WO2024031376A1 - Appareil et procédé d'évitement d'interférence pour coexistence intra-dispositif - Google Patents

Appareil et procédé d'évitement d'interférence pour coexistence intra-dispositif Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2024031376A1
WO2024031376A1 PCT/CN2022/111264 CN2022111264W WO2024031376A1 WO 2024031376 A1 WO2024031376 A1 WO 2024031376A1 CN 2022111264 W CN2022111264 W CN 2022111264W WO 2024031376 A1 WO2024031376 A1 WO 2024031376A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
user device
affected
communication session
gnb
network
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PCT/CN2022/111264
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English (en)
Inventor
Jagdeep Singh Ahluwalia
Haibo Xu
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Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
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Priority to PCT/CN2022/111264 priority Critical patent/WO2024031376A1/fr
Publication of WO2024031376A1 publication Critical patent/WO2024031376A1/fr

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/02—Terminal devices
    • H04W88/06—Terminal devices adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W16/00—Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
    • H04W16/14—Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W72/00—Local resource management
    • H04W72/12—Wireless traffic scheduling
    • H04W72/1215—Wireless traffic scheduling for collaboration of different radio technologies
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W76/00—Connection management
    • H04W76/10—Connection setup
    • H04W76/15—Setup of multiple wireless link connections
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W76/00—Connection management
    • H04W76/20—Manipulation of established connections
    • H04W76/27—Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states

Definitions

  • This disclosure relates to data transmission in a communications network, in particular to avoiding interference between signals from one or more diverse radio techniques used in user devices such as smartphones, and in particular in relation to small data transmission (SDT) procedures.
  • SDT small data transmission
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • NR New Radio
  • GPS Global Positioning System
  • WiFi WiFi
  • Bluetooth WiFi
  • IDC in-device coexistence
  • Transceivers 101 and 102 transmit and receive signals for NR using antenna 107
  • transceivers 103 and 104 transmit and receive signals for GPS using antenna 108
  • transceivers 105 and 106 transmit and receive signals for WiFi and Bluetooth using antenna 109.
  • concurrent operations of these multiple diverse radio techniques working in adjacent or sub-harmonic frequencies can result in significant IDC interference that cannot be eliminated by filtering. Therefore, signalling mechanisms and procedures have been introduced to attempt to solve this IDC issue with help from the network.
  • Previously defined solutions for example using frequency division multiplexing (FDM) , are generally aimed at switching the entire LTE or NR frequency away from the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio frequency (RF) band.
  • FDM frequency division multiplexing
  • TDM Time Division Multiplexing
  • the IDC interference becomes even more complex when the different frequencies from diverse radio techniques are inter-modulated.
  • a transmitter of NR operating on a Frequency Range 1 (FR1) band (FR1 being below 7.125 GHz for 5G NR) , for example, band n41, can interfere with a receiver of WiFi operating on a 2.5G band and vice-versa.
  • FR1 and 60GHz in Frequency Range 2 (FR2) (being above 24.250GHz for 5G NR) have been allocated as ISM bands, transmitters and/or receivers operating on these bands and those operating on the ISM band will interfere with each other.
  • SDT small data transmission
  • a user device in a communications network the user device being configured to: communicate with a network device in the communications network in a first communication session in which the user device is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is configured to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration; receive a request from the network device to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state; and receive an indication from the network device to store the first in-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session at a later time than the first communication session.
  • This may conveniently allow the user device to use the first IDC configuration during a communication session when the user device is operating in the RRC_INACTIVE state, or during a later communication session when the user device is in the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the first and second communication sessions may be sub-sessions of a longer communication session in which the user device moves between states and implements different procedures using the radio resource control (RRC) protocol (for example a small data transmission procedure when the user device is moved from the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_INACTIVE state) .
  • RRC radio resource control
  • the second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session.
  • the user device may be in the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the second communication session may be a further communication session in which the user device is in an RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the further communication session may be at a later time than the small data transmission communication session. This may conveniently allow the user device to use the first IDC configuration during a small data transmission communication session, or during a later communication session when the user device is in the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session and the user device may be further configured to receive an indication of a new in-device coexistence configuration from the network device for use in the small data transmission communication session.
  • the user device may be configured to use the new in-device coexistence configuration to report interference from in-device coexistence to the network device during the small data transmission communication session. This may allow the user device to use a new IDC configuration to report IDC problems during the SDT communication session.
  • the user device may be configured to communicate with the network device over a first range of frequencies.
  • the first in-device coexistence configuration and/or the new in-device coexistence configuration may configure the user device to report one or more frequency ranges subject to interference from in-device coexistence to the network device.
  • the one or more frequency ranges may have a frequency range that is less than a range of a carrier frequency of the first range of frequencies. This may allow the user device to report a more granular indication of affected frequencies at different levels, which can allow the network to take appropriate actions to solve in-device coexistence issues.
  • One or more of the first in-device coexistence configuration and the new in-device coexistence configuration may specify a candidate affected frequency range, which may be a candidate central frequency and affected bandwidth, a candidate number of affected physical resource blocks, or a bandwidth part configured for the user device, across which the user device is to report any frequency ranges subject to interference from in-device coexistence. This may allow for configuration of the user device to report frequencies affected by interference within the candidate affected range.
  • the second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session and the user device may be configured to receive an indication from the network device to use the first in-device coexistence configuration in the small data transmission communication session. This may allow the user device to reuse the first IDC configuration during the SDT communication session.
  • the second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session and the user device may be further configured to receive an indication to report in-device coexistence issues on the current serving frequency for the small data transmission communication session. This may be a convenient implementation.
  • the user device may be further configured to receive a request from the network device to report one or more time division multiplexing patterns to the network device.
  • the user device may be configured to send to the network device an indication of one or more time division multiplexing patterns for scheduling data in one or more of an uplink direction and a downlink direction to be used between one or more diverse radio techniques implemented by the user device, or may be configured to send one or more time division multiplexing patterns for master or secondary cell groups controlled by master and secondary nodes respectively in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme.
  • the user device may be further configured to: receive an indication from a second network device that the second network device supports in-device coexistence reporting during small data transmission procedures; initiate a small data transmission communication session with the second network device; and report interference from in-device coexistence to the second network device during the small data transmission communication session. This may allow the user device to report IDC issues following a user device context transfer between network devices.
  • the user device may be configured to transmit and receive signals to and from the network device over a first range of frequencies and implement one or more diverse radio techniques across at least part of the first range of frequencies.
  • the user device may be configured to: receive a request from the network device to indicate whether any frequency ranges in the first range of frequencies are affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques (i.e.
  • the user device may request for a TDM pattern to be used that defines a scheduling period for data transmission or reception and/or unscheduled periods of one of the diverse radio techniques, where another of the diverse radio techniques may perform data transmission or reception.
  • the first in-device coexistence configuration and/or the new in-device coexistence configuration may configure the user device to indicate whether any frequency ranges in the first range of frequencies are affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques (i.e. are affected by interference from in-device coexistence) .
  • the user device may be configured to receive an indication of a candidate affected frequency range of the first range of frequencies from the network device and send to the network device the indication of the one or more frequency ranges. This may allow the network device to configure the user device to report frequencies affected by interference within the candidate affected frequency range.
  • At least one of the one or more frequency ranges may be part of the candidate affected frequency range. At least one of the one or more frequency ranges may be respective sub-sets of the candidate affected frequency range, each respective sub-set having a frequency range that is less than a range of a carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range. This may allow the user device to be configured by the network device to report a more granular indication of frequencies affected by interference within the candidate affected frequency range at different levels.
  • the user device may be configured to receive the indication of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, and a respective bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range or a common bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be a convenient way for the user device to be provided with the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the user device may be configured to receive the indication of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of the start of the candidate affected frequency range and an absolute radio frequency channel number of the end of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be another convenient way for the user device to be provided with the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the user device may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth parts of the first range of frequencies.
  • the user device may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth parts of the candidate affected frequency range. This may allow the user device to inform the network device of the affected bandwidth parts, so that only actually affected bandwidth parts may be avoided.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency and the user device may be configured to receive an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and an indication of one or more bandwidth part identifiers of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device. This may allow the user device to identify the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency and the user device may be configured to receive one or more of the following from the network device: an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of Point A, a subcarrier spacing, and bandwidth part information for each bandwidth part of the candidate affected frequency range. This may allow the user device to identify the candidate affected frequency range.
  • Point A’ is a common reference point for all resource grids in the frequency domain. It is the center of the subcarrier 0 of common resource block 0 of the lowest resource grid. Point A can be outside of the carrier bandwidth.
  • the user device may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the first range of frequencies.
  • the user device may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the candidate affected frequency range. This may allow the user device to inform the network device of the affected physical resource blocks, so that only actually affected physical resource blocks may be avoided.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency and the user device may be configured to receive an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device. This may allow the user device to identify the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency and the user device may be configured to receive one or more of the following from the network device: an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of Point A, and a subcarrier spacing. This may allow the user device to identify the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the user device may be configured to send the identification of the one or more affected physical resource blocks as a bitmap, a start index and a number of affected physical resource blocks, or a start index and an end index of the affected physical resource blocks. This may allow the user device to inform the network device of the affected physical resource blocks.
  • the user device may be further configured to send to the network device an indication of one or more additional affected frequency ranges, the one or more additional affected frequency ranges being outside of the candidate affected frequency. This may allow the user device to report affected frequency ranges that are outside of the candidate range indicated by the network device causing in-device coexistence interference.
