Things, ioT)) and other requirements. Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) standard. Further improvements are needed for the 5G NR technology. These improvements are also applicable to other multiple access techniques and telecommunication standards employing these techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In one aspect of the invention, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. In some configurations, the UE enters a first radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connection with a first base station of a first network. The UE receives an indication from the first base station, the indication enabling the UE to send a first request to deactivate or release resources for communication with the first base station. In response to determining to enter a second RRC connection with a second base station of a second network, the UE sends a first request to the first base station to deactivate or release resources. The UE enters a second RRC connection with the second base station while maintaining the first RRC connection with the first base station.

In some configurations, in response to a determination to release the second RRC connection with the second base station, the UE sends a second request to the first base station to recover resources. The UE releases the second RRC connection with the second base station and resumes resources in the first RRC connection with the first base station.

In one aspect of the invention, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a base station. In some configurations, the base station enters an RRC connection with the UE. The base station transmits an indication to the UE that enables the UE to transmit a first request for deactivating or releasing resources for communication with the base station. The base station receives a first request from the UE to deactivate or release resources.

In some configurations, the base station also receives a second request from the UE to recover the resource.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed and the present description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a base station in an access network in communication with a UE.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributed access network.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example physical architecture of a distributed access network.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a DL-centric slot.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of UL-centered slots.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating example communications between a MUSIM UE and two networks.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating example communications between a MUSIM UE and a network during UE triggered capability restriction according to an embodiment.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating example communications between a MUSIM UE and a network during a UE triggered capability restriction procedure according to another embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a flow chart of a method (process) for wireless communication of a UE.

Fig. 11 is a flow chart of a method (process) for wireless communication of a base station.

Detailed Description

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts of the present invention may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts.

Aspects of a telecommunications system will now be presented with reference to various devices and methods. These devices and methods are described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

For example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements, may be implemented as a "processing system" that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include: microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (graphics processing unit, GPUs), central Processing Units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (reduced instruction set computing, RISC) processors, system on chip (systems on a chip, soC), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGAs), programmable logic devices (programmable logic device, PLDs), state machines, gating logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functions described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute the software. Software should be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware (middleware), microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

Thus, in one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer readable media includes computer storage media. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise: random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (electrically erasable programmable, EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the foregoing types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer-executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network 100. A wireless communication system (also known as a wireless wide area network (wireless wide area network, WWAN)) includes: a base station 102, a UE 104, an evolved packet core (Evolved Packet Core, EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G core (5 gc)). Base station 102 may include a macrocell (high power cellular base station) and/or a small cell (low power cellular base station). The macrocell includes a base station. Small cells include femto cells (femtocells), pico cells (picocells), and micro cells (microcells).

A base station 102 configured for 4G LTE, collectively referred to as an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access Network, E-UTRAN), may interact with EPC 160 through a backhaul link 132 (e.g., SI interface). A base station 102 configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as a next generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interact with a core network 190 over a backhaul link 184. Among other functions, the base station 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: delivery of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, non-access stratum (NAS) message distribution, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (radio access network, RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast services (multimedia broadcast multicast service, MBMS), user and device tracking, RAN information management (RAN information management, RIM), paging, positioning, and alert message delivery. Base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC 160 or core network 190) over backhaul link 134 (e.g., an X2 interface). The backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with the UE 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102 'may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network comprising both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. The heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved node B (Home Evolved Node B, heNB) that may provide services to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (closed subscriber group, CSG). The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include Uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and/or Downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. Communication link 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna techniques including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication link may be through one or more carriers. The base station 102/UE 104 may use a spectrum of up to 7MHz (e.g., 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz, 100MHz, 400MHz, etc.) bandwidth per carrier that is allocated in carrier aggregation up to a total yxmhz (x component carriers) used for transmission in various directions. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (physical sidelink broadcast channel, PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (physical sidelink discovery channel, PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (physical sidelink shared channel, PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (physical sidelink control channel, PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communication systems, such as FlashLinQ, wiMedia, bluetooth (Bluetooth), zigBee, wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR, for example.

The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) 150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi Station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in the 5GHz unlicensed spectrum. When communicating in unlicensed spectrum, STA152/AP 150 may perform Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) prior to communicating to determine whether a channel is available.

The small cell 102' may operate with licensed spectrum and/or unlicensed spectrum. When operating with unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. Small cells 102' employing NRs in the unlicensed spectrum may improve coverage and/or increase capacity of the access network.

