WO2025209461A1

WO2025209461A1 - Methods and apparatuses for registration

Info

Publication number: WO2025209461A1
Application number: PCT/CN2025/086578
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zhang Zhang; Dung PHAM VAN; Bikramjit Singh; Min Wang; Luca FELTRIN; Alexander Vesely; Jie LING; Revathy Narayanan; Andreas HÖGLUND
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2024-04-04
Filing date: 2025-04-01
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-04

Abstract

The embodiments herein relate to methods and apparatuses for registration. In some embodiments, there proposes a method performed by a network node for triggering registration. The method may comprise the step of initiating an inventory procedure; and triggering a registration procedure independent to the inventory procedure, to request one or more devices to perform the registration procedure. The embodiments help enable efficient registration procedure for Ambient Internet of Things (A-IoT) with signaling overhead reduction over air interface as well as mitigation of potential excessive random access load incurred by simultaneous/in parallel signaling-heavy registration of multiple/massive A-IoT devices.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR REGISTRATION

Technical Field

The embodiments herein relate generally to the field of communication, and more particularly, the embodiments herein relate to methods and apparatuses for registration.

Background

Objective of SI or Core part WI or Testing part WI [3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) RP-234058, Radio Access Network (RAN) SI, Release 19] : The 3GPP RP-234058 targets a further assessment at RAN WG-level of Ambient Internets of Things (IoT) , a new 3GPP IoT technology, suitable for deployment in a 3GPP system, which relies on ultra-low complexity devices with ultra-low power consumption for the very-low end IoT applications. The 3GPP RP-234058 shall provide clear differentiation, i.e. addressing use cases and scenarios that cannot otherwise be fulfilled based on existing 3GPP LPWA IoT technology e.g. NB-IoT including with reduced peak Tx power.
General Scope

The definitions provided in 3GPP TR 38.848 are taken into the 3GPP RP-234058, and the following are the exclusive general scope of 3GPP RP-234058:

A. The overall objective shall be to study a harmonized air interface design with minimized differences (where necessary) for Ambient IoT to enable the following devices:
i. ～1 μW peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial sampling frequency offset
(SFO) up to 10^X ppm, neither Downlink (DL) nor Uplink (UL) amplification in the device. The device’s UL transmission is backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally.
ii. ≤ a few hundred μW peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial sampling
frequency offset (SFO) up to 10^X ppm, both DL and/or UL amplification in the device. The device's UL transmission may be generated internally by the device, or be backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally.
·X is to be decided in Working Groups (WGs) .
·Coverage design target: Maximum distance of 10-50 m with device indoors as per 3GPP
TR 38.848: “…arange that WGs can sub-select within” .
·For Topologies 1 &2 (User Equipment (UE) as intermediate node under NW control) per
3GPP TR 38.848, with no RRC states, no mobility (i.e. at least no cell selection/re-selection -like function) , no HARQ, no ARQ.
Note that, it is to be understood that “≤ a few hundred μW” means WGs are not tasked
with setting a particular value, and that it will be for WG discussions to determine if a presented design with corresponding power consumption satisfies the “≤ a few hundred μW” requirement.

B. Deployment Scenarios with the following characteristics, referenced to the tables in Clause 4.2.2 of 3GPP TR 38.848:
·Deployment scenario 1 with Topology 1
оBasestation and coexistence characteristics: Micro-cell, co-site
·Deployment scenario 2 with Topology 2 and UE as intermediate node, under network
control
оBasestation and coexistence characteristics: Macro-cell, co-site
оThe location of intermediate node is indoor

C. FR1 licensed spectrum in FDD.

D. Spectrum deployment in-band to NR, in guard-band to LTE/NR, in standalone band (s) .

E. Traffic types DO-DTT, DT, with focus on rUC1 (indoor inventory) and rUC4 (indoor command) .
·From RAN#104, the study will assess whether the harmonized air interface design (per
bullet ‘A’ above) can address the DO-A (Device-originated autonomous) use case, only to identify which part (s) of the harmonized air interface design (per bullet ‘A’ above) is/are not sufficient for the DO-A use case.

Transmission from Ambient IoT device (including backscattering when used) can occur at least in UL spectrum.

