EP4652772A1

EP4652772A1 - Intra-frequency measurements on a deactivated secondary component carrier

Info

Publication number: EP4652772A1
Application number: EP24869441.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Qiming Li; Jie Cui; Naveen Kumar R PALLE VENKATA; Hong He; Yang Tang; Dawei Zhang
Original assignee: Apple Inc
Current assignee: Apple Inc
Priority date: 2024-04-03
Filing date: 2024-04-03
Publication date: 2025-11-26
Also published as: EP4652772A4; WO2025208438A1

Abstract

The present application relates to devices and components including apparatus, systems, and methods to intra-frequency measurements on a deactivated secondary component carrier (SCC). In an example, a network can configure a UE to perform an LTM procedure. The corresponding configuration information can be stored by the UE and can indicate that the UE is to use a relaxed measurement interval for performing an intra-frequency measurement on a target cell as part of the LTM procedure and/or to perform the intra-frequency measurement during a configured measurement gap. The intra-frequency measurement can be performed on a reference signal (e.g., SSB) sent on a component carrier of the target cell, where this component carrier has the same configuration as an SCC of a deactivated SCell.

Description

INTRA-FREQUENCY MEASUREMENTS ON A DEACTIVATED SECONDARY COMPONENT CARRIER

BACKGROUND

Cellular communications can be defined in various standards to enable communications between a user equipment and a cellular network. For example, Fifth Generation mobile network (5G) is a wireless standard that aims to improve upon data transmission speed, reliability, availability, power consumption, and more. In such a network, measurements on component carriers can be performed to improve the communication between a network and a user equipment (UE) .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a network environment, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a sequence diagram for an L1/L2 triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an intra-frequency measurement given a deactivated secondary cell (SCell) , in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 4 illustrates another example of an intra-frequency measurement given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an interruption on an active serving cell given an intra-frequency measurement, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of different types of measurements given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an intra-frequency measurement that may be performed during a measurement gap dependently on whether an SCell is deactivated or not, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure for an intra-frequency measurement given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 9 illustrates another example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure for an intra-frequency measurement given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 10 illustrates an example of receive components, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a UE, in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a base station, in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to, among other things, intra-frequency measurements on a deactivated secondary component carrier (SCC) . In an example, a user equipment and a network implement a layer 1 (L1) /layer 2 (L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure (also referred to as a lower layer inter-cell mobility procedure) . Generally, the LTM procedure can enable a serving cell change via L1/L2 signaling, without changing the configuration of the upper layers and/or minimizing configuration changes the lower layers. As part of the LTM procedure, the network can configure the UE to perform intra-frequency measurements (e.g., intra-frequency L1 reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements) on a component carrier of a target cell when a secondary cell (SCell) is deactivated for the UE, where the component carrier is the same as the SCC of the SCell (e.g., this component carrier is a deactivated SCC) . Depending on the UE capability, the configuration can enable the UE to perform any or a combination of a relaxed intra-frequency measurement (e.g., by having longer time intervals and/or measurement time periods relative to when the SCell is active) and/or an intra-frequency measurement during a measurement gap. The UE can report the intra-frequency measurement to the network such that the LTM procedure can be completed (e.g., to complete a handover to the target cell) .
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide several technical improvements. For example, the embodiments enable the support of intra-frequency measurements in support of an LTM procedure, while an SCell is deactivated. By doing so, the cell coverage can be improved (e.g., by performing a handover as needed) , while the configuration changes are minimized (e.g., a benefit of the LTM procedure) and the power consumption is reduced (e.g., because the intra-frequency measurements can be relaxed and/or performed during measurement gaps) .
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in connection with 5G networks. However, the embodiments are not limited as such and similarly apply to other types of communication networks including other types of cellular networks.
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase “A or B” means (A) , (B) , or (A and B) .
The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.
The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components, such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) , an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) , a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) , a programmable logic device (PLD) , a complex PLD (CPLD) , a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD) , a structured ASIC, or a programmable system-on-a-chip (SoC) ) , digital signal processors (DSPs) , etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.
The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, or transferring digital data. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to an application processor, baseband processor, a central processing unit (CPU) , a graphics processing unit, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, or functional processes.
The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, or the like.
The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.
The term “base station” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities, that is a network component of a communications network (or, more briefly, a network) , and that may be configured as an access node in the communications network. A UE’s access to the communications network may be managed at least in part by the base station, whereby the UE connects with the base station to access the communications network. Depending on the radio access technology (RAT) , the base station can be referred to as a gNodeB (gNB) , eNodeB (eNB) , access point, etc.
The term “network” as used herein reference to a communications network that includes a set of network nodes configured to provide communications functions to a plurality of user equipment via one or more base stations. For instance, the network can be a public land mobile network (PLMN) that implements one or more communication technologies including, for instance, 5G communications.
The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing or networking resources.
The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, or network resources provided by physical hardware element (s) . A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.
The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with or equivalent to “communications channel, ” “data communications channel, ” “transmission channel, ” “data transmission channel, ” “access channel, ” “data access channel, ” “link, ” “data link, ” “carrier, ” “radio-frequency carrier, ” or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.
The terms “instantiate, ” “instantiation, ” and the like as used herein refer to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.
The term “connected” may mean that two or more elements, at a common communication protocol layer, have an established signaling relationship with one another over a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.
The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, virtualized network function, or the like.
The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.
The term “3GPP Access” refers to accesses (e.g., radio access technologies) that are specified by 3GPP standards. These accesses include, but are not limited to, GSM/GPRS, LTE, LTE-A, and/or 5G NR. In general, 3GPP access refers to various types of cellular access technologies.
The term “Non-3GPP Access” refers any accesses (e.g., radio access technologies) that are not specified by 3GPP standards. These accesses include, but are not limited to, WiMAX, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, WLAN, and/or fixed networks. Non-3GPP accesses may be split into two categories, "trusted" and "untrusted" : Trusted non-3GPP accesses can interact directly with an evolved packet core (EPC) and/or a 5G core (5GC) , whereas untrusted non-3GPP accesses interwork with the EPC/5GC via a network entity, such as an Evolved Packet Data Gateway and/or a 5G NR gateway. In general, non-3GPP access refers to various types on non-cellular access technologies.
FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment 100, in accordance with some embodiments. The network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and a gNB 108. The gNB 108 may be a base station that provides a wireless access cell, for example, a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) cell, through which the UE 104 may communicate with the gNB 108. The UE 104 and the gNB 108 may communicate over an air interface compatible with 3GPP technical specifications such as those that define Fifth Generation (5G) NR system standards.
The gNB 108 may transmit information (for example, data and control signaling) in the downlink direction by mapping logical channels on the transport channels, and transport channels onto physical channels. The logical channels may transfer data between a radio link control (RLC) and MAC layers; the transport channels may transfer data between the MAC and PHY layers; and the physical channels may transfer information across the air interface. The physical channels may include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) .
The PBCH may be used to broadcast system information that the UE 104 may use for initial access to a serving cell. The PBCH may be transmitted along with physical synchronization signals (PSS) and secondary synchronization signals (SSS) in a synchronization signal (SS) /PBCH block. The SS/PBCH blocks (SSBs) may be used by the UE 104 during a cell search procedure (including cell selection and reselection) and for beam selection.
The PDSCH may be used to transfer end-user application data, signaling radio bearer (SRB) messages, system information messages (other than, for example, MIB) , and paging messages.
The PDCCH may transfer DCI that is used by a scheduler of the gNB 108 to allocate both uplink and downlink resources. The DCI may also be used to provide uplink power control commands, configure a slot format, or indicate that preemption has occurred.
The gNB 108 may also transmit various reference signals to the UE 104. The reference signals may include demodulation reference signals (DMRSs) for the PBCH, PDCCH, and PDSCH. The UE 104 may compare a received version of the DMRS with a known DMRS sequence that was transmitted to estimate an impact of the propagation channel. The UE 104 may then apply an inverse of the propagation channel during a demodulation process of a corresponding physical channel transmission.
The reference signals may also include channel status information reference signals (CSI-RS) . The CSI-RS may be a multi-purpose downlink transmission that may be used for CSI reporting, beam management, connected mode mobility, radio link failure detection, beam failure detection and recovery, and fine tuning of time and frequency synchronization.
The reference signals and information from the physical channels may be mapped to resources of a resource grid. There is one resource grid for a given antenna port, subcarrier spacing configuration, and transmission direction (for example, downlink or uplink) . The basic unit of an NR downlink resource grid may be a resource element, which may be defined by one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in the time domain. Twelve consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain may compose a physical resource block (PRB) . A resource element group (REG) may include one PRB in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain, for example, twelve resource elements. A control channel element (CCE) may represent a group of resources used to transmit PDCCH. One CCE may be mapped to a number of REGs, for example, six REGs.
The UE 104 may transmit data and control information to the gNB 108 using physical uplink channels. Different types of physical uplink channels are possible including, for instance, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . Whereas the PUCCH carries control information from the UE 104 to the gNB 108, such as uplink control information (UCI) , the PUSCH carries data traffic (e.g., end-user application data) and can carry UCI.
The UE 104 and the gNB 108 may perform beam management operations to identify and maintain desired beams for transmission in the uplink and downlink directions. The beam management may be applied to both PDSCH and PDCCH in the downlink direction, and PUSCH and PUCCH in the uplink direction.
In an example, communications with the gNB 108 and/or the base station can use channels in the frequency range 1 (FR1) band and/or frequency range 2 (FR2) band. The FR1 band includes a licensed band and an unlicensed band. The NR unlicensed band (NR-U) includes a frequency spectrum that is shared with other types of radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., LTE-LAA, WiFi, etc. ) . A listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure can be used to avoid or minimize collision between the different RATs in the NR-U, whereby a device should apply a clear channel assessment (CCA) check before using the channel.
As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the network environment 100 may further include a base station 110 with which the UE 104 may also connect. The base station 110 supports the same RAT as the gNB 108 (e.g., the base station 110 is also a gNB) . Additionally, or alternatively, the base station 110 supports a different RAT (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE) eNB) . In an example, both the gNB 108 and the base station 110 can be transmission and reception points (TRPs) of a same network (e.g., of a same base station) .
In an example, the UE 104 supports carrier aggregation (CA) , whereby the UE 104 can connect and exchange data simultaneously over multiple component carriers (CCs) with the gNB 108 and/or the base station 110. The CCs can belong to the same frequency band, in which case they are referred to as intra-band CCs. Intra-band CCs can be contiguous or non-contiguous. The CCs can also belong to different frequency bands, in which case they are referred to as inter-band CCs. A serving cell can be configured for the UE 104 to use a CC. A serving cell can be a primary (PCell) , a primary secondary cell (PSCell) , or a secondary cell (SCell) . Multiple SCells can be activated via an SCell activation procedures where the component carriers of these serving cells can be intra-band contiguous, intra-band noon-contiguous, or inter-band. The serving cells can be collocated or non-collocated.
In the illustration of FIG. 1, the gNB 108 provides an SCell 120 to the UE 104, whereas the base station 110 provides a target cell 130 (e.g., a neighbor cell) for a handover. The handover can be performed by using an LTM procedure. The handover can be from the SCell 120 (an example of a serving cell) to the target cell 130 (an example of a neighbor cell) . Further, the handover can be triggered with L1 signaling or L2 signaling, rather than RRC reconfiguration signaling. L1 measurement on a neighbor cell is supported for LTM purposes. L1 measurements on both intra-frequency and inter-frequency carriers are supported.
The handover can be performed to move communications of the UE 104 from the SCell 120 to the target cell 130, while the UE 104 moves through the network coverage area. The handover can be an inter-frequency handover (e.g., the two cells 120 and 130 use the same frequency band) or an intra-frequency handover (e.g., the two cells 120 and 130 use different frequency bands) .
In the illustration of FIG. 1, the SCell 120 is deactivated. Its deactivated state can span the entire duration or a durational portion of the LTM procedure. In particular, when a measurement is performed on a component carrier and/or when a reference signal is sent on a component carrier such that the measurement can be performed, the SCell 120 is in the deactivated state. The SCell 120 being deactivated can correspond to an RF chain of the UE 104 being also deactivated (e.g., switched OFF, in a standby mode, etc. ) such that no transmission or communication occurs on an SCC 109 of the SCell 120 that would have been otherwise used. FIG. 1 illustrates the SCC 109 with a dashed line to denote that the SCC 109 is not used for the transmission or communication between the gNB 108 and the UE 104 while the SCell 120 is deactivated.
While the SCell 120 is deactivated, in the target cell 130, the base station 110 can send a reference signal 132 (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, etc. ) on a component carrier that corresponds to the SCC 109 (e.g., being within the same frequency band and/or, possibly, having the same center frequency, bandwidth, and/or subcarrier spacing) . This component carrier can also be the same as the SCC 109 from the perspective of the UE 104 (and, thus, from the perspective of the UE 104, can be considered as a deactivated SCC) . The UE 104 can measure the reference signal 132 received on this SCC. The measurements can correspond to intra-frequency measurements (e.g., intra-frequency L1 RSRP measurements) . In an example, an intra-frequency L1 RSRP measurement can be defined as an SSB based intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement provided the centre frequency of the SSB of the serving cell indicated for L1-RSRP measurement (e.g., the SCell 120) and the centre frequency of the SSB of the neighbour cell (e.g., the target cell 130) are the same, and the subcarrier spacing of the two SSBs are also the same. In comparison, an inter-frequency L1 RSRP measurement can be defined as an inter-frequency L1-RSRP measurement provided it is not defined as an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement.
In an example, the UE 104 stores configuration information 106 associated with the LTM procedure. This configuration information 106 can be received from the network (or, more specifically, the gNB 108) and can configure the UE 104 to, among other things, perform intra-frequency measurements when the SCell 120 is deactivated. The intra-frequency measurements can include SSB based intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurements of SSBs (an example of the reference signal 132) sent by the base station 110 on the component carrier corresponding to the deactivated SCC 109. Once the intra-frequency measurements are performed, the UE 104 can report them to the network (e.g., the gNB 108 using a different serving cell, such as the PCell or another activated SCell) such that the LTM procedure can be completed and, possibly, a handover from the SCell 120 to the target cell 130 is performed.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a sequence diagram 200 for an LTM procedure, in accordance with some embodiments. The LTM procedure 210 can involve an UE 210 (e.g., an example of the UE 104) and one or more components of a network 220. An example component is a base station (e.g., gNB 108) that provides a set of serving cells. The LTM procedure can be performed while an SCell (an example of a serving cell) is deactivated. In this case, another active SCell is used for the communications between the UE 210 and the network 220.
In an example, in a first step of the sequence diagram 200, the UE 210 sends a measurement report to the network 220. The measurement report can include measurements of reference signals (e.g., L1 RSRP measurements of SSB and/or CSI-RS) received on intra-component carriers and/or inter-component carriers. Based on this report, the network 220 can decide to use LTM and initiates LTM candidate preparation. An LTM candidate cell can be a target cell for a handover (e.g., a neighbor cell) , where the handover can be from the deactivated SCell to the target cell such that the target cell becomes a new serving cell upon the handover completion.
In a second step of the sequence diagram 200, the network 220 can transmit an RRC reconfiguration (e.g., in an RRCReconfiguration message) to the UE 210. This configuration can indicate the configuration (s) of one or more LTM candidate cells (e.g., the target cell 130) . In a third step of the sequence diagram 200, the UE 210 stores the configuration information of LTM candidate cell (s) and indicates a completion of the configuration to the network 220 (e.g., by sending transmits an RRCReconfigurationComplete message) .
In a fourth step of the sequence diagram 200, the UE 210 and the network 220 may perform DL and/or UL synchronization and timing advance (TA) acquisition with the LTM candidate cell (s) before receiving an LTM cell switch command. In a fifth step of the sequence diagram 200, the UE 210 performs measurements on the configured LTM candidate cell (s) . These measurements can include intra-frequency measurements. The UE 210 then transmits an LTM measurement report to the network 220. The LTM measurement report can include the intra-frequency measurements.
In a sixth step of the sequence diagram 200, the network 220 determines, based on the LTM measurement report, whether to trigger an LTM cell switch to one of the measured LTM candidate cells. If so, the network 220 can transmit a MAC CE to the UE 210 triggering the LTM cell switch. The UE 210 switches to the configuration of the LTM candidate cell.
In a seventh step of the sequence diagram 200, the UE 210 can perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure directed to the LTM candidate cell. The RACH procedure can be performed if the TA is unavailable. In an eigth step of the sequence diagram 200, the UE 210 can successful completion of the LTM cell switch towards the LTM candidate cell.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example 300 of an intra-frequency measurement 330 given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments. A UE (e.g., the UE 210) can be configured to perform an LTM procedure, including to perform the intra-frequency measurement 330. An SCell 310 can be in a deactivated state during the execution of the LTM procedure or at least during the intra-frequency measurement 330. The intra-frequency measurement 330 can be performed on one or more reference signals sent on a same component carrier of a target cell (e.g., an LTM candidate cell) as the SCC of the SCell 310. FIG. 3 illustrates that this measurement 330 is intra-frequency by using a horizontal line labeled “frequency” whereby both the SCell 310 and the target cell 310 use the same characteristics for the component carriers (e.g., center frequency, subcarrier spacing, etc. ) .
In an example, the configuration information can indicate that the intra-frequency measurement 330 can be a “relaxed” measurement. Relaxed is used herein to indicate that, relative to when the SCell 310 is active, the intra-frequency measurement can be associated with a longer measurement interval (also referred to as a measurement cycle) , measurement period (e.g., the duration to complete the measurement) , and/or other measurement characteristics that demand less UE resources to be completed (and, thus, save power relative to the measurements performable when the SCell 310 is active) .
For example, the configuration information can correspond to a new network configuration from a base station to the UE on the measurement interval (e.g., the L1 measurement interval) . The measurement interval corresponds to the time interval between two measurements (e.g., two intra-frequency L1 measurements) . For example, a parameter referred to as “L1MeasCycleSCC” can be defined to configure the value of the measurement interval from possible values. These values can be enumerated as defined using a number of subframes (e.g., “ENUMERATED {sf160, sf256, sf320, sf512, sf640, sf1024, sf1280} ” ) .
The L1MeasCycleSCC parameter can be used only when a measurement on a target cell (e.g., an LTM candidate cell L1 measurement) is configured on the frequency of any SCell and the SCell is in a deactivated state. The value sf160 corresponds to one-hundred sixty sub-frames (e.g., one sample every one-hundred and sixty sub-frames) , the value sf256 corresponds to two-hundred fifty-six sub-frames, and so on.
The L1MeasCycleSCC parameter can be configured per UE. For example, this parameter is added to an information element (IE) included in an LTM configuration (e.g., “LTM-Config” ) . Once this IE is configured, it applies to all measurements on all SCCs (e.g., all LTM candidate cells L1 measurements on all SCCs) . In other words, the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter can configure the UE to perform a plurality of measurements corresponding to different target cells (e.g., a first intra-frequency measurement on a first SCC of a first LTM candidate cell, a second intra-measurement on a second SCC of a second LTM candidate cell, etc. where these SCCs can, but need not, correspond to the SCC of the deactivated cell) .
An example of this configuration is as follows:
FIG. 4 illustrates another example 400 of an intra-frequency measurement 430 given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments. Here, an intra-frequency measurement is configured per resource identifier (ID) (whereas in FIG. 3, an intra-frequency measurement is configured per UE) . A resource can be a target cell (e.g., an LTM candidate cell) . A resource ID can correspond to multiple resources (e.g., to multiple LTM candidate cells associated with that resource ID) .
As illustrated in FIG. 4, an SCell 410 can be in a deactivated state during the execution of an LTM procedure or at least during the intra-frequency measurement 430. Multiple target cells 420A, 420B, through 420K can be configured as candidate LTM cells and can be associated with the same resource ID. The maximum number of target cells configured on the same component carrier can be predefined (e.g., eight) . The target cell (s) -to-resource ID associations can be configured (e.g., the configuration can indicate that the target cells 420A, 420B, and 420K but no other target cells are associated with the same resource ID) .
In an example, the configuration information can correspond to a new network configuration from a base station to the UE on the measurement interval (e.g., the L1 measurement interval) . Like in FIG. 3, the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter can be used. Unlike FIG. 3, the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter can configured per resource ID. Once this IE is configured, it applies to all LTM candidate cells L1 measurement on the same carrier. Note that the network can, but need not, configure the same L1MeasCycleSCC parameter for different resource IDs on the same carrier (e.g., two sets of target cells corresponding to two resource IDs can be configured with sf256, or one of them can be configured with sf256 while the other is configured with sf1024) .
An example of this configuration is as follows:
Referring back to FIGS. 3 and 4, the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter can relax the measurement interval. Given the relaxed measurement interval, a particular UE behavior can be expected. The UE behavior can involve a measurement period (e.g., a duration) during which the intra-frequency measurement (e.g., an L1 intra-frequency measurement) is expected to be completed. The measurement period can be based on the measurement interval (e.g., the value of the measurement period can be a function of the configured value of the measurement interval) . Of course, different functions can be used based on a number of factors. These factors can include whether the deactivated SCC belongs to FR1 or FR2, the use or non-use of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, the duration of the DRX cycle if used and/or the UE capability. Below are example tables that include possible functions.
Table 1.
Table 2.
Table 3.
Table 4.
Table 1 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR1 for UE incapable of capability of measurement with a real time difference (RTD) greater than a cyclic prefix (CP) (RTD＞CP) . Table 2 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR1 for UE capable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . Table 3 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{Intra_L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB} in FR2 for UE incapable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . Table 4 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactived SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR2 for UE capable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . The above tables and functions can be applicable when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on SCC is not configured.
In cases when the L3 RRM measurement object on SCC is configured, the measurement period can be based on multiple parameters. The parameters can include the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter. In addition, the parameters can include a value of a second measurement interval (e.g., the value used for the measurement on the SCell when the SCell is in the activated state, such as the value of the “measCycleSCell” parameter) . Below are example tables that include possible functions when the L3 RRM measurement object on SCC is configured. In these tables, the function (func) can be the maximum of the measCycleSCell and L1MeasCycleSCC parameters (e.g., max (measCycleSCell, L1MeasCycleSCC) ) or the minimum of the measCycleSCell and L1MeasCycleSCC parameters (e.g., min (measCycleSCell, L1MeasCycleSCC) ) .
Table 5.
Table 6.
Table 7.
Table 8.
Table 5 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR1 for UE incapable of capability of measurement with a real time difference (RTD) greater than a cyclic prefix (CP) (RTD＞CP) . Table 6 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR1 for UE capable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . Table 7 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{Intra_L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB} in FR2 for UE incapable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . Table 8 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactived SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR2 for UE capable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . The above tables and functions can be applicable when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on SCC is not configured.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example 500 of an interruption 512 on an active serving cell given an intra-frequency measurement 540, in accordance with some embodiments. A UE can include multiple radio frequency (RF) chains such as a first RF chain 510 and a second RF chain 520. The first RF chain 510 can be used for communications with a first serving cell (illustrated as a PCell 512 in FIG. 5, although this cell can be a PSCell or an SCell) , whereby the first RF chain 510 is tuned for the frequency of at least a component carrier of the first serving cell. Similarly, the second RF chain 520 can be used for communications with a second serving cell (illustrated as an SCell 522 in FIG. 5) , whereby the second RF chain 520 is tuned for the frequency of at least a component carrier of the second serving cell (its SCC) . In an example, the state of the SCell 522 can change over time (e.g., between an activated state and a deactivated state) . When the SCell 522 is deactivated, the second RF chain 520 can be switched OFF (or transitioned into a standby mode) . In comparison, when the SCell 522 is activated, the second RF chain 520 can be switched ON (or transitioned into a full power mode) .
A target cell 530 (e.g., a configured LTM candidate cell) can have the same component carrier configuration as the SCell 522. The intra-frequency measurement 540 can be performed using a reference signal (e.g., SSB) sent on the configured component carrier of the target cell 530. For this measurement 540 to be performed, the second RF chain 520 needs to be switched from the OFF state to the ON state (or, transitioned from the standby mode to the full power mode) . This switching/transitioning can cause the interruption 550 of the communications with the PCell 512, where the communications use the first RF chain 510. The interruption 550 can be due to some tuning that is performed in the second RF chain 520 and to some components that are common to both RF chains and that may be impacted by the tuning.
When an L3 RRM measurement object on SCC is not configured, the UE can follow the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter as described herein above. In this case, the interruptions 550 on the PCell 512 (or other activated SCell (s) or activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) ) due to L1 measurements on an LTM candidate cell (e.g., the target cell 530) on the same carrier as a dedicated SCell (e.g., the SCell 522) can be allowed with up to a probability of missed ACK/NACK (e.g., 0.5%) when the configured L1MeasCycleSCC is equal to or larger than a threshold value (e.g., 640 ms or longer) . The probability and/or the threshold value can be predefined in a technical specification with which the UE is compliant, configured by the network, and/or specific to a UE implementation.
When an L3 RRM measurement object on SCC is configured, the UE can follow the function of the measCycleSCell and L1MeasCycleSCC parameters for both the L1 and L3 measurements. In this case, the interruptions 550 on the PCell 512 (or other activated SCell (s) or activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) ) due to L1 measurements on an LTM candidate cell (e.g., the target cell 530) on the same carrier as a dedicated SCell (e.g., the SCell 522) can be allowed with up to a probability of missed ACK/NACK (e.g., 0.5%) when the configured func (measCycleSCell, L1MeasCycleSCC) is equal to or larger than a threshold value (e.g., 640 ms or longer) . The probability and/or the threshold value can be the same as or different from when the L3 RRM measurement object is not configured and can predefined in a technical specification with which the UE is compliant, configured by the network, and/or specific to a UE implementation.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example 600 of different types of measurements given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments. In the example 600, the measurements include L1 measurements and L3 measurements, such as intra-frequency L1 measurements and intra-frequency L3 measurements on a reference signal sent by a target cell on a component carrier having the same configuration as an SCC of a deactivated SCell. Also in the example 600, assume that an L3 RRM measurement object on the SCC is not configured. In this example, the UE can follow the measCycleSCell parameter for the L3 measurements, and the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter for the L1 measurements. Tables 1-4 can apply to the L1 measurements (and possibly to the L3 measurements) .
In the illustration of FIG. 6, assume that the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter indicates a first value for a first measurement interval (e.g., 160 ms) applicable to the L1 measurement, whereas the measCycleSCell parameter indicates a second, larger value for a second measurement interval (e.g., 320 ms) applicable to the L3 measurements. In this case, a reference signal is measured at different times (illustrated as measurements of a first SSB 610, a second SSB 610B, a third SSB 610C, and a fourth SSB 610D) . At a first time, L1 and L3 measurements 620A are generated based on the SSB 610A. At a second time, only L1 measurements 630A are generated based on SSB 610B given the first value of the first measurement interval and the second value of the second measurement interval. In comparison, at a third time, L1 and L3 measurements 620B are generated based on SSB 610C given the first value of the first measurement interval and the second value of the second measurement interval. At a fourth time, only L1 measurements 630B are generated based on SSB 610C given the first value of the first measurement interval and the second value of the second measurement interval. This pattern of generating L1 and L3 measurements every other time L1 measurements are generated correspond to the fact that the first value is half of the second value. Of course, a different pattern is possible depending on the two values.
In FIG. 6, when an L3 RRM measurement object on the SCC is not configured, an interruption mechanism similar to that described in FIG. 5 can be used. Different options exist. In the first option, the measCycleSCell parameter and the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter are jointly considered. In a second option, either one of these two parameters is considered. In both options, the probabilities and/or the threshold values can be the same or different and can predefined in a technical specification with which the UE is compliant, configured by the network, and/or specific to a UE implementation.
In an example of the first option, interruptions on a PCell (or other activated SCell (s) or activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) ) due to L1 measurements on an LTM candidate cell on the same carrier as a dedicated SCell can be allowed with up to a probability of missed ACK/NACK (e.g., 1%) when both the configured measCycleSCell and L1MeasCycleSCC are equal to or larger than a threshold value (e.g., 640 ms or longer) . In an example of the second option, interruptions on a PCell (or other activated SCell (s) or activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) ) due to L1 measurements on an LTM candidate cell on the same carrier as a dedicated SCell can be allowed with up to a probability of missed ACK/NACK (e.g., 0.5%) when only one of the configured measCycleSCell and L1MeasCycleSCC is equal to or larger than a threshold value (e.g., 640 ms or longer) .
FIG. 7 illustrates an example 700 of an intra-frequency measurement 730 that may be performed during a measurement gap dependently on whether an SCell is deactivated or not, in accordance with some embodiments. An SCell can be configured for the UE. The SCell can be in an activated state (illustrated in FIG. 7 as having an active SCC 701) or in a deactivated state (illustrated in FIG. 7 as having a deactivated SCC 702) . A measurement gap (MG) can also be configured for the UE in association with the SCell. For example, the UE can receive measurement gap configuration information from the network, where this configuration includes different characteristics of the measurement gap to be used when measuring a reference signal (illustrated as SSB in FIG. 7) . The characteristics can include a measurement gap pattern, a gap offset, a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) , and other characteristics.
In the activated state, the SCell can have an active bandwidth part (BWP) 705. A reference signal can be received on target cell (e.g., an LTM candidate cell) that uses a component carrier having the same configuration as the SCC 701. In this case, the reference signal is measured in measuring occasions that do not collide (e.g., fully or partially overlap) with the measurement gaps. In the illustration of FIG. 7, four SSBs are received over time while the SCell is activated: SSB 710A, SSB 710B, SSB 710C, and SSB 710D. Two instances of the configured measurement gap occur during that same time period: MG 720A and MG 720B. MG 720A collides with SSB 710B, whereas MG 720B collides with SSB 710D. Accordingly, the UE performs intra-frequency measurements 730 (e.g., intra-frequency L1 measurements) using SSB 710A and SSB 710C (e.g., the SSBs received outside of the measurement gap) .
Assume the same set-up applies when the SCell is in the deactivated state. In this case, no active BWP 706 exists for the deactivated SCell. Here, however, the UE is configured to perform intra-frequency measurements 760 (e.g., intra-frequency L1 measurements) during the measurement gaps. In the illustration of FIG. 7, four SSBs are received over time while the SCell is deactivated: SSB 740A, SSB 740B, SSB 740C, and SSB 740D. Two instances of the configured measurement gap occur during that same time period: MG 750A and MG 750B. MG 750A collides with SSB 740B, whereas MG 750B collides with SSB 750D. Accordingly, the UE performs the intra-frequency measurements 760 (e.g., intra-frequency L1 measurements) using SSB 740B and SSB 740 (e.g., the SSBs received within the measurement gap) .
The above UE behavior can be defined in a technical specification with which the UE complies. For example, the technical specification can require the UE to perform LTM candidate L1 measurement within a measurement gap. Each L1 measurement on a deactivated SCC can be counted in a carrier-specific scaling factor (e.g., CSSF_inter) .
Because an intra-frequency measurement on an LTM candidate cell on a same carrier as a dedicated SCell is performed within a measurement gap, interruptions due to such measurements can be disallowed. In other words, referring back to FIG. 5, the interruption mechanism described thereat may not be used when the UE is configured to perform the intra-frequency measurement during the measurement gap.
The measurement periods can be similarly defined as the ones in Tables 1-4, except that the MGRP is used instead of L1MeasCycleSCC. In other words, the measurement periods can be based on the MGRP. Below are example tables that include possible functions.
Table 9.
Table 10.
Table 11.
Table 12.
Table 9 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR1 for UE incapable of capability of measurement with a real time difference (RTD) greater than a cyclic prefix (CP) (RTD＞CP) .Table 10 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR1 for UE capable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . Table 11 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactivated SCC T_{Intra_L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB} in FR2 for UE incapable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) . Table 12 above corresponds to an intra-frequency L1-RSRP measurement period on a deactived SCC T_{L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_SSB_intra} in FR2 for UE capable of capability of measurement with (RTD＞CP) .
Referring back to the different example techniques described in FIGS. 3-7, the example techniques can be used in combination. For example, when an L3 RRM measurement object on SCC is not configured, and when the UE is configured for both a relaxed intra-frequency measurement and with a measurement gap configuration, the UE can perform the relaxed intra-frequency measurement during a configured measurement gap.
Whether to use a relaxed intra-frequency measurement and/or to measure during a measurement gap can depend on a UE capability of the UE. For example, the UE can send UE capability information to the network (e.g., the network 220) to indicate its support of using a relaxed intra-frequency measurement and/or of measuring during a measurement gap. For example, a UE capability “X1” can be defined to indicate support of the configuration of the L1MeasCycleSCC parameter and corresponding measurement behaviors. Similarly, a UE capability “X2” can be defined to indicate support of gap-based LTM candidate cell L1 measurement on a deactivated SCC. The UE can signal its X1 and/or X2 capabilities to the network in the UE capability information.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure 800 for an intra-frequency measurement given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments. The operational flow/algorithmic structure 800 can be implemented by a UE (e.g., performed by components thereof including, for example, processors of the UE) . The UE can be any of the UE described herein. In some embodiments, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 800 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, such as a memory of the UE. While the operational flow/algorithmic structure 800 is described using steps in a specific sequence, it should be understood that the present disclosure contemplates that the described steps may be performed in different sequences than the sequence illustrated, and certain described steps may be omitted or not performed altogether.
In an example, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 800 includes, at 802, determining, based on configuration information received from a network, a configuration associated with performing an intra-frequency measurement on a component carrier of a target cell in support of a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure. The component carrier of the target cell corresponds to a secondary component carrier (SCC) of a secondary serving cell (SCell) (e.g., can have the same configuration as the SCC and/or can have the same center frequency and subcarrier spacing) . The SCell is deactivated. The configuration indicates at least one of: a measurement interval or a measurement gap. The configuration can depend on indicated UE capability. The configuration information can be received via RRC signaling over an active serving cell and can represent an LTM configuration.
In an example, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 800 includes, at 804, performing the intra-frequency measurement on the target cell based on the configuration. For example, the UE receives a reference signal (e.g., SSB) sent on the component carrier and performs an intra-frequency L1 measurement using this reference signal.
In an example, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 800 includes, at 806, reporting, to the network, the intra-frequency measurement as part of the LTM procedure. For example, the UE can send over the active serving cell an LTM measurement report that includes the intra-frequency measurement.
FIG. 9 illustrates another example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure 900 for an intra-frequency measurement given a deactivated SCell, in accordance with some embodiments. The operational flow/algorithmic structure 900 can be implemented by a network (e.g., by a base station thereof and/or processors of the base station) . The network can be any of the networks described herein. In some embodiments, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 900 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, such as a memory of the base station. While the operational flow/algorithmic structure 900 is described using steps in a specific sequence, it should be understood that the present disclosure contemplates that the described steps may be performed in different sequences than the sequence illustrated, and certain described steps may be omitted or not performed altogether.
In an example, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 900 includes, at 902, sending, to a user equipment (UE) configuration information, the configuration information indicating a configuration associated with performing an intra-frequency measurement on a component carrier of a target cell in support of a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure. The component carrier of the target cell corresponds to a secondary component carrier (SCC) of a secondary serving cell (SCell) (e.g., can have the same configuration as the SCC and/or can have the same center frequency and subcarrier spacing) . The configuration is applicable when the SCell is deactivated. The configuration indicates at least one of: a measurement interval or a measurement gap. The configuration can depend on indicated UE capability. The configuration information can be received via RRC signaling over an active serving cell and can represent an LTM configuration.
In an example, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 900 includes, at 904, sending, to the UE, a reference signal to be measured on the SCC. For example, the reference signal (e.g., SSB) is sent on the component carrier and corresponds to a configured an L1 measurement object and, possibly, a configured L3 RRM measurement object)
In an example, the operational flow/algorithmic structure 900 includes, at 906, receiving, from the UE, the intra-frequency measurement of the reference signal as part of the LTM procedure. For example, the network can receive from the UE over the active serving cell an LTM measurement report that includes the intra-frequency measurement.
FIG. 10 illustrates receive components 1000 of the UE 104, in accordance with some embodiments. The receive components 1000 may include an antenna panel 1004 that includes a number of antenna elements. The panel 1004 is shown with four antenna elements, but other embodiments may include other numbers.
The antenna panel 1004 may be coupled to analog beamforming (BF) components that include a number of phase shifters 1008 (1) -1008 (4) . The phase shifters 1008 (1) -1008 (4) may be coupled with a radio-frequency (RF) chain 1012. The RF chain 1012 may amplify a receive analog RF signal, downconvert the RF signal to baseband, and convert the analog baseband signal to a digital baseband signal that may be provided to a baseband processor for further processing.
In various embodiments, control circuitry, which may reside in a baseband processor, may provide BF weights (for example W1 -W4) , which may represent phase shift values, to the phase shifters 1008 (1) -1008 (4) to provide a receive beam at the antenna panel 1004. These BF weights may be determined based on the channel-based beamforming.
FIG. 11 illustrates a UE 1100, in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 1100 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with UE 104 of FIG. 1. Particularly, the UE 1100 can receive and store configuration information (e.g., the configuration information 106 of FIG. 6) to perform an LTM procedure. This configuration information can configure the UE 1100 to use a relaxed measurement interval for performing an intra-frequency measurement on a target cell as part of the LTM procedure and/or to perform the intra-frequency measurement during a configured measurement gap. The intra-frequency measurement can be performed on a reference signal (e.g., SSB) sent on a component carrier of the target cell, where this component carrier has the same configuration as an SCC of a deactivated SCell.
Similar to the description above with respect to UE 104, the UE 1100 may be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as mobile phones, computers, tablets, industrial wireless sensors (for example, microphones, carbon dioxide sensors, pressure sensors, humidity sensors, thermometers, motion sensors, accelerometers, laser scanners, fluid level sensors, inventory sensors, electric voltage/current meters, actuators, etc. ) , video surveillance/monitoring devices (for example, cameras, video cameras, etc. ) , wearable devices, or relaxed-IoT devices. In some embodiments, the UE may be a reduced capacity UE or NR-Light UE.
The UE 1100 may include processors 1104, RF interface circuitry 1108, memory/storage 1112, user interface 1116, sensors 1120, driver circuitry 1122, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1124, and battery 1128. The components of the UE 1100 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs) , portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. The block diagram of FIG. 11 is intended to show a high-level view of some of the components of the UE 1100. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.
The components of the UE 1100 may be coupled with various other components over one or more interconnects 1132, which may represent any type of interface, input/output, bus (local, system, or expansion) , transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc. that allows various circuit components (on common or different chips or chipsets) to interact with one another.
The processors 1104 may include processor circuitry, such as baseband processor circuitry (BB) 1104A, central processor unit circuitry (CPU) 1104B, and graphics processor unit circuitry (GPU) 1104C. The processors 1104 may include any type of circuitry or processor circuitry that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, or functional processes from memory/storage 1112 to cause the UE 1100 to perform operations as described herein.
In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuitry 1104A may access a communication protocol stack 1136 in the memory/storage 1112 to communicate over a 3GPP compatible network. In general, the baseband processor circuitry 1104A may access the communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at a PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at a PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC layer, and a non-access stratum “NAS” layer. In some embodiments, the PHY layer operations may additionally/alternatively be performed by the components of the RF interface circuitry 1108.
The baseband processor circuitry 1104A may generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in 3GPP-compatible networks. In some embodiments, the waveforms for NR may be based on cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM) in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink.
The baseband processor circuitry 1104A may also access group information from memory/storage 1112 to determine search space groups in which a number of repetitions of a PDCCH may be transmitted.
The memory/storage 1112 may include any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 1100. In some embodiments, some of the memory/storage 1112 may be located on the processors 1104 themselves (for example, L1 and L2 cache) , while other memory/storage 1112 is external to the processors 1104 but accessible thereto via a memory interface. The memory/storage 1112 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) , static random-access memory (SRAM) , erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) , electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , Flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.
The RF interface circuitry 1108 may include transceiver circuitry and a radio frequency front module (RFEM) that allows the UE 1100 to communicate with other devices over a radio access network. The RF interface circuitry 1108 may include various elements arranged in transmit or receive paths. These elements may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuitry, control circuitry, etc.
In the receive path, the RFEM may receive a radiated signal from an air interface via an antenna 1150 and proceed to filter and amplify (with a low-noise amplifier) the signal. The signal may be provided to a receiver of the transceiver that down-converts the RF signal into a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of the processors 1104.
In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier prior to the signal being radiated across the air interface via the antenna 1150.
In various embodiments, the RF interface circuitry 1108 may be configured to transmit/receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technologies.
The antenna 1150 may include a number of antenna elements that each convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. The antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. The antenna 1150 may have antenna panels that are omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to enable beamforming and multiple input, multiple output communications. The antenna 1150 may include microstrip antennas, printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, patch antennas, phased array antennas, etc. The antenna 1150 may have one or more panels designed for specific frequency bands including bands in FR1 or FR2.
The user interface circuitry 1116 includes various input/output (I/O) devices designed to enable user interaction with the UE 1100. The user interface 1116 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (for example, a reset button) , a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator position (s) , or other like information. Output device circuitry may include any number or combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (for example, binary status indicators, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touchscreens (for example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) , LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc. ) , with the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation of the UE 1100.
The sensors 1120 may include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information (sensor data) about the detected events to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement units comprising accelerometers; gyroscopes; or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems or nanoelectromechanical systems comprising 3-axis accelerometers; 3-axis gyroscopes; or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (for example, thermistors) ; pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (for example; cameras or lensless apertures) ; light detection and ranging sensors; proximity sensors (for example, infrared radiation detector and the like) ; depth sensors; ambient light sensors; ultrasonic transceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.
The driver circuitry 1122 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the UE 1100, attached to the UE 1100, or otherwise communicatively coupled with the UE 1100. The driver circuitry 1122 may include individual drivers allowing other components to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the UE 1100. For example, driver circuitry 1122 may include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 1120 and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 1120, drivers to obtain actuator positions of electro-mechanic components or control and allow access to the electro-mechanic components, a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.
The PMIC 1124 may manage power provided to various components of the UE 1100. In particular, with respect to the processors 1104, the PMIC 1124 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.
In some embodiments, the PMIC 1124 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the UE 1100. For example, if the platform UE is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the UE 1100 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the UE 1100 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations, such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The UE 1100 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The UE 1100 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours) . During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.
A battery 1128 may power the UE 1100, although in some examples the UE 1100 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 1128 may be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In some implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 1128 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.
FIG. 12 illustrates a gNB 1200, in accordance with some embodiments. The gNB 1200 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the gNB 108 of FIG. 1. Particularly, the gNB 1200 can send configuration information (e.g., the configuration information 106 of FIG. 6) to a UE to configure the UE to perform an LTM procedure. This configuration information be sent on an active serving cell of the gNB 1200 and can define a relaxed measurement interval for performing an intra-frequency measurement on a target cell as part of the LTM procedure and/or indicate that the intra-frequency measurement is to be performed during a configured measurement gap. The gNB 1200 (or another similar gNB) can also send a reference signal (e.g., SSB) on a component carrier of the target cell, where this component carrier has the same configuration as an SCC of a deactivated SCell.
The gNB 1200 may include processors 1204, RAN interface circuitry 1208, core network (CN) interface circuitry 1212, and memory/storage circuitry 1216.
The components of the gNB 1200 may be coupled with various other components over one or more interconnects 1228.
The processors 1204, RAN interface circuitry 1208, memory/storage circuitry 1216 (including communication protocol stack 1210) , antenna 1250, and interconnects 1228 may be similar to like-named elements shown and described with respect to FIG. 11.
The CN interface circuitry 1212 may provide connectivity to a core network, for example, a Fifth Generation Core network (5GC) using a 5GC-compatible network interface protocol, such as carrier Ethernet protocols, or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to/from the gNB 1200 via a fiber optic or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuitry 1212 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuitry 1212 may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.
It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.
For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.
Examples
In the following sections, further exemplary embodiments are provided.
Example 1 includes a method, the method comprising: determining, based on configuration information received from a network, a configuration associated with performing an intra-frequency measurement on a component carrier of a target cell in support of a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure, wherein: the component carrier of the target cell corresponds to a secondary component carrier (SCC) of a secondary serving cell (SCell) , the SCell is deactivated, and the configuration indicates at least one of: a measurement interval or a measurement gap; performing the intra-frequency measurement on the target cell based on the configuration; and reporting, to the network, the intra-frequency measurement as part of the LTM procedure.
Example 2 includes a method, the method comprising: sending, to a user equipment (UE) configuration information, the configuration information indicating a configuration associated with performing an intra-frequency measurement on a component carrier of a target cell in support of a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure, wherein: the component carrier of the target cell corresponds to a secondary component carrier (SCC) of a secondary serving cell (SCell) , the configuration is applicable when the SCell is deactivated, and the configuration indicates at least one of: a measurement interval or a measurement gap; sending, to the UE, a reference signal to be measured on the SCC; and receiving, from the UE, the intra-frequency measurement of the reference signal as part of the LTM procedure.
Example 3 includes the method of any preceding example 1-2, wherein the configuration information indicates a parameter that is applicable when the intra-frequency measurement is configured for the SCC and the SCell is deactivated, and wherein the parameter indicates a value of the measurement interval from a predefined plurality of values.
Example 4 includes the method of example 3, wherein the parameter is configured per user equipment (UE) in an information element (IE) of an LTM configuration and is applicable to the intra-frequency measurement and to a second measurement, wherein the second measurement is performable on a second component carrier of a second target cell, and wherein the second component carrier corresponds to or is different from the SCC.
Example 5 includes the method of example 3, wherein the parameter is configured per resource identifier in an information element (IE) of an LTM configuration and is applicable to the intra-frequency measurement and to a second measurement, wherein a resource identifier corresponds to a plurality of target cells associated with the SCC.
Example 6 includes the method of any preceding example 1-5, wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the value of the measurement interval when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on the SCC is not configured.
Example 7 includes the method of example 6, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is allowed with up to a predefined probability of missed acknowledgements/negative acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs) when the value of the measurement interval is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold value.
Example 8 includes the method of any preceding example 1-7, wherein the value and the measurement interval are a first value and a first measurement interval, respectively, and wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the first value of the first measurement interval and based on a second value of a second measurement interval when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on the SCC is configured, wherein the second measurement interval is configured for the SCell and is applicable when the SCell is deactivated.
Example 9 includes the method of example 8, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is allowed with up to a predefined probability of missed acknowledgements/negative acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs) when an output of a function applied to the first value and the second value is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold value.
Example 10 includes the method of any preceding example 1-9, wherein the value and the measurement interval are a first value and a first measurement interval, respectively, and wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the first value of the first measurement interval when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on the SCC is not configured, wherein an L3 measurement on the SCC for the target cell is based on a second value of a second measurement interval, wherein the second measurement interval is configured for the SCell and is applicable when the SCell is deactivated.
Example 11 includes the method of example 10, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is allowed with up to a predefined probability of missed acknowledgements/negative acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs) when only one of or each of the first value and the second value is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold value.
Example 12 includes the method of any preceding example 1-11, wherein the configuration information indicates a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) of the measurement gap for the SCell, and wherein the intra-frequency measurement is performed during the measurement gap based on the MGRP.
Example 13 includes the method of example 12, wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the MGRP.
Example 14 includes the method of any preceding example 1-12, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is disallowed.
Example 15 includes the method of any preceding example 1-13, further comprising: indicating, to the network, a user equipment (UE) capability to support the intra-frequency measurement during the measurement gap, wherein the configuration information is received based on the UE capability.
Example 16 includes the method of any preceding example 1-14, further comprising indicating, to the network, a user equipment (UE) capability to support the intra-frequency measurement based on the measurement interval, and wherein the configuration information indicates a value of the measurement interval from a predefined plurality of values and is received based on the UE capability.
Example 17 includes the method of any preceding example 1-16, wherein the configuration information indicates a value of the measurement interval from a predefined plurality of values to be used as part of the LTM procedure.
Example 18 includes the method of any preceding example 1-17, wherein the configuration information indicates a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) of the measurement gap to be used as part of the LTM procedure.
Example 19 includes the method of any preceding example 1-18, wherein the configuration information is sent based on UE capability information received from the UE, the UE capability information indicating that the UE supports at least one of: performing the intra- frequency measurement based on the measurement interval or performing the intra-frequency measurement during the measurement gap.
Example 20 includes a user equipment (UE) or an apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memory storing instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, configure the UE or the apparatus to perform a method described in or related to any of the preceding examples.
Example 21 includes one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed on a user equipment (UE) or an apparatus, cause the UE or the apparatus to perform operations comprising those of a method described in or related to any of the preceding examples.
Example 22 includes an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the preceding examples.
Example 23 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an apparatus, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the apparatus, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the preceding examples.
Example 24 includes an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or processing circuitry configured to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the preceding examples.
Example 25 includes an apparatus, a network, a base station, or a system comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the preceding examples. [0153]
Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples) , unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.
Although the embodiments above have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.

Claims

A method comprising:

determining, based on configuration information received from a network, a configuration associated with performing an intra-frequency measurement on a component carrier of a target cell in support of a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure, wherein:

the component carrier of the target cell corresponds to a secondary component carrier (SCC) of a secondary serving cell (SCell) ,

the SCell is deactivated, and

the configuration indicates at least one of: a measurement interval or a measurement gap;

performing the intra-frequency measurement on the target cell based on the configuration; and

reporting, to the network, the intra-frequency measurement as part of the LTM procedure.
The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information indicates a parameter that is applicable when the intra-frequency measurement is configured for the SCC and the SCell is deactivated, and wherein the parameter indicates a value of the measurement interval from a predefined plurality of values.
The method of claim 2, wherein the parameter is configured per user equipment (UE) in an information element (IE) of an LTM configuration and is applicable to the intra-frequency measurement and to a second measurement, wherein the second measurement is performable on a second component carrier of a second target cell, and wherein the second component carrier corresponds to or is different from the SCC.
The method of claim 2, wherein the parameter is configured per resource identifier in an information element (IE) of an LTM configuration and is applicable to the intra-frequency measurement and to a second measurement, wherein a resource identifier corresponds to a plurality of target cells associated with the SCC.
The method of claim 2, wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the value of the measurement interval when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on the SCC is not configured.
The method of claim 5, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is allowed with up to a predefined probability of missed acknowledgements/negative acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs) when the value of the measurement interval is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold value.
The method of claim 2, wherein the value and the measurement interval are a first value and a first measurement interval, respectively, and wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the first value of the first measurement interval and based on a second value of a second measurement interval when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on the SCC is configured, wherein the second measurement interval is configured for the SCell and is applicable when the SCell is deactivated.
The method of claim 7, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is allowed with up to a predefined probability of missed acknowledgements/negative acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs) when an output of a function applied to the first value and the second value is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold value.
The method of claim 2, wherein the value and the measurement interval are a first value and a first measurement interval, respectively, and wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the first value of the first measurement interval when a layer 3 (L3) radio resource management (RRM) measurement object on the SCC is not configured, wherein an L3 measurement on the SCC for the target cell is based on a second value of a second measurement interval, wherein the second measurement interval is configured for the SCell and is applicable when the SCell is deactivated.
The method of claim 9, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is allowed with up to a predefined probability of missed acknowledgements/negative acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs) when only one of or each of the first value and the second value is equal to or greater than a predefined threshold value.
An apparatus comprising:

a receiver;

a transmitter; and

processing circuitry communicatively couple with the receiver and the transmitter and configured to:

determine, based on configuration information received from a network, a configuration associated with performing an intra-frequency measurement on a component carrier of a target cell in support of a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure, wherein:

the component carrier of the target cell corresponds to a secondary component carrier (SCC) of a secondary serving cell (SCell) ,

the SCell is deactivated, and

the configuration indicates at least one of: a measurement interval or a measurement gap;

perform the intra-frequency measurement on the target cell based on the configuration; and

report, to the network, the intra-frequency measurement as part of the LTM procedure.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the configuration information indicates a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) of the measurement gap for the SCell, and wherein the intra-frequency measurement is performed during the measurement gap based on the MGRP.
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a measurement period of the intra-frequency measurement is based on the MGRP.
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein an interruption on a primary cell (PCell) , an activated SCell, or an activated primary secondary cell (PSCell) due to the intra-frequency measurement is disallowed.
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to indicate, to the network, a user equipment (UE) capability to support the intra-frequency measurement during the measurement gap, wherein the configuration information is received based on the UE capability.
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to indicate, to the network, a user equipment (UE) capability to support the intra-frequency measurement based on the measurement interval, and wherein the configuration information indicates a value of the measurement interval from a predefined plurality of values and is received based on the UE capability.
A method comprising:

sending, to a user equipment (UE) configuration information, the configuration information indicating a configuration associated with performing an intra-frequency measurement on a component carrier of a target cell in support of a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered inter-cell mobility (LTM) procedure, wherein:

the component carrier of the target cell corresponds to a secondary component carrier (SCC) of a secondary serving cell (SCell) ,

the configuration is applicable when the SCell is deactivated, and

the configuration indicates at least one of: a measurement interval or a measurement gap;

sending, to the UE, a reference signal to be measured on the SCC; and

receiving, from the UE, the intra-frequency measurement of the reference signal as part of the LTM procedure.
The method of claim 17, wherein the configuration information indicates a value of the measurement interval from a predefined plurality of values to be used as part of the LTM procedure.
The method of claim 17, wherein the configuration information indicates a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) of the measurement gap to be used as part of the LTM procedure.
The method of claim 17, wherein the configuration information is sent based on UE capability information received from the UE, the UE capability information indicating that the UE supports at least one of: performing the intra-frequency measurement based on the measurement interval or performing the intra-frequency measurement during the measurement gap.