WO2021091457A1 - Rotation of group wake-up signal -expansion - Google Patents

Abstract

According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a wireless device comprises determining a resource index indicating a wake up signal (WUS) resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current paging occasion (PO) and monitoring (1104) a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal. The resource index is determined based at least in part on a hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and a system frame number (SFN).

Description

Rotation of Group Wake-Up Signal -Expansion TECHNICAL FIELD

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure relate, in general, to wireless communications and, more particularly, to a group wake-up signal rotation. BACKGROUND

The third generation partnership project (3GPP) has recently been working on specifying technologies to cover Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and/or Intemet-of-Things (IoT) related use cases. Most recent work for 3GPP Release 13 and 14 includes enhancements to support Machine-Type Communications (MTC) with new user equipment (UE) categories (Cat-Mi, Cat-M2), supporting reduced bandwidth of 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) (up to 24 PRBs for Cat-M2), and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) UEs providing a new radio interface (and UE categories, Cat-NBl and Cat-NB2).

The present disclosure will refer to the long term evolution (LTE) enhancements introduced in 3GPP Releases 13, 14, and 15 for MTC as enhanced Machine-Type Communications (eMTC), including (but not limited to) support for bandwidth limited UEs, Cat-Mi, and support for coverage enhancements. This is to separate discussion from NB-IoT (notation here used for any Release), although the supported features are similar on a general level. LTE for MTC may be referred to as LTE-M.

There are multiple differences between “legacy” LTE and the procedures and channels defined for eMTC and for NB-IoT. Some important differences include a new physical channel, such as the physical downlink control channels, called MTC physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) in eMTC and narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) in NB- IoT, and a new physical random access channel (PRACH) for NB-IoT, the narrowband PRACH (NPRACH). Another important difference is the coverage level (also known as coverage enhancement level) that these technologies can support. By applying repetitions to the transmitted signals and channels, both eMTC and NB-IoT allow UE operation down to much lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) level compared to LTE. For example, the lowest operating point for eMTC and NB-IoT allows for Es/Iot ≥ -15 dB, which can be compared to - 6 dB Es/IoT for “legacy” LTE. Power saving objective in Rel-15

In Release 15, there is a common work item (WI) objective in the approved work items for both NB-IoT and Rel-15 enhancements for eMTC. The description for NB-IoT is as follows:

And with a similar formulation for eMTC:

A ‘Wake-up signal’ (WUS) is based on the transmission of a short signal that indicates to the UE that it should continue to decode the downlink (DL) control channel, such as the full NPDCCH for NB-IoT. If such signal is absent, then the UE can go back to sleep without decoding the DL control channel. Typically, the UE detects the WUS by correlating a signal received from a network node to a known WUS sequence and comparing the correlation to a threshold. If the correlation exceeds the threshold, then WUS is detected. If the correlation is below the threshold, then WUS is not detected. The correlation may be below the threshold, for example, as a result of a discontinuous transmission (DTX), as a result of the network node using the resource to transmit data other than the WUS (e.g., if the network node determines that it is not necessary to wake up the UE), or as a result of the UE missing detecting the WUS sent by the network node (missed detection is not the typical case - the missed detection rate may be on the order of approximately 1%). The decoding time for a WUS is considerably shorter than that of the full NPDCCH since it essentially only needs to contain one bit of information whereas the NPDCCH may contain up to 35 bits of information. This, in turn, reduces UE power consumption and leads to longer UE battery life. The WUS would be transmitted only when there is paging for the UE. But if there is no paging for the UE then the WUS will not be transmitted (i.e., implying a discontinuous transmission, DTX) and the UE would go back to sleep in response to the absence of the WUS. This is illustrated in Figure 1, where white blocks indicate possible WUS and paging occasion (PO) positions whereas the black boxes indicate actual WUS and PO positions.

The specification of Rel-15 WUS is spread out over several parts of the LTE 36-series standard, e.g., 36.211, 36.213, 36.304 and 36.331.

WUS UE grouping objective in Rel-16 In the Rel-16 work item description, it was agreed that WUS should be further developed to also include UE grouping, such that the number of UEs that are sensitive to the WUS is further narrowed down to a smaller subset of the UEs that are associated with a specific PO:

Requirements on UE-grouping The Rel-15 WUS was designed such that all UEs belongs to the same group. That is, a transmitted WUS associated to a specific PO may wake-up all UEs that are configured to detect paging at that PO (in principle that is, however three different WUS gaps were introduce in Rel- 15; DRX, short eDRX, and long eDRX, which in practice means that there are three time- multiplexed WUS groups already). Hence, all UEs that are not targeted by the page will wake up unnecessarily. Both eMTC and NB-IoT have been developed with varying applications in mind. Contrary to the mobile broadband (MBB) use case, the IoT realm has widely different use cases in terms of, for example, paging rates, latency, baseband processing power, etc. As an example, a power switch for street lights may only need to be paged once daily such that an extremely low paging rate may be deployed. By contrast, a machine that controls a device may need to be paged on a per second basis. For these two networks, it is apparent that paging will differ substantially and, consequently, that the same UE-grouping configuration may be ill-suited.

UE grouping based on UE_ID

The gain from Rel-16 group WUS comes from reduced false paging for a UE, that is, reducing the chance that the UE is unnecessarily woken up when another UE is being paged. This is achieved by introducing more WUS sequences and UEs are only woken up when ‘their’ WUS sequence is detected. It has been agreed in 3GPP that the Rel-16 WUS UE grouping should be based on at least UE_ID. The agreement from RAN2#103bis is as follows:

• At least UE_ID based grouping is supported for UE-Group based WUS. This doesn’t exclude other options.

In RANl#94bis similar agreements were made:

• UE grouping is based on at least UE ID or some function of UE ID;

• Group WUS is based on at least legacy WUS and UE-group ID.

Later, in RAN2#107, it was agreed that the WUS UE grouping could also be based on paging probability. According to the agreements in RAN2#107:

• Paging probability information is negotiated between the UE and Mobility Management Entity (MME) via non access stratum (NAS) signaling;

• This paging probability information needs to be provided by SI paging;

• eNodeB (eNB) configures, via broadcast, the relation between this paging probability information and WUS group on Uu interface.

In RANl#96bis the following was agreed:

• [LTE-M]: If the group WUS resource is configured to be shared by Rel-15 WUS and Rel-16 WUS, a common WUS for all the group WUS UEs in the same WUS resource can be configured to be legacy WUS or a non-legacy WUS.

And similar for NB-IoT in RAN1#97: • [NB-IoT] If the group WUS resource is configured to be shared by Rel-15 WUS and Rel-16 WUS, the common WUS sequence for all the group WUS UEs in the same WUS resource can be configured to be the Rel-15 WUS sequence or a Rel- 16 WUS sequence.

In RAN1#98 the following was agreed:

• The maximum number of UE groups per WUS resource is 8.

• The specification supports configurability to enable UE group to alternate between WUS resources.

Rel-16 WUS grouping is from here on referred to as Group Wake-Up Signal (GWUS).

SUMMARY

There currently exist certain challenge(s). For example, the last agreement discussed above (i.e., the RAN1#98 agreement that “[t]he specification supports configurability to enable UE group to alternate between WUS resources”) was motivated to counter-act unfairness among UEs. This is because, according to an earlier agreement (see above), the Rel-15 legacy WUS can be configured to be used as the common WUS for Rel-16 GWUS UEs. This means that the GWUS UEs sharing a WUS resource with Rel-15 WUS will be unnecessarily woken up every time a Rel-15 WUS UE is paged, increasing the false paging probability and removing a large part of the benefits of Rel-16 GWUS. Therefore, instead of reverting the problematic agreement to use Rel-15 legacy WUS as common WUS for Rel-16, RANI agreed to optionally be able to rotate the WUS resource to which a UE belongs in order to increase the false paging equally for all Rel-16 GWUS UEs. The remaining problem addressed here is how to achieve such rotation in a good way.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. Certain embodiments rotate the WUS resources index used for WUS UE group selection with the hyper system frame number (H-SFN). Certain embodiments provide methods for rotating the WUS resource index used for WUS UE group determination as a function of system frame number (SFN), H-SFN, discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T, and the number of WUS resources configured.

There are, proposed herein, various embodiments which address one or more of the issues disclosed herein. According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a wireless device comprises determining a resource index indicating a WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current PO and monitoring a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN.

According to certain embodiments, a computer program comprises instructions which when executed on a computer perform a method comprising determining a resource index indicating a WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current PO and monitoring a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN.

According to certain embodiments, a computer program product comprises a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform a method comprising determining a resource index indicating a WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current PO and monitoring a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN.

According to certain embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium stores instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method comprising determining a resource index indicating a WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current PO and monitoring a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN.

According to certain embodiments, a wireless device comprises memory and processing circuitry. The memory is operable to store instructions. The processing circuitry is operable to execute the instructions to cause the wireless device to determine a resource index indicating a WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current PO and to monitor a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN.

Each of the above-described method in a wireless device, computer program, computer program product, non-transitory computer readable medium, and/or wireless device may include any suitable additional features, such as one or more of the following features:

In some embodiments, the resource index is determined based at least in part on a DRX cycle length T. In some embodiments, the resource index is determined based at least in part on a number of WUS resources configured.

In some embodiments, the resource index is rotated. Rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO, the next resource index determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN.

In some embodiments, the wireless device wakes up in response to detecting the wake up signal.

In some embodiments, the wireless device abstains from waking up in response to not detecting the wake up signal.

According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a network node comprises determining a resource index associated with a wireless device. The resource index indicates a WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current PO. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. The method further comprises sending the wake up signal to the wireless device using the WUS resource.

According to certain embodiments, a computer program comprises instructions which when executed on a computer perform a method comprising determining a resource index associated with a wireless device. The resource index indicates a WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current PO. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. The method further comprises sending the wake up signal to the wireless device using the WUS resource.

According to certain embodiments, a computer program product comprises a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform a method comprising determining a resource index associated with a wireless device. The resource index indicates a WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current PO. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. The method further comprises sending the wake up signal to the wireless device using the WUS resource.