The following objectives are set, within the General Scope:
1. Evaluation assumptions
a) Conclude at least the following aspects of design targets left to WGs in Clause 5
(RAN design targets) of 3GPP TR 38.848 [RAN1] .
оClause 5.3: Applicable maximum distance target values (s)
оClause 5.6: Refine the definition of latency suitable for use in RAN WGs
оClause 5.8: 2D distribution of devices
b) Define necessary further evaluation assumptions of deployment scenarios for
coverage and coexistence evaluations [RAN1, RAN4]
c) Identify basic blocks/components of possible Ambient IoT device architectures,
taking into account state of the art implementations of low-power low-complexity devices which meet the RAN design target for power consumption and complexity. [RAN1]
d) Define link budget calculation for coverage, including whether/how to model
carrier wave from node (s) inside or outside the connectivity topology.
Note that, assessment performance of the design targets is within the study of feasibility and
necessity of proposals in the following objectives, e.g. by inspection of reference implementations in the field, simulations, analytically.
Note that, strive to minimize evaluation cases in RAN1.

Study necessary and feasible solutions for Ambient IoT as prescribed in the General Scope, including decisions on which functions, procedures, etc. are needed and not needed, and ensuring at least the required functionalities in Section 6.2 of 3GPP TR 38.848.

Study of positioning in Rel-19 is RAN3-led, limited to functionalities which would have no, or minimal, specification impact (note: this does not imply any decision relating to WI creation) .

Study the feasibility and required functionalities for proximity determination (coordination with SA3 is required for privacy aspects) .

RAN1-led:
For the Ambient IoT DL and UL:
оFrame structure, synchronization and timing, multiple access
оNumerologies, bandwidths, and multiple access
оWaveforms and modulations
оChannel coding
оDownlink channel/signal aspects
оUplink channel/signal aspects
оScheduling and timing relationships
оStudy necessary characteristics of carrier-wave waveform for a carrier wave
provided externally to the Ambient IoT device, including for interference handling at Ambient IoT UL receiver, and at NR basestation.
For Topology 2, no difference in physical layer design from Topology 1.

RAN2-led:
оStudy and decide which functions are needed for an Ambient IoT compact
protocol stack and lightweight signalling procedure to enable DO-DTT and DT data transmission, and study those functions.
For example:
Paging
Multiple access
Data transmission, including necessary radio resource control aspects, respecting
the limitation in the General Scope
Interactions with upper layers
For functionalities not listed above, they are studied only if found essential.

RAN3-led:
оIdentify necessary impacts on signaling and procedures for Core Network -
Radio Access Network (CN-RAN) interface, to enable:
Paging
Device context management
Data transport
оIdentify RAN architecture aspects, including whether support for split
architecture is necessary.
оIdentify potential solutions for locating an Ambient IoT device with no
specification impact, e.g. reusing existing user location report, or minimal specification impact to convey location information to core network.

RAN4-led:
оCoexistence study of Ambient IoT and NR/LTE.
оRF requirements study for Ambient IoT:
Ambient IoT BS transmission and reception
Ambient IoT Device, as per the General Scope, transmission and reception
Intermediate node (UE) , as per the General Scope, transmission and reception

RAN2 and RAN3 are expected to identify RAN-CN functional split in coordination with SA2.

Note that, 3GPP RP-234058 shall target for an IoT segment well below the existing 3GPP IoT technologies, e.g. NB-IoT, eMTC, RedCap, etc. The 3GPP RP-234058 shall not aim to replace existing 3GPP LPWA technologies.

Legacy 5G NR registration

In legacy 5G (5th Generation) NR, any device that uses network services including reachability and mobility needs to register to the network. The procedure is performed at NAS sublayer. Registration involves many steps and procedures and depending on the type of registration. There are several types of registrations, e.g., initial registration, periodic registration update, registration for mobility update, emergency registration.

UE initiates registration when it is switched on, or when UE moves outside of current registration area, or it needs to update its capabilities or protocol parameters, or when it needs to perform periodic registration update based on configured timer, or emergency registration. During registration procedure, what UE typically does include:
-UE selects network (PLMN, cell)
-UE performs identification and authentication
-UE may use SUCI or 5G-GUTI (if available) in registration request
-UE may provide its PEI (IMEI + IMEIsv) to 5GC (Access and Mobility
Management Function (AMF) ) on demand
-UE updates its location to 5GC
-UE and network exchange capabilities
-As result of registration, UE context (5G-GUTI, capability, preference, security, protocol
parameters) is established
-In case of initial registration, NAS security mode command is performed after
authentication

Figure 1 shows an example signaling flow for legacy 5G NR initial registration with multiple steps over Uu.