  • the user device may be configured to receive the indication of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device as an absolute radio frequency channel number for a central frequency and an individual bandwidth for one or more individual candidate affected frequency ranges or an absolute radio frequency channel number for a central frequency and a common bandwidth covering multiple candidate affected frequency ranges. This may allow the user device to receive the candidate affected frequency range as an individual range or a common range covering multiple candidate affected frequency ranges.
  • the one or more diverse radio techniques may comprise one or more of Long Term Evolution, New Radio, WiFi, Wireless Local Area Network, Global Positioning System and Bluetooth. This may allow the approach to be used to mitigate interference from in-device coexistence in modern devices such as smartphones.
  • the user device may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges to the network device in a radio resource control message. This may allow for compatibility with existing procedures.
  • One frequency range of the one or more frequency ranges may be due to interference between New Radio transmissions from the user device and non-3GPP receptions at the user device.
  • One frequency range of the one or more frequency ranges may be due to interference between non-3GPP transmissions from the user device and New Radio receptions at the user device. Interference from these techniques may affect different frequency ranges within the candidate affected frequency range. Therefore this may allow the affected frequency ranges to be reported to the network device separately.
  • the network device may be a master node and the user device may be further configured to communicate with a secondary node in the communications network under a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme. This may allow for compatibility with existing processes.
  • the user device may be configured to: receive information relating to the candidate affected frequency range from the master node; and send information relating to the one or more frequency ranges to the secondary node. This may allow the user device to inform the secondary node of frequency ranges affected by interference due to in-device coexistence.
  • the user device may be configured to send information relating to the one or more frequency ranges to the secondary node via a signalling radio bearer type 3 or a signalling radio bearer type 1. This may be a convenient implementation.
  • the user device may be configured to receive transmissions from the secondary node subject to a scheduling restriction applied by the secondary node in dependence on the one or more frequency ranges. This may allow communications between the user device and the secondary node to avoid frequency ranges affected by interference due to in-device coexistence.
  • a network device in a communications network being configured to: communicate with a user device in the communications network in a first communication session in which the user device is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is configured to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration; send a request to the user device for the user device to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state; and send an indication to the user device for the user device to store the first configuration for use in a second communication session at a later time than the first communication session.
  • This may conveniently allow the network device to inform the user device to use the first IDC configuration during a communication session when the user device is operating in the RRC_INACTIVE state, or during a later communication session when the user device is in the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session and the network device may be further configured to send one or more scheduling restrictions and/or one or more time division multiplexing patterns, for example in the form of a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration, to the user device for use in the small data transmission communication session.
  • DRX Discontinuous Reception
  • This may allow the network device to assist the user device in avoiding frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC during the SDT communication session.
  • the second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session and the network device may be further configured to send an indication of a new in-device coexistence configuration to the user device for use in the small data transmission communication session. This may allow the user device to use a new IDC configuration to report IDC problems during the SDT communication session.
  • the network device may be configured to store the first in-device coexistence configuration in user device context information during the second communication session.
  • the network device may be configured to not release the first in-device coexistence configuration from user device context information stored at the network device.
  • the network device may be configured to not release the first in-device coexistence configuration when configuring the device for small data transmission in the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the network device may be configured to indicate to the user device to store and/or use the first in-device coexistence configuration during subsequent communication sessions.
  • the network device may be configured to operate as a last-serving node in the communications network, wherein the network device is further configured to provide the first in-device coexistence configuration and/or the new in-device coexistence configuration to a receiving node in the communications network upon initiation of a new small data transmission communication session by the user device with the receiving node. This may allow the user device to report IDC issues following a handover or user device context transfer between network devices.
  • the network device may be configured to transmit and receive signals to and from the user device in the communications network over a first range of frequencies, wherein signals of one or more diverse radio techniques are carried across at least part of the first range of frequencies.
  • the network device may be configured to: send a request to the user device to indicate whether any frequency ranges in the first range of frequencies are affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques; and receive from the user device an indication of one or more frequency ranges in the first range of frequencies that are affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques.
  • the one or more frequency ranges may be respective sub-sets of the first range of frequencies, each respective sub-set having a frequency range that is less than or equal to a range of a carrier frequency of the first range of frequencies.
  • the network device may configure the user device to report a more granular indication of frequencies affected by interference at different levels, which can allow the network to take appropriate actions to solve in-device coexistence issues.
  • the user device may request for a TDM pattern to be used that defines a scheduling period for data transmission or reception and/or unscheduled periods of one of the diverse radio techniques, where another of the diverse radio techniques may perform data transmission or reception.
  • the first in-device coexistence configuration and/or the new in-device coexistence configuration may configure the user device to indicate whether any frequency ranges in the first range of frequencies are affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques, as described above.
  • the network device may be configured to: provide an indication of a candidate affected frequency range of the first range of frequencies to the user device; and receive from the user device the indication of the one or more frequency ranges. This may allow the network device to configure the user device to report frequencies affected by interference within the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the user device as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and a bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be a convenient way of providing the frequency range to the user device.
  • ARFCN absolute radio frequency channel number
  • the network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the user device as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of the start of the candidate affected frequency range and an absolute radio frequency channel number of the end of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be an alternative convenient way of providing the frequency range to the user device.
  • the network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth parts of the first range of frequencies.
  • the network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth parts of the candidate affected frequency range. This may allow the network device to be informed of the affected bandwidth parts, so that only actually affected bandwidth parts may be avoided.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency and the network device may be configured to send an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and an indication of one or more bandwidth part identifiers of the candidate affected frequency range to the user device. This may be a convenient way of providing the frequency range to the user device.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency and the network device may be configured to send one or more of the following to the user device: an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of Point A, a subcarrier spacing, and bandwidth part information for each bandwidth part of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be a convenient way of providing the frequency range to the user device.
  • the network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the first range of frequencies.
  • the network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the candidate affected frequency range. This may allow the network device to be informed of the affected physical resource blocks, so that only actually affected physical resource blocks may be avoided.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency and the network device may be configured to send an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range to the user device. This may be a convenient way of providing the frequency range to the user device.
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency and the network device may be configured to send one or more of the following to the user device: an absolute radio frequency channel number of a central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of Point A, and a subcarrier spacing. This may be a convenient way of providing the frequency range to the user device.
  • the network device may be configured to receive the identification of the one or more affected physical resource blocks as a bitmap, a start index and a number of affected physical resource blocks, or a start index and an end index of the affected physical resource blocks. This may allow the network device to determine which physical resource blocks are affected.
  • the network device may be further configured to receive from the user device an indication of one or more additional affected frequency ranges, the one or more additional affected frequency ranges being outside of the candidate affected frequency range. This may allow affected frequency ranges that are outside of the candidate range causing in-device coexistence interference to be reported to the network device. This may also include the case where no candidate affected frequency range is provided by the network device. In this case, the user device is able to report the one or more affected frequency ranges based on an indication configured by the network device for the user device to report any affected frequency ranges in the first range of frequencies (i.e. in the whole frequency range used by the device, such as the 5G spectrum) .
  • the network device may be configured to receive from the user device an indication of one or more time division multiplexing patterns for scheduling data in one or more of an uplink direction and a downlink direction to be used between one or more of the diverse radio techniques implemented by the user device.
  • the network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more time division multiplexing patterns for one or more frequency ranges of the first range of frequencies of the first frequency range (for example, for FR1 and FR2) .
  • the network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more time division multiplexing patterns for a Master Cell Group and a Secondary Cell Group to be used in dual connectivity scheme.
  • the network device may be configured to apply a scheduling restriction or configure discontinuous reception or a gap pattern for communication between the network device and the user device such that communications are not sent using the one or more affected frequencies in either the uplink or downlink direction. This may allow subframes affected by interference due to in-device coexistence to be avoided.
  • the network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the user device as one or more individual candidate affected frequency ranges or as a common frequency range covering multiple candidate affected frequency ranges.
  • the network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the user device as one or more absolute radio frequency channel numbers and individual bandwidths or as a common bandwidth covering multiple candidate affected frequency ranges. This may allow the network device to send the indication of the candidate affected frequency range as an absolute radio frequency channel number and an individual bandwidth or as a common bandwidth covering multiple candidate affected frequency ranges.
  • the network device may be configured to apply a scheduling restriction for communication between the network device and the user device such that communications are not sent using the one or more frequency ranges. This may allow frequencies affected by interference due to in-device coexistence to be avoided.
  • the network device may be configured to configure the user device for additional inter-frequency measurements. This may be a convenient implementation.
  • the network device may be configured to move the user device to a preferred serving frequency. This may allow frequency ranges affected by interference to be avoided.
  • the network device may be a base station.
  • the network device may be a gNodeB. This may allow the network device to be used in a telecommunications network.
  • the gNodeB may comprise a centralised unit, one or more distributed units and an interface connecting the centralised unit with the one or more distributed units, the network device being configured to include an indication of the scheduling restriction (or alternatively or additionally a discontinuous reception pattern and/or a gap pattern) in a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message or a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESONSE message sent on the interface.
  • This may allow the gNodeB to communicate scheduling restrictions on the F1 interface where the gNB has a split architecture.
  • the network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges from the user device in a radio resource control (RRC) message. This may allow for compatibility with existing procedures.
  • RRC radio resource control
  • the network device may be a master node configured to communicate with the user device and a secondary node in the communications network under a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme. This may allow for compatibility with existing procedures.