According to certain embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium stores instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method comprising determining a resource index associated with a wireless device. The resource index indicates a WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current PO. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. The method further comprises sending the wake up signal to the wireless device using the WUS resource.

According to certain embodiments, a network node comprises memory and processing circuitry. The memory is operable to store instructions. The processing circuitry is operable to execute the instructions to cause the network node to determine a resource index associated with a wireless device. The resource index indicates a WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current PO. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. The instructions further cause the network node to send the wake up signal to the wireless device using the WUS resource.

Each of the above-described method in a network node, computer program, computer program product, non-transitory computer readable medium, and/or network node may include any suitable additional features, such as one or more of the following features:

In some embodiments, the resource index is determined based at least in part on a DRX cycle length T.

In some embodiments, the resource index is determined based at least in part on a number of WUS resources configured.

Some embodiments rotate the resource index. Rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO, the next resource index determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN.

Some embodiments send the wake up signal in response to determining that the network node will be paging the wireless device during the current PO.

Some embodiments page the wireless device during the current PO.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). An advantage of certain embodiments allows for achieving fairness among UEs in case Rel-15 legacy WUS is used as the common WUS for Rel-16 group WUS operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates an example of a location of a WUS and the paging occasion to which it is associated.

Figure 2 illustrates a wireless network, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 3 illustrates User Equipment, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 4 illustrates a virtualization environment, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 5 illustrates a telecommunications network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 6 illustrates a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 7 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 8 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 9 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 10 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 11 illustrates an example of a method, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 12 illustrates an example of a method that may be performed by a wireless device, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 13 illustrates an example of a method that may be performed by a network node, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 14 illustrates an example of a high-level block diagram of an exemplary architecture of the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, as standardized by 3GPP.

Figure 15 illustrates an example of a high-level block diagram of an exemplary E- UTRAN architecture in terms of its constituent components, protocols, and interfaces. Figure 16 illustrates an example of a block diagram of exemplary protocol layers of the control-plane portion of the radio (Uu) interface between a user equipment (UE) and the E- UTRAN.

Figure 17 illustrates an example of a block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture from the perspective of the PHY layer.

Figure 18 illustrates an example of a block diagram of an exemplary downlink LTE radio frame structure used for frequency division duplexing (FDD) operation.

Figure 19 illustrates an example of a timeline that illustrates an association between wake-up signals (WUS) and paging occasions (PO) in LTE.

Figure 20 illustrates an example of a timeline that further illustrates an association between WUS and physical channels in LTE.

Figure 21 illustrates an example of a relationship between paging probability (PP) classes, WUS resources, and UE WUS grouping for LTE-M.

Figure 22 illustrates an example of methods and/or procedures performed by a user equipment (UE, e.g., wireless device, IoT device, MTC device, etc. or component(s) thereol), according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 23 illustrates an example of methods and/or procedures performed by a network node (e.g., base station, eNB or next generation eNB, NR base station (gNB), etc. or component(s) thereol), according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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.

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.

Embodiment 1: Here the WUS resource is alternated with a combination of HSFN and SFN, to achieve the overall SFN number so to say. This ensures that alternation will also work for UEs configured with DRX cycles of T=1204 radio frames. For example, the following equation could be used:

That is, the WUS index is rotated/altemated with the count of the DRX cycle in the entire HSFN range. For example, if the DRX cycle is 512 radio frames then the UE could wake up to monitor paging at HSFN*1024+SFN equal to:

{0, 512, 1024, 1536, 2048, 2560, 3072, 3584, 4096, 4608, 5120, 5632, 6144, 6656, 7168,

. . . }

Since the DRX cycle is a power of 2, the alternation will not work for an even

the division by the DRX cycle length T is not considered (in this example

always be equal to 1). With the division of T (and rounding to an integer using floor) the index is instead rotated with the count of the DRX cycle in the entire HSFN range.

In the equation for Embodiment 1 discussed above: related to an initial WUS index without group alternation.

Thus, the amount of alternation that takes place for each iteration can be controlled with a scaling factor prior to the floor(... ) function, e.g., Gmin floor(... ). Embodiment 2: If a slower alternation is sufficient the index could be rotated just using the HSFN, i.e., alternation depending on in which HSFN period (SFN from 0 to 1023) the UE is monitoring its WUS in. This could be expressed as:

Although the subject maher 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 2. For simplicity, the wireless network of Figure 2 only depicts network 106, network nodes 160 and 160b, and WDs 110, 110b, and 110c. 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 160 and wireless device (WD) 110 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 second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), or fifth generation (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 106 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 160 and WD 110 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., Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs), Mobility Management Entities (MMEs)), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Optimized Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved-Serving Mobile Location Centre (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (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 2, network node 160 includes processing circuitry 170, device readable medium 180, interface 190, auxiliary equipment 184, power source 186, power circuitry 187, and antenna 162. Although network node 160 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 2 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 160 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 180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).

Similarly, network node 160 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 160 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 160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 180 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 162 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 160, such as, for example, GSM, Wide Code Division Multiplexing Access (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 160.

Processing circuitry 170 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 170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 170 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 170 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 160 components, such as device readable medium 180, network node 160 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 180 or in memory within processing circuitry 170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 172 and baseband processing circuitry 174. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 172 and baseband processing circuitry 174 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 172 and baseband processing circuitry 174 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 170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 180 or memory within processing circuitry 170. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 170 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 170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 170 alone or to other components of network node 160, but are enjoyed by network node 160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Device readable medium 180 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 170. Device readable medium 180 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 170 and, utilized by network node 160. Device readable medium 180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry 170 and/or any data received via interface 190. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 170 and device readable medium 180 may be considered to be integrated.

Interface 190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node 160, network 106, and/or WDs 110. As illustrated, interface 190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network 106 over a wired connection. Interface 190 also includes radio front end circuitry 192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna 162. Radio front end circuitry 192 comprises filters 198 and amplifiers 196. Radio front end circuitry 192 may be connected to antenna 162 and processing circuitry 170. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 162 and processing circuitry 170. Radio front end circuitry 192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 198 and/or amplifiers 196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 162. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 192. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 170. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 192, instead, processing circuitry 170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 162 without separate radio front end circuitry 192. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 172 may be considered a part of interface 190. In still other embodiments, interface 190 may include one or more ports or terminals 194, radio front end circuitry 192, and RF transceiver circuitry 172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface 190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry 174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

Antenna 162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry 190 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 162 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 162 may be separate from network node 160 and may be connectable to network node 160 through an interface or port.

Antenna 162, interface 190, and/or processing circuitry 170 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 162, interface 190, and/or processing circuitry 170 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 187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node 160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry 187 may receive power from power source 186. Power source 186 and/or power circuitry 187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node 160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source 186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry 187 and/or network node 160. For example, network node 160 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 187. As a further example, power source 186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 187. 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 160 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 2 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 160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node 160 and to allow output of information from network node 160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 160.

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 (IoT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device 110 includes antenna 111, interface 114, processing circuitry 120, device readable medium 130, user interface equipment 132, auxiliary equipment 134, power source 136 and power circuitry 137. WD 110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD 110, 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 110.

Antenna 111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface 114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 111 may be separate from WD 110 and be connectable to WD 110 through an interface or port. Antenna 111, interface 114, and/or processing circuitry 120 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 111 may be considered an interface.

As illustrated, interface 114 comprises radio front end circuitry 112 and antenna 111. Radio front end circuitry 112 comprise one or more filters 118 and amplifiers 116. Radio front end circuitry 114 is connected to antenna 111 and processing circuitry 120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 111 and processing circuitry 120. Radio front end circuitry 112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna 111. In some embodiments, WD 110 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 112; rather, processing circuitry 120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 111. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry 122 may be considered a part of interface 114. Radio front end circuitry 112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 112 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 118 and/or amplifiers 116. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 111. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 111 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 112. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 120. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

Processing circuitry 120 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 110 components, such as device readable medium 130, WD 110 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry 120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 130 or in memory within processing circuitry 120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.

As illustrated, processing circuitry 120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry 122, baseband processing circuitry 124, and application processing circuitry 126. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry 120 of WD 110 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 122, baseband processing circuitry 124, and application processing circuitry 126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry 124 and application processing circuitry 126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 122 and baseband processing circuitry 124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry 126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 122, baseband processing circuitry 124, and application processing circuitry 126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 122 may be a part of interface 114. RF transceiver circuitry 122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry 120 In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry 120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 130, 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 120 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 120 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 120 alone or to other components of WD 110, but are enjoyed by WD 110 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Processing circuitry 120 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 120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD 110, 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 130 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 120. Device readable medium 130 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 120. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 120 and device readable medium 130 may be considered to be integrated.

User interface equipment 132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD 110. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment 132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD 110. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment 132 installed in WD 110. For example, if WD 110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD 110 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 132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment 132 is configured to allow input of information into WD 110, and is connected to processing circuitry 120 to allow processing circuitry 120 to process the input information. User interface equipment 132 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 132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD 110, and to allow processing circuitry 120 to output information from WD 110. User interface equipment 132 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 132, WD 110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment 134 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 134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

Power source 136 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 110 may further comprise power circuitry 137 for delivering power from power source 136 to the various parts of WD 110 which need power from power source 136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry 137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD 110 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 137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source 136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source 136. Power circuitry 137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source 136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD 110 to which power is supplied. Figure 3 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 2200 may be any UE identified by the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including aNB-IoT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. UE 200, as illustrated in Figure 3, 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. As mentioned previously, the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although Figure 3 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.

In Figure 3, UE 200 includes processing circuitry 201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface 205, radio frequency (RF) interface 209, network connection interface 211, memory 215 including random access memory (RAM) 217, read-only memory (ROM) 219, and storage medium 221 or the like, communication subsystem 231, power source 233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 221 includes operating system 223, application program 225, and data 227. In other embodiments, storage medium 221 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 3, 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 3, processing circuitry 201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 201 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 201 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 205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE 200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface 205. 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 200. 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 200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface 205 to allow a user to capture information into UE 200. 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 3, RF interface 209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface 211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network 243a. Network 243a 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 243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface 211 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 211 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 217 may be configured to interface via bus 202 to processing circuitry 201 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 219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry 201. For example, ROM 219 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 221 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 221 may be configured to include operating system 223, application program 225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file 227. Storage medium 221 may store, for use by UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

Storage medium 221 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 221 may allow UE 200 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 221, which may comprise a device readable medium.

