WO2020122797A1 - Conditional mobility - Google Patents

Conditional mobility Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020122797A1
WO2020122797A1 PCT/SE2019/051257 SE2019051257W WO2020122797A1 WO 2020122797 A1 WO2020122797 A1 WO 2020122797A1 SE 2019051257 W SE2019051257 W SE 2019051257W WO 2020122797 A1 WO2020122797 A1 WO 2020122797A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
network node
conditional
node
message
mobility procedures
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PCT/SE2019/051257
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Icaro L. J. Da Silva
Cecilia EKLÖF
Johan Rune
Patrik Rugeland
Julien Muller
Sofia EK
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Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
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Publication of WO2020122797A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020122797A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0055—Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link
    • H04W36/0064—Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link of control information between different access points
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0083—Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
    • H04W36/00838—Resource reservation for handover

Definitions

  • Examples of the present disclosure relate to conditional mobility.
  • An RRC_CONNECTED wireless device (or UE) in LTE can be configured by the network to perform measurements and, upon triggering measurement reports the network may send a handover command to the UE (in LTE an RRConnectionReconfiguration with a field called mobilityControllnfo and in New Radio, NR, an RRCRecon figuration with a reconfiguration With Sync field) .
  • reconfigurations are prepared by the target cell upon a request from the source node (over X2 or S1 interface in case of EUTRA-EPC or Xn or NG interface in case of EUTRA- 5GC or NR) and takes into account the existing RRC configuration the UE has with the source cell (which is provided in the inter-node request).
  • that reconfiguration provided by target contains all information the UE needs to access the target cell, e.g., random access configuration, a new C-RNTI assigned by the target cell and security parameters enabling the UE to calculate new security keys associated to the target cell so the UE can send a handover complete message on SRB1 (encrypted and integrity protected) based on new security keys upon accessing the target cell.
  • Figure 1 summarizes the flow signalling 100 between UE, source node (which in this example is a gNB) and target node (which in this example is also a gNB) during a handover procedure.
  • user data is exchanged between UE and source gNB, and between source gNB and UPF(s).
  • Steps 0-5 of Figure 1 are a handover preparation stage.
  • Mobility Control Information is provided by AMF to source gNB.
  • measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB.
  • the source gNB makes a handover (HO) decision.
  • source gNB sends a handover request to a target gNB.
  • target gNB performs admission control.
  • target gNB sends a HO request acknowledge to source gNB.
  • Steps 6-8 are a handover execution stage.
  • Uu handover trigger information is exchanged between UE and source gNB.
  • the UE detaches from the old cell and synchronises to the new cell.
  • source gNB sends SN status transfer to target gNB, and delivers buffered and in transit user data to target gNB.
  • the source gNB may also forward user data to target gNB.
  • the target gNB buffers user data from source gNB.
  • the UE synchronises to the new cell (target gNB) and completed RRC HO procedure.
  • User data may then be exchanged between UE and target gNB.
  • User data may be forwarded from target gNB to User Plane Function(s).
  • Steps 9-12 are a handover completion stage.
  • target gNB sends a path switch request to AMF.
  • AMF and UPF(s) exchange path switch related 5G CN internal signalling and actual DL path switch is performed in UPF(s).
  • User data may then be exchanged between target gNB and UPF(s).
  • AMF returns a path switch request acknowledgment to the target gNB.
  • target gNB sends a UE context release to source gNB.
  • Mobility in RRC_CONNECTED is network-based as the network has best information regarding current situation such as load conditions, resources in different nodes, available frequencies, etc.
  • the network can also consider the situation of many UEs in the network, for a resource allocation perspective.
  • Network prepares a target cell before the UE accesses that cell.
  • Source provides UE with the RRC configuration to be used in the target cell, including SRB1 configuration to send HO complete.
  • UE is provided by target with a target C-RNTI i.e. target identifies UE from MSG.3 on MAC level for the HO complete message. Hence, there is no context fetching, unless a failure occurs.
  • network provides needed information on how to access the target e.g. RACH configuration, so the UE does not have to acquire SI prior to the handover.
  • UE may be provided with CFRA resources, i.e. in that case target identifies the UE from the preamble (MSG.1).
  • target identifies the UE from the preamble (MSG.1).
  • MSG.1 preamble
  • whch whch is defined below, that might be difficult as there may be uncertainty about the final target but also the timing.
  • HO Command RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControllnfo and RRCReconfiguration with a reconfigurationWithSync field
  • HO Command is normally sent when the radio conditions for the UE are already quite bad. This may lead to that the HO Command may not reach the UE in time (e.g. successfully) if the message is segmented or there are retransmissions.
  • condition handover or“early handover command”.
  • RRC signaling for the handover to the UE earlier should be provided.
  • the UE executes the handover in accordance with the provided handover command.
  • Such a condition could e.g. be that the quality of the target cell or beam becomes X dB stronger than the serving cell.
  • the threshold Y used in a preceding measurement reporting event should then be chosen lower than the one in the handover execution condition. This allows the serving cell to prepare the handover upon reception of an early measurement report and to provide the RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControllnfo (LTE) or RRCReconfiguration with a reconfigurationWithSync (NR) at a time when the radio link between the source cell and the UE is still stable.
  • the execution of the handover is done at a later point in time (and threshold) which is considered optimal for the handover execution.
  • FIG. 2 depicts an example 200 with a serving cell (in this case a serving gNB) and a target cell (in this case a target gNB).
  • a serving cell in this case a serving gNB
  • a target cell in this case a target gNB
  • the network should then have the freedom to issue conditional handover commands for several of those candidates.
  • the RRCConnectionReconfiguration for each of those candidates may differ e.g. in terms of the HO execution condition (RS to measure and threshold to exceed) as well as in terms of the RA preamble to be sent when a condition is met.
  • serving gNB may exchange user plane (UP) data with the UE.
  • UP user plane
  • step 1 the UE sends a measurement report with“low” threshold to serving gNB.
  • the serving gNB makes a HO decision based on this early report.
  • step 2 the serving gNB sends an early HO request to a target gNB.
  • the target gNB accepts the HO request and builds a RRC configuration.
  • the target gNB returns a HO request acknowledgment including the RRC configuration to the serving gNB in step 3.
  • step 4 a conditional HO command with“high” threshold is sent to the UE.
  • measurements by the UE may fulfil the HO condition of the conditional HO command.
  • the UE thus triggers the pending conditional handover.
  • the UE performs synchronization and random access with the target gNB in step 5, and HO confirm is exchanged in step 6.
  • target gNB infoms serving gNB that HO is completed.
  • the target gNB may then exchange user plane (UP) data with the UE.
  • UP user plane
  • Resume triggered by CHO Some examples may rely on context fetching, where a condition is also provided to the UE and, upon the fulfillment of the condition, the UE executes a RRC Resume procedure.
  • This may for example comprise a method executed by a UE in RRC connected mode, the method comprising:
  • serving gNB may exchange user plane (UP) data with the UE.
  • the UE sends a measurement report with“low” threshold to serving gNB.
  • the serving gNB makes a HO decision based on this early report.
  • the serving gNB sends an early HO request to a target gNB.
  • the target gNB accepts the HO request.
  • the target gNB returns a HO request acknowledgement to the serving gNB in step 3.
  • step 4 a conditional HO command with“high” threshold is sent to the UE. Subsequently, measurements by the UE may fulfil the HO condition of the conditional HO command. The UE thus triggers the pending conditional handover.
  • the UE performs synchronization and random access with the target gNB in step 5, and in step 6 sends a RRCConnectionResumeRequest message to the target gNB. The target gNB may then exchange user plane data with the UE.
  • conditional handover and conditional resume may be considered as conditional mobility procedure.
  • HandoverPreparationlnformation In NR and LTE, two inter-node messages are typically used: HandoverPreparationlnformation and HandoverCommand.
  • the source node decides to handover the UE, the source node provides the target node with some information in the HandoverPreparationlnformation message that enables the target node to prepare an RRCReconfiguration (provided in the HandoverCommand) to be used in target upon handover execution.
  • RRCReconfiguration provided in the HandoverCommand
  • This message is used to transfer the NR RRC information used by the target gNB during handover preparation, including UE capability information.
  • HandoverPreparationlnformation-IEs spare3 NULL, spare2 NULL, sparel NULL
  • RRM-Config SEQUENCE ⁇
  • This message is used to transfer the handover command as generated by the target gNB.
  • This function allows the exchange of information between source and target NG-RAN nodes in order to initiate the handover of a certain UE to the target.
  • This function allows informing an already prepared target NG-RAN node that a prepared handover will not take place. It allows releasing the resources allocated during a preparation.
  • the source NG-RAN node initiates the procedure by sending the HANDOVER REQUEST message to the target NG-RAN node.
  • the source NG-RAN node sends the HANDOVER REQUEST message, it shall start the timer TXn REL ocp rep.
  • the target NG-RAN node shall prepare the configuration of the AS security relation between the UE and the target NG-RAN node by using the information in the UE Security Capabilities IE and the AS Security Information IE in the UE Context Information IE, as specified in TS 33.501 [28]
  • the target NG-RAN node shall send the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message to the source NG-RAN node.
  • the message shall contain the Cause IE with an appropriate value.
  • the source NG-RAN node should cancel the Handover Preparation procedure towards the target NG-RAN node by initiating the Handover Cancel procedure with the appropriate value for the Cause IE.
  • the source NG-RAN node shall ignore any HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE or HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message received after the initiation of the Handover Cancel procedure and remove any reference and release any resources related to the concerned Xn UE-associated signalling. 8.2.1.4 Abnormal Conditions
  • the NG-RAN node shall reject the procedure using the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message.
  • the NG-RAN node shall reject the procedure using the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message.
  • the Handover Cancel procedure is used to enable a source NG-RAN node to cancel an ongoing handover preparation or an already prepared handover.
  • the procedure uses UE-associated signalling.
  • the source NG-RAN node initiates the procedure by sending the HANDOVER CANCEL message to the target NG-RAN node.
  • the source NG-RAN node shall indicate the reason for cancelling the handover by means of an appropriate cause value.
  • the target NG-RAN node shall ignore the message.
  • the inter-node preparation procedure for handover is described above. Below we describe the inter-node procedures at mobility execution, in particular the inter-node steps that follows after a handover execution i.e. upon the reception of the handover complete message at the target node (e.g. RRCReconfigurationComplete).
  • a gNB or a gNodeB in NR triggers a Path Switch Request procedure by transiting a PATH SWITCH REQUEST towards the AMF, as shown below:
  • Path Switch Request procedure The purpose of the Path Switch Request procedure is to request the switch of a downlink GTP tunnel towards a new GTP tunnel endpoint.
  • the NG-RAN node initiates the procedure by sending the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message to the AMF.
  • the AMF shall send the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the NG-RAN node and the procedure ends.
  • the list of accepted QoS flows shall be included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message within the Path Switch Request Transfer IE.
  • the SMF shall handle this information as specified in TS 23.502 [10].
  • the list of PDU sessions which failed to be setup, if any, shall be included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message within the Path Switch Request Setup Failed Transfer IE.
  • the AMF shall handle this information as specified in TS 23.502 [10]
  • the SMF For each PDU session for which the User Plane Security Information IE is included in the Path Switch Request Transfer IE of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message, the SMF shall behave as specified in TS 33.501 [13] and may send back the Security Indication IE within the Path Switch Request Acknowledge Transfer IE of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message. If the Security Indication IE is included within the Path Switch Request Acknowledge Transfer IE of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall behave as specified in TS 33.501 [13]
  • the NG-RAN node shall store this information and use it as the uplink termination point for the user plane data for this PDU session.
  • the NG-RAN node shall, if supported, store this information in the UE context and use it for e.g. the RRCJN ACTIVE state decision and RNA configuration for the UE and RAN paging if any for a UE in RRCJNACTIVE state, as specified in TS 38.300 [8]
  • the NG-RAN node shall, if supported, store this information in the UE context and
  • the NG-RAN node shall use the information as specified in TS 33.501 [13]
  • the NG-RAN node Upon reception of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message the NG- RAN node shall store the received Security Context IE in the UE context and the NG-RAN node shall use it as specified in TS 33.501 [13] If the UE Security Capabilities IE is included in the PATH SWITCH RECUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall handle it accordingly (TS 33.501 [13]).
  • the NG-RAN node shall release the corresponding CoS flows and regard the PDU session(s) indicated in the PDU Session Resource Released List IE as being released.
  • the appropriate cause value for each PDU session released is included in the Path Switch Request Unsuccessful Transfer IE contained in the PATH SWITCH RECUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message.
  • the target node triggers a UE context release procedure by transmitting a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the source NG-RAN node. That is shown below as described in TS 38.423 V15.1.0:
  • the UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node to indicate to the source NG-RAN node that radio and control plane resources for the associated UE context are allowed to be released.
  • the procedure uses UE-associated signalling.
  • the UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node.
  • the target NG-RAN node informs the source NG-RAN node of Handover success and triggers the release of resources.
  • the source NG-RAN node shall request the AMF to release the UE context.
  • the source NG-RAN node shall stop the TXn REL oc ove r aii and continue to serve the UE.
  • the previously described inter-node procedures standardized for handover may be considered, e.g. the Xn/X2 procedures for handover preparation and the UE Context Release from target NG-RAN node to source NG-RAN node, and the handover cancellation procedure, and the Path Switch Request procedure between target and AMF (or LTE, between target and MME).
  • conditional handover preparation needs to be a one-to-many procedure instead of one-to-one.
  • each target candidate needs to allocate resources for an incoming UE and prepare an RRCReconfiguration according to each potential target candidate’s configuration.
  • the UE when a condition is fulfilled the UE applies the RRCReconfiguration for the selected cell triggering the conditional handover and after synchronizing with the target it transmits an RRCReconfigurationComplete message.
  • the target After the handover completion (including the path switch procedure towards the core network), the target triggers a UE Context Release towards source and the source gNB can then release radio and C-plane related resources associated to the UE context, as described above and in TS 38.300 V15.3.1.
  • Example terminology used herein consists of NR terminology e.g. from TS 38.331 V15.3.0.
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • the equivalent solution would work with an RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControllnfo.
  • Embodiments of this disclosure may be generalized to be applicable to either NR or LTE, or any other wireless communications technology, or combinations of technologies.
  • nodes there may be other nodes (en-gNodeBs, eNodeBs, NG RAN nodes) with cells that were prepared for a potentially incoming conditional handover but were not selected as target cells. These nodes are unaware that the UE performed a handover to another node.
  • target nodes reserves the resources too long unnecessarily, while in reality UEs have already completed the handover (after triggering CHO) towards another cell.
  • Another possible problem is that the target nodes reserves these resources for too short a time, if it thinks that CHO (conditional handover) has already been triggered towards another cell/node while in reality UEs are still monitoring the condition(s). Hence, a UE may try to access a node that has discarded its configuration after some time which will lead to a failure.
  • the handover / conditional handover may be executed much earlier compared to the value the timer might have been set by a target candidate i.e. a target candidate may still suffer from the problem described above where the resources are hold unnecessarily (because in fact, the UE has already performed a handover to another cell/node).
  • Another possible problem is in case a source node has prepared conditional handover configurations in one or more target cells, but the UE fails to complete the conditional handover. When the UE attempts to re-establish the connection, it does so in a node which is unable to retrieve the UE context from the source node. This could for instance happen if the UE is prepared for conditional handover in several cells in NR but loses connectivity and falls back to LTE connected to EPC and the UE context cannot be retrieved from the source node.
  • the UE When the UE performs a tracking area update (TAU) or initial attach in the target system (either same or different than the source system), it will include a core network identifier (e.g. GUMMEI) which indicates the source network context.
  • the target core network can then contact the source network to indicate that the UE has moved to that one.
  • the source core network node can then send a message to the source network node (which prepared the conditional handover) to release the UE context.
  • the source core network node has no way to contact the candidate target network nodes of the conditional handover.
  • One aspect of the present disclosure provides a method in a first network node.
  • the method comprises receiving an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, determining, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, and causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • a network node comprising a processor and a memory.
  • the memory contains instructions executable by the processor such that the network node is operable to receive an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, determine, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, and cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • UE User Equipment
  • a further aspect of the present disclosure provides a network node configured to receive an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, determine, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, and cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • UE User Equipment
  • Figure 1 summarizes signalling between a UE, source node and target node during a handover procedure
  • Figure 2 summarizes signalling between a UE, serving node and target node during a conditional handover procedure
  • Figure 3 summarizes signalling between a UE, serving node and target node during a conditional RRC Resume procedure
  • Figure 4 is a flow chart of an example of a method in a first network node
  • Figure 5 is an example of a signaling diagram for an example method, where UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from target to source and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates;
  • Figure 6 is an example of provisional UE Context Release, successful operation for handover
  • Figure 7 is an example of a signaling diagram for an example method, where PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from target to source and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates;
  • Figure 8 is an example of a signaling diagram 900 illustrating this example method, where the target node informs the source node of the completion of the conditional handover;
  • Figure 9 shows an example of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 10 shows an example of a User Equipment (UE) in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 12 shows a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 13 shows a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 14 shows methods implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 15 shows methods implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 16 shows methods implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 17 shows methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 18 illustrates a schematic block diagram of virtualization apparatus in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Hardware implementation may include or encompass, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, a reduced instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital or analogue) circuitry including but not limited to application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC) and/or field programmable gate array(s) (FPGA(s)), and (where appropriate) state machines capable of performing such functions.