The base station 102 (whether small cell 102' or large cell (e.g., macro base station)) may include: an eNB, a gndeb (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as the gNB 180, may operate in the traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum, millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and/or near mmW frequencies when communicating with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates at mmW or near mmW frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a mmW base station. Extremely High Frequency (EHF) is a part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a wavelength in the range of 30GHz to 300GHz and between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. The near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3GHz at a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The ultra-high frequency (super high frequency, SHF) band extends between 3GHz and 30GHz, also known as centimetre waves. Communications using mmW/near mmW radio frequency bands (e.g., 3GHz to 300 GHz) have extremely high path loss and short distances. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for extremely high path loss and short distances.

The base station 180 may transmit the beamformed signals to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 108 a. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signals from the base station 180 in one or more receive directions 108 b. The UE 104 may also transmit the beamformed signals in one or more transmit directions to the base station 180. The base station 180 may receive the beamformed signals from the UEs 104 in one or more directions. The base station 180/UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive direction and transmit direction for each of the base station 180/UE 104. The transmission direction and the reception direction of the base station 180 may be the same or different. The transmit direction and the receive direction of the UE 104 may be the same or different.

EPC 160 may include: a mobility management entity (Mobility Management Entity, MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service, MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (Broadcast Multicast Service Center, BM-SC) 170, and a packet data network (Packet Data Network, PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may communicate with a home subscriber server (Home Subscriber Server, HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user internet protocol (Internet protocol, IP) packets are delivered through the serving gateway 166 (which itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172). The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and BM-SC 170 are connected to an IP service 176.IP services 176 may include the internet, an enterprise intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IP Multimedia Subsystem, IMS), PS streaming services, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may be used as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS gateway 168 may be used to allocate MBMS traffic (traffic) to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network, MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

The core network 190 may include: access and mobility management functions (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, location management functions (location management function, LMF) 198, session management functions (Session Management Function, SMF) 194, and user plane functions (User Plane Function, UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may communicate with a unified data management (Unified Data Management, UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the core network 190. In general, SMF 194 provides QoS flows and session management. All user internet protocol (Internet protocol, IP) packets are delivered through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address assignment as well as other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to an IP service 197.IP services 197 may include the internet, an enterprise intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IP Multimedia Subsystem, IMS), PS streaming services, and/or other IP services.

A base station may also be called a gNB, node B, eNB, access point, base transceiver station, radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver function, basic service set (basic service set, BSS), extended service set (extended service set, ESS), transmission-reception point (transmit reception point, TRP), or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an access point for the UE 104 to the EPC 160 or the core network 190. Examples of UEs 104 include: a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet computer, a smart device, a wearable device, a carrier, an electricity meter, an air pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking timers, air pumps, ovens, carriers, heart monitors, etc.). The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, or some other suitable terminology.

Although the invention may refer to a 5G New Radio (NR), the invention may be applicable to other similar fields such as LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-a), code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), global system for mobile communications (Global System for Mobile communication, GSM), or other wireless/Radio access technologies.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a base station 210 in communication with a UE 250 in an access network. In DL, IP packets from EPC 160 may be provided to controller/processor 275. Controller/processor 275 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functions. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer, a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, and a medium access control (medium access control, MAC) layer. Controller/processor 275 provides: RRC layer functions associated with broadcast system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-radio access technology (radio access technology, RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with delivery of upper layer Packet Data Units (PDUs), error correction by ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (service data unit, SDU), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs and re-ordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto Transport Blocks (TBs), demultiplexing from TBs to MAC SDUs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel priority.

A Transmit (TX) processor 216 and a Receive (RX) processor 270 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a Physical (PHY) layer, may include: error detection on a transport channel, forward error correction (forward error correction, FEC) encoding/decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. TX processor 216 processes a mapping to a signal constellation (constellation) based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-quadrature amplitude modulation, M-QAM). The encoded and modulated symbols may then be separated into parallel streams. The individual streams may then be mapped to OFDM subcarriers, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast fourier transform (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform, IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying the time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM streams are spatially precoded to generate a plurality of spatial streams. Channel estimates from channel estimator 274 may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from reference signals and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 250. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 220 via a separate transmitter 218 TX. Each transmitter 218TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 250, each receiver 254RX receives a signal through its corresponding antenna 252. Each receiver 254RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to an RX processor 256.TX processor 268 and RX processor 256 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. RX processor 256 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for UE 250. If multiple spatial streams are destined for UE 250, they may be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by RX processor 256. The RX processor 256 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast fourier transform (Fast Fourier Transform, FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises separate OFDM symbol streams for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by base station 210. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by channel estimator 258. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 210 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to a controller/processor 259 that implements the layer 3 and layer 2 functions.