In Figure 3, processing circuitry 201 may be configured to communicate with network 243b using communication subsystem 231. Network 243a and network 243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks. Communication subsystem 231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network 243b. For example, communication subsystem 231 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 802.2, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter 233 and/or receiver 235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the radio access network (RAN) links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter 233 and receiver 235 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 231 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 231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network 243b 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 243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source 213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 200.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE 200 or partitioned across multiple components of UE 200. 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 231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry 201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus 202. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry 201 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry 201 and communication subsystem 231. 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 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 300 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 300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes 330. 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 320 (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 320 are run in virtualization environment 300 which provides hardware 330 comprising processing circuitry 360 and memory 390. Memory 390 contains instructions 395 executable by processing circuitry 360 whereby application 320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment 300, comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices 330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry 360, 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 390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 395 or software executed by processing circuitry 360. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface 380. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media 390-2 having stored therein software 395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry 360. Software 395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.

Virtual machines 340, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines 340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry 360 executes software 395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer 350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine 340.

As shown in Figure 4, hardware 330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 330 may comprise antenna 3225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 330 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) 3100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 320.

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 340 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 340, and that part of hardware 330 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 340, 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 340 on top of hardware networking infrastructure 330 and corresponds to application 320 in Figure 4.

In some embodiments, one or more radio units 3200 that each include one or more transmitters 3220 and one or more receivers 3210 may be coupled to one or more antennas 3225. Radio units 3200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes 330 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 3230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes 330 and radio units 3200.

With reference to Figure 5, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes telecommunication network 410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network 411, such as a radio access network, and core network 414. Access network 411 comprises a plurality of base stations 412a, 412b, 412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 413a, 413b, 413c. Each base station 412a, 412b, 412c is connectable to core network 414 over a wired or wireless connection 415. A first UE 491 located in coverage area 413c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 412c. A second UE 492 in coverage area 413a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 412a. While a plurality of UEs 491, 492 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 412.

Telecommunication network 410 is itself connected to host computer 430, 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 430 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 421 and 422 between telecommunication network 410 and host computer 430 may extend directly from core network 414 to host computer 430 or may go via an optional intermediate network 420. Intermediate network 420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network 420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of Figure 5 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 491, 492 and host computer 430. The connectivity may be described as an over- the-top (OTT) connection 450. Host computer 430 and the connected UEs 491, 492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 450, using access network 411, core network 414, any intermediate network 420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection 450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station 412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer 430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 491. Similarly, base station 412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 491 towards the host computer 430.

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 6. In communication system 500, host computer 510 comprises hardware 515 including communication interface 516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 500. Host computer 510 further comprises processing circuitry 518, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 518 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 510 further comprises software 511, which is stored in or accessible by host computer 510 and executable by processing circuitry 518. Software 511 includes host application 512. Host application 512 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 530 connecting via OTT connection 550 terminating at UE 530 and host computer 510. In providing the service to the remote user, host application 512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection 550.

Communication system 500 further includes base station 520 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 525 enabling it to communicate with host computer 510 and with UE 530. Hardware 525 may include communication interface 526 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 500, as well as radio interface 527 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection 570 with UE 530 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 6) served by base station 520. Communication interface 526 may be configured to facilitate connection 560 to host computer 510. Connection 560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 6) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, hardware 525 of base station 520 further includes processing circuitry 528, 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 520 further has software 521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 500 further includes UE 530 already referred to. Its hardware 535 may include radio interface 537 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection 570 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE 530 is currently located. Hardware 535 of UE 530 further includes processing circuitry 538, 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 530 further comprises software 531, which is stored in or accessible by UE 530 and executable by processing circuitry 538. Software 531 includes client application 532. Client application 532 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 530, with the support of host computer 510. In host computer 510, an executing host application 512 may communicate with the executing client application 532 via OTT connection 550 terminating at UE 530 and host computer 510. In providing the service to the user, client application 532 may receive request data from host application 512 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 550 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application 532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 510, base station 520 and UE 530 illustrated in Figure 6 may be similar or identical to host computer 430, one of base stations 412a, 412b, 412c and one of UEs 491, 492 of Figure 5, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 6 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 5.

In Figure 6, OTT connection 550 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer 510 and UE 530 via base station 520, 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 530 or from the service provider operating host computer 510, or both. While OTT connection 550 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 570 between UE 530 and base station 520 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 530 using OTT connection 550, in which wireless connection 570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as extended battery lifetime.

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 550 between host computer 510 and UE 530, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 550 may be implemented in software 511 and hardware 515 of host computer 510 or in software 531 and hardware 535 of UE 530, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection 550 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 511, 531 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station 520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 520. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer 510's measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software 511 and 531 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection 550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

Figure 7 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 5 and 6. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 7 will be included in this section. In step 610, the host computer provides user data. In substep 611 (which may be optional) of step 610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 620, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 630 (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 640 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 5 and 6. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 8 will be included in this section. In step 710 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 720, 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 730 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 5 and 6. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 9 will be included in this section. In step 810 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 820, the UE provides user data. In substep 821 (which may be optional) of step 820, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In substep 811 (which may be optional) of step 810, 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 830 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step 840 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 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 5 and 6. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 10 will be included in this section. In step 910 (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 920 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 930 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

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

Figure 11 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. The method may be performed by a wireless device, such as wireless device 110 or UE 200 discussed above. The method begins at step 1102 with determining a WUS index based at least in part on an H- SFN. In certain embodiments, the WUS index is further based on one or more of: SFN, DRX cycle length T, and/or a number of WUS resources configured. In certain embodiments, the method proceeds with determining a UE group to which the wireless device belongs based on the WUS index (e.g., the UE group is determined from a plurality of UE groups). The UE group can be used in determining a WUS sequence for identifying a WUS directed to the wireless device. The method proceeds to step 1104 with monitoring a WUS resource for a wake up signal directed to the wireless device. The wake up signal directed to the wireless device comprises a sequence that depends at least in part on the WUS index (for example, the WUS index may be used to determine the UE group and WUS resource, and the UE group and WUS resource may be used to determine the WUS sequence). The method may further comprise waking up in response to detecting the wake up signal directed to the wireless device or abstaining from waking up in response to not detecting the wake up signal directed to the wireless device. In certain embodiments, the method may be performed for a first monitoring occasion and may be repeated for a second monitoring occasion. For example, the method may be repeated to rotate the WUS index used during different monitoring occasions. In certain embodiments, the network node performs reciprocal functionality to support the above-described method in a wireless device.

In some embodiments a computer program, computer program product or computer readable storage medium comprises instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the embodiments disclosed herein. In further examples the instructions are carried on a signal or carrier and which are executable on a computer wherein when executed perform any of the embodiments disclosed herein.

EMBODIMENTS

Group A Embodiments

1. A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: - determining a wake up signal (WUS) index based at least in part on a hyper system frame number (H-SFN); and

- monitoring a WUS resource for a wake up signal directed to the wireless device, wherein the wake up signal directed to the wireless device comprises a sequence that depends at least in part on the WUS index. 2. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the WUS index is determined based at least in part on a system frame number (SFN).

3. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the WUS index is determined based at least in part on a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T.

4. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the WUS index is determined based at least in part on a number of WUS resources configured.

5. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising determining a user equipment (UE) group to which the wireless device belongs based on the WUS index, the UE group determined from a plurality of UE groups.

6. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising determining the sequence that depends on the WUS index based at least in part on the UE group to which the wireless device belongs.

7. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising rotating the WUS index. 8. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising waking up in response to detecting the wake up signal directed to the wireless device.

9. The method of any of embodiments 1-7, further comprising abstaining from waking up in response to not detecting the wake up signal directed to the wireless device.

10. A method, comprising: - determining a first wake up signal (WUS) index based on a first hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and optionally based on one or more of: a first system frame number (SFN), a first discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T, and/or a first number of WUS resources configured;

- determining a first user equipment (UE) group to which the wireless device belongs based on the first WUS index, the first UE group determined from a plurality of UE groups;

- monitoring a WUS resource for a first wake up signal directed to the wireless device during a first monitoring occasion, wherein the first wake up signal directed to the wireless device comprises a first sequence based at least in part on the first UE group to which the wireless device belongs; and

- determining whether to wake up based on whether the first wake up signal directed to the wireless device has been detected during the first monitoring occasion, wherein: i. in response to detecting the first wake up signal directed to the wireless device during the first monitoring occasion, waking up; and ii. in response to not detecting the first wake up signal directed to the wireless device during the first monitoring occasion, abstaining from waking up.

11. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: - determining a second wake up signal (WUS) index based on a second hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and optionally based on one or more of: a second system frame number (SFN), a second discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T, and/or a second number of WUS resources configured;

- determining a second user equipment (UE) group to which the wireless device belongs based on the second WUS index, the second UE group determined from the plurality of UE groups;

- monitoring the WUS resource for a second wake up signal directed to the wireless device during a second monitoring occasion, wherein the second wake up signal directed to the wireless device comprises a second sequence based at least in part on the second UE group to which the wireless device belongs; and

- determining whether to wake up based on whether the second wake up signal directed to the wireless device has been detected during the second monitoring occasion, wherein: i. in response to detecting the second wake up signal directed to the wireless device during the second monitoring occasion, waking up; and ii. in response to not detecting the second wake up signal directed to the wireless device during the second monitoring occasion, abstaining from waking up.

12. 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 B Embodiments

13. A method performed by a base station, the method comprising:

- sending a wake up signal, the wake up signal comprising a wake up signal sequence associated with one of a plurality of user equipment (UE) groups, the UE group determined based at least in part on a wake up signal (WUS) index, the WUS index based at least in part on a hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and optionally based on one or more of: a system frame number (SFN), a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T, and/or a number of WUS resources configured.

14. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising:

- obtaining user data; and

- forwarding the user data to a host computer or a wireless device.

Group C Embodiments

15. A wireless device, the wireless device 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.

16. A base station, the base station comprising:

- processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments;

- power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the base station.