It is worth noticing that UE initiates registration by itself rather than being requested/commanded by the network and thus it is unlikely that massive number of devices are performing registration procedure simultaneously. In order to perform registration, UE needs to have a NAS signaling connection to the 5GC, i.e., an RRC connection to gNB and a UE-specific N2 connection between gNB and CN. In other words, the registration procedure triggers NAS connection establishment that in turn triggers the RRC connection establishment over air interface. To deliver NAS security in a secure manner, the initial registration involves both NAS and AS security mode command procedures. Figure 1 shows an example signaling flow for legacy 5G NR initial registration with multiple steps over Uu.

Summary

The A-IoT (Ambient Internet of Things) devices are expected to register to the network to benefit from the functionalities provided by CN such as security, identification, authorization, charging, etc.

However, there currently exist certain challenges.

The device type 1 (passive device) needs to rely on the trigger from network to send/backscatter UL transmission for starting registration rather than initiating registration procedure itself. In other words, passive devices will likely be triggered/requested/commanded by network to perform registration. However, without network knowing which potential A-IoT devices in an area would perform registration, the trigger command/request will be in a form of groupcast or broadcast type of command. As a result, network may not be in control of how many devices are about to access and perform registration in response to a command triggering registration in the DL direction.

As an example, the registration procedure might be performed in connection with an inventory report during initial inventory procedure during which a device provides a 3GPP aware device Identifier (ID) (e.g., SUCI/5G-GUTI like ID) mapped to application level device ID (e.g, EPC in RFID) . This is a natural combination given that inventory report is among the first UL transmission providing device ID to the network, i.e., network gets to know about the device from the inventory report. A problem with the combined procedure is excessive access load and potential congestion over air interface might be incurred in case massive number of A-IoT devices react on the DL command (triggering inventory) . This is due to the fact that each of the devices will be in long communication with the gNB for multiple handshaking steps associated with both inventory and registration. This is in particular relevant in case of TDMA based random access (e.g., slotted-ALOHA based access as in RFID C1G2 protocol) as gNB/reader takes longer time to complete an inventory/registration round. Figure 2 shows an example signaling flow for the registration triggered by inventory. Figure 2 shows access load associated with combined inventory and registration.

Note that, the aspect of excessive access load from many/massive number of A-IoT devices is already an issue in case inventory procedure is separated/independent from registration. The registration triggered by inventory only makes it more problematic.

In addition, registration itself is typically a long signaling procedure with multiple handshaking steps (as described in section 2.2.2 above) . It is highly desired that signaling steps associated with registration for A-IoT devices can be shortened/reduced so that devices can accomplish the whole registration procedure considering limited device capability, e.g., in terms of energy storage and processing complexity.

Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

This disclosure proposes solutions to address aspects of high access load and heavy signaling overhead incurred by registration procedure for A-IoT over air interface with a focus on how to trigger registration procedure for A-IoT device type 1 in a dedicated manner (i.e., targeting individual device or a controlled group of known devices) in relation with signaling procedures to support inventory and command use cases being considered in the 3GPP Rel-19 study item for A-IoT.

An idea is that the network triggers registration procedure only for subset of the A-IoT devices already known to the network node, i.e., CN, or, gNB or intermediate UE, (in a controlled manner, and sequentially in time. That is, the network triggers registration procedure for one or multiple A-IoT devices which have been known/inventoried in a dedicated/controlled manner, e.g., by taking turns, rather than relying on DL commands targeting a group/all of devices in the coverage area (known and unknown) to register simultaneously.

A temporary device ID is allocated to the A-IoT device in response to initial inventory report.
·Network stores the mapping of temporary device ID with other long device ID
(SUPI/SUCI like ID) for subsequent commands targeting the device.
·Network can include the temporary device ID (s) in subsequent dedicated commands
targeting already known/inventoried devices.
·Device can report its temporary device ID (part or whole) , if available, in the subsequent
inventory reports to reduce signaling overhead over air interface.
·If network does not receive any UL reply to a DL command with temporary device ID, e.g.,
due to device running out of energy and lost context information including the ID, network needs to perform the procedure again with other device ID type (e.g., SUPI/SUCI) as if temporary device ID were not allocated.
·Providing A-IoT device a temporary device ID in response to its inventory report can be
considered an acknowledgement to UL transmission, i.e., device knows that its report is successfully received by network and that the network may use the temporary device ID for further communication with the device.

Network maintains a status of inventory for device, i.e., if a device has been inventoried earlier or not. Together with device capability, this information can be used to determine whether to command/trigger registration for the device.

Network indicates in the DL command triggering registration whether/which targeted device (s) needs to perform registration. In case of DL command for read/write/modify, it means device needs to register before secured/authenticated access (read/write/modify operation) . In case of DL command for inventory, it means inventory report triggers registration.

