WO2022041124A1

WO2022041124A1 - Methods and system for adjusting multi-mode connectivity of a user equipment based on network slice type

Info

Publication number: WO2022041124A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/112123
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hao Zhang; Miao Fu; Yan Wang; Wei He; Jian Li; Tangtang WU
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2020-08-28
Filing date: 2020-08-28
Publication date: 2022-03-03

Abstract

Wireless communications systems and methods related to adjusting a multimode capability of a user equipment (UE) based on a network slice of a packet data unit (PDU) session are provided. In some aspects, a UE that supports new radio (NR) radio access technology (RAT) and at least one other RAT (e.g., long term evolution (LTE) ) can receive an indication of establishment of a PDU session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a NR network operating NR RAT. The UE may adjust the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR ADJUSTING MULTI-MODE CONNECTIVITY OF A USER EQUIPMENT BASED ON NETWORK SLICE TYPE

INTRODUCTION

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power) . A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations (BSs) , each simultaneously supporting communications for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE) .

To meet the growing demands for expanded mobile broadband connectivity, wireless communication technologies are advancing from the long term evolution (LTE) technology to a next generation new radio (NR) technology, which may be referred to as 5 ^th Generation (5G) . For example, NR is designed to provide a lower latency, a higher bandwidth or a higher throughput, and a higher reliability than LTE. NR is designed to operate over a wide array of spectrum bands, for example, from low-frequency bands below about 1 gigahertz (GHz) and mid-frequency bands from about 1 GHz to about 6 GHz, to high-frequency bands such as millimeter wave (mmWave) bands.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF SOME EXAMPLES

The following summarizes some aspects of the present disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure and is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in summary form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

For example, in some aspects of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication includes receiving an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) , the UE having capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT. The method further includes adjusting the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.

Some aspects of the disclosure disclose an UE comprising a transceiver configured to receive an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) . In such aspects, the UE may have the capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT. In some aspects, the UE also comprises a processor configured to adjust the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.

In some aspects of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon is disclosed. The program code can include code for causing the user equipment (UE) to receive an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) . In some aspects, the UE may have capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT. In addition, the program code includes code for causing the UE to adjusting the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.

In some aspects of the disclosure, an UE includes means for receiving an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) . In some aspects, the UE may have capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT. Further, the UE may include means for adjusting the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.

Other aspects, features, and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, upon reviewing the following description of specific, exemplary embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. While features of the present invention may be discussed relative to certain embodiments and figures below, all embodiments of the present invention can include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while one or more embodiments may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with the various embodiments of the invention discussed herein. In similar fashion, while exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, system, or method embodiments it should be understood that such exemplary embodiments can be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication network, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a wireless communication network implementing network slicing, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is example signaling diagram illustrating network slice-based adjustment of multi-mode connectivity capability of a user equipment (UE) , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example user equipment (UE) , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example base station (BS) , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below, in connection with the appended drawings, is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

This application relates to wireless communication systems, also referred to as wireless communications networks. In various embodiments, the techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks, 5 ^th Generation (5G) or new radio (NR) networks, as well as other communications networks. As described herein, the terms “networks” and “systems” may be used interchangeably.

An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDM and the like. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) . In particular, long term evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LTE are described in documents provided from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP) , and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2) . These various radio technologies and standards are known or are being developed. For example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations that aims to define a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone specification. 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) is a 3GPP project which was aimed at improving the UMTS mobile phone standard. The 3GPP may define specifications for the next generation of mobile networks, mobile systems, and mobile devices. The present disclosure is concerned with the evolution of wireless technologies from LTE, 4G, 5G, NR, and beyond with shared access to wireless spectrum between networks using a collection of new and different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

Leveraging existing LTE infrastructure for control plane functions has proven useful to speed up networks’ transition to 5G. To that end, some providers support a non-standalone (NSA) mode for UEs equipped with the capability for dual connectivity. In some aspects, UEs can be capable of multi-mode connectivity, i.e., can be configured to support multiple radio access technologies. For example, UEs can be configured to support at least LTE and NR radio access technologies. In NSA mode, a properly equipped UE connects to both LTE base stations (e.g., for the control plane) and 5G or new radio (NR) base stations (for the data plane) . In some cases, the multi-mode connectivity capabilities of UEs can be configurable. That is, a UE may be configured to adjust (e.g., change, suspend, or disable) its support of a particular RAT. For example, a UE may be configured to disable its LTE capability, for instance, when connected to a base station (BS) operating a NR RAT. In some cases, a UE may be configured to have single-mode connectivity capability. For example, the UE may be configured to support a single RAT, for example, NR RAT. In standalone (SA) mode, a UE is configured to connect to a BS operating one generation of radio access technology (RAT) , for example, NR BS, for both control and data communications.

The improved latency, reliability, bandwidth, and/or throughput in NR enable various types of network deployments and/or services such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , ultra-reliable, low-latency communication (uRLLC) , and/or massive machine-type communications (mMTCs) or Internet of Things (IoT) services. The different types of services may have different traffic requirements (e.g., latency, bandwidth, reliability, and/or throughput) . To meet the different traffic requirements, the 5G core network can apply network slicing to create isolated virtual networks over which different traffic streams or flows (e.g., from the different services) can be communicated. Different network slices may have different traffic characteristics (e.g., latency, bandwidth, reliability, and/or throughput) tailored to the specific needs of the services being served. For example, a network may include a network slice for eMBB services requiring a high bandwidth, a network slice for URLLC services requiring a low latency, and a network slice for mMTC or IoT services with small data transfer, but a large number of registered devices.

In particular, 5G networks contemplate diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices that may be implemented using an OFDM-based unified, air interface. In order to achieve these goals, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are considered in addition to development of the new radio technology for 5G NR networks. The 5G NR will be capable of scaling to provide coverage (1) to a massive Internet of things (IoTs) with an ultra-high density (e.g., ～1M nodes/km ²) , ultra-low complexity (e.g., ～10s of bits/sec) , ultra-low energy (e.g., ～10+ years of battery life) , and deep coverage with the capability to reach challenging locations; (2) including mission-critical control with strong security to safeguard sensitive personal, financial, or classified information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., ～99.9999%reliability) , ultra-low latency (e.g., ～ 1 ms) , and users with wide ranges of mobility or lack thereof; and (3) with enhanced mobile broadband including extreme high capacity (e.g., ～ 10 Tbps/km ²) , extreme data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rate, 100+Mbps user experienced rates) , and deep awareness with advanced discovery and optimizations.