The controller/processor 259 can be associated with a memory 260 that stores program codes and data. Memory 260 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 259 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller/processor 259 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and/or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with DL transmissions of base station 210, controller/processor 259 provides: RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement result reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression/decompression and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functions associated with upper layer PDU delivery, error correction by ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and re-ordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel priority.

Channel estimates derived by channel estimator 258 from reference signals or feedback transmitted by base station 210 may be used by TX processor 268 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by TX processor 268 may be provided to different antennas 252 via separate transmitters 254 TX. Each transmitter 254TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission. UL transmissions are processed at base station 210 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at UE 250. Each receiver 218RX receives a signal via its corresponding antenna 220. Each receiver 218RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the RX processor 270.

The controller/processor 275 may be associated with a memory 276 that stores program codes and data. Memory 276 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 275 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 250. IP packets from controller/processor 275 may be provided to EPC 160. The controller/processor 275 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and/or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

NR may refer to a radio configured to operate according to a new air interface (e.g., other than an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (Orthogonal Frequency Divisional Multiple Access, OFDMA) based air interface) or a fixed transport layer (e.g., other than internet protocol (Internet Protocol, IP)). NR may utilize OFDM with Cyclic Prefix (CP) on uplink and downlink and may include supporting half-duplex operation using time division duplex (time division duplexing, TDD). NR may comprise: enhanced mobile broadband (Enhanced Mobile Broadband, emmbb) services targeting a wide bandwidth (e.g., over 80 MHz), mmW targeting a high carrier frequency (e.g., 60 GHz), massive MTC (MTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC technology, and/or critical tasks targeting ultra-reliable low latency communication (ultra-reliable low latency communication, URLLC) services.

A single component carrier bandwidth of 100MHz may be supported. In one example, NR Resource Blocks (RBs) may span 12 subcarriers, where the subcarrier bandwidth is 60kHz for 0.25ms duration, or the bandwidth is 30kHz for 0.5ms duration (similarly, the 50MHz bandwidth is 15kHz SCS for 1ms duration). Each radio frame may consist of 10 subframes (10, 20, 40 or 80 NR slots) with a length of 10ms. Each time slot may indicate a link direction (i.e., DL or UL) of the data transmission, and the link direction of each time slot may be dynamically switched. Each slot may include DL/UL data and DL/UL control data. UL and DL slots of the NR may be described in more detail as follows with reference to fig. 5 and 6.

The NR RAN may include a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU). An NR BS (e.g., a gNB, a 5G node B, a transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), an AP) may correspond to one or more BSs. An NR cell may be configured as an access cell (ACell) or a data only cell (DCell). For example, the RAN (e.g., a central unit or a distributed unit) may configure the cells. The DCell may be a cell for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, and may not be used for initial access, cell selection/reselection, or handover. In some cases, the DCell may not transmit a Synchronization Signal (SS), and in some cases, the DCell may transmit the SS. The NR BS may transmit a downlink signal indicating a cell type to the UE. Based on the cell type indication, the UE may communicate with the NR BS. For example, the UE may determine an NR BS for consideration of cell selection, access, handover, and/or measurement based on the indicated cell type.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributed RAN 300 in accordance with aspects of the present invention. The 5G access node 306 may include an access node controller (access node controller, ANC) 302. The ANC may be a Central Unit (CU) of the distributed RAN. The backhaul interface of the next generation core network (next generation core network, NG-CN) 404 may terminate at ANC. The backhaul interfaces of the neighboring next generation access nodes (neighboring next generation access, NG-AN) 310 may terminate at ANC. ANC may include one or more TRP 308 (which may also be referred to as BS, NR BS, nodeb, 5G NB, AP, or some other terminology). As described above, TRP may be used interchangeably with "cell".

TRP 308 may be a Distributed Unit (DU). TRP may be connected to one ANC (ANC 302) or more than one ANC (not illustrated). For example, for RAN sharing, radio as a service (radio as a service, raaS), and service specific ANC deployments, TRP may be connected to more than one ANC. The TRP may include one or more antenna ports. The TRP may be configured to provide traffic to the UE either individually (e.g., dynamically selected) or jointly (e.g., joint transmission).

The local architecture of the distributed RAN 300 may be used to instantiate a fronthaul (fronthaul) definition. The architecture may be defined to support a forward-drive solution across different deployment types. For example, the architecture may be based on the sending network capabilities (e.g., bandwidth, latency, and/or jitter). The architecture may share features and/or components with LTE. According to aspects, a next generation AN (NG-AN) 310 may support dual connectivity with NR. The NG-AN may share common preambles for LTE and NR.