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • conditional mobility or“conditional mobility procedure” is used herein to refer to (for example) conditional handover, conditional resume, conditional reconfiguration with sync, conditional reconfiguration, conditional reestablishment, etc.
  • the term should be interpreted fundamentally as any procedure that is configured by network to the UE which contains a condition (e.g. associated to measurement event) and, upon the triggering of that condition the UE shall perform the mobility related procedure e.g. resume, handover, reconfiguration with sync, beam switching, etc.
  • a method is provided at a network node (e.g. a source network node, or a network node associated with a serving cell of a wireless device or UE) that has performed conditional handover preparation for a UE towards one or multiple target node candidates.
  • the method comprises:
  • the second network node sending this message is the target network node where a conditional handover was just executed.
  • the message e.g. confirms the execution of a handover / conditional handover (e.g. an UE CONTEXT RELEASE message upon the reception of an RRCReconfigurationComplete from the UE, possibly after receiving and transmitting the RRCReestablishment and RRCReestablishmentComplete messages);
  • that notification is done by triggering a Handover Cancel procedure i.e. by transmitting a HANDOVER CANCEL message over X2 or Xn interface from source node receiving the notification to all remaining target candidates (i.e. the ones not aware yet that the conditional handover has been executed). Notice that source knows all the target candidates as that is not deleted until that moment (i.e.
  • the method comprises the source maintaining the conditional handover configuration stored, at least the list of cells, at least until that moment). After that message is successfully delivered the source may delete the UE context containing the cells / nodes that were prepared for conditional handover. o In another implementation, that is done by triggering a Handover Cancel procedure via the core network (EPC or 5GC), i.e. by transmitting a
  • the core network node may then transmit a message to all target candidates, e.g. the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAI LURE message indicating that the handover configurations shall be released.
  • Examples disclosed herein include a method at one or multiple target node candidates prepared for conditional handover for UEs from a network node, e.g. the source network node or a core network node, the method comprising:
  • one aspect of the present disclosure provides a method in a first network node.
  • the method comprises determining that a User Equipment (UE), that is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • the method also comprises causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • UE User Equipment
  • Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). For example, resources allocated by target nodes for candidate target cells for conditional handover may efficiently be released (so they may be reused) as fast as they are not needed any longer e.g. when the UE executes a handover / conditional handover in another cell / node or when the network is aware that the UE has failed to execute the conditional handover. Examples disclosed herein may also avoid the risk that a target may have in releasing these allocated resources too early, e.g. before conditional handover is executed.
  • examples of the present disclosure may be more efficient as the resources are not maintained longer than needed.
  • the timer may still be running in the network side in target candidates i.e. the target candidate node is still holding resources for a UE that has already performed a conditional handover in another cell.
  • the resources may be immediately released and reused for other UEs, which may for example lead to a more efficient usage of network resources.
  • Figure 4 is a flow chart of an example of a method 400 in a first network node.
  • the method comprises, in step 402, receiving an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, and at step 404, determining, from the indication, that a User Equipment (UE), that is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures. This may be because for example the UE has completed another of the conditional mobility procedures, or another mobility procedure (e.g.
  • UE User Equipment
  • the method also comprises, in step 406, causing (e.g. instructing, or sending a message to cause) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • resources may for example be released by the at least one further network node, which may be for example candidate target node(s) for the conditional mobility procedure(s), when the associated conditional mobility procedure(s) will not be completed.
  • the first network node may be a node such as a base station or associated with a cell to which the UE may be connected or may have been connected before a mobility procedure (e.g. a conditional mobility procedure), and hence may for example be referred to as a source node.
  • the first network node may be another node, such as a node in a core network.
  • the core network in some examples may be associated with the source node.
  • determining that the UE will not complete the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises receiving an indication that the UE has connected to a second network node.
  • the at least one further network node in some examples comprises the second network node.
  • the message may be received from the second network node, which may in some examples be the target network node for the UE, or may be received from another network node.
  • a core network node such as an Access and Mobility management Function (AMF).
  • AMF Access and Mobility management Function
  • the indication that the UE has connected to the second network node may in some examples be a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message.
  • receiving the indication may comprise receiving the indication before the second network node completes a path switch procedure in response to the UE connecting to the second network node.
  • receiving the indication that the UE has connected to the second network node comprises receiving the indication in response to the UE performing a conditional mobility procedure to connect to the second network node.
  • the conditional mobility procedure may be one of the conditional mobility procedures with which the UE was configured.
  • causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources allocated for the associated conditional mobility procedure comprises sending at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources.
  • Sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures may in some examples comprise sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • Sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures may in some examples comprise sending at least one HANDOVER CANCEL message and/or at least one UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • the at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures indicates that the UE has performed one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • the recipient(s) of the message(s) e.g. the at least one further network node associated with the conditional mobility procedure(s) that will not be carried out
  • the message may include an indication that the procedure(s) will not be carried out by the UE for another reason.
  • each of the conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node comprises a conditional mobility procedure for the UE to connect to a respective one of the at least one further network node. That is, for example, a conditional mobility procedure associated with a further network node is a procedure that is carried out by the UE to connect to the further network node once the condition is met. The condition may be for example monitored by the UE, and so the UE may in some examples make the decision to carry out the mobility procedure (e.g. handover) to connect to the further network node (e.g. target node).
  • the mobility procedure e.g. handover
  • the method comprises configuring the UE with the conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node before the determining.
  • the configuring may comprise, for example, sending configuration information to the UE, where the configuration information may be received from the at least one further network node.
  • the configuring may be done in response to an event in some examples.
  • the UE may trigger and send a communication such as a measurement report (e.g. to the first network node), for example if radio conditions for the node it is currently connected to (which may be the first network node) become unfavourable, and/or if one or more neighbor nodes or cells become favourable or more favourable.
  • the method comprises comprising sending, before the determining, at least one message to the at least one further network node to cause the at least one further network node to allocate the resources for the associated conditional mobility procedures. This may be for example a part of a configuration procedure that configures both the UE and the candidate target cell(s) (further network node(s)) for the conditional mobility procedure(s).
  • sending, before the determining, the at least one message to the at least one further network node is performed in response to a measurement report from the UE.
  • the configuration in each further network node is associated with an expiry timer.
  • the configuration may be deleted in the further network node and the associated resources released, as it is assumed that the UE will not complete the associated conditional mobility procedure.
  • the first network node determines that the UE will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, it may use the expiry timer(s) to determine whether to send a message to the associated further network node(s) to cause a release of the resources. If the timer for one or more of the further network node(s) has expired or will expire within a predetermined or short period of time, it may be beneficial (e.g. to reduce network node) not to send the message, and to let the associated timer expire instead (if it has not yet already expired).
  • conditional mobility procedures each comprise a conditional handover, conditional resume, conditional reconfiguration with sync, conditional reconfiguration or conditional reestablishment.
  • any conditional procedure that causes the UE to connect to the second network node may be considered to be a conditional mobility procedure.
  • a conditional mobility procedure is a procedure that is carried out by the UE to connect to a target node or cell when the condition is met, e.g. as determined or measured by the UE.
  • the condition may be for example related to signal strength and/or quality of a signal received at the UE, either in absolute terms or relative to another signal.
  • the method is performed by a base station, and thus for example the first network node may be a base station. Additionally or alternatively, each of the first network node and the at least one further network node comprises a base station and/or is associated with at least one respective cell. In some examples, the at least one further network node comprises a plurality of further network nodes. Additional specific example embodiments will now be described. In examples disclosed herein, the terms conditional handover (CHO) and conditional mobility/conditional mobility procedure may be used interchangeably.
  • CHO conditional handover
  • conditional mobility/conditional mobility procedure may be used interchangeably.
  • Example methods apply to a conditional mobility configuration associated to a single cell or to multiple cells.
  • Example methods may include a cancelling mechanism triggered by the source node towards the target candidate node(s) and may cancel the following alternatives:
  • conditional handovers for a single UE that has at least one target cell in the target node as a candidate for conditional handover;
  • Intra-RAT Intra-RAT, inter-RAT, NR, LTE and further examples
  • At least some of the UE (and network) actions defined in examples disclosed herein may be described as being performed or may be performed in NR or LTE.
  • the configuration of a conditional HO received in NR and executed in NR may also be applied in other cases, at least for example:
  • UE is configured with a condition HO in NR, then the condition is triggered and UE executes the HO in LTE;
  • UE is configured with a condition HO in LTE, then the condition is triggered and UE executes the HO in NR;
  • UE is configured with a condition HO in RAT-1 , then the condition is triggered and UE executes the HO in RAT-2 (which may be the same as or different to RAT-1).
  • the source network node, the target network node and the target candidate network node(s) for which conditional handover was prepared may each be: - An LTE node, i.e., an eNodeB (in case it is connected to EPC) or a ng-eNodeB (in case it is connected to 5G Core Network);
  • An NR node i.e., a gNodeB (in case it is connected to 5G Core Network);
  • the inter-node procedures described in examples of this disclosure may be between two eNodeBs, an eNodeB and a gNode, two gNodeBs, or any two RAN nodes from the same RAT or different RATs.
  • they may be implemented in the XnAP protocol (in the case of NG-RAN nodes connected to 5GC) or X2AP protocol or both.
  • inter-node procedures and messages may be any of the following:
  • Inter-node intra-RAT intra-system such as NR gNodeBs over Xn;
  • Inter-node intra-RAT intra-system such as ng-eNodeBs over Xn;
  • Inter-node intra-RAT intra-system such as LTE eNodeBs over X2;
  • Inter-node inter-RAT intra-system such as ng-eNodeBs and gNodeBs over Xn;
  • Inter-node inter-RAT inter-system such as E-UTRAN and NG-RAN, i.e. gNodeBs/en- eNodeBs and eNodeBs over NG and S1
  • Example procedures may also comprise solutions involving messages between RAN nodes and core network nodes over NG and S1 interface and between core network nodes from different systems (i.e. between EPC and 5GC) over the N26 interface.
  • the target node where the incoming UE is accessing informs the source node of the completion of the conditional handover by transmitting a message.
  • this message from target (e.g. second network node) to source is the legacy UE CONTEXT RELEASE message, possibly sent after the target node performs the Path Switch procedure towards the core network (or may be performed before the path switch procedure is complete or before it is started).
  • the source node e.g. first network node
  • the source node which is already aware of which other cells (and associated nodes of that cell) have been prepared with conditional configurations for the UE (e.g. at least one further network node)
  • this is done by initiating a Handover Cancel procedure i.e.
  • HANDOVER CANCEL message that may in some examples contain a cause value indicating that a conditional handover has been executed or that the source has decided to reconfigure the UE and that the target candidate may release resources allocated for a particular conditional handover.
  • FIG. 5 is an example of a signaling diagram 500 for this example method, where UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from a target node (in this example, a target gNB) to a source node (in this example, a source gNB), and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates.
  • the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED and CM-CONNECTED state.
  • measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB.
  • the source gNB makes a conditional handover preparation decision.
  • Source gNB sends CONDITIONAL HANDOVER REQUST to candidate gNB A, to candidate gNB B in step 3b, and candidate gNB C in step 3c.
  • the candidate gNBs A, B and C respectively perform admission control.
  • each candidate gNB A, B and C respectively sends a CONDITIONAL HANDOVER RESPONSE message to the source gNB.
  • the source gNB then stores the conditional handover configuration(s) e.g. list of target candidate cells and nodes.
  • source gNB sends RRCConditionalReconfiguration message to the UE.
  • step 7a conditional handover is triggered in the UE, and in step 7b, the UE applies a RRCReconfiguration associated to a triggered cell, which in this example is gNB B.
  • step 7c UE releases RRCReconfiguration(s) associated to cells other than the triggered cell, e.g. in gNBs A and C.
  • step 8 the UE sends a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to candidate gNB B.
  • step 9 gNB B optionally sends a data forwarding address indication to source gNB, and in step 10 gNB B sends a path switch request to AMF.
  • the AMF in step 11 returns a path switch request response to gNB B, and in step 12 gNB B sends UE context release to source gNB.
  • source gNB sends HANDOVER CANCEL message to candidate gNB A and B respectively, which each then releases conditional handover resources and configuration(s), e.g. associated with the conditional handover requests in steps 3a and 3c.
  • the source gNB then deletes the conditional handover configuration(s).
  • the message from target to source to indicate that conditional handover (CHO) or handover (HO) is executed in target (and to indicate that source should release CHO resources in other candidates), is a new message (e.g. PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE).
  • This new message may be transmitted even before the path switch is finished. In that case, in some examples, data forward, if configured, will not be stopped, so the new message would mainly be used for enabling source to release the target candidate resources, while data forwarding is only stopped upon the reception of the UE context release from the target.
  • the source node e.g. first network node
  • the source node which is already aware of which other cell(s) (and associated nodes of that cell) have been prepared with conditional configurations for the UE (because in some examples the source node has performed, triggered or instructed those preparations)
  • this is done by initiating a Handover Cancel procedure i.e. by transmitting a HANDOVER CANCEL message that may contain a cause value indicating that a conditional handover has been executed or that the source has decided to reconfigure the UE and that the target candidate may release resources allocated for a particular conditional handover.
  • the Provisional UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node to indicate to the source NG-RAN node that radio and control plane resources for the associated UE context are allowed to be released for the candidate nodes.
  • the procedure uses UE-associated signalling.
  • Figure 8.2.X.2-1 [shown herein as Figure 6]: Provisional UE Context Release, successful operation for handover
  • the Provisional UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node.
  • the target NG-RAN node informs the source NG-RAN node that the UE has successfully attached and that it can trigger the release of resources in the candidate nodes.
  • This message is sent by the target NG-RAN node to the source NG-RAN node to indicate that resources can be released in the candidate nodes.
  • target NG-RAN node ® source NG-RAN node
  • M-NG-RAN node ® S-NG- RAN node.
  • FIG. 7 is an example of a signaling diagram 700 in an example method where PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from a target node (in this example, a target gNB) to a source node (in this example, a source gNB), and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates.
  • the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED and CM-CONNECTED state.
  • measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB.
  • the source gNB makes a conditional handover preparation decision.
  • Source gNB sends CONDITIONAL HANDOVER REQUST to candidate gNB A, to candidate gNB B in step 3b, and candidate gNB C in step 3c.
  • the candidate gNBs A, B and C respectively perform admission control.
  • each candidate gNB A, B and C respectively sends a CONDITIONAL HANDOVER RESPONSE message to the source gNB.
  • the source gNB then stores the conditional handover configuration(s) e.g. list of target candidate cells and nodes.
  • source gNB sends RRCConditionalReconfiguration message to the UE.
  • step 7a conditional handover is triggered in the UE, and in step 7b, the UE applies a RRCReconfiguration associated to a triggered cell, which in this example is gNB B.
  • step 7c UE releases RRCReconfiguration(s) associated to cells other than the triggered cell, e.g. in gNBs A and C.
  • step 8 the UE sends a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to candidate gNB B.
  • step 9 gNB B sends PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to source gNB.
  • source gNB sends HANDOVER CANCEL message to candidate gNB A and B respectively, which each then releases conditional handover resources and configuration(s), e.g. associated with the conditional handover requests in steps 3a and 3c.
  • gNB B optionally sends a data forwarding address indication to source gNB, and in step 15 gNB B sends a path switch request to AMF.
  • the AMF in step 16 returns a path switch request response to gNB B, and in step 17 gNB B sends UE context release to source gNB.
  • the source gNB then deletes the conditional handover configuration(s).
  • the target node informs the source node (e.g. a source gNB) of the completion of the conditional handover by transmitting e.g. the inter node message UE CONTEXT RELEASE message.
  • the source node which is already aware of which other cells have been prepared with conditional configurations for the UE, can then instruct the other candidate target nodes to release the UE contexts by sending e.g. the UE CONTEXT RELEASE.
  • Figure 8 is an example of a signaling diagram 800 illustrating this example method. In the signaling diagram 800, initially, the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED and CM-CONNECTED state.
  • step 1 measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB.
  • step 2 the source gNB makes a conditional handover preparation decision.
  • Source gNB sends CONDITIONAL HANDOVER REQUST to candidate gNB A, to candidate gNB B in step 3b, and candidate gNB C in step 3c.
  • steps 4a, 4b and 4c the candidate gNBs A, B and C respectively perform admission control.
  • steps 5a, 5b and 5c each candidate gNB A, B and C respectively sends a CONDITIONAL HANDOVER RESPONSE message to the source gNB.
  • step 6 source gNB sends RRCConditionalReconfiguration message to the UE.
  • step 7a conditional handover is triggered in the UE, and in step 7b, the UE applies a RRCReconfiguration associated to a triggered cell, which in this example is gNB B.