As examples, DL command triggering registration can be:
·DL command for subsequent inventory targeting already inventoried devices.
·DL command for read/write/modify operation for a single or a group of known/inventoried
devices.
·Separated DL command dedicated for registration, which is independent from inventory
and read/write/modify command.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages.
The embodiments help enable efficient registration procedure for A-IoT with signaling
overhead reduction over air interface as well as mitigation of potential excessive random access load incurred by simultaneous/in parallel signaling-heavy registration of multiple/massive A-IoT devices. That is, the embodiments provide load distribution and NW access control for the A-IoT registration procedure.

The teachings of certain embodiments may improve the power consumption and network congestion improvement.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form part of the specification, illustrate various embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the embodiments disclosed herein. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements, and in which:
Figure 1 shows an example signaling flow for legacy 5G NR initial registration with multiple
steps over Uu;
Figure 2 shows an example signaling flow for the registration triggered by inventory;
Figure 3 shows signaling flow for an example of registration procedure triggered by dedicated
DL command for read/write/modify;
Figure 4 shows signaling flow for an example of registration procedure triggered by
subsequent inventory report;
Figure 5 shows an example signaling flow for the registration procedure initiated by core
network;
Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart showing an example method in the network node, according
to the embodiments herein;
Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart showing an example method in the device, according to the
embodiments herein;
Figure 8 is a schematic block diagram showing an example network node, according to the
embodiments herein;
Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram showing an example device, according to the
embodiments herein;
Figure 10 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some
embodiments;
Figure 11 shows a UE in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 12 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions
implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized; and
Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram showing an example computer-implemented apparatus,
according to the embodiments herein.

Detailed Description

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other.

Reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment” appearing in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

The term "A, B, or C" used herein means "A" or "B" or "C" ; the term "A, B, and C" used herein means “A” and “B” and “C” ; the term “A, B, and/or C” used herein means “A” , “B” , “C” , “A and B” , “A and C” , “B and C” or “A, B, and C” .

In below embodiments, use cases with ultra-low power devices, zero-energy or A-IoT devices are considered or assumed. However, the disclosure should not be limited to such devices, and can be extended other service/device classes or categories, e.g., related to eMBB, massive-MTC, URLLC, TSN, etc.

The term RAN node is used which can be a network node or a user equipment (UE) . Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS) , multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, gNodeB, MeNB, SeNB, location measurement unit (LMU) , integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC) , base station controller (BCS) , relay, IAB, repeater, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS) , Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB) , Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB) , Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP) , transmission points, transmission nodes, transmission reception point (TRP) , RRU, RRH, nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS) , core network node (e.g. MCS, MME etc) , O&M, OSS, SON, positioning node (e. cg. E-SMLC) , etc. In particular, in Ambient IoT scenario the RAN nodes comprise intermediate node/UE (e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc. ) and assisting node/UE (e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc. ) .

In particular, in A-IoT scenario the RAN nodes comprise intermediate node/UE (e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc. ) and assisting node/UE (e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc. ) .

In this disclosure, ‘polling’ ‘, ‘poll’ and ‘paging’ , ‘page’ , ‘inventory’ , ‘query’ , ‘interrogate’ , is used to represent one or more than one signal transmitted by a network node broadcast wise or specially to a dedicated UE. The purpose of the signal is to facilitate/serve/manage/command one or more than one UE to synchronize to the network node (DL/UL synchronize to a reference time/frame/symbol, or synchronize to one or more than one signal which the UE receives from the network node, or synchronize based on a pre-defined rule) , receive DL data, response and transmit UL data correctly in intended resources. The content of such signal may be a particular reference signal or a signal carrying control information and/or data. Such signal may be transmitted periodically or a periodically configured by the network node.

In this disclosure, ‘A-IoT UE’ , ‘A-IoT device’ , ‘device’ , or ‘UE’ are used interchangeably without losing the meaning.

In this disclosure, initial inventory procedure refers to the case that an A-IoT device first time gets inventoried by 5G network, i.e., the device is unknown by the network before this initial inventory procedure.

A-IoT user can be based on
·Passive device (requires CW support for UL) , also referred as
оdevice A, A+, B-, B
оdevice (i) , (ii) (w/o independent UL) defined in RAN SID 3GPP RP-234058
оthe UL from passive device can be referred as backscattered UL
оdevice type 1
·Active device, also referred as
оdevice B+, C-, C
In 3GPP TR, B is referred as passive device, but B+ can be classified as
active device or low end active device
оdevice (ii) (with independent UL) defined in RAN SID 3GPP RP-234058
оthe UL from active device can be referred as active UL
оdevice type 2, 2A, 2B, 2C

The term A (low end passive device) , B (high end passive device) , C (active device) referred to devices described in 3GPP TR 38.848.