The architecture may enable collaboration between and among TRP 308. For example, collaboration may be preset within and/or across TRPs via ANC 302. According to aspects, an inter-TRP interface may not be needed/present.

According to aspects, dynamic configuration of split logic functions may exist within the architecture of the distributed RAN 300. The PDCP, RLC, MAC protocol may be adaptively placed at ANC or TRP.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN 400 in accordance with aspects of the present invention. The centralized core network element (centralized core network unit, C-CU) 402 may host core network functions. The C-CUs may be centrally deployed. The C-CU functions (e.g., to advanced wireless services (advanced wireless services, AWS)) may be offloaded in an effort to handle peak capacity. The centralized RAN unit (centralized RAN unit, C-RU) 404 may host one or more ANC functions. Alternatively, the C-RU may host the core network functions locally. The C-RU may have a distributed deployment. The C-RU may be closer to the network edge. Distributed Units (DUs) 506 may host one or more TRPs. The DUs may be located at the network edge with Radio Frequency (RF) functionality.

Fig. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example of DL-centric time slots. The DL-centric time slot may comprise a control portion 502. The control portion 502 may exist in an initial or beginning portion of a DL-centric time slot. The control portion 502 may include various scheduling information and/or control information corresponding to various portions of the DL-centric time slot. In some configurations, the control portion 502 may be a Physical DL Control Channel (PDCCH), as indicated in fig. 5. The DL-centric time slot may also include a DL data portion 504.DL data portion 504 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of a DL-centric time slot. The DL data portion 504 may include communication resources used to transmit DL data from a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS) to a subordinate entity (e.g., UE). In some configurations, DL data portion 504 may be a physical DL shared channel (physical DL shared channel, PDSCH).

DL-centric time slots may also include a common UL portion 506. The common UL portion 506 may sometimes be referred to as a UL burst, a common UL burst, and/or various other suitable terms. The common UL portion 506 may include feedback information corresponding to various other portions of the DL-centric time slot. For example, the common UL portion 506 may include feedback information corresponding to the control portion 502. Non-limiting examples of feedback information may include: an ACK signal, a NACK signal, a HARQ indicator, and/or various other suitable types of information. The common UL portion 506 may include additional or alternative information, such as information related to random access channel (random access channel, RACH) procedures, scheduling requests (scheduling request, SR), and various other suitable types of information.

As illustrated in fig. 5, the end of DL data portion 504 may be separated in time from the beginning of common UL portion 506. Such time separation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, guard period (guard period), guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. The separation provides time for switching from DL communication (e.g., a receiving operation of a subordinate entity (e.g., UE)) to UL communication (e.g., a transmitting of the subordinate entity (e.g., UE)). It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the foregoing is merely one example of DL-centric time slots, and that alternative structures with similar features may exist without necessarily departing from the described aspects of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a diagram 600 illustrating an example of UL-centric time slots. The UL-centric time slot may comprise a control portion 602. The control portion 602 may be present in the initial or beginning portion of the UL-centric time slot. The control portion 602 in fig. 6 may be similar to the control portion 502 described above with reference to fig. 5. UL-centric time slots may also include UL data portion 604.UL data portion 604 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of a UL-centric time slot. The UL portion may refer to communication resources used to transmit UL data from a subordinate entity (e.g., UE) to a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS). In some configurations, the control portion 602 may be a physical DL control channel (physical DL control channel, PDCCH).

As illustrated in fig. 6, the end of the control portion 602 may be separated in time from the beginning of the UL data portion 604. Such time separation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, guard period, guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. The separation provides time for switching from DL communication (e.g., a receiving operation of a scheduling entity) to UL communication (e.g., a transmitting of a scheduling entity). UL-centric time slots may also include a common UL portion 606. The common UL portion 606 in fig. 6 may be similar to the common UL portion 506 described above with reference to fig. 5. The common UL portion 606 may additionally or alternatively include: information about channel quality indicators (channel quality indicator, CQI), sounding reference signals (sounding reference signal, SRS), and various other suitable types of information. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the foregoing is merely one example of UL-centric time slots, and that alternative structures with similar features may exist without necessarily departing from the described aspects of the present invention.

In some cases, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) may communicate with each other using side-link signals. Practical applications for such side-link communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relay, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, internet of things (Internet of Everything, ioE) communications, mission critical grids, and/or various other suitable applications. In general, a side link signal may refer to a signal transmitted from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE 1) to another subordinate entity (e.g., UE 2) without relaying the communication through a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even though the scheduling entity may be used for scheduling and/or control purposes. In some examples, the side-chain signals may be transmitted using licensed spectrum (as opposed to wireless local area networks that typically use unlicensed spectrum).