  • step 7c UE releases RRCReconfiguration(s) associated to cells other than the triggered cell, e.g. in gNBs A and C.
  • step 8 the UE sends a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to candidate gNB B.
  • step 9 gNB B optionally sends a data forwarding address indication to source gNB, and in step 10 gNB B sends a path switch request to AMF.
  • the AMF in step 11 returns a path switch request response to gNB B, and in step 12 gNB B sends UE context release to source gNB.
  • source gNB sends UE CONTEXT RELEASE (Conditional Context) messages to candidate gNB A and C respectively.
  • At least some examples disclosed herein may enable the canceling or the release of resources allocated by target candidate node(s) (e.g. cell(s) or associated with cell(s)) prepared for conditional handover or conditional mobility, in general, when these resources are no longer needed.
  • target candidate node(s) e.g. cell(s) or associated with cell(s)
  • resources allocated by target candidate node(s) e.g. cell(s) or associated with cell(s)
  • Examples disclosed herein may not be limited to that case: e.g. examples disclosed herein may also comprise the application when the UE fails to perform the CHO / handover execution, perform cell selection to another node, that may be prepared or unprepared. In that case, the allocated resources also need to be released, hence, the method is also applicable.
  • the UE may fail to perform the conditional handover (e.g. upon expiry of timer T304, RACH failure, non-compliance with the reconfiguration message, or any other reason for CHO failure or handover failure, or RLF while condition for conditional handover is running) and upon declaring CHO or handover failure, the UE starts to perform cell selection.
  • the UE determines that it can initiate reestablishment in the selected cell (e.g. if the selected cell is in the same core network and/or the same RAT) the UE transmits an reestablishment request like message (e.g. RRCReestablishmentRequest) containing a UE Access Stratum (AS) Context identifier such as the source cell PCI and source cell C-RNTI (which will be referred to hereinafter as PCI+C-RNTI).
  • RRCReestablishmentRequest e.g. RRCReestablishmentRequest
  • AS UE Access Stratum
  • the target node receiving the message may in some examples apply the actions as follows:
  • the target node identifies the UE thanks to the UE AS identifier (PCI + C-RNTI), performs path switch with the core network node / function (e.g. MME, AMF);
  • the target node transmits a UE CONTEXT RELEASE (or equivalent message) to the source node (or a new message indicating the success of the incoming UE, even though it was via reestablishment, where in that case there might be a cause value associated to distinguish from the ordinary handover);
  • the source node upon the reception of that context release like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates.
  • the target node receiving the message may apply in some examples the following:
  • the target node identifies the source node based on the UE AS identifier (PCI + C- RNTI) and performs context fetching request towards the source node.
  • the target node transmits a RETRIEVE UE CONTEXT REQUEST message to the source node.
  • the source node upon the reception of that context request like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates.
  • the UE performs conditional resume by transmitting a resume request like message (e.g. an RRCResumeRequest or RRCResumeRequestl) with at least one allocated l-RNTI (resume identifier containing a node identification).
  • a resume request like message e.g. an RRCResumeRequest or RRCResumeRequestl
  • the target node receiving the message Upon the reception of that resume request like message, if the target node receiving the message is prepared (i.e. if it has been configured by a source node with the UE AS Context) the target node receiving the resume request like message in some examples may apply the following:
  • the target node identifies the UE thanks to the UE AS identifier l-RNTI and performs path switch with the CN node / function (e.g. MME, AMF)
  • the CN node / function e.g. MME, AMF
  • the target node transmits a UE CONTEXT RELEASE to the source node (or a new message indicating the success of the incoming UE, even though it was via reestablishment, where in that case there might be a cause value associated to distinguish from the ordinary handover).
  • the source node upon the reception of that context release like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates.
  • the target node receiving the message may in some examples apply the following:
  • the target node identifies the source node thanks to the UE AS identifier l-RNTI and performs context fetching request towards the source node.
  • the target node transmits a RETRIEVE UE CONTEXT REQUEST message to the source node.
  • the source node upon the reception of that context request like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO or conditional resume configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates.
  • the message from target to source may contain some kind of cause value or indication informing the source what has happened such as reestablishment, resume, conditional handover execution, handover execution, handover failure recovery optimization (when UE does conditional handover after failure anyway, if configuration for selected cell is stored, opportunistically), etc.
  • the source node may have prepared the conditional handover configurations to delete / cancel the conditional handover configurations in the target node candidates, i.e., other triggers than the indication from target that conditional handover, handover or reestablishment was executed.
  • the associated resources may be released in some examples.
  • the source node indicates that the target shall cancel the conditional handover (and perform actions upon as described before such as release allocated resources, delete configurations, stop timers, etc.) when the source performs a reconfiguration to the UE that leads to the UE delete its conditional handover configuration(s) e.g. a handover to a cell, transition to RRCJDLE, etc.
  • the target cell manages a timer indicating for how long resources allocated for conditional handover shall be reserved and conditional handover configuration will be stored.
  • This may be a network based timer or something that is provided to the UE.
  • the timer is started once the resources are reserved by each target candidate.
  • the timer may also be known to the source node. If a validity timer is associated with reserved CHO resources in a candidate target node, where the timer was set by the candidate target node, then the source node may selectively cancel the UE context/CHO in that candidate target node based on the remaining time of the validity of the resources reservation.
  • the source node may request the candidate target node to delete the UE context and release the reserved resources, but if the timer is about to time out in a very short time anyway, the inter-node signaling can be omitted and the UE context can be left to time out in the candidate target node.
  • the source node can selectively cancel the CHO, i.e. request release of UE context and reserved resources, only in those candidate target nodes for which a resource reservation validity timer has a significant time left to expiration.
  • a separate validity timer may be associated with the CHO configuration for each of the prepared cells. In such cases, the validity timer with the longest time remaining would be the basis for the source node's decision of whether to explicitly request cancelation/release of the CHO configuration and reserved resources in the concerned candidate target node.
  • the timer value could in some examples be set so that it expires simultaneously for all prepared cells in all candidate target nodes.
  • the choice of explicit CHO cancellation (through inter-node signaling) or timeout based CHO cancelation would typically result in that the UE either explicitly request CHO cancellation in all the remaining candidate target nodes (i.e. the candidate target nodes in which the CHO was not executed) or let the CHO configuration (i.e. UE context and reserved resources) time out in all the remaining candidate target nodes.
  • the advantage of the examples that consider a selection at the source to cancel the resources in target candidates (by sending a message e.g. handover cancel message) or let the timer in a target candidate expiry, may provide benefits in terms of signaling.
  • the source may not need to send a message i.e. it is a signaling optimization. That is even better if that would have to be send to multiple nodes, in cases where there are multiple candidate nodes.
  • a wireless network such as the example wireless network illustrated in Figure 9.
  • the wireless network of Figure 9 only depicts network QQ106, network nodes QQ160 and QQ160b, and WDs QQ1 10, QQ1 10b, and QQ110c.
  • 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.
  • network node QQ160 and wireless device (WD) QQ1 10 are depicted with additional detail.
  • 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.
  • the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures.
  • 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.
  • GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • WLAN wireless local area network
  • WiMax Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
  • Bluetooth Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.
  • Network QQ106 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.
  • PSTNs public switched telephone networks
  • WANs wide-area networks
  • LANs local area networks
  • WLANs wireless local area networks
  • wired networks wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices.
  • Network node QQ160 and WD QQ110 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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)).
  • APs access points
  • BSs base stations
  • eNBs evolved Node Bs
  • gNBs NR NodeBs
  • 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.
  • RRUs remote radio units
  • RRHs Remote Radio Heads
  • 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).
  • DAS distributed antenna system
  • 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.
  • MSR multi-standard radio
  • RNCs radio network controllers
  • BSCs base station controllers
  • BTSs base transceiver stations
  • transmission points transmission nodes
  • MCEs multi-cell/multicast coordination entities
  • core network nodes e.g., MSCs, MMEs
  • O&M nodes e.g., OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs.
  • 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.
  • network node QQ160 includes processing circuitry QQ170, device readable medium QQ180, interface QQ190, auxiliary equipment QQ184, power source QQ186, power circuitry QQ187, and antenna QQ162.
  • network node QQ160 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 9 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.
  • network node QQ160 may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium QQ180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).
  • network node QQ160 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.
  • network node QQ160 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components)
  • one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes.
  • a single RNC may control multiple NodeB’s.
  • each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node.
  • network node QQ160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs).
  • RATs radio access technologies
  • Network node QQ160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ160, 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 QQ160.
  • Processing circuitry QQ170 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ170 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 QQ160 components, such as device readable medium QQ180, network node QQ160 functionality.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ180 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).
  • SOC system on a chip
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174.
  • radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units
  • processing circuitry QQ170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ180 or memory within processing circuitry QQ170.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ170 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ170 alone or to other components of network node QQ160, but are enjoyed by network node QQ160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
  • Device readable medium QQ180 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 00170.
  • 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
  • Device readable medium QQ180 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 QQ170 and, utilized by network node QQ160.
  • Device readable medium QQ180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry QQ170 and/or any data received via interface QQ190.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 and device readable medium QQ180 may be considered to be integrated.
  • Interface QQ190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node QQ160, network QQ106, and/or WDs QQ1 10. As illustrated, interface QQ190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) QQ194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network QQ106 over a wired connection. Interface QQ190 also includes radio front end circuitry QQ192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna QQ162. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 comprises filters QQ198 and amplifiers QQ196. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may be connected to antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170.
  • Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ198 and/or amplifiers QQ196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ162.
  • antenna QQ162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • the digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ170.
  • the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • network node QQ160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ192, instead, processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • all or some of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 may be considered a part of interface QQ190.
  • interface QQ190 may include one or more ports or terminals QQ194, radio front end circuitry QQ192, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface QQ190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry QQ174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
  • Antenna QQ162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry QQ190 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna QQ162 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
  • a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line.
  • the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as MIMO.
  • antenna QQ162 may be separate from network node QQ160 and may be connectable to network node QQ160 through an interface or port.
  • Antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node QQ160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry QQ187 may receive power from power source QQ186. Power source QQ186 and/or power circuitry QQ187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node QQ160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source QQ186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry QQ187 and/or network node QQ160.
  • network node QQ160 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 QQ187.
  • power source QQ186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry QQ187. 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.
  • network node QQ160 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 9 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.
  • network node QQ160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node QQ160 and to allow output of information from network node QQ160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node QQ160.
  • wireless device refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices.
  • the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE).
  • 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.
  • a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction.
  • 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.
  • VoIP voice over IP
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • 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 (L
  • a WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP 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.
  • D2D device-to-device
  • V2V vehicle-to-vehicle
  • V2I vehicle-to-infrastructure
  • V2X vehicle-to-everything
  • 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.
  • M2M machine-to-machine
  • the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) standard.
  • NB-loT narrow band internet of things
  • 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.).
  • 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.
  • wireless device QQ1 10 includes antenna QQ11 1 , interface QQ114, processing circuitry QQ120, device readable medium QQ130, user interface equipment QQ132, auxiliary equipment QQ134, power source QQ136 and power circuitry QQ137.
  • WD QQ110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD QQ1 10, 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 QQ1 10.
  • Antenna QQ11 1 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface QQ114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna QQ11 1 may be separate from WD QQ1 10 and be connectable to WD QQ110 through an interface or port. Antenna QQ1 1 1 , interface QQ114, and/or processing circuitry QQ120 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 QQ11 1 may be considered an interface.
  • interface QQ114 comprises radio front end circuitry QQ1 12 and antenna QQ11 1.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 comprise one or more filters QQ118 and amplifiers QQ116.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ1 14 is connected to antenna QQ11 1 and processing circuitry QQ120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ11 1 and processing circuitry QQ120.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna QQ1 11.
  • WD QQ1 10 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ1 12; rather, processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ11 1.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ1 12 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ1 18 and/or amplifiers QQ1 16. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ1 11.
  • antenna QQ1 11 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ112.
  • the digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ120.
  • the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • Processing circuitry QQ120 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 QQ1 10 components, such as device readable medium QQ130, WD QQ110 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ130 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126.
  • the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 of WD QQ110 may comprise a SOC.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips.
  • part or all of baseband processing circuitry QQ124 and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 and baseband processing circuitry QQ124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be a part of interface QQ114.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry QQ120.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer- readable storage medium.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ120 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ120 alone or to other components of WD QQ1 10, but are enjoyed by WD QQ1 10 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
  • Processing circuitry QQ120 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 QQ120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, 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 information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, 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 QQ130 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 QQ120.
  • Device readable medium QQ130 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 QQ120.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 and device readable medium QQ130 may be considered to be integrated.
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD QQ1 10. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment QQ132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD QQ1 10. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment QQ132 installed in WD QQ1 10. For example, if WD QQ110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD QQ110 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).
  • usage e.g., the number of gallons used
  • a speaker that provides an audible alert
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment QQ132 is configured to allow input of information into WD QQ1 10, and is connected to processing circuitry QQ120 to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to process the input information. User interface equipment QQ132 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 QQ132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD QQ1 10, and to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to output information from WD QQ110.
  • User interface equipment QQ132 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 QQ132, WD QQ110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.
  • Auxiliary equipment QQ134 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 QQ134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.
  • Power source QQ136 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 QQ110 may further comprise power circuitry QQ137 for delivering power from power source QQ136 to the various parts of WD QQ1 10 which need power from power source QQ136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD QQ110 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 QQ137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source QQ136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source QQ136. Power circuitry QQ137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source QQ136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD QQ110 to which power is supplied.
  • Figure 10 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described 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.
  • 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).
  • 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 QQ2200 may be any UE identified by the 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-loT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.
  • UE QQ200 is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP’s GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards.
  • 3GPP 3 rd Generation Partnership Project
  • the term WD and UE may be used interchangeably. Accordingly, although Figure 10 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.
  • UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface QQ205, radio frequency (RF) interface QQ209, network connection interface QQ211 , memory QQ215 including random access memory (RAM) QQ217, read-only memory (ROM) QQ219, and storage medium QQ221 or the like, communication subsystem QQ231 , power source QQ233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.
  • Storage medium QQ221 includes operating system QQ223, application program QQ225, and data QQ227. In other embodiments, storage medium QQ221 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 10, 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.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data.
  • Processing circuitry QQ201 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.
  • the processing circuitry QQ201 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.
  • input/output interface QQ205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device.
  • UE QQ200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface QQ205.
  • An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device.
  • a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE QQ200.
  • 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 QQ200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface QQ205 to allow a user to capture information into UE QQ200.
  • 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.
  • the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.
  • RF interface QQ209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna.
  • Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network QQ243a.
  • Network QQ243a 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.
  • network QQ243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network.
  • Network connection interface QQ21 1 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 QQ211 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 QQ217 may be configured to interface via bus QQ202 to processing circuitry QQ201 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 QQ219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry QQ201.
  • ROM QQ219 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 QQ221 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.
  • storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include operating system QQ223, application program QQ225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file QQ227.
  • Storage medium QQ221 may store, for use by UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
  • Storage medium QQ221 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.
  • RAID redundant array of independent disks
  • HD-DVD high-density digital versatile disc
  • HDDS holographic digital data storage
  • DIMM synchronous dynamic random access memory
  • SIM/RUIM removable user identity
  • Storage medium QQ221 may allow UE QQ200 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 QQ221 , which may comprise a device readable medium.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with network QQ243b using communication subsystem QQ231.
  • Network QQ243a and network QQ243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks.
  • Communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network QQ243b.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 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 802.11 , CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like.
  • RAN radio access network
  • Each transceiver may include transmitter QQ233 and/or receiver QQ235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter QQ233 and receiver QQ235 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.
  • the communication functions of communication subsystem QQ231 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.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication.
  • Network QQ243b 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.
  • network QQ243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network.
  • Power source QQ213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE QQ200.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus QQ202.
  • any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry QQ201 perform the corresponding functions described herein.
  • the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry QQ201 and communication subsystem QQ231.
  • 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.
  • FIG 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.
  • virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources.
  • 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).
  • a node e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node
  • a device e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device
  • 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 QQ300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes QQ330. 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 QQ320 (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 QQ320 are run in virtualization environment QQ300 which provides hardware QQ330 comprising processing circuitry QQ360 and memory QQ390.
  • Memory QQ390 contains instructions QQ395 executable by processing circuitry QQ360 whereby application QQ320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.
  • Virtualization environment QQ300 comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices QQ330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry QQ360, 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 QQ390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions QQ395 or software executed by processing circuitry QQ360.
  • Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) QQ370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface QQ380.
  • NICs network interface controllers
  • Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media QQ390-2 having stored therein software QQ395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry QQ360.
  • Software QQ395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers QQ350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines QQ340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
  • Virtual machines QQ340 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance QQ320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines QQ340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
  • processing circuitry QQ360 executes software QQ395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer QQ350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM).
  • Virtualization layer QQ350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine QQ340.
  • hardware QQ330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ330 may comprise antenna QQ3225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ330 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) QQ3100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ320.
  • CPE customer premise equipment
  • NFV network function virtualization
  • 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.
  • virtual machine QQ340 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 QQ340, and that part of hardware QQ330 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 QQ340, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).
