WO2023096556A1 - Systems and methods for support of autonomous adjustement of timing advance - Google Patents

Abstract

A method (700) by a user equipment, UE, in a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, for performing a timing advance, TA, adjustment includes determining (702) a TA adjustment between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment. The first and the second transmissions segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission. The UE applies (704) an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration allowing for the determined TA adjustment and adjusts (706) the TA of the second transmission segment in accordance with the determined TA adjustment.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SUPPORT OF AUTONOMOUS ADJUSTEMENT OF TIMING ADVANCE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to wireless communications and, more particularly, systems and methods for systems and methods for support of autonomous adjustment of Timing Advance (TA) and Frequency by a User Equipment (UE) in an Internet of Things (loT) Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN).

BACKGROUND

In 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 8, the Evolved Packet System (EPS) was specified. EPS is based on the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio network and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). It was originally intended to provide voice and mobile broadband (MBB) services but has continuously evolved to broaden its functionality. Since 3GPP Release 13, Narrowband-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and LTE-Machine Type Communication (LTE-M) are part of the LTE specifications and provide connectivity to massive machine type communications (mMTC) services.

In 3GPP Release 15, the first release of the 5^th Generation system (5GS) was specified. This is a new generation’s radio access technology intended to serve use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) and mMTC. 5^th Generation (5G) includes the New Radio (NR) access stratum interface and the 5G Core Network (5GC). The NR physical and higher layers are reusing parts of the LTE specification, and to that add needed components when motivated by the new use cases. One such component is the introduction of a sophisticated framework for beam forming and beam management to extend the support of the 3 GPP technologies to a frequency range going beyond 6 GHz.

There is an ongoing resurgence of satellite communications. Several plans for satellite networks have been announced in the past few years. The target services vary, from backhaul and fixed wireless, to transportation, to outdoor mobile, to loT. Satellite networks could complement mobile networks on the ground by providing connectivity to underserved areas and multicast/broadcast services. To benefit from the strong mobile ecosystem and economy of scale, adapting the terrestrial wireless access technologies including LTE and NR for satellite networks is drawing significant interest, which has been reflected in the 3GPP standardization work. In 3GPP Release 15, 3GPP started the work to prepare NR for operation in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN). The work was performed within the study item “NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks” and resulted in 3GPP TR 38.811. See, 3GPP TR 38.811 v. 15.4.0, Study on New Radio (NR) to support Non-Terrestrial Networks. In 3 GPP Release 16, the work to prepare NR for operation in an NTN network continued with the study item “Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Network”, which has been captured in 3GPP TR 38.821. See, 3GPP TR 38.821 v. 16.1.0, Solutions for NR to Support Non-Terrestrial Networks, June 2021. In parallel the interest to adapt NB-IoT and LTE-M for operation in NTN is growing. As a consequence, 3GPP Release 17 contains both a work item on NR NTN and a study item on NB-IoT and LTE-M support for NTN. See, RP- 193234, Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN), 3GPP RAN#86, December 2019; see also, RP-211601, NB-IoT/eMTC support for Non-terrestrial Networks (NTN), RAN#92- e, Jun 2021.

A satellite radio access network usually includes the following components:

• A satellite that refers to a space-borne platform.

• An earth-b mased gateway that connects the satellite to a base station or a core network, depending on the choice of architecture.

• Feeder link that refers to the link between a gateway and a satellite

• Access link, or service link, that refers to the link between a satellite and a UE.

Depending on the orbit altitude, a satellite may be categorized as low earth orbit (LEO), medium earth orbit (MEO), or geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite:

• LEO: typical heights ranging from 250 - 1,500 km, with orbital periods ranging from 90 - 120 minutes.

• MEO: typical heights ranging from 5,000 - 25,000 km, with orbital periods ranging from 3 - 15 hours.

• GEO: height at about 35,786 km, with an orbital period of 24 hours.

Two basic architectures can be distinguished for satellite communication networks, depending on the functionality of the satellites in the system:

• Transparent payload (also referred to as bent pipe architecture): The satellite forwards the received signal between the terminal and the network equipment on the ground with only amplification and a shift from uplink frequency to downlink frequency. When applied to general 3GPP architecture and terminology, the transparent payload architecture means that the gNodeB (gNB) is located on the ground and the satellite forwards signals/data between the gNB and the UE • Regenerative payload: The satellite includes on-board processing to demodulate and decode the received signal and regenerate the signal before sending it back to the earth. When applied to general 3 GPP architecture and terminology, the regenerative payload architecture means that the gNB is located in the satellite.

In the work item for NR NTN in 3 GPP Release 17, only the transparent payload architecture is considered.

FIGURE 1 illustrates an example architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders (i.e. the transparent payload architecture). The gNB may be integrated in the gateway or connected to the gateway via a terrestrial connection (wire, optic fiber, wireless link).

A communication satellite typically generates several beams over a given area. The footprint of a beam is usually in an elliptic shape, which has traditionally been considered as a cell, but cells consisting of the coverage footprint of multiple beams are not excluded in the 3GPP work. The footprint of a beam is also often referred to as a spotbeam. The footprint of a beam may move over the earth’s surface with the satellite movement or may be earth fixed with a beam pointing mechanism used by the satellite to compensate for the satellite’s motion. The size of a spotbeam depends on the system design, which may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousands of kilometers.

Consequences of Long Propagation Delay/Round-Trip-Time (RTT) and High Satellite Speed

Propagation delay is an important aspect of satellite communications that is different from the delay expected in a terrestrial mobile system. For a bent pipe satellite network, the round-trip delay may, depending on the orbit height, range from tens of ms in the case of LEO satellites to several hundreds of ms for GEO satellites. As a comparison, the round-trip delays in terrestrial cellular networks are typically below 1 ms.

The distance between the UE and a satellite can vary significantly, depending on the position of the satellite and thus the elevation angle a seen by the UE. Assuming circular orbits, the minimum distance is realized when the satellite is directly above the UE (a = 90°), and the maximum distance when the satellite is at the smallest possible elevation angle. TABLE 1 shows the distances between satellite and UE for different orbital heights and elevation angles together with the one-way propagation delay and the maximum propagation delay difference (the difference from the propagation delay at a = 90°). Note that this table assumes regenerative payload architecture. For the transparent payload case, the propagation delay between gateway and satellite needs to be considered as well, unless the base station corrects for that. Table 1 : Propagation delay for different orbital heights and elevation angles.

The propagation delay may also be highly variable due to the high velocity of the LEO and MEO satellites and change in the order of 10 - 100 ps every second, depending on the orbit altitude and satellite velocity.

For Non-Terrestrial Networks using 3GPP technology, in particular 5G/NR, the long propagation delay means that the TA that the UE uses for its uplink transmissions is essential and has to be much greater than in terrestrial networks in order for the uplink and downlink to be time aligned at the gNB, as is the case in NR and LTE. One of the purposes of the random access (RA) procedure is to provide the UE with a valid TA (which the network later can adjust based on the reception timing of uplink transmission from the UE). However, even the RA preamble (i.e. the initial message from the UE in the random access procedure) has to be transmitted with a TA to allow a reasonable size of the RA preamble reception window in the gNB (and to ensure that the cyclic shift of the preamble’s Zadoff-Chu sequence cannot be so large that it makes the Zadoff- Chu sequence and, thus, the preamble appear as another Zadoff Chu sequence and, thus, preamble based on the same Zadoff-Chu root sequence), but this TA does not have to be as accurate as the TA that the UE subsequently uses for other uplink transmissions. The TA that the UE uses for the RA preamble transmission in NTN is called “pre-compensation TA”. Various proposals are considered for how to determine the pre-compensation TA, all of which involves information originating both at the gNB and at the UE. In brief, the discussed alternative proposals include:

• Broadcast of a “common TA” that is valid at a certain reference point, e.g. a center point in the cell. The UE would then calculate how its own pre-compensation TA deviates from the common TA based on the difference between the UE’s own location and the reference point together with the position of the satellite. Generally, the UE acquires its own position using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements and the UE obtains the satellite position using satellite orbital data (including satellite position at a certain time) broadcast by the network.