The 5G NR may be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveforms with scalable numerology and transmission time interval (TTI) ; having a common, flexible framework to efficiently multiplex services and features with a dynamic, low-latency time division duplex (TDD) /frequency division duplex (FDD) design; and with advanced wireless technologies, such as massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) , robust millimeter wave (mmWave) transmissions, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. Scalability of the numerology in 5G NR, with scaling of subcarrier spacing, may efficiently address operating diverse services across diverse spectrum and diverse deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of less than 3GHz FDD/TDD implementations, subcarrier spacing may occur with 15 kHz, for example over 5, 10, 20 MHz, and the like bandwidth (BW) . For other various outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD greater than 3 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 30 kHz over 80/100 MHz BW. For other various indoor wideband implementations, using a TDD over the unlicensed portion of the 5 GHz band, the subcarrier spacing may occur with 60 kHz over a 160 MHz BW. Finally, for various deployments transmitting with mmWave components at a TDD of 28 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 120 kHz over a 500 MHz BW.

The scalable numerology of the 5G NR facilitates scalable TTI for diverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example, shorter TTI may be used for low latency and high reliability, while longer TTI may be used for higher spectral efficiency. The efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs to allow transmissions to start on symbol boundaries. 5G NR also contemplates a self-contained integrated subframe design with uplink/downlink scheduling information, data, and acknowledgement in the same subframe. The self-contained integrated subframe supports communications in unlicensed or contention-based shared spectrum, adaptive uplink/downlink that may be flexibly configured on a per-cell basis to dynamically switch between uplink and downlink to meet the current traffic needs.

Various other aspects and features of the disclosure are further described below. It should be apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure, function, or both being disclosed herein is merely representative and not limiting. Based on the teachings herein one of an ordinary level of skill in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, such an apparatus may be implemented or such a method may be practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. For example, a method may be implemented as part of a system, device, apparatus, and/or as instructions stored on a computer readable medium for execution on a processor or computer. Furthermore, an aspect may comprise at least one element of a claim.

The present application describes mechanisms for adjusting the multi-mode connectivity capability of a UE based on the type of the network slice of the link connecting an application executing on the UE with a data network. A network slice can be a collection of logical network functions (NFs) that support the communication service requirements of a particular network service. The network slice can be an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) network slice, an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) network slice or a massive machine type communication (mMTC) network slice, as described in the 3GPP standard document TS 28.531, titled “3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Management and orchestration; Provisioning (Release 16) , ” version 16.6.0, August, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The NFs may provide the functions of a router, a switch, a gateway, a firewall, a load balancer, a storage, a server, etc. The NFs can be implemented as network elements on dedicated hardware, software executing on dedicated hardware, and/or virtualized functions instantiated on appropriate platforms (e.g., in a cloud infrastructure) . In an example, the network may be a NR network and may include NFs such as but not limited to a policy control function (PCF) .

In some cases, a UE can receive service from a data network via a packet data unit (PDU) session that may belong to a single specific network slice, or an instance thereof. That is, the PDU session can be a logical connection between the UE and the data network and may associate the UE to the data network that provides the service to the UE. A UE’s selection of PDU sessions for communicating to a network can be controlled by a UE access selection and PDU session selection related policy control that may allow the network and/or the PCF to configure the UE with a UE route selection policy (URSP) that may be related to applications and PDU sessions. The URSP can include information matching certain user data packet traffic (e.g., applications) to PDU session connectivity parameters. For example, an application can be defined in the URSP rule by “traffic descriptor” parameters including but not limited to a data network name (DNN) , an application identifier (ID) , IP 3 tuples (e.g., IP address or IPv6 network prefix, port number, protocol ID of the protocol above IP) , and/or non-IP descriptors (e.g., descriptor (s) for destination information of non-IP traffic) .

The URSP may also include policy components such as the network slice selection policy (NSSP) that may include rules configured to allow the UE to associate the matching application with single network slice assistance information (S-NSSAI) descriptor that can identify a network slice across the data network and the UE. That is, an NSSP rule may associate or match an application to specific DNN or specific network slice (or an instance thereof) . The URSP may also include other sets of rules, each rule mapped to a different PDU session as described in the 3GPP document TS 23.503, titled “3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Service and System Aspects; Policy and Charging Control Framework for the 5G System; Stage 2 (Release 15) , ” version 15.5.0, March 25, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The URSP can be used by the UE for various purposes, such as but not limited to, determining whether a new PDU session may be established or an existing one may be used for an application started by the UE if an application can use an already established PDU session.

In some aspects, the data network to which an application executing on a UE is connected via a PDU session can be a data network operating a NR RAT. For example, a UE may have capability for dual or multi mode connectivity, and may connect in NSA mode to a 5G or NR BS for the data plane and LTE BS for the control plane. In some aspects, the UE may be in standalone mode and may connect to a 5G or NR BS for both data and control communications. That is, the PDU session may be a logical connection associating the UE with a NR or 5G network. In some cases, the UE may determine that a neighboring LTE BS may have a superior signal quality than the NR BS to which the UE is attached, and as such may initiate a handover process to hand the UE over to the neighboring LTE BS. That is, the UE may attempt to establish a connection with the neighboring LTE BS, for example, by performing measurements of the signal quality of the neighboring LTE BS for communicating to the NR BS (so that the NR or 5G BS may hand the UE over to the LTE BS) .

In some instances, however, the packet data network (PDN) session to which the PDU session would map to during a handover of a UE from a NR BS to a LTE BS may not provide quality of service that is desired or required for proper execution of the application on the UE. For example, the application executing on the UE may have certain requirements with respect to bandwidth, reliability, latency, etc., and as such may be matched with a network slice that is particularly configured to satisfy said requirements. For example, the application may execute best or may require for its proper execution a connection that has robust reliability and low latency, and as such the PDU session that connects the application or UE to the NR or 5G network or BS may be an uRLLC network slice that is particularly configured to have robust reliability and low latency. In such cases, if the UE is to be handed over to a neighboring LTE BS, the PDN session that the PDU session may map to may not have the desired or required robust reliability and low latency. In some cases, the lack of at least adequate reliability and low latency may have serious consequences, such as for example when the application is an autonomous vehicle application used to control driverless vehicles.

Accordingly, some aspects of the present application describe mechanisms for adjusting the multi-mode connectivity capability of a UE based on the type of the network slice of the PDU session connecting an application executing on the UE with a base station or a data network (e.g., NR BS or data network) . For example, for a PDU session connecting a UE to a NR BS over a uRLLC network slice, aspects of the present disclosure disclose disabling or suspending the capability of the UE to support LTE RAT based on the type of the network slice (i.e., based on the fact that the network slice is uRLLC) . In such instances, the disabling of the UE’s capability to support LTE RAT prevents the handover of the UE from the NR BS to a neighboring LTE BS (which may not be able to establish a PDN session that possesses the robust reliability and low latency needed or required for the application executing on the UE and provided by the uRLLC network slice of the NR network) . In general, based on a type of a network slice of a PDU session connecting an application executing on the UE to a NR BS of a NR network, aspects of the present disclosure disclose mechanisms for adjusting (e.g., disabling, suspending, etc. ) the capabilities of the UE to support one or more RAT technologies (e.g., NR RAT, LTE RAT, etc. ) . For example, the PDU session to a NR network can be over an eMBB network slice that is particularly configured for high bandwidth applications or mMTC network slice that is particularly configured for small data transfers with large number of registered devices, and in such cases, aspects of the present disclosure disclose adjusting (e.g., disabling, suspending, etc. ) the capabilities of the UE to support one or more RAT technologies (e.g., NR RAT, LTE RAT, etc. ) based on the type of the network slice.