  • VNE virtual network elements
  • VNF Virtual Network Function
  • one or more radio units QQ3200 that each include one or more transmitters QQ3220 and one or more receivers QQ3210 may be coupled to one or more antennas QQ3225.
  • Radio units QQ3200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes QQ330 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.
  • control system QQ3230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes QQ330 and radio units QQ3200.
  • a communication system includes telecommunication network QQ410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network QQ41 1 , such as a radio access network, and core network QQ414.
  • Access network QQ411 comprises a plurality of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area QQ413a, QQ413b, QQ413c.
  • Each base station QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c is connectable to core network QQ414 over a wired or wireless connection QQ415.
  • a first UE QQ491 located in coverage area QQ413c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station QQ412c.
  • a second UE QQ492 in coverage area QQ413a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station QQ412a. While a plurality of UEs QQ491 , QQ492 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 QQ412.
  • Telecommunication network QQ410 is itself connected to host computer QQ430, 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 QQ430 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 QQ421 and QQ422 between telecommunication network QQ410 and host computer QQ430 may extend directly from core network QQ414 to host computer QQ430 or may go via an optional intermediate network QQ420.
  • Intermediate network QQ420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network QQ420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network QQ420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
  • the communication system of Figure 12 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs QQ491 , QQ492 and host computer QQ430.
  • the connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ450.
  • Host computer QQ430 and the connected UEs QQ491 , QQ492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection QQ450, using access network QQ41 1 , core network QQ414, any intermediate network QQ420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries.
  • OTT connection QQ450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection QQ450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications.
  • base station QQ412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer QQ430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE QQ491.
  • base station QQ412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE QQ491 towards the host computer QQ430.
  • host computer QQ510 comprises hardware QQ515 including communication interface QQ516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500.
  • Host computer QQ510 further comprises processing circuitry QQ518, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities.
  • processing circuitry QQ518 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 QQ510 further comprises software QQ511 , which is stored in or accessible by host computer QQ510 and executable by processing circuitry QQ518.
  • Software QQ511 includes host application QQ512.
  • Host application QQ512 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE QQ530 connecting via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510. In providing the service to the remote user, host application QQ512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection QQ550.
  • Communication system QQ500 further includes base station QQ520 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware QQ525 enabling it to communicate with host computer QQ510 and with UE QQ530.
  • Hardware QQ525 may include communication interface QQ526 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500, as well as radio interface QQ527 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection QQ570 with UE QQ530 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 13) served by base station QQ520.
  • Communication interface QQ526 may be configured to facilitate connection QQ560 to host computer QQ510.
  • Connection 00560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 13) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system.
  • hardware QQ525 of base station QQ520 further includes processing circuitry QQ528, 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 QQ520 further has software QQ521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.
  • Communication system QQ500 further includes UE QQ530 already referred to. Its hardware QQ535 may include radio interface QQ537 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection QQ570 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE QQ530 is currently located. Hardware QQ535 of UE QQ530 further includes processing circuitry QQ538, 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 QQ530 further comprises software QQ531 , which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ530 and executable by processing circuitry QQ538. Software QQ531 includes client application QQ532.
  • Client application QQ532 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE QQ530, with the support of host computer QQ510.
  • an executing host application QQ512 may communicate with the executing client application QQ532 via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510.
  • client application QQ532 may receive request data from host application QQ512 and provide user data in response to the request data.
  • OTT connection QQ550 may transfer both the request data and the user data.
  • Client application QQ532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
  • host computer QQ510, base station QQ520 and UE QQ530 illustrated in Figure 13 may be similar or identical to host computer QQ430, one of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c and one of UEs QQ491 , QQ492 of Figure 12, respectively.
  • the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 13 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 12.
  • OTT connection QQ550 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530 via base station QQ520, 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 QQ530 or from the service provider operating host computer QQ510, or both. While OTT connection QQ550 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 QQ570 between UE QQ530 and base station QQ520 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 QQ530 using OTT connection QQ550, in which wireless connection QQ570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the efficiency of network resource reservation and/or usage.
  • 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.
  • the measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 may be implemented in software QQ511 and hardware QQ515 of host computer QQ510 or in software QQ531 and hardware QQ535 of UE QQ530, or both.
  • sensors may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection QQ550 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 QQ51 1 , QQ531 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities.
  • the reconfiguring of OTT connection QQ550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station QQ520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station QQ520. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art.
  • measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer QQ510’s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like.
  • the measurements may be implemented in that software QQ511 and QQ531 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection QQ550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.
  • FIG 14 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 14 will be included in this section.
  • the host computer provides user data.
  • substep QQ611 (which may be optional) of step QQ610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application.
  • step QQ620 the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE.
  • step QQ630 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.
  • step QQ640 the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.
  • FIG. 15 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 15 will be included in this section.
  • the host computer provides user data.
  • the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application.
  • 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.
  • step QQ730 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.
  • FIG 16 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 16 will be included in this section.
  • step QQ810 the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step QQ820, the UE provides user data.
  • substep QQ821 (which may be optional) of step QQ820, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application.
  • substep QQ811 (which may be optional) of step QQ810, 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 QQ830 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step QQ840 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.
  • FIG 17 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 17 will be included in this section.
  • the base station receives user data from the UE.
  • the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer.
  • step QQ930 (which may be optional)
  • the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.
  • Figure 18 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an apparatus WW00 in a wireless network (for example, the wireless network shown in Figure 9).
  • the apparatus may be implemented in a wireless device or network node (e.g., wireless device QQ110 or network node QQ160 shown in Figure 9).
  • Apparatus WW00 is operable to carry out the example method described with reference to Figure 4 and possibly any other processes or methods disclosed herein. It is also to be understood that the method of Figure 4 is not necessarily carried out solely by apparatus WW00. At least some operations of the method can be performed by one or more other entities.
  • Virtual Apparatus WW00 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.
  • the processing circuitry may be used to cause receiving unit WW02, determining unit WW04, causing unit WW06, and any other suitable units of apparatus WW00 to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
  • apparatus WW00 includes receiving unit WW02 configured to receive an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node.
  • Apparatus WW00 also includes determining unit WW04 configured to determine, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • Apparatus WW00 also includes causing unit WW06 configured to cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • 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, 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.
  • Examples of the present disclosure also include the below enumerated embodiments.
  • a method in a first network node comprising:
  • UE User Equipment
  • determining that the UE will not complete the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises receiving an indication that the UE has connected to a second network node.
  • receiving the indication that the UE has connected to the second network node comprises receiving the indication in response to the UE performing a conditional mobility procedure to connect to the second network node.
  • AMF Access and Mobility management Function
  • causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources allocated for the associated conditional mobility procedure comprises sending at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources.
  • sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises sending at least one HANDOVER CANCEL message and/or at least one UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
  • each of the conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node comprises a conditional mobility procedure for the UE to connect to a respective one of the at least one further network node.
  • sending, before the determining, the at least one message to the at least one further network node is performed in response to a measurement report from the UE. 17.
  • procedures each comprise a conditional handover, conditional resume, conditional reconfiguration with sync, conditional reconfiguration or conditional reestablishment.
  • each of the first network node and the at least one further network node comprises a base station and/or is associated with at least one respective cell.
  • Apparatus comprising:
  • - power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.
  • Apparatus comprising:
  • an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals
  • - radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry
  • processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments;
  • a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply
  • the communication system of embodiment 24 further including the base station.
  • the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data
  • the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client
  • the host computer initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
  • a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to performs the method of any of embodiments 28 to 30.
  • a communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
  • the communication system of embodiment 32 further including the base station.
  • the communication system of any of embodiments 32 to 34 wherein:
  • the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application
  • the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer.
  • 3GPP TS 23.502 "Procedures for the 5G System; Stage 2".
  • 3GPP TS 33.501 "Security architecture and procedures for 5G System”.
  • 3GPP TS 33.501 "Security architecture and procedures for 5G System”.

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Abstract

A method in a first network node is disclosed. The method comprises receiving (402) an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, determining (404), from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, and causing(406) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.

Description

CONDITIONAL MOBILITY
Technical Field
Examples of the present disclosure relate to conditional mobility.
Background
Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.
Mobility in RRC CONNECTED in LTE and NR
An RRC_CONNECTED wireless device (or UE) in LTE (also called EUTRA) can be configured by the network to perform measurements and, upon triggering measurement reports the network may send a handover command to the UE (in LTE an RRConnectionReconfiguration with a field called mobilityControllnfo and in New Radio, NR, an RRCRecon figuration with a reconfiguration With Sync field) .
These reconfigurations are prepared by the target cell upon a request from the source node (over X2 or S1 interface in case of EUTRA-EPC or Xn or NG interface in case of EUTRA- 5GC or NR) and takes into account the existing RRC configuration the UE has with the source cell (which is provided in the inter-node request). Among other parameters, that reconfiguration provided by target contains all information the UE needs to access the target cell, e.g., random access configuration, a new C-RNTI assigned by the target cell and security parameters enabling the UE to calculate new security keys associated to the target cell so the UE can send a handover complete message on SRB1 (encrypted and integrity protected) based on new security keys upon accessing the target cell.
Figure 1 summarizes the flow signalling 100 between UE, source node (which in this example is a gNB) and target node (which in this example is also a gNB) during a handover procedure. Initially, user data is exchanged between UE and source gNB, and between source gNB and UPF(s). Steps 0-5 of Figure 1 are a handover preparation stage. In step 0 of Figure 1 , Mobility Control Information is provided by AMF to source gNB. In step 1 , measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB. In step 2, the source gNB makes a handover (HO) decision. In step 3, source gNB sends a handover request to a target gNB. In step 4, target gNB performs admission control. In step 5, target gNB sends a HO request acknowledge to source gNB. Steps 6-8 are a handover execution stage. In step 6, Uu handover trigger information is exchanged between UE and source gNB. The UE detaches from the old cell and synchronises to the new cell. In step 7, source gNB sends SN status transfer to target gNB, and delivers buffered and in transit user data to target gNB. The source gNB may also forward user data to target gNB. The target gNB buffers user data from source gNB. In step 8, the UE synchronises to the new cell (target gNB) and completed RRC HO procedure. User data may then be exchanged between UE and target gNB. User data may be forwarded from target gNB to User Plane Function(s). Steps 9-12 are a handover completion stage. In step 9, target gNB sends a path switch request to AMF. In step 10, AMF and UPF(s) exchange path switch related 5G CN internal signalling and actual DL path switch is performed in UPF(s). User data may then be exchanged between target gNB and UPF(s). In step 1 1 , AMF returns a path switch request acknowledgment to the target gNB. In step 12, target gNB sends a UE context release to source gNB.
Both in LTE and NR, some principles exist for handovers (or in more general terms, mobility in RRC_CONNECTED):
Mobility in RRC_CONNECTED is network-based as the network has best information regarding current situation such as load conditions, resources in different nodes, available frequencies, etc. The network can also consider the situation of many UEs in the network, for a resource allocation perspective.
Network prepares a target cell before the UE accesses that cell. Source provides UE with the RRC configuration to be used in the target cell, including SRB1 configuration to send HO complete. UE is provided by target with a target C-RNTI i.e. target identifies UE from MSG.3 on MAC level for the HO complete message. Hence, there is no context fetching, unless a failure occurs.
To speed up the handover, network provides needed information on how to access the target e.g. RACH configuration, so the UE does not have to acquire SI prior to the handover.
UE may be provided with CFRA resources, i.e. in that case target identifies the UE from the preamble (MSG.1). The principle behind this is that the procedure can always be optimized with dedicated resources. In conditional handover (CHO), whch is defined below, that might be difficult as there may be uncertainty about the final target but also the timing.
Security is prepared before the UE accesses the target cell i.e. Keys must be refreshed before sending RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete message, based on new keys and encrypted and integrity protected so UE can be verified in target cell.
Both full and delta reconfiguration are supported so that the size of the HO command can be minimized.
Mobility robustness Work Item in Rel-16 for LTE and NR and Conditional Handover
Two new work items for mobility enhancements in LTE and NR have started in 3GPP in release 16. The main objectives of the work items are to improve the robustness at handover and to decrease the interruption time at handover.
One problem related to robustness at handover is that the HO Command (RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControllnfo and RRCReconfiguration with a reconfigurationWithSync field) is normally sent when the radio conditions for the UE are already quite bad. This may lead to that the HO Command may not reach the UE in time (e.g. successfully) if the message is segmented or there are retransmissions.
In LTE and NR, different solutions to increase mobility robustness have been discussed in the past. One solution discussed in NR is called“conditional handover” or“early handover command”. In order to avoid the undesired dependence on the serving radio link upon the time (and radio conditions) where the UE should execute the handover, the possibility to provide RRC signaling for the handover to the UE earlier should be provided. To achieve this, it should be possible to associate the HO command with a condition e.g. based on radio conditions possibly similar to the ones associated to an A3 event, where for example a given neighbour becomes X dB better than target (or source/current serving cell). As soon as the condition is fulfilled, the UE executes the handover in accordance with the provided handover command.
Such a condition could e.g. be that the quality of the target cell or beam becomes X dB stronger than the serving cell. The threshold Y used in a preceding measurement reporting event should then be chosen lower than the one in the handover execution condition. This allows the serving cell to prepare the handover upon reception of an early measurement report and to provide the RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControllnfo (LTE) or RRCReconfiguration with a reconfigurationWithSync (NR) at a time when the radio link between the source cell and the UE is still stable. The execution of the handover is done at a later point in time (and threshold) which is considered optimal for the handover execution.
Figure 2 depicts an example 200 with a serving cell (in this case a serving gNB) and a target cell (in this case a target gNB). In practice there may often be many cells or beams that the UE reported as possible candidates based on its preceding RRM measurements. The network should then have the freedom to issue conditional handover commands for several of those candidates. The RRCConnectionReconfiguration for each of those candidates may differ e.g. in terms of the HO execution condition (RS to measure and threshold to exceed) as well as in terms of the RA preamble to be sent when a condition is met. In Figure 2, serving gNB may exchange user plane (UP) data with the UE. In step 1 , the UE sends a measurement report with“low” threshold to serving gNB. The serving gNB makes a HO decision based on this early report. In step 2, the serving gNB sends an early HO request to a target gNB. The target gNB accepts the HO request and builds a RRC configuration. The target gNB returns a HO request acknowledgment including the RRC configuration to the serving gNB in step 3. In step 4, a conditional HO command with“high” threshold is sent to the UE. Subsequently, measurements by the UE may fulfil the HO condition of the conditional HO command. The UE thus triggers the pending conditional handover. The UE performs synchronization and random access with the target gNB in step 5, and HO confirm is exchanged in step 6. In step 7, target gNB infoms serving gNB that HO is completed. The target gNB may then exchange user plane (UP) data with the UE.
While the UE evaluates the condition, it should continue operating per its current RRC configuration, i.e., without applying the conditional HO command. When the UE determines that the condition is fulfilled, it disconnects from the serving cell, applies the conditional HO command and connects to the target cell. These steps are equivalent to the conventional instantaneous handover execution.
Resume triggered by CHO Some examples may rely on context fetching, where a condition is also provided to the UE and, upon the fulfillment of the condition, the UE executes a RRC Resume procedure. This may for example comprise a method executed by a UE in RRC connected mode, the method comprising:
Receiving a message containing at least one condition from the network and monitoring the fulfillment of the condition;
Upon the fulfillment of a condition, triggering an RRC Resume procedure or an equivalent procedure towards at least one target cell, node or gNB.
This may be summarized by the flow diagram in Figure 3, which summarizes signalling 300 between a UE, serving node (in this example a serving gNB) and target node (in this example a target gNB) during a conditional RRC Resume procedure. In Figure 3, serving gNB may exchange user plane (UP) data with the UE. In step 1 , the UE sends a measurement report with“low” threshold to serving gNB. The serving gNB makes a HO decision based on this early report. In step 2, the serving gNB sends an early HO request to a target gNB. The target gNB accepts the HO request. The target gNB returns a HO request acknowledgement to the serving gNB in step 3. In step 4, a conditional HO command with“high” threshold is sent to the UE. Subsequently, measurements by the UE may fulfil the HO condition of the conditional HO command. The UE thus triggers the pending conditional handover. The UE performs synchronization and random access with the target gNB in step 5, and in step 6 sends a RRCConnectionResumeRequest message to the target gNB. The target gNB may then exchange user plane data with the UE.
In general terms, both conditional handover and conditional resume may be considered as conditional mobility procedure.
Inter-node messages for mobility preparation
RRC Inter-node messages
In NR and LTE, two inter-node messages are typically used: HandoverPreparationlnformation and HandoverCommand. When the source node decides to handover the UE, the source node provides the target node with some information in the HandoverPreparationlnformation message that enables the target node to prepare an RRCReconfiguration (provided in the HandoverCommand) to be used in target upon handover execution. Definitions from NR RRC specifications (TS 38.331 V15.3.0) are shown below (a similar procedure also exists in TS 36.331 V15.3.0):
************************************************************************************************* HandoverPreparationlnformation
This message is used to transfer the NR RRC information used by the target gNB during handover preparation, including UE capability information.