• The UE autonomously calculates the propagation delay between the UE and the satellite, based on the UE’s and the satellite’s respective positions, and the network/gNB broadcasts the propagation delay on the feeder link, i.e. the propagation delay between the gNB and the satellite. Herein, the UE acquires its own position using GNSS measurements and the UE obtains the satellite position using satellite orbital data (including satellite position at a certain time) broadcast by the network. The pre-compensation TA is then twice the sum of the propagation delay on the feeder link and the propagation delay between the satellite and the UE.

• The gNB broadcasts a timestamp (in SIB9), which the UE compares with a reference timestamp acquired from GNSS. Based on the difference between these two timestamps, the UE can calculate the propagation delay between the gNB and the UE, and the pre-compensation TA is twice as long as this propagation delay.

In conjunction with the RA procedure, the gNB provides the UE with an accurate (i.e. fine- adjusted) TA in the Random Access Response (RAR) message (in 4-step RA procedure) or MsgB (in 2-step RA procedure), based on the time of reception of the RA preamble. The gNB can subsequently adjust the UE’s TA using a TA Command Medium Access Control -Control Element (MAC CE) (or an Absolute TA Command MAC CE), based on the timing of receptions of uplink transmissions from the UE. A goal with such network control of the UE’s TA is typically to keep the time error of the UE’s uplink transmissions at the gNB’s receiver within the cyclic prefix (which is required for correct decoding of the uplink transmissions). The TA control framework also includes a time alignment timer that the gNB configures the UE with. The time alignment timer is restarted every time the gNB adjusts the UE’s TA and if the time alignment timer expires, the UE is not allowed to transmit in the uplink without a prior RA procedure (which serves the purpose to provide the UE with a valid TA). For NTN, 3GPP has also agreed that in addition to the gNB’s control of the UE’s TA, the UE is allowed to autonomously update its TA based on estimation of changes in the UE-gNB RTT using the UE’s location (e.g. obtained from GNSS measurement) and knowledge of the serving satellite’s ephemeris data and feeder link delay information from the gNB.

A second relevant aspect is that not only is the propagation delay between the UE and a satellite, or between the UE and a gNB, very long in NTN, but due to the large distances, the difference in propagation delay to two different satellites, or two different gNBs, may be significant on the timescales relevant for cellular communication, including signaling procedures, even when the satellites/gNBs serve neighboring cells. This has an impact on all procedures involving reception or transmission in two cells served by different satellites and/or different gNBs.

A third important aspect related to the long propagation delay/RTT in Non-Terrestrial Networks is the introduction of an additional parameter to compensate for the long propagation delay/RTT. In terrestrial cellular networks, the UE-gNB RTT may range from more or less zero to several tens of microseconds in a cell. A major difference in NTNs, apart from the sheer size of the propagation delay/RTT, is that even at the location in the cell where the propagation delay/RTT is the smallest, it will be large and nowhere close to zero. In fact, the variation of the propagation delay/RTT within a NTN cell is small compared to the propagation delay/RTT. This speaks in favor of introducing an offset which essentially takes care of the RTT between the cell’s footprint on the ground and the satellite, while other mechanisms, including signaling and control loops, take care of the RTT dependent aspects within the smaller range of RTT variation within the cell on top of the offset. To this end, 3GPP has agreed to introduce such a parameter, which is denoted Koffset (or sometimes K offset).

The Koffset parameter may potentially be used in various timing related mechanisms, but the application mainly in focus is to use it in the scheduling of uplink transmissions on the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). Koffset is used to indicate an additional delay between the uplink grant (UL grant) and the PUSCH transmission resources allocated by UL grant to be added to the slot offset parameter K2 in the downlink control information (DCI) containing the UL grant. The offset between the UL grant and the slot in which the PUSCH transmission resources are allocated is thus Koffset + K2. When used this way in uplink scheduling, Koffset can be said to serve the purpose to ensure that the UE is never scheduled to transmit at a point in time that, due to the large TA the UE has to apply, would occur before the point in time when the UE receives the UL grant. In 3GPP, it is also discussed to let the network’s configuration of Koffset take into account the TA the UE may have signaled that it has used.

A fourth important aspect closely related to the timing is a Doppler frequency offset induced by the motion of the satellite. The access link may be exposed to Doppler shift in the order of 10 - 100 kHz in sub-6 GHz frequency band and proportionally higher in higher frequency bands. Also, the Doppler shift is varying, with a rate of up to several hundred Hz per second in the S-band and several kHz per second in the Ka-band. Uplink timing

Doppler effect also results in a time drift. To exemplify, the FIGURE 2 illustrates a scenario where a UE transmits in the uplink to a base station (BS) onboard a satellite which is moving away from the UE at an approximately constant velocity v_y relative to the UE. The movement away from the transmitting UE results in the satellite receiver experiencing a reduced carrier frequency relative the UE transmit frequency due to the Doppler shift,

being negative. Additionally, the signal time resolution is impacted. For example, for the satellite to receive the signal at a correct timing corresponding to a time resolution, or sample rate, of t_s then the UE needs to apply a compensation factor

to its transmit timing. Since is negative in this example,

this results in and a reduced UE transmit time resolution

, relative t_sused in the satellite.

As the velocity of the satellite relative the UE depends on the satellites location relative the UE, which changes over time, also the Doppler induced time and frequency drifts are time dependent.

If the UE is not capable of continuously adjusting its uplink timing resolution, the uplink signal received by the base station receiver onboard the satellite will drift in time. This time drift effect is in more detail described in FIGURE 2, which illustrates how a UE can adjust its uplink transmission timing resolution, to compensate for a time drift induced on the UE to satellite link, of relative magnitude A.

Ephemeris data

In 3GPP TR 38.821, it has been captured that ephemeris data should be provided to the UE, for example to assist with pointing a directional antenna (or an antenna beam) towards the satellite, and to calculate a correct TA and Doppler shift. Procedures on how to provide and update ephemeris data have not yet been studied in detail, but broadcasting of ephemeris data in the system information is one option.

A satellite orbit can be fully described using 6 parameters. Exactly which set of parameters is chosen can be decided by the user; many different representations are possible. For example, a choice of parameters used often in astronomy is the set FIGURE 3 illustrates an

example set of parameters, which is also referred to as a set of orbital elements. Here, the semimajor axis a and the eccentricity a describe the shape and size of the orbit ellipse; the inclination z, the right ascension of the ascending node Ω, and the argument of periapsis determine its position in space, and the epoch t determines a reference time (e.g. the time when the satellites moves through periapsis). As an example of a different parametrization, the Two-Line Elements (TLEs) use mean motion n and mean anomaly M instead of a and t. A completely different set of parameters is the position and velocity vector (x, z, v_x, v_y, v_z) of a satellite. These are sometimes called orbital state vectors. They can be derived from the orbital elements and vice versa, since the information they contain is equivalent. All these formulations (and many others) are possible choices for the format of ephemeris data to be used in NTN. To enable further progress, the format of the data should be agreed upon.