  • the network device may be configured to: receive information relating to the candidate affected frequency range from the secondary node; and send information relating to the one or more frequency ranges to the secondary node. This may allow the secondary node to be informed of frequency ranges affected by interference due to in-device coexistence.
  • the network device may be configured to receive one or more of the following from a neighbouring node in the communications network: information about the candidate affected frequency range and one or more frequency ranges that are affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques implemented by the user device for cells controlled by the neighbouring node. This may allow the network device to be informed of affected frequencies for nearby nodes.
  • a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions that, when executed at a computer system, cause the computer system to perform the methods described herein.
  • the computer system may comprise one or more processors.
  • the computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
  • Figure 1 schematically illustrates in-device coexistence in a user device comprising transceivers for multiple diverse radio frequency techniques, including WiFi, Bluetooth, New Radio and Global Positioning System.
  • Figure 2 schematically illustrates an embodiment of the present invention where the affected frequency is reported to the network device by the user device as one or more actually affected frequency ranges.
  • FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an embodiment of the present invention where the affected frequency is reported to the network device by the user device as one or more actually affected bandwidth parts (BWPs) .
  • BWPs actually affected bandwidth parts
  • Figure 4 schematically illustrates an embodiment of the present invention where the affected frequency is reported to the network device by the user device as one or more actually affected physical resource blocks (PRBs) .
  • PRBs physical resource blocks
  • Figure 5 (a) schematically illustrates an example of a suggested TDM pattern sent to the network device by the user device (UE) .
  • Figure 5 (b) schematically illustrates an example of a discontinuous reception (DRX) pattern for the user device (UE) that is configured by the network device (gNB) .
  • DRX discontinuous reception
  • Figure 6 shows an exemplary communication flow between a user device, a master node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme.
  • Figure 7 shows a further exemplary communication flow between a user device, a master node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme where the user device communicates with the secondary node via a radio signal bearer type 3.
  • Figure 8 (a) shows a further exemplary communication flow between a user device, a master node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme implementing frequency division multiplexing where the user device communicates with the secondary node via a radio signal bearer type 1.
  • Figure 8 (b) shows a further exemplary communication flow between a user device, a master node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme implementing frequency division multiplexing where the user device communicates with the secondary node via a radio signal bearer type 3.
  • Figure 9 (a) shows a further exemplary communication flow between a user device, a master node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme implementing time division multiplexing where the user device communicates with the secondary node via a radio signal bearer type 1.
  • Figure 9 (b) shows a further exemplary communication flow between a user device, a master node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme implementing time division multiplexing where the user device communicates with the secondary node via a radio signal bearer type 3.
  • Figure 10 shows an exemplary communication flow between a user device, a master node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity scheme implementing time division multiplexing where interference is caused by inter modulation distortion due to simultaneous transmission on the uplink frequency to non-3GPP.
  • Figure 11 shows an exemplary communication flow between a user device and network device implementing frequency division multiplexing illustrating optional actions which can be taken by the network device to configure the user device for in-device coexistence reporting in the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • Figure 12 shows an exemplary communication flow between a user device and network device implementing frequency division multiplexing illustrating optional actions which can be taken by the network device when interference from in-device coexistence is detected during a small data transmission procedure.
  • Figure 13 shows an exemplary communication flow between a user device and network device implementing time division multiplexing illustrating optional actions which can be taken by the network device to configure the user device for in-device coexistence reporting in the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • Figure 14 shows an exemplary communication flow between a user device and network device implementing time division multiplexing illustrating optional actions which can be taken by the network device when interference from in-device coexistence is detected during a small data transmission procedure.
  • Figure 15 shows an exemplary communication flow where the user device moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node and the in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is handled with the relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • Figure 16 shows an exemplary communication flow for an alternative implementation where the user device moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node and the in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is handled with the relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • Figure 17 shows an exemplary communication flow where the user device moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node and the in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is handled without the relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • Figure 18 shows an exemplary communication flow for an alternative implementation where the user device moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node and the in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is handled without the relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • Figure 19 shows a flow chart of the steps of an example of a method for implementation at a user device in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 20 shows a flow chart of the steps of an example of a method for implementation at a network device in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
  • a communications network generally comprises multiple nodes.
  • Each node is a network device that is a connection point in the communications network and can act as an endpoint for data transmission or redistribution.
  • Each node may be, for example, a gNodeB (gNB) .
  • gNB gNodeB
  • a Next Generation Radio Access Network may comprise multiple gNBs.
  • Each gNB may comprise multiple computing entities, such as a Centralised Unit (CU) and multiple Distributed Units (DU) .
  • the CU may communicate with a DU via an F1 interface, which is an interface that connects a gNB CU to a gNB DU.
  • Two gNBs in the network may be interconnected with each other by means of an Xn network interface, which is a network interface between the NG-RAN nodes of the NG-RAN.
  • the gNBs are also connected by means of Next Generation (NG) network interfaces to the 5G Core Network (5GC) , more specifically to the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) by means of a control plane interface (NG-C) between the NG-RAN and the 5GC and to the User Plane Function (UPF) by means of a user plane interface (NG-U) between the NG-RAN and the 5GC.
  • NG Next Generation
  • 5GC 5G Core Network
  • AMF Access and Mobility Management Function
  • UPF User Plane Function
  • Each network node may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory.
  • the memory stores in a non-transient way code that is executable by the processor (s) to implement the node in the manner described herein.
  • the nodes may also comprise a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data.
  • the communications network is preferably a wireless network.
  • One or more of the gNBs in the network may communicate with a user equipment device (UE) , such as a mobile phone, laptop or tablet.
  • UE user equipment device
  • the UE may be configured to implement one or more diverse radio techniques.
  • the diverse radio techniques may comprise one or more of Long Term Evolution (LTE) , New Radio (NR) , WiFi, Wireless Local Area Network (W-LAN) , Global Positioning System (GPS) and Bluetooth, or any other common techniques used in modern devices.
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • NR New Radio
  • WiFi Wireless Local Area Network
  • WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
  • GPS Global Positioning System
  • Bluetooth any other common techniques used in modern devices.
  • the UE may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory.
  • the memory stores in a non-transient way code that is executable by the processor (s) to implement the device in the manner described herein.
  • the UE may also comprise a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data.
  • the UE and the network node (s) may communicate with each other using the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol (see, for example, https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Radio_Resource_Control) .
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • a user device may be either in an RRC_CONNECTED state or in an RRC_INACTIVE state when an RRC connection has been established between the user device and a network device. If this is not the case, i.e. no RRC connection is established, the UE is in an RRC_IDLE state.
  • RRC_INACTIVE state a UE in a network, such as an NG-RAN, can move within an area configured by the NG-RAN (the RAN-based notification area, RNA) without notifying the NG-RAN.
  • SDT Small data transmission aims at creating a solution where a UE is able to transmit or receive small data to or from a network node while remaining in the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the UE can communicate with a gNB over a range of frequencies using one or more of the diverse radio techniques.
  • the range of frequencies may comprise frequencies in the radio frequency part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which corresponds to frequencies of approximately 3 Hz to 3,000 GHz.
  • the range of frequencies may comprise frequencies in the 5G spectrum, from approximately 700 MHz to 80 GHz.
  • the one or more diverse radio techniques may each use at least part of this range of frequencies to send signals between the UE and the gNB.
  • the part (s) of the frequency range used by each technique may not be adjacent and/or contiguous frequency ranges, and in some cases may not be the same for each time slot (for example where the technique uses frequency hopping) .
  • the interference may be due to respective signals sent or received using two of more of the diverse radio techniques implemented by the user device, or may be due to interference between different frequencies for a single technique, such as different frequencies used by 5G NR.
  • a network node can configure the UE to report an indication of frequencies affected by interference from IDC at different levels, which can allow the network to take appropriate action to mitigate interference due to IDC.
  • the examples described below detail the information that can be configured by the gNB by providing an in-device coexistence configuration for the UE that can allow the UE to report the frequencies affected by IDC interference at a more granular level, as opposed to just reporting the carrier frequency that has IDC interference (the carrier frequency being the frequency of a carrier wave, that is modulated to transmit signals) .
  • This configuration is also referred to herein as an enhanced IDC configuration.
  • a carrier frequency may also be referred to as a frequency band.
  • a frequency band or carrier frequency is a specific range of frequencies in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. Each band has defined upper and lower limits.
  • the one or more frequency ranges that are actually affected by interference from IDC are smaller ranges than the frequency range of a carrier or frequency band.
  • the network device (which in the examples described herein is a gNB, but could be another type of network device) provides an IDC configuration for the UE to allow it to report the frequencies affected by IDC interference.
  • the gNB may configure the UE to report the affected frequencies using an RRC Reconfiguration procedure, whereby one or more RRC Reconfiguration messages are sent from the gNB to the UE.
  • the gNB configures the UE to indicate whether any frequency ranges in the first range of frequencies are affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques.
  • the gNB can send the UE as part of the IDC configuration an indication of a candidate affected frequency range for which the UE is requested to report the frequency ranges affected by IDC issues.
  • This information may be contained within an OtherConfig information element (IE) in an RRC Reconfiguration message sent from the gNB to the UE.
  • IE OtherConfig information element
  • the UE can report the actually affected frequency range at a level such as the affected bandwidth part (s) , part of an affected bandwidth part, part of the affected carrier frequency range, or a range of affected physical resource blocks of the candidate affected frequency range, and/or of a range outside of the candidate range.