In this disclosure, DL command is a command/request/message from network (CN or RAN/reader or immediate UE) that initiates UL transmission in inventory use case, command use case, or device management including registration procedure.

The embodiments are applicable to any device which connects/accesses the network directly (e.g., Topology 1) or indirectly (e.g., via an intermediate UE, e.g., Topology 2) . For the former, the gNB operates a reader. The signaling messages between the device and the CN are transmitted/received by the gNB towards/from the CN via the NGAP signaling, i.e., the signaling as a container in the NGAP signaling) . For the latter, the intermediate UE operates as a reader. The signaling messages between the device and the CN are transmitted/received by the intermediate UE towards/from the CN via the NAS signaling, i.e., the signaling as a container in the NAS signaling) .

It is assumed that the registration procedure is performed in the NAS layer. The embodiments are interchangeably applicable if the registration procedure is simplified or improved and carried out in another protocol/signaling layer (e.g., A-IoT layer, or A-IoT NAS layer) . The embodiments are not limited by any term.
Detailed Description of the Embodiments

In an embodiment, registration procedure for A-IoT is triggered by network in a dedicated manner, by means of dedicated DL command targeting one or multiple devices already known to the network (i.e., already inventoried) , rather than relying on DL command targeting a group of devices without network knowing in advance the group size, for example, in case of combining registration with inventory procedure. Here dedicated DL command can target a single device or a (small) group of devices, which are already known by the network (CN) .

In another embodiment, the registration procedure or part of registration procedure can be initiated for a device flexibly either during/triggered by
·inventory procedure (or initiated by inventory command during inventory procedure) ,
·DL command (part of DL command use case) , or
·separate command initiating registration (without the trigger from AF (Application
Function) , e.g., triggered by BSS/OSS, local configuration, etc. ) . The separate command which is initiating registration can be sent by
оCN
оRAN node; or
оRAN node as per CN guidelines.
·A request signaling from the CN
оin an example, the signaling requests the device to perform the registration
procedure towards the CN
оin an example, the signaling indicates that the device needs to protect the
subsequent transmissions/the device needs to be authenticated/authorized. Based on which the device deduces that the device needs to initiate the registration procedure towards the CN.

In one embodiment, the registration procedure can be performed over multiple events, e.g., a part of registration related negotiations can be performed during inventory and remaining/other negotiations as part of registration procedure during DL command. In below embodiments, an example of temp ID is provided, where, e.g.,
·During inventory, the authentication, authorization and allocation of temp ID can be done
as part registration (subset of registration negotiations) , and
·During DL command use case, the device can follow up using temp ID, and negotiations
for NAS and/or AS SMC can be performed.

In one embodiment, network maintains the inventory status of device, i.e., if a device has been inventoried earlier or not. This can be 1-bit flag, e.g., as part of device context. Together with other information (e.g., device capability) , this inventory status is used to determine whether and when to command/trigger registration procedure for the device.

In one embodiment, the network operates a timer (with a duration) for maintaining the inventory status of one or multiple devices. When the timer is running, the inventory status of the device is deemed as valid. There is no need to inventory the device. When the timer is expired, the inventory status of the device is deemed as expired/invalid. An inventory procedure may need to be initiated towards the device. In an example, the network node which operates the timer is a CN node (e.g., AMF, SMF, UPF, or a CN node which is responsible for A-IoT service handling, e.g., AIoTF or AIoT Network Function (NF) ) . In an example, the network node which operates the timer is AF (application function) . In an example, the network node which operates the timer is a RAN node (e.g., gNB, DU, or CU) . The network node starts/restarts the timer when the network node has successfully received a response message from the device after sending an inventory request message to the device. In addition, the network node starts/restarts the timer when the network node has received a report message from the device, which comprises information such as an ID of the device, area/location info of the device etc. the report message may be initiated by the device itself, e.g., tracking/RAN/registration area update message.

In one variant of the previous embodiment, when the CN is expected to provide inventory result of a device (e.g., when receiving an inventory request from AF or a periodical inventory is triggered) , the CN checks if it already has the required info of the device (e.g., the device ID and its position) and whether the info is still valid (e.g., whether the timer associated with info is still running) , if that is the case the CN directly provides the stored info to the AF w/o sending an inventory command to the device. In case the (periodical) inventory is initiated by the RAN node, the CN may indicate the RAN node for which device (s) the inventory does not need to be performed for a certain time period (due to e.g., the CN already has the required info and the info is still valid for the certain time period) . The RAN node will then not perform inventory with the device (s) within the indicated time period.