It is important that a UE can determine the position of a satellite with accuracy of at least a few meters. However, several studies have shown that this might be hard to achieve when using the de-facto standard of TLEs. On the other hand, LEO satellites often have GNSS receivers and can determine their position with some meter level accuracy.

Another aspect discussed during the study item and captured in 3GPP TR 38.821 is the validity time of ephemeris data. Predictions of satellite positions in general degrade with increasing age of the ephemeris data used, due to atmospheric drag, maneuvering of the satellite, imperfections in the orbital models used, etc. Therefore, the publicly available TLE data are updated quite frequently, for example. The update frequency depends on the satellite and its orbit and ranges from weekly to multiple times a day for satellites on very low orbits which are exposed to strong atmospheric drag and need to perform correctional maneuvers often.

So, while it seems possible to provide the satellite position with the required accuracy, care needs to be taken to meet these requirements such as, for example, when choosing the ephemeris data format or the orbital model to be used for the orbital propagation.

Some Outcomes of the 3 GPP Study Items on NTN

The outcome of the study items discussed above in 3 GPP lay the foundation for the specification work of NTNs in 3GPP. The coverage pattern of NTN as described in Section 4.6 of 3 GPP TR 38.811 includes some relevant information from the study items and the resulting technical reports discussed above:

Satellite or aerial vehicles typically generate several beams over a given area.

The foot print of the beams are typically elliptic shape.

The beam footprint may be moving over the earth with the satellite or the aerial vehicle motion on its orbit. Alternatively, the beam foot print may be earth fixed, in such case some beam pointing mechanisms (mechanical or electronic steering feature) will compensate for the satellite or the aerial vehicle motion.

Table 1 is a reproduction summarizes typical beam footprint sizes as disclosed in 3GPP TR 38.811, Section 4.6:

Table 1

Typical beam patterns of various NTN access networks as discussed in 3GPP TR 38.811.

The TR of the second study item, 3 GPP TR 38.821, describes scenarios for the NTN work as follows:

Non-Terrestrial Network typically features the following elements [3]:

- One or several sat-gateways that connect the Non-Terrestrial Network to a public data network

- a GEO satellite is fed by one or several sat-gateways which are deployed across the satellite targeted coverage (e.g. regional or even continental coverage). We assume that UE in a cell are served by only one sat- gateway

- A Non-GEO satellite served successively by one sat-gateway at a time. The system ensures service and feeder link continuity between the successive serving sat-gateways with sufficient time duration to proceed with mobility anchoring and hand-over

Four reference scenarios are considered as depicted in Table 2, which corresponds to Table 4.2-1 of 3 RP-193234, and are detailed in Table 3, which corresponds to Table 4.2-2 of RP-193234.

Table 2

Table 3

It is noted that each satellite has the capability to steer beams towards fixed points on earth using beamforming techniques. This is applicable for a period of time corresponding to the visibility time of the satellite. It is noted that max delay variation within a beam (earth fixed user equipment) is calculated based on Min Elevation angle for both gateway and user equipment. It is noted that max differential delay within a beam is calculated based on Max beam foot print diameter at nadir.

For scenario D, which is LEO with regenerative payload, both earth-fixed and earth moving beams have been listed. So, when we factor in the fixed/non-fixed beams, we have an additional scenario. The complete list of 5 scenarios in 3GPP TR 38.821 is then:

• Scenario A - GEO, transparent satellite, Earth-fixed beams;

• Scenario B - GEO, regenerative satellite, Earth fixed beams;

• Scenario C - LEO, transparent satellite, Earth-moving beams;

• Scenario D1 - LEO, regenerative satellite, Earth -fixed beams;

• Scenario D2 - LEO, regenerative satellite, Earth-moving beams.

Segmented Pre-Compensation for Long Uplink Transmission

In Rel-17 loT NTN Work Item (WI), it has been agreed to introduce segmented precompensation for uplink transmission for long uplink transmission. Previously, the UE would adjust its uplink timing at the start of the transmission. For loT NTN, the network may configure the UE with a transmission segment of a certain duration - and the UE can adjust its timing and frequency at the start of every such transmission segment. This feature has been introduced to compensate for large timing and frequency drift in NTN scenarios (e.g., LEO).

In 3 GPP RANl#106-e meeting, the following agreements were made for segmented precompensation for long uplink transmission:

Agreement: Duration of uplink transmission segment for UE pre-compensation for Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission is a number of Random Access Channel (RACH) repetition units configured by the network

• For Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT), repetition unit is P symbol groups.

• For eMTC, repetition unit is one preamble including guard period.

• For Future Study (FFS): Configuration details Agreement: Duration of uplink transmission segment for UE pre-compensation for PUSCH transmission is a number of PUSCH repetition units configured by the network

• For NB-IoT, repetition unit is

• For eMTC, repetition unit is for sub-PRB allocation, where T_slot

= 0.5 ms. For full-PRB allocation, repetition unit is one subframe.

• NOTE1 : are defined in 3GPP TS 36.211 10.1.2.3 and

10.1.3.6 for NB-IoT (See, e.g., 3GPP TS 36.211 v.16.7.0)

• NOTE2:

is defined in 3GPP TS 36.211, 5.2.3A for eMTC

• FFS: RANI to further discuss valid and invalid subframes

• FFS: Configuration details

Agreement: For NB-IoT, if a mapping to N_slots slots or a repetition of the mapping in an uplink transmission segment for UE pre-compensation for Narrowband-PUS CH (NPUSCH) transmission contains a resource element which overlaps with any configured Narrowband-PRACH (NPRACH) resource, the NPUSCH transmission in overlapped N_slots slots is postponed until the next N_slots slots not overlapping with any configured NPRACH resource.

NOTE: Nsiots is defined in 3GPP TS 36.211, 10.1.3.6

Agreement: The uplink transmission segment duration is configured by the network

• FFS: Details of the configuration signalling.

Agreement:

• For NB-IoT NTN, the network configures one of K values for the uplink transmission segment duration of each PRACH preamble format in a k-bit field, where the size of the k-bit field and the number of K candidate values depend on the preamble format. o Format 0 and format 1 : 3 -bit field, K=6 candidate values 2A.(T_CP+T_SEQ), 4 A. (T_CP+T_SEQ), 8 A. (T_CP+T_SEQ), 16.4. (T_CP+T_SEQ), 32 A. (T_CP+T_SEQ), 64 A. (T_CP+T_SEQ) o Format 2: 2 -bit field, K=4 candidate values 2.6. (T_CP+T_SEQ), 4.6. (TCP+TSEQ), 8.6. (T_CP+T_SEQ), 16.6. (T_CP+T_SEQ) • FFS: Down scoping of K candidate values, size of k-bit field

• FFS: Whether the same segment duration can be used for all preambles within a preamble format

Agreement:

• For eMTC, the network configures one of K values for the uplink transmission segment duration of PRACH in a jk-bit field.

• FFS: K candidate values, size of k-bit field

Agreement:

• For NB-IoT/eMTC NTN, the network configures one of K candidate values for the uplink transmission segment duration of NPUSCH/PUSCH in a k-bit field. o For NB-IoT, maximum 3 -bit field with a maximum number of X=8 candidate values 2 ms, 4 ms, 8 ms, 16 ms, 32 ms, 64 ms, 128 ms, 256 ms

• FFS: Down scoping of K candidate values, size of k-bit field

Agreement:

• The uplink transmission segment duration is provided by UE-specific Radio Resource Control (RRC) signalling or by signalling in System Information Block (SIB).