Aspects of the present disclosure can provide several benefits. For example, as discussed above, a first network connectivity session of a first network operating a first RAT (e.g., PDN session of LTE RAT) may not provide an application or UE the desired or required level of quality of service compared to the second network connectivity session of a second network operating a second RAT (e.g., PDU session over a network slice of NR network operating NR RAT) . In such cases, one may be able to prevent a handover of a UE from a BS of the second network to a BS of the first network by disabling, based on the type of the network slice of the PDU session, the capability of the UE to support the first RAT so that the UE may not be handed over to the BS of the first network. This allows for the application executing on the UE to keep receiving the desired or required level of quality of service from the second network, which can be critical for safety/security of the users of the UE.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication network 100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The network 100 may be a 5G network. The network 100 includes a number of base stations (BSs) 105 (individually labeled as 105a, 105b, 105c, 105d, 105e, and 105f) and other network entities. A BS 105 may be a station that communicates with UEs 115 and may also be referred to as an evolved node B (eNB) , a next generation eNB (gNB) , an access point, and the like. Each BS 105 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to this particular geographic coverage area of a BS 105 and/or a BS subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS 105 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell or a small cell, such as a pico cell or a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell, such as a pico cell, would generally cover a relatively smaller geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell, such as a femto cell, would also generally cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and, in addition to unrestricted access, may also provide restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG) , UEs for users in the home, and the like) . A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell BS, a pico BS, a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the

BSs

105d and 105e may be regular macro BSs, while the BSs 105a-105c may be macro BSs enabled with one of three dimension (3D) , full dimension (FD) , or massive MIMO. The BSs 105a-105c may take advantage of their higher dimension MIMO capabilities to exploit 3D beamforming in both elevation and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. The BS 105f may be a small cell BS which may be a home node or portable access point. A BS 105 may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and the like) cells.

The network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the BSs may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time.

The UEs 115 are dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also be referred to as a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or the like. A UE 115 may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, or the like. In one aspect, a UE 115 may be a device that includes a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) . In another aspect, a UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In some aspects, the UEs 115 that do not include UICCs may also be referred to as IoT devices or internet of everything (IoE) devices. The UEs 115a-115d are examples of mobile smart phone-type devices accessing network 100. A UE 115 may also be a machine specifically configured for connected communication, including machine type communication (MTC) , enhanced MTC (eMTC) , narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and the like. The UEs 115e-115k are examples of various machines configured for communication that access the network 100. A UE 115 may be able to communicate with any type of the BSs, whether macro BS, small cell, or the like. In FIG. 1, a lightning bolt (e.g., communication links) indicates wireless transmissions between a UE 115 and a serving BS 105, which is a BS designated to serve the UE 115 on the downlink and/or uplink, or desired transmission between BSs, and backhaul transmissions between BSs.

In operation, the BSs 105a-105c may serve the

UEs

115a and 115b using 3D beamforming and coordinated spatial techniques, such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. The macro BS 105d may perform backhaul communications with the BSs 105a-105c, as well as small cell, the BS 105f. The macro BS 105d may also transmit multicast services which are subscribed to and received by the

UEs

115c and 115d. Such multicast services may include mobile television or stream video, or may include other services for providing community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts, such as Amber alerts or gray alerts.

The BSs 105 may also communicate with a core network. The core network may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. At least some of the BSs 105 (e.g., which may be an example of a gNB or an access node controller (ANC) ) may interface with the core network through backhaul links (e.g., NG-C, NG-U, etc. ) and may perform radio configuration and scheduling for communication with the UEs 115. In various examples, the BSs 105 may communicate, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through core network) , with each other over backhaul links (e.g., X1, X2, etc. ) , which may be wired or wireless communication links.

The network 100 may also support mission critical communications with ultra-reliable and redundant links for mission critical devices, such as the UE 115e, which may be a drone. Redundant communication links with the UE 115e may include links from the

macro BSs

105d and 105e, as well as links from the small cell BS 105f. Other machine type devices, such as the UE 115f (e.g., a thermometer) , the UE 115g (e.g., smart meter) , and UE 115h (e.g., wearable device) may communicate through the network 100 either directly with BSs, such as the small cell BS 105f, and the macro BS 105e, or in multi-hop configurations by communicating with another user device which relays its information to the network, such as the UE 115f communicating temperature measurement information to the smart meter, the UE 115g, which is then reported to the network through the small cell BS 105f. The network 100 may also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD/FDD communications, such as in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) .

In some implementations, the network 100 utilizes OFDM-based waveforms for communications. An OFDM-based system may partition the system BW into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as subcarriers, tones, bins, or the like. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In some instances, the subcarrier spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system BW. The system BW may also be partitioned into subbands. In other instances, the subcarrier spacing and/or the duration of TTIs may be scalable.

In an embodiment, the BSs 105 can assign or schedule transmission resources (e.g., in the form of time-frequency resource blocks (RB) ) for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmissions in the network 100. DL refers to the transmission direction from a BS 105 to a UE 115, whereas UL refers to the transmission direction from a UE 115 to a BS 105. The communication can be in the form of radio frames. A radio frame may be divided into a plurality of subframes or slots, for example, about 10. Each slot may be further divided into mini-slots. In a FDD mode, simultaneous UL and DL transmissions may occur in different frequency bands. For example, each subframe includes a UL subframe in a UL frequency band and a DL subframe in a DL frequency band. In a TDD mode, UL and DL transmissions occur at different time periods using the same frequency band. For example, a subset of the subframes (e.g., DL subframes) in a radio frame may be used for DL transmissions and another subset of the subframes (e.g., UL subframes) in the radio frame may be used for UL transmissions.