In one embodiment, network allocates a temporary device ID for the A-IoT device in response to initial inventory report. This temporary device ID can be used for DL commands including ones triggering registration as well as in UL messages before registration with reduced message sizes.
·Temporary device ID can be the same as long 3GPP device ID (e.g., SUPI/SUCI like ID)
or a short temporary device ID allocated by CN (e.g., similar to 5G-GUTI) or allocated by RAN (e.g., similar to C-RNTI/I-RNTI in NR or RN16/Handle in RFID) .
оIn the latter case, network promotes the temporary device ID to the official short
device ID when the registration procedure is successfully completed.
оDepending on if inventory is initiated by RAN or AF/CN, temporary device ID is
allocated by RAN or CN accordingly. For example, RAN may trigger inventory procedure multiple times/rounds upon an inventory request from CN (AIoTF) . In this case, RAN scope temporary device ID can be used. In addition, RAN needs to keep the association between the temporary device ID and device ID used/indicated by CN in the command request (inventory, DL command, registration) .
·Network can include the temporary device ID (s) in subsequent dedicated commands
targeting already known/inventoried devices.
оDL message/command over Uu for subsequent command is in smaller size in case
of short temporary device ID, which is beneficial especially when multiple devices are targeted in the DL command.
·Device can report its temporary device ID (part or whole) , if available, in the UL reply (e.g.,
inventory report) to subsequent DL commands to reduce UL message size over air interface, i.e., mitigating possible excessive UL access load.
·Network stores the mapping of temporary device ID with other long device ID (SUPI/SUCI
like ID) for subsequent commands targeting the device.
оFor example, if network does not receive any UL reply to a DL command with
temporary device ID, e.g., due to device running out of energy and lost context information including the ID, network can fallback to perform the procedure again with other device ID type (e.g., SUPI/SUCI like ID) .
оHow long network waits for an UL reply can be configured or up to network
implementation. The same applies to how many attempts before fallback.
·Providing A-IoT device a temporary device ID in response to its initial inventory report is
useful in terms of reliability. This is an acknowledgement to UL transmission, i.e., device knows that its report is successfully received by network.

In one embodiment, network validate the device ID and perform authentication with the device, and then allocate the temporary device ID.
·The validation of the device ID can be performed by the de-concealment of the ID reported
by the device.
·The authentication between the network and the device can be the authentication request
and the authentication response NAS message exchange between the network and the device.
·The network can also challenge the device and evaluate the response from the device to
ensure the device is valid.
·The device may need to authenticate the network and then provide its response.

In an embodiment, to differentiate devices that need to trigger registration from others, in the same DL command, network needs to indicate whether/which targeted device (s) needs to perform registration.
·Network can make decision on which devices to mandate registration based on the device
information, e.g., in subscription (UDM/UDR) or device capability provided by the device in the initial inventory report.
·The indication can be in form of a 1-bit flag per device ID in the DL command. Thus, in
addition to the list of device IDs in the DL command, the network can have a bitmap indicating which device (s) need to perform registration before the replying to the DL command.
·In case of DL command for read/write/modify, it means device needs to register before
secured/authenticated access (read/write/modify operation) . Figure 3 shows signaling flow for this example of registration procedure triggered by dedicated DL command for read/write/modify.
·In case of DL command for inventory, it means subsequent inventory report triggers
registration. Figure 4 shows a signaling flow for this scenario.
·In a generalization, downlink control signaling is used to indicate which devices (by
including Device ID) should perform a certain action (indicated by a DL control indication) . This would be somewhat similar to existing Downlink Control Indication (DCI) , but with the difference the that the Device ID is explicitly included and a procedure is point out (inventory, DL command, registration) rather that just scheduling information to a RNTI. This downlink control signaling could either be dedicated, i.e., limited to indication to one device, or a list of Device IDs could be included. For example, with a 2-bit indication for the procedure, ‘read’ (UL data) , ‘DL command’ (write) , ‘registration’ , or ‘spare value’ could be indicated. An example of an indication to multiple devices is given in the table 1 below.
table 1: procedure indication to multiple devices