• NOTE: the values of uplink transmission segment duration for NB-IoT can be different to those for eMTC

In 3GPP RANl#106-bis-e meeting, the following agreements were made for segmented pre-compensation for long UL transmission:

Agreement: Configuration of uplink transmission segment is indicated on SIB at least for initial access

• FFS via UE-specific RRC signalling in RRC CONNECTED.

Agreement: For eMTC PUSCH, a 3 -bit field to indicate K=8 values for the uplink transmission segment duration: • Full-Physical Resource Block (Full-PRB) allocation (unit: subframes): 24 8 16 32 64 128 256

• Sub-Physical Resource Block (sub-PRB) allocation (unit: resource units): 1 24 8 16 32 64 128

Agreement: For eMTC, a 3 -bit field is defined in the SIB to indicate the following K=8 values for the uplink transmission segment duration of PRACH:

Agreement: For eMTC, the same value is used for segment durations for all PRACH preambles

Agreement: For NB-IOT, the same value is used for segment durations for all NPRACH preambles for a particular NPRACH format

General ON-OFF time masks

In Section 6.3.4.1 of 3GPP TS 36.101 vl6.0.0, the following is specified for the general ON-OFF time masks:

“The General ON/OFF time mask defines the observation period between Transmit OFF and ON power and between Transmit ON and OFF power. ON/OFF scenarios include; the beginning or end of Discontinuous Transmission (DTX), measurement gap, contiguous, and noncontiguous transmission

The OFF power measurement period is defined in a duration of at least one subframe, or one slot or one subslot for short Transmission Time Interval (sTTI), excluding any transient periods. The ON power is defined as the mean power over one subframe, or one slot or one subslot for sTTI, excluding any transient period.

There are no additional requirements on UE transmit power beyond that which is required in subclause 6.2.2 and subclause 6.6.2.3 The transient period length depends on transmission length and shall be no longer than the specified value in Table 5, which corresponds to Table 6.3.4.1-1 of 3GPP TS 36.101.

Table 5

Section 6.3.4.1-1A of 3GPP TS 36.101 discloses general ON/OFF time mask for subframe TTI and for Frame Structure Type 1, Frame Structure Type 2, and Frame Structure Type 3. For example, Figures 6.3.4.1-1, 6.3.4.1-1A, and 6.3.4.1-1B of Section 6.3.4.1-1A of 3GPP TS 36.101 illustrate general ON/OFF time masks for subframe TTI and for various frame structures.

Specifically, for Frame Structure Type 3 the general ON/OFF mask is specified with the PUSCH starting position modified by

relative to the start of the sub-frame as indicated in the associated DCI, where

and the basic time unit

are specified in RP-211601. See, RP- 211601, NB-Io/eMTC support for Non-Terrestrial Network, 3 GPP RAN 92 . At the end of the sub-frame

and

with

denoting the duration of the last SC-FDMA symbol when the bit indicating the PUSCH ending symbol in the associated DCI has value ‘0’ and ‘ 1’, respectively, as specified in RP -202689. See, RP-202689, Study on NB-IoT/eMTC support for Non-terrestrial Network, RAN#90, Dec 2020. The OFF power requirement applies 5 μs after the end of the last symbol transmitted.

Similarly, time masks are also defined for subframe/slot boundary, etc.

There currently exist certain challenge(s), however. For example, the TA and frequency error due to large timing and frequency drift can be very high in Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) satellites especially LEO scenarios. In Rel-17 loT NTN WI, it was concluded that low complexity loT devices cannot be expected to perform continuous autonomous timing adjustments as illustrated in FIGURE 2. Instead long uplink transmission are divided into shorter segments, inbetween which the UE can perform the needed timing and frequency adjustments.

Depending on the device hardware, some UEs may require a time gap between adjacent transmission segments to implement segmented pre-compensation while others may not require such a gap. If a time gap is inserted between transmission segments, it may complicate UL scheduling and also increase the connection latency. This problem also exists for NR NTN UEs configured with a large aggregation factor.

SUMMARY

Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, methods and systems are provided to support uplink timing precompensation for segmented uplink transmissions for loT/NR NTN UEs. Specifically, according to certain embodiments, method and systems are provided to that facilitate segmented precompensation for long uplink transmission in loT NTN and NR NTN without the need to insert a gap between transmission segments.

According to certain embodiments, a method by a UE in a NTN for performing a TA adjustment includes determining a TA adjustment between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment. The first and the second transmissions segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission. The UE applies an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration allowing for the determined TA adjustment and adjusts the TA of the second transmission segment in accordance with the determined TA adjustment.

According to certain embodiments, UE in a NTN for performing a TA adjustment includes processing circuitry configured to determine the TA adjustment between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment. The first and the second transmissions segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission. The processing circuitry is configured to apply an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration allowing for the determined TA adjustment and adjust the TA of the second transmission segment in accordance with the determined TA adjustment.

According to certain embodiments, a method by a network node in a NTN for enabling a TA adjustment at a UE includes transmitting, to the UE, an indication of an NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration to enable the UE to adjust a TA between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment. The first and second transmission segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission.

According to certain embodiments, a network node in an NTN for enabling a TA adjustment at a UE includes processing circuitry configured to transmit, to the UE, an indication of an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration to enable the UE to adjust a TA between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment. The first and second transmission segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission. Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). For example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of implementing segmented pre-compensation for long uplink transmission in loT NTN and NR NTN without the need to insert a gap between transmission segments.

Other advantages may be readily apparent to one having skill in the art. Certain embodiments may have none, some, or all of the recited advantages.

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 architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders;

FIGURE 2 illustrates a scenario where a UE transmits in the uplink to a BS onboard a satellite that is moving away from the UE;

FIGURE 3 illustrates an example set of parameters, which is also referred to as a set of orbital elements;

FIGURE 4 illustrates a general ON/OFF time mask for subframe TTI and for Frame Structure Type 1 and Frame Structure Type 2;

FIGURE 5 illustrates a general ON/OFF time mask for subframe TTI and for Frame Structure Type 3;

FIGURE 6 illustrates a general ON/OFF time mask for sTTI and for Frame Structure Type 1 and Frame Structure Type 2.

FIGURE 7 illustrates an example scenario that includes a UE dropping or muting a latter part of a segment N to facilitate a TA adjustment for segment N+1, in a particular embodiment;

FIGURE 8 illustrates an example ON-ON transmission that includes advancing the start of the power transition phase at the end of segment N, in a particular embodiment;

FIGURE 9 illustrates an example ON-ON transition that includes delaying the start of the power transition phase at the beginning of segment N +1, in a particular embodiment;

FIGURE 10 illustrates an example ON-ON transition 40 that includes sharing the transition phase between segment A and segment N +1, in a particular embodiment; FIGURE 11 illustrates an example ON-ON transition that includes advancing the start of the power transition phase at the end of segment N and delaying the start of the power transition phase at the beginning of segment N+2, in a particular embodiment;

FIGURE 12 illustrates an example ON-ON transition that includes delaying the start of the power transition phase at the beginning of segment N +1 and advancing the start of the power transition phase at the end of segment N +1, in a particular embodiment;

FIGURE 13 illustrates an example scenario 70 that includes a UE equipped with two transmit branches transmitting a first segment N using a first TA from a first TX and transmitting a second segment N +1 using a second TA+dTA from a second TX, in a particular embodiment;

FIGURE 14 illustrates an example communication system, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 15 illustrates an example UE, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 16 illustrates an example network node, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 17 illustrates a block diagram of a host, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 18 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 19 illustrates a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 20 illustrates a method by a UE in a NTN for performing a TA adjustment, according to certain embodiments; and

FIGURE 21 illustrates a method by a network node in a NTN for enabling a TA adjustment at a UE, according to certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

In Rel-17 loT NTN WI, it has been agreed to introduce transmission segments for uplink pre-compensation. A UE can autonomously adjust its TA (and/or frequency) for uplink transmission at the start of every transmission segment. The network will indicate the transmission segment configuration at least using SIB.