  • the UE may send the indication of the actually affected frequencies as part of a UE Assistance Information message sent from the UE to the gNB. This is an RRC message that provides information from the UE, for example of any preferred configuration or reporting of interference issues.
  • the gNB can temporarily apply a scheduling restriction, configure the UE for additional inter-frequency measurements, or move the UE to a preferred serving frequency.
  • UAI UE Assistance Information
  • a first embodiment is schematically illustrated in Figure 2.
  • the UE is configured to communicate with the gNB using WiFi and NR and there is interference across a range of frequencies between WiFi and NR transmissions and receptions by the UE.
  • the gNB provides an IDC configuration for the UE.
  • the IDC configuration includes an indication of a candidate affected frequency range, shown at 201.
  • the candidate affected frequency range is a specific frequency range specified by the IDC configuration for which the UE is requested to report any IDC issues.
  • the candidate frequency range may be a single frequency range or may be a wider common frequency range covering multiple individual candidate affected frequency ranges.
  • the gNB may send a general request to the UE to report any interference issues across the whole range of frequencies across which the UE is configured to operate.
  • the candidate affected frequency range 201 is a single frequency range.
  • the central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range is shown at 203.
  • the starting frequency of the candidate affected frequency range is shown at 204 and the end frequency of the candidate affected frequency range is shown at 205.
  • the bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range is shown at 206.
  • the bandwidth 206 is equal to the difference between the starting frequency 204 and the end frequency 205.
  • the gNB may send the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the UE on the current serving channel having a frequency range as indicated at 207. This may be sent to the UE using either NR or WiFi.
  • the gNB may provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the UE as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) of the central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and the bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range.
  • ARFCN absolute radio frequency channel number
  • An ARFCN is a code that specifies a pair of reference frequencies used for transmission and reception in a radio system.
  • FDD frequency division duplex
  • TDD time division duplex
  • the gNB may provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the user device as an indication of an ARFCN of the start of the candidate affected frequency range 204 and an ARFCN of the end of the candidate affected frequency range 205.
  • the UE in response to receiving an indication of the candidate affected frequency range 201, can report one or more frequency ranges of the candidate affected frequency that are actually affected by interference between signals of one or more of the diverse radio techniques implemented by the UE.
  • frequency ranges 208 and 209 are affected by interference due to IDC. These affected frequency ranges, and others described herein, may be detected using any suitable method. For example, by analysing the data packets received at the user device, by determining bit error rates (BER) , by analysing received signal strength indicators (RSSI) or by performing cyclic redundancy checks (CRC checks) .
  • the frequency ranges 208, 209 are respective sub-sets of the candidate affected frequency range 201. Each respective sub-set 208, 209 has a frequency range that is less than a range of a carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range 201.
  • the one or more affected frequency ranges may be different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range that are due to interference between transmitted and/or received signals from one of more of the diverse radio techniques implemented by the UE.
  • the frequency range 208 is due to interference between non-3GPP (for example, WiFi) transmissions from the UE and NR receptions (RX) at the UE.
  • the frequency range 209 is due to interference between NR transmissions (TX) from the UE and non-3GPP receptions at the UE.
  • the frequency ranges 208 and 209 are different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency 201. Therefore, using this technique, these different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range can be individually reported to the gNB.
  • the UE reports the actually affected frequency range to the gNB and can do this at a granularity less than than a range of a carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the UE can report the one or more actually affected frequency ranges to the gNB using a number of different methods.
  • the UE reports the ARFCN of the central frequency of the respective affected frequency range and the bandwidth of the respective affected frequency range. In another embodiment, the UE reports the ARFCN of the start of the respective affected frequency range and the ARFCN of the end of the respective affected frequency range to the gNB. These terms have the same meaning as those shown and described for the candidate affected frequency range in Figure 2. From this, the gNB may determine the frequency range to be avoided during subsequent communications.
  • Figure 3 shows an alternative embodiment where the UE can report the identity of one or more actually affected bandwidth parts (BWPs) to the gNB.
  • BWPs bandwidth parts
  • a BWP is a contiguous set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) on a given carrier.
  • PRBs physical resource blocks
  • One PRB spans 12 subcarriers.
  • Subcarriers may have different spacings, but for example with a 15-kHz subcarrier spacing, one PRB corresponds to 180 kHz.
  • These PRBs are selected from a contiguous subset of the common resource blocks for a given numerology ( ⁇ ) .
  • ⁇ numerology
  • Each BWP defined for a numerology can have the following parameters: subcarrier spacing, symbol duration and cyclic prefix (CP) length.
  • the candidate affected frequency range is shown at 301.
  • Three separate BWPs (BWP 1, BWP 2 and BWP 3) within the candidate affected frequency range are shown.
  • the UE In response to receiving the indication of the candidate affected frequency range 301, the UE reports the one or more BWPs of the candidate affected frequency that are actually affected by interference to the gNB.
  • the gNB may send the indication of the candidate affected frequency range of the UE on the current serving channel having a frequency range as indicated at 302. This may be sent to the UE using either NR or WiFi.
  • the gNB can configure the UE with the following information for the candidate affected frequency 301.
  • the gNB can send an indication of the ARFCN of the central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and an indication of one or more BWP identifiers (IDs) of the candidate affected frequency range (i.e. identifiers for the BWPs of the candidate affected frequency range) to the UE.
  • IDs BWP identifiers
  • the candidate affected frequency range comprises BWPs 1-3.
  • the gNB therefore sends an indication of the ARFCN of the central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range 301 and BWP IDs for BWPs 1-3 to the UE.
  • the gNB can send one or more of the following to the UE: an indication of the ARFCN of the central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, the ARFCN of Point A, a subcarrier spacing (SCS) , and BWP information for each bandwidth part of the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the BWP information may include, for example an identifier of a BWP, a location and bandwidth of a BWP and the subcarrier spacing of the BWP.
  • the UE can determine the frequency domain location and bandwidth of the candidate affected BWPs based on the ARFCN of Point A, the subcarrier spacing, and BWP information for each bandwidth part of the candidate affected frequency range, including the location and bandwidth of a BWP and a SCS) of the BWP provided by the gNB.
  • the UE For each candidate affected frequency range, if the UE detects an IDC issue within the one or more BWPs configured by the gNB (i.e. the one or more BWPs in the candidate affected frequency range indicated by the gNB) , the UE can report the identities of the actually affected BWPs to the gNB.
  • the information that the UE reports to the gNB for each affected frequency range may include the ARFCN of the central frequency of each affected BWP and/or the BWP ID (s) of one or more actually affected BWPs.
  • the affected BWPs 303, 304 are respective sub-sets of the candidate affected frequency range 301 and each respective sub-set 303, 304 has a frequency range that is less than a range of a carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range 301; in this case comprising one or more BWPs of the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the affected BWPs 303, 304 are different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range that are due to interference between transmitted or received signals from one of more of the diverse radio techniques implemented by the UE.
  • the frequency range 303 comprising BWP 1
  • the frequency range 304 comprising BWPs 1 and 2
  • the frequency ranges 303 and 304 are different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency 301. Therefore, using this technique, these different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range can be individually reported.
  • the UE can report the actually affected physical resource blocks (PRBs) of the candidate affected frequency range, shown at 401, to the gNB.
  • the candidate affected frequency range 401 comprises one or more PRBs.
  • the candidate affected frequency range 401 comprises multiple PRBs, one of which is shown at 402.
  • the gNB can configure the UE with the following information for the candidate affected frequency range 401.
  • the gNB may send the indication of the candidate affected frequency range 401 to the UE on the current serving channel having a frequency range as indicated at 403. This may be sent to the UE using either NR or WiFi.
  • the gNB can send the ARFCN of the central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range plus the bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range to the UE, or alternatively an ARFCN of the start and the end frequencies of the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the gNB can send the ARFCN of the central frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, the ARFCN of Point A, and a SCS.
  • the UE can determine the frequency domain location based on the ARFCN of Point A, and a SCS from the gNB.
  • the UE For each candidate affected frequency range, if the UE detects an IDC issue within the carrier bandwidth configured by the gNB, the UE can report the actually affected PRB(s) of the carrier to the gNB.
  • the UE can send the ARFCN of the central frequency of the respective frequency range and an indication of the actually affected PRBs.
  • the indication of the one or more actually affected PRBs can be sent to the gNB as a bitmap, a start index for the affected PRBs and a number of affected PRBs, or a start index for the affected PRBs and an end index for the affected PRBs.
  • the affected PRBs at 404 are due to interference between non-3GPP transmissions from the UE and NR receptions at the UE.
  • the affected PRBs at 405 are due to interference between NR transmissions from the UE and non-3GPP receptions at the UE.
  • the frequency ranges 404 and 405 are different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency 401. Therefore, using this technique, these different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range can be individually reported.
  • the UE can also report information for non-configured frequency ranges which are outside of the candidate affected frequency range indicated to the UE by the gNB as part of the IDC configuration procedure.
  • the gNB may configure the candidate affected frequency range (s) as described in any of the above embodiments. If the UE detects an IDC issue outside of the candidate affected frequency range (s) configured by the gNB, the UE can report these frequency ranges or combination of frequency ranges to the gNB. In other words, affected frequency range (s) which have not been configured by the network (i.e. that are not part of the candidate affected frequency range sent to the UE) can be reported if the UE experiences IDC interference problems on these frequencies or combination of frequencies.
  • the UE can therefore indicate to the gNB one or more frequency ranges that are actually affected by interference between signals sent and received by the UE on particular frequencies at a granularity that is less than a range of a carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, rather than by indicating the entire carrier frequency.