In some cases, the UE may have two or more SIM cards, making the UE a multi-SIM (MUSIM) UE in 3 GPP. Currently, MUSIM UEs are popular in the market. MUSIM UEs may register with two different networks and attempt to adhere to specifications from the perspective of both networks. Prior to 3gpp r17, the behavior of MUSIM UEs was mainly based on UE implementation, and 3gpp r17 introduced some MUSIM functionality to allow better UE-network coordination on the MUSIM scenario. However, these MUSIM functions provide optimizations focused on single RX UE operation.

For a MUSIM UE, the software and hardware capabilities of the UE are shared by the SIM card. In other words, the related functions need to be split between SIM cards. For example, the simplest resource partitioning is to allow only one SIM card to enter a CONNECTED (CONNECTED) mode with the corresponding network. In particular, the R17 specification allows the UE to indicate its preference to leave rrc_connected mode for MUSIM purposes. However, if MUSIM UE can do it, it is preferable to maintain the connection of one SIM card with reduced capability, rather than release the connection of the SIM card. To allow CONNECTED mode operation in both SIM cards, the UE may have to release some resources from one SIM card, e.g. secondary cell or secondary cell group (secondary cell group, SCG), so that the released resources may allow the other SIM card to enter into a connection with its corresponding network. Thus, it would be beneficial if the UE could indicate some temporary UE capability restrictions to the corresponding network of the first SIM card by entering the CONNECTED mode of the other SIM card.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating example communications between a MUSIM UE and two networks. As shown in fig. 7, MUSIM UE 710 registers with two networks, network a 720 and network B730. MUSIM UE 710 has two SIM cards, including SIM1 712 for connecting with network a 720 and SIM2 714 for connecting with network B730.

In MUSIM UE 710 as shown in fig. 7, the UE-triggered capability restriction procedure may be used for MUSIM purposes, allowing connection operations to be performed simultaneously in both networks a and B. The RRC connection between the UE and the base station (network) means that the UE and the base station are in an RRC connected mode. For example, SIM1 712 of MUSIM UE 710 is already in RRC connection 740 with network a 720. In this case, if SIM2 714 of MUSIM UE 710 wants to enter into another RRC connection 750 with network B730, MUSIM UE 710 may perform the capability restriction procedure by indicating temporary UE capability restriction to network a 720 so that MUSIM UE 710 may deactivate or release some shared radio resources and perform connection establishment in SIM2 714 to establish RRC connection 750 with network B730 using the released resources. Specifically, SIM2 714 will occupy the released resources when establishing the corresponding RRC connection 750, and define shared radio resources based on the number of supported carriers. Similarly, if MUSIM UE 710 leaves RRC connection 750 with network B730, MUSIM UE 710 must update the temporary UE capability restriction to network a 720 so that MUSIM UE 710 can recover the capability restriction.

In some embodiments, the indication and update of the temporary UE capability restriction may be achieved by MUSIM UE 710 sending a reduced capability indicator or a resume capability indicator to network a 720, where the reduced capability indicator indicates the temporary UE capability restriction and the resume capability indicator indicates the resumption of the capability restriction. In an embodiment, the reduced capability indicator may be an SCell deactivation request and the recovery capability indicator may be an SCell activation request.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating example communications between a MUSIM UE and a network during UE triggered capability restriction according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 8, in a UE-triggered capability restriction procedure 800, a UE 802 (which may be MUSIM UE 710 as shown in fig. 7) is already in RRC connection with a base station of network a804 (which may be network a 720 as shown in fig. 7). In particular, the UE 802 may communicate with the network a804 through one primary cell (PCell) using carrier aggregation, the primary cell carrying traffic for the user of the UE 802 and signaling messages for the UE 802, and may operate in both uplink and downlink; one or more secondary cells (scells) that carry traffic only and operate in uplink and downlink or only in downlink. In this case, the PCell and SCell are controlled by the base station of network a804 and transmitted on different radio frequencies to ensure that they do not interfere with each other. It should be noted that network a804 controls whether the UE-triggered capability restriction procedure in UE 802 is enabled. At operation 810, the network a804 sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE 802, and the RRC reconfiguration message includes information enabling the UE 802 to send SCell deactivation requests and SCell activation requests to the network a804 for MUSIM purposes. In other words, operation 810 enables a UE-triggered capability restriction procedure in UE 802. In operation 820, in response to the RRC reconfiguration message, the UE 802 sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message back to the network a804 to confirm the reconfiguration.