The transmission segment duration or segment duration refers to the time duration of the transmission segment configured by the network for segmented uplink pre-compensation. Certain embodiments described herein are applicable to both LTE-based NTN (NB-IoT NTN and LTE-M NTN) as well as NR-based NTN.

It should be noted that, an ON/OFF time mask applies not only for ON to OFF and OFF to ON transitions, but also for contiguous ON-power transmissions with power change in between transmitted segments (so called ON-ON transitions). Hereinafter, we refer to a power versus time mask in the case of contiguous ON-power transmissions with power change in between transmitted segments, as an ON-ON time mask. According to certain embodiments, the NTN-specific ON-ON time masks are activated by default for all NTN UEs. According to certain other embodiments, the NTN-specific ON-ON time masks are activated if segmented pre-compensation is configured. In still other embodiments, the NTN-specific ON-ON time masks are activated if segmented precompensation is configured and UL gaps for segmented pre-compensation are not required.

As used herein, an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is defined, in certain particular embodiments, by:

• Transient period; and

• Starting instance of the transient period.

Further, herein, the terms transient period and power transition phase are used interchangeably.

In a particular embodiment, one or more time mask configurations for NTN are specified in a specification and the network configures the ON-ON time mask configuration using SI or UE- specific RRC signalling.

New Power Versus Time Mask for ON-ON Transitions (ON-ON time masks) to Accommodate TA Changes

In a continuous transmission, the UE typically does not switch off its transmitter chain. However, the UE may need to reconfigure its power amplifier (PA) and/or other components in the transmit chain between different segments of a transmission. This adjustment is usually implemented during the transient period between the transmission segments of a longer continuous transmission.

Case 1: When TA is Increasing

The Doppler magnitude and timing drift is time dependent. According to certain embodiments, the UE is configured to adjust the TA by increasing the TA between segments N and/V+l based on the actually experienced timing drift over just transmitted segment N. To support this method, in a particular embodiment, the UE drops trailing samples at the end of segment N to match the magnitude of the TA adjustment. Alternatively, in a particular embodiment, the UE drops leading samples at the beginning of segment N +1 to match the magnitude of the TA adjustment. As yet another alternative, in a particular embodiment, the UE drops both trailing samples at the end of segment N and leading samples at the beginning of segment N +1, where the total dropped samples match the magnitude of the TA adjustment.

In other embodiments, the number of samples to be dropped are preconfigured. For example, in an alternative particular embodiment, , the UE drops a pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of segment N. Alternatively, in a particular embodiment, the UE drops a pre-configured number of leading samples at the beginning of segment N +1. In still another particular embodiment, the UE drops a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of segment A and a second pre-configured number of leading samples at the beginning of segment A+l. In certain embodiments, the configured number(s) of samples to drop could correspond to a worst-case assessment of the needed TA adjustment over a configured segment, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a slot, a subframe, or a resource unit. In certain embodiments, the configured value(s) could be configured on cell level, or configured on per connection.

Dropping samples may advance the start of the power transition phase (or transient period) in segment N to avoid increase in TX in-band and out of band emissions. For example, FIGURE 7 illustrates an example scenario 10 that includes a UE dropping or muting a latter part of a segment N to facilitate a TA adjustment for segment N +1, in a particular embodiment.

Alternatively, in a particular embodiment, dropping samples may delay the start of the power transition phase (or transient period) in segment N+l to avoid increase in TX in-band and out of band emissions.

As yet another alternative, in a particular embodiment, dropping samples may result in sharing the transient period between segment N and segment N+l .

FIGURES 8-10 illustrate different cases of ON-ON transitions, according to certain embodiments. Specifically, FIGURE 8 illustrates an example ON-ON transmission 20 that includes advancing the start of the power transition phase at the end of segment N, in a particular embodiment. FIGURE 9 illustrates an example ON-ON transition 30 that includes delaying the start of the power transition phase at the beginning of segment A+l, in a particular embodiment. FIGURE 10 illustrates an example ON-ON transition 40 that includes sharing the transition phase between segment N and segment A+l, in a particular embodiment. Case 2: When TA is Decreasing

According to certain embodiments, the UE is configured to adjust the TA by decreasing the TA between segments N and A+l based on the actually experienced timing drift over just transmitted segment N. To support this method the UE needs to insert dummy samples between the end of segment N and the beginning of segment N +1 matching the magnitude of the TA adjustment. The dummy samples can be of value zero.

Case 3: When TA both Increases and Decreases

When T A first increases from segment N to segment N+ 1 and then decreases from segment A+l to segment N+2, or TA first decreases from segment N to segment N +1 and then increases from segment N +1 to segment N+2, there may be other ON-ON transition cases than those described above. For example, FIGURE 11 illustrates an example ON-ON transition 50 that includes advancing the start of the power transition phase at the end of segment N and delaying the start of the power transition phase at the beginning of segment N+2, in a particular embodiment. As another example, FIGURE 12 illustrates an example ON-ON transition 60 that includes delaying the start of the power transition phase at the beginning of segment N +1 and advancing the start of the power transition phase at the end of segment N +1, in a particular embodiment.

Multiple TA configurations

In a particular embodiment, a UE may apply different TAs on two adjacent segments. For example, FIGURE 13 illustrates an example scenario 70 that includes a UE equipped with two transmit branches transmitting a first segment N using a first TA from a first transmitter (TX) and transmitting a second segment A+l using a second TA+dTA from a second TX, in a particular embodiment.

This may remove the need for muting the latter part of segment N completely or partly.

Similar to the ON-ON transitions defined in previous embodiments, ON-OFF and OFF- ON transition may need to be defined when the UE has multiple transmit branches and the UE needs to switch off a branch during the transmission.

FIGURE 14 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, 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. The communication system 100 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs 112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 102.

In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and/or the telecommunication network 102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system 100 of FIGURE 14 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3 GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 112 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi -RAT or multi -standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

The hub 114 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels. FIGURE 15 shows a UE 200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehi cl e-to- vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a 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).

The UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 204 to an input/output interface 206, a power source 208, a memory 210, a communication interface 212, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIGURE 15. 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.

The processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 210. The processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, 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 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

In the example, the input/output interface 206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include 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. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 200. Examples of an input device 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, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source 208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 208 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 200 to which power is supplied.

The memory 210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 may store, for use by the UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. The memory 210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), 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 tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, application programs and 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 as or in the memory 210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and/or a receiver 220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 218 and receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, 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. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or itemtracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 200 shown in FIGURE 15. As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE 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 UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

FIGURE 16 shows a network node 300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication 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 so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may 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).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, 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), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

The network node 300 includes a processing circuitry 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power source 308. The network node 300 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 the network node 300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) 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 300.

The processing circuitry 302 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 300 components, such as the memory 304, to provide network node 300 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and the baseband processing circuitry 314 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 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory 304 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 the processing circuitry 302. The memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 300. The memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and/or any data received via the communication interface 306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 and memory 304 is integrated.