  • the gNB may perform operations including, but not limited to, applying a scheduling restriction for communication between the gNB and the UE, such that communications are not sent using the one or more affected frequency ranges, moving the UE to a preferred serving frequency, and configuring the UE for additional inter-frequency measurements.
  • the information indicating the one or more frequency range (s) affected by interference from IDC may also be referred to as IDC assistance information.
  • the UE may send an indication of a TDM pattern to the gNB along with the information indicating the actually affected frequency range (s) .
  • the gNB may indicate to the UE that TDM-based assistance information is allowed. This indication may be included in the IDC configuration sent to the UE.
  • the UE can also report discontinuous reception (DRX, see https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Discontinuous_reception) assistance information to the gNB.
  • the DRX assistance information may include, for example, one or more of DRX cycle length, DRX offset and DRX active time.
  • the UE can suggest a TDM pattern when it reports the affected frequency range (s) to the gNB.
  • the gNB can configure the UE with a DRX pattern in response
  • Figure 5 (a) shows an example of a TDM pattern suggested by the UE, indicating the pattern periodicity and the scheduling and unscheduling periods.
  • Figure 5 (b) shows an example of DRX configuration information sent to the UE by the gNB, indicating a DRX cycle, an on-duration and the part of the cycle in which there is an opportunity for operations on the ISM band.
  • the gNB may be one of multiple nodes in the network and may act as a master node (MN) configured to communicate with a UE under a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity (MRDC) scheme.
  • MN master node
  • MRDC multi-radio access technology dual connectivity
  • the UE can suggest a TDM pattern for a Master Cell Group (MCG) controlled by the MN and for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) controlled by a secondary node (SN) in an MRDC scheme.
  • MCG Master Cell Group
  • SCG Secondary Cell Group
  • SN secondary node
  • MRDC the MN functions as the controlling entity, utilizing a SN that is also configured to communicate with the UE for additional data capacity.
  • exemplary MRDC configurations include Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) , New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) , New Radio Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) , NG-RAN-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity (NGEN-DC) and New Radio E-UTRA Dual Connectivity (NE-DC) .
  • E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
  • EN-DC New Radio Dual Connectivity
  • NR-DC New Radio Dual Connectivity
  • NGEN-DC New Radio Dual Connectivity
  • NE-DC New Radio E-UTRA Dual Connectivity
  • the MN can receive information relating to the candidate affected frequency range from the SN.
  • the UE can send information relating to the one or more affected frequency ranges to the SN, either via the MN or via a signalling radio bearer type 3 in the network.
  • Figure 6 shows an exemplary communication flow for a network 600 comprising a UE 601, an MN 602 and an SN 603.
  • the UE 601 is configured to communicate with the MN and the SN under an MRDC scheme.
  • the SN 603 provides information relating to the candidate affected frequency range of the SN serving frequency to the MN 602.
  • the information is provided in a CG-Config (Cell Group Configuration) information element (IE) of an RRC message.
  • IE Cell Group Configuration
  • the candidate affected frequency range may be indicated to the UE using any format described above, in particular with reference to Figures 2-4 (for example, by indicating the ARFCN of the central frequency and the bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range or affected frequency range) .
  • the MN 602 provides the information relating to the candidate affected frequency range of the SN serving frequency to the UE 601.
  • the information is provided in an Other-Config IE of an RRC message.
  • the MN may alternatively or additionally provide TDM-related information to the SN in an Other-Config IE of an RRC message, as will be described in more detail later.
  • the UE 601 provides the MN 602 with information relating to the one or more actually affected frequencies in the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the information is provided in an IDC Assistance Information IE of an RRC message.
  • the MN 602 provides the SN 603 with the information relating to the one or more actually affected frequencies in the candidate affected frequency range.
  • the information is provided in a CG-ConfigInfo IE of an RRC message.
  • the UE can send the information relating to the one or more actually affected frequency ranges to the SN 603 via a signalling radio bearer (SRB) type 3.
  • SRB signalling radio bearer
  • Steps 701 and 702 are the same as steps 604 and 605 respectively described above with reference to Figure 6.
  • the information of the actually affected frequency range (s) in the SN serving frequency list, and optionally a preferred frequency range for communication with the UE, or TDM pattern information, are provided directly to the SN 603 by the UE 601 via signalling radio bearer 3 (SRB 3) in the network.
  • SRB3 is an SRB in the network that is used for specific RRC messages when the UE is in Dual Connectivity, which may be sent using a dedicated control channel (DCCH) logical channel.
  • DCCH dedicated control channel
  • information relating to applying scheduling restrictions or switching of the SN affected frequency range (s) is provided to the UE directly on SRB 3.
  • MN 602 and SN 603 may also exchange the information on the actually affected frequency range (s) for coordination about the switching or handover of the SN affected frequency range (s) .
  • the SN 603 may therefore be configured to, based on the information indicating the actually affected frequency range (s) received from the UE, apply a scheduling restriction or perform switching of the SN affected frequency range (s) (which may be BWPs or PRBs) .
  • the UE may additionally send to the gNB an indication of one or more TDM patterns for scheduling data in one or more of the uplink (UL, from UE to gNB) and downlink (DL, from gNB to UE) directions, or a common TDM pattern for both UL and DL to be used for one or more of the diverse radio techniques or separate TDM patterns for the MCG or SCG.
  • the UE may also send an indication of a suggested gap pattern to be used for one or more of the diverse radio techniques.
  • the UE may send this additional information in an RRC message, such as a UE Assistance Information message, between the user device and the network device.
  • the gNB may then configure the UE to use the suggested TDM pattern (s) and/or the gap pattern (s) , or a different TDM pattern or gap pattern.
  • the TDM patterns include indications of periods where communications using one of the diverse radio techniques (in this case NR) may be scheduled or unscheduled.
  • the gNB may apply a scheduling restriction or configure discontinuous reception (DRX) for communication between the gNB and the UE such that communications are not sent using the one or more affected frequency ranges in either the UL or DL direction and communications may be sent using TDM instead. This may allow subframes affected by interference due to IDC to be avoided.
  • DRX discontinuous reception
  • s frequency range
  • the NR node is operating as a SN within the MR-DC network configuration and in the case that only the SN frequency is affected by interference from IDC and not the MN frequency, similar enhancements as for the NR Stand Alone (SA) mode described above can be used for the SN.
  • SA NR Stand Alone
  • the SN gNB can configure the IDC related configuration via a signal radio bearer type 1 (SRB1) to the UE, and the UE can report the IDC assistance information via SRB1, for example by reporting UE Assistance Information (UAI) in an ULInformationTransferMRDC message, which is then transferred to the SN using an RRCTransfer message.
  • SRB1 signal radio bearer type 1
  • UAI UE Assistance Information
  • the SN 603 sends a NR RRCReconfiguration message to the MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting for FDM is enabled.
  • the MN 602 sends an RRCReconfiguration message to the UE 601. This message contains NR RRCReconfiguration information.
  • the UE 601 sends an ULInformationTransferMRDC message containing UAI to the MN 602, which is then transferred to the SN using an RRCTransfer message at 804.
  • the SN can configure the IDC configuration via SRB3 to the UE.
  • the UE can report the IDC assistance information via SRB3.
  • FIG. 8 (b) This implementation is illustrated in the exemplary communication flow shown in Figure 8 (b) .
  • the SN 603 sends a NR RRCReconfiguration message to the MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting for FDM is enabled.
  • the UE 601 sends UIA to the SN 603 via SRB3.
  • a further enhancement can be provided for NR-DC networks in the case that interference is caused by simultaneous transmission on the UL frequency range to non-3GPP techniques, such as GPS and Bluetooth.
  • the affected carrier frequency combination for NR-DC can be included in the IDC assistance information, which is used to indicate a list of NR carrier frequencies combination that are affected by IDC problems due to inter-modulation when configured with NR-DC.
  • the affectedCarrierFreqCombMRDC field can be extended to cover the NR-DC case.
  • TDM-based configuration and reporting for EN-DC or NR-DC may include the following.
  • the SN can configure the IDC related configuration via SRB1 to the UE.
  • the UE can report the IDC assistance information via SRB1, i.e. by reporting UAI in the ULInformationTransferMRDC message.
  • the SN 603 sends a NR RRCReconfiguration message to the MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting for TDM is enabled.
  • the MN 602 sends an RRCReconfiguration message to the UE 601. This message contains NR RRCReconfiguration information.
  • the UE 601 sends an ULInformationTransferMRDC message containing UAI to the MN 602, which is then transferred to the SN using an RRCTransfer message at 904.
  • the SN can configure the IDC configuration via SRB3 to the UE.
  • the UE can report the IDC assistance information via SRB3.
  • FIG. 9 (b) This implementation is illustrated in the exemplary communication flow shown in Figure 9 (b) .
  • the SN 603 sends a NR RRCReconfiguration message to the MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting for TDM is enabled.
  • the UE 601 sends UIA to the SN 603 via SRB3.
  • enhanced IDC configuration or enabling of TDM pattern reporting from the SN can be provided to the UE via a SRB1 or a SRB3, depending on whether SRB3 is configured or not.
  • TDM can be applied between MCG transmission and SCG transmission for the UE by reusing the current procedure to address the IDC issue.
  • the UE can provide the affected frequency range (s) for the combination to the MN. If the affected frequency range (s) include both the serving frequency of the MN and the SN, the MN can negotiate an UL TDM pattern with the SN MR-DC Resource Coordination Information. Alternatively, the UE can additionally suggest a different TDM pattern for the MCG and the SCG and the MN can negotiate an UL TDM pattern with the SN in an enhanced MR-DC Resource Coordination Information message field.