At operation 830, SIM2 714 of UE 802 wants to enter a connected mode with network B730. In response to the determination, at operation 840, the UE 802 sends an SCell deactivation request (i.e., a reduced capability indicator) to the network a804 to indicate the temporary UE capability restriction. In some embodiments, the SCell deactivation request may be sent by a MAC Control Element (CE). Specifically, the MAC CE is a special MAC structure that carries control information through a communication path of the MAC layer, allowing the UE 802 and the network a804 to perform a fast signaling communication exchange that does not involve an upper layer. In some embodiments, the SCell deactivation request may be sent via an RRC message (e.g., a UE assistance information message). Specifically, the UE assistance information message is a special RRC message through which the UE 802 can inform the network a804 of various internal states so that the network a804 can allocate or control resources more suitable for each connected UE.

After the UE 802 sends the SCell deactivation request to the network a804 and the network a804 receives the SCell deactivation request sent by the UE 802, optionally, at operation 850, the network a804 may send an acknowledgement of the SCell deactivation request back to the UE 802 to acknowledge receipt of the SCell deactivation request. Then, at operation 860, the ue 802 deactivates one or more scells and begins performing connection establishment in SIM2 714. In some embodiments, to avoid service failure due to late connection establishment with network B730 in SIM2 714, UE 802 may deactivate the SCell immediately after sending the SCell deactivation request. Optionally, in some embodiments, the UE 802 may wait a period of time after sending the SCell deactivation request before autonomously deactivating the SCell, thereby ensuring that the SCell deactivation request is received by the network a 804. Optionally, in some embodiments, the UE 802 may deactivate the SCell in response to receiving an acknowledgement from the network a 804. In other words, the UE 802 waits until an acknowledgement is received from the network a804 before autonomously deactivating the SCell, thereby ensuring that the network a804 acknowledges receipt of the SCell deactivation request. After the UE performs connection establishment in SIM2 714, both SIM cards on UE 802 may be connected at the same time.

After SIM2 714 on UE 802 completes the task in the connection with network B730, at operation 870, SIM2 714 releases the corresponding connection. In this case, the deactivated SCell will be reactivated. Thus, at operation 880, the ue 802 sends an SCell activation request (i.e., a resume capability indicator) to the network a804 to indicate the resumption of the capability restriction. In some embodiments, the SCell activation request may be sent through a MAC CE or RRC message (such as a UE assistance information message), similar to the SCell deactivation request. Subsequently, the UE 802 may activate one or more scells. Similar to the SCell deactivation procedure, in one embodiment, the UE 802 may activate the SCell immediately after sending the SCell activation request. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the UE 802 may wait for a period of time after sending the SCell activation request before autonomously activating the SCell. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the UE 802 may activate the SCell in response to receiving an acknowledgement from the network a804 indicating that the network a804 received the SCell activation request.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the UE 802 sends an SCell deactivation request to network a804 to deactivate one or more scells so that the deactivated scells may be later reactivated. In some configurations, instead of simply deactivating scells, UE 802 may select an option to release one or more scells (i.e., remove scells from the PCell) such that the released scells are available to network B. Specifically, the UE 802 cannot autonomously implement SCell release. In contrast, the base station of network a804 may implement SCell release through an additional RRC connection reconfiguration procedure, in which the base station sends an SCell release list to the UE 802 to release one or more scells.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating example communications between a MUSIM UE and a network during a UE triggered capability restriction procedure according to another embodiment. As shown in fig. 9, in a UE-triggered capability restriction procedure 900, a UE 902 (which may be MUSIM UE 710 as shown in fig. 7) is already in RRC connection with a base station of network a904 (which may be network a720 as shown in fig. 7). In the process 900 shown in fig. 9, network a904 controls whether a UE-triggered capability restriction procedure in UE 902 is enabled. Specifically, at operation 910, the network a904 sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE 902, and the RRC reconfiguration message includes a request to enable the UE 902 to send the network a904 a request to release one or more scells and/or a request to re-add scells to the network a904 for MUSIM purposes. In other words, operation 910 enables a UE-triggered capability restriction procedure in UE 902. In operation 920, in response to the RRC reconfiguration message, the UE 902 sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message back to the network a904 to confirm the reconfiguration.

In operation 930, SIM2 714 of ue 902 wants to enter a connected mode with network B730. In response to the determination, the ue 902 sends a request (i.e., a reduced capability indicator) to release one or more scells to the network a904 to indicate an intention to release the one or more scells at operation 940. The request may be sent through a MAC CE or RRC message (e.g., a UE assistance information message).