The communication interface 306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 306 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes radio frontend circuitry 318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 310. Radio front-end circuitry 318 comprises filters 320 and amplifiers 322. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may be connected to an antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio frontend circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 320 and/or amplifiers 322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 318, instead, the processing circuitry 302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front-end circuitry 318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

The antenna 310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 300 and connectable to the network node 300 through an interface or port.

The antenna 310, communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source 308 provides power to the various components of network node 300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 308. As a further example, the power source 308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node 300 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIGURE 16 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, the network node 300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 300 and to allow output of information from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 300.

FIGURE 17 is a block diagram of a host 400, which may be an embodiment of the host 116 of FIGURE 14, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 400 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

The host 400 includes processing circuitry 402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 404 to an input/output interface 406, a network interface 408, a power source 410, and a memory 412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 400.

The memory 412 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 414 and data 416, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 400 or data generated by the host 400 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 414 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 400 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

FIGURE 18 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, 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. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 508a and 508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 508), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 508.

The VMs 508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. 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, a VM 508 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 the VMs 508, and that part of hardware 504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 508 on top of the hardware 504 and corresponds to the application 502.

Hardware 504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 502. In some embodiments, hardware 504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

FIGURE 19 shows a communication diagram of a host 602 communicating via a network node 604 with a UE 606 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 112a of FIGURE 14 and/or UE 200 of FIGURE 15), network node (such as network node 110a of FIGURE 14 and/or network node 300 of FIGURE 16), and host (such as host 116 of FIGURE 14 and/or host 400 of FIGURE 17) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIGURE 19.

Like host 400, embodiments of host 602 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 602 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 602 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 606 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 650 extending between the UE 606 and host 602. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 650. The network node 604 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 602 and UE 606. The connection 660 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 106 of FIGURE 14) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

The UE 606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 606 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 606 with the support of the host 602. In the host 602, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 650 terminating at the UE 606 and host 602. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 650 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 650.

The OTT connection 650 may extend via a connection 660 between the host 602 and the network node 604 and via a wireless connection 670 between the network node 604 and the UE 606 to provide the connection between the host 602 and the UE 606. The connection 660 and wireless connection 670, over which the OTT connection 650 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 602 and the UE 606 via the network node 604, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 650, in step 608, the host 602 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 606 that shares data with the host 602 without explicit human interaction. In step 610, the host 602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 606. The host 602 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 606. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 606 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 606. The transmission may pass via the network node 604, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 612, the network node 604 transmits to the UE 606 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 602 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 614, the UE 606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 606 associated with the host application executed by the host 602.

In some examples, the UE 606 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 602. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 602. Accordingly, in step 616, the UE 606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 606. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 606 initiates, in step 618, transmission of the user data towards the host 602 via the network node 604. In step 620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 604 receives user data from the UE 606 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 602. In step 622, the host 602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 606.

One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 606 using the OTT connection 650, in which the wireless connection 670 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve one or more of, for example, data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and, thereby, provide benefits such as, for example, reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, improved content resolution, better responsiveness, and/or extended battery lifetime.

In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 602. As another example, the host 602 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 602 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

In some examples, 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 the OTT connection 650 between the host 602 and UE 606, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 602 and/or UE 606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 650 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 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 604. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 602. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 650 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information 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. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry 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 non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

FIGURE 20 illustrates a method 700 by a UE 112 in a NTN for performing a TA adjustment, according to certain embodiments. The method includes determining the TA adjustment between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment, at step 702. The first and the second transmissions segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission. At step 704, the UE applies an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration allowing for the determined TA adjustment. At step 706, the UE adjusts the TA of the second transmission segment in accordance with the determined TA adjustment.

In a particular embodiment, the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one transient period and a start time of the at least one transient period.

In a particular embodiment, the TA adjustment is determined based on a timing drift experienced over the first transmission segment.

In a particular embodiment, the determined TA adjustment is an increase of the TA and, when applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration, the UE performs at least one of:

• dropping at least one trailing data sample at an end of the first transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and advancing a start time of a transient period at the end of the first transmission segment;

• dropping at least one leading data sample at a beginning of the second transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; • dropping at least one leading data sample at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping at least one trailing data sample at the end of the first transmission segment, wherein a total number of dropped data samples matches the magnitude of the increase in the TA, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment;

• dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and advancing a start time of the transient period at the end of the first transmission segment;

• dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; and

• dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment.

In a particular embodiment, the determined TA adjustment is a decrease of the TA and, when applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration, the UE inserts at least one dummy sample between an end of the first transmission segment and a beginning of the second transmission segment. The number of dummy samples that are inserted is selected to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA. The UE also delays a start time of a transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment.

In a particular embodiment, the UE receives an indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration from a network node via SI or RRC signaling.

In a particular embodiment, the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is received in a transmission segment configuration, or the transmission segment configuration is received with the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration.

FIGURE 21 illustrates a method 800 by a network node 110 in a NTN for enabling a TA adjustment at a UE, according to certain embodiments. At step 802, network node 110 transmits, to the UE, an indication of an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration to enable the UE to adjust a TA between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment. The first and second transmission segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission. In a particular embodiment, the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one transient period and a start time of the at least one transient period.

In a particular embodiment, the determined TA adjustment is an increase of the TA and the network node configures the UE to apply the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration. When applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration, the UE is configured to perform at least one of

• dropping at least one trailing data sample at an end of the first transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and advancing a start time of a transient period at the end of the first transmission segment;

• dropping at least one leading data sample at a beginning of the second transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment;

• dropping at least one leading data sample at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping at least one trailing data sample at the end of the first transmission segment, wherein a total number of dropped data samples matches the magnitude of the increase in the TA, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment;

• dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and advancing a start time of the transient period at the end of the first transmission segment;

• dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; and

• dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment.

In a particular embodiment, the determined TA adjustment is a decrease of the TA, and the network node configures the UE to apply the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration by inserting at least one dummy sample between an end of the first transmission segment and a beginning of the second transmission segment. The number of dummy samples that are inserted is selecting to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA. Alternatively, the UE is configured to delay a start time of a transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment. In a particular embodiment, the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is transmitted to the UE via SI or RRC signaling.

In a particular embodiment, the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is transmitted in a transmission segment configuration. Alternatively, the transmission segment configuration is transmitted with the indication of the NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Group A Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment Al. A method by a user equipment for autonomous adjustment of timing advance (TA) in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the method comprising: any of the user equipment steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above.

Example Embodiment A2. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional user equipment steps, features or functions described above.

Example Embodiment A3. 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 network node.

Group B Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment B 1. A method performed by a network node for autonomous adjustment of timing advance (TA) in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the method comprising: any of the network node steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above.

Example Embodiment B2. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional network node steps, features or functions described above.

Example Embodiment B3. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.

Group C Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment Cl. A method by a user equipment (UE) for autonomous adjustment of timing advance (TA) in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the method comprising: obtaining an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration. Example Embodiment C2. The method of Example Embodiment Cl, wherein the NTN- specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises: a transient period, and a starting instance of the transient period.

Example Embodiment C3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C2, wherein obtaining the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises: receiving the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration from a network node, or receiving an indication identifying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration from a network node.

Example Embodiment C4. The method of Example Embodiment C3, wherein the NTN- specific ON-ON time mask configuration (or the indication identifying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mas configuration) is received via system information (SI).

Example Embodiment C5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C2, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration (or the indication identifying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mas configuration) is received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

Example Embodiment C6. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C5, further comprising: based on the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration, adjusting at least one of a TA and a frequency for an uplink transmission.