17. A user equipment (UE), the UE 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 UE 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 UE. 18. A computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or carrier comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

21. A computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

22. A computer program product comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or carrier comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

24. A communication system including a host computer comprising:

- processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and

- a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE),

- wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

25. The communication system of the pervious embodiment further including the base station.

26. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

27. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, 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.

28. 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 B embodiments. 29. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data.

30. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, 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. 31. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to performs the of the previous 3 embodiments.

32. A communication system including a host computer comprising:

- processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and - a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE),

- wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. 33. The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.

34. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein:

- the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and - the UE's processing circuitry is 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 UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the UE, receiving the user data from the base station. A communication system including a host computer comprising:

- communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station,

- wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further including the UE. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein:

- the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and - the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data. The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein:

- the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data; and - the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data.

42. 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, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

43. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the UE, providing the user data to the base station.

44. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising:

- at the UE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be transmitted; and

- at the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application.

45. The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising:

- at the UE, executing a client application; and

- at the UE, receiving input data to the client application, the input data being provided at the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application,

- wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data.

46. 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 B embodiments.

47. The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.

48. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

49. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, 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.

50. 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, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

51. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE.

52. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

Figure 12 illustrates an example of a method that may be performed by a wireless device, in accordance with some embodiments. In certain embodiments, the method may be performed by a wireless device 110 (e.g., UE 200) described above. As an example, the wireless device may include processing circuitry 120 (e.g., one or more processors 201) configured to perform steps of the method.

The method of Figure 12 begins at step 1202 with determining a resource index. The resource index indicates a WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current PO. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. Certain embodiments also use a DRX cycle length T to determine the resource index. Certain embodiments also use a number of WUS resources configured to determine the resource index. As an example, certain embodiments may determine the resource index based on (Eq. 1) discussed above and reproduced below:

where: • H-SFN is the hyper system frame number;

• SFN is the system frame number;

• T is the DRX cycle length; and

• Nwus is the number of WUS resources configured.

The method proceeds to step 1204 with monitoring a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal. For example, in certain embodiments, the wireless device determines the resource index (step 1202) and uses the resource index to determine the WUS resource and the WUS group (e.g., UE group) within that WUS resource. Together, these give the WUS sequence. The wireless device detects the wake up signal by correlating a signal received from a network node to the WUS sequence and comparing the correlation to a threshold. If the correlation exceeds the threshold, the wake up signal is detected. In response to detecting the wake up signal, the wireless device wakes up (e.g., the wireless device decodes a downlink control channel during the paging occasion in order to receive a paging signal from the network node). Alternatively, in response to not detecting the wake signal, the wireless device abstains from waking up (e.g., instead of decoding the downlink control channel and waiting to detect a paging signal during the paging occasion, the wireless device goes to sleep).

In certain embodiments, the method further comprises rotating (e.g., alternating or shifting) the resource index. Rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO. The next resource index is determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN. For example, the same equation (e.g., Eq. 1) used to determine the resource index in step 1202 may be used to rotate the resource index by updating the variables to reflect their current values associated with the next current PO. Because the H-SFN and SFN change at regular intervals (e.g., 10.24 s for H-SFN and 10 ms for SFN), the wireless device may determine a different resource index for different paging occasions. This may allow for fairness among wireless devices that share WUS resources. Additionally, because the wireless device need only monitor the WUS group in the determined WUS resource, the wireless device need not be unnecessarily woken up as a result of wake up signals sent in other WUS resources.

For purposes of example and explanation, the above description of Figure 12 has been discussed with reference to (Eq. 1). Other embodiments may use other equations to determine the resource index based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. Additionally, or in the alternative, other embodiments may use different naming conventions to refer to analogous parameters, for example, depending on the standards framework used to implement the embodiment. As one example, certain embodiments may use the following equation:

where:

• WUSresource is the resource index

• WUSstart_resource is starting resource index

• H-SFN is the hyper system frame number;

• SFN is the system frame number;

• T is the DRX cycle length; and

• Nresources is the number of resources configured.

Figure 13 illustrates an example of a method that may be performed by a network node, in accordance with some embodiments. In certain embodiments, the method may be performed by a network node 160 described above. As an example, the network node may include processing circuitry 170 configured to perform steps of the method. In certain embodiments, the steps of performed by a network node in Figure 13 may be reciprocal to steps performed by a wireless device in Figure 12. As an example, a signal that the wireless device receives from a network node in Figure 12 may correspond to a signal that a network node sends to the wireless device in Figure 13.

The method begins at step 1302 with determining a resource index associated with a wireless device. The resource index indicates a WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current PO. The resource index is determined based at least in part on an H-SFN and an SFN. Certain embodiments also use a DRX cycle length T to determine the resource index. Certain embodiments also use a number of WUS resources configured to determine the resource index.

The method proceeds to step 1304 with sending the wake up signal to the wireless device. The wake up signal is sent using the WUS resource determined in step 1302. For example, the wake up signal may be sent in response to determining that the network node will be paging the wireless device during the current PO. Accordingly, the method may further comprise paging the wireless device during the current PO. Certain embodiments further comprise rotating (e.g., alternating or shifting) the resource index. Rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO. The next resource index is determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN.

Additional Examples

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an umbrella term for so-called fourth-generation (4G) radio access technologies developed within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and initially standardized in Releases 8 and 9, also known as Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE is targeted at various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects commonly referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which includes Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE continues to evolve through subsequent releases. One of the features of Release 11 is an enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (ePDCCH), which has the goals of increasing capacity and improving spatial reuse of control channel resources, improving inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), and supporting antenna beamforming and/or transmit diversity for control channel.

An overall exemplary architecture of a network comprising LTE and SAE is shown in Figure 14. E-UTRAN 1400 comprises one or more evolved Node B's (eNB), such as eNBs 1405, 1410, and 1415, and one or more user equipment (UE), such as UE 1420. As used within the 3GPP standards, “user equipment” or “UE” means any wireless communication device (e.g., smartphone or computing device) that is capable of communicating with 3GPP-standard- compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN as well as UTRAN and/or GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), as the third- (“3G”) and second-generation (“2G”) 3GPP radio access networks are commonly known.

As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRAN 1400 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in uplink and downlink, as well as security of the communications with the UE. These functions reside in the eNBs, such as eNBs 1405, 1410, and 1415. The eNBs in the E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the XI interface, as shown in Figure 14. The eNBs also are responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC, specifically the SI interface to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW), shown collectively as MME/S-GWs 1434 and 1438 in Figure 14. Generally speaking, the MME/S-GW handles both the overall control of the UE and data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling protocols between the UE and the EPC, which are known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Procotol (IP) data packets between the UE and the EPC, and serves as the local mobility anchor for the data bearers when the UE moves between eNBs, such as eNBs 1405, 1410, and 1415.

Figure 15 shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE architecture in terms of its constituent entities - UE, E-UTRAN, and EPC - and high-level functional division into the Access Stratum (AS) and the Non-Access Stratum (NAS). Figure 15 also illustrates two particular interface points, namely Uu (UE/E-UTRAN Radio Interface) and SI (E-UTRAN/EPC interface), each using a specific set of protocols, i.e., Radio Protocols and SI Protocols. Each of the two protocols can be further segmented into user plane (or “U-plane”) and control plane (or “C -plane”) protocol functionality. On the Uu interface, the U-plane carries user information (e.g., data packets) while the C-plane is carries control information between UE and E-UTRAN.

Figure 16 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary C-plane protocol stack on the Uu interface comprising Physical (PHY), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and Radio Resource Control (RRC) layers. The PHY layer is concerned with how and what characteristics are used to transfer data over transport channels on the LTE radio interface. The MAC layer provides data transfer services on logical channels, maps logical channels to PHY transport channels, and reallocates PHY resources to support these services. The RLC layer provides error detection and/or correction, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly, reordering of data transferred to or from the upper layers. The PHY, MAC, and RLC layers perform identical functions for both the U-plane and the C-plane. The PDCP layer provides ciphering/deciphering and integrity protection for both U-plane and C-plane, as well as other functions for the U-plane such as header compression.

Figure 17 shows a block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture from the perspective of the PHY. The interfaces between the various layers are provided by Service Access Points (SAPs), indicated by the ovals in Figure 17. The PHY layer interfaces with the MAC and RRC protocol layers described above. The MAC provides different logical channels to the RLC protocol layer (also described above), characterized by the type of information transferred, whereas the PHY provides a transport channel to the MAC, characterized by how the information is transferred over the radio interface. In providing this transport service, the PHY performs various functions including error detection and correction; rate-matching and mapping of the coded transport channel onto physical channels; power weighting, modulation; and demodulation of physical channels; transmit diversity, beamforming multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna processing; and providing radio measurements to higher layers, such as RRC.

Since LTE Release 8, three Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs), namely SRBO, SRBl and SRB2 have been available for the transport of RRC and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) messages between the UE and eNB. A new SRB, known as SRBlbis, was also introduced in rel-13 for supporting DoNAS (Data Over NAS) in NB-IoT.

SRBO carries RRC messages using the Common Control Channel (CCCH) logical channel, and it is used for handling RRC connection setup, resume, and re-establishment. Once the UE is connected to the eNB (i.e., RRC connection setup or RRC connection reestablishment/ resume has succeeded), SRBl is used for handling further RRC messages (which may include a piggybacked NAS message) and NAS messages, prior to the establishment of SRB2, all using Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH) logical channel. SRB2 is used for RRC messages such as logged measurement information, as well as for NAS messages, all using DCCH. SRB2 has a lower priority than SRBl, because logged measurement information and NAS messages can be lengthy and could cause the blocking of more urgent and smaller SRBl messages. SRB2 is always configured by E-UTRAN after security activation.