In response to the request, similar to the process 800 shown in fig. 8, the scell deactivation request may be sent through a MAC CE or RRC message (such as a UE assistance information message).

After network a904 receives the request to release one or more scells sent by UE 902, network a904 sends another RRC reconfiguration message to UE 902 at operation 950. Specifically, the RRC reconfiguration message 950 at operation 950 includes a list of scells to release indicating one or more scells to release. In operation 955, when the UE 902 receives an RRC reconfiguration message with a list of scells to release, the UE 902 sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message back to the network a904 to confirm the reconfiguration. Then, in operation 960, the ue 902 releases one or more scells according to the SCell list to be released and starts performing connection establishment in SIM2 714.

After SIM2 714 on UE 902 completes the task in the connection with network B730, at operation 970, SIM2 714 releases the corresponding connection with network B730. In this case, one or more of the released scells remain released. Optionally, in operation 980, the ue 902 may send a request to the network a904 to add one or more scells, intended to add back one or more released scells. In some embodiments, similar to the one or more requests to release scells, the request to add one or more scells may be sent through a MAC CE or RRC message (such as a UE assistance information message).

After the network a904 receives the request to add one or more scells sent by the UE 902, the network a904 sends a further RRC reconfiguration message to the UE 902 in operation 990. Specifically, the RRC reconfiguration message at operation 990 includes an SCell list to be added/modified indicating one or more scells to be added. In operation 995, when the UE 902 receives an RRC reconfiguration message with a list of scells to be added/modified, the UE 902 sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message back to the network a904 to acknowledge the reconfiguration. The UE 902 may then add back one or more scells according to the SCell list to be added/modified and continue the connection with network a 904.

Fig. 10 is a flow chart of a method (process) for wireless communication of a UE. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 710). In operation 1010, the ue enters a first RRC connection with a first base station of a first network. In operation 1020, the UE receives an indication from the first base station, the indication enabling the UE to send a first request to deactivate or release resources for communication with the first base station. In operation 1030, in response to determining to enter into a second RRC connection with a second base station of a second network, the UE sends a first request to the first base station to deactivate or release resources. In operation 1040, the ue enters a second RRC connection with the second base station while maintaining the first RRC connection with the first base station. Optionally, in operation 1050, in response to a determination to release the second RRC connection with the second base station, the UE sends a second request to the first base station to recover the resources. Optionally, in operation 1060, the ue releases the second RRC connection with the second base station and resumes resources in the first RRC connection with the first base station.

In some configurations, in response to determining to enter a second RRC connection with a second base station, the UE may send a first request to the first base station to deactivate resources. The resources include one or more scells on the UE. The first request for deactivating resources is an SCell deactivation request and the second request for recovering resources is an SCell activation request.

In some configurations, each of the SCell deactivation request and SCell activation request is sent by a MAC CE or by an RRC message, which may be a UE assistance information message.

In some configurations, optionally, the UE may deactivate one or more scells on the UE immediately after sending the SCell deactivation request to the first base station. Alternatively, the UE may autonomously deactivate one or more scells after a period of time after sending the SCell deactivation request to the first base station. Alternatively, the UE may receive an acknowledgement of the SCell deactivation request from the first base station and deactivate one or more scells on the UE in response to the acknowledgement.

In some configurations, optionally, in response to determining to enter into a second RRC connection with a second base station, the UE may send a first request to the first base station to release resources. The resources include one or more scells. The UE may receive a second indication from the first base station to enable the UE to release the one or more scells. The UE may release one or more scells according to the second indication.

Fig. 11 is a flow chart of a method (process) for wireless communication of a base station. The method may be performed by a base station (e.g., base station 720 of network a). In operation 1110, the base station enters an RRC connection with the UE. In operation 1120, the base station transmits an indication to the UE to enable the UE to transmit a first request to deactivate or release resources for communication with the base station. In operation 1130, the base station receives a first request from the UE to deactivate or release resources. Optionally, in operation 1140, the base station also receives a second request to recover resources from the UE.

In some configurations, a base station may receive a first request from a UE to deactivate a resource. The resources include one or more scells on the UE. The first request is an SCell deactivation request and the second request is an SCell activation request.

In some configurations, each of the SCell deactivation request and SCell activation request is sent by a MAC CE or by an RRC message, which may be a UE assistance information message.

In some configurations, after receiving the SCell deactivation request from the UE, the base station may send an acknowledgement of the SCell deactivation request to the UE.

In some configurations, a base station may receive a first request from a UE to release resources. The resources include one or more scells. In response to the first request, the base station may send a second indication to the UE that enables the UE to release one or more scells on the UE.

It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of exemplary approaches. Based on design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flow charts may be rearranged. Furthermore, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects of the invention described. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless specifically so stated, but rather "one or more". The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect described as "exemplary" in this disclosure is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. The term "some" means one or more unless specifically stated otherwise. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C", and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B and/or C, and may include multiples of a, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, a combination such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C", and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" may be a alone, B alone, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or a and B and C, wherein any such combination may comprise one member or more members of A, B or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this invention that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words "module," mechanism, "" element, "" device, "and the like cannot be used as alternatives to the word" devices. Thus, unless the phrase "means for …" is used to expressly state a claim element, no claim element is to be construed as a means-plus-function (means plus function).

Claims (20)

1. A method of resource sharing, comprising:

entering a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station of a first network;

receiving, from the first base station, an indication to enable a User Equipment (UE) to send a first request to deactivate or release resources for communication with the first base station;

in response to determining to enter a second RRC connection with a second base station of a second network, sending a first request to the first base station to deactivate or release the resource; and

entering the second RRC connection with the second base station while maintaining the first RRC connection with the first base station.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a second request to the first base station for recovering the resources in response to a determination to release the second RRC connection with the second base station; and

releasing the second RRC connection with the second base station and recovering the resources in the first RRC connection with the first base station.

3. The method according to claim 2, comprising:

in response to determining to enter the second RRC connection with the second base station, sending the first request to deactivate the resource to the first base station, wherein the resource includes one or more secondary cells (SCells) on the UE,

Wherein the first request for deactivating the resource is an SCell deactivation request, and the second request for recovering the resource is an SCell activation request.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein each of the SCell deactivation request and the SCell activation request is sent by a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein each of the SCell deactivation request and the SCell activation request is sent by RRC message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the RRC message is a UE assistance information message.

7. A method according to claim 3, further comprising:

deactivating the one or more scells on the UE immediately after sending the SCell deactivation request to the first base station, or

Autonomously deactivating the one or more scells after a period of time after sending the SCell deactivation request to the first base station; or alternatively

An acknowledgement of the SCell deactivation request is received from the first base station, and the one or more scells on the UE are deactivated in response to the acknowledgement.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

In response to determining to enter the second RRC connection with the second base station, sending the first request to release the resources to the first base station, wherein the resources include one or more secondary cells (scells);

receiving, from the first base station, a second indication enabling the UE to release the one or more scells; and

and releasing the one or more scells according to the second indication.

9. A method of resource sharing, comprising:

entering a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a User Equipment (UE);

transmitting an indication to the UE to enable the UE to transmit a first request to deactivate or release resources for communication with the base station; and

a first request to deactivate or release resources is received from the UE.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

a second request to resume the resource is received from the UE.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising:

receiving a first request from the UE to deactivate the resource, wherein the resource comprises one or more secondary cells (scells) on the UE,

wherein the first request is an SCell deactivation request and the second request is an SCell activation request.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the SCell deactivation request and the SCell activation request is received from the UE in a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the SCell deactivation request and the SCell activation request is received from the UE in an RRC message.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the RRC message is a UE assistance information message.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

after receiving the SCell deactivation request from the UE, an acknowledgement of the SCell deactivation request is sent to the UE.

16. The method of claim 11, comprising:

receiving the first request from the UE to release the resources, wherein the resources include one or more secondary cells (scells) on the UE;

in response to the first request, a second indication is sent to the UE that enables the UE to release the one or more scells on the UE.

17. An apparatus for resource sharing, the apparatus being a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a memory; and

Entering a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station of a first network;

receiving, from the first base station, an indication to enable the UE to send a first request to deactivate or release resources for communication with the first base station;

in response to determining to enter a second RRC connection with a second base station of a second network, sending a first request to the first base station to deactivate or release the resource; and

entering the second RRC connection with the second base station while maintaining the first RRC connection with the first base station.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to:

transmitting a second request to the first base station for recovering the resources in response to a determination to release the second RRC connection with the second base station; and

releasing the second RRC connection with the second base station and recovering the resources in the first RRC connection with the first base station.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to:

in response to determining to enter the second RRC connection with the second base station, sending the first request to deactivate the resource to the first base station, wherein the resource includes one or more secondary cells (SCells) on the UE,

Wherein the first request for deactivating the resource is an SCell deactivation request, and the second request for recovering the resource is an SCell activation request.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein each of the SCell deactivation request and the SCell activation request is sent by a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) or by an RRC message.