  • the SN 603 provides the cell group (CG) configuration including the candidate serving frequency to the MN 602.
  • the MN 602 sends an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to the UE 601.
  • the UE 601 sends an indication of one or more frequency range (s) affected by interference from IDC for the combination for MR-DC.
  • the MR-DC resource coordination information is modified for the SN.
  • the following embodiments can apply the above-described enhancement of the IDC configuration at a more granular level than a carrier frequency to IDC detection before or during an SDT communication session. Any of the above options for the IDC configuration and reporting of the enhanced IDC assistance information may be applied to the implementations below.
  • Figure 11 shows a communication flow illustrating three exemplary options for IDC configuration of a UE by a gNB during SDT in a network 1100 comprising UE 1101 and gNB 1102.
  • the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTED state at the start of the communication flow.
  • the gNB configures the UE for IDC reporting by sending an RRCReconfiguration message containing an enhanced IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the enhanced IDC configuration allows the UE to report IDC issues for one or more affected frequency ranges less than a carrier frequency.
  • the UE sends an RRCReconfigurationComplete message, which indicates to the gNB that the UE has been configured to report IDC issues according to the previously sent IDC configuration.
  • a first option (shown as OPT 1 in Figure 11) if the gNB has provided an enhanced IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, as it has done in this example at step 1104, the gNB can provide an indication to the UE for the UE to keep using the IDC configuration previously sent for IDC in the RRC_CONNECTED state during the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e. during SDT) , as shown at 1106.
  • the gNB 1102 therefore indicates to the UE 1101 that it is not to release the IDC configuration within its context on receiving the indication. This is different to the legacy behavior, where the IDC configuration is released by the UE.
  • the RRCRelease message is a message used by the network to initiate the RRC connection release procedure to transit a UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state to RRC_IDLE, or to transit a UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the gNB 1102 can provide the UE 1101 with a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state for SDT, as shown at 1108.
  • the new ID configuration can include, for example, a candidate serving frequency list and/or candidate bandwidth (BW) .
  • the gNB 1102 can provide the UE 1101 with an indication to keep the IDC configuration previously sent at 1104 for IDC in the RRC_CONNECTED state for use in a later communication session in which the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTED state after the SDT communication session.
  • this can be done by the gNB 1102 sending an RRCRelease message to the UE 1101, where a Suspend Config field specifies the new enhanced IDC configuration for SDT, which can include the candidate serving frequency list and/or candidate BW, and an indication for the UE to keep the previous IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the gNB 1102 can provide the UE 1101 with an indication to report any IDC issues (i.e. any frequency ranges affected by interference from IDC) on the current serving frequency range, as shown at 1110. Additionally, the gNB 1101 can provide an indication to the UE 1101 to keep the previously sent IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • any IDC issues i.e. any frequency ranges affected by interference from IDC
  • the gNB 1101 can provide an indication to the UE 1101 to keep the previously sent IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • a Suspend Config field includes an indication for the UE to report IDC issues on the current serving frequency and an indication for the UE to keep the previous IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the UE then moves to the RRC_INACTIVE state for the SDT procedure.
  • the UE can detect IDC issues according to the IDC configuration provided and specified for use by the gNB (i.e. either the IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED or the new IDC configuration for RCC_INACTIVE) .
  • the gNB can perform any of the exemplary options illustrated in the communication flow of Figure 12.
  • the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE mode.
  • the UE in the RRC_INACTIVE mode can initiate RACH and request RRC Resume, together with uplink SDT data/signaling.
  • RACH random-access channel
  • Figure 12 shows an exemplary communication flow between the devices in the network 1100.
  • the UE 1101 and the gNB 1102 can perform a four step RACH-based procedure. The four steps are as below:
  • ⁇ MSG1 Random Access Preamble
  • ⁇ MSG2 Random Access Response (RAR)
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • MSG1, shown at 1201 is a preamble transmission of the RACH procedure.
  • MSG2, shown at 1202, is a RAR message including grant for MSG3 and DL data.
  • MSG3, shown at 1203, is the first scheduled transmission of the RACH procedure.
  • the UE 1101 sends an RRCResume request message with UL data to the gNB 1102..
  • the UE detects an IDC issue during SDT on, for example, one or more of the BWPs specified in the candidate affected frequency range (shown in Figure 12 as the ‘initial BWP’ ) .
  • the UE 1101 can report the affected BW of the initial BWP, or the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and initial UL BWP respectively in a UE Assistance Information message to the gNB, optionally also with information about the interference direction (for example, NR transmission to non-3GPP reception, or non-3GPP transmission to NR reception) .
  • the gNB can apply scheduling restrictions to not schedule the UE on affected parts (for example BW or PRBs) of the candidate affected frequency range (the initial BWP in the example of Figure 6) in the UL and/or DL directions, as shown at 1207. If there are PRBs on the initial BWP not being affected by interference due to IDC, the gNB can restrict the scheduling to use those PRBs. Information on the scheduling restrictions can be transferred on the F1 interface from the CU to the DU of the gNB through an UE Context Modification procedure.
  • the UE Context information is stored at the gNB and may generally include information such as the Security Key, UE Radio Capability, UE Security Capabilities and configuration parameters for configuring the radio interface protocol layers.
  • the UE 1101 can send subsequent uplink data on the frequency range (s) unaffected by interference due to IDC (for example on the unaffected BW or PRBs) .
  • the gNB 1102 can then send an RRCRelease message along with DL data to the UE 1101 on the frequency range (s) unaffected by interference due to IDC (for example on the unaffected BW or PRBs) .
  • the gNB 1102 can move the UE 1101 to the RRC_CONNECTED state, as shown at 1210.
  • the gNB can then reconfigure the frequency range (for example, the BWPs) to be used for communication between the gNB and the UE.
  • the gNB sends an RRCResume message to the UE.
  • the UE releases the IDC Configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and applies the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the UE sends a message to the gNB to indicate that the RRCResume procedure is complete.
  • the UE is now in the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • a further RRCReconfiguration procedure can be performed if required.
  • the gNB can redirect the UE to a different NR frequency (if available) .
  • the gNB can decide to end the SDT procedure and can provide the UE with redirection information for the different frequency.
  • the RRCRelease message used to terminate the SDT procedure can also include a new IDC configuration, or an indication to keep or release the existing IDC configuration after redirection, in addition to including the redirection information, for example in a Suspend Config field.
  • the UE remains in the RRC_INACTIVE state and can keep or release the current IDC configuration based on the indication sent in the RRCRelease message at 1216.
  • the UE can be configured for TDM-based IDC reporting.
  • the gNB can provide the UE with an indication to report a TDM pattern in addition to the affected frequency range (s) .
  • Figure 13 shows a communication flow illustrating three exemplary options for communication in network 1100 between UE 1101 and gNB 1102.
  • the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTED state at the start of the communication flow.
  • the gNB configures the UE for IDC reporting by sending an RRCReconfiguration message containing an enhanced IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the enhanced IDC configuration allows the UE to report IDC issues for affected frequency ranges less than a carrier frequency.
  • the RRCReconfiguration message also includes an indication for the UE to report a TDM pattern in addition to the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC.
  • the UE sends an RRCReconfigurationComplete message, which indicates to the gNB that the UE has been configured to report IDC issues according to the previously sent IDC configuration.
  • a first option (shown as OPT 1 in Figure 13) if the gNB has provided an IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, as it has done in this example at step 1302, the gNB can provide an indication to the UE for the UE to keep using the IDC configuration previously sent for IDC in the RRC_CONNECTED state during the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e. during SDT) , as shown at 1304.
  • the gNB 1102 therefore indicates to the UE 1101 that it is not to release the IDC configuration within its context on receiving the indication. This is different to the legacy behavior, where the IDC configuration is released by the UE.
  • this can be done by the gNB 1102 sending an RRCRelease message to the UE 1101, where a Suspend Config field specifies that the UE is to keep using the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state during the SDT procedure and that the UE can report a TDM pattern in addition to the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC.
  • the gNB 1102 can provide the UE 1101 with a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state for SDT, as shown at 1306.
  • the new ID configuration can include, for example, the candidate serving frequency list and/or candidate BW) .
  • the gNB 1102 can provide the UE 1101 with an indication to keep the IDC configuration previously sent at 1302 for IDC in RRC_CONNECTED for use in a later RRC-CONNECTED communication session after the SDT communication session.
  • this can be done by the gNB 1102 sending an RRCRelease message to the UE 1101, where a Suspend Config field specifies the new enhanced IDC configuration for SDT, which can include the candidate serving frequency list and/or candidate BW, an indication for the UE to keep the previous IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, and an indication for the UE to report a TDM pattern in addition to the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC.
  • a Suspend Config field specifies the new enhanced IDC configuration for SDT, which can include the candidate serving frequency list and/or candidate BW, an indication for the UE to keep the previous IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, and an indication for the UE to report a TDM pattern in addition to the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC.
  • the gNB 1102 can provide the UE 1101 with an indication to report any IDC issues on the current serving frequency, as shown at 1308. Additionally, the gNB 1102 can provide an indication to the UE 1101 to keep the IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED.
  • a Suspend Config field includes an indication for the UE to report IDC issues on the current serving frequency, an indication for the UE to keep the previous IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, and an indication for the UE to report a TDM pattern in addition to the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC.