Example Embodiment C7. The method of Example Embodiment C6, wherein adjusting the TA comprises increasing the TA between an first segment, N, and a second segment, N+1, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment.

Example Emboidment C8. The method of Example Embodiment C7, further comprising dropping at least one trailing sample in the end of the first segment, N, to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA.

Example Embodiment C9. The method of Example Embodiment C7, further comprising dropping at least one leading sample at the beginning of the second segment, N+1, to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA.

Example Embodiment CIO. The method of Example Embodiment C7, further comprising dropping at least one leading sample at the beginning of the second segment, N+1, and dropping at least one trailing sample in the end of the first segment, N, wherein a total number of dropped samples matches a magnitude of the increase in the TA.

Example Emboidment Cl 1. The method of Example Embodiment C7, further comprising dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples in the end of the first segment, N. Example Embodiment C 12. The method of Example Embodiment C7, further comprising dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second segment, N+1.

Example Embodiment Cl 3. The method of Example Embodiment C7, further comprising dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second segment, N+1, and dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples in the end of the first segment, N.

Example Embodiment C14.The method of any one of Example Embodiments C8 to C13, further comprising advancing a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the first segment, N.

Example Embodiment C15.The method of any one of Example Embodiments C8 to C13, further comprising delaying a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the second segment, N+1.

Example Embodiment C16.The method of any one of Example Embodiments C8 to C13, further comprising advancing a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the first segment, N, and delaying a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the second segment, N+1.

Example Embodiment Cl 7. The method of Example Embodiment C6, wherein adjusting the TA comprises decreasing the TA between an first segment, N, and a second segment, N+1, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment.

Example Embodiment Cl 8. The method of Example Embodiment C17, wherein further comprising inserting at least one dummy sample between an end of the first segment, N, and a beginning of the second segment, N+1, wherein a number of dummy samples that are inserted is selecting to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA.

Example Embodiment Cl 9. The method of Example Embodiment C6, wherein adjusting the TA comprises: increasing the TA between a first segment, N, and a second segment, N+1, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment; and decreasing the TA between the second segment, N +1, and a third segment, N+2, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment.

Example Embodiment C20.The method of Example Embodiment Cl 9, further comprising at least one of: dropping at least one sample at an end of the first segment, A; advancing a start of a power transition phase at the end of the first segment, A; and delaying a start of a power transition phase at a beginning of the third segment, N+2. Example Embodiment C21.The method of Example Embodiment Cl 9, further comprising at least one of: dropping at least one sample at an end of the second segment, N +7; delaying a start of a power transition phase at a beginning of the second segment, A+7; and advancing a start of a power transition phase at an end of the second segment, N+1.

Example Embodiment C22.The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C21, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises and/or is included with a transmission segment configuration.

Example Embodiment C23. The method of Example Embodiment C22, wherein the transmission segment configuration indicates a transmission segment duration.

Example Embodiment C24. The method of Example Embodiments Cl to C23, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.

Example Embodiment C25. A user equipment comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C24.

Example Embodiment C26. A wireless device comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C24.

Example Embodiment C27. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C24.

Example Embodiment C28. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C24.

Example Embodiment C29. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C24.

Group D Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment DI. A method by a network node for autonomous adjustment of timing advance (TA) in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the method comprising: communicating, with a user equipment (UE), information associated with an NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration.

Example Embodiment D2. The method of Example Embodiment DI, wherein communicating information associated with the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises: transmitting the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration to the UE, or transmitting an indication identifying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration to the UE.

Example Embodiment D3. The method of Example Embodiment D2, wherein the NTN- specific ON-ON time mask configuration (or the indication identifying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration) is transmitted via system information (SI).

Example Embodiment D4. The method of Example Embodiment D2, wherein the NTN- specific ON-ON time mask configuration (or the indication identifying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mas configuration) is transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

Example Embodiment D5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D4, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises: a transient period, and a starting instance of the transient period.

Example Embodiment D6. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D5, further comprising configuring the UE to adjust at least one of a TA and a frequency for an uplink transmission based on the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration.

Example Embodiment D7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D6, further comprising configuring the UE to adjust the TA comprises increasing the TA between an first segment, N, and a second segment, N+1, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment.

Example Embodiment D8. The method of Example Embodiment D7, further comprising configuring the UE to drop at least one trailing sample in the end of the first segment, N, to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA.

Example Embodiment D9. The method of Example Embodiment D7, further comprising configuring the UE to drop at least one leading sample at the beginning of the second segment, N+1, to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA.

Example Embodiment DIO. The method of Example Embodiment D7, further comprising configuring the UE to drop at least one leading sample at the beginning of the second segment, N+1, and dropping at least one trailing sample in the end of the first segment, N, wherein a total number of dropped samples matches a magnitude of the increase in the TA.

Example Emboidment D11. The method of Example Embodiment D7, further comprising configuring the UE to drop a first pre-configured number of trailing samples in the end of the first segment, N.

Example Embodiment D12. The method of Example Embodiment D7, further comprising configuring the UE to drop a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second segment, N+1.

Example Embodiment D13. The method of Example Embodiment D7, further comprising configuring the UE to drop a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second segment, N+1, and drop a second pre-configured number of trailing samples in the end of the first segment, N.

Example Embodiment D14. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D8 to D13, further comprising configuring the UE to advance a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the first segment, N.

Example Embodiment D15. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D8 to D13, further comprising configuring the UE to delay a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the second segment, N+1

Example Embodiment D16. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D8 to D13, further comprising configuring the UE to advance a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the first segment, N, and delay a start of a power transition phase or transient period in the second segment, N+1

Example Embodiment D17. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D6, further comprising configuring the UE to decrease the TA between an first segment, N, and a second segment, N+1, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment.

Example Embodiment D18. The method of Example Embodiment D17, further comprising configuring the UE to insert at least one dummy sample between an end of the first segment, A, and a beginning of the second segment, N+1, wherein a number of dummy samples that are inserted is selecting to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA.

Example Embodiment D19. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D6, further comprising configuring the UE to: increase the TA between a first segment, N, and a second segment, N+1, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment; and decrease the TA between the second segment, N +1, and a third segment, N+2, wherein the second segment is adjacent to and follows the first segment.

Example Embodiment D20. The method of Example Embodiment D19, further comprising configuring the UE to perform at least one of: drop at least one sample at an end of the first segment, A; advance a start of a power transition phase at the end of the first segment, A; and delay a start of a power transition phase at a beginning of the third segment, N+2.

Example Embodiment D21. The method of Example Embodiment D19, further comprising configuring the UE to perform at least one of: drop at least one sample at an end of the second segment, N+1; delay a start of a power transition phase at a beginning of the second segment, N +7; and advance a start of a power transition phase at an end of the second segment, N+1

Example Embodiment D22. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D21, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises and/or is included with a transmission segment configuration.

Example Embodiment D23. The method of Example Embodiment D22, wherein the transmission segment configuration indicates a transmission segment duration.

Example Embodiment D24. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D23, wherein the network node comprises a gNodeB (gNB).

Example Embodiment D25. The method of any of the previous Example Embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.

Example Embodiment D26. A network node comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments D1 to D25.

Example Embodiment D27. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments D1 to D25.

Example Embodiment D28. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments D1 to D25.

Example Embodiment D29. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments D1 to D25.

Group E Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment El. A user equipment for autonomous adjustment of timing advance (TA) in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Example Embodiment E2. A network node for autonomous adjustment of timing advance (TA) in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry. Example Embodiment E3. A user equipment (UE) for autonomous adjustment of timing advance (TA) in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), 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 and C Example 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.