The DL subframes and the UL subframes can be further divided into several regions. For example, each DL or UL subframe may have pre-defined regions for transmissions of reference signals, control information, and data. Reference signals are predetermined signals that facilitate the communications between the BSs 105 and the UEs 115. For example, a reference signal can have a particular pilot pattern or structure, where pilot tones may span across an operational BW or frequency band, each positioned at a pre-defined time and a pre-defined frequency. For example, a BS 105 may transmit cell specific reference signals (CRSs) and/or channel state information –reference signals (CSI-RSs) to enable a UE 115 to estimate a DL channel. Similarly, a UE 115 may transmit sounding reference signals (SRSs) to enable a BS 105 to estimate a UL channel. Control information may include resource assignments and protocol controls. Data may include protocol data and/or operational data. In some embodiments, the BSs 105 and the UEs 115 may communicate using self-contained subframes. A self-contained subframe may include a portion for DL communication and a portion for UL communication. A self-contained subframe can be DL-centric or UL-centric. A DL-centric subframe may include a longer duration for DL communication than for UL communication. A UL-centric subframe may include a longer duration for UL communication than for UL communication.

In an embodiment, the network 100 may be an NR network deployed over a licensed spectrum. The BSs 105 can transmit synchronization signals (e.g., including a PSS and an SSS) in the network 100 to facilitate synchronization. The BSs 105 can broadcast system information associated with the network 100 (e.g., including a MIB, RMSI, and other system information (OSI) ) to facilitate initial network access. In some instances, the BSs 105 may broadcast the PSS, the SSS, and/or the MIB in the form of SSBs over a PBCH and may broadcast the RMSI and/or the OSI over a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) .

In an embodiment, a UE 115 attempting to access the network 100 may perform an initial cell search by detecting a PSS from a BS 105. The PSS may enable synchronization of period timing and may indicate a physical layer identity value. The UE 115 may then receive a SSS. The SSS may enable radio frame synchronization, and may provide a cell identity value, which may be combined with the physical layer identity value to identify the cell. The PSS and the SSS may be located in a central portion of a carrier or any suitable frequencies within the carrier.

After receiving the PSS and SSS, the UE 115 may receive a MIB. The MIB may include system information for initial network access and scheduling information for RMSI and/or OSI. After decoding the MIB, the UE 115 may receive RMSI and/or OSI. The RMSI and/or OSI may include radio resource control (RRC) information related to random access channel (RACH) procedures, paging, control resource set (CORESET) for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring, physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) , physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , power control, and SRS.

After obtaining the MIB, the RMSI and/or the OSI, the UE 115 can perform a random access procedure to establish a connection with the BS 105. For the random access procedure, the UE 115 may transmit a random access preamble and the BS 105 may respond with a random access response. Upon receiving the random access response, the UE 115 may transmit a connection request to the BS 105 and the BS 105 may respond with a connection response (e.g., contention resolution message) .

After establishing a connection, the UE 115 and the BS 105 can enter a normal operation stage, where operational data may be exchanged. For example, the BS 105 may schedule the UE 115 for UL and/or DL communications. The BS 105 may transmit UL and/or DL scheduling grants to the UE 115 via a PDCCH. The BS 105 may transmit a DL communication signal to the UE 115 via a PDSCH according to a DL scheduling grant. The UE 115 may transmit a UL communication signal to the BS 105 via a PUSCH and/or PUCCH according to a UL scheduling grant.

In an embodiment, the network 100 may implement network slicing to create multiple isolated virtual networks or independent logical network slices to support a variety of application services in the network 100. As described above, some UEs 115 (e.g., the UEs115a-115d) may be mobile smart phone-type devices requiring enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services in the network 100, some UEs 115 (e.g., , the UEs 115e-115h) may be machine-type devices requiring IoT or mMTC services in the network 100, and some other UEs 115 (e.g., the UEs 115i-115k) may be vehicles and/or self-driving cars requiring URLLC services in the network 100. Further, some UEs 115 may require different types of services (e.g., including eMBB services and URLLC services) simultaneously in the network 100. Each service may have a set of specific traffic requirements (e.g., latency, bandwidth, throughput, and/or reliability) . The network 100 may serve services having different traffic requirements over different network slices. Network slicing provides the flexibility and adaptability for the network 100 to tailor each network slice according to the specific needs of the services being served. Network slicing mechanisms are described in greater detail below in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 illustrates a wireless communication network 200 implementing network slicing according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The network 200 may be substantially similar to the network 100. The network 200 includes a core network 204, a radio access network (RAN) 202, and a plurality of UEs 215. The UEs 215 may be substantially similar to the UEs 115. The core network 204 is logically partitioned into a plurality of network slices 210. The RAN 202 may include BSs similar to the BSs 105 that serve the UEs 215 by connecting the UEs 215 to the network slices 210. For simplicity of illustration and discussions, FIG. 2 illustrates three

network slices

210a, 210b, and 210c and a UE 215. However, the network 200 may include any suitable number of network slices (e.g., about 2, 4, 5, or more) and may serve any suitable number of UEs 215 (e.g., up to millions) . Further, in some examples, the network slicing may also be applied to the RAN 202 in addition to the core network 204.

A network slice 210 is a collection of logical network functions (NFs) that support the communication service requirements of a particular network service. The NFs may provide the functions of a router, a switch, a gateway, a firewall, a load balancer, a storage, and/or a server. The NFs can be implemented as network elements on dedicated hardware, software executing on dedicated hardware, and/or virtualized functions instantiated on appropriate platforms (e.g., in a cloud infrastructure) .

In an example, the core network 204 may be a 5G core network and may include NFs such as an authentication server function (AUSF) , an access and mobility management function (AMF) , a session management function (SMF) , a policy control function (PCF) , a user plane function (UPF) , an application functions (AFs) , a unified data repository (UDR) , an unstructured data storage network function (UDSF) , a network exposure function (NEF) , an NF repository function (NRF) , a unified data management function (UDM) , and/or a network slice selection function (NSSF) . A network slice 210 may include instances of one or more of the 5G core NFs. Different network slices 210 may include different subsets of the 5G core NFs. In some examples, each network slice 210 may be configured to include NFs that are required to serve a particular type of service. In order to provide performance guarantees, the network slices 210 are isolated from each other so that one network slice 210 may not impact the performance and/or the functions of another network slice 210. In some examples, a network slice 210 may be configured to function as a virtual network to serve a particular type of network traffic.

In an example, the network slice 210a may be a eMBB network slice, the network slice 210b may be a URLLC network slice, and the network slice 210c may be an IoT or mMTC network slice as described in the 3GPP standard document TS 28.531, titled “3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Management and orchestration; Provisioning (Release 15) , ” version 15.2.0, March, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The eMBB network slice 210a may be configured to serve services with a high bandwidth requirement. The URLLC network slice 210b may be configured to serve services that require a low latency and/or a robust reliability. The IoT or mMTC network slice 210c may be configured to serve services with small data transfer (e.g., a few bytes to tens of bytes) , but may require a large capacity to register and serve a large number of devices (e.g., up to millions of devices) . In some examples, the network slices 210 may be defined by operators. In some examples, an entity may serve multiple instances of a service over different network slices 210, where different instances may provide the service at different bandwidth and/or latency levels. For example, an operator may configure two eMBB network slices 210, where one eMBB network slice 210 may have higher bandwidth and/or a lower latency than the other eMBB network slice 210 for serving high-valued customers.