Direction: source gNB/source RAN to target gNB.
HandoverPreparationlnformation message
ASN1START
TAG-HANDOVER-PREPARATION-INFORMATION-START
HandoverPreparationlnformation :: = SEQUENCE {
criticalExtensions CHOICE {
cl CHOICE {
handoverPreparationlnformation HandoverPreparationlnformation-IEs , spare3 NULL, spare2 NULL, sparel NULL
},
criticalExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE { }
}
}
HandoverPreparationlnformation-IEs : : SEQUENCE {
ue-CapabilityRAT-List UE-CapabilityRAT-ContainerList ,
sourceConfig AS-Config OPTIONAL, — Cond HO
rrm-Config RRM-Config OPTIONAL,
as-Context AS-Context OPTIONAL,
nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE { } OPTIONAL
AS-Config : : = SEQUENCE {
rrcReconfiguration OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCReconfiguration ) ,
}
AS-Context : : = SEQUENCE {
reestablishmentInfo Reestablishmentlnfo OPTIONAL, configRestrictlnfo ConfigRestrictlnfoSCG OPTIONAL
[ [ ran-NotificationArealnfo RAN-NotificationArealnfo OPTIONAL
Figure imgf000008_0001
RRM-Config = SEQUENCE {
ue-InactiveTime ENUMERATED {
si, s2, s3, s5, s7, slO, sl5, s20,
s25, s30, s40, s50, mini, minls20c, minls40,
min2, min2s30, min3, min3s30, min4, min5, min6, min7 , min8, min9, minlO, minl2, minl4, minl7, min20, min24, min28, min33, min38, min44, min50, hrl, hrlmin30, hr2, hr2min30, hr3, hr3min30, hr4, hr5, hr6, hr8 , hrlO, hrl3, hrl6, hr20, dayl, daylhrl2, day2, day2hrl2, day3, day4, day5, day7, daylO, dayl4, dayl9, day24 , day30, dayMoreThan30 } OPTIONAL,
candidateCelllnfoList MeasResultList2NR OPTIONAL,
} TAG-HANDOVER-PREPARATION-INFORMATION-STOP
ASN1STOP
Figure imgf000009_0003
Figure imgf000009_0001
NOTE 2: The following table indicates per source RAT whether RAT capabilities are included or not.
Figure imgf000009_0002
Figure imgf000009_0004
HandoverCommand
This message is used to transfer the handover command as generated by the target gNB.
Direction: target gNB to source gNB/source RAN.
HandoverCommand message
— ASN1START
— TAG-HANDOVER-COMMAND-START
HandoverCommand : := SEQUENCE {
criticalExtensions CHOICE {
cl CHOICE {
handoverCommand HandoverCommand-IEs ,
spare3 NULL, spare2 NULL, sparel NULL
criticalExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE { }
HandoverCommand-IEs : : = SEQUENCE {
handoverCommandMessage OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCReconfiguration ) , nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE { } OPTIONAL
TAG-HANDOVER-COMMAND-STOP
ASN1STOP
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Xn inter-node messages for handover/DC-setup
According to TS 38.420 V15.1.0, there is a function called“Handover preparation function” defined as follows:
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Handover preparation function
This function allows the exchange of information between source and target NG-RAN nodes in order to initiate the handover of a certain UE to the target.
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An equivalent function exists for DC setup, called “S-NG-RAN-node Addition Preparation”.
Another function that may be relevant for the context of examples of this disclosure is the“Handover canceling function” defined as follows: *************************************************************************************************
Handover cancellation function
This function allows informing an already prepared target NG-RAN node that a prepared handover will not take place. It allows releasing the resources allocated during a preparation.
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In TS 38.423 V15.1.0 these functions are described in more detail, and relevant parts are inserted below:
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8.2.1 Handover Preparation
8.2.1.2 Successful Operation
The source NG-RAN node initiates the procedure by sending the HANDOVER REQUEST message to the target NG-RAN node. When the source NG-RAN node sends the HANDOVER REQUEST message, it shall start the timer TXnRELocprep.
At reception of the HANDOVER REQUEST message the target NG-RAN node shall prepare the configuration of the AS security relation between the UE and the target NG-RAN node by using the information in the UE Security Capabilities IE and the AS Security Information IE in the UE Context Information IE, as specified in TS 33.501 [28]
8.2.1.3 Unsuccessful Operation
If the target NG-RAN node does not admit at least one PDU session resource, or a failure occurs during the Handover Preparation, the target NG-RAN node shall send the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message to the source NG-RAN node. The message shall contain the Cause IE with an appropriate value.
Interactions with Handover Cancel procedure:
If there is no response from the target NG-RAN node to the HANDOVER REQUEST message before timer TXnRELocprep expires in the source NG-RAN node, the source NG-RAN node should cancel the Handover Preparation procedure towards the target NG-RAN node by initiating the Handover Cancel procedure with the appropriate value for the Cause IE. The source NG-RAN node shall ignore any HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE or HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message received after the initiation of the Handover Cancel procedure and remove any reference and release any resources related to the concerned Xn UE-associated signalling. 8.2.1.4 Abnormal Conditions
If the supported algorithms for encryption defined in the UE Security Capabilities IE in the UE Context Information IE, plus the mandated support of the EEAO and NEAO algorithms in all UEs (TS 33.501 [28]), do not match any allowed algorithms defined in the configured list of allowed encryption algorithms in the NG-RAN node (TS 33.501 [28]), the NG-RAN node shall reject the procedure using the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message.
If the supported algorithms for integrity defined in the UE Security Capabilities IE in the UE Context Information IE, plus the mandated support of the EIAO and NIAO algorithms in all UEs (TS 33.501 [28]), do not match any allowed algorithms defined in the configured list of allowed integrity protection algorithms in the NG-RAN node (TS 33.501 [28]), the NG-RAN node shall reject the procedure using the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE message.
8.2.3 Handover Cancel
8.2.3.1 General
The Handover Cancel procedure is used to enable a source NG-RAN node to cancel an ongoing handover preparation or an already prepared handover.
The procedure uses UE-associated signalling.
8.2.3.2 Successful Operation
The source NG-RAN node initiates the procedure by sending the HANDOVER CANCEL message to the target NG-RAN node. The source NG-RAN node shall indicate the reason for cancelling the handover by means of an appropriate cause value.
8.2.3.3 Unsuccessful Operation
Not applicable.
8.2.3.4 Abnormal Conditions
If the HANDOVER CANCEL message refers to a context that does not exist, the target NG-RAN node shall ignore the message.
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Inter-node messages for mobility execution
The inter-node preparation procedure for handover is described above. Below we describe the inter-node procedures at mobility execution, in particular the inter-node steps that follows after a handover execution i.e. upon the reception of the handover complete message at the target node (e.g. RRCReconfigurationComplete).
As described above, upon the reception of an RRCReconfigurationComplete the target node (a gNB or a gNodeB in NR, or in more general terms a NG-RAN node as described in 38.413 V15.1.0) triggers a Path Switch Request procedure by transiting a PATH SWITCH REQUEST towards the AMF, as shown below:
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8.4.4 Path Switch Request
8.4.4.1 General
The purpose of the Path Switch Request procedure is to request the switch of a downlink GTP tunnel towards a new GTP tunnel endpoint.
8.4.4.2 Successful Operation
The NG-RAN node initiates the procedure by sending the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message to the AMF.
After all necessary updates including the UP path switch have been successfully completed in the 5GC for at least one of the PDU session resources included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST, the AMF shall send the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the NG-RAN node and the procedure ends.
The list of accepted QoS flows shall be included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message within the Path Switch Request Transfer IE. The SMF shall handle this information as specified in TS 23.502 [10].
The list of PDU sessions which failed to be setup, if any, shall be included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message within the Path Switch Request Setup Failed Transfer IE. The AMF shall handle this information as specified in TS 23.502 [10]
For each PDU session for which the User Plane Security Information IE is included in the Path Switch Request Transfer IE of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message, the SMF shall behave as specified in TS 33.501 [13] and may send back the Security Indication IE within the Path Switch Request Acknowledge Transfer IE of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message. If the Security Indication IE is included within the Path Switch Request Acknowledge Transfer IE of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall behave as specified in TS 33.501 [13]
If the UL NG-U UP TNL Information IE is included within the Path Switch Request Acknowledge Transfer IE of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall store this information and use it as the uplink termination point for the user plane data for this PDU session.
If the Core Network Assistance Information IE is included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall, if supported, store this information in the UE context and use it for e.g. the RRCJN ACTIVE state decision and RNA configuration for the UE and RAN paging if any for a UE in RRCJNACTIVE state, as specified in TS 38.300 [8]
If the RRC Inactive Transition Report Request IE is included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall, if supported, store this information in the UE context and
1. - report to the AMF the RRC state of the UE when the UE enters or leaves RRCJN ACTIVE state in case the RRC Inactive Transition Report Request IE is set to "subsequent state transition report"; or
2. - send one RRC INACTIVE TRANSITION REPORT message but no subsequent messages if the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED state and the RRC Inactive Transition Report Request IE is set to "single RRC connected state report", or
3. - send one RRC INACTIVE TRANSITION REPORT message plus one subsequent RRC INACTIVE TRANSITION REPORT message when the RRC state transitions to RRC_CONNECTED state if the UE is in RRCJNACTIVE state and the RRC Inactive Transition Report Request IE is set to "single RRC connected state report", or
stop reporting to the AMF the RRC state of the UE in case the RRC Inactive Transition Report Request IE is set to "cancel report".
If the New Security Context Indicator IE is included in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall use the information as specified in TS 33.501 [13]
Upon reception of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message the NG- RAN node shall store the received Security Context IE in the UE context and the NG-RAN node shall use it as specified in TS 33.501 [13] If the UE Security Capabilities IE is included in the PATH SWITCH RECUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall handle it accordingly (TS 33.501 [13]).
If the PDU Session Resource Released List IE is included in the PATH SWITCH RECUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, the NG-RAN node shall release the corresponding CoS flows and regard the PDU session(s) indicated in the PDU Session Resource Released List IE as being released. The appropriate cause value for each PDU session released is included in the Path Switch Request Unsuccessful Transfer IE contained in the PATH SWITCH RECUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message.
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Once the Path Switch Request procedure is completed, the target node triggers a UE context release procedure by transmitting a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the source NG-RAN node. That is shown below as described in TS 38.423 V15.1.0:
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8.2.7 UE Context Release
8.2.7.1 General
For handover, the UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node to indicate to the source NG-RAN node that radio and control plane resources for the associated UE context are allowed to be released.
The procedure uses UE-associated signalling.
8.2.7.2 Successful Operation
Handover
The UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node. By sending the UE CONTEXT RELEASE message the target NG-RAN node informs the source NG-RAN node of Handover success and triggers the release of resources.
8.2.7.3 Unsuccessful Operation
Not applicable.
8. 2.7.4 Abnormal Conditions If the UE Context Release procedure is not initiated towards the source NG-RAN node from any prepared NG-RAN node before the expiry of the timer TXnRELocoveraii, the source NG- RAN node shall request the AMF to release the UE context.
If the UE returns to source NG-RAN node before the reception of the UE CONTEXT RELEASE message or the expiry of the timer TXnRELocoveraii, the source NG-RAN node shall stop the TXnRELocoveraii and continue to serve the UE.
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The previously described inter-node procedures standardized for handover may be considered, e.g. the Xn/X2 procedures for handover preparation and the UE Context Release from target NG-RAN node to source NG-RAN node, and the handover cancellation procedure, and the Path Switch Request procedure between target and AMF (or LTE, between target and MME).
An example of a problem to be solved relates to latest agreements in conditional handover that diverges from the actual handover principle. In RAN2#104 in Spokane in November 2018, the following has been agreed concerning conditional handover for LTE:
Agreements
1 Support configuration of one or more candidate cells for conditional handover.
=> FFS how many candidate cells (UE and network impacts should be clarified)
Hence, the source node has the possibility to configure multiple cells in conditional handover towards the UE. The implication in terms of inter-node signaling is that conditional handover preparation needs to be a one-to-many procedure instead of one-to-one.
That basically means that multiple cells, possibly from different neighbour nodes, may need to be prepared i.e. each target candidate needs to allocate resources for an incoming UE and prepare an RRCReconfiguration according to each potential target candidate’s configuration.
In example procedures as described above, when a condition is fulfilled the UE applies the RRCReconfiguration for the selected cell triggering the conditional handover and after synchronizing with the target it transmits an RRCReconfigurationComplete message. After the handover completion (including the path switch procedure towards the core network), the target triggers a UE Context Release towards source and the source gNB can then release radio and C-plane related resources associated to the UE context, as described above and in TS 38.300 V15.3.1.
Note: Example terminology used herein consists of NR terminology e.g. from TS 38.331 V15.3.0. In LTE, the equivalent solution would work with an RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControllnfo. Embodiments of this disclosure may be generalized to be applicable to either NR or LTE, or any other wireless communications technology, or combinations of technologies.
According to examples described above, there may be other nodes (en-gNodeBs, eNodeBs, NG RAN nodes) with cells that were prepared for a potentially incoming conditional handover but were not selected as target cells. These nodes are unaware that the UE performed a handover to another node.
One possible problem with this is that the target nodes reserves the resources too long unnecessarily, while in reality UEs have already completed the handover (after triggering CHO) towards another cell.
Another possible problem is that the target nodes reserves these resources for too short a time, if it thinks that CHO (conditional handover) has already been triggered towards another cell/node while in reality UEs are still monitoring the condition(s). Hence, a UE may try to access a node that has discarded its configuration after some time which will lead to a failure.
A mechanism has been proposed in a recent contribution to RAN2 (R2-1816691), where it is proposed to introduce a timer to indicate to the UE for how long the dedicated RACH resource allocated by target can be valid. There are problems with this proposed alternative, as this only focuses on the RACH validity. In addition, this alternative has the assumption that the neighbour node that is a target candidate is able to predict for how long the UL load for RACH is acceptable so that the UE may have dedicated resources reserved to it. Also, once that is allocated the neighbour node has no means to act on quick changes in load conditions.
Even with that timer, that mechanism still has problems. The handover / conditional handover may be executed much earlier compared to the value the timer might have been set by a target candidate i.e. a target candidate may still suffer from the problem described above where the resources are hold unnecessarily (because in fact, the UE has already performed a handover to another cell/node).
Another possible problem is in case a source node has prepared conditional handover configurations in one or more target cells, but the UE fails to complete the conditional handover. When the UE attempts to re-establish the connection, it does so in a node which is unable to retrieve the UE context from the source node. This could for instance happen if the UE is prepared for conditional handover in several cells in NR but loses connectivity and falls back to LTE connected to EPC and the UE context cannot be retrieved from the source node.
When the UE performs a tracking area update (TAU) or initial attach in the target system (either same or different than the source system), it will include a core network identifier (e.g. GUMMEI) which indicates the source network context. The target core network can then contact the source network to indicate that the UE has moved to that one. The source core network node can then send a message to the source network node (which prepared the conditional handover) to release the UE context. However, the source core network node has no way to contact the candidate target network nodes of the conditional handover.
Summary
Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. One aspect of the present disclosure provides a method in a first network node. The method comprises receiving an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, determining, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, and causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a network node comprising a processor and a memory. The memory contains instructions executable by the processor such that the network node is operable to receive an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, determine, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, and cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures. A further aspect of the present disclosure provides a network node configured to receive an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, determine, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, and cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
Brief Description of the Drawings
For a better understanding of examples of the present disclosure, and to show more clearly how the examples may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the following drawings in which:
Figure 1 summarizes signalling between a UE, source node and target node during a handover procedure;
Figure 2 summarizes signalling between a UE, serving node and target node during a conditional handover procedure;
Figure 3 summarizes signalling between a UE, serving node and target node during a conditional RRC Resume procedure;
Figure 4 is a flow chart of an example of a method in a first network node;
Figure 5 is an example of a signaling diagram for an example method, where UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from target to source and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates;
Figure 6 is an example of provisional UE Context Release, successful operation for handover;
Figure 7 is an example of a signaling diagram for an example method, where PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from target to source and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates;
Figure 8 is an example of a signaling diagram 900 illustrating this example method, where the target node informs the source node of the completion of the conditional handover;
Figure 9 shows an example of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments; Figure 10 shows an example of a User Equipment (UE) in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 12 shows a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 13 shows a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 14 shows methods implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 15 shows methods implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 16 shows methods implemented in a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 17 shows methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments; and
Figure 18 illustrates a schematic block diagram of virtualization apparatus in accordance with some embodiments.
Detailed Description
The following sets forth specific details, such as particular embodiments or examples for purposes of explanation and not limitation. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that other examples may be employed apart from these specific details. In some instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, nodes, interfaces, circuits, and devices are omitted so as not obscure the description with unnecessary detail. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functions described may be implemented in one or more nodes using hardware circuitry (e.g., analog and/or discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function, ASICs, PLAs, etc.) and/or using software programs and data in conjunction with one or more digital microprocessors or general purpose computers. Nodes that communicate using the air interface also have suitable radio communications circuitry. Moreover, where appropriate the technology can additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable memory, such as solid-state memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk containing an appropriate set of computer instructions that would cause a processor to carry out the techniques described herein.