The multiple access scheme for the LTE PHY is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) in the downlink, and on Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) with a cyclic prefix in the uplink. To support transmission in paired and unpaired spectrum, the LTE PHY supports both Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (including both full- and half-duplex operation) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD). Figure 18 shows an exemplary radio frame structure (“type 1”) used for LTE FDD downlink (DL) operation. The DL radio frame has a fixed duration of 10 ms and consists of 20 slots, labeled 0 through 19, each with a fixed duration of 0.5 ms. A 1-ms subframe comprises two consecutive slots where subframe i consists of slots 2 i and 2/+ 1. Each exemplary FDD DL slot consists of N^DLsymb OFDM symbols, each of which is comprised of Nsc OFDM subcarriers. Exemplary values of N^DLsymb can be 7 (with a normal CP) or 6 (with an extended-length CP) for subcarrier bandwidth (or spacing) of 15 kHz. The value of Nsc is configurable based upon the available channel bandwidth. Since persons of ordinary skill in the art are familiar with the principles of OFDM, further details are omitted in this description. As shown in Figure 18, a combination of a particular subcarrier in a particular symbol is known as a resource element (RE). Each RE is used to transmit a particular number of bits, depending on the type of modulation and/or bit-mapping constellation used for that RE. For example, some REs may carry two bits using QPSK modulation, while other REs may carry four or six bits using 16- or 64- Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), respectively. The radio resources of the LTE PHY are also defined in terms of physical resource blocks (PRBs). A PRB spans N^RB _SC sub-carriers over the duration of a slot (i.e.. N^DLsymb symbols), where N^RB _SC is typically either 12 (with a 15-kHz sub-carrier bandwidth) or 24 (7.5-kHz bandwidth). A PRB spanning the same N^RB _SC subcarriers during an entire subframe (i.e.. 2N^DLsymb symbols) is known as a PRB pair. Accordingly, the resources available in a subframe of the LTE PHY D L comprise N^DLRB PRB pairs, each of which comprises 2N^DLsymb· N^RB _SC REs. For a normal CP and 15-KHz sub-carrier bandwidth, a PRB pair comprises 168 REs.

One exemplary characteristic of PRBs is that consecutively numbered PRBs ( e.g ., PRBi and PRBi+i) comprise consecutive blocks of subcarriers. For example, with a normal CP and 15-KHz sub-carrier bandwidth, PRBo comprises sub-carrier 0 through 11 while PRBi comprises sub-carriers 12 through 23. The LTE PHY resource also can be defined in terms of virtual resource blocks (VRBs), which are the same size as PRBs but may be of either a localized or a distributed type. Localized VRBs can be mapped directly to PRBs such that VRB ⁿVRB corresponds to PRBⁿPRB = ⁿVRB On the other hand, distributed VRBs may be mapped to non- consecutive PRBs according to various rules, as described in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 36.213 or otherwise known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. However, the term “PRB” shall be used in this disclosure to refer to both physical and virtual resource blocks. Moreover, the term “PRB” will be used henceforth to refer to a resource block for the duration of a subframe, i.e., a PRB pair, unless otherwise specified.

Generally speaking, a physical channel corresponds a set of resource elements carrying information that originates from higher layers. Downlink (i.e.. eNB to UE) physical channels carried by the LTE PHY include Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH), Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), and Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH).

In addition, the LTE PHY DL includes various reference signals, synchronization signals, and discovery signals. Within the LTE DL, certain REs within each LTE subframe are reserved for the transmission of reference signals. For example, DM-RS can be carried in the sixth, seventh, thirteenth, and fourteenth symbols of the OFDM subframe, with the respective DM-RS REs distributed in the frequency domain within each of the symbols. In addition, the DM-RS REs are divided into two code division multiplexing (CDM) groups referred to as CDM Groups 1 and 2. In LTE systems supporting transmission ranks 1-4, both CDM groups are used in combination with length-2 orthogonal cover codes OCCs. The OCCs are applied to clusters of two adjacent (i.e., in time domain) reference symbols in the same subcarrier in the frequency domain.

In LTE, to facilitate improved performance, a data receiver (e.g., UE) can measure the amplitude and phase of a known transmitted data symbol (e.g., a reference symbol) and send these measurements to the data transmitter (e.g., eNB) as “channel state information” (CSI). CSI can include, for example, amplitude and/or phase of the channel at one or more frequencies, amplitude and/or phase of time-domain multipath components of the signal via the channel, direction of arrival of multipath components of the signal via the channel, and other direct channel measurements known by persons of ordinary skill. Alternately, or in addition, CSI can include a set of transmission parameters recommended for the channel based on one or more channel measurements.

Exemplary LTE FDD uplink (UL) radio frames can configured in a similar manner as the exemplary FDD DL radio frame shown in Figure 18. For example, using terminology consistent with the above DL description, each UL slot consists of N^ULsymb OFDM symbols, each of which includes Nsc OFDM subcarriers. Uplink (i.e., UE to eNB) physical channels carried by the LTE PHY include Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and Physical Random-Access Channel (PRACH).

In addition, the LTE PHY uplink includes various reference signals including demodulation reference signals (DM-RS), which are transmitted to aid the eNB in the reception of an associated PUCCH or PUSCH; and sounding reference signals (SRS), which are not associated with any uplink channel.

As mentioned above, the LTE PHY maps the various DL physical channels to the resources shown in Figure 18, and UL physical channels can be mapped to resources in a similar manner. For example, the PHICH carries Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback (e.g, ACK/NAK) for UL transmissions by the UEs. Similarly, PDCCH carries scheduling assignments, channel quality feedback (e.g, CSI) for the UL channel, and other control information. Likewise, a PUCCH carries uplink control information such as scheduling requests, CSI for the downlink channel, HARQ feedback for eNB DL transmissions, and other control information. Both PDCCH and PUCCH can be transmitted on aggregations of one or several consecutive control channel elements (CCEs), and a CCE is mapped to the physical resource based on resource element groups (REGs), each of which is comprised of a plurality of REs. For example, a CCE can comprise nine (9) REGs, each of which can comprise four (4) REs.

In the LTE, two main states of UE are RRC IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED. In RRC_ IDLE, the UE does not belong to any cell, no RRC context has been established for the UE, and the UE is out of UL synchronization with the eNB. As such, only the random access channel (RACH) is available for UE UL data transmission. Furthermore, in RRC IDLE, the UE monitors a paging channel (PCH) according to a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle. In order to move a UE from RRC IDLE to RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE must perform a random- access (RA) procedure. In RRC_CONNECTED state, the cell to which the UE belongs is known and RRC context has been established. As such, necessary parameters for communication are known to both the UE and the eNB. For example, the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) - a UE identity used for signaling between UE and network - has been configured.

In Releases 13 and 14, 3GPP developed specifications for narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) use cases. These new radio access technologies provide connectivity to services and applications demanding qualities such as reliable indoor coverage and high capacity in combination with low system complexity and optimized device power consumption. Such enhancements support Machine-Type Communications (MTC, or LTE-M) with new UE categories, Category Ml (Cat-M1) and Category M2 (Cat-M2), a reduced bandwidth of six PRBs for Cat-Mi (or up to 24 PRBs for Cat-M2). Other enhancements include Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) UEs with a new radio interface and new UE categories, Cat- NB1 and Cat-NB2.

The bandwidth-reduced, low-complexity (BL) LTE-M UEs also can include Coverage Enhancements (CE), so that they are collectively known as BL/CE UEs. These UEs can operate in Coverage Enhancement Mode A (CEmodeA) which is optimized for no repetitions or a small number of repetitions, or in Coverage Enhancement Mode B (CEmodeB) which is optimized for moderate-to-large numbers of repetitions providing large coverage enhancement. More specifically, CEmodeA includes PRACH CE levels 0 and 1, while CEmodeB includes PRACH CE levels 2 and 3.

In general, these LTE-M enhancements introduced in Releases 13-15 for MTC will be referred to herein as “eMTC”, including (not limited to) support for bandwidth limited UEs, Cat- Mi, and coverage enhancements. This term is not used to refer to NB-IoT technology and enhancements, although the supported features are similar on a general level.

There are multiple differences between pre-Rel-13 LTE and the procedures and channels defined for eMTC and for NB-IoT. These differences include new physical downlink control channels (MPDCCH in eMTC, NPDCCH in NB-IoT) and a new physical random access channel (NPRACH for NB-IoT). Another difference is the coverage enhancement discussed above. By applying repetitions to the transmitted signals and channels, both eMTC and NB-IoT allow UE operation down to much lower SNR level compared to LTE. For example, eMTC/NBIoT UEs can operate as low as Es/IoT ≥-15 dB, while legacy LTE UEs can operate no lower than - 6 dB Es/IoT.

To support reliable coverage in the most extreme situations, both NB-IoT and LTE-M UEs can also perform link adaptation on all physical channels using subframe bundling and repetitions. This applies to (N/M)PDCCH and (N)PDSCH in the DL, and to (N)PUSCH, (N)PRACH, and PUCCH (only for LTE-M) in the UL.

When a UE is in RRC IDLE mode, it monitors PDCCH (e.g., legacy PDCCH, MPDCCH, or NPDCCH, according to capabilities) periodically to check for scheduling of paging requests to be subsequently transmitted on PDSCH. In RRC_CONNECTED mode, a UE monitors PDCCH for UL/DL data scheduling on PDSCH/PUSCH as well as for other purposes. In between these monitoring occasions, the UE goes to sleep to reduce energy consumption. This sleep-wake cycle is known as “discontinuous reception” or DRX. The amount of UE power savings is related to wake period (“DRX ON”) duration as a fraction of the entire DRX duty cycle.

It is known that for LTE, depending on DRX setting, a UE may spend a substantial part of its stored energy on decoding PDCCH without detecting a PDSCH/PUSCH scheduled for it. The situation can be similar in NR if similar DRX settings with traffic modelling are utilized, since the UE will still need to perform blind detection in its CORESETs to identify whether there is a PDCCH targeted to it. Techniques that can reduce unnecessary PDCCH monitoring and/or allow a UE to sleep more often and wake-up less often can be beneficial for UE energy consumption. One such technique introduced in Rel-15 is a Wake-up Signal (WUS) that can be detected by the UE by expending much less energy relative to PDCCH detection. When a UE detects a WUS targeted to it, the UE will wake up and activate a conventional PDCCH decoder.

The Rel-15 WUS was designed such that all UEs belongs to the same group. That is, a transmitted WUS associated with a specific paging occasion (PO) may wake-up all UEs that are configured to detect paging at that PO. This means that all UEs which not targeted by the page will wake up unnecessarily, leading to increased power consumption.