A UE 215 may be served by one or more network slices 210 at a time. In an example, the UE 215 may be a smart phone-typed device requiring high-bandwidth services and thus may be served by the eMBB network slice 210a. In another example, the UE 215 may be a self-driving car requiring V2V and/or V2X communication services that are sensitive to network latency and/or reliability and thus may be served by the URLLC network slice 210b. In yet another example, the UE 215d may be a machine-type device (e.g., smart meter or instrument) requiring services for data logging or reading and/or control command communications with a small data size and thus may be served by the IoT network slice 210c. In some cases, a UE 215 may require different services with different traffic flow requirements at the same time. For example, the UE 215 may be performing a file transfer while a V2V, V2X, and/or gaming application is ongoing. The file transfer may require a high bandwidth, while the V2V, V2X, and/or gaming may be sensitive to network latency. As such, the UE 215 may be served by the eMBB network slice 210a for the high-bandwidth file transfer and the URLLC network slice 210b for the low-latency V2V, V2X, or gaming application.

A UE 215 may receive a service in the network 200 via a PDU session 230. Each PDU session 230 may belong to a single specific network slice 210 or a single specific network slice 210 instance. The PDU session 230 may associate the UE 215 to a data network that provides the service to the UE 215. The PDU session 230 is a logical connection between the UE 215 and the data network. The PDU session 230 may be established based on a request from the UE 215. The core network 204 may allocate entities that can serve the traffic requirement (e.g., latency and/or bandwidth) of the PDU session 230. The core network 204 may assign a slice identifier (ID) to the PDU session 230. The data transmission for a service can take place after the PDU session 230 is established in a network slice 210. In some examples, the PDU session 230 may include one or more PDU streams 232 (e.g., a PDU stream 232a, a PDU stream 232b, …, a PDU stream 232n) . Each PDU stream 232 may provide a certain QoS. For example, the UE 215 served by the eMBB network slice 210 may have a file communicated over one PDU stream 232a and an ongoing voice call over another PDU stream 232b, where the PDU streams 232a and 232b may provide different QoSs.

FIG. 3 is example signaling diagram illustrating network slice-based adjustment of multi-mode connectivity capability of a user equipment (UE) , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 may be implemented by a UE 302, such as the UEs 115 and/or 215, in a network, such as the network 100 and/or 200 that can include the core network (e.g., core network 204) which may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) . The network 100 and/or 200 may include a NR BS 304 (e.g., a next generation eNB (gNB) ) and a non-NR BS (e.g., an evolved node B (eNB) ) . For instance, the non-NR BS can be a LTE BS or a 3G BS (e.g., a BS operating universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) RAT) ) . In some cases, the non-NR BS (e.g., LTE BS) can be a neighbor of the NR BS. The BS and the AMF may generally be referred to as the network side. Although the discussion herein may refer to the non-NR BS being a LTE BS operating LTE RAT, it is merely representative and non-limiting, and may equally apply when the non-NR BS is a BS operating a different RAT (e.g., a BS operating UMTS RAT) . Steps of the method 300 can be executed by computing devices (e.g., a processor, processing circuit, and/or other suitable component) of the BS, the UE, and an AMF component. As illustrated, the method 300 includes a number of enumerated steps, but embodiments of the method 300 may include additional steps before, after, and in between the enumerated steps. In some embodiments, one or more of the enumerated steps may be omitted or performed in a different order. For example, in some cases, step 340 may be skipped, i.e., the UE may adjust the multi-mode connectivity capability of the UE without necessarily determining whether the neighboring non-NR BS has superior signal quality.

At step 310, the UE 302 may start an application executing thereon to be connected to a NR BS 304 of a network operating a NR RAT. In some cases, the application may be hosted on a remote server that may be in communication with the UE 302 and may be executing on the remote server and/or the UE 302. In some aspects, the application may have service requirements with respect to bandwidth, reliability, latency, etc., and as such, the UE may determine the type of network slice that may be particularly configured for fulfilling the service requirements of the application. For example, the application may be a V2V application, V2X application, gaming application, remote healthcare application, etc., that may have robust-reliability and low-latency service requirements, and accordingly, the UE may identify uRLLC as the network slice particularly suitable for servicing the application. As another example, the application may have high-bandwidth service requirements (e.g., may be primarily tasked with transferring and/or streaming massive amount of data) , and accordingly, the UE may identify eMBB as the network slice particularly suitable for servicing such application. As yet another example, the application can be an IoT/industrial automation application that may be tasked with small data transfers between a massive number of registered devices, and accordingly, the UE may identify mMTC as the network slice particularly suitable for servicing such application. It is to be noted that eMBB, uRLLC and mMTC network slices are given here as non-limiting examples, and that the UE may identify other types of network slices as the network slice particularly suitable for servicing the application. In some aspects, the UE may identify combinations of network slices as being suitable for servicing the application. For example, the UE 302 can be a mobile device executing an application requiring eMBB network slice for streaming high quality video and uRLLC network slices for virtual reality (VR) or gaming.

At step 320, to establish a PDU session over the network slice identified at step 310 as being suitable for the application, in some aspects, the UE 302 may transmit a PDU session establishment request to the NR BS 304 of the network. For example, the UE 302 may have identified uRLLC as the network slice that is particularly suitable for connecting the application to the NR BS 304, and the PDU session establishment request may include a request to establish the PDU session over uRLLC network slice. In some aspects, the PDU session establishment request may include a non-access stratum (NAS) registration request, which can include single network slice assistance information (S-NSSAI) . For example, the S-NSSAI may include the slice/service type (SST) identifying type of the network slice (e.g., SST=1 for eMBB, SST=2 for uRLLC, SST=3 for mMTC, etc. ) . The NSSAI may indicate a network slice requested by the UE; for example, the NSSAI may indicate SST=2 for uRLLC as the network slice via which the application may be connected to the network (and NR BS 304) . That is, after identifying a network slice (e.g., uRLLC) at step 310 for serving the application executing on the UE, the UE 302 may request the network of the NR BS 304 for permission to establish the PDU session over that network slice (e.g., uRLLC) .

At step 330, in response to transmitting the PDU session establishment request to the NR BS 304 at step 320, the UE 302 may receive a PDU session establishment accept allowing the establishment of the PDU session between the UE 302 (or the application) and the network of the NR BS 304 via the requested network slice (e.g., via uRLLC) . For example, the network (e.g., the AMF of the core network of the NR BS 304) may transmit an initial UE context setup request message to the NR BS 304 including allowed NSSAI indicating that the requested network slice has been allowed for serving the application and associated data packet traffic. The UE 302 may then establish a PDU session over the allowed network slice for communicating the application with the network. For example, with uRLLC having been identified at step 320 as the network slice that is particularly suitable for connecting the application to the network of NR BS 304, the UE may then establish a PDU session over uRLLC for communicating the application with the network upon receiving the PDU session establishment accept.