Hardware implementation may include or encompass, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, a reduced instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital or analogue) circuitry including but not limited to application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC) and/or field programmable gate array(s) (FPGA(s)), and (where appropriate) state machines capable of performing such functions.
The term“conditional mobility” or“conditional mobility procedure” is used herein to refer to (for example) conditional handover, conditional resume, conditional reconfiguration with sync, conditional reconfiguration, conditional reestablishment, etc. The term should be interpreted fundamentally as any procedure that is configured by network to the UE which contains a condition (e.g. associated to measurement event) and, upon the triggering of that condition the UE shall perform the mobility related procedure e.g. resume, handover, reconfiguration with sync, beam switching, etc.
In an example of an aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided at a network node (e.g. a source network node, or a network node associated with a serving cell of a wireless device or UE) that has performed conditional handover preparation for a UE towards one or multiple target node candidates. The method comprises:
Receiving a message from a second network node indicating the UE has connected to another node.
o In one implementation, the second network node sending this message is the target network node where a conditional handover was just executed. The message e.g. confirms the execution of a handover / conditional handover (e.g. an UE CONTEXT RELEASE message upon the reception of an RRCReconfigurationComplete from the UE, possibly after receiving and transmitting the RRCReestablishment and RRCReestablishmentComplete messages);
Notifying one or multiple target node candidates (that are not the target network node), e.g., upon the reception of that message, that prepared conditional handover configurations shall be released by those node(s), e.g. when conditional handover has been executed in another node / cell (the second network node). o In one implementation, that notification is done by triggering a Handover Cancel procedure i.e. by transmitting a HANDOVER CANCEL message over X2 or Xn interface from source node receiving the notification to all remaining target candidates (i.e. the ones not aware yet that the conditional handover has been executed). Notice that source knows all the target candidates as that is not deleted until that moment (i.e. the method comprises the source maintaining the conditional handover configuration stored, at least the list of cells, at least until that moment). After that message is successfully delivered the source may delete the UE context containing the cells / nodes that were prepared for conditional handover. o In another implementation, that is done by triggering a Handover Cancel procedure via the core network (EPC or 5GC), i.e. by transmitting a
HANDOVER CANCEL message over S1 or NG interface to the MME or AMF respectively. The core network node (MME or AMF) may then transmit a message to all target candidates, e.g. the HANDOVER PREPARATION FAI LURE message indicating that the handover configurations shall be released.
Examples disclosed herein include a method at one or multiple target node candidates prepared for conditional handover for UEs from a network node, e.g. the source network node or a core network node, the method comprising:
Receiving a message e.g. from a source network node or a core network node, notifying that prepared conditional handover configurations shall be released, e.g. because conditional handover has been executed in another node / cell or that the UE has failed the conditional handover;
Releasing the resources allocated for incoming UEs in conditional handover and deleting the configuration / AS Context.
There are, proposed herein, various embodiments which address one or more of the issues disclosed herein. For example, one aspect of the present disclosure provides a method in a first network node. The method comprises determining that a User Equipment (UE), that is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures. The method also comprises causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). For example, resources allocated by target nodes for candidate target cells for conditional handover may efficiently be released (so they may be reused) as fast as they are not needed any longer e.g. when the UE executes a handover / conditional handover in another cell / node or when the network is aware that the UE has failed to execute the conditional handover. Examples disclosed herein may also avoid the risk that a target may have in releasing these allocated resources too early, e.g. before conditional handover is executed.
Compared to the alternative where a timer is provided to the UE to indicate for how long RACH resources allocated by target candidates are valid, examples of the present disclosure may be more efficient as the resources are not maintained longer than needed. For example, in the timer-based solution described above, after the handover is executed, the timer may still be running in the network side in target candidates i.e. the target candidate node is still holding resources for a UE that has already performed a conditional handover in another cell. With examples of the present disclosure, the resources may be immediately released and reused for other UEs, which may for example lead to a more efficient usage of network resources.
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 4 is a flow chart of an example of a method 400 in a first network node. The method comprises, in step 402, receiving an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node, and at step 404, determining, from the indication, that a User Equipment (UE), that is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures. This may be because for example the UE has completed another of the conditional mobility procedures, or another mobility procedure (e.g. a non-conditional procedure) to attach to a node other than the at least one further network node, or if the UE remains connected to its source node (which may in some examples be the first network node, and/or the second network node). The method also comprises, in step 406, causing (e.g. instructing, or sending a message to cause) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures. Thus resources may for example be released by the at least one further network node, which may be for example candidate target node(s) for the conditional mobility procedure(s), when the associated conditional mobility procedure(s) will not be completed.
In some examples, the first network node may be a node such as a base station or associated with a cell to which the UE may be connected or may have been connected before a mobility procedure (e.g. a conditional mobility procedure), and hence may for example be referred to as a source node. In other examples, the first network node may be another node, such as a node in a core network. The core network in some examples may be associated with the source node.
In some examples, determining that the UE will not complete the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises receiving an indication that the UE has connected to a second network node. The at least one further network node in some examples comprises the second network node. The message may be received from the second network node, which may in some examples be the target network node for the UE, or may be received from another network node. For example, a core network node such as an Access and Mobility management Function (AMF). The indication that the UE has connected to the second network node may in some examples be a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message.
In some examples, receiving the indication may comprise receiving the indication before the second network node completes a path switch procedure in response to the UE connecting to the second network node.
In some examples, receiving the indication that the UE has connected to the second network node comprises receiving the indication in response to the UE performing a conditional mobility procedure to connect to the second network node. Thus the conditional mobility procedure may be one of the conditional mobility procedures with which the UE was configured.
In some examples, causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources allocated for the associated conditional mobility procedure comprises sending at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources. Sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures may in some examples comprise sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures. Sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures may in some examples comprise sending at least one HANDOVER CANCEL message and/or at least one UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
In some examples, the at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures indicates that the UE has performed one of the conditional mobility procedures. Thus the recipient(s) of the message(s) (e.g. the at least one further network node associated with the conditional mobility procedure(s) that will not be carried out) may receive a reason that the UE will not complete the associated mobility procedure. Additionally or alternatively, the message may include an indication that the procedure(s) will not be carried out by the UE for another reason.
In some examples, each of the conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node comprises a conditional mobility procedure for the UE to connect to a respective one of the at least one further network node. That is, for example, a conditional mobility procedure associated with a further network node is a procedure that is carried out by the UE to connect to the further network node once the condition is met. The condition may be for example monitored by the UE, and so the UE may in some examples make the decision to carry out the mobility procedure (e.g. handover) to connect to the further network node (e.g. target node).
In some examples the method comprises configuring the UE with the conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node before the determining. The configuring may comprise, for example, sending configuration information to the UE, where the configuration information may be received from the at least one further network node. The configuring may be done in response to an event in some examples. For example, the UE may trigger and send a communication such as a measurement report (e.g. to the first network node), for example if radio conditions for the node it is currently connected to (which may be the first network node) become unfavourable, and/or if one or more neighbor nodes or cells become favourable or more favourable.
In some examples, the method comprises comprising sending, before the determining, at least one message to the at least one further network node to cause the at least one further network node to allocate the resources for the associated conditional mobility procedures. This may be for example a part of a configuration procedure that configures both the UE and the candidate target cell(s) (further network node(s)) for the conditional mobility procedure(s). In some examples, sending, before the determining, the at least one message to the at least one further network node is performed in response to a measurement report from the UE. In some examples, sending, before the determining, the at least one message to the at least one further network node comprises starting a respective expiry timer for each of the at least one further network node, and causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources comprises sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures if the respective expiry timer has not expired and will not expire within a predetermined time. Thus, for example, the configuration in each further network node is associated with an expiry timer. When the timer expires, for example, the configuration may be deleted in the further network node and the associated resources released, as it is assumed that the UE will not complete the associated conditional mobility procedure. In some examples, if the first network node determines that the UE will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures, it may use the expiry timer(s) to determine whether to send a message to the associated further network node(s) to cause a release of the resources. If the timer for one or more of the further network node(s) has expired or will expire within a predetermined or short period of time, it may be beneficial (e.g. to reduce network node) not to send the message, and to let the associated timer expire instead (if it has not yet already expired).
In some examples, the conditional mobility procedures each comprise a conditional handover, conditional resume, conditional reconfiguration with sync, conditional reconfiguration or conditional reestablishment. In some examples, any conditional procedure that causes the UE to connect to the second network node may be considered to be a conditional mobility procedure. In some examples, a conditional mobility procedure is a procedure that is carried out by the UE to connect to a target node or cell when the condition is met, e.g. as determined or measured by the UE. The condition may be for example related to signal strength and/or quality of a signal received at the UE, either in absolute terms or relative to another signal.
In some examples, the method is performed by a base station, and thus for example the first network node may be a base station. Additionally or alternatively, each of the first network node and the at least one further network node comprises a base station and/or is associated with at least one respective cell. In some examples, the at least one further network node comprises a plurality of further network nodes. Additional specific example embodiments will now be described. In examples disclosed herein, the terms conditional handover (CHO) and conditional mobility/conditional mobility procedure may be used interchangeably.
Example methods apply to a conditional mobility configuration associated to a single cell or to multiple cells. Example methods may include a cancelling mechanism triggered by the source node towards the target candidate node(s) and may cancel the following alternatives:
a single conditional handover for a single UE that has a target cell in the target node as a candidate for conditional handover;
multiple conditional handovers for a single UE that has at least one target cell in the target node as a candidate for conditional handover;
multiple conditional handovers for multiple UEs that have at least one target cell in the target node as a candidate for conditional handover;
all conditional handovers for multiple UEs that have at least one target cell in the target node as a candidate for conditional handover.
Intra-RAT, inter-RAT, NR, LTE and further examples
At least some of the UE (and network) actions defined in examples disclosed herein may be described as being performed or may be performed in NR or LTE. In other words, for example, the configuration of a conditional HO received in NR and executed in NR. However, example methods may also be applied in other cases, at least for example:
UE is configured with a condition HO in NR, then the condition is triggered and UE executes the HO in LTE;
UE is configured with a condition HO in LTE, then the condition is triggered and UE executes the HO in NR;
Or, in more general terms, UE is configured with a condition HO in RAT-1 , then the condition is triggered and UE executes the HO in RAT-2 (which may be the same as or different to RAT-1).
In at least some of these examples, the source network node, the target network node and the target candidate network node(s) for which conditional handover was prepared may each be: - An LTE node, i.e., an eNodeB (in case it is connected to EPC) or a ng-eNodeB (in case it is connected to 5G Core Network);
- An NR node, i.e., a gNodeB (in case it is connected to 5G Core Network);
Then, the inter-node procedures described in examples of this disclosure may be between two eNodeBs, an eNodeB and a gNode, two gNodeBs, or any two RAN nodes from the same RAT or different RATs. Hence, for example, they may be implemented in the XnAP protocol (in the case of NG-RAN nodes connected to 5GC) or X2AP protocol or both.
In other words, in examples of the present disclosure, the inter-node procedures and messages may be any of the following:
Inter-node intra-RAT intra-system, such as NR gNodeBs over Xn;
Inter-node intra-RAT intra-system, such as ng-eNodeBs over Xn;
Inter-node intra-RAT intra-system, such as LTE eNodeBs over X2;
Inter-node inter-RAT intra-system, such as ng-eNodeBs and gNodeBs over Xn;
Inter-node inter-RAT inter-system, such as E-UTRAN and NG-RAN, i.e. gNodeBs/en- eNodeBs and eNodeBs over NG and S1
Example procedures may also comprise solutions involving messages between RAN nodes and core network nodes over NG and S1 interface and between core network nodes from different systems (i.e. between EPC and 5GC) over the N26 interface.
Detailed description of an example method (Network aspects)
Upon the handover / conditional handover execution (e.g. upon the reception of an RRCReconfigurationComplete message), the target node where the incoming UE is accessing informs the source node of the completion of the conditional handover by transmitting a message.
In some embodiments, this message from target (e.g. second network node) to source is the legacy UE CONTEXT RELEASE message, possibly sent after the target node performs the Path Switch procedure towards the core network (or may be performed before the path switch procedure is complete or before it is started).
Upon the reception of that message (e.g. UE CONTEXT RELEASE), the source node (e.g. first network node), which is already aware of which other cells (and associated nodes of that cell) have been prepared with conditional configurations for the UE (e.g. at least one further network node), can then release the conditional handover configurations and instruct the other candidate target node(s) to release the UE contexts. In one solution this is done by initiating a Handover Cancel procedure i.e. by transmitting a HANDOVER CANCEL message that may in some examples contain a cause value indicating that a conditional handover has been executed or that the source has decided to reconfigure the UE and that the target candidate may release resources allocated for a particular conditional handover.
Figure 5 is an example of a signaling diagram 500 for this example method, where UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from a target node (in this example, a target gNB) to a source node (in this example, a source gNB), and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates. In the signaling diagram 500, initially, the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED and CM-CONNECTED state. In step 1 , measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB. In step 2, the source gNB makes a conditional handover preparation decision. Source gNB sends CONDITIONAL HANDOVER REQUST to candidate gNB A, to candidate gNB B in step 3b, and candidate gNB C in step 3c. In steps 4a, 4b and 4c, the candidate gNBs A, B and C respectively perform admission control. In steps 5a, 5b and 5c, each candidate gNB A, B and C respectively sends a CONDITIONAL HANDOVER RESPONSE message to the source gNB. The source gNB then stores the conditional handover configuration(s) e.g. list of target candidate cells and nodes. In step 6, source gNB sends RRCConditionalReconfiguration message to the UE. In step 7a, conditional handover is triggered in the UE, and in step 7b, the UE applies a RRCReconfiguration associated to a triggered cell, which in this example is gNB B. In step 7c, UE releases RRCReconfiguration(s) associated to cells other than the triggered cell, e.g. in gNBs A and C. In step 8 the UE sends a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to candidate gNB B. In step 9, gNB B optionally sends a data forwarding address indication to source gNB, and in step 10 gNB B sends a path switch request to AMF. The AMF in step 11 returns a path switch request response to gNB B, and in step 12 gNB B sends UE context release to source gNB. In steps 13a and 13b, source gNB sends HANDOVER CANCEL message to candidate gNB A and B respectively, which each then releases conditional handover resources and configuration(s), e.g. associated with the conditional handover requests in steps 3a and 3c. The source gNB then deletes the conditional handover configuration(s).
In another embodiment, the message from target to source to indicate that conditional handover (CHO) or handover (HO) is executed in target (and to indicate that source should release CHO resources in other candidates), is a new message (e.g. PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE). This new message may be transmitted even before the path switch is finished. In that case, in some examples, data forward, if configured, will not be stopped, so the new message would mainly be used for enabling source to release the target candidate resources, while data forwarding is only stopped upon the reception of the UE context release from the target.
Upon the reception of that new message, in some examples, the source node (e.g. first network node), which is already aware of which other cell(s) (and associated nodes of that cell) have been prepared with conditional configurations for the UE (because in some examples the source node has performed, triggered or instructed those preparations), can then release the conditional handover configurations and instruct the other candidate target node(s) (e.g. at least one further network node) to release the associated resources and/or UE contexts. In one solution this is done by initiating a Handover Cancel procedure i.e. by transmitting a HANDOVER CANCEL message that may contain a cause value indicating that a conditional handover has been executed or that the source has decided to reconfigure the UE and that the target candidate may release resources allocated for a particular conditional handover.
The following is an example implementation of a standard that may implement examples of the present disclosure. For example, the following is an example for inclusion in TS 38.423 XnAP V15.1.0.
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8.2.x Provisional UE Context Release
8.2.x.1 General
For a conditional handover, the Provisional UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node to indicate to the source NG-RAN node that radio and control plane resources for the associated UE context are allowed to be released for the candidate nodes.
The procedure uses UE-associated signalling.
8.2.X.2 Successful Operation
Figure 8.2.X.2-1 [shown herein as Figure 6]: Provisional UE Context Release, successful operation for handover
Handover The Provisional UE Context Release procedure is initiated by the target NG-RAN node. By sending the PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE message the target NG-RAN node informs the source NG-RAN node that the UE has successfully attached and that it can trigger the release of resources in the candidate nodes.
8.2.X.3 Unsuccessful Operation
Not applicable.
8.2.X.4 Abnormal Conditions
Not applicable.
9.1.1.x PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE
This message is sent by the target NG-RAN node to the source NG-RAN node to indicate that resources can be released in the candidate nodes.
Direction: target NG-RAN node ® source NG-RAN node, M-NG-RAN node ® S-NG- RAN node.