  • the UE then moves to the RRC_INACTIVE state for the SDT procedure.
  • the UE can detect IDC issues according to the IDC configuration provided and specified for use by the gNB (i.e. either the IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED or the new IDC configuration for RCC_INACTIVE) .
  • the gNB can perform any of the exemplary options illustrated in the communication flow of Figure 14.
  • the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE mode.
  • the UE 1101 and the gNB 1102 can perform a four step RACH-based procedure.
  • MSG1, shown at 1401 is a preamble transmission of the RACH procedure.
  • MSG2, shown at 1402, is a RAR message including grant for MSG3 and DL data.
  • MSG3, shown at 1403, is the first scheduled transmission of the RACH procedure.
  • the UE 1101 sends an RRCResume request message with UL data to the gNB 1102.
  • the UE detects an IDC issue during SDT on, for example, one or more of the BWPs specified in the candidate affected frequency range (shown in Figure 14 as the ‘initial BWP’ ) .
  • the UE 1101 can report the affected BW of the initial BWP, or the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and initial UL BWP respectively in a UE Assistance Information message to the gNB, including TDM-based assistance information.
  • the UE detects an IDC issue during the SDT communication session, it can report TDM information (such as DRX cycle length, DRX offset and/or DRX active time) to the gNB, for example in the UE Assistance Information message.
  • TDM information such as DRX cycle length, DRX offset and/or DRX active time
  • the gNB can decide to use TDM and can configure DRX for use during SDT, as shown at 1407.
  • the DRX configuration for the UE can be provided in a DL RRC message during the SDT procedure.
  • the gNB 1102 can send a DL RRC message to the UE 1101 including the SDT DRX configuration.
  • the UE 1101 can then send subsequent uplink data to the gNB during active time, according to the SDT DRX configuration, as shown at 1409.
  • the gNB 1102 can send an RRCRelease message and downlink data to the UE 1101 during active time.
  • the gNB 1102 can decide to move the UE 1101 to the RRC_CONNECTED state and can configure DRX for the UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state as shown at 1411.
  • the gNB sends an RRCResume message to the UE.
  • the UE releases the IDC Configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and applies the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • the UE sends a message to the gNB to indicate that the RRCResume procedure is complete. The UE is now in the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • a further RRCReconfiguration procedure can be performed if required.
  • the gNB can terminate the SDT communication session and redirect the UE to a different NR frequency (if available) .
  • the gNB can decide to end the SDT procedure and can provide the UE with redirection information for the different frequency.
  • the RRCRelease message used to terminate the SDT procedure can also include an indication to keep or release the existing IDC configuration after redirection, in addition to including the redirection information, for example in a Suspend Config field.
  • the UE remains in the RRC_INACTIVE state and can keep or release the current IDC configuration based on the indication sent in the RRCRelease message at 1417.
  • Figure 15 shows a communication flow for an alternative implementation where the UE moves from communicating with a last serving network node to communicating with a receiving network node and the IDC configuration for SDT is handled with the relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • the receiving node becomes a new-serving node for the UE once the UE Context information has been relocated from the last-serving node to the receiving node.
  • a communication network 1500 comprises a UE 1501, a receiving gNB 1502, a last serving gNB 1503 and a UPF 1504.
  • the UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting through previous RRCRelease messages from the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the IDC configurations for the RRC_CONNECTED state and the RRC_INACTIVE state are stored at the last serving gNB, as shown at 906.
  • the receiving gNB broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting during SDT procedures.
  • the UE 1501 sends a RRCResume request and UL data to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends a Retrieve UE Context request to the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the Retrieve UE Context request can include an SDT indication and UE Assistance Information.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 decides to relocate the UE Context information to the receiving node 1502.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Retrieve UE Context Response message to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • This message includes the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and/or the IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 then sends UL data to the UPF, as shown at 1512, and a XnAP or Xn-U Address Indication to the last serving gNB 1503 at 1513.
  • This message at 1513 is a message used for establishing tunnels or paths between the two nodes for forwarding the data.
  • data forwarding tunnels are established and a path switch is performed between the last serving gNB 1503 and the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the UE 1501 detects an IDC issue during the SDT communication session.
  • the UE 1501 sends a message to the receiving gNB 1502 comprising UE Assistance Information, as shown at 1516.
  • the UE Assistance information can comprise, for example, an indication of the affected BW of the initial BWP (i.e. the candidate affected frequency range) , the affected PRBs of the nitial DL BWP and initial UL BWP.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restrictions and does not schedule the UE on the affected BW or PRBs (UL/DL) of the initial BWP.
  • subsequent UL data is sent from the UE 1501 to the receiving node 1502 on the unaffected BW or PRBs.
  • the uplink data is sent from the receiving gNB 1502 to the UPF 1504.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends an RRCRelease message to the UE 1501, which can include a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and/or a new IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use the previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configurations or no indication to use the previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE can release the IDC configuration.
  • the receiving gNB is therefore configured to broadcast whether it supports IDC reporting during SDT.
  • the receiving gNB may indicate this in an SDT Config Common information element in the broadcast.
  • the last serving gNB for the UE can provide the previous IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED/INACTIVE states in a Retrieve UE Context Response message to the receiving gNB.
  • UAI UE Assistance Information
  • the receiving gNB can apply scheduling restrictions to not schedule the UE on affected BW or PRBs (UL/DL) of the candidate affected frequency range (initial BWP) or can configure the SDT DRX for the UE.
  • the receiving gNB wants to change the IDC configuration, it can provide a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_CONNECTED states, or can provide the UE with an indication to keep using the previous IDC configuration.
  • Figure 16 shows a communication flow for an alternative implementation where the UE moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node and the IDC configuration for SDT is handled with the relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • the UE detects IDC issue before the SDT communication session between the UE and the receiving gNB.
  • the UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting through previous RRCRelease messages from the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED states and the RRC_INACTIVE states are stored at the last serving gNB, as shown at 1502.
  • the receiving gNB broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting during SDT procedures. This indication can be contained in an SDT Config Common information element in the broadcast.
  • the UE detects an IDC issue before initiating an SDT communication session with the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the UE 1501 sends a RRCResume request and UE Assistance information indicating the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC, along with UL data, to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends a Retrieve UE Context request to the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the Retrieve UE Context request can include an SDT indication and UE Assistance Information, including the IDC Assistance Information, in an RRC Container.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 decides to relocate the UE Context information to the receiving node 1502.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Retrieve UE Context Response message to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • This message includes the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and/or the IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the message also includes he received IDC assistance information as UE Assistance Information (UAI) .
  • UAI UE Assistance Information
  • the receiving gNB 1502 then sends UL data to the UPF, as shown at 1609, and a XnAP or Xn-U Address Indication to the last serving gNB 1503 at 1610.
  • data forwarding tunnels are established and a path switch is performed between the last serving gNB 1503 and the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restrictions and does not schedule the UE on the affected BW or PRBs (UL/DL) of the initial BWP.
  • subsequent UL data is sent from the UE 1501 to the receiving node 1502 on the unaffected BW or PRBs.
  • the uplink data is sent from the receiving gNB 1502 to the UPF 1504.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends an RRCRelease message to the UE 1501, which can include a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and/or a new IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use the previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configurations or no indication to use the previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE can release the IDC configuration.
  • the UE detects an IDC issue before initiating the SDT procedure with the receiving gNB, it can send the UAI (including IDC information) to the receiving gNB along with a RRCResumeRequest message.
  • the initial UL RRC Message Transfer procedure on the F1 interface can be enhanced to carry the UAI message along with the RRCResume Request message.
  • the receiving gNB can send UAI in an RRC Container in a Retrieve UE Context Request message.
  • the last serving gNB can provide the stored IDC configuration (s) for RRC_CONNECTED/INACTIVE to the receiving gNB in a Retrieve UE Context Response message.
  • the receiving gNB can apply a scheduling restriction or configure SDT based DRX for the UE. If the receiving gNB wants to change the IDC configuration, it can provide a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state for and/or the RRC_CONNECTED state, or provide the UE with an indication to keep the previous IDC configuration.
  • Figure 17 shows a communication flow for an alternative implementation where the UE moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node and the IDC configuration for SDT is handled without relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • the UE detects IDC issue during the SDT communication session between the UE and the receiving gNB.
  • the UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting through previous RRCRelease messages from the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED states and the RRC_INACTIVE states are stored at the last serving gNB, as shown at 1702.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting during SDT procedures.
  • the UE 1501 sends a RRCResume request and UL data to the receiving gNB 1502 to initiate an SDT communication session with the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the UE 1501 is now in the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends a Retrieve UE Context request to the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the Retrieve UE Context request can include an SDT indication and UE Assistance Information.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 decides not to relocate the UE Context information to the receiving node 1502.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 performs a partial UE context transfer, in which not all of the UE Context information stored at the last serving gNB 1503 is transferred to the receiving gNB 1502 (i.e. the complete UE Context information is not transferred to the receiving gNB) .
  • the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Radio Link Control (RLC) Context that was stored at the last serving node 903 to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • RLC Radio Link Control
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends a partial UE context transfer acknowledgement message to the last serving gNB 1503.
  • RLC Radio Link Control
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends uplink data (which was sent from the UE to the receiving gNB at step 1704 with the RRCResume request) to the UPF 1504. Subsequent uplink data is sent from UE 1501 to the receiving gNB 1502 at 1710 and on to the UPF at 1711.