At step 340, after establishment of a PDU session connecting the UE (or application executing thereon) with the NR BS 304, in some aspects, the UE may determine that a neighboring BS 306 that is operating a non-NR radio access technology may have a superior signal quality when compared to that of NR BS 304. For example, the non-NR BS 306 can be a LTE BS operating LTE RAT, and the LTE BS 306 may have a superior signal quality compared to the signal quality of NR BS 304. In some aspects, even though the neighboring LTE BS may have a superior signal quality, the UE 302 may not wish for the NR BS 304 to handover the UE 302 to the neighboring LTE BS. This is because upon handover of the UE 302 to the LTE BS 306, the PDU session established over the uRLLC network slice between the UE 302 and the NR BS 304 may be mapped to a PDN session between the UE 302 and the LTE BS 306. In some instances, the PDN session may not provide the quality of service that is desired or required by the application. For example, as noted above, the uRLLC network slice is particularly suited for applications having service requirements for robust reliability and low latency, and the PDU session established over uRLLC satisfies these requirements. When the PDU session is mapped to a PDN session between the UE 302 and the LTE BS 306 upon handover of the UE 302 to the LTE BS 306, however, the PDN session may not satisfy these requirements, which may have safety implications for critical mission applications such as those used in autonomous vehicles, etc.

At step 350, the UE 302 may adjust the multi-mode connectivity capability of the UE based on the type of the network slice of the PDU session established at step 330. As noted above, the UE 302 may not wish to have the UE 302 to be handed over to the a non-NR BS 306 (e.g., LTE BS) by the NR BS 304 because the mapping of the PDU session to a PDN session can result in a degraded quality of service (e.g., because the PDN session cannot satisfy the service requirements of the application that are instead met by the selected network slice of the NR network, i.e., by uRLLC network slice) . As such, based on the type of the network slice of the PDU session, the UE 302 may wish to prevent the handover of the UE 302 from the NR BS 304 to a BS operating a non-NR RAT (e.g., operating LTE RAT) . For example, when the type of the network slice for the PDU session established at step 330 is uRLLC, the UE 302 may adjust (e.g., disable, suspend, etc. ) the capability of the UE 302 to support the RAT of the neighboring BS 306 that operates the non-NR RAT. That is, for instance, when the type of the network slice is uRLLC, the UE 302 may adjust the dual mode connectivity capability of the UE 302 (e.g., that supports NR RAT and LTE RAT) by disabling or suspending the capability of the UE 302 to support the LTE RAT, thereby preventing the handover of the UE 302 from the NR BS 304 to the LTE BS 306, as shown by the mark X 350 in FIG. 3. This may allow for the UE 302 to remain with the NR BS 304, instead of being transferred or handed over to the LTE BS 306 which may not be able to meet the robust reliability and low latency service requirements of the application. In some instances, the UE 302 may be operating in NSA mode, and the UE 302 may switch the UE 302 to SA mode so that the UE 302 may not connect to LTE BS 306.

In some aspects, after disabling the capability of the UE 302 to support the LTE RAT, the UE 302 may inform the application that there is no network service available if the signal quality from the NR BS 304 is below a threshold signal quality. That is, instead of allowing the UE 302 to be handed over from NR BS 304 to a non-NR or LTE BS 306 that is not capable of providing the desired or required quality of service, the UE 302 may prevent the handover as discussed above and inform the application that there is no network service available. This is because, even when the non-NR or LTE BS 306 has superior signal quality that meets the conditions for a handover of a UE 302 to the LTE BS 306, a PDN session connecting the application or UE 302 to the LTE BS 306 may not provide the desired or required quality of service with respect to robust reliability, low latency, etc. In such cases, the UE 302 may prevent the handover as discussed above and inform the application that there is no network service available if the signal quality from the NR BS 304 is below a threshold for the application to execute properly.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary UE 400 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The UE 400 may be a UE 115 or 215 as discussed above in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, respectively. As shown, the UE 400 may include a processor 402, a memory 404, a network slice-based mode adjustment (NSMA) module 408, a transceiver 410 including a modem subsystem 412 and a radio frequency (RF) unit 414, and one or more antennas 416. These elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, for example via one or more buses.

The processor 402 may include a central processing unit (CPU) , a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein. The processor 402 may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The memory 404 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cache memory of the processor 402) , random access memory (RAM) , magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) , electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, solid state memory device, hard disk drives, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or a combination of different types of memory. In an embodiment, the memory 404 includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The memory 404 may store, or have recorded thereon, instructions 406. The instructions 406 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 402, cause the processor 402 to perform the operations described herein with reference to the UEs 115 and/or 215 in connection with embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, aspects of FIGS. 2, 3 and 6. Instructions 406 may also be referred to as program code. The program code may be for causing a wireless communication device to perform these operations, for example by causing one or more processors (such as processor 402) to control or command the wireless communication device to do so. The terms “instructions” and “code” should be interpreted broadly to include any type of computer-readable statement (s) . For example, the terms “instructions” and “code” may refer to one or more programs, routines, sub-routines, functions, procedures, etc. “Instructions” and “code” may include a single computer-readable statement or many computer-readable statements.

The NSMA module 408 may be implemented via hardware, software, or combinations thereof. For example, NSMA module 408 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and/or instructions 406 stored in the memory 404 and executed by the processor 402. In some examples, the NSMA module 408 can be integrated within the modem subsystem 412. For example, the NSMA module 408 can be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or a general processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuitry) within the modem subsystem 412. The NSMA module 408 may be used for various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, aspects of FIGS. 2, 3 and 6. For example, the NSMA module may be configured to adjust, disable or suspend the capability of a UE to support a non-NR RAT such as LTE RAT based on a network slice type of a PDU session connecting the UE to a BS operating the NR RAT. That is, for example, the NSMA module 408 may be configured to adjust the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT (e.g., LTE RAT) based on a type of the network slice.

As shown, the transceiver 410 may include the modem subsystem 412 and the RF unit 414. The transceiver 410 can be configured to communicate bi-directionally with other devices, such as the BSs 105. The modem subsystem 412 may be configured to modulate and/or encode the data from the memory 404 according to a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , e.g., a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, a digital beamforming scheme, etc. The RF unit 414 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc. ) modulated/encoded data from the modem subsystem 412 (on outbound transmissions) or of transmissions originating from another source such as a UE 115 or a BS 105. The RF unit 414 may be further configured to perform analog beamforming in conjunction with the digital beamforming. Although shown as integrated together in transceiver 410, the modem subsystem 412 and the RF unit 414 may be separate devices that are coupled together at the UE 115 to enable the UE 115 to communicate with other devices. In some aspects, the transceiver 410 may be configured to receive an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) , the UE having capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT.