Figure imgf000031_0001
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Figure 7 is an example of a signaling diagram 700 in an example method where PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE is used to indicate the CHO execution from a target node (in this example, a target gNB) to a source node (in this example, a source gNB), and HANDOVER CANCEL is used from source to target candidates. In the signaling diagram 700, initially, the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED and CM-CONNECTED state. In step 1 , measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB. In step 2, the source gNB makes a conditional handover preparation decision. Source gNB sends CONDITIONAL HANDOVER REQUST to candidate gNB A, to candidate gNB B in step 3b, and candidate gNB C in step 3c. In steps 4a, 4b and 4c, the candidate gNBs A, B and C respectively perform admission control. In steps 5a, 5b and 5c, each candidate gNB A, B and C respectively sends a CONDITIONAL HANDOVER RESPONSE message to the source gNB. The source gNB then stores the conditional handover configuration(s) e.g. list of target candidate cells and nodes. In step 6, source gNB sends RRCConditionalReconfiguration message to the UE. In step 7a, conditional handover is triggered in the UE, and in step 7b, the UE applies a RRCReconfiguration associated to a triggered cell, which in this example is gNB B. In step 7c, UE releases RRCReconfiguration(s) associated to cells other than the triggered cell, e.g. in gNBs A and C. In step 8 the UE sends a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to candidate gNB B. In step 9, gNB B sends PROVISIONAL UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to source gNB. In steps 13a and 13b, source gNB sends HANDOVER CANCEL message to candidate gNB A and B respectively, which each then releases conditional handover resources and configuration(s), e.g. associated with the conditional handover requests in steps 3a and 3c. In in step 14, gNB B optionally sends a data forwarding address indication to source gNB, and in step 15 gNB B sends a path switch request to AMF. The AMF in step 16 returns a path switch request response to gNB B, and in step 17 gNB B sends UE context release to source gNB. The source gNB then deletes the conditional handover configuration(s).
In another embodiment, the target node (e.g. a target gNB) informs the source node (e.g. a source gNB) of the completion of the conditional handover by transmitting e.g. the inter node message UE CONTEXT RELEASE message. The source node, which is already aware of which other cells have been prepared with conditional configurations for the UE, can then instruct the other candidate target nodes to release the UE contexts by sending e.g. the UE CONTEXT RELEASE. Figure 8 is an example of a signaling diagram 800 illustrating this example method. In the signaling diagram 800, initially, the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED and CM-CONNECTED state. In step 1 , measurement control and reports are exchanged between UE and source gNB. In step 2, the source gNB makes a conditional handover preparation decision. Source gNB sends CONDITIONAL HANDOVER REQUST to candidate gNB A, to candidate gNB B in step 3b, and candidate gNB C in step 3c. In steps 4a, 4b and 4c, the candidate gNBs A, B and C respectively perform admission control. In steps 5a, 5b and 5c, each candidate gNB A, B and C respectively sends a CONDITIONAL HANDOVER RESPONSE message to the source gNB. In step 6, source gNB sends RRCConditionalReconfiguration message to the UE. In step 7a, conditional handover is triggered in the UE, and in step 7b, the UE applies a RRCReconfiguration associated to a triggered cell, which in this example is gNB B. In step 7c, UE releases RRCReconfiguration(s) associated to cells other than the triggered cell, e.g. in gNBs A and C. In step 8 the UE sends a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to candidate gNB B. In step 9, gNB B optionally sends a data forwarding address indication to source gNB, and in step 10 gNB B sends a path switch request to AMF. The AMF in step 11 returns a path switch request response to gNB B, and in step 12 gNB B sends UE context release to source gNB. In steps 13a and 13b, source gNB sends UE CONTEXT RELEASE (Conditional Context) messages to candidate gNB A and C respectively.
Failure cases
At least some examples disclosed herein may enable the canceling or the release of resources allocated by target candidate node(s) (e.g. cell(s) or associated with cell(s)) prepared for conditional handover or conditional mobility, in general, when these resources are no longer needed. One of these cases described so far is when the conditional handover is executed in one of the target candidate nodes, but there are still other target candidate nodes where resources were also allocated, such as RACH resources, identifiers like C-RNTI, etc.
Examples disclosed herein may not be limited to that case: e.g. examples disclosed herein may also comprise the application when the UE fails to perform the CHO / handover execution, perform cell selection to another node, that may be prepared or unprepared. In that case, the allocated resources also need to be released, hence, the method is also applicable. In some embodiments, the UE may fail to perform the conditional handover (e.g. upon expiry of timer T304, RACH failure, non-compliance with the reconfiguration message, or any other reason for CHO failure or handover failure, or RLF while condition for conditional handover is running) and upon declaring CHO or handover failure, the UE starts to perform cell selection. If upon cell selection the UE determines that it can initiate reestablishment in the selected cell (e.g. if the selected cell is in the same core network and/or the same RAT) the UE transmits an reestablishment request like message (e.g. RRCReestablishmentRequest) containing a UE Access Stratum (AS) Context identifier such as the source cell PCI and source cell C-RNTI (which will be referred to hereinafter as PCI+C-RNTI).
Upon the reception of the reestablishment request-like message, if the target node receiving the message has been prepared (i.e. if it has been configured by a source node or central unit with conditional handover) the target node receiving the reestablishment request like message may in some examples apply the actions as follows:
The target node identifies the UE thanks to the UE AS identifier (PCI + C-RNTI), performs path switch with the core network node / function (e.g. MME, AMF);
The target node transmits a UE CONTEXT RELEASE (or equivalent message) to the source node (or a new message indicating the success of the incoming UE, even though it was via reestablishment, where in that case there might be a cause value associated to distinguish from the ordinary handover);
The source node, upon the reception of that context release like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates.
Upon the reception of that reestablishment request like message, if the target node receiving the message is not prepared (e.g. if it has not been configured by a source node with conditional handover) the target node receiving the reestablishment request like message may apply in some examples the following:
The target node identifies the source node based on the UE AS identifier (PCI + C- RNTI) and performs context fetching request towards the source node. The target node transmits a RETRIEVE UE CONTEXT REQUEST message to the source node. The source node, upon the reception of that context request like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates.
Conditional resume
In another example embodiment, the UE performs conditional resume by transmitting a resume request like message (e.g. an RRCResumeRequest or RRCResumeRequestl) with at least one allocated l-RNTI (resume identifier containing a node identification).
Upon the reception of that resume request like message, if the target node receiving the message is prepared (i.e. if it has been configured by a source node with the UE AS Context) the target node receiving the resume request like message in some examples may apply the following:
The target node identifies the UE thanks to the UE AS identifier l-RNTI and performs path switch with the CN node / function (e.g. MME, AMF)
- The target node transmits a UE CONTEXT RELEASE to the source node (or a new message indicating the success of the incoming UE, even though it was via reestablishment, where in that case there might be a cause value associated to distinguish from the ordinary handover).
- The source node, upon the reception of that context release like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates.
Upon the reception of that resume request like message, if the target node receiving the message is NOT prepared (i.e. if it has not been configured by a source node with the UE AS Context) the target node receiving the resume request like message may in some examples apply the following:
The target node identifies the source node thanks to the UE AS identifier l-RNTI and performs context fetching request towards the source node. The target node transmits a RETRIEVE UE CONTEXT REQUEST message to the source node.
The source node, upon the reception of that context request like message, may perform the further actions of the method such as cancelling the CHO or conditional resume configuration for its own cells and the other target candidates. As there can be all these different cases either leading to context fetching e.g. an unprepared cell where the UE is trying to reestablish or resume, or leading to UE context release from target to source, the message from target to source may contain some kind of cause value or indication informing the source what has happened such as reestablishment, resume, conditional handover execution, handover execution, handover failure recovery optimization (when UE does conditional handover after failure anyway, if configuration for selected cell is stored, opportunistically), etc.
In further embodiments, there may be other triggers for the source node that has prepared the conditional handover configurations to delete / cancel the conditional handover configurations in the target node candidates, i.e., other triggers than the indication from target that conditional handover, handover or reestablishment was executed. Thus the associated resources may be released in some examples.
In some embodiments, the source node indicates that the target shall cancel the conditional handover (and perform actions upon as described before such as release allocated resources, delete configurations, stop timers, etc.) when the source performs a reconfiguration to the UE that leads to the UE delete its conditional handover configuration(s) e.g. a handover to a cell, transition to RRCJDLE, etc.
In further embodiments, there is disclosed a variant where it is assumed that the target cell manages a timer indicating for how long resources allocated for conditional handover shall be reserved and conditional handover configuration will be stored. This may be a network based timer or something that is provided to the UE. The timer is started once the resources are reserved by each target candidate. The timer may also be known to the source node. If a validity timer is associated with reserved CHO resources in a candidate target node, where the timer was set by the candidate target node, then the source node may selectively cancel the UE context/CHO in that candidate target node based on the remaining time of the validity of the resources reservation. That is, if significant time remains, the source node may request the candidate target node to delete the UE context and release the reserved resources, but if the timer is about to time out in a very short time anyway, the inter-node signaling can be omitted and the UE context can be left to time out in the candidate target node. In this way, in some examples, the source node can selectively cancel the CHO, i.e. request release of UE context and reserved resources, only in those candidate target nodes for which a resource reservation validity timer has a significant time left to expiration. Note that if multiple cells are prepared for CHO in the same candidate target node, a separate validity timer may be associated with the CHO configuration for each of the prepared cells. In such cases, the validity timer with the longest time remaining would be the basis for the source node's decision of whether to explicitly request cancelation/release of the CHO configuration and reserved resources in the concerned candidate target node.
If the validity timer is set by the source node, then the timer value could in some examples be set so that it expires simultaneously for all prepared cells in all candidate target nodes. In such a case, the choice of explicit CHO cancellation (through inter-node signaling) or timeout based CHO cancelation would typically result in that the UE either explicitly request CHO cancellation in all the remaining candidate target nodes (i.e. the candidate target nodes in which the CHO was not executed) or let the CHO configuration (i.e. UE context and reserved resources) time out in all the remaining candidate target nodes.
The advantage of the examples that consider a selection at the source to cancel the resources in target candidates (by sending a message e.g. handover cancel message) or let the timer in a target candidate expiry, may provide benefits in terms of signaling. As in some of the cases described above, the source may not need to send a message i.e. it is a signaling optimization. That is even better if that would have to be send to multiple nodes, in cases where there are multiple candidate nodes.
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 9. For simplicity, the wireless network of Figure 9 only depicts network QQ106, network nodes QQ160 and QQ160b, and WDs QQ1 10, QQ1 10b, and QQ110c. 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 QQ160 and wireless device (WD) QQ1 10 are depicted with additional detail. 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 QQ106 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 QQ160 and WD QQ110 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 9, network node QQ160 includes processing circuitry QQ170, device readable medium QQ180, interface QQ190, auxiliary equipment QQ184, power source QQ186, power circuitry QQ187, and antenna QQ162. Although network node QQ160 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 9 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 QQ160 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 QQ180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).
Similarly, network node QQ160 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 QQ160 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 NodeB’s. 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 QQ160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium QQ180 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna QQ162 may be shared by the RATs). Network node QQ160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ160, 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 QQ160. Processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ170 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 QQ160 components, such as device readable medium QQ180, network node QQ160 functionality. For example, processing circuitry QQ170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ180 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).
In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 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 QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 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 QQ170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ180 or memory within processing circuitry QQ170. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ170 alone or to other components of network node QQ160, but are enjoyed by network node QQ160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
Device readable medium QQ180 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 00170. Device readable medium QQ180 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 QQ170 and, utilized by network node QQ160. Device readable medium QQ180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry QQ170 and/or any data received via interface QQ190. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 and device readable medium QQ180 may be considered to be integrated.
Interface QQ190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node QQ160, network QQ106, and/or WDs QQ1 10. As illustrated, interface QQ190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) QQ194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network QQ106 over a wired connection. Interface QQ190 also includes radio front end circuitry QQ192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna QQ162. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 comprises filters QQ198 and amplifiers QQ196. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may be connected to antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ198 and/or amplifiers QQ196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ162. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna QQ162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ192. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ170. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
In certain alternative embodiments, network node QQ160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ192, instead, processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 may be considered a part of interface QQ190. In still other embodiments, interface QQ190 may include one or more ports or terminals QQ194, radio front end circuitry QQ192, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface QQ190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry QQ174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
Antenna QQ162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry QQ190 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna QQ162 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 QQ162 may be separate from network node QQ160 and may be connectable to network node QQ160 through an interface or port.
Antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 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 QQ187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node QQ160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry QQ187 may receive power from power source QQ186. Power source QQ186 and/or power circuitry QQ187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node QQ160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source QQ186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry QQ187 and/or network node QQ160. For example, network node QQ160 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 QQ187. As a further example, power source QQ186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry QQ187. 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 QQ160 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 9 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 QQ160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node QQ160 and to allow output of information from network node QQ160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node QQ160.
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). 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 3GPP 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 (loT) 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-loT) 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 QQ1 10 includes antenna QQ11 1 , interface QQ114, processing circuitry QQ120, device readable medium QQ130, user interface equipment QQ132, auxiliary equipment QQ134, power source QQ136 and power circuitry QQ137. WD QQ110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD QQ1 10, 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 QQ1 10.
Antenna QQ11 1 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface QQ114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna QQ11 1 may be separate from WD QQ1 10 and be connectable to WD QQ110 through an interface or port. Antenna QQ1 1 1 , interface QQ114, and/or processing circuitry QQ120 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 QQ11 1 may be considered an interface.
As illustrated, interface QQ114 comprises radio front end circuitry QQ1 12 and antenna QQ11 1. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 comprise one or more filters QQ118 and amplifiers QQ116. Radio front end circuitry QQ1 14 is connected to antenna QQ11 1 and processing circuitry QQ120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ11 1 and processing circuitry QQ120. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna QQ1 11. In some embodiments, WD QQ1 10 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ1 12; rather, processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ11 1. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be considered a part of interface QQ1 14. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry QQ1 12 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ1 18 and/or amplifiers QQ1 16. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ1 11. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna QQ1 11 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ112. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ120. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
Processing circuitry QQ120 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 QQ1 10 components, such as device readable medium QQ130, WD QQ110 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry QQ120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ130 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.
As illustrated, processing circuitry QQ120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry QQ120 of WD QQ110 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry QQ124 and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 and baseband processing circuitry QQ124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be a part of interface QQ114. RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry QQ120.
In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry QQ120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ130, 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 QQ120 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 QQ120 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ120 alone or to other components of WD QQ1 10, but are enjoyed by WD QQ1 10 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
Processing circuitry QQ120 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 QQ120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, 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 QQ130 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 QQ120. Device readable medium QQ130 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 QQ120. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ120 and device readable medium QQ130 may be considered to be integrated.
User interface equipment QQ132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD QQ1 10. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment QQ132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD QQ1 10. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment QQ132 installed in WD QQ1 10. For example, if WD QQ110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD QQ110 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 QQ132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment QQ132 is configured to allow input of information into WD QQ1 10, and is connected to processing circuitry QQ120 to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to process the input information. User interface equipment QQ132 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 QQ132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD QQ1 10, and to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to output information from WD QQ110. User interface equipment QQ132 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 QQ132, WD QQ110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.
Auxiliary equipment QQ134 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 QQ134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.
Power source QQ136 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 QQ110 may further comprise power circuitry QQ137 for delivering power from power source QQ136 to the various parts of WD QQ1 10 which need power from power source QQ136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry QQ137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry QQ137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD QQ110 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 QQ137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source QQ136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source QQ136. Power circuitry QQ137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source QQ136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD QQ110 to which power is supplied.
Figure 10 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 QQ2200 may be any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-loT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. UE QQ200, as illustrated in Figure 10, 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. As mentioned previously, the term WD and UE may be used interchangeably. Accordingly, although Figure 10 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.
In Figure 10, UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface QQ205, radio frequency (RF) interface QQ209, network connection interface QQ211 , memory QQ215 including random access memory (RAM) QQ217, read-only memory (ROM) QQ219, and storage medium QQ221 or the like, communication subsystem QQ231 , power source QQ233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium QQ221 includes operating system QQ223, application program QQ225, and data QQ227. In other embodiments, storage medium QQ221 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 10, 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 10, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuitry QQ201 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 QQ201 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.
In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface QQ205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE QQ200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface QQ205. 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 QQ200. 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 QQ200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface QQ205 to allow a user to capture information into UE QQ200. 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 10, RF interface QQ209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network QQ243a. Network QQ243a 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 QQ243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface QQ21 1 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 QQ211 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 QQ217 may be configured to interface via bus QQ202 to processing circuitry QQ201 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 QQ219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry QQ201. For example, ROM QQ219 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 QQ221 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 QQ221 may be configured to include operating system QQ223, application program QQ225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file QQ227. Storage medium QQ221 may store, for use by UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
Storage medium QQ221 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 QQ221 may allow UE QQ200 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 QQ221 , which may comprise a device readable medium.
In Figure 10, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with network QQ243b using communication subsystem QQ231. Network QQ243a and network QQ243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks. Communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network QQ243b. For example, communication subsystem QQ231 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 802.11 , CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter QQ233 and/or receiver QQ235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter QQ233 and receiver QQ235 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 QQ231 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 QQ231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network QQ243b 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 QQ243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source QQ213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE QQ200.
The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE QQ200 or partitioned across multiple components of UE QQ200. 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 QQ231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus QQ202. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry QQ201 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry QQ201 and communication subsystem QQ231. 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 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ300 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 QQ300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes QQ330. 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 QQ320 (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 QQ320 are run in virtualization environment QQ300 which provides hardware QQ330 comprising processing circuitry QQ360 and memory QQ390. Memory QQ390 contains instructions QQ395 executable by processing circuitry QQ360 whereby application QQ320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.
Virtualization environment QQ300, comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices QQ330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry QQ360, 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 QQ390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions QQ395 or software executed by processing circuitry QQ360. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) QQ370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface QQ380. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media QQ390-2 having stored therein software QQ395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry QQ360. Software QQ395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers QQ350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines QQ340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
Virtual machines QQ340, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance QQ320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines QQ340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
During operation, processing circuitry QQ360 executes software QQ395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer QQ350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer QQ350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine QQ340.
As shown in Figure 1 1 , hardware QQ330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ330 may comprise antenna QQ3225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ330 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) QQ3100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ320.
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 QQ340 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 QQ340, and that part of hardware QQ330 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 QQ340, 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 QQ340 on top of hardware networking infrastructure QQ330 and corresponds to application QQ320 in Figure 11.
In some embodiments, one or more radio units QQ3200 that each include one or more transmitters QQ3220 and one or more receivers QQ3210 may be coupled to one or more antennas QQ3225. Radio units QQ3200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes QQ330 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 signalling can be effected with the use of control system QQ3230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes QQ330 and radio units QQ3200.
With reference to FIGURE 12, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes telecommunication network QQ410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network QQ41 1 , such as a radio access network, and core network QQ414. Access network QQ411 comprises a plurality of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area QQ413a, QQ413b, QQ413c. Each base station QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c is connectable to core network QQ414 over a wired or wireless connection QQ415. A first UE QQ491 located in coverage area QQ413c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station QQ412c. A second UE QQ492 in coverage area QQ413a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station QQ412a. While a plurality of UEs QQ491 , QQ492 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 QQ412.
Telecommunication network QQ410 is itself connected to host computer QQ430, 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 QQ430 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 QQ421 and QQ422 between telecommunication network QQ410 and host computer QQ430 may extend directly from core network QQ414 to host computer QQ430 or may go via an optional intermediate network QQ420. Intermediate network QQ420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network QQ420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network QQ420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
The communication system of Figure 12 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs QQ491 , QQ492 and host computer QQ430. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ450. Host computer QQ430 and the connected UEs QQ491 , QQ492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection QQ450, using access network QQ41 1 , core network QQ414, any intermediate network QQ420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection QQ450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection QQ450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station QQ412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer QQ430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE QQ491. Similarly, base station QQ412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE QQ491 towards the host computer QQ430.
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 13. In communication system QQ500, host computer QQ510 comprises hardware QQ515 including communication interface QQ516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500. Host computer QQ510 further comprises processing circuitry QQ518, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry QQ518 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 QQ510 further comprises software QQ511 , which is stored in or accessible by host computer QQ510 and executable by processing circuitry QQ518. Software QQ511 includes host application QQ512. Host application QQ512 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE QQ530 connecting via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510. In providing the service to the remote user, host application QQ512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection QQ550.
Communication system QQ500 further includes base station QQ520 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware QQ525 enabling it to communicate with host computer QQ510 and with UE QQ530. Hardware QQ525 may include communication interface QQ526 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500, as well as radio interface QQ527 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection QQ570 with UE QQ530 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 13) served by base station QQ520. Communication interface QQ526 may be configured to facilitate connection QQ560 to host computer QQ510. Connection 00560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 13) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, hardware QQ525 of base station QQ520 further includes processing circuitry QQ528, 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 QQ520 further has software QQ521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.
Communication system QQ500 further includes UE QQ530 already referred to. Its hardware QQ535 may include radio interface QQ537 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection QQ570 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE QQ530 is currently located. Hardware QQ535 of UE QQ530 further includes processing circuitry QQ538, 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 QQ530 further comprises software QQ531 , which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ530 and executable by processing circuitry QQ538. Software QQ531 includes client application QQ532. Client application QQ532 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE QQ530, with the support of host computer QQ510. In host computer QQ510, an executing host application QQ512 may communicate with the executing client application QQ532 via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510. In providing the service to the user, client application QQ532 may receive request data from host application QQ512 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection QQ550 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application QQ532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
It is noted that host computer QQ510, base station QQ520 and UE QQ530 illustrated in Figure 13 may be similar or identical to host computer QQ430, one of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c and one of UEs QQ491 , QQ492 of Figure 12, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 13 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 12.
In Figure 13, OTT connection QQ550 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530 via base station QQ520, 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 QQ530 or from the service provider operating host computer QQ510, or both. While OTT connection QQ550 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 QQ570 between UE QQ530 and base station QQ520 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 QQ530 using OTT connection QQ550, in which wireless connection QQ570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the efficiency of network resource reservation and/or usage.
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 QQ550 between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 may be implemented in software QQ511 and hardware QQ515 of host computer QQ510 or in software QQ531 and hardware QQ535 of UE QQ530, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection QQ550 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 QQ51 1 , QQ531 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection QQ550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station QQ520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station QQ520. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer QQ510’s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software QQ511 and QQ531 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection QQ550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.
Figure 14 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 14 will be included in this section. In step QQ610, the host computer provides user data. In substep QQ611 (which may be optional) of step QQ610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step QQ620, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step QQ630 (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 QQ640 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.
Figure 15 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 15 will be included in this section. In step QQ710 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 QQ720, 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 QQ730 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.
Figure 16 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 16 will be included in this section. In step QQ810 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step QQ820, the UE provides user data. In substep QQ821 (which may be optional) of step QQ820, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In substep QQ811 (which may be optional) of step QQ810, 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 QQ830 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step QQ840 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 17 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 those described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 17 will be included in this section. In step QQ910 (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 QQ920 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step QQ930 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.
Figure 18 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an apparatus WW00 in a wireless network (for example, the wireless network shown in Figure 9). The apparatus may be implemented in a wireless device or network node (e.g., wireless device QQ110 or network node QQ160 shown in Figure 9). Apparatus WW00 is operable to carry out the example method described with reference to Figure 4 and possibly any other processes or methods disclosed herein. It is also to be understood that the method of Figure 4 is not necessarily carried out solely by apparatus WW00. At least some operations of the method can be performed by one or more other entities.
Virtual Apparatus WW00 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 receiving unit WW02, determining unit WW04, causing unit WW06, and any other suitable units of apparatus WW00 to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
As illustrated in Figure 18, apparatus WW00 includes receiving unit WW02 configured to receive an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node. Apparatus WW00 also includes determining unit WW04 configured to determine, from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures. Apparatus WW00 also includes causing unit WW06 configured to cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
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, 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.
Examples of the present disclosure also include the below enumerated embodiments.
Group A Embodiments
1. A method in a first network node, the method comprising:
determining that a User Equipment (UE), that is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures; and
causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
2. The method of embodiment 1 , wherein determining that the UE will not complete the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises receiving an indication that the UE has connected to a second network node.
3. The method of embodiment 2, wherein the at least one further network node
comprises the second network node.
4. The method of embodiment 2 or 3, wherein the indication that the UE has connected to the second network node comprises a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message.
5. The method of any of embodiments 2 to 4, wherein receiving the indication
comprises receiving the indication before the second network node completes a path switch procedure in response to the UE connecting to the second network node.
6. The method of any of embodiments 2 to 5, wherein receiving the indication that the UE has connected to the second network node comprises receiving the indication in response to the UE performing a conditional mobility procedure to connect to the second network node.
7. The method of any of embodiments 2 to 6, wherein the indication is received from a network node other than the second network node and the at least one further network node.
8. The method of embodiment 7, wherein the indication is received from an Access and Mobility management Function (AMF).
9. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources allocated for the associated conditional mobility procedure comprises sending at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources.
The method of embodiment 9, wherein sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
The method of embodiment 9 or 10, wherein sending at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises sending at least one HANDOVER CANCEL message and/or at least one UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
The method of any of embodiments 9 to 11 , wherein the at least one message to the further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures indicates that the UE has performed one of the conditional mobility procedures.
The method of any of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein each of the conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node comprises a conditional mobility procedure for the UE to connect to a respective one of the at least one further network node.
The method of any of embodiments 1 to 13, comprising configuring the UE with the conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node before the determining.
The method of any of embodiments 1 to 14, comprising sending, before the determining, at least one message to the at least one further network node to cause the at least one further network node to allocate the resources for the associated conditional mobility procedures.
The method of embodiment 15, wherein sending, before the determining, the at least one message to the at least one further network node is performed in response to a measurement report from the UE. 17. The method of embodiment 15 or 16, wherein sending, before the determining, the at least one message to the at least one further network node comprises starting a respective expiry timer for each of the at least one further network node, and causing the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources comprises sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures if the respective expiry timer has not expired and will not expire within a predetermined time.
18. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the conditional mobility
procedures each comprise a conditional handover, conditional resume, conditional reconfiguration with sync, conditional reconfiguration or conditional reestablishment.
19. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 18, wherein the method is performed by a base station.
20. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 19, wherein each of the first network node and the at least one further network node comprises a base station and/or is associated with at least one respective cell.
21. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 20, wherein at least one further network node comprises a plurality of further network nodes.
22. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising:
- providing user data; and
- forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station.
Group C Embodiments
23. Apparatus comprising:
- processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the
Group A embodiments; and
- power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.
24. Apparatus comprising:
- an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; - radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry;
- the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments;
- an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the apparatus to be processed by the processing circuitry;
- an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and
- a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply
power to the apparatus.
The communication system of embodiment 24 further including the base station. The communication system of embodiment 24 or 25, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.
The communication system of any of embodiments 24 to 26, wherein:
- the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and
- the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client
application associated with the host application. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
- at the host computer, providing user data; and
- at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. The method of embodiment 28, further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data. The method of embodiment 28 or 29, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising, at the UE, executing a client application associated with the host application. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to performs the method of any of embodiments 28 to 30.
A communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. The communication system of embodiment 32 further including the base station. The communication system of embodiment 32 or 33, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station. The communication system of any of embodiments 32 to 34, wherein:
- the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application;
- the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer. REFERENCES
[10] 3GPP TS 23.502: "Procedures for the 5G System; Stage 2".
[13] 3GPP TS 33.501 : "Security architecture and procedures for 5G System".
[28] 3GPP TS 33.501 : "Security architecture and procedures for 5G System".
ABBREVIATIONS
At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).
1x RTT CDMA2000 1x Radio Transmission Technology
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
5G 5th Generation
ABS Almost Blank Subframe
ARQ Automatic Repeat Request
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
BCCH Broadcast Control Channel
BCH Broadcast Channel
CA Carrier Aggregation
CC Carrier Component
CCCH SDUCommon Control Channel SDU
CDMA Code Division Multiplexing Access
CGI Cell Global Identifier
CIR Channel Impulse Response
CP Cyclic Prefix
CPICH Common Pilot Channel
CPICH Ec/No CPICH Received energy per chip divided by the power density in the band
CQI Channel Quality information
C-RNTI Cell RNTI
CSI Channel State Information
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
DL Downlink
DM Demodulation
DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal
DRX Discontinuous Reception
DTX Discontinuous Transmission
DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel
DUT Device Under Test
E-CID Enhanced Cell-ID (positioning method)
E-SMLC Evolved-Serving Mobile Location Centre
ECGI Evolved CGI
eNB E-UTRAN NodeB
ePDCCH enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel E-SMLC evolved Serving Mobile Location Center
E-UTRA Evolved UTRA
E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN
FDD Frequency Division Duplex
FFS For Further Study
GERAN GSM EDGE Radio Access Network
gNB Base station in NR
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
GSM Global System for Mobile communication
HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request
HO Handover
HSPA High Speed Packet Access
HRPD High Rate Packet Data
LOS Line of Sight
LPP LTE Positioning Protocol
LTE Long-Term Evolution
MAC Medium Access Control
MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services
MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network
MBSFN ABS MBSFN Almost Blank Subframe
MDT Minimization of Drive Tests
MIB Master Information Block
MME Mobility Management Entity
MSC Mobile Switching Center
NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel
NR New Radio
OCNG OFDMA Channel Noise Generator
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
OSS Operations Support System
OTDOA Observed Time Difference of Arrival
O&M Operation and Maintenance
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel
P-CCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channel
PCell Primary Cell
PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDP Profile Delay Profile
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PGW Packet Gateway
PHICH Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
PMI Precoder Matrix Indicator
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
PRS Positioning Reference Signal
PSS Primary Synchronization Signal
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
RACH Random Access Channel
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
RAN Radio Access Network
RAT Radio Access Technology
RLM Radio Link Management
RNC Radio Network Controller
RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier
RRC Radio Resource Control
RRM Radio Resource Management
RS Reference Signal
RSCP Received Signal Code Power
RSRP Reference Symbol Received Power OR
Reference Signal Received Power
RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality OR
Reference Symbol Received Quality
RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator
RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference
SCH Synchronization Channel
SCell Secondary Cell
SDU Service Data Unit
SFN System Frame Number
SGW Serving Gateway
SI System Information
SIB System Information Block
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio SON Self Optimized Network
SS Synchronization Signal
SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal
TDD Time Division Duplex
TDOA Time Difference of Arrival
TOA Time of Arrival
TSS Tertiary Synchronization Signal
TTI Transmission Time Interval
UE User Equipment
UL Uplink
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module
UTDOA Uplink Time Difference of Arrival
UTRA Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
WCDMA Wide CDMA
WLAN Wide Local Area Network

Claims

Claims
1. A method in a first network node, the method comprising:
receiving (402) an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node;
determining (404), from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures; and
causing (406) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving (402) the indication that the UE has
connected to the second network node comprises receiving the indication in response to the UE performing a conditional mobility procedure to connect to the second network node.
3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one further network node is the
second network node.
4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the indication that the UE has connected to the second network node comprises a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message.
5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein receiving (402) the indication comprises receiving the indication before the second network node completes a path switch procedure in response to the UE connecting to the second network node.
6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the indication is received from a network node other than the second network node and the at least one further network node.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the indication is received from an Access and
Mobility management Function (AMF).
8. The method of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein causing (406) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources allocated for the associated conditional mobility procedure comprises sending at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to cause the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein sending at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein sending at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures comprises sending at least one HANDOVER CANCEL message and/or at least one UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
11. The method of any of claims 8 to 10, wherein the at least one message to the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures indicates that the UE has performed one of the conditional mobility procedures.
12. The method of any of claims 1 to 11 , wherein each of the conditional mobility
procedures associated with the at least one further network node comprises a conditional mobility procedure for the UE to connect to a respective one of the at least one further network node.
13. The method of any of claims 1 to 12, comprising configuring the UE with the
conditional mobility procedures associated with the at least one further network node before determining that the UE will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
14. The method of any of claims 1 to 13, comprising sending, before the determining (404), at least one message to the at least one further network node to cause the at least one further network node to allocate the resources for the associated conditional mobility procedures.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein sending, before the determining (404), the at least one message to the at least one further network node is performed in response to a measurement report from the UE.
16. The method of claim 14 or 15, wherein sending, before the determining (404), the at least one message to the at least one further network node comprises starting a respective expiry timer for each of the at least one further network node, and causing (406) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release the resources comprises sending a respective message to each of the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures if the respective expiry timer has not expired and will not expire within a predetermined time.
17. The method of any of claims 1 to 16, wherein the conditional mobility procedures each comprises a conditional handover, conditional resume, conditional
reconfiguration with sync, conditional reconfiguration or conditional reestablishment.
18. The method of any of claims 1 to 17, wherein the first network node is a base station.
19. The method of any of claims 1 to 18, wherein each of the first network node and the at least one further network node comprises a base station and/or is associated with at least one respective cell.
20. The method of any of claims 1 to 19, wherein the at least one further network node comprises a plurality of further network nodes.
21. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method according to any one of the preceding claims.
22. A subcarrier containing a computer program according to claim 21 , wherein the
subcarrier comprises one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal or computer readable storage medium.
23. A computer program product comprising non transitory computer readable media having stored thereon a computer program according to claim 21.
24. A network node comprising a processor and a memory, the memory containing
instructions executable by the processor such that the network node is operable to: receive (402) an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node;
determine (404), from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures; and
cause (406) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
25. The network node of claim 24, wherein the memory contains instructions executable by the processor such that the network node is operable to perform the method of any of claims 2 to 20.
26. A network node configured to: receive (402) an indication that a User Equipment, UE, has connected to a second network node;
determine (404), from the indication, that the UE, which is configured with conditional mobility procedures associated with at least one further network node, will not complete at least one of the conditional mobility procedures; and
cause (406) the at least one further network node associated with the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures to release resources allocated for the at least one of the conditional mobility procedures.
27. The network node of claim 26, wherein the network node is configured to perform the method of any of claims 2 to 20.
PCT/SE2019/051257 2018-12-14 2019-12-10 Conditional mobility WO2020122797A1 (en)

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