In another sub-embodiment, DL command used to trigger registration can be separated/independent from inventory command/request and DL command for read/write/modify operation.
·Network can command/request device to perform registration any time, irrespective of
inventory status.
·Network can use SUPI/SUCI like ID or stored temporary device ID, if available in case of
already inventoried devices.
·DL command can be originated from CN, Operation Administration and Maintenance
(OAM) , or RAN node. Figure 5 below shows an example signaling flow for the registration procedure initiated by CN.
·In case UL access load triggered by the registration command becomes high, e.g., leading
congestion, network (RAN node) can notify the devices being triggered for registration to stop/suspend/pause/cancel their access attempts to protect network. The notification can be realized by common/broadcast signaling, for example, with a common RRC message containing an indication and/or configuration information to instruct the devices to start random access after e.g., a backoff time. Alternatively, network can control the UL access load by adjusting the Q parameter via DL command requesting targeted devices to pick randomly again a new slot counter value. RAN can determine when to control UL access load itself or based also on the information provided by CN regarding network condition.
·DL command can target a group of devices based on specific manufacturers/items (based
on some fields within EPC) /their geographic location (for example this might be calculated based on GPS coordinates for active devices, and signal strength of backscattered transmission for passive devices) . This is particularly applicable to devices which are already inventoried. An alternate approach which can be used for devices undergoing initial registration, can be to use a pre-registered set of devices identified by the CN based on some global (subscription-based) database. AIoT devices satisfying the condition within DL command can respond based on its energy level, flags, timers or any configured set of fields that depict its inventoried status as mentioned in the following embodiments.

In another sub embodiment, in regards to the separate command initiating registration from CN/RN node (not initiated by AF or application) , the CN/RAN node can learn from other commands (inventory or DL command which may be initiated by AF) and initiate the registration when the network does not expect running inventory or command procedure; this may reduce congestion as registration is done during period when devices are not mass inventoried. For example, if every morning AF sends inventory command, then CN can learn this AF behavior of doing inventory, and CN/RAN node from its ends can initiate registration for probable unregistered devices during the evenings, thus reducing negotiations during inventory procedure in the morning at least for some devices if not for all.

In another embodiment, the DL command used to trigger registration provides sufficient information for the AIoT device to deduce whether it obliged to react to that registration command.

Reasons for being obliged to react to that registration command may be:
-the indicated network identification (PLMN, SNPN, ... ) is different from the network
with which the AIoT device is currently registered.
-time since last registration occasion exceeds a certain threshold
-the indicated area/reader/RAN node identification is different from the
area/reader/RAN node identification with which the AIoT performed previously performed registration.

Reasons for not being allowed to react to that command may be:
-the indicated network identification (PLMN, SNPN, ... ) is explicitly not allowed for
the AIoT device (preconfigured within the AIoT device or indicated at previous registration. )

The DL commond triggering registration provides sufficient information to the AIoT device to deduce from its reaction whether it is eligible be served by the network, with the result of the registration procedure prohibiting the UE to further react on any DL command (registration, command, inventory) within the same network, sub-area of the network or when triggered by the same reader/RAN node identification..

In a related sub-embodiment, the DL command used to trigger non-registration related reactions from the AIoT device, provides sufficient information to the AIoT device so that it is able to at least deduce the network and area/reader/RAN node which triggers the non-registration related action and correlate it with information gained at registration.

In another sub-embodiment, DL command used to trigger registration is the same as the inventory command (at least from device perspective) , when the DL command is generated is determined by the NW itself (i.e., not triggered by or according to instruction from AF) . The NW stores the device info obtained via the registration and it may inform some of the device info (e.g., device ID, device position) either proactively to the AF (i.e., w/o inventory request from the AF) or reactively to the AF (e.g., when AF expects inventory results from the CN) if the device info is still valid.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the full Device ID is not used for DL control indication (DL command) but instead any of the following:
·Filtering of the Device ID. E. g., access index is indicated and only devices with a device
ID fulfilling the following should continue to execute the command, e.g. registration:
оAccess index = Device ID modulus (NAI) , where NAI is the number of access
indexes (NAI=2 leaves devices is to access groups: those with odd and even Device ID) .
оAlternatively, the access index can point to a number of access resources, e.g.
different slots to be used for the registration procedure.
·Network ID
·An assigned access group indicator, e.g. assigned to the device at the same time as the
local device ID.
·RAN scope ID assigned during random access procedure
·ID randomly generated by the UE for contention-based access and then promoted to RAN
scope ID once contention is resolved.