The RF unit 414 may provide the modulated and/or processed data, e.g. data packets (or, more generally, data messages that may contain one or more data packets and other information) , to the antennas 416 for transmission to one or more other devices. The antennas 416 may further receive data messages transmitted from other devices. The antennas 416 may provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver 410. The antennas 416 may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to sustain multiple transmission links. The RF unit 414 may configure the antennas 416.

In an embodiment, the UE 400 can include multiple transceivers 410 implementing different RATs (e.g., NR and LTE) . In an embodiment, the UE 400 can include a single transceiver 410 implementing multiple RATs (e.g., NR and LTE) . In an embodiment, the transceiver 410 can include various components, where different combinations of components can implement RATs.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary BS 500 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The BS 500 may be a BS 105 in the network 100 as discussed above in FIG. 1 or BS of the RAN 202 as discussed above in FIG. 2. A shown, the BS 500 may include a processor 502, a memory 504, a network slice-based mode adjustment (NSMA) module 508, a transceiver 510 including a modem subsystem 512 and a RF unit 514, and one or more antennas 516. These elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, for example via one or more buses.

The processor 502 may have various features as a specific-type processor. For example, these may include a CPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a controller, a FPGA device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein. The processor 502 may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The memory 504 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cache memory of the processor 502) , RAM, MRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, a solid state memory device, one or more hard disk drives, memristor-based arrays, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or a combination of different types of memory. In some embodiments, the memory 504 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The memory 504 may store instructions 506. The instructions 506 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 502, cause the processor 502 to perform operations described herein, for example, aspects of FIG. 3. Instructions 506 may also be referred to as code, which may be interpreted broadly to include any type of computer-readable statement (s) as discussed above with respect to FIG. 3.

The NSMA module 508 may be implemented via hardware, software, or combinations thereof. The NSMA module 508 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and/or instructions 506 stored in the memory 504 and executed by the processor 502. In some examples, the NSMA module 508 can be integrated within the modem subsystem 512. For example, the NSMA module 508 can be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or a general processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuitry) within the modem subsystem 512. The NSMA module 508 is configured to provide to the UE allowed NSSAI indicating permission of request by the UE for establishment of a PDU session over a requested network slice (e.g., uRLLC) .

As shown, the transceiver 510 may include the modem subsystem 512 and the RF unit 514. The transceiver 510 can be configured to communicate bi-directionally with other devices, such as the UEs 115 and/or another core network element. The modem subsystem 512 may be configured to modulate and/or encode data according to a MCS, e.g., a LDPC coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, a digital beamforming scheme, etc. The RF unit 514 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc. ) modulated/encoded data from the modem subsystem 512 (on outbound transmissions) or of transmissions originating from another source such as a UE 115 or 400. The RF unit 514 may be further configured to perform analog beamforming in conjunction with the digital beamforming. Although shown as integrated together in transceiver 510, the modem subsystem 512 and/or the RF unit 514 may be separate devices that are coupled together at the BS 105 to enable the BS 105 to communicate with other devices.

The RF unit 514 may provide the modulated and/or processed data, e.g. data packets (or, more generally, data messages that may contain one or more data packets and other information) , to the antennas 516 for transmission to one or more other devices. This may include, for example, transmission of information to complete attachment to a network and communication with a camped UE 115 or 500 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The antennas 516 may further receive data messages transmitted from other devices and provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver 510. The antennas 516 may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to sustain multiple transmission links.

In an embodiment, the BS 500 can include multiple transceivers 510 implementing different RATs (e.g., NR and LTE) . In an embodiment, the BS 500 can include a single transceiver 510 implementing multiple RATs (e.g., NR and LTE) . In an embodiment, the transceiver 510 can include various components, where different combinations of components can implement RATs.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 600 may be implemented between a UE (e.g., the UE 115, UE 215, or UE 400) and a NR BS (e.g., one or more BSs similar to the BS 105, and/or the BS 500) . The method 600 may employ similar mechanisms as in the method 300 described above with respect to FIG. 3. Steps of the method 600 can be executed by computing devices (e.g., a processor, processing circuit, and/or other suitable component) of the UE. In an example, the UE may utilize one or more components, such as the processor 402, the memory 404, the NSMA module 408, the transceiver 410, the modem 412, and the one or more antennas 416, to execute the steps of method 600. As illustrated, the method 600 includes a number of enumerated steps, but embodiments of the method 600 may include additional steps before, after, and in between the enumerated steps. In some embodiments, one or more of the enumerated steps may be omitted or performed in a different order.

At step 610, the UE may receive an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) . In some aspects, the UE may have the capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT (e.g., LTE RAT) . For example, the UE may have the capability for dual (e.g., LTE and 5G) or multi-mode connectivity. For instance, the UE may be configured to operate in NSA.

At step 620, the UE may be configured to adjust the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice. For example, the UE may be configured to adjust (e.g., disable, suspend, etc. ) the capability of the UE for dual or multi-mode connectivity based on a type of the network slice. For instance, the UE may disable, suspend, etc., the capability of the UE to support LTE RAT when the network slice of the PDU session is uRLLC.

In some aspects, the indication of establishment of the PDU session includes a PDU session establishment accept from a NR BS of the NR network including single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) having a slice/service type (SST) value indicating the type of the network slice

In some aspects of method 600, the type of the network slice is uRLLC. In such cases, adjusting the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on the type of the network slice includes disabling the capability or suspending the capability. In some aspects, the at least one other RAT includes LTE RAT and/or or universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) RAT.

Some aspects of method 600 further include notifying the application that network service is unavailable when the UE detects conditions for handing over (HO) the UE from a NR base station (BS) of the NR network to a neighboring BS of a network operating the at least one other RAT is fulfilled. For example, the neighboring BS (e.g., LTE BS) may have a superior signal quality to that of the NR BS, and as such the conditions for HO of the UE from the NR BS to the LTE BS may be fulfilled. In such cases, the UE may prevent the HO by disabling the capability of the UE to support the LTE RAT as discussed above, and inform the application that network service is unavailable (e.g., if the signal strength from the NR BS is below threshold for allowing the application to execute properly) .

In some aspects of method 600, the at least one other RAT is a LTE RAT, and the method may include receiving, from a NR BS of the NR network, a control message configured to trigger the UE to report a B1 event and/or a B2 event of a LTE BS of a LTE network operating the LTE RAT and neighboring the NR BS; and preventing the UE from measuring or reporting to the NR BS the B1 event and/or the B2 event.

In some aspects of method 600, adjusting the capability of the UE includes switching an operational mode of the UE from a non-standalone (NSA) mode to a standalone (SA) mode when the type of the network slice is a uRLLC network slice.

Some aspects of method 600 further include re-enabling the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT when the PDU session terminates.

Information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration) .

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items (for example, a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or “one or more of” ) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a list of [at least one of A, B, or C] means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) .

As those of some skill in this art will by now appreciate and depending on the particular application at hand, many modifications, substitutions and variations can be made in and to the materials, apparatus, configurations and methods of use of the devices of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. In light of this, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to that of the particular embodiments illustrated and described herein, as they are merely by way of some examples thereof, but rather, should be fully commensurate with that of the claims appended hereafter and their functional equivalents.

Claims

A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) , the method comprising:

receiving an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) , the UE having capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT; and

adjusting the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.
The method of claim 1, wherein the type of the network slice is an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) network slice.
The method of claim 2, wherein adjusting the capability includes disabling the capability.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one other RAT includes long-term evolution (LTE) RAT and/or universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) RAT.
The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

notifying the application that network service is unavailable when the UE detects conditions for handing over (HO) the UE from a NR base station (BS) of the NR network to a neighboring BS of a network operating the at least one other RAT is fulfilled.
The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one other RAT is a LTE RAT, the method further comprising:

receiving, from a NR BS of the NR network, a control message configured to trigger the UE to report a B1 event and/or a B2 event of a LTE BS of a LTE network operating the LTE RAT and neighboring the NR BS; and

preventing the UE from measuring or reporting to the NR BS the B1 event and/or the B2 event.
The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting the capability of the UE includes switching an operational mode of the UE from a non-standalone (NSA) mode to a standalone (SA) mode when the type of the network slice is a uRLLC network slice.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

re-enabling the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT when the PDU session terminates.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of establishment of the PDU session includes a PDU session establishment accept from a NR BS of the NR network including single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) having a slice/service type (SST) value indicating the type of the network slice.
A user equipment (UE) , comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) , the UE having capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT; and

a processor configured to adjust the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.
The UE of claim 10, wherein the type of the network slice is an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) network slice.
The UE of claim 11, wherein adjusting the capability includes disabling the capability.
The UE of claim 10 or 11, wherein the at least one other RAT includes long-term evolution (LTE) RAT and/or universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) RAT.
The UE of claim 10 or 11, wherein the processor is further configured to notify the application that network service is unavailable when the UE detects conditions for handing over (HO) the UE from a NR base station (BS) of the NR network to a neighboring BS of a network operating the at least one other RAT is fulfilled.
The UE of claim 10, wherein:

the at least one other RAT is a LTE RAT;

the transceiver is further configured to receive, from a NR BS of the NR network, a control message configured to trigger the UE to report a B1 event and/or a B2 event of a LTE BS of a LTE network operating the LTE RAT and neighboring the NR BS; and

the processor is further configured to prevent the UE from measuring or reporting to the NR BS the B1 event and/or the B2 event.
The UE of claim 10, wherein the adjusting the capability of the UE includes switching an operational mode of the UE from a non-standalone (NSA) mode to a standalone (SA) mode when the type of the network slice is a uRLLC network slice.
The UE of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to re-enable the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT when the PDU session terminates.
The UE of claim 10, wherein the indication of establishment of the PDU session includes a PDU session establishment accept from a NR BS of the NR network including single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) having a slice/service type (SST) value indicating the type of the network slice.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium (CRM) having program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising:

code for causing a user equipment (UE) to receive an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) , the UE having capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT;

code for causing the UE to adjust the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 19, wherein the type of the network slice is an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) network slice.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 20, wherein adjusting the capability includes disabling the capability.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 19 or 20, wherein the at least one other RAT includes long-term evolution (LTE) RAT and/or universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) RAT.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 19 or 20, wherein the program code further comprises code for causing the UE to notify the application that network service is unavailable when the UE detects conditions for handing over (HO) the UE from a NR base station (BS) of the NR network to a neighboring BS of a network operating the at least one other RAT is fulfilled.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 19, wherein the at least one other RAT is a LTE RAT, the program code further comprising:

code for causing the UE to receive, from a NR BS of the NR network, a control message configured to trigger the UE to report a B1 event and/or a B2 event of a LTE BS of a LTE network operating the LTE RAT and neighboring the NR BS; and

code for causing the UE to prevent the UE from measuring or reporting to the NR BS the B1 event and/or the B2 event.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 19, wherein the adjusting the capability of the UE includes switching an operational mode of the UE from a non-standalone (NSA) mode to a standalone (SA) mode when the type of the network slice is a uRLLC network slice.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 19, wherein the program code further comprises code for causing the UE to re-enable the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT when the PDU session terminates.
The non-transitory CRM of claim 19, wherein the indication of establishment of the PDU session includes a PDU session establishment accept from a NR BS of the NR network including single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) having a slice/service type (SST) value indicating the type of the network slice.
A user equipment (UE) , comprising:

means for receiving an indication of establishment of a packet data unit (PDU) session over a network slice between an application executing on the UE and a new radio (NR) network operating a NR radio access technology (RAT) , the UE having capability to support the NR RAT and at least one other RAT; and

means for adjusting the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT based on a type of the network slice.
The UE of claim 28, wherein the type of the network slice is an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) network slice.
The UE of claim 29, wherein adjusting the capability includes disabling the capability.
The UE of claim 28 or 29, wherein the at least one other RAT includes long-term evolution (LTE) RAT and/or universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) RAT.
The UE of claim 28 or 29, further comprising:

means for notifying the application that network service is unavailable when the UE detects conditions for handing over (HO) the UE from a NR base station (BS) of the NR network to a neighboring BS of a network operating the at least one other RAT is fulfilled.
The UE of claim 28, wherein the at least one other RAT is a LTE RAT, the UE further comprising:

means for receiving, from a NR BS of the NR network, a control message configured to trigger the UE to report a B1 event and/or a B2 event of a LTE BS of a LTE network operating the LTE RAT and neighboring the NR BS; and

means for preventing the UE from measuring or reporting to the NR BS the B1 event and/or the B2 event.
The UE of claim 28, wherein the adjusting the capability of the UE includes switching an operational mode of the UE from a non-standalone (NSA) mode to a standalone (SA) mode when the type of the network slice is a uRLLC network slice.
The UE of claim 28, further comprising:

means for re-enabling the capability of the UE to support the at least one other RAT when the PDU session terminates.
The UE of claim 28, wherein the indication of establishment of the PDU session includes a PDU session establishment accept from a NR BS of the NR network including single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) having a slice/service type (SST) value indicating the type of the network slice.