Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
  • H04W52/04—TPC
  • H04W52/30—TPC using constraints in the total amount of available transmission power
  • H04W52/36—TPC using constraints in the total amount of available transmission power with a discrete range or set of values, e.g. step size, ramping or offsets
  • H04W52/367—Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
  • H04W36/24—Reselection being triggered by specific parameters
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
  • H04W36/24—Reselection being triggered by specific parameters
  • H04W36/30—Reselection being triggered by specific parameters by measured or perceived connection quality data
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
  • H04W36/34—Reselection control
  • H04W36/36—Reselection control by user or terminal equipment
  • H04W36/362—Conditional handover
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
  • H04W52/04—TPC
  • H04W52/38—TPC being performed in particular situations
  • H04W52/40—TPC being performed in particular situations during macro-diversity or soft handoff
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B17/00—Monitoring; Testing
  • H04B17/30—Monitoring; Testing of propagation channels
  • H04B17/309—Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
  • H04B17/318—Received signal strength
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B17/00—Monitoring; Testing
  • H04B17/30—Monitoring; Testing of propagation channels
  • H04B17/309—Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
  • H04B17/336—Signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B17/00—Monitoring; Testing
  • H04B17/30—Monitoring; Testing of propagation channels
  • H04B17/382—Monitoring; Testing of propagation channels for resource allocation, admission control or handover

Definitions

• Various embodiments described herein relate to the field of wireless communications and, particularly, to countering adverse effects of a power backoff situation in a wireless device.
• Transmit power of a terminal device is controlled by various mechanisms.
• Uplink transmit power control procedures are conventionally used for controlling uplink interference and power consumption of the terminal device.
• Other mechanisms for controlling the transmit power include, for example, controlling exposure of a user of the terminal device to radio frequency radiation.
• Maximum permissible exposure (MPE) and specific absorption rate (SAR) guidelines have been established to define limits for radiation of radio energy towards the user.
• the terminal devices may have built-in functions to limit the transmit power in order to meet such limits. Other functions that may cause a power backoff situation in the terminal device can be equally foreseen.
• an apparatus for a terminal device comprising means for performing: detecting a need for limiting power radiation in at least one antenna panel of the terminal device and, in response to said detecting, determining at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter; receiving at least one parameter of at least one non-serving cell; estimating, by using the at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter and the at least one received parameter, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non-serving cell; and triggering, on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the means are configured to receive the at least one parameter from a serving cell in connection with handover preparation of the terminal device.
• the handover preparation is a part of a conditional handover where a handover of the apparatus has been prepared to the at least one non-serving cell and where the means are configured to perform the triggering autonomously.
• the need for limiting power radiation comprises power backoff caused by a maximum permissible exposure limit.
• the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell comprises at least one uplink power control parameter.
• the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell comprises scheduling information, and wherein the means are configured to estimate the at least one quantity further on the basis of the scheduling information.
• the means are configured to receive at least one parameter of a serving cell and to perform the triggering further on the basis of the at least one parameter of the serving cell.
• the at least one parameter of the serving cell comprises a condition parameter
• the means are configured to perform said triggering in response to detecting that a handover execution condition affected by the condition parameter is fulfilled.
• the means are configured to advance or maintain a time of said triggering, and if the quantity indicates high impact on uplink transmit power in the non-serving cell associated with the quantity, the means are configured to postpone the time of said triggering.
• the means are configured to estimate the quantity of uplink degradation for each of a plurality of non-serving cells, to monitor for each of the plurality of non-serving cells for a condition for performing said triggering, and to perform the triggering of the handover to the non serving cell having its condition met first among the plurality of non-serving cells.
• the means are configured to: determine a first uplink transmit power limitation parameter for a first antenna panel of the terminal device and a second uplink transmit power limitation parameters for a second antenna panel of the terminal device, the first uplink transmit power limitation parameter being different from the second uplink transmit power limitation parameter; and estimate the first quantity of uplink degradation for the first antenna panel and the second quantity of uplink degradation for the second antenna panel.
• the means are configured to log and report at least one of the at least one quantity to an access node of a serving cell.
• an apparatus for a first access node comprising means for performing: preparing for a handover of a terminal device from a serving cell managed by the first access node; in connection with said preparing, receiving at least one parameter of at least one non-serving cell; transmitting, to the terminal device, at least one handover message comprising the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell and further comprising at least one information element enabling the terminal device to estimate, by using the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non-serving cell and to trigger, on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the at least one information element is an activation command.
• the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell comprises scheduling information of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the means are configured to transmit at least one parameter of the first access node to the terminal device, wherein the at least one parameter of the first access node configures at least one condition for triggering the handover of the terminal device.
• the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.
• a method comprising: detecting, by a terminal device, a need for limiting power radiation in at least one antenna panel of the terminal device and, in response to said detecting, determining at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter; receiving, by the terminal device, at least one parameter of at least one non-serving cell; estimating, by the terminal device by using the at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter and the at least one received parameter, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non-serving cell; and triggering, by the terminal device on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the terminal device receives the at least one parameter from a serving cell in connection with handover preparation of the terminal device.
• the handover preparation is a part of a conditional handover where a handover of the terminal device has been prepared to the at least one non-serving cell and where the terminal device performs the triggering autonomously.
• the need for limiting power radiation comprises power backoff caused by a maximum permissible exposure limit.
• the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell comprises at least one uplink power control parameter.
• the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell comprises scheduling information, and wherein the terminal device estimates the at least one quantity further on the basis of the scheduling information.
• the terminal device receives at least one parameter of a serving cell and performs the triggering further on the basis of the at least one parameter of the serving cell.
• the at least one parameter of the serving cell comprises a condition parameter, and wherein the terminal device performs said triggering in response to detecting that a handover execution condition affected by the condition parameter is fulfilled.
• the terminal device if a quantity within the at least one quantity of uplink degradation indicates low impact on uplink transmit power in a non-serving cell associated with the quantity, the terminal device advances or maintains a time of said triggering, and if the quantity indicates high impact on uplink transmit power in the non-serving cell associated with the quantity, the terminal device postpones the time of said triggering.
• the terminal device estimates the quantity of uplink degradation for each of a plurality of non-serving cells, monitors for each of the plurality of non-serving cells for a condition for performing said triggering, and performs the triggering of the handover to the non-serving cell having its condition met first among the plurality of non-serving cells.