In an embodiment, the device determines to initiate the registration procedure depending on its capability. In other words, the device initiates the registration procedure only when the device is capable of/supporting the registration procedure. In an example, there is an explicit device capability defined for the device indicating whether the device supports the registration procedure. In another example, the device determines whether itself is capable of initiating the registration procedure depending on other conditions, e.g., whether the device has sufficient power/energy available, whether the device has sufficient memory to store necessary information (e.g., keys, tokens etc. which are being used in the registration procedure) . As yet another alternative, the device determines whether to initiate the registration procedure depending on services/data/use cases that the device is applying/intended to apply. For services/data/use cases requiring security/encryption/authentication/authorization, the device may determine to initiate/complete the registration procedure prior to starting these services/data/use cases. While for other services/data/use cases not requiring security/encryption/authentication/authorization, the device may determine to skip the registration procedure prior to starting those services/data/use cases.

In a variant of the above, the devices can perform differently based on different modes of their operation. For example, some of the AIoT devices might keep responding to an initiate request sent by CN, while some others might keep the status of registration until their energy is completely drained. Another set of AIoT devices might be configured to only inventory use cases and not for registration use cases. In such a case for example, the AIoT devices that satisfy/fail to satisfy the criterion within the initiate request might be sent to a ‘mute’ mode for registration. This can be because a certain tag manufacturer might have a prepaid subscription for a maximum set of AIoT devices that are going to be in the operational mode. Here, instead of registration, the reader can send commands equivalent to RFID Challenge to verify the device subscription.

In proposed embodiments, passive A-IoT devices can be triggered by network to perform registration in a dedicated/controlled manner in which random access load and signaling overhead associated with registration of multiple devices is under control by network. That is, which devices register is under NW control and can e.g., be carried out in a turn-based manner instead of all devices performing registration at once. Moreover, signaling overhead associated with registration procedure is reduced by combining/merging/bundling registration with other signaling procedures for inventory and/or DL command (read/write/modify) that targets known/inventoried devices.

Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart showing an example method 600 in the network node, according to the embodiments herein. In an embodiment, the flow chart in Figure 6 may be implemented in the CN node (such as AMF) , RAN node (such as gNB) , OAM node, AF node, or even another A-IoT, such as those shown in Figures 1 to 5.

The method 600 may begin with step S601, in which the network node may initiate an inventory procedure.

In an embodiment, the inventory procedure may be an initial inventory procedure. In an embodiment, the initial inventory procedure may be initiated from an Application Function (AF) .

In an embodiment, one or more device ID of a respective one or more devices may be obtained via the inventory procedure. In an embodiment, the method may further comprise the step of assigning one or more temporary device IDs for the respective one or more devices.

In an embodiment, for a device of the one or more devices, the temporary device ID is assigned after validating the device ID of the device and performing authentication with the device.

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise the steps of setting a timer for maintaining an inventory status of a device; and initiating another inventory procedure, if the inventory status is expired.

Then, the method 600 may proceed to step S602, in which the network node may trigger a registration procedure independent to the inventory procedure, to request one or more devices to perform the registration procedure.

In an embodiment, the registration procedure may be triggered via a subsequent inventory message, a Downlink (DL) command, or a dedicated message.

In an embodiment, each of the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, and the dedicated message may include one or more temporary device IDs of a group of devices.

In an embodiment, none of the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, and the dedicated message is initiated from the AF.

In an embodiment, the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message may include a flag for indicating whether a registration procedure is requested for a specific device.

In an embodiment, the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message may include a procedure indication for indicating the requested procedure.

In an embodiment, the DL command may be one of read, write, or modify command.

In an embodiment, the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message may include information for a device to determine whether to perform the registration procedure.

In an embodiment, whether to perform the registration procedure may be determined by the device based on a capability or an operation of the device.

In an embodiment, the inventory procedure and the registration procedure may be performed at different hours of a day.

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise the step of storing information obtained in the registration procedure without informing the AF, until another inventory procedure initiated from the AF.

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise the step of suspending the registration procedure if the network is in a congestion.

In an embodiment, the registration procedure may be triggered by a Network Function (NF) of Core Network (CN) , a network node of a Random Access Network (RAN) , or an Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) node.

In an embodiment, the one or more devices may be Ambient Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

In an embodiment, the one or more devices may be passive devices.

The above steps are only examples, and the network node may perform any related actions described with respect to Figures 1 to 5.

Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart showing an example method 700 in the device, according to the embodiments herein. In an embodiment, the flow chart in Figure 7 may be implemented in one or more A-IoT devices, such as those shown in Figures 1 to 5.

The method 700 may begin with step S701, in which the device may perform an inventory procedure.

In an embodiment, the inventory procedure may be an initial inventory procedure. In an embodiment, the initial inventory procedure is initiated from an Application Function (AF) .

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise the steps of providing a device ID of the device to the network node in the inventory procedure, and receiving an assigned temporary device ID from the network node.

In an embodiment, the temporary device ID may be assigