WO2019162904A1

WO2019162904A1 - Event-triggered measurement reporting in intra-frequency dual connectivity scenario

Info

Publication number: WO2019162904A1
Application number: PCT/IB2019/051471
Authority: WO
Inventors: Oumer Teyeb; Icaro L. J. Da Silva
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2018-02-23
Filing date: 2019-02-22
Publication date: 2019-08-29

Abstract

A method for performing and reporting measurements for intra-frequency dual connectivity at a user equipment comprises establishing a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency; establishing a second connection in a second cell of a second network node using the first frequency; receiving, from the first network node or the second network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell; determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration; and transmitting, to the first network node or the second network node, the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report. The method improves the performance of network.

Description

EVENT-TRIGGERED MEASUREMENT REPORTING IN INTRA-FREQUENCY DUAL

CONNECTIVITY SCENARIO

TECHNICAL FIELD

Particular embodiments relate to the field of configuration measurement; and more specifically, to methods, apparatus and systems for measuring configuration for events utilizing intra-frequency dual connectivity.

BACKGROUND

In LTE, the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol is used to configure, setup and maintain the radio connection between a user equipment (UE) and an eNB. When the UE receives an RRC message from the eNB, it will apply the configuration, e.g. the UE will compile the configuration. If this succeeds, the UE will generate an RRC complete message that indicates the transaction ID of the message that triggered this response.

Since LTE-release 8, three Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs), namely SRBO, SRB1, and SRB2, have been available for the transport of RRC and Non Access Stratum (NAS) messages between the UE and the eNB. A new SRB, known as SRBlbis, was also introduced in rel-l3 for supporting Data Over NAS (DoNAS) in Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT).

SRBO is for RRC messages using the Common Control CHannel (CCCH), and it is used for handling RRC connection setup, RRC connection resume, and RRC connection re establishment. Once the UE is connected to the eNB, i.e. RRC connection setup or RRC connection reestablishment/resume has succeeded, SRB1 is used for handling RRC messages, which may include a piggybacked NAS message, as well as for NAS messages prior to the establishment of SRB2, all using the Dedicated Control CHannel (DCCH).

SRB2 is for RRC messages which include logged measurement information as well as for NAS messages, all using DCCH. SRB2 has a lower priority than SRB1, because logged measurement information and NAS messages may be lengthy and could cause the blocking of more urgent and smaller SRB1 messages. SRB2 is always configured by E-UTRAN after security activation.

Regarding LTE Dual Connectivity (DC), E-UTRAN supports DC operation whereby a multiple Rx/Tx UE in RRC CONNECTED is configured to utilize radio resources provided by two distinct schedulers, located in two eNBs which are radio base stations connected via a non ideal backhaul over the X2 interface. See 3GPP 36.300. “Non-ideal backhaul” implies that the transport of messages over the X2 interface between these nodes may be subject to both packet delays and losses.

eNBs involved in DC for a certain UE may assume two different roles. An eNB may either act as a Master node (MN), also referred to as Master eNB (MeNB), or as a Secondary node (SN), also referred to as Secondary eNB (SeNB). In DC, a UE is connected to one MN and one SN. Thus, an eNB can act both as an MN and an SN at the same time, for different UEs.

In LTE DC, only MeNB has RRC connection with UE, therefore only MeNB can send RRC signaling toward UE. For a mobility measurement, a MeNB configures a UE regarding which frequency to measure and how to report, etc. Correspondingly, the UE sends a measurement result to the MeNB once criterion is met.

According to LTE principle, when a UE needs to send measurement report, whatever it is due to an event triggered or due to a periodic trigger, UE should always send measurement results of serving cell to network. For UE in LTE-DC, serving cell means both cells in master cell group (MCG) served by MN and cells in secondary cell group (SCG) served by SN.

In LTE, only inter-frequency DC is supported, i.e. the MCG and SCG should operate in different carrier frequencies.

Regarding New Radio (NR) dual connectivity and LTE-NR tight interworking, in 3GPP, a study item on a new radio interface for 5G has recently been completed, and 3GPP has now continued with the effort to standardize this new radio interface. LTE-NR DC, which is also referred to as LTE-NR tight interworking, is currently being defined for Release 15 of the 3 GPP specifications. In this context, the major changes from LTE DC described above are: (1) The introduction of split bearer from the SN which is known as SCG split bearer. The SN in this particular case is also referred to as SgNB, i.e. secondary gNB, where gNB denotes the NR base station; (2) The introduction of split bearer for RRC which is known as split SRB; and (3) The introduction of a direct RRC from the SN which is known as SCG SRB or direct SRB.

FIGURES 1 and 2 show the User Plane (UP) and Control Plane (CP) architectures for NR dual connectivity and LTE-NR tight interworking. From FIGURES 1 and 2, it can be seen that separate SRBs are supported both from the MN and SN. This means that a UE can receive signaling messages, i.e. RRC messages both from the MN and the SN. There will thus be two RRC instances responsible for controlling the UE - one directed from the MN and another from the SN in the depicted scenario.

The consequence of this architecture is that the UE needs to terminate RRC signaling from two instances from the MN and the SN. The motivation for introducing such multiple RRC instances in NR DC, and in particular for LTE-NR DC, is that the MN and SN will partly be autonomously responsible for the control of radio resources. For example, the MN is allocating resources from some spectrum using LTE, while the SN will be responsible for configuring and allocating resources from some other spectrum that uses NR. As challenges for allocating resources in LTE and NR may differ substantially, e.g. since NR might be allocated in a spectrum where beam-forming is highly desirable, while LTE might be allocated in a spectrum with good coverage but with very congested resources. It is important that the SN has some level of autonomy to configure and manage the UE on resources associated with the SN. On the other hand, the overall responsibility for connectivity to the UE will likely be at MN node, so the MN node has the overall responsibility e.g. for mobility, state changes of the UE, for meeting quality of service demands of the UE, etc.

The MN and SN may be the nodes that use LTE (4G) or NR (5G) radio access technologies. They may both support the same technology, or they may support different technologies.

In the current work in 3GPP, the first step is to support the scenario where the MN uses LTE, connected to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and the SN uses NR. In this first step, the NR node, which is SN in this scenario, is not connected directly to the core network, but all traffic to and from the UE is carried via the MN from/to the EPC. This scenario is also known as non-standalone NR. After the completion of this alternative, 3GPP will then likely continue with standardization efforts that encompass other scenarios, such as when the NR node, i.e. a base-station supporting NR radio, is connected to the Next Generation Core and acts as an MN. The dual connectivity for NR includes many scenarios, such as: (1) The MN supports LTE and SN supports NR discussed above which is also called NR“non-standalone”; (2) The MN supports NR and the SN supports LTE; and (3) Both MN and SN are NR.

From UE perspective, both the cells in LTE and the cells in NR are the UE’s serving cell. The following terminologies are used throughout this disclosure to differentiate different dual connectivity scenarios: (1) DC: LTE DC, i.e. both MN and SN employ LTE; (2) EN-DC: LTE- NR dual connectivity, where LTE is the master and NR is the secondary; (3) NR-DC or NR-NR DC: both MN and SN employ NR; and (4) MR-DC (multi-RAT DC): a generic term to describe where the MN and SN employ different RATs. For example, EN-DC is one example of MR- DC.

There currently exist certain challenge(s). For example, in LTE, only inter-frequency DC is supported. Thus, when Events Al where serving cell becomes better than absolute threshold and Events A2 where serving cell becomes worse than absolute threshold, or periodic events are discussed, there will be no ambiguity because the measurement object associated with the reportConfig will contain information about the frequency, and as there is only one serving cell in that frequency, there is no ambiguity.

In the context of NR, NR DC, i.e. NR-NR DC, is still not specified, but there are already proposals to enable intra-frequency support. The main reason behind the decision not to support intra-frequency DC was the anticipated high level of interference if the UE was supposed to use the same frequency to connect to the MCG and SCG.

With NR, specially at high frequency, e.g. above 6GHz, deployment, advanced beamforming can be utilized to mitigate co-cochannel interference during the UE’s communication with the two cells employing the same carrier frequency. As such, intra- frequency DC is once being considered for NR-NR DC.

If intra-frequency DC is employed, the report configurations Al and A2 become ambiguous because the UE in that case will be not be able to distinguish which of the serving cells that the UE is supposed to perform this reporting. For example, if an NR-NR DC is formed with cell 1 as the PCell and cell 2 as the PScell, and both are using frequency fl, if a reportConfig event A2 is configured associated with a measurement object using frequency fl, the UE will not be able to distinguish if it should send this report when the signal strength of celll or cell2 which becomes worse than the specified threshold.

SUMMARY

To address the foregoing problems with existing solutions, disclosed are methods, a user equipment (UE), a network node, and a system, to support operations in intra-frequency dual connectivity. The present disclosure implements a solution to enhance the configuration report and the measurement report by including a cell identifier to indicate a particular cell in the configuration report, so that the UE may recognize which cell that the configuration report is referring to. Furthermore, the UE may perform a measurement specific to the particular cell, therefore, unnecessary operations in network may be avoided.

Several embodiments are elaborated in this disclosure. According to one embodiment of a method for performing and reporting measurements for intra-frequency dual connectivity at a user equipment, the method comprises establishing a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency and establishing a second connection in a second cell of a second network node using the first frequency. The method further comprises receiving, from at least one of the first network node and the second network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell. The method additionally comprises determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration. The method yet further comprises transmitting, to the at least one of the first network node and the second network node, the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report.

In one embodiment, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is received from a master node or a secondary node; and identifying that measurement reporting configuration is associated with the first cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the master node or identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the second cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the secondary node. In one embodiment, the measurement reporting configuration is received via signaling radio bearer (SRB) if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the secondary node. In one embodiment, the measurement reporting configuration is received via SRB3 directly. In another embodiment, the measurement reporting configuration is embedded in SRB 1.

In another embodiment, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises performing a measurement for both the first cell and the second cell; determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report; and identifying that the first cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the first cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report or identifying that the second cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report. In one embodiment, determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below an associated threshold in the measurement reporting configuration.

In one embodiment, the cell index comprises a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment.

In one embodiment, the measurement report comprises cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report.

According to an embodiment of a user equipment (UE) for performing and reporting measurements for intra-frequency dual connectivity, the UE comprises at least one processing circuitry and at least one storage that stores processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, causes the UE to establish a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency, establishing a second connection in a second cell of a second network node using the first frequency; receive, from at least one of the first network node and the second network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell; determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration; and transmit, to the at least one of the first network node and the second network node, the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report.

According to one embodiment of a method for performing and reporting measurements for intra-frequency dual connectivity at a network node, the method comprises preparing, at a network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating a first cell or a second cell, wherein the first cell and the second cell are serving connections with a user equipment using a first frequency. The method further comprises transmitting, to the user equipment, the measurement reporting configuration for the user equipment to determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report. The method further comprises receiving, from the user equipment, a measurement report of the first cell or the second cell based on the determination.

According to an embodiment of a network for measuring events for intra-frequency dual connectivity, the network node comprises at least one processing circuitry, and at least one storage that stores processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, causes a network node to prepare a configuration report including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index including a first cell or a second cell, wherein the first cell and the second cell are serving connections with a user equipment using a first frequency. The network node further transmits, to a user equipment, the configuration report for the user equipment to determine whether the first cell or the second cell requires the measurement report. The network node yet further receives, from the user equipment, the measurement report of the first cell or the second cell based on the determination.

According to an embodiment of a communication system for measuring events for intra- frequency dual connectivity, the communication system comprises at least one network node and at least one user equipment. The UE comprises at least one processing circuitry configured to establish a first connection in the first cell using a first frequency and a second connection in the second cell using the first frequency. The network node comprises at least one processing circuitry configured to prepare a configuration report including cell conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index including a first cell or a second cell, and transmit, to a user equipment, the configuration report for the user equipment to determine whether the first cell or the second cell requires the measurement report. The UE further receives, from the network node, the configuration report, determine whether the first cell or the second cell requires a measurement report based on the configuration report, and transmit, to the network node, the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell requires the measurement report.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. There are, proposed herein, various embodiments which address one or more of the issues disclosed herein.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. The methods disclosed in the present disclosure may provide an efficient solution to support intra-frequency dual connectivity by including a cell identifier in a configuration report to indicate which cell requires a measurement. In this way, the UE may be able to recognize which cell needs a configuration or a measurement, so that unnecessary measurements and configurations in the network may be avoided and the performance of the network may be improved.

Various other features and advantages will become obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the following detailed description and drawings. Certain embodiments may have none, some, or all of the recited advantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIGURE 1 illustrates an example user plane architecture for LTE-NR tight interworking;

FIGURE 2 illustrates an example split bearer for control plane in 5G;

FIGURE 3 illustrates an example wireless network, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 4 illustrates an example user equipment, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 5 illustrates an example virtualization environment, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 6 illustrates an example telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 7 illustrates an example host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 8 illustrates an example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 9 illustrates another example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 10 illustrates another further example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 11 illustrates another yet example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 12 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIGURE 13 illustrates a flow diagram of another example method, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIGURE 14 illustrates a flow diagram of yet another example method, in accordance with certain embodiments; FIGURE 15 illustrates a block schematic of an example user equipment and an example network node, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIGURE 16 illustrates a block schematic of another example user equipment, in accordance with certain embodiments; and

FIGURE 17 illustrates a block schematic of an example network node, in accordance with certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Currently, LTE only supports inter-frequency dual connectivity, and the proposals to support intra-frequency dual connectivity in NR may cause high level of interference when a UE uses the same frequency to connect to both the primary cell and the secondary cell. Particular embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method to include a cell index indicating a specific cell in the configuration report. The cell index may comprise a cell identifier for the specific cell, so that the UE may realize which cell that the configuration report is referring to. Therefore, the UE may understand whether the specific cell requires a measurement report to the network node, so that there is no ambiguity reading the configuration report and unnecessary measurements may be avoided.

Particular embodiments disclosed herein are focused mainly on NR, but are equally valid in LTE, or any other RAT that supports intra-frequency DC. Also, particular embodiments disclosed herein are focused mainly on DC, but also are applicable to other wireless features, such as carrier aggregation (CA), where the UE and network are able to support separate channels or communication links employing the same frequency.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, certain embodiments disclosed herein may resolve the ambiguity that will result in report configurations with the introduction of intra-frequency DC. This is realized in some embodiments by enhancing the report configuration or the measurement report, so that it contains information regarding the particular cell, among all the serving cells that may be utilizing the same frequency, that this report configuration or measurement report is referring to.

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

FIGURE 3 is an example wireless network, in accordance with certain embodiments. Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wireless network, such as the example wireless network illustrated in FIGURE 3. For simplicity, the wireless network of FIGURE 3 only depicts network 306, network nodes 360 and 360b, and wireless devices (WDs) 310, 310b, and 310c. In practice, a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or end device. Of the illustrated components, network node 360 and wireless device (WD) 310 are depicted with additional detail. In some embodiments, the network node 360 may be a base station, such as gNB. In certain embodiments, the network node 360 may be a network node, which is further illustrated in FIGURE 17. In certain embodiments, the wireless device 310 may be a user equipment, which is further illustrated in FIGURES 15 and 16. The wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate the wireless devices’ access to and/or use of the services provided by, or via, the wireless network.

The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standards; and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.

Network 306 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices.

Network node 360 and WD 310 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. As another example, a network node may be a virtual network node as described in more detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network.

In FIGURE 3, network node 360 includes processing circuitry 370, device readable medium 380, interface 390, auxiliary equipment 388, power source 386, power circuitry 387, and antenna 362. Although network node 360 illustrated in the example wireless network of FIGURE 3 may represent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Moreover, while the components of network node 360 are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium 380 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules). Similarly, network node 360 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 360 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, network node 360 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 380 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 362 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 360 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 360, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 360.

Processing circuitry 370 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry 370 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 370 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.

Processing circuitry 370 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 360 components, such as device readable medium 380, network node 360 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 370 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 380 or in memory within processing circuitry 370. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 370 may include a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, processing circuitry 370 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 372 and baseband processing circuitry 374. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 372 and baseband processing circuitry 374 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 372 and baseband processing circuitry 374 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or other such network device may be performed by processing circuitry 370 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 380 or memory within processing circuitry 370. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 370 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 370 can be configured to perform the described functionality. In particular embodiments, the processing circuitry 370 of the network node 360 may perform a method which is further illustrated in FIGURE 14. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 370 alone or to other components of network node 360 but are enjoyed by network node 360 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Device readable medium 380 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 370. Device readable medium 380 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 370 and, utilized by network node 360. Device readable medium 380 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry 370 and/or any data received via interface 390. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 370 and device readable medium 380 may be considered to be integrated. Interface 390 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between network node 360, network 306, and/or WDs 310. As illustrated, interface 390 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 394 to send and receive data, for example to and from network 306 over a wired connection. Interface 390 also includes radio front end circuitry 392 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna 362. Radio front end circuitry 392 comprises filters 398 and amplifiers 396. Radio front end circuitry 392 may be connected to antenna 362 and processing circuitry 370. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 362 and processing circuitry 370. Radio front end circuitry 392 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 392 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 398 and/or amplifiers 396. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 362. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 362 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 392. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 370. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 360 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 392, instead, processing circuitry 370 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 362 without separate radio front end circuitry 392. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 372 may be considered a part of interface 390. In still other embodiments, interface 390 may include one or more ports or terminals 394, radio front end circuitry 392, and RF transceiver circuitry 372, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface 390 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry 374, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

Antenna 362 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 362 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry 390 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 362 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as MIMO. In certain embodiments, antenna 362 may be separate from network node 360 and may be connectable to network node 360 through an interface or port.

Antenna 362, interface 390, and/or processing circuitry 370 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna 362, interface 390, and/or processing circuitry 370 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

Power circuitry 387 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node 360 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry 387 may receive power from power source 386. Power source 386 and/or power circuitry 387 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node 360 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source 386 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry 387 and/or network node 360. For example, network node 360 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry 387. As a further example, power source 386 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 387. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.

Alternative embodiments of network node 360 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIGURE 3 that may be responsible for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 360 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node 360 and to allow output of information from network node 360. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 360.

As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE). In certain embodiments, the wireless device 310 may be a user equipment which is further depicted in FIGURES 15 and 16. Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE) a vehicle- mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle -to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in this case be a machine- to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device 310 includes antenna 311, interface 314, processing circuitry 320, device readable medium 330, user interface equipment 332, auxiliary equipment 334, power source 336 and power circuitry 337. WD 310 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD 310, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD 310.

Antenna 311 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface 314. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 311 may be separate from WD 310 and be connectable to WD 310 through an interface or port. Antenna 311, interface 314, and/or processing circuitry 320 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 311 may be considered an interface.

As illustrated, interface 314 comprises radio front end circuitry 312 and antenna 311. Radio front end circuitry 312 comprise one or more filters 318 and amplifiers 316. Radio front end circuitry 314 is connected to antenna 311 and processing circuitry 320, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 311 and processing circuitry 320. Radio front end circuitry 312 may be coupled to or a part of antenna 311. In some embodiments, WD 310 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 312; rather, processing circuitry 320 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 311. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry 322 may be considered a part of interface 314. Radio front end circuitry 312 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 312 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 318 and/or amplifiers 316. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 311. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 311 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 312. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 320. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

Processing circuitry 320 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD 310 components, such as device readable medium 330, WD 310 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry 320 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 330 or in memory within processing circuitry 320 to provide the functionality disclosed herein. In particular embodiments, the processing circuitry 320 of the WD 310 may execute instructions to perform measurements for certain cells in the network 306, which is further illustrated below. In particular embodiments, the processing circuitry 320 of the wireless device 310 may perform a method which is further illustrated in FIGURES 12 and 13.

As illustrated, processing circuitry 320 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry 322, baseband processing circuitry 324, and application processing circuitry 326. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry 320 ofWD 310 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 322, baseband processing circuitry 324, and application processing circuitry 326 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry 324 and application processing circuitry 326 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 322 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 322 and baseband processing circuitry 324 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry 326 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 322, baseband processing circuitry 324, and application processing circuitry 326 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 322 may be a part of interface 314. RF transceiver circuitry 322 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry 320.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionalities described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry 320 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 330, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 320 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 320 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 320 alone or to other components of WD 310, but are enjoyed by WD 310 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally. Processing circuitry 320 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry 320, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 320 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD 310, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.

Device readable medium 330 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 320. Device readable medium 330 may include computer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 320. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 320 and device readable medium 330 may be considered to be integrated.

User interface equipment 332 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD 310. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment 332 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD 310. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment 332 installed in WD 310. For example, if WD 310 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD 310 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected). User interface equipment 332 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment 332 is configured to allow input of information into WD 310, and is connected to processing circuitry 320 to allow processing circuitry 320 to process the input information. User interface equipment 332 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment 332 is also configured to allow output of information from WD 310, and to allow processing circuitry 320 to output information from WD 310. User interface equipment 332 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment 332, WD 310 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment 334 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment 334 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

Power source 336 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used. WD 310 may further comprise power circuitry 337 for delivering power from power source 336 to the various parts ofWD 310 which need power from power source 336 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 337 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry 337 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD 310 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power circuitry 337 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source 336. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source 336. Power circuitry 337 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source 336 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD 310 to which power is supplied.

Regarding measurements in LTE/NR, the network 306 may configure a WD UE 310 to perform measurements, mainly for mobility reasons. The measurement framework in NR is mainly adopted from LTE, but supports additional features. For example, in LTE, the WD/UE 310 uses cell-specific reference signals (RSs), while in NR the network 306 may configure which RS type to be used, such as Synchronization Signal (SS)/Physical Broadcast CHannel (PBCH) block or Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS). Another example feature is that the reference signals in NR can be beamformed and transmitted in different beams, especially when NR is deployed in higher frequencies. In that sense, for each RS type and for each cell, the WD/UE 310 may detect multiple beams where each beam has an RS index. For SS/PBCH block, there will be a beam identifier encoded by the combination of the PBCH/ DeModulation Reference Signal (DMRS) sequence identifier and possibly an explicit time index encoded in PBCH. For CSI-RS, there will be a configurable CSI-RS resource index. The following will focus mainly on measurements related to NR, but most of the ideas are similar also in LTE. See TS 36.331 section 5.5 and TS 38.331 Section 5.5 for the details of measurement configurations and operations in LTE and NR, respectively.

The NR measurement configuration includes measurement objects, reporting configurations, measurement identities, quantity configurations, measurement gaps, and the like.

Regarding measurement objects, it is a list of objects on which the WD/UE 310 shall perform the measurements. For intra-frequency and inter-frequency measurements, a measurement object is associated to an NR carrier frequency. Associated with this NR carrier frequency, the network may configure a list of cell specific offsets, a list of 'blacklisted' cells and a list of 'whitelisted' cells. Blacklisted cells are not applicable in event evaluation or measurement reporting. Whitelisted cells are the only ones applicable in event evaluation or measurement reporting. For inter-RAT E-UTRA measurements, a measurement object is a single EUTRA carrier frequency. Associated with this E-UTRA carrier frequency, the network can configure a list of cell specific offsets, a list of 'blacklisted' cells and a list of 'whitelisted' cells. Blacklisted cells are not applicable in event evaluation or measurement reporting. Whitelisted cells are the only ones applicable in event evaluation or measurement reporting.

Regarding reporting configurations, it is a list of reporting configurations where there can be one or multiple reporting configurations per measurement object. Each reporting configuration consists of reporting criterion, RS type, and reporting format. Reporting criterion means the criterion that triggers the WD/UE 310 to send a measurement report. This can either be periodical or a single event description. RS type means the RS that the WD/UE 310 uses for beam and cell measurement results, such as SS/PBCH block or CSI-RS. Reporting format means the quantities per cell and/or per beam that the WD/UE 310 includes in the measurement report, e.g. Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and other associated information, such as the maximum number of cells and the maximum number beams per cell to report.

Regarding measurement identities, it is a list of measurement identities where each measurement identity links one measurement object with one reporting configuration. By configuring multiple measurement identities, it is possible to link more than one measurement object to the same reporting configuration, as well as to link more than one reporting configuration to the same measurement object. The measurement identity is also included in the measurement report that triggered the reporting, serving as a reference to the network.

Regarding quantity configurations, the quantity configuration defines the measurement filtering configuration used for all event evaluation and related reporting of that measurement type. For NR measurements, the network may configure up to two quantity configurations with a reference in the NR measurement object to the configuration that is to be used. In each configuration, different filter coefficients can be configured for different measurement quantities, for different RS types, and for measurements per cell and per beam.

Regarding measurement gaps, periods that the WD/UE 310 may use to perform measurements, i.e. no transmissions are scheduled. For example, no uplink (UL) or no downlink (DL) transmissions are scheduled.

An RRC_CONNECTED WD/UE 310 maintains a single measurement object list, a single reporting configuration list, and a single measurement identities list. The measurement object list possibly includes NR intra-frequency object(s), NR inter-frequency object(s), and inter-RAT objects. Similarly, the reporting configuration list includes NR and inter-RAT reporting configurations. Any measurement object can be linked to any reporting configuration of the same RAT type. Some reporting configurations may not be linked to a measurement object. Likewise, some measurement objects may not be linked to a reporting configuration.

The measurement procedures distinguish the following types of cells: (1) The serving cell(s): these are the special cells (SpCell) and one or more SCells, if configured for a WD/UE 310 supporting Cell Aggregation (CA). In case of DC, SpCell is the primary cell (PCell) of the MCG or the primary secondary cell (PSCell) of the SCG; (2) Listed cells: these are cells listed within the measurement object(s); and (3) Detected cells: these are cells that are not listed within the measurement object(s), but are detected by the WD/UE 310 on the carrier frequency(ies) indicated by the measurement object(s).

For NR measurement object(s), the WD/UE 310 measures and reports on the serving cell(s), listed cells and/or detected cells.

Measurements in NR may be configured to be performed periodically or based on events. If a WD/UE 310 is configured with a periodic measurement configuration, then it will send available measurement every time the assigned periodicity for that measurement expires. When it comes to event triggered measurements, there are several events defined as below.

In Event Al where serving cell becomes better than threshold, the WD/UE 310 shall:

1 > consider the entering condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A 1 - 1 , as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> consider the leaving condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A 1-2, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> for this measurement, consider the primary cell as an NR PCell, NR PSCell (when WD/UE 310 is in EN-DC), or secondary cell that are configured on the frequency indicated in the associated measObjectNR to be the serving cell. For entering condition of inequality Al-l, Ms - Hys > Thresh. For leaving condition of inequality A 1-2, Ms + Hys < Thresh. The variables in the formula are defined as follows: Ms is the measurement result of the serving cell, not taking into account any offsets. Hys is the hysteresis parameter for this event, i.e. hysteresis as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Thresh is the threshold parameter for this event, i.e. a 1 -Threshold as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Ms is expressed in dBm in case of RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ and RS-SINR. Hys is expressed in dB. Thresh is expressed in the same unit as Ms.

In Event A2 where serving becomes worse than threshold, the WD/UE 310 shall:

l> consider the entering condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A2-1, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> consider the leaving condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A2-2, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> for this measurement, consider the primary cell as an NR PCell, NR PSCell (when WD/UE 310 is in EN-DC), or secondary cell that is configured on the frequency indicated in the associated measObjectNR to be the serving cell.

For entering condition of inequality A2-1, Ms + Hys < Thresh. For leaving condition of inequality A2-2, Ms - Hys > Thresh. The variables in the formula are defined as follows: Ms is the measurement result of the serving cell, not taking into account any offsets. Hys is the hysteresis parameter for this event, i.e. hysteresis as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Thresh is the threshold parameter for this event, i.e. a2-Threshold as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Ms is expressed in dBm in case of RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ and RS-SINR. Hys is expressed in dB. Thresh is expressed in the same unit as Ms.

In Event A3 where neighbor cell becomes offset better than PCell/PSCell, the WD/UE 310 shall:

l> consider the entering condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A3-1, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> consider the leaving condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A3 -2, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> in EN-DC, use the PSCell for Mp, Ofp and Ocp.

Note that the cell(s) that triggers the event is on the frequency indicated in the associated measObjectNR, which may be different from the frequency used by the PCell/PSCell when WD/UE 310 is in EN-DC.

For entering condition of inequality A3- 1. Mn + Ofih + Ocn - Hys > Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off. For leaving condition of inequality A3 -2, Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off. The variables in the formula are defined as follows: Mn is the measurement result of the neighboring cell, not taking into account any offsets. Ofn is the frequency specific offset of the frequency of the neighbor cell, i.e. offsetFreq as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the neighbor cell. Ocn is the cell specific offset of the neighbor cell, i.e. celllndividualOffset as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the neighbour cell, and set to zero if not configured for the neighbor cell. Mp is the measurement result of the PCell/PSCell, not taking into account any offsets. Ofp is the frequency specific offset of the frequency of the PCell/PSCell, i.e. offsetFreq as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the PCell/PSCell. Ocp is the cell specific offset of the PCell/PSCell, i.e. celllndividualOffset as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the PCell/PSCell, and is set to zero if not configured for the PCell/PSCell. Hys is the hysteresis parameter for this event, i.e. hysteresis as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Off is the offset parameter for this event, i.e. a3-Offset as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Mn and Mp are expressed in dBm in case of RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ and RS-SINR. Ofn, Ocn, Ofp, Ocp, Hys, and Off are expressed in dB.

In Event A4 where neighbor cell becomes better than threshold, the WD/UE 310 shall: l> consider the entering condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A4-1, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> consider the leaving condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A4-2, as specified below, is fulfilled.

For entering condition of inequality A4-1 , Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Thresh. For leaving condition of inequality A4-2, Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh. The variables in the formula are defined as follows: Mn is the measurement result of the neighboring cell, not taking into account any offsets. Ofn is the frequency specific offset of the frequency of the neighbor cell, i.e. offsetFreq as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the neighbor cell. Ocn is the cell specific offset of the neighbor cell, i.e. celllndividualOffset as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the neighbor cell, and set to zero if not configured for the neighbor cell. Hys is the hysteresis parameter for this event, i.e. hysteresis as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Thresh is the threshold parameter for this event, i.e. a4-Threshold as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Mn is expressed in dBm in case of RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ and RS-SINR. Ofn, Ocn, Hys are expressed in dB. Thresh is expressed in the same unit as Mn.

In Event A5 where PCell/PSCell becomes worse than threshold 1 and neighbor becomes better than threshold 2, the WD/UE 310 shall: l> consider the entering condition for this event to be satisfied when both condition A5-1 and condition A5-2, as specified below, are fulfilled;

l> consider the leaving condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A5-3 or condition A5-4, i.e. at least one of the two, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> in EN-DC, use the PSCell for Mp.

Note that the cell(s) that triggers the event is on the frequency indicated in the associated measObjectNR which may be different from the frequency used by the PCell/PSCell.

For entering condition 1 of inequality A5-1, Mp + Hys < Thresh 1. For entering condition 2 of inequality A5-2, Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys < Thresh 2. For leaving condition 1 of inequality A5-3, Mp - Hys < Thresh 1. For leaving condition 2 of inequality A5-4, Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh 2. The variables in the formula are defined as follows: Mp is the measurement result of the PCell/PSCell, not taking into account any offsets. Mn is the measurement result of the neighboring cell, not taking into account any offsets. Ofn is the frequency specific offset of the frequency of the neighbor cell, i.e. offsetFreq as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the neighbor cell. Ocn is the cell specific offset of the neighbor cell, i.e. celllndividualOffset as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the neighbor cell, and set to zero if not configured for the neighbor cell. Hys is the hysteresis parameter for this event, i.e. hysteresis as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Thresh 1 is the threshold parameter for this event, i.e. a5- Threshold1 as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Thresh 2 is the threshold parameter for this event, i.e. a5-Threshold2 as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Mn and Mp are expressed in dBm in case of RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ and RS-SINR. Ofn, Ocn, and Hys are expressed in dB. Thresh 1 is expressed in the same unit as Mp. Thresh 2 is expressed in the same unit as Mn.

In Event A6 where neighbor becomes offset better than SCell, the WD/UE 310 shall: l> consider the entering condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A6-1, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> consider the leaving condition for this event to be satisfied when condition A6-2, as specified below, is fulfilled;

l> for this measurement, consider the (secondary) cell that is configured on the frequency indicated in the associated measObjectNR to be the serving cell.

Note that the neighbor(s) is on the same frequency as the SCell, i.e. both are on the frequency indicated in the associated measObjectNR. Also note that in EN-DC, the cell(s) that triggers the event is on the frequency indicated in the associated measObject shall be different from the frequency used by the PSCell.

For entering condition of inequality A6-1, Mn + Ocn - Hys > Ms + Ocs + Off. For leaving condition of inequality A6-2, Mn + Ocn + Hys > Ms + Ocs + Off The variables in the formula are defined as follows: Mn is the measurement result of the neighboring cell, not taking into account any offsets. Ocn is the cell specific offset of the neighbor cell, i.e. celllndividualOffset as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the frequency of the neighbor cell, and set to zero if not configured for the neighbor cell. Ms is the measurement result of the serving cell, not taking into account any offsets. Ocs is the cell specific offset of the serving cell, i.e. celllndividualOffset as defined within measObjectNR corresponding to the serving frequency, and is set to zero if not configured for the serving cell. Hys is the hysteresis parameter for this event, i.e. hysteresis as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Off is the offset parameter for this event, i.e. a6-Offset as defined within reportConfigNR for this event. Mn and Ms are expressed in dBm in case of RSRP, or in dB in case of RSRQ and RS- SINR. Ocn, Ocs, Hys, and Off are expressed in dB.

The ASN. l coding for the reportConfigNR information element (IE) that is used to configure event based and periodic reporting configurations is shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1. ReportConfigNR information element

For comparison, reportConfigEUTRA and reportConfiglnterRAT in LTE are as shown in

Tables 2 and 3 below.

Table 2. ReportConfigEUTRA information element

Table 3. ReportConfiglnterRAT information element

The main differences between the report configurations defined in LTE and NR are, apart from restructuring differences: (1) The reportConfigEUTRA contains C, V and W events, while reportConfigNR contains only A events. C events are used for CSI-RS measurement report triggering. As mentioned earlier, the NR measurement object already contains an option to associate it with SS or CSI-RS measurements. As such, C events are not necessary in NR. V events are used for unlicensed operations in LTE, which is currently not supported in NR; and (2) The reportConfiglnterRAT contains B and W events are used for inter-RAT measurement reporting. W events are used for interworking with WLAN, which is currently not supported in NR. The B events are used for handover (HO) between LTE and other 3 GPP RATs. Currently, the NR standard does not support inter-RAT HO, as that requires standalone NR. This will be included in the NR specification when the standalone NR work is finalized and thus handover from NR to LTE may become available.

Disclosed herein are several ways of solving the ambiguity problem with regard to report configurations when intra-frequency DC is utilized. In a first embodiment, the WD/UE 310 reports the measurement if any of the serving cells using the frequency associated with the report configuration fulfill the measurement triggering conditions. In this embodiment, the WD/UE 310 may indicate the cell information, e.g. cell Index, along with the measurement report to let the network node 360, such as gNB, know which cell triggered this measurement.

In a second embodiment, the WD/UE 310 may be provided with additional information, e.g. Cell index, in the reportConfig message. This additional information may unambiguously identify the cell among all the serving cells that are using the frequency associated with the report configuration. The WD/UE 310 may then report the measurement only if that particular cell that was identified in the message fulfills the associated thresholds and/or conditions of the report configuration. Additional details regarding this option are provided in the text below under“ ReportConfigNR.”

The enhanced form of the report configuration for the second embodiment is shown in Table 4 below.

Table 4. ReportConfigNR information element

In a third embodiment, the WD/UE 310 may implicitly determine which cell the report configuration is referring to among all the serving cells that may be using the same frequency associated with the report configuration. This may be inferred based on how the report configuration message was received. For example, if the measurement configuration was received from the MN, the report configuration may refer to only the cells belonging to the MCG; and if the measurement configuration was received from the SN, the report configuration may refer to the cells belonging to the SCG. When the measurement configuration was received from the SN, it may be sent either directly via SRB3 or embedded within SRB 1.

FIGURE 4 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE 400 may be any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE, a MTC UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. UE 400, as illustrated in FIGURE 4, is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP’s GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. In certain embodiments, the user equipment 400 may be a user equipment which is further depicted in FIGURES 15 and 16. As mentioned previously, the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although FIGURE 4 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.

In FIGURE 4, UE 400 includes processing circuitry 401 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface 405, radio frequency (RF) interface 409, network connection interface 411, memory 415 including random access memory (RAM) 417, read-only memory (ROM) 419, and storage medium 421 or the like, communication subsystem 431, power source 433, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 421 includes operating system 423, application program 425, and data 427. In other embodiments, storage medium 421 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in FIGURE 4, or only a subset of the components. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

In FIGURE 4, processing circuitry 401 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 401 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 401 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer. In certain embodiment, processing circuitry 401 may perform a method which is further illustrated in FIGURES 12 and 13.

In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 405 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE 400 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface 405. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE 400. The output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. UE 400 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface 405 to allow a user to capture information into UE 400. The input device may include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

In FIGURE 4, RF interface 409 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface 411 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network 443a. Network 443a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 443a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface 411 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or the like. Network connection interface 411 may implement receiver and transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

RAM 417 may be configured to interface via bus 402 to processing circuitry 401 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 419 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry 401. For example, ROM 419 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium 421 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, or flash drives. In one example, storage medium 421 may be configured to include operating system 423, application program 425 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file 427. Storage medium 421 may store, for use by UE 400, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

Storage medium 421 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppy disk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro- DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 421 may allow UE 400 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied in storage medium 421, which may comprise a device readable medium.

In FIGURE 4, processing circuitry 401 may be configured to communicate with network 443b using communication subsystem 431. Network 443a and network 443b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks. Communication subsystem 431 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network 443b. For example, communication subsystem 431 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.5, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter 433 and/or receiver 435 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter 433 and receiver 435 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of communication subsystem 431 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. For example, communication subsystem 431 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network 443b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 443b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source 413 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 400.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE 400 or partitioned across multiple components of UE 400. Further, the features, benefits, and/or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem 431 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry 401 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus 402. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry 401 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry 401 and communication subsystem 431. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware. FIGURE 5 illustrates an example virtualization environment, according to certain embodiments. FIGURE 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node (e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device) or components thereof and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines or containers executing on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).

In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes 530. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized.

The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 520 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 520 are run in virtualization environment 500 which provides hardware 530 comprising processing circuitry 560 and memory 590. Memory 590 contains instructions 595 executable by processing circuitry 560 whereby application 520 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment 500, comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices 530 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry 560, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or special purpose processors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 590-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 595 or software executed by processing circuitry 560. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 570, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface 580. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media 590-2 having stored therein software 595 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry 560. Software 595 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 550 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 540 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.

Virtual machines 540, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 550 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 520 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines 540, and the implementations may be made in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry 560 executes software 595 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 550, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer 550 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine 540.

As shown in FIGURE 5, hardware 530 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 530 may comprise antenna 5225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 530 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) 5100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 520.

Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, virtual machine 540 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtual machines 540, and that part of hardware 530 that executes that virtual machine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines 540, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).

Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more virtual machines 540 on top of hardware networking infrastructure 530 and corresponds to application 520 in FIGURE 5. In some embodiments, one or more radio units 5200 that each include one or more transmitters 5220 and one or more receivers 5210 may be coupled to one or more antennas 5225. Radio units 5200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes 530 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station.

In some embodiments, some signaling can be affected with the use of control system 5230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes 530 and radio units 5200.

FIGURE 6 illustrates an example telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer, according to certain embodiments. With reference to FIGURE 6, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes telecommunication network 610, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network 611, such as a radio access network, and core network 614. Access network 611 comprises a plurality of base stations 6l2a, 6l2b, 6l2c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 613a, 613b, 613c. Each base station 6l2a, 6l2b, 6l2c is connectable to core network 614 over a wired or wireless connection 615. A first UE 691 located in coverage area 613c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 6l2c. A second UE 692 in coverage area 6l3a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 6l2a. While a plurality of UEs 691, 692 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 612. In certain embodiments, the plurality of UEs 691, 692 may be a user equipment as described with respect to FIGURES 15 and 16.

Telecommunication network 610 is itself connected to host computer 630, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 630 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 621 and 622 between telecommunication network 610 and host computer 630 may extend directly from core network 614 to host computer 630 or may go via an optional intermediate network 620. Intermediate network 620 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 620, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network 620 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown). The communication system of FIGURE 6 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 691, 692 and host computer 630. The connectivity may be described as an over- the-top (OTT) connection 650. Host computer 630 and the connected UEs 691, 692 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 650, using access network 611, core network 614, any intermediate network 620 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection 650 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 650 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station 612 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer 630 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 691. Similarly, base station 612 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 691 towards the host computer 630.

FIGURE 7 illustrates an example host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection, in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIGURE 7. In communication system 700, host computer 710 comprises hardware 715 including communication interface 716 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 700. Host computer 710 further comprises processing circuitry 718, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 718 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer 710 further comprises software 711, which is stored in or accessible by host computer 710 and executable by processing circuitry 718. Software 711 includes host application 712. Host application 712 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 730 connecting via OTT connection 750 terminating at UE 730 and host computer 710. In providing the service to the remote user, host application 712 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection 750.

Communication system 700 further includes base station 720 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 725 enabling it to communicate with host computer 710 and with UE 730. In certain embodiments, the UE 730 may be a user equipment as described with respect to FIGURES 15 and 16. Hardware 725 may include communication interface 726 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 700, as well as radio interface 727 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection 770 with UE 730 located in a coverage area (not shown in FIGURE 7) served by base station 720. Communication interface 726 may be configured to facilitate connection 760 to host computer 710. Connection 760 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in FIGURE 7) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, hardware 725 of base station 720 further includes processing circuitry 728, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Base station 720 further has software 721 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 700 further includes UE 730 already referred to. In certain embodiments, the UE 730 may be the user equipment as described with respect to FIGURES 15 and 16. Its hardware 735 may include radio interface 737 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection 770 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE 730 is currently located. Hardware 735 of UE 730 further includes processing circuitry 738, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 730 further comprises software 731, which is stored in or accessible by UE 730 and executable by processing circuitry 738. Software 731 includes client application 732. Client application 732 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 730, with the support of host computer 710. In host computer 710, an executing host application 712 may communicate with the executing client application 732 via OTT connection 750 terminating at UE 730 and host computer 710. In providing the service to the user, client application 732 may receive request data from host application 712 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 750 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application 732 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 710, base station 720 and UE 730 illustrated in FIGURE 7 may be similar or identical to host computer 630, one of base stations 612a, 612b, 612c and one of UEs 691, 692 of FIGURE 6, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in FIGURE 7 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIGURE 6. In FIGURE 7, OTT connection 750 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer 710 and UE 730 via base station 720, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from UE 730 or from the service provider operating host computer 710, or both. While OTT connection 750 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

Wireless connection 770 between UE 730 and base station 720 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 730 using OTT connection 750, in which wireless connection 770 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the handling of redundant data in the transmit buffer and thereby provide benefits such as improved efficiency in radio resource use (e.g., not transmitting redundant data) as well as reduced delay in receiving new data (e.g., by removing redundant data in the buffer, new data can be transmitted sooner).

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 750 between host computer 710 and UE 730, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 750 may be implemented in software 711 and hardware 715 of host computer 710 or in software 731 and hardware 735 of UE 730, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection 750 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 711, 731 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 750 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station 720, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 720. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer 7l0’s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software 711 and 731 causes messages to be transmited, in particular empty or‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection 750 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIGURE 8 illustrates an example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, according to certain embodiments in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, FIGURE 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be a user equipment described with reference to FIGURES 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIGURE 8 will be included in this section. In step 810, the host computer provides user data. In substep 811 (which may be optional) of step 810, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 820, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 830 (which may be optional), the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 840 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

FIGURE 9 illustrates an example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, FIGURE 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be a user equipment described with reference to FIGURES 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIGURE 9 will be included in this section. In step 910 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 920, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 930 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

FIGURE 10 illustrates another further example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, FIGURE 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be a user equipment described with reference to FIGURES 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIGURE 10 will be included in this section. In step 1010 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 1020, the UE provides user data. In substep 1021 (which may be optional) of step 1020, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In substep 1011 (which may be optional) of step 1010, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in substep 1030 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step 1040 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

FIGURE 11 illustrates another example method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment, in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, FIGURE 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be a user equipment described with reference to FIGURES 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIGURE 11 will be included in this section. In step 1110 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step 1120 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 1130 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGURE 12 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments, the method begins at step 1210 with the WD establishing a first wireless connection using a first frequency. Then at step 1220, the WD establishes a second wireless connection. The second wireless connection is used concurrently with the first wireless connection. Each of these connections may be associated with a different cell. That is, the WD may be connected to two different cells using the same first frequency for both connections. This may be considered as intra-frequency dual connection.

At step 1230, the WD receives a configuration message. The configuration message may, in some embodiments, specify which of the first or second wireless connections is the appropriate wireless connection. The configuration message may be received via the first or the second wireless connection.

At step 1240, the WD detects a triggering event. Although step VV08 is depicted as occurring before step VV10, this is not to be construed as a requirement. That is, the WD may determine the appropriate wireless connection before a triggering event occurs. The triggering event can be any of a variety of different events which trigger the sending of a measurement report. The triggering event may arise with respect to either the first or the second wireless connection. In some embodiments, the WD may only be monitoring one of the wireless connections to detect a triggering event. The monitored wireless connection may be based on information associated with the configuration message.

At step 1250, the WD determines an appropriate wireless connection to which to send a measurement report. In some embodiments, determining an appropriate wireless connection to which to send a measurement report may comprise determining that either the first wireless connection or the second wireless connection have fulfilled a measurement triggering condition. That is, whenever the WD detects a triggering event, regardless of whether it is associated with the first or the second wireless connection, the WD then determines an appropriate wireless connection (e.g., whichever wireless connection caused the triggering event may be the appropriate wireless connection). In some embodiments, the WD may use the configuration message received at step VV06 to determine the appropriate wireless connection. For example, if the configuration message explicitly identifies a wireless connection for reporting, then that is the appropriate wireless connection. As another example, the WD may determine the appropriate wireless connection based on who sent the configuration message (e.g., if the configuration message was received via the first wireless connection, then the first wireless connection is the appropriate wireless connection).

At step 1260, the WD creates a measurement report. In some embodiments, when creating the measurement report the WD may add a wireless connection indication to the measurement report, the wireless connection indication indicating the measurement report is associated with the determined appropriate wireless connection.

At step 1270, the WD transmits the measurement report via the appropriate wireless connection. The appropriate connection was the one determined at step 1250.

FIGURE 13 is a flow diagram of an example method, in accordance with certain embodiments. The method may be performed by a UE or a WD. Method 1300 begins at step 1310 with establishing a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency. The user equipment may be the wireless device depicted in FIGURE 3 or the user equipment shown in FIGURE 4. In some embodiments, the first network node may be a network node shown in FIGURE 3.

At step 1320, the method 1300 establishes a second connection in a second cell of a second network node using the first frequency. In some embodiments, the second network node may be a network node shown in FIGURE 3. At step 1330, the method 1300 receives, from a network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell. In some embodiments, the cell index may comprise a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment. In some embodiments, the network node may be either the first network node or the second network node. In some embodiments, the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise cell configurations, a signal level, a signal quality, or any conditions suitable to trigger a measurement.

At step 1340, the method 1300 determines whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration. In some embodiments, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is received from a master node or a secondary node; and identifying that the measurement reporting configuration may be associated with the first cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the master node or identifying that the measurement reporting configuration may be associated with the second cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be received via signaling radio bearer (SRB) if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be received via SRB3 directly. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be embedded in SRB 1.

In some embodiments, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise performing a measurement for both the first cell and the second cell; determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report; and identifying that the first cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the first cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report or identifying that the second cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report. In some embodiments, determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the cell conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below an associated threshold in the measurement reporting configuration.

At step 1350, the method 1300 transmits, to the network node, the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the configurations to trigger the measurement report. In some embodiments, the measurement report may comprise cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report. For example, the cell information may be a cell index.

FIGURE 14 is a flow diagram of another example method, in accordance with certain embodiments. The method may be performed by a network node. The network node may be the network node depicted in FIGURES 3 and 4. Method 1400 begins at step 1410 with preparing a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating a first cell or a second cell. In some embodiments, the first cell and the second cell may serve connections with a user equipment using the same frequency. In some embodiments, the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise cell configurations, a signal level, a signal quality, or any conditions suitable to trigger a measurement. In some embodiments, the cell index may comprise a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment. In some embodiments, the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise an associated threshold which triggers the measurement report when a measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below the associated threshold.

At step 1420, the method 1400 transmits, to the user equipment, the measurement reporting configuration for the user equipment to determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report. In some embodiments, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from a master node or a secondary node, and identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the first cell if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the master node or identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the second cell if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be transmitted via signaling radio bearer (SRB) if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be transmitted via SRB3 directly. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be embedded in SRB 1.

At step 1430, the method 1400 receives, from the user equipment, the measurement report of the first cell or the second cell based on the determination. In some embodiments, the measurement report may comprise cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report.

FIGURE 15 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a virtual WD/UE 1500 and a virtual network node/base station in a wireless network (for example, the wireless network shown in FIGURE 3). The apparatuses may be implemented in a wireless device or network node (e.g., wireless device 310 or network node 360 shown in FIGURE 3) respectively. Apparatuses 1500 and 1550 are operable to carry out the example method described with reference to FIGURE 12 and possibly any other processes or methods disclosed herein. It is also to be understood that the method of FIGURE 12 is not necessarily carried out solely by apparatus 1500 or 1550. At least some operations of the method can be performed by one or more other entities.

Virtual Apparatuses 1500 and 1550 may comprise processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein, in several embodiments. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause connection unit 1502, determination unit 1504, transceiver unit 1506, and detection unit 1508 of virtual WD UE 1500 as well as transceiver unit 1552 and processing unit 1554 of Virtual Network Node/Base Station 1550, and any other suitable units of apparatuses 1500 and 1550 to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in FIGURE 15, the connection unit 1502 is configured to establish a first wireless connection using a first frequency and a second wireless connection also using the first frequency. The second wireless connection and first wireless connection both concurrently use the first frequency. The wireless connections may be associated with different cells. That is, the WD may be connected to two different cells using the same first frequency for both connections. This may be considered as intra-frequency dual connection.

Determination unit 1504 is configured to determine an appropriate wireless connection to which to send a measurement report. In some embodiments, determining an appropriate wireless connection to which to send a measurement report may comprise determining that either the first wireless connection or the second wireless connection have fulfilled a measurement triggering condition. That is, whenever the WD detects a triggering event, regardless of whether it is associated with the first or the second wireless connection, the WD then determines an appropriate wireless connection (e.g., whichever wireless connection caused the triggering event may be the appropriate wireless connection). In some embodiments, the WD may use the configuration message received by transceiver unit 1552 to determine the appropriate wireless connection. For example, if the configuration message explicitly identifies a wireless connection for reporting, then that is the appropriate wireless connection. As another example, the WD may determine the appropriate wireless connection based on who sent the configuration message (e.g., if the configuration message was received via the first wireless connection, then the first wireless connection is the appropriate wireless connection). Determination unit 1504 may also be configured to create a measurement report. In some embodiments, when creating the measurement report the WD may add a wireless connection indication to the measurement report, the wireless connection indication indicating the measurement report is associated with the determined appropriate wireless connection.

The transceiver unit 1506 is configured to receive a configuration message. The configuration message may, in some embodiments, specify which of the first or second wireless connections is the appropriate wireless connection. The configuration message may be received via the first or the second wireless connection. Transceiver unit 1506 is also configured to transmit the measurement report via the appropriate wireless connection.

The detection unit 1508 is configured to detect a triggering event. The WD may determine the appropriate wireless connection before or after a triggering event occurs. The triggering event can be any of a variety of different events which trigger the sending of a measurement report. The triggering event may arise with respect to either the first or the second wireless connection. In some embodiments, the WD may only be monitoring one of the wireless connections to detect a triggering event. The monitored wireless connection may be based on information associated with the configuration message.

The transceiver unit 1552 is configured to establish, with a wireless device, a first wireless connection. The WD will concurrently use the first wireless connection and a second wireless connection. Both wireless connections use the first frequency. Transceiver unit 1552 is also configured to receive a measurement report from the wireless device. Transceiver unit 1552 may be further configured to send a configuration message to the wireless device. The configuration message may comprise an indication of which wireless signal the wireless device should use for the measurement report.

The processing unit 1554 is configured to process the measurement report. In some embodiments, processing the measurement report comprises determining whether the measurement report needs to be forwarded to a second network node based on which wireless connection the measurement report is associated with. In some embodiments the measurement report comprises an indication of which wireless connection the measurement report is associated. In such embodiments, determining whether the measurement repot needs to be forwarded is based on the indication in the measurement report.

FIGURE 16 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary user equipment 1600, in accordance with certain embodiments. The user equipment 1600 may be used in a wireless network, e.g. the wireless network 306 shown in FIGURE 3. In certain embodiments, the user equipment 1600 may be implemented in a wireless device 310 shown in FIGURE 3. The user equipment 1600 is operable to carry out the example method described with reference to FIGURE 13 and possibly any other processes or methods disclosed herein. It is also to be understood that the method in FIGURE 13 are not necessarily carried out solely by user equipment 1600. At least some operations of the method can be performed by one or more other entities. User equipment 1600 may comprise processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of user equipment 1600 may be the processing circuitry 320 shown in FIGURE 3. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of user equipment 1600 may be the processor 401 shown in FIGURE 4. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory 415 shown in FIGURE 4, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein, in several embodiments. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause establishing unit 1610, receiving unit 1620, determining unit 1630, and transmitting unit 1640, and any other suitable units of user equipment 1600 to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, such as a transmitter, a processor, and a receiver.

As illustrated in FIGURE 16, user equipment 1600 includes the establishing unit 1610, the receiving unit 1620, the determining unit 1630, and the transmitting unit 1640. The establishing unit 1610 may be configured to establish a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency.

The establishing unit 1610 may be configured to further establish a second connection in a second cell of a second network node using the first frequency.

The receiving unit 1620 may be configured to receive, from a network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell. In some embodiments, the cell index may comprise a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment. In some embodiments, the network node may be either the first network node or the second network node. In some embodiments, the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise cell configurations, a signal level, a signal quality, or any conditions suitable to trigger a measurement.

The determining unit 1630 may be configured to determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration. In some embodiments, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is received from a master node or a secondary node; and identifying that the measurement reporting configuration may be associated with the first cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the master node, and identifying that the measurement reporting configuration may be associated with the second cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be received via signaling radio bearer (SRB) if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be received via SRB3 directly. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be embedded in SRB1.

In some embodiments, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise performing a measurement for both the first cell and the second cell; determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report; and identifying that the first cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the first cell fulfills the conditions to trigger a measurement report and identifying that the second cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger a measurement report. In some embodiments, determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below an associated threshold in the measurement reporting configuration.

The transmitting unit 1640 may be configured to transmit, to the network node, the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report. In some embodiments, the measurement report may comprise cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report. For example, the cell information may be a cell index.

FIGURE 17 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary network node 1700 in a wireless network, in accordance with certain embodiments. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be the wireless network 306 shown in FIGURE 3. The network node may be implemented in a wireless device (e.g., wireless device 310 shown in FIGURE 3). The network node 1700 is operable to carry out the example method described with reference to FIGURE 14 and possibly any other processes or methods disclosed herein. It is also to be understood that the method of FIGURE 14 is not necessarily carried out solely by the network node 1700. At least some operations of the method can be performed by one or more other entities. Network node 1700 may comprise processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the network node 1700 may be the processing circuitry 370 shown in FIGURE 3. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein, in several embodiments. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause preparing unit 1710, transmitting unit 1720, and receiving unit 1730, and any other suitable units of network node 1700 to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, such as a processor, a receiver, and a transmitter.

As illustrated in FIGURE 17, network node 1700 includes the preparing unit 1710, the transmitting unit 1720, and the receiving unit 1730. The preparing unit 1710 may be configured to prepare a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating a first cell or a second cell. In some embodiments, the first cell and the second cell may serve connections with a user equipment using the same frequency. In some embodiments, the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise cell configurations, a signal level, a signal quality, or any conditions suitable to trigger a measurement. In some embodiments, the cell index may comprise a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment. In some embodiments, the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise an associated threshold which triggers the measurement report when a measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below the associated threshold. The transmitting unit 1720 may be configured to transmit, to the user equipment, the measurement reporting configuration for the user equipment to determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report. In some embodiments, determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report may comprise determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from a master node or a secondary node, and identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the first cell if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the master node or identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the second cell if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be transmitted via signaling radio bearer (SRB) if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the secondary node. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be transmitted via SRB 3 directly. In some embodiments, the measurement reporting configuration may be embedded in SRB 1.

The receiving unit 1730 may be configured to receive, from the user equipment, the measurement report of the first cell or the second cell based on the determination. In some embodiments, the measurement report may comprise cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report.

The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, receivers, transmitters, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.

According to various embodiments, an advantage of features herein is that including cell information in a configuration report to indicate a specific cell that the configuration report is referring to, so that the UE may determine whether the specific cell needs to be reported, and further, perform a measurement only for the specific cell to eliminate redundant operations in network. Therefore, the enhanced configuration report disclosed herein improves the performance of network.

While processes in the figures may show a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that such order is exemplary (e.g., alternative embodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).

While the invention has been described in terms of several embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

Claims

1. A method (1300) for performing and reporting measurements for intra-frequency dual connectivity at a user equipment, comprising:

establishing a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency (1310);

establishing a second connection in a second cell of a second network node using the first frequency (1320);

receiving, from at least one of the first network node and the second network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell (1330);

determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration (1340); and

transmitting, to the at least one of the first network node and the second network node, the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report (1350).

2. The method (1300) according to Claim 1, wherein determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises:

determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is received from a master node or a secondary node; and

identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the first cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the master node; and

identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the second cell if the measurement reporting configuration is received from the secondary node.

3. The method (1300) according to Claim 1, wherein determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises:

performing a measurement for both the first cell and the second cell;

determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report; and

identifying that the first cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the first cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report; and

identifying that the second cell in the measurement reporting configuration if the measurement of the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report.

4. The method (1300) according to any one of preceding claims, wherein the cell index comprises a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment.

5. The method (1300) according to Claim 3, wherein determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below an associated threshold in the measurement reporting configuration.

6. The method (1300) according to any one of preceding claims, wherein the measurement report comprises cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report.

7. A user equipment (400) for performing and reporting measurements for intra- frequency dual connectivity, comprising:

at least one processing circuitry (401); and

at least one storage that stores processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, causes a user equipment (400) to:

establish a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency (1310);

receive, from at least one of the first network node (360) and the second network node (360), a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell (1330); determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration (1340); and transmit, to the at least one of the first network node (360) and the second network node (360), the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report (1350).

8. The user equipment (400) according to Claim 7, wherein determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises: determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is received from a master node or a secondary node; and

9. The user equipment (400) according to Claim 7, wherein determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises: performing a measurement for both the first cell and the second cell;

10. The user equipment (400) according to any one of Claims 7 to 9, wherein the cell index comprises a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment.

11. The user equipment (400) according to Claim 9, wherein determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises determining whether the measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below an associated threshold in the measurement reporting configuration.

12. The user equipment (400) according to any one of Claims 7 to 11, wherein the measurement report comprises cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report.

13. A method (1400) for performing and reporting measurements for intra-frequency dual connectivity at a network node, comprising:

preparing, at a network node, a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating a first cell or a second cell (1410), wherein the first cell and the second cell are serving connections with a user equipment using a first frequency;

transmitting, to the user equipment, the measurement reporting configuration for the user equipment to determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report (1420); and

receiving, from the user equipment, the measurement report of the first cell or the second cell based on the determination (1430).

14. The method (1400) according to Claim 13, wherein determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises:

determining whether the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from a master node or a secondary node; and

identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the first cell if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the master node; and

identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the second cell if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the secondary node.

15. The method (1400) according to Claim 13 or 14, wherein the cell index comprises a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment.

16. The method (1400) according to any one of Claims 13 to 15, wherein the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprise an associated threshold which triggers the measurement report when a measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below the associated threshold.

17. The method (1400) according to any one of Claims 13 to 16, wherein the measurement report comprises cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report.

18. A network node (360) for performing and reporting measurements for intra- frequency dual connectivity, comprising:

at least one processing circuitry (370); and

at least one storage that stores processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, causes a network node (360) to:

prepare a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating a first cell or a second cell (1410), wherein the first cell and the second cell are serving connections with a user equipment (400) using a first frequency; and

transmit, to the user equipment (400), the measurement reporting configuration for the user equipment (400) to determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report (1420); and

receive, from the user equipment (400), the measurement report of the first cell or the second cell based on the determination (1430).

19. The network node (360) according to Claim 18, wherein determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprises: determining whether measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from a master node or a secondary node; and

identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the first cell requires the measurement report if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the master node; and

identifying that the measurement reporting configuration is associated with the second cell requires the measurement report if the measurement reporting configuration is transmitted from the secondary node.

20. The network node (360) according to Claim 18 or 19, wherein the cell index comprises a cell identifier indicating a cell which is serving the user equipment.

21. The network node (360) according to any one of Claims 18 to 20, wherein the conditions to trigger the measurement report comprise an associated threshold which triggers the measurement report when a measurement of the first cell or the second cell is above or below the associated threshold.

22. The network node (360) according to any one of Claims 18 to 21, wherein the measurement report comprises cell information indicating which cell triggered the measurement report.

23. A communication system for performing and reporting measurements for intra- frequency dual connectivity, comprising at least one network node (360) and at least one user equipment (400):

a user equipment (400) comprising at least one processing circuitry (401) configured to: establish a first connection in a first cell of a first network node using a first frequency (1310);

at least one of the first network node (360) and the second network node (360) comprising at least one processing circuitry (370) configured to:

prepare a measurement reporting configuration including conditions to trigger a measurement report and a cell index indicating the first cell or the second cell (1410); and

transmit, to a user equipment (400), the measurement reporting configuration for the user equipment to determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report (1420); and

the user equipment (400) further configured to:

receive, from the at least one of the first network node (360) and the second network node (360), the measurement reporting configuration (1330);

determine whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report based on the measurement reporting configuration (1340); and transmit, to the at least one of the first network node (360) and the second network node (360), the measurement report in response to determining whether the first cell or the second cell fulfills the conditions to trigger the measurement report (1350).