Three different WUS gaps were introduced in Rel-15 - DRX, short eDRX, and long eDRX - such that in practice there are three time-multiplexed WUS groups even in Rel-15. In Rel-16, it was agreed to include UE grouping, such that the number of UEs that are sensitive to a WUS is less than the total number of UEs that are associated with a PO related to the WUS. The group WUS is also referred to as GWUS. This feature is intended to improve DL transmission efficiency and/or reduce UE energy consumption. Even so, there are various issues, drawbacks, and/or problems that occur when Rel-15 UEs (non-GWUS) and Rel-16 UEs (GWUS) are deployed in the same network.

Exemplary embodiments disclosed herein address these and other problems, issues, and/or drawbacks of existing solutions by providing a flexible and efficient approach for enabling Rel-15 UEs (that do not support GWUS) and Rel-16 UEs (that support GWUS) to be deployed in the same network while achieving the performance gains of GWUS.

Some exemplary embodiments include various methods and/or procedures for receiving wake-up signals (WUS) transmitted by a network node in a radio access network (RAN). These exemplary methods and/or procedures can be performed, for example, by a user equipment (UE, e.g., wireless device, IoT device, MTC device, etc. or component thereof) configured to operate in the RAN.

These exemplary methods and/or procedures can include receiving a WUS configuration from the network node. For example, the WUS configuration can include a WUS group assigned to the UE, and an identifier (e.g., index) of a first WUS resource associated with the assigned WUS group. The first WUS resource can be one of a first number of configured WUS resources for transmission of WUS. These exemplary methods and/or procedures can also include determining a second WUS resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used during a first monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. Determining the second WUS resource can be based on the identifier of the first WUS resource, the first number of configured WUS resources, and a system frame number (SFN) or hyper-SFN (H-SFN) associated with the RAN. Various relationships can be used to determine the second WUS resource. In some embodiments (e.g., in some determinations), the second WUS resource can be different from the first WUS resource (i.e., the configured WUS resource). These exemplary methods and/or procedures can also include monitoring the second WUS resource for a WUS during the first monitoring occasion.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods and/or procedures can also include determining a third resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used during a second monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. The second monitoring occasion can be the next subsequent monitoring occasion, associated with the assigned WUS group, after the first monitoring occasion. In such case, the third resource can be different from the second resource. In some embodiments, the third resource can also be different from the first resource. In this manner, a rotation or alternation among WUS resources can be provided. In such embodiments, the exemplary methods and/or procedures can also include monitoring the third WUS resource for a WUS during the second monitoring occasion.

Other exemplary embodiments include methods and/or procedures for transmitting wake-up signals (WUS) to one or more user equipment (UEs). These exemplary methods and/or procedures can be performed, for example, by a network node (e.g., eNB, gNB, or components thereof) of a radio access network (RAN, e.g, E-UTRAN, NG-RAN, etc.).

These exemplary methods and/or procedures can include transmitting, to the one or more UEs, a WUS configuration. For example, the WUS configuration can include a WUS group assigned to the one or more UEs, and an identifier (e.g., index) of a first WUS resource associated with the assigned WUS group. The first WUS resource can be one of a first number of configured WUS resources for transmission of WUS.

These exemplary methods and/or procedures can also include determining a second WUS resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used for transmitting a WUS during a first monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. Determining the second WUS resource can be based on the identifier of the first WUS resource, the first number of configured WUS resources, and a system frame number (SFN) or hyper-SFN (H-SFN) associated with the RAN. In some embodiments (e.g., in some determinations), the second WUS resource can be different from the first WUS resource (i.e., the configured WUS resource). These exemplary methods and/or procedures can also include, during the first monitoring occasion, transmitting a WUS using the second WUS resource.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods and/or procedures can also include determining a third resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used for transmitting a WUS during a second monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. The second monitoring occasion can be the next subsequent monitoring occasion, associated with the assigned WUS group, after the first monitoring occasion. In such case, the third resource can be different from the second resource. In some embodiments, the third resource can also be different from the first resource. In this manner, a rotation or alternation among WUS resources can be provided. In such embodiments, the exemplary method and/or procedure can also include, during the second monitoring occasion, transmitting a WUS using the third WUS resource.

Other exemplary embodiments include UEs (e.g., wireless devices, IoT devices, MTC devices, etc. or component(s) thereof) or network nodes (e.g, base stations, eNBs, gNBs, etc. or component(s) thereof) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods and/or procedures described herein. Other exemplary embodiments include non- transitory, computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, configure such UEs or network nodes to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods and/or procedures described herein.

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. Furthermore, the following terms are used throughout the description given below:

• Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” can be either a “radio access node” or a “wireless device.”

• Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” (or “radio network node”) can be any node in a radio access network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP LTE network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), an integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, and a relay node.

• Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.

• Wireless Device: As used herein, a “wireless device” (or “WD” for short) is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term “wireless device” is used interchangeably herein with “user equipment” (or “UE” for short). Some examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, a UE in a 3GPP network and a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device. Communicating wirelessly can 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.

• Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network or the core network of a cellular communications network. Functionally, a network node is 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 cellular communications network, to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device, and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the cellular communications network.

Note that the description given herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system. Furthermore, although the term “cell” is used herein, it should be understood that (particularly with respect to 5G NR) beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, concepts described herein apply equally to both cells and beams. As briefly mentioned above, there are various issues, drawbacks, and/or problems that occur when Rel-15 UEs (that only support non-grouped WUS) and Rel-16 UEs (that support group WUS, or GWUS) are deployed in the same network. These are discussed in more detail below.

As specified in 3GPP TS 36.304, for a particular UE, the associated UE_ID (which is based on the UE's IMSI) determines the system frame number (SFN) of the paging frame (PF) of the UE according to the following equation:

SFN mod T= (T div N)*(UE_ID mod N) . (Eq. 3)

The paging occasions (POs) for the UE in this radio frame are then determined by the parameter i s and the subframes pointed out by the corresponding table in 3GPP TS 36.304 section 7.2 according to: i_s = floor(UE_ID/N) mod Ns . (Eq. 4)

As seen from the above, since UE_ID are used for determining i s, in principle UEs are distributed in different POs. When paging over narrowbands (LTE-M) and non-anchor carriers (NB-IoT) were introduced the number of bits used from IMSI was also increased such that UE_ID = IMSI mod 16384.

Even so, it is not practical to use every radio frame as paging frame when using repetitions. As such, LTE-M and NB-IoT which share the PF will typically also share the PO. For example, if the PO density per radio frame is denoted nB/T, then nB values 2T or 4T are unlikely to be used in combination with coverage enhancements for NB LTE-M and NB-IoT.

In Rel-13 NB-IoT, paging of UEs is performed on the downlink anchor carrier. One carrier is 1 PRB in bandwidth, i.e., 180 KHz. Rel-13 also supports multi-PRB operation, in which other carriers are configured, but UEs can only be assigned to those during the connected session (i.e., in RRC_CONNECTED state). That is, all RRC IDLE mode operations are performed on the downlink and uplink anchor carriers respectively (only FDD is supported in Rel-13).

In Rel-14, support for paging and random access was introduced on non-anchor carriers to distribute the paging and random access load over all used carriers. This means that NPRACH and PCCH can be configured also for non-anchor carriers, which are then used by UEs and eNB for random access and paging accordingly. The paging carrier in NB-IoT is determined based on UE_ID in the following way. The index for the paging carrier of a UE is the lowest value that fulfills the following condition, in which W are the paging weights for the paging carriers: floor(UE_ID/(N*Ns)) mod W < W(0) + W(l) + ... + W(n) . (Eq. 5) In contrast to NB-IoT, described above, paging in LTE-M works differently. In LTE-M several ‘narrowbands’ can be defined, where each narrowband is corresponding to six (6) nonoverlapping PRBs. A UE will only monitor MPDCCH (e.g., for pages) in one narrowband at a time but frequency hopping is applied according to a specified pattern. The starting narrowband for paging is also defined based on UE_ID and allows for better frequency multiplexing of the UEs and the paging load.

According to 3GPP TS 36.304, a UE is assigned a paging narrowband by the following equation, where Nn = paging-narrow Bands:

PNB = floor(UE_ID/(N*Ns)) mod Nn . (Eq. 6)

Further, the number of narrowbands, Nn, that can be supported by a certain system bandwidth is given by the table below:

In Rel-15, the wake-up signal (WUS) was introduced in order to reduce UE power consumption. The WUS monitoring is shorter, and hence less energy consuming for the UE, than to monitor the (M/N)PDCCH for paging. The WUS is only transmitted if the UE, or any other UE sharing the same paging occasion (PO), is being paged. It is specified that the WUS is transmitted in the carrier (or narrowband for LTE-M) where the UE is being paged. As described above, a WUS is a short (i.e., in duration) signal that indicates to a UE that it should continue to decode a DL control channel that is associated with the WUS, e.g., NPDCCH for NB-IoT UEs, MPDCCH for eMTC UEs, PDCCH for legacy UEs. If such signal is not transmitted (or if the UE does not detect it), then the UE can go back to sleep without decoding the (N/M)PDCCH. Figure 19 shows an exemplary timeline that illustrates the association between WUS and subsequent (N/M)PDCCH, which is indicated as a paging occasion (PO). Note that solid lines indicate actual WUS/PO positions, while the dashed lines indicate positions of possible WUS/PO that were not transmitted (e.g., due to no paging of the UE). In this manner, WUS can be thought of as a discontinuous transmission (DTX).

The decoding time for a WUS is considerably shorter than that of the full NPDCCH because WUS only needs to contain one bit of information while NPDCCH may contain up to 35 bits of information. This reduced decoding results in reduced UE energy consumption and longer UE battery life. Moreover, the sleep time between actual WUS also improves these aspects of UE performance.

Figure 20 shows an exemplary timeline that further illustrates an association between WUS and physical channels in LTE. Since WUS takes place in IDLE mode, the UE performs random access operation as a response to the PDCCH in order to go to CONNECTED mode. Only thereafter the UE receives a scheduling PDCCH and a subsequent PDSCH. The WUS in MTC/NB-IoT is different from the NR WUS in that sense.

Beginning from the top left of Figure 20 (i.e., the portion of Figure 20 labeled “A”), the UE successfully receives the first WUS and the associated scheduling PDCCH (which can be PDCCH, NPDCCH, or MPDCCH, as the case may be). The UE subsequently receives the scheduled PDSCH (e.g., containing DL data) and responds with a HARQ ACK/NACK as appropriate. For simplicity, Figure 20 only shows certain portions of the timeline relevant to explaining the operation of the WUS. In practice, additional steps may occur. As an example, the steps may comprise:

1. UE detects WUS (labeled “A1” in Figure 20)

2. UE decodes PDCCH (e.g., a paging PDCCH for the PO associated with the WUS) (labeled “A2” in Figure 20)

3. UE initiates random access in response to PDCCH (if targeted by the PDCCH) and is configured to ACTIVE mode

4. UE decodes another PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH (labeled “A3” in Figure 20) 5. UE attempts to decode PDSCH (labeled “A4” in Figure 20)

6. UE transmits HARQ ACK/NACK in response to PDSCH decoding result (labeled “A5” in Figure 20).

In the portion of Figure 20 labeled “B,” the UE fails to detect the second WUS and, consequently, misses the subsequent scheduling PDCCH. Since the UE is unaware of the missed WUS and PDCCH, the network transmits the scheduled PDSCH. But having missed both the WUS and the scheduling PDCCH, the UE also misses the PDSCH and does not respond with HARQ ACK/NACK. This may be repeated a number of times, but eventually the UE successfully receives a final WUS, as shown in the portion of Figure 20 labeled “C.” Thus, in portion C, the UE proceeds with steps associated with successfully receiving a WUS (described above with respect to portion A) including, e.g., receiving a paging PDCCH, initiating random access, receiving a scheduling PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH, attempting to decode the PDSCH, and transmitting HARQ feedback in response to the PDSCH decoding result.

The Rel-15 WUS was designed such that all UEs belongs to the same group and resource. That is, a transmitted WUS associated with a specific PO (e.g., in a PDCCH) may wake-up all UEs that are configured to detect paging at that PO. This means that all UEs that are not targeted by the page will wake up unnecessarily, leading to increased power consumption.

Both eMTC and NB-IoT have been developed with varying applications that include widely different use cases in terms of paging rates, latency, baseband processing power etc. For example, a power switch for streetlights may only be paged once daily, while a machine controller device may be paged every second. As such, grouping both of these UEs into a single paging group can significantly affect the respective use cases.

Three different WUS gaps were introduced in Rel-15 - DRX, short eDRX, and long eDRX - such that in practice there are three time-multiplexed WUS groups even in Rel-15.

In Rel-16, however, it was agreed to include explicit UE grouping, such that the number of UEs that are sensitive to a WUS is less than the total number of UEs that are associated with a PO related to the WUS. The group WUS is also referred to as GWUS. This feature is intended to improve DL transmission efficiency and/or reduce UE energy consumption. More specifically, information was added to the WUS to indicate that only part of the UEs sharing a PO are being paged. The gain from Rel-16 group WUS comes from reduced false paging for a UE, that is reducing the chance that the UE is unnecessarily woken up when another UE is being paged. This is achieved by introducing more WUS sequences such that UEs only wake up for paging detection based on detecting their assigned WUS sequence. It was initially agreed in 3GPP that the Rel-16 WUS UE grouping should be based on at least UE_ID. Further agreements have been made for WUS UE grouping based on paging probability.

In general, a “WUS resource” can refer to a particular time-frequency resource (e.g., within the grid shown in Figure 18) that is assigned to carry a WUS. It was agreed within 3GPP that if a WUS resource is configured to be shared by Rel-15 WUS (i.e., not supporting WUS grouping) and Rel-16 WUS (i.e., supporting WUS grouping), a common WUS for all the group WUS UEs in the same WUS resource can be configured to be a legacy WUS (e.g., Rel-15) or a non-legacy WUS (e.g., Rel-16 GWUS). Put differently, if the group WUS resource is configured to be shared by Rel-15 WUS and Rel-16 WUS, the common WUS sequence for all the group WUS UEs assigned to the same WUS resource can be configured to be the Rel-15 WUS sequence or a Rel-16 WUS sequence. In addition, it was agreed that the maximum number of UE groups per WUS resource is eight (8).

Figure 21 illustrates the relationship between paging probability (PP) classes, WUS resources, and UE WUS grouping for LTE-M. In Rel-16, up to four (4) different WUS resources can be configured for LTE-M (maximum two for NB-IoT). Figure 21 illustrates an example using three (3) different WUS resources, which are labelled WUS resource 1, 2, and 3 in Figure 21. In Rel-15 the UE is configured with one of three WUS gap lengths (e.g., DRX, short eDRX, or long eDRX) and per WUS gap there can be one WUS resource. In Rel-16 there can be up to four WUS resources per WUS gap for LTE-M (two for NB-IoT) including the shared legacy WUS sequence.

In addition, Figure 21 shows 24 WUS groups (labelled 1-24) divided into four PP classes: low, medium, high, and unassigned. For example, UEs with low PP can be placed in any of groups 1-7. As mentioned above, in Rel-16, up to eight (8) WUS groups can be assigned to any WUS resource. For example, WUS groups 1-8 are assigned to WUS resource 1 in Figure 21. In addition, a WUS resource can carry a WUS (e.g., a sequence) for Rel-15 legacy UEs (labelled “L” in WUS resource 1) or a Rel-16 common WUS (labelled “C”). In other words, each WUS resource can carry up to 10 different WUS. As discussed above, it was agreed that the Rel-15 legacy WUS (“L”) can be configured as the common WUS (“C”) for Rel-16 GWUS UEs. If applied to the arrangement shown in Figure 21, all UEs in WUS resource 1 will be unnecessarily awakened each time a Rel-15 UEs is paged. Depending on the number or Rel-15 WUS UEs in the cell and their paging frequency, this arrangement can significantly increase the false paging of GWUS UEs in WUS resource 1, thereby reducing the performance gains of the Rel-16 GWUS feature as compared to legacy Rel- 15 WUS.

However, these performance reductions may not be experienced equally by UEs in all groups assigned to the three different WUS resources. For example, in Figure 21, UEs in groups assigned to WUS resources 2 and 3 may not experience the same performance reduction as UEs in groups assigned to WUS resource 1. To counteract this unfairness among UEs, it was agreed that the 3 GPP specifications will support configurability to enable a UE WUS group to alternate between WUS resources. This is intended to spread the false paging issues more evenly among all Rel-16 GWUS UEs operating in a network or cell.

Even so, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are based on the recognition that in order for this alternation approach to provide the desired benefits, it must be configured such that the DRX cycle of all UEs are not even multipliers of the alternation period. If this were not the case, a UE may end up in the same location with respect to its configured PO.

For example, assume two GWUS resources are alternated with an alternation period of 2.56 s (i.e., the duration until the same GWUS resources is next used). AUE with a DRX period of 2.56 s will only wake up at every second alternation and, hence, always ends up in the same GWUS resource. In order to prevent such undesirable behaviour, the relation between the alternation period (Pait) and the maximum DRX period (DRXmax) must be such that DRXmax is less or equal to the alternation period divided by the number of WUS resources or alternation states, Nwus, as expressed in equation (Eq. 7) below:

It is here assumed that UEs in eDRX will have a PTW at least as long as the alternation period multiplied with the number of GWUS resources, i.e., Pait · Nwus.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other issues, drawbacks, and/or problems by providing flexible mechanisms for rotating the WUS resource index used for WUS UE group selection as a function of various DRX parameters (e.g., system frame number (SFN) or hyper-SFN (H-SFN), DRX cycle length (T), etc.) and the number of WUS resources configured (Nwus). Various embodiments disclosed herein are based on the requirement expressed in (Eq. 7) above. For example, such embodiments achieve fairness among UEs in case a Rel-15 legacy WUS is used as the common WUS for Rel-16 GWUS operation.

In some embodiments, the WUS resource index used for WUS UE group selection is rotated and different from the WUS resource index used for configuration. In general, the WUS resource index used for WUS UE group selection is determined as a

function of the WUS resource index used for configuration system frame number

(SFN), hyper system frame number (H-SFN), the DRX cycle (T), the number of configured WUS resources

etc. as expressed in equation (Eq. 8) below:

In some embodiments, the WUS resource index used for group selection is rotated depending on the particular DRX wake-up opportunity within the H-SFN period, as expressed in (Eq. 9) below:

As an example of the operation of equation (Eq. 9) for Nwus = 3 configured WUS resources, if was previously configured and it is the UE's first DRX wake-up

occasion within a H-SFN period, then the UE will select when it determines

the WUS UE group. But in the second DRX wake-up occasion of the H-SFN, the UE will instead select when it determines the WUS UE group. In this manner, the

UE uses different WUS resources each DRX wake-up occasion, e.g., on an alternating basis or rotation.

One benefit of basing the selection in (Eq. 9) on H-SFN is that it works also for UEs configured with DRX cycle of 10.24 sec or, equivalently, 1024 radio frames, which is equal to the SFN period. One benefit of rotating as a function of the DRX cycle length, T, is to ensure a rotation does occur, as illustrated in more detail below. In other embodiments, the WUS resource index could be rotated based on SFN rather than H-SFN, as expressed in equation (Eq. 10) below:

Even so, in such embodiments, the UE only uses the WUS resource index for WUS UE group determination whenever it is being paged. In other words, the UE only evaluates (Eq. 10) for radio frame= N*T, where N is an integer and T is the DRX cycle. For example, if the UE DRX cycle is 2.56 sec (i.e.,256 radio frames) and there are two (2) WUS resources, the UE will only evaluate (Eq. 10) for SFN={0, 256, 512, 756, 1024,... }, each of which produces the same result such that there is no rotation when Nwus=2. For three WUS resources (i.e., Nwus=3), however, the embodiments based on (Eq. 10) will result in rotation and/or alternation among the WUS resources.

In some embodiments, in order to address and/or mitigate these issues, it is possible to scale the SFN based on the necessary relation between the DRXmax and the alternation periodicity, Pait. An example of such embodiments is illustrated by equation (Eq. 11) below:

where the floor function indicates rounding to the next lower integer, which can have

an effect of limiting the alternation to occur at a sufficiently low frequency. Other expressions and rounding operations can also be used to produce similar or different effects. In other embodiments, a constant term can be used in an expression similar to (Eq. 11) to ensure a rotation in UE selection

considering the maximum LTE DRX period of 10.28 sec and Nwus ≤ 4.

These embodiments briefly described above can be further illustrated with reference to Figures 22-23, which depict exemplary methods and/or procedures performed by a UE and a network node, respectively. Put differently, various features of the operations described below correspond to various embodiments briefly described above.

More specifically, Figure 22 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method and/or procedure for receiving wake-up signals (WUS) transmitted by a network node in a radio access network (RAN), according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary method and/or procedure can be implemented, for example, by a user equipment (UE, e.g., wireless device, IoT device, MTC device, etc. or component thereof) configured to operate in the RAN. Furthermore, the exemplary method and/or procedure shown in Figure 22 can be utilized cooperatively with other exemplary method and/or procedures described herein (e.g, Figure 23) to provide various exemplary benefits described herein. Although Figure 22 shows blocks specific blocks in a particular order, the operations of the exemplary method and/or procedure can be performed in a different order than shown and can be combined and/or divided into blocks having different functionality than shown. Optional blocks and/or operations are indicated by dashed lines.

The exemplary method and/or procedure illustrated in Figure 22 can include the operations of block 2210, in which the UE can receive, from the network node, a WUS configuration. For example, the WUS configuration can include a WUS group assigned to the UE, and an identifier (e.g., index) of a first WUS resource associated with the assigned WUS group. The first WUS resource can be one of a first number of configured WUS resources for transmission of WUS (e.g., Nwus discussed above).

The exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2220, in which the UE can determine a second WUS resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used during a first monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. Determining the second WUS resource can be based on the identifier of the first WUS resource, the first number of configured WUS resources, and a system frame number (SFN) or hyper-SFN (H- SFN) associated with the RAN. In some embodiments (e.g., in some determinations), the second WUS resource can be different from the first WUS resource (i.e., the configured WUS resource).

The exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2230, in which the UE can monitor the second WUS resource for a WUS during the first monitoring occasion. For example, this monitoring can be done in the manner described above in relation to Figures 19-20.

In some embodiments, the exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2240, in which the UE can determine a third resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used during a second monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. The second monitoring occasion can be the next subsequent monitoring occasion, associated with the assigned WUS group, after the first monitoring occasion. In such case, the third resource can be different from the second resource. In some embodiments, the third resource can also be different from the first resource. In this manner, a rotation or alternation among WUS resources can be provided. In such embodiments, the exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2250, in which the UE can monitor the third WUS resource for a WUS during the second monitoring occasion.

In various embodiments, the operations of block 2220 (and, if performed, block 2240) can be based on any of equations (Eq. 9), (Eq. 10), or (Eq. 11) given above. In such embodiments, the following relations can apply:

•

the identifier of the first WUS resource,

• the identifier of the second or third WUS resource,

• T is the UE's discontinuous reception (DRX) period,

• N_{W US} is the first number of configured WUS resources,

• DRX_max is the maximum discontinuous reception (DRX) period for the UE, and

• P_alt is a WUS resource alternation period.

Furthermore, Figure 23 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method and/or procedure for transmitting wake-up signals (WUS) to one or more user equipment (UEs), according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary method and/or procedure shown in Figure 23 can be implemented, for example, by a network node (e.g., eNB, gNB, or components thereof) of a radio access network (RAN, e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN, etc.). Furthermore, the exemplary method and/or procedure shown in Figure 23 can be utilized cooperatively with other exemplary methods and/or procedures described herein (e.g., Figure 22) to provide various exemplary benefits described herein. Although Figure 23 shows specific blocks in a particular order, the operations of the exemplary method and/or procedure can be performed in a different order than shown and can be combined and/or divided into blocks having different functionality than shown. Optional blocks and/or operations are indicated by dashed lines.

The exemplary method and/or procedure illustrated in Figure 23 can include the operations of block 2310, in which the network node can transmit, to the one or more UEs, a WUS configuration. For example, the WUS configuration can include a WUS group assigned to the one or more UEs, and an identifier (e.g., index) of a first WUS resource associated with the assigned WUS group. The first WUS resource can be one of a first number of configured WUS resources for transmission of WUS (e.g., Nwus discussed above). The exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2320, in which the network node can determine a second WUS resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used for transmitting a WUS during a first monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. Determining the second WUS resource can be based on the identifier of the first WUS resource, the first number of configured WUS resources, and a system frame number (SFN) or hyper-SFN (H-SFN) associated with the RAN. In some embodiments (e.g., in some determinations), the second WUS resource can be different from the first WUS resource (i.e., the configured WUS resource).

The exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2330, in which the network node can, during the first monitoring occasion, transmit a WUS using the second WUS resource.

In some embodiments, the exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2340, in which the network node can determine a third resource, of the configured WUS resources, to be used for transmitting a WUS during a second monitoring occasion associated with the assigned WUS group. The second monitoring occasion can be the next subsequent monitoring occasion, associated with the assigned WUS group, after the first monitoring occasion. In such case, the third resource can be different from the second resource. In some embodiments, the third resource can also be different from the first resource. In this manner, a rotation or alternation among WUS resources can be provided. In such embodiments, the exemplary method and/or procedure can also include the operations of block 2350, in which the network node can, during the second monitoring occasion, transmit a WUS using the third WUS resource.

In various embodiments, the operations of block 2320 (and, if performed, block 2340) can be based on any of equations (Eq. 9), (Eq. 10), or (Eq. 11) given above. In such embodiments, the following relations can apply:

• the identifier of the first WUS resource,

• the identifier of the second or third WUS resource,

• T is the UE's discontinuous reception (DRX) period,

• N_{W US} is the first number of configured WUS resources,

• DRX_max is the maximum discontinuous reception (DRX) period for the UE, and

• P_alt is a WUS resource alternation period. Any suitable naming convention may be used to refer to parameters described herein. For example, certain parameters described herein may be referred to using naming conventions from TS 36.211 and/or TS 36.304. The following table provides examples of naming conventions that may be used.

In some embodiments a computer program, computer program product or computer readable storage medium comprises instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the embodiments disclosed herein. In further examples the instructions are carried on a signal or carrier and which are executable on a computer wherein when executed perform any of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to the systems and apparatuses described herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The components of the systems and apparatuses may be integrated or separated. Moreover, the operations of the systems and apparatuses may be performed by more, fewer, or other components. Additionally, operations of the systems and apparatuses may be performed using any suitable logic comprising software, hardware, and/or other logic. As used in this document, “each” refers to each member of a set or each member of a subset of a set.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to the methods described herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The methods may include more, fewer, or other steps. Additionally, steps may be performed in any suitable order.

Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodiments, alterations and permutations of the embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the above description of the embodiments does not constrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of this disclosure, as defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: determining (1102) a resource index, the resource index indicating a wake up signal (WUS) resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current paging occasion (PO), the resource index determined based at least in part on a hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and a system frame number (SFN); and monitoring (1104) a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T.

3. The method of any of claims 1-2, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a number of WUS resources configured.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, further comprising: rotating the resource index, wherein rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO, the next resource index determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, further comprising waking up in response to detecting the wake up signal.

6. The method of any of embodiments 1-4, further comprising abstaining from waking up in response to not detecting the wake up signal.

7. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of claims 1-6.

8. A computer program product comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of claim 1-6.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of 1-6.

10. A wireless device (110) comprising: memory (130) operable to store instructions; and processing circuitry (120) operable to execute the instructions to cause the wireless device to: determine a resource index, the resource index indicating a wake up signal (WUS) resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a current paging occasion (PO), the resource index determined based at least in part on a hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and a system frame number (SFN); and monitor a WUS group in the WUS resource for the wake up signal.

11. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T.

12. The wireless device of any of claims 10-11, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a number of WUS resources configured.

13. The wireless device of any of claims 10-12, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to: rotate the resource index, wherein rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource to monitor for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO, the next resource index determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN.

14. The wireless device of any of claims 10-13, further comprising waking up in response to detecting the wake up signal.

15. The wireless device of any of embodiments 10-13, further comprising abstaining from waking up in response to not detecting the wake up signal.

16. A method performed by a network node, the method comprising: determining (1202) a resource index associated with a wireless device, the resource index indicating a wake up signal (WUS) resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current paging occasion (PO), the resource index determined based at least in part on a hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and a system frame number (SFN); and sending (1204) the wake up signal to the wireless device, the wake up signal sent using the WUS resource.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T.

18. The method of any of claims 16-17, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a number of WUS resources configured.

19. The method of any of claims 16-18, further comprising: rotating the resource index, wherein rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO, the next resource index determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN.

20. The method of any of claims 16-19, wherein the sending of the wake up signal is in response to determining that the network node will be paging the wireless device during the current PO.

21. The method of any of claims 16-20, further comprising paging the wireless device during the current PO.

22. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of claims 16-21.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of claim 16-21.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of 16-21.

25. A network node (160) comprising: memory (180) operable to store instructions; and processing circuitry (170) operable to execute the instructions to cause the network node to: determine a resource index associated with a wireless device, the resource index indicating a wake up signal (WUS) resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a current paging occasion (PO), the resource index determined based at least in part on a hyper system frame number (H-SFN) and a system frame number (SFN); and send the wake up signal to the wireless device, the wake up signal sent using the

WUS resource.

26. The network node of claim 25, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length T.

27. The network node of any of claims 25-26, wherein the resource index is determined based at least in part on a number of WUS resources configured.

28. The network node of any of claims 25-27, wherein the instructions further cause the network node to: rotate the resource index, wherein rotating the resource index comprises determining a next resource index indicating a next WUS resource that the wireless device monitors for a wake up signal associated with a next current PO, the next resource index determined based at least in part on the H-SFN and the SFN.

29. The network node of any of claims 25-28, wherein the wake up signal is sent in response to a determination that the network node will be paging the wireless device during the current PO.

30. The network node of any of claims 25-29, wherein the instructions further cause the network node to page the wireless device during the current PO.