Example Embodiment E4. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

Example Embodiment E5. The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.

Example Embodiment E6. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E7. A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

Example Emboi dm ent E8. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

Example Embodiment E9. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

Example Emboidment ElO. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

Example Emboi dm ent El 1. The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.

Example Embodiment E12. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment El 3. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

Example Embodiment E14. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

Example Embodiment El 5. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

Example Embodiment E16. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment E17. The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.

Example Embodiment El 8. A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment E19. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.

Example Emboidment E20. The method of any of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E21. A communication system configured to provide an over-the- top service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment E22. The communication system of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the user equipment.

Example Embodiment E23. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

Example Embodiment E24. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E25. The host of the any of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.

Example Embodiment E26. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the steps of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

Example Embodiment E27. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

Claims

1. A method (700) by a user equipment, UE (110), in a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, for performing a timing advance, TA, adjustment, the method comprising: determining (702) the TA adjustment between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment, wherein the first and the second transmissions segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission; applying (704) an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration allowing for the determined TA adjustment; and adjusting (706) the TA of the second transmission segment in accordance with the determined TA adjustment.

2. The method of Claim 1, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one transient period and a start time of the at least one transient period.

3. The method of any of the preceding Claims, wherein the TA adjustment is determined based on a timing drift experienced over the first transmission segment.

4. The method of any of the preceding Claims, wherein the determined TA adjustment is an increase of the TA and wherein applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one of: dropping at least one trailing data sample at an end of the first transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and advancing a start time of a transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at a beginning of the second transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping at least one trailing data sample at the end of the first transmission segment, wherein a total number of dropped data samples matches the magnitude of the increase in the TA, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment; dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and advancing a start time of the transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; and dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment.

5. The method of any of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the determined TA adjustment is a decrease of the TA and wherein applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises: inserting at least one dummy sample between an end of the first transmission segment and a beginning of the second transmission segment, wherein a number of dummy samples that are inserted is selecting to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA; and delaying a start time of a transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment.

6. The method of any of the preceding Claims, further comprising: receiving an indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration from a network node (110) via system information, SI, or Radio Resource Control, RRC, signaling.

7. The method of Claim 6, wherein the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is received in a transmission segment configuration, or wherein the transmission segment configuration is received with the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration.

8. A method (800) by a network node (110) in a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, for enabling a timing advance, TA, adjustment at a user equipment, UE (112), the method comprising: transmitting (802), to the UE, an indication of an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration to enable the UE to adjust a TA between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment, wherein the first and second transmission segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission.

9. The method of Claim 8, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one transient period and a start time of the at least one transient period.

10. The method of any one of Claims 8 to 9, wherein the determined TA adjustment is an increase of the TA and the method further comprises configuring the UE to apply the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration, wherein applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration by the UE comprises performing at least one of dropping at least one trailing data sample at an end of the first transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and advancing a start time of a transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at a beginning of the second transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping at least one trailing data sample at the end of the first transmission segment, wherein a total number of dropped data samples matches the magnitude of the increase in the TA, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment; dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and advancing a start time of the transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; and dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment.

11. The method of any of Claims 8 to 9, wherein the determined TA adjustment is a decrease of the TA and the method further comprises configuring the UE to apply the NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration by the UE comprises: inserting at least one dummy sample between an end of the first transmission segment and a beginning of the second transmission segment, wherein a number of dummy samples that are inserted is selecting to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA; and delaying a start time of a transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment.

12. The method of any one of Claims 8 to 11, wherein the indication of the NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration is transmitted to the UE via system information, SI, or Radio Resource Control, RRC, signaling.

13. The method of Claim 12, wherein the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is transmitted in a transmission segment configuration, or wherein the transmission segment configuration is transmitted with the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration.

14. A user equipment, UE (112, 200), in a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, for performing a timing advance, TA, adjustment, the UE comprising processing circuitry (202) configured to: determine the TA adjustment between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment, wherein the first and the second transmissions segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission; apply an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration allowing for the determined TA adjustment; and adjust the TA of the second transmission segment in accordance with the determined TA adjustment.

15. The UE of Claim 14, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one transient period and a start time of the at least one transient period.

16. The UE of any one of Claims 14 to 15, wherein the processing circuitry (202) is configured to determine the TA adjustment based on a timing drift experienced over the first transmission segment.

17. The UE of any one of Claims 14 to 16, wherein the determined TA adjustment is an increase of the TA and wherein applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one of: dropping at least one trailing data sample at an end of the first transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and advancing a start time of a transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at a beginning of the second transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping at least one trailing data sample at the end of the first transmission segment, wherein a total number of dropped data samples matches the magnitude of the increase in the TA, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment; dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and advancing a start time of the transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; and dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment.

18. The UE of any one of Claims 14 to 16, wherein the determined TA adjustment is a decrease of the TA and wherein applying the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises: inserting at least one dummy sample between an end of the first transmission segment and a beginning of the second transmission segment, wherein a number of dummy samples that are inserted is selecting to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA; and delaying a start time of a transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment.

19. The UE of any one of Claims 14 to 18, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive an indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration from a network node (110) via system information, SI, or Radio Resource Control, RRC, signaling.

20. The UE of Claim 19, wherein the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is received in a transmission segment configuration, or wherein the transmission segment configuration is received with the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration.

21. A network node (110, 300) in a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, for enabling a timing advance, TA, adjustment at a user equipment, UE (112), the network node comprising processing circuitry (302) configured to: transmit, to the UE, an indication of an NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration to enable the UE to adjust a TA between a first transmission segment and a second transmission segment, wherein the first and second transmission segments are adjacent transmission segments of an uplink transmission.

22. The network node of Claim 21, wherein the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration comprises at least one transient period and a start time of the at least one transient period.

23. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 22, wherein the determined TA adjustment is an increase of the TA and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to configure the UE to apply the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration, wherein applying the NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration by the UE comprises performing at least one of: dropping at least one trailing data sample at an end of the first transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and advancing a start time of a transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at a beginning of the second transmission segment to match a magnitude of the increase in the TA, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; dropping at least one leading data sample at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping at least one trailing data sample at the end of the first transmission segment, wherein a total number of dropped data samples matches the magnitude of the increase in the TA, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment; dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and advancing a start time of the transient period at the end of the first transmission segment; dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment, and delaying a start time of the transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment; and dropping a first pre-configured number of trailing samples at the beginning of the second transmission segment and dropping a second pre-configured number of trailing samples at the end of the first transmission segment, and wherein the transient period is shared between the first and second transmission segment.

24. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 22, wherein the determined TA adjustment is an decrease of the TA and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to configure the UE to apply the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration, wherein applying the NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration by the UE comprises performing at least one of: inserting at least one dummy sample between an end of the first transmission segment and a beginning of the second transmission segment, wherein a number of dummy samples that are inserted is selecting to match a magnitude of the decrease in the TA; and delaying a start time of a transient period at the beginning of the second transmission segment.

25. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 24, wherein the indication of the NTN- specific ON-ON time mask configuration is transmitted to the UE via system information, SI, or Radio Resource Control, RRC, signaling.

26. The network node of Claim 25, wherein the indication of the NTN-specific ON-ON time mask configuration is transmitted in a transmission segment configuration, or wherein the transmission segment configuration is transmitted with the indication of the NTN-specific ON- ON time mask configuration.