  • the UE 1501 detects an IDC issue during the SDT communication session.
  • the UE 1501 sends a message to the receiving gNB 1502 comprising UE Assistance Information, as shown at 1713.
  • the UE Assistance information can comprise, for example, an indication of the actually affected central frequency and bandwidth of the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC, an indication of the affected BW of the initial BWP (i.e. the candidate affected frequency range) , or the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and initial UL BWP.
  • the receiving node 1502 sends an RRCTransfer message to the last serving gNB 1503 including the UE Assistance information received from the UE.
  • the last serving node 1503 sends an IDC Information Transfer Request message to the receiving node 1502.
  • This message can include decoded IDC information which may be included in a UE Assistance Information field in the message.
  • the message may also include scheduling restriction information.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends an IDC Information Transfer Response message to the last serving node. This message can include confirmation that a scheduling restriction has been applied, if scheduling restriction information was sent to the receiving node in the IDC Information Transfer Request message at 1715.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restrictions and does not schedule the UE on the frequency range (s) affected by interference from IDC.
  • subsequent UL data is sent from the UE 1501 to the receiving node 1502 on the unaffected BW or PRBs.
  • the uplink data is sent from the receiving gNB 1502 to the UPF 1504.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Retrieve UE Context Failure message to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • This message indicates that the Retrieve UE Context Request previously sent by the receiving gNB 1502 to the last serving gNB 1503 at 1705 has failed.
  • This message may be an RRCRelease message.
  • the message may include an indication for the receiving gNB 1502 to keep using the previous IDC configuration.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends an RRCRelease message to the UE 1501 to move the UE back to the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • This RRCRelease message can include a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and/or a new IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use the previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configurations or no indication to use the previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE can release the IDC configuration.
  • the receiving gNB is configured to broadcast whether it supports IDC reporting during SDT in SDT config common.
  • the UE sends UE Assistance Information indicating an IDC issue to the receiving gNB, this can be forwarded to the last serving gNB using the RRC Transfer message procedure.
  • the last serving gNB can provide the decoded IDC information in the UAI or the scheduling restrictions to the receiving gNB in new Xn interface message, such as an IDC Information Transfer Request message, or in a Partial UE Context Transfer message.
  • the receiving gNB can send an acknowledgement back to the last serving gNB using an IDC Information Transfer Response message or in a Partial UE Context Transfer acknowledgement message.
  • the last serving gNB can send a DL SDT Reconfiguration message to the UE with an SDT DRX configuration. If a scheduling restriction cannot be applied by the receiving gNB or the TDM pattern cannot be applied, the receiving gNB can send an IDC information Transfer Failure message to the last serving gNB. The last serving gNB can terminate the SDT procedure by sending RRC Release message the receiving gNB, which is then sent on to the UE.
  • Figure 18 shows a communication flow for an alternative implementation where the UE moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node and the IDC configuration for SDT is handled without relocation of UE Context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.
  • the UE detects IDC issue before an SDT communication session between the UE and the receiving gNB.
  • the UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting through previous RRCRelease messages from the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED states and the RRC_INACTIVE states are stored at the last serving gNB, as shown at 1802.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting during SDT procedures.
  • the UE 1501 detects an IDC issue before initiating an SDT communication session with the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the UE 1501 sends a RRCResume request and UL data to the receiving gNB 1502 to initiate an SDT communication session with the receiving gNB 1502.
  • the UE 1501 is now in the RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends a Retrieve UE Context request to the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the Retrieve UE Context request can include an SDT indication and UE Assistance Information. This information may be contained in the message in an RRC Container field.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 decides not to relocate the UE Context information to the receiving node 1502.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 performs a partial UE context transfer, in which not all of the UE Context information stored at the last serving gNB 1503 is transferred to the receiving gNB 1502 (i.e. the complete UE Context information is not transferred to the receiving gNB) .
  • the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Radio Link Control (RLC) Context that was stored at the last serving node 1503 to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • RLC Radio Link Control
  • the partial UE context transfer may also include decoded IDC information stored at the last serving node 903, for example as UE Assistance Information, and/or scheduling restriction information.
  • the UE Assistance information can comprise, for example, an indication of the actually affected central frequency and bandwidth of the frequency range (s) affected by interference due to IDC, an indication of the affected BW of the initial BWP (i.e. the candidate affected frequency range) , or the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and initial UL BWP.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends a partial UE context transfer acknowledgement message to the last serving gNB 1503.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends uplink data (which was sent from the UE to the receiving gNB at step 1805 with the RRCResume request) to the UPF 1504.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restructions to not schedule the UE 1501 on the frequency range (s) affected by interference from IDC.
  • Subsequent uplink data is sent from the UE 1501 to the receiving gNB 1502 on the frequency range (s) (or PRBs) unaffected by interference due to IDC at 1812 and on to the UPF at 1813.
  • the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Retrieve UE Context Failure message to the receiving gNB 1502.
  • This message indicates that the Retrieve UE Context Request previously sent by the receiving gNB 1502 to the last serving gNB 1503 at 1805 has failed.
  • This message may be an RRCRelease message.
  • the message may include an indication for the receiving gNB 1502 to keep using the previous IDC configuration.
  • the receiving gNB 1502 sends an RRCRelease message to the UE 1501 to move the UE back to the RRC_CONNECTED state.
  • This RRCRelease message can include a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and/or a new IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use the previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configurations or no indication to use the previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE can release the IDC configuration.
  • the receiving gNB can broadcast whether it supports IDC reporting during SDT, for example in an SDT Config Common information element in the broadcast. If the UE detects an IDC issue before initiating the SDT procedure, it can send the UAI (including IDC information) to the receiving gNB along with an RRCResumeRequest Message.
  • the initial UL RRC Message Transfer procedure on the F1 interface can be enhanced to carry the UAI message along with an RRCResume Request message.
  • the receiving gNB can send UAI in an RRC Container in a Retrieve UE Context Request message.
  • the last serving gNB can provide the decoded information as UE Assistance Information, or can provide the scheduling restrictions to the receiving gNB in a Partial UE Context Transfer message.
  • the receiving gNB can send an acknowledgement back to last serving gNB using a Partial UE Context Transfer Acknowledgement message.
  • the receiving gNB can send the Partial UE Context Transfer Failure message to the last serving gNB.
  • the last serving gNB can terminate the SDT procedure by sending an RRC Release message to the receiving gNB, which is sent on to the UE.
  • Figure 19 shows an example of a general method 1900 for implementation at a user device in communications network in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
  • the user device is capable of transmitting and receiving signals to and from a network device in the communications network over a first range of frequencies.
  • the user device is capable of implementing one or more diverse radio techniques across at least part of the first range of frequencies.
  • the method comprises communicating with a network device in the communications network in a first communication session in which the user device is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is configured to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration.
  • the method comprises receiving a request from the network device to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the method comprises receiving an indication from the network device to store the first in-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session at a later time than the first communication session.
  • Figure 20 shows an example of a general method 2000 for implementation at a network device in a communications network in accordance with embodiment of the present invention.
  • the network device is capable of transmitting and receiving signals to and from a user device in the communications network over a first range of frequencies.
  • the user device is capable of implementing one or more diverse radio techniques across at least part of the first range of frequencies.
  • the method comprises communicating with a user device in the communications network in a first communication session in which the user device is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is configured to report interference from in- device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration.
  • the method comprises sending a request to the user device for the user device to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state.
  • the method comprises sending an indication to the user device for the user device to store the first in-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session at a later time than the first communication session.
  • a UE can only report the whole carrier frequency as the affected frequency range, and not the actual affected frequency range at more granular level than the carrier frequency.
  • this may allow the network to take appropriate action to avoid only the affected frequencies, whilst leaving the unaffected frequencies in the candidate affected frequency range available for use.
  • the UE can only report for the frequencies requested by the gNB. An affected frequency range which is not indicated by the gNB cannot be reported by the UE. Using the solution described herein, the UE can also report additional frequency ranges or combinations of frequencies causing IDC interference that are outside of the candidate affected frequency range for SDT.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention divulgue un dispositif utilisateur (1101, 1501) dans un réseau de communication (1100, 1500), le dispositif utilisateur étant configuré pour : communiquer (1901) avec un dispositif de réseau (1102, 1502, 1503) dans une première session de communication dans laquelle le dispositif utilisateur est dans un état RCC_CONNECTED et est configuré pour rapporter une interférence provenant d'une coexistence intra-dispositif selon une première configuration de coexistence intra-dispositif; recevoir (1902) une demande provenant du dispositif de réseau pour fonctionner dans un état RRC_INACTIVE; et recevoir (1903) une indication provenant du dispositif de réseau pour stocker la première configuration de coexistence intra-dispositif destinée à être utilisée dans une seconde session de communication à un moment ultérieur à la première session. Ceci peut commodément permettre au dispositif utilisateur d'utiliser la première configuration IDC pendant une session de communication de transmission de données de petites tailles lorsque le dispositif utilisateur fonctionne dans l'état RRC_INACTIVE, ou pendant une session de communication ultérieure lorsque le dispositif utilisateur est dans l'état RRC_CONNECTED.
PCT/CN2022/111264 2022-08-09 2022-08-09 Appareil et procédé d'évitement d'interférence pour coexistence intra-dispositif WO2024031376A1 (fr)

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US20140355471A1 (en) * 2012-02-07 2014-12-04 Lg Electronics Inc. Method for Transmitting IDC Interference Information in Wireless Communication Systems and Apparatus for Same
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