• the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal device, a first uplink transmit power limitation parameter for a first antenna panel of the terminal device and a second uplink transmit power limitation parameters for a second antenna panel of the terminal device, the first uplink transmit power limitation parameter being different from the second uplink transmit power limitation parameter; and estimating, by the terminal device, the first quantity of uplink degradation for the first antenna panel and the second quantity of uplink degradation for the second antenna panel.
• the terminal device logs and reports the at least one quantity to an access node of a serving cell.
• a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium and comprising a computer program code readable by a computer, wherein the computer program code configures the computer to carry out a computer process in a terminal device, the computer process comprising: detecting a need for limiting power radiation in at least one antenna panel of the terminal device and, in response to said detecting, determining at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter; receiving at least one parameter of at least one non-serving cell; estimating, by using the at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter and the at least one received parameter, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non-serving cell; and triggering, on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the computer program product further comprises a computer program code configuring the computer to carry out all the steps of the method according to any one of the above-described embodiments.
• a method for a first access node comprising: preparing, by the first access node, for a handover of a terminal device from a serving cell managed by the first access node; in connection with said preparing, receiving by the first access node at least one parameter of at least one non-serving cell; transmitting, by the first access node to the terminal device, at least one handover message comprising the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell and further comprising at least one information element enabling the terminal device to estimate, by using the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non-serving cell and to trigger, on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the at least one information element is an activation command.
• the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell comprises scheduling information of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the first access node transmits at least one parameter of the first access node to the terminal device, wherein the at least one parameter of the first access node configures at least one condition for triggering the handover of the terminal device.
• a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium and comprising a computer program code readable by a computer, wherein the computer program code configures the computer to carry out a computer process in a first access node, the computer process comprising: preparing for a handover of a terminal device from a serving cell managed by the first access node; in connection with said preparing, receiving at least one parameter of at least one non-serving cell; transmitting, to the terminal device, at least one handover message comprising the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell and further comprising at least one information element enabling the terminal device to estimate, by using the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non-serving cell and to trigger, on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the computer program product further comprises a computer program code configuring the computer to carry out all the steps of the any one of the above-described methods for the first access node.
• Figure 1 illustrates a wireless communication scenario to which some embodiments of the invention may be applied
• Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of a terminal device comprising a plurality of antenna panels directed to different spatial directions, and also illustrating effect of uplink power backoff;
• Figures 3A and 3B illustrate embodiments of a process for countering effect of a power backoff in connection with handover
• Figure 4 illustrates a signalling diagram of a procedure for considering uplink degradation in connection with a conditional handover according to an embodiment
• Figure 5 illustrates a process for using scheduling information when estimating an effect of power backoff to uplink degradation according to an embodiment
• Figure 6 illustrates a procedure for triggering a handover according to an embodiment
• Figures 7 and 8 illustrate block diagrams of structures of apparatuses according to some embodiments of the invention.
• UMTS universal mobile telecommunications system
• UTRAN radio access network
• LTE long term evolution
• WLAN wireless local area network
• WiFi worldwide interoperability for microwave access
• Bluetooth® personal communications services
• PCS personal communications services
• WCDMA wideband code division multiple access
• UWB ultra-wideband
• sensor networks mobile ad-hoc networks
• IMS Internet Protocol multimedia subsystems
• Figure 1 depicts examples of simplified system architectures only showing some elements and functional entities, all being logical units, whose implementation may differ from what is shown.
• the connections shown in Figure 1 are logical connections; the actual physical connections may be different. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the system typically comprises also other functions and structures than those shown in Figure 1.
• Figure 1 shows a part of an exemplifying radio access network.
• Figure 1 shows terminal devices or user devices 100 and 102 configured to be in a wireless connection on one or more communication channels in a cell with an access node (such as (e/g)NodeB) 104 providing the cell.
• (e/g)NodeB refers to an eNodeB or a gNodeB, as defined in 3GPP specifications.
• the physical link from a user device to a (e/g)NodeB is called uplink or reverse link and the physical link from the (e/g)NodeB to the user device is called downlink or forward link.
• (e/g)NodeBs or their functionalities may be implemented by using any node, host, server or access point etc. entity suitable for such a usage.
• a communications system typically comprises more than one (e/g)NodeB in which case the (e/g)NodeBs may also be configured to communicate with one another over links, wired or wireless, designed for the purpose. These links may be used not only for signalling purposes but also for routing data from one (e/g)NodeB to another.
• the (e/g)NodeB is a computing device configured to control the radio resources of communication system it is coupled to.
• the NodeB may also be referred to as a base station, an access point, an access node, or any other type of interfacing device including a relay station capable of operating in a wireless environment.
• the (e/g)NodeB includes or is coupled to transceivers.
• the antenna unit may comprise a plurality of antennas or antenna elements.
• the (e/g)NodeB is further connected to core network 110 (CN or next generation core NGC).
• CN core network 110
• the counterpart on the CN side can be a serving gateway (S-GW, routing and forwarding user data packets), packet data network gateway (P-GW), for providing connectivity of user devices (UEs) to external packet data networks, or mobile management entity (MME), etc.
• S-GW serving gateway
• P-GW packet data network gateway
• MME mobile management entity
• the user device also called UE, user equipment, user terminal, terminal device, etc.
• UE user equipment
• user terminal terminal device
• any feature described herein with a user device may be implemented with a corresponding apparatus, such as a relay node.
• a relay node is a layer 3 relay (self-backhauling relay) towards the base station.
• the user device typically refers to a portable computing device that includes wireless mobile communication devices operating with or without a subscriber identification module (SIM), including, but not limited to, the following types of devices: a mobile station (mobile phone), smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), handset, device using a wireless modem (alarm or measurement device, etc.), laptop and/or touch screen computer, tablet, game console, notebook, and multimedia device.
• SIM subscriber identification module
• a user device may also be a nearly exclusive uplink only device, of which an example is a camera or video camera loading images or video clips to a network.
• a user device may also be a device having capability to operate in Internet of Things (IoT) network which is a scenario in which objects are provided with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
• IoT Internet of Things
• the user device may also utilize cloud.
• a user device may comprise a small portable device with radio parts (such as a watch, earphones or eyeglasses) and the computation is carried out in the cloud.
• the user device (or in some embodiments a layer 3 relay node) is configured to perform one or more of user equipment functionalities.
• the user device may also be called a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal or user equipment (UE) just to mention but a few names or apparatuses.
• CPS cyber-physical system
• Mobile cyber physical systems in which the physical system in question has inherent mobility, are a subcategory of cyber-physical systems. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robotics and electronics transported by humans or animals.
• 5G enables using multiple input - multiple output (MIMO) antennas, many more base stations or nodes than the LTE (a so-called small cell concept), including macro sites operating in co operation with smaller stations and employing a variety of radio technologies depending on service needs, use cases and/or spectrum available.
• MIMO multiple input - multiple output
• 5G mobile communications supports a wide range of use cases and related applications including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing and various forms of machine type applications (such as (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC), including vehicular safety, different sensors and real-time control.
• 5G is expected to have multiple radio interfaces, namely below 6GHz, cmWave and mmWave, and also being capable of being integrated with existing legacy radio access technologies, such as the LTE.
• Integration with the LTE may be implemented, at least in the early phase, as a system, where macro coverage is provided by the LTE and 5G radio interface access comes from small cells by aggregation to the LTE.
• 5G is planned to support both inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6GHz - cmWave, below 6GHz - cmWave - mmWave).
• inter-RAT operability such as LTE-5G
• inter-RI operability inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6GHz - cmWave, below 6GHz - cmWave - mmWave.
• One of the concepts considered to be used in 5G networks is network slicing in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) may be created within the same infrastructure to run services that have different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.
• the current architecture in LTE networks is fully distributed in the radio and typically fully centralized in the core network.
• the low-latency applications and services in 5G require to bring the content close to the radio which leads to local break out and multi-access edge computing (MEC).
• MEC multi-access edge computing
• 5G enables analytics and knowledge generation to occur at the source of the data. This approach requires leveraging resources that may not be continuously connected to a network such as laptops, smartphones, tablets and sensors.
• MEC provides a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. It also has the ability to store and process content in close proximity to cellular subscribers for faster response time.
• Edge computing covers a wide range of technologies such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobile signature analysis, cooperative distributed peer-to-peer ad hoc networking and processing also classifiable as local cloud/fog computing and grid/mesh computing, dew computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlet, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomic self- healing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, Internet of Things (massive connectivity and/or latency critical), critical communications (autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, real-time analytics, time-critical control, healthcare applications).
• technologies such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobile signature analysis, cooperative distributed peer-to-peer ad hoc networking and processing also classifiable as local cloud/fog computing and grid/mesh computing, dew computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlet, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomic self- healing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, Internet of Things (massive connectivity and/or latency critical), critical communications (autonomous vehicles,
• the communication system is also able to communicate with other networks, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet 112, or utilize services provided by them.
• the communication network may also be able to support the usage of cloud services, for example at least part of core network operations may be carried out as a cloud service (this is depicted in Figure 1 by “cloud” 114).
• the communication system may also comprise a central control entity, or a like, providing facilities for networks of different operators to cooperate for example in spectrum sharing.
• Edge cloud may be brought into radio access network (RAN) by utilizing network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN).
• RAN radio access network
• NFV network function virtualization
• SDN software defined networking
• Using edge cloud may mean access node operations to be carried out, at least partly, in a server, host or node operationally coupled to a remote radio head or base station comprising radio parts. It is also possible that node operations will be distributed among a plurality of servers, nodes or hosts.
• Application of cloudRAN architecture enables RAN real time functions being carried out at the RAN side (in a distributed unit, DU 104) and non-real time functions being carried out in a centralized manner (in a centralized unit, CU 108).
• 5G may also utilize satellite communication to enhance or complement the coverage of 5G service, for example by providing backhauling.
• Possible use cases are providing service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for passengers on board of vehicles, or ensuring service availability for critical communications, and future railway, maritime, and/or aeronautical communications.
• Satellite communication may utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but also low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, in particular mega-constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano)satellites are deployed).
• GEO geostationary earth orbit
• LEO low earth orbit
• mega-constellations systems in which hundreds of (nano)satellites are deployed.
• Each satellite 106 in the mega constellation may cover several satellite-enabled network entities that create on-ground cells.
• the on ground cells may be created through an on-ground relay node 104 or by a gNB located on-ground or in a satellite.
• the depicted system is only an example of a part of a radio access system and in practice, the system may comprise a plurality of (e/g)NodeBs, the user device may have an access to a plurality of radio cells and the system may comprise also other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay nodes or other network elements, etc. At least one of the (e/g)NodeBs or may be a Home(e/g)nodeB. Additionally, in a geographical area of a radio communication system a plurality of different kinds of radio cells as well as a plurality of radio cells may be provided.
• Radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells) which are large cells, usually having a diameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro-, femto- or picocells.
• the (e/g)NodeBs of Figure 1 may provide any kind of these cells.
• a cellular radio system may be implemented as a multilayer network including several kinds of cells. Typically, in multilayer networks, one access node provides one kind of a cell or cells, and thus a plurality of (e/g)NodeBs are required to provide such a network structure.
• a network which is able to use “plug-and-play” (e/g)Node Bs includes, in addition to Home (e/g)NodeBs (H(e/g)nodeBs), a home node B gateway, or HNB-GW (not shown in Figure 1).
• HNB-GW HNB Gateway
• a HNB Gateway (HNB-GW) which is typically installed within an operator’s network may aggregate traffic from a large number of HNBs back to a core network.
• the terminal devices may be equipped with a higher number of antenna panels to ensure effective radiation characteristics.
• Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment where the terminal device 100 is equipped with four antenna panels 200 - 206, each directed to a different radiation direction.
• Each antenna panel may provide a spherical radiation pattern, and a combined radiation pattern of the antenna panels may provide an omni-directional radiation pattern.
• Each antenna panel 200 - 206 may comprise a plurality of antenna elements, thus providing capability for adaptive spatial directivity, beamforming or multiple-input-multiple-output transmission and reception.
• Each antenna panel may form an antenna array, and examples of possible configurations of each antenna array include an array of 8x1 antennas (eight antennas in a row), 4x2 (four antennas in two rows), 8x2, etc.
• each antenna panel may experience the environment in a different manner.
• the antenna panels may be capable of detecting different sets of access nodes and with different reception qualities.
• the antenna panel 200 may be most suitable for communicating with the access node 104 located in the radiation direction of the antenna panel 200, while the antenna panels 204, 206 may be the most suitable for communicating with the access nodes 122, 120, respectively, located in the respective radiation directions of the antenna panels 204, 206.
• the terminal device connected to a serving cell or serving access node may be configured by the serving cell to report signal strength measurements of the neighbour cells.
• An example of the reported signal strength is reference signal received power (RSRP).
• Other examples are reference signal received quality (RSRQ) and signal-to-interference ratio (SINR).
• the reporting can be event-triggered or periodic. Some triggers are described in specifications of 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
• 3GPP 3 rd Generation Partnership Project
• the terminal device may combine measurements from multiple antenna panels by selecting, for example, the strongest measurement among all antenna panel measurements with respect to a specific neighbour cell. Thus, a cell-level measurement of a certain neighbour cell may be generated by using the best measurements amongst all antenna panels.
• the neighbour cell measurements may be downlink measurements.
• MPE Maximum permissible exposure
• FCC Federal Communications Commission
• EIRP effective isotropic radiated power
• the PBO may be triggered at different user-antenna separations, which depend on the EIRP. For example, a 4x1 antenna array exhibiting EIRP of 34 dBm may require a PBO when a user is located 14 cm away from the antenna. When the user is nearly touching the antenna (2 mm separation), the maximum allowed EIRP may be only 10 dBm, hence the power needs to be backed-off by 24 dB. The transmission range of the terminal device is thus impacted by the PBO, and 20-dB PBO may reduce the range up to 90%. PBO only applies to uplink, thus resulting in severe link imbalance when the UE is in power limitation.
• FIG. 2 This is illustrated in Figure 2 where the hand close to the antenna panels 200, 204 causes the PBO at the antenna panels and, as a result, there is the link imbalance in the communication between the antenna panels and the respective access nodes 104, 122.
• the terminal device 100 is capable of detecting the downlink signals from the access nodes 104, 122 via the respective antenna panels 200, 204 but the uplink transmission capabilities are reduced because of the PBO, resulting in the imbalance. Even if the hand does not block the propagation, e.g. neither uplink nor downlink path loss is affected by the hand, the PBO throttles the transmit power of the terminal device and, thereby, reduces the power received by the access node, thus reducing an uplink SINR.
• the antenna panels 202, 206 are not limited by the PBO and, thus, a link balance may be maintained between the antenna panel 206 and the access node 120.
• Handover decisions are conventionally made on the basis of downlink measurements. This combined with the link imbalance mentioned above may cause a situation where a connection of the terminal device is handed over to an access node that communicates with an antenna panel limited by the PBO. Therefore, the handover may result in degradation of uplink quality and possible radio link failures. On the other hand, a connection of the terminal device via an antenna panel limited by the PBO may fail because of the uplink failures caused by the PBO.
• Figure 3A illustrates a flow diagram of a process for managing a handover by taking the PBO situation into account.
• the process may be carried out in the terminal device 100.
• the process comprises as performed by the terminal device: detecting (block 300) a need for limiting power radiation in at least one antenna panel of the terminal device and, in response to said detecting, determining at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter; receiving at least one parameter of at least one non-serving cell (block 302); estimating (block 304), by using the at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter and the at least one received parameter, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non-serving cell; and triggering (block 306), on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover (block 308 or 310) of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the process of Figure 3 A may be carried out for a single non-serving cell or for a plurality of non-serving cells.
• the plurality of non-serving cells may be candidates for e.g. a conditional handover, and the terminal device triggers in block 306 a handover to one of the candidates.
• block 310 may be omitted and block 306 triggers the handover to the only candidate cell, i.e. selects the candidate cell.
• the selection may be seen as implicit selection of the target cell for which an execution condition triggering a handover is met.
• Block 306 may comprise making the decision which one of the non-serving cells to select as a target cell for the handover and, on the basis of the decision, either a first non-serving cell is selected (block 308) or a second non-serving cell is selected (block 310) and the terminal device may establish a connection with the selected cell to execute the handover.
• a corresponding number additional blocks may be established in parallel with blocks 308 and 310, and block 306 comprises a selection decision amongst blocks 308, 310, and the additional blocks.
• the above-described embodiment provides advantages. Because the uplink degradation is taken into account when performing the handover decision, handover to a cell suffering significant uplink degradation can be avoided or at least postponed. Additionally, when the decision is performed in the terminal device that has information on the uplink and downlink conditions for the non-serving cells, signaling can be reduced because such information needs not to be delivered to a serving cell for the handover decision.
• the uplink transmit power limitation comprises power backoff caused by the MPE limit described above.
• the MPE limit may define a maximum output power the terminal device is allowed to radiate, which may cause the uplink degradation, depending on the applied antenna panel and non-serving cell.
• the terminal device receives the at least one parameter of the non serving cell from a serving cell in connection with handover preparation of the terminal device.
• Figure 3B illustrates an embodiment of a process for an access node delivering the at least one parameter of the non-serving cell to the terminal device.
• the process comprises in a first access node that manages a serving cell currently serving the terminal device: preparing (block 320), with at least a second access node, for a handover of the terminal device from the serving cell; in connection with said preparing, receiving the at least one parameter of the at least one non-serving cell from at least the second access node (block 322); and transmitting (block 324), to the terminal device, at least one handover message comprising the at least one parameter of the at least second access node and further comprising at least one information element enabling the terminal device to estimate, by using the at least one parameter of the at least second access node, at least one quantity of uplink degradation towards the at least one non serving cell and to trigger, on the basis of the at least one quantity, a handover of the terminal device towards a non-serving cell of the at least one non-serving cell.
• the handover preparation may be a part of a conditional handover where a handover of the apparatus has been prepared to at least one non-serving cell and where the terminal device may, upon triggering the handover to the target cell, establish a connection with the target cell as a part of the handover.
• the conditional handover has following features.
• the conditional handover may be prepared at a very early stage to make sure that a signal quality in the serving (source) cell is high enough to convey measurement report and handover messages.
• the actual handover on the other hand, may be executed late, e.g. when one or more conditional handover execution conditions is fulfilled.
• the condition(s) may be configured during the handover preparation.
• the conditional handover may be understood as an “autonomous” handover, since the terminal device itself may make the handover decision, and the source cell does not necessarily know when the terminal device leaves it to access the target cell.
• the terminal device may access this target cell without informing the source cell.
• the at least one information element described in connection with block 324 comprises an activation command used for activating/deactivating the procedure of Figure 3A.
• the serving cell may control whether or not the terminal device is enabled to take the PBO limitations into account in connection with the handover and/or to make the handover decision.
• the at least one information element described in connection with block 324 comprises at least one parameter defining the above-described condition(s) for executing the conditional handover.
• FIG 4 illustrates a signaling diagram of the conditional handover procedure according to an embodiment.
• the terminal device may operate a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the access node 104 in the serving cell via one of the antenna panels 200 to 206 of the terminal device, e.g. the antenna panel 200.
• RRC radio resource control
• the RRC connection may be established and configured in block 400.
• the terminal device may configure the antenna panel 200 for transmitting and receiving radio signals over the RRC connection (see Figure 2).
• the access node 104 becomes a serving access node of the serving cell and the antenna panel 200 becomes a serving antenna panel, while the access nodes 120 and 122 are non-serving access nodes and the antenna panels 202 to 206 are non-serving antenna panels.
• data and signaling information are transferred over the RRC connection.
• conventional downlink handover measurements of one or more non-serving cells may be performed and reported to the serving cell.
• the downlink handover measurements may include measuring a reception signal strength of a signal received from each detected non-serving cell.
• the reception signal strength may include a value of a reference signal received power (RSRP), or a received signal received quality (RSRQ), for example.
• RSRP reference signal received power
• RSRQ received signal received quality
• the terminal device may also measure and compute a path loss or a similar metric indicating signal attenuation in a radio channel between the terminal device and each non-serving cell.
• the terminal device may report at least the received signal strength to the serving cell.
• the terminal device may also report downlink measurements of the serving cell in the same report or in a different report.
• the access node 104 may determine to trigger the conditional handover (CHO) preparations in block 406.
• the CHO preparations may be triggered when the received signal strength of a target cell exceed the signal strength of the serving cell by a predefined offset.
• the CHO preparations may comprise transmitting a handover request (step 408) to non-serving cells indicated as potential candidates for the CHO by the reported measurements, access nodes 120, 122 in this example.
• the access nodes 120, 122 may acknowledge the handover request by transmitting a response in step 410.
• the response message may comprise that at least one parameter of the respective access node in the non-serving cell.
• the serving access node 104 may transmit to the terminal device one or more control messages (step 412) that configure the CHO parameters to the terminal device.
• the serving access node may thus forward the parameters received in step 410 to the terminal device in step 412.
• the terminal device may start performing functions for triggering a handover to one of the non-serving cells by taking into account the uplink transmit power limitation(s) detected in block 300.
• the limitation such as the PBO event may be detected before or after the CHO preparations are triggered.
• the uplink transmit power limitation parameter(s) may be determined based on the PBO event. As described above, depending on the measured location and position of the obstacle with respect to the antenna panels, the uplink transmit power limitation may vary.
• the terminal device may monitor the proximity of the user and update the uplink transmit power limitation parameter per antenna panel, if the proximity changes.
• the terminal device computes or estimated in block 304 the quantities of uplink degradation for each non-serving cell that is a candidate for the handover, e.g. with which the handover preparation has been made and for which the terminal device has received the at least one parameter in step 412.
• the at least one parameter comprises at least one uplink transmit power control parameter.
• the quantity of uplink degradation is computed by using uplink transmit power control parameters Po and a defined in 3GPP specifications. Po is a target received power at the respective non-serving cell, and a is a compensation factor used in uplink transmit power control.
• the uplink transmit power control parameters may vary between different non-serving cells.
• the terminal device estimates the quantity of uplink degradation for a case where the uplink transmit power limitation parameter is applied to the non serving cell and for a case where the uplink transmit power limitation parameter is not applied to the non-serving cell.
• the quantity of uplink degradation may thus be a difference between the results of the two cases, e.g.
• PBO 120 is the uplink transmit power limitation parameter (an amount of uplink transmit power limitation caused by PBO) which is derived from the PBO event towards the non-serving cell of the access node 120 from the antenna panel measured as the most suitable for connecting to the non-serving cell.
• PBO 120 may be determined in block 300.
• Po 120 and 01 120 are the power control parameters for the non-serving cell of the access node 120
• L 120 is the path loss towards the non-serving cell of the access node 120 as calculated from the signal strength measurement performed from the respective antenna panel measured as the most suitable for connecting to the non-serving cell.
• OdB the case where there is no uplink transmit power limitation
• PBO 120 the case where the uplink transmit power limitation limits the uplink transmission.
• a similar quantity may be estimated for the other non-serving cells that are the candidates of the CHO, e.g. the non-serving cell of the access node 122:
• Quantity 122 min(P max , P0 22+01122* L122) - min(P max -PBOi22, Po 122 + am * L122).
• the computation of the quantities in the above-described manner represents estimating an effect of the at least one uplink transmit power limitation parameter on limiting uplink transmission power in the first non-serving cell and in the second non-serving cell, respectively.
• the quantity may be computed by using other configuration parameters, thus providing also different quantity or quantities of the uplink degradation.
• the actual estimation scheme of the quantities may vary but the terminal device may use the same scheme for the different non-serving cells to make the quantities comparable.
• the terminal device may monitor for a moment when a condition for triggering a handover to one of the non-serving cells has been satisfied, as described above in connection with Figure 3. Some embodiments of the condition are described below.
• the terminal device may connect to the non-serving cell (the target cell) for which the condition was fulfilled in step 416.
• Step 416 may comprise transmitting a connection request to the target cell via a random access channel (RACH) procedure.
• RACH random access channel
• the access node 122 of the target cell Upon receiving the connection request or upon completing the RRC connection setup, the access node 122 of the target cell becomes a manager of a serving cell, and it may transmit a handover notification message to the access node 104 to indicate that the handover has been completed (step 418). Then, the access node 104 may indicate to the other access node(s) 120 with which the handover was prepared that the handover is over, and the other access node(s) may terminate the handover preparation.
• the terminal device may recompute the affected quantity or quantities and perform the monitoring for the triggering of the handover by using the recomputed quantity or quantities. There may be specified a certain degree how much a parameter needs to change to trigger the recomputation, and the terminal device may monitor the changes in the parameter(s) in order to enable the recomputation.
• the procedure of Figure 4 may be repeated with the new parameters of the new serving cell and new set of one or more non-serving cells.
• the condition is determined on the basis of the quantity of uplink degradation. Since different non-serving cells may be associated with different quantities, the conditions of the different non-serving cells may also differ.
• the terminal device may determine the condition for triggering the handover for each non-serving cell and, then, perform the monitoring for the non-serving cells independently and concurrently.
• the non-serving cell for which the condition is met first may be selected by the terminal device as the target cell for the handover.
• the quantity of uplink degradation is computed separately for each of a plurality of antenna panels of the terminal device.
• different antenna panels may have different PBO limitations, and different antenna panels may be capable of communicating with the same non-serving cell. Therefore, the quantity may be estimated for each combination of an antenna panel and a non-serving cell. For example, if we assume that both antenna panels 202 and 204 would be capable of connecting to the access node 122, the terminal device may compute the quantity for the access node for both antenna modules, i.e. compute Quantity ⁇ 202 and Quantity ⁇ 204 where the antenna panels 202 and 204 may have different values of PBO122. Similarly, each antenna module may get a different condition for triggering the handover, and the terminal device may select the combination of a non-serving cell and an antenna panel whose triggering condition is first met in block 414.
• the terminal device logs and reports at least one of the estimated quantities of uplink degradation to an access node of the serving cell, e.g. before or after the handover.
• the access node may use the estimated quantities in network optimization or machine learning functions, and/or it may deliver the quantities to another network element performing such procedures.
• the network may run various optimization methods such as mobility robustness optimization, machine learning. For example, the network may evaluate why handovers, radio link failures or other events have happened, and aims to modify certain parameters such that probability of adverse events would reduce. For example, the network may use the reported quantities in determining the parameters provided to the terminal device for the estimation of the quantities.
• the network may analyse the reported quantities and change the parameters provided by the access node(s) 104, 120, 122 to the terminal device. For example, when the terminal device detects a radio link failure, e.g. before the CHO execution condition is fulfilled, the terminal device may log and add the most recently calculated quantities of uplink degradation to a radio link failure report transmitted to a serving access node (block 422). When the CHO execution condition triggers, the terminal device may log the most recently calculated quantities of uplink degradation to be reported later. The reporting may be made, for example, if the CHO execution (step 416) fails or if the CHO execution (step 416) is successful. If the radio link failure happens shortly after the handover, e.g. as a result of “too early handover” or “handover to a wrong non-serving cell”, the logged quantities of uplink degradation may be added to the radio link failure report.
• the radio link failure happens shortly after the handover, e.g. as a result of “too early handover” or “handover to
• the at least one parameter of the non-serving cell comprises scheduling information.
• the access node(s) of the non-serving cell(s) may estimate the scheduling information for the terminal device and transmit the scheduling information to the terminal device via the serving cell in step 410, for example.
• the scheduling information may indicate a quantity or amount of resource units per time unit the respective access node estimates to schedule to the terminal device.
• the terminal device may then estimate the quantities on the basis of the scheduling information.
• the PBO event that limits the uplink transmit power may be specified as an average over a certain time interval that may be longer than a duration of a single transmission by the terminal device. For example, the uplink transmit power limitation may be averaged over one or more seconds during which the terminal device may perform multiple uplink transmissions in multiple different scheduling occasions.
• the terminal device may perform even all the transmissions with maximum transmit power without violating the MPE limitations.
• the terminal device may need to apply the uplink transmit power limitation in order not to violate the MPE limitations. Therefore, the scheduling information may provide the terminal device with information for the estimation of the quantity of uplink degradation.
• Figure 5 illustrates such an embodiment.
• the terminal device may receive at least the scheduling parameter in block 500.
• block 500 is linked to step 412 of Figure 4 where the terminal device receives the CHO configuration parameter(s) from the serving access node. Additionally, the terminal device may receive the transmit power control (TPC) parameter(s) described above.
• the scheduling parameter may be received for each non-serving cell with which the CHO has been prepared (step 408).
• the terminal device may compute the quantity of uplink degradation by using the scheduling information (block 502). When the scheduling information indicates an amount of scheduling resources the non-serving cell plans or estimates to schedule to the terminal device over a time unit and further indicates the transmit power control parameters, the terminal device is able to estimate the uplink transmit power radiated over the time unit.
• the terminal device is able to determine whether or not the allowed radiated transmit power during the averaging interval of the PBO event is exceeded, i.e. whether or not the PBO event causes the reduction to the radiated uplink transmit power.
• the quantity of uplink degradation may be computed per non-serving cell and, optionally, per antenna panel of the terminal device. Thereafter, the terminal device may compute the quantity of uplink degradation for each computed quantity of uplink degradation in block 504, e.g. any one of the above-described quantities. Thereafter, the procedure may proceed in the above-described manner in block 306.
• the scheduling information comprises a percentage p of subframes in which the non-serving cell intends to schedule the terminal device to transmit, and/or a number of frequency resource blocks M in the scheduled subframes.
• the terminal device may then estimate the quantity of uplink degradation, for example, by using the following Equation which is a modification of the Equation above:
• Quantity no min(P max , Po_i 2 o+ai 2 o*Li 2 o+101ogio(M)) - min(P max -PBOi2o, 10*logio(p)+ min(P max , Po_12 0 +Ct l 2 0 *L l 2 0 +101og l o(M))) min(P max , Po_i2o+ai2o*Li2o+101ogio(M)) represents the uplink transmit power without the uplink transmit power limitation (PBO). If the terminal device is scheduled only to transmit in a small number of subframes, this parameter would scale down the average radiated power by 10*logio(p) (which is negative).
• P max -PBOi2o This downgraded power is not allowed to exceed P max -PBOi2o.
• P max -PBO is a limit to an average transmit power, e.g. averaged over four seconds, so actually P max - PBO is a limit to the energy radiated during that averaging interval, e.g. the four seconds.
• a similar quantity may be computed for the other non-serving cell(s) 122 with which the handover has been prepared.
• the terminal device may decode the parameter before making the handover decision, e.g. before selecting the target cell and before triggering the CHO.
• the uplink transmit power control parameters of the non-serving cells are delivered to the terminal device during the preparation for the CHO in the RRC reconfiguration message 412, e.g. as a part of cho-config defined in 3GPP specifications, but where the terminal device decodes and uses the transmit power control parameters only after making the CHO decision and after triggering the CHO.
• Such parameters are conventionally for use after the handover has been triggered.
• the parameters are part of the conditional handover command 412 but the UE is configured to decode the parameters immediately when receiving it via the conditional handover command 412 from the source cell 100.
• the parameters are signaled to the UE outside the conditional handover command 412 and decoded when receiving the conditional handover command 412 from the source cell 100. Said decoding the parameter(s) of the non-serving cell before triggering the handover may be implemented by various means.
• the parameter(s) may be provided as a part of the configuration information, the terminal device shall use upon triggering the handover to the non-serving cell and the terminal device may be configured to decode the configuration information before the handover, as described above.
• the parameter(s) of the non-serving cell may be provided by the non-serving cell via the current serving cell separately from the configuration information of the non-serving cell.
• the terminal device may decode the configuration information only upon triggering the handover but decode the separately received parameter(s) before the handover to estimate the above-described quantity or quantities of uplink degradation.
• the parameter(s) may be provided in an RRC reconfiguration message, for example.
• the terminal device receives, e.g. in step 412 from the serving cell, at least one parameter of the serving cell.
• the parameter may comprise a condition parameter the terminal device uses to trigger the handover to the selected non-serving cell in response to detecting that a handover execution condition affected by the condition parameter (also called a scaling parameter) is fulfilled.
• the terminal device triggers the handover to the selected non-serving cell after postponing handover to the non-serving cell, wherein the postponing is responsive to detecting the need for uplink transmit power limitation towards the non-serving cell.
• the condition parameter may control this postponement.
• Figure 6 illustrates a procedure according to these embodiments. Figure 6 may be understood as an embodiment of block 414.
• the terminal device may receive, e.g. in step 412, the at least one condition parameter the terminal device uses to trigger the handover to a non-serving cell.
• the condition parameter may be common to the non-serving cells, or the serving cell may provide a different condition parameter for different non-serving cells.
• the terminal device monitors a function comprising the quantity of uplink degradation for the at least one non-serving cell and further comprising the condition parameter for the at least one non-serving cell. When the function reaches a determined handover execution condition for one of the at least one non-serving cell, the terminal device triggers the handover to that non-serving cell.
• the terminal device may determine the parameters for the function and, in block 602, the terminal device computes the handover execution function(s) for the non-serving cell(s).
• the handover execution function assumes the following form:
• M n represents the measured downlink signal strength of the respective non-serving cell n
• M p represents the measured downlink signal strength of the serving cell
• O cn is a cell-specific offset that may be received in step 412
• parameter is the condition parameter for the respective non serving cell n
• Quantity n is the quantity of uplink degradation for the non-serving cell n
• Off is a parameter of the serving cell.
• the estimated quantity of uplink degradation may be understood to affect the condition in the following manner.
• the terminal device may trigger the handover (block 606) to the non-serving cell and, while the Equation is not satisfied for any one of the non-serving cell(s) as determined in block 604, the terminal device may postpone (block 608) the triggering. After postponing, the process may return to block 604 to continue the monitoring. In case new values to the variables in the handover execution function are detected, the terminal device may return to block 602 for recomputation of the handover execution function(s).
• parameters O cn and Off may be used by the serving cell for controlling timing the handover execution (early vs. late) for a given non-serving cell.
• the parameters may be provided by the access node(s) 104, 120, 122. It can be observed that the neighbour measurement M n is downgraded by the estimated quantity of uplink degradation scaled by the condition parameter.
• the condition parameter may be specific to a non-serving cell and, thus, different for different non-serving cells.
• the serving cell may determine and configure the condition parameter(s). As an example, assuming that the quantity of uplink degradation is lOdB, a value of the condition parameter 0.3 would result in an effective quantity of uplink degradation of 3dB.
• condition parameter may offset rather than scale the quantity of uplink degradation.
• condition parameter may be provided in an exponent of the quantity of uplink degradation.
• the uplink power limitation comprises the PBO caused by the MPE limit.
• the need for the PBO as a consequence of the MPE may be detected by using any proximity detection sensor for detecting the proximity of the user, e.g. user’s hand by the terminal device.
• the proximity detection may be based on an (passive) infrared proximity sensor, a short-range radar built in the antenna panel(s), etc.
• Figure 7 illustrates an apparatus comprising a processing circuitry, such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 40 including a computer program code (software) 44, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code (software) are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to carry out the process of Figure 3 A or any one of its embodiments described above for the terminal device.
• the apparatus may be for the terminal device.
• the apparatus may be a circuitry or an electronic device realizing some embodiments of the invention in the terminal device.
• the apparatus carrying out the above-described functionalities may thus be comprised in such a device, e.g.
• the apparatus may comprise a circuitry such as a chip, a chipset, a processor, a micro controller, or a combination of such circuitries for the terminal device.
• the processing circuitry may realize a communication controller 30 controlling communications with the cellular network infrastructure in the above-described manner.
• the communication controller may be configured to establish and manage RRC connections and transfer of data over the RRC connections.
• the communication controller may comprise a proximity detection module 39 configured to perform proximity measurements during operation of the terminal device and detect, on the basis of the measurements, proximity of an object that triggers the PBO event in the above-described manner. Depending on the embodiment, the triggering may be responsive to the detection of the proximity in a serving antenna panel and/or in a non-serving antenna panel.
• the proximity detection module may issue a PBO controller 38 controlling the PBO for the uplink transmit power in the terminal device.
• the PBO controller may control the uplink transmit power in the terminal device by considering the PBO limitations set by the detection of the user in proximity of one or more antenna panels.
• the PBO controller 38 may compute the above-described uplink transmit power limitation parameter(s) and output it/them to a handover controller 35.
• the handover controller 35 may perform the above-described procedures during the CHO, for example. As a consequence, the handover controller may use the received parameters of the non serving cells, compute the quantities of uplink degradation on the basis of the parameters and the uplink transmit power limitation parameter(s), to select the target cell, and to trigger the handover when the handover condition is met in the above-described manner. Depending on the embodiment, the handover controller may perform some or all of the procedures and in different manner in different embodiments.
• the communication controller may comprise an RRC controller 34 configured to establish, operate, and terminate RRC connections between the access node(s) and the terminal device.
• the RRC controller 34 may operate the multiple antenna panels of the terminal device and respective one or more RRC connections.
• the PBO controller may control the PBO limitations of the RRC controller, and output a PBO command to the RRC controller controlling selection and configuration of one or more serving antenna panels.
• the RRC controller may then reduce the transmit power of the serving antenna panel(s) linked to the PBO event so that the MPE limitations are followed.
• the handover controller 35 may control the RRC controller 34 to perform the handover(s) in the above-described manner.
• the communication controller 10 may further comprise a measurement circuitry 37 configured to perform various measurements in the terminal device.
• the measurement circuitry may be configured to perform the neighbour cell measurements described above, e.g. the measurement of the reception signal strength from the non-serving cells.
• acquired measurement data may include the RSRP, RSSI, and/or (an)other metric(s) measured by the terminal device from a downlink signal received from the non-serving cell(s).
• the measurement circuitry may provide the measurement data to the handover controller for use in the estimation of the quantities of uplink degradation and/or triggering the handover, as described above.
• the memory 40 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory.
• the memory 40 may comprise a configuration database 46 for storing configuration parameters, e.g. the various handover parameters received in connection with the handover preparation (e.g. in step 412).
• the memory 40 may further store a mapping database 48 defining the PBO metrics for various proximities or proximity ranges.
• the apparatus may further comprise a communication interface 42 comprising hardware and/or software for providing the apparatus with radio communication capability with one or more access nodes, as described above.
• the communication interface 42 may comprise hardware and software needed for realizing the radio communications over the radio interface, e.g. according to specifications of an LTE or 5G radio interface.
• the apparatus may further comprise an application processor 32 executing one or more computer program applications that generate a need to transmit and/or receive data through the communication controller 30.
• the application processor may form an application layer of the apparatus.
• the application processor may execute computer programs forming the primary function of the apparatus. For example, if the apparatus is a sensor device, the application processor may execute one or more signal processing applications processing measurement data acquired from one or more sensor heads. If the apparatus is a computer system of a vehicle, the application processor may execute a media application and/or an autonomous driving and navigation application.
• the application processor may generate data to be transmitted in the wireless network.
• Figure 8 illustrates an embodiment of a structure of the above-mentioned functionalities of an apparatus executing the functions of the access node in the embodiments described above, e.g. the process of Figure 3B or any one of embodiments thereof.
• the apparatus for the access node may be configured to perform the handover preparations for terminal devices, e.g. the terminal device 100 described above.
• the apparatus may be configured to operate as any one of the access nodes 104, 120, 122 described above.
• the apparatus may be configured to perform the functions of the serving access node or the non-serving access node (a candidate target for the handover).
• the apparatus may thus be configured to support the capabilities of operating the serving cell in connection with one handover and the non-serving cell in connection with another handover.
• the apparatus may be a circuitry or an electronic device realizing some embodiments of the invention in the access node.
• the apparatus carrying out the above-described functionalities may thus be comprised in such a device, e.g. the apparatus may comprise a circuitry such as a chip, a chipset, a processor, a micro controller, or a combination of such circuitries for the access node.
• the apparatus may comprise a communication controller 10 providing the apparatus with capability of performing the above-described functions of the access node.
• the apparatus may comprise a radio interface 25 providing the apparatus with radio communication capability, and the communication controller 10 may employ the radio interface 25.
• the radio interface 25 may enable wireless communications with terminal devices served by the access node.
• the radio interface 25 may comprise multiple antennas and associated analogue components needed for transmitting and receiving radio signals, e.g. an amplifier, filter, frequency- converter, and an analogue-to-digital converter.
• the communication controller 10 and/or the radio interface 25 may comprise a radio modem configured to carry out transmission and reception of messages in the cellular network.
• the radio interface is used for communicating with the other network nodes.
• the apparatus comprises a second communication interface 22 configured to provide the apparatus with capability of communicating towards the core network 110.
• the communication interface 22 may also be used to communicate with the other access nodes via wired connections.
• the communication interface 22 may be configured to communication over an Xn interface, FI interface, and/or an NG interface.
• the communication controller 10 may comprise at least one processor or a processing circuitry.
• the apparatus may further comprise a memory 20 storing one or more computer program products 24 configuring the operation of said processor(s) of the apparatus.
• the memory 20 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory.
• the memory 20 may further store a configuration database 26 storing operational configurations of the apparatus.
• the configuration database 26 may, for example, store the rules for determining the condition parameters for the neighbouring access nodes and/or for preparing the conditional handovers.
• the communication controller may comprise an RRC controller 12 configured to establish, operate, and terminate RRC connections between the access node and the terminal devices connected to the access node.
• the communication controller 10 may further comprise a handover controller 14 configured to manage handovers of terminal devices.
• the handover controller may comprise, as sub circuitries, a handover preparation circuitry 19 configured to carry out steps 406 to 410. Depending on whether the apparatus operates the serving cell or the non-serving cell, the handover preparation circuitry 19 may carry out the functions of the access node 104 or the access node 120 or 122.
• the handover controller 14 may further comprise a CHO controller 17 configured to manage the CHOs within the serving cell.
• the CHO controller may determine, for example the at least one parameter of the serving cell the terminal device uses for the triggering condition.
• the CHO controller may be disabled for handovers where the apparatus operates the non-serving cell and enabled for handovers where the apparatus operates the serving cell.
• circuitry refers to one or more of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry; (b) combinations of circuits and software and/or firmware, such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of processor(s) or processor cores; or (ii) portions of processor(s)/software including digital signal processor(s), software, and at least one memory that work together to cause an apparatus to perform specific functions; and (c) circuits, such as a microprocessor s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that require software or firmware for operation, even if the software or firmware is not physically present.
• circuitry applies to uses of this term in this application.
• circuitry would also cover an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a processor, e.g. one core of a multi-core processor, and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware.
• circuitry would also cover, for example and if applicable to the particular element, a baseband integrated circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and/or a field-programmable grid array (FPGA) circuit for the apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.
• ASIC application-specific integrated circuit
• FPGA field-programmable grid array
• the processes or methods described in connection with Figures 3A to 6 or any of the embodiments thereof may also be carried out in the form of one or more computer processes defined by one or more computer programs.
• the computer program(s) may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and it may be stored in some sort of carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program.
• Such carriers include transitory and/or non-transitory computer media, e.g. a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution package.
• the computer program may be executed in a single electronic digital processing unit or it may be distributed amongst a number of processing units.
• Embodiments described herein are applicable to wireless networks defined above but also to other wireless networks.
• the protocols used, the specifications of the wireless networks and their network elements develop rapidly. Such development may require extra changes to the described embodiments. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the embodiment ft will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. Embodiments are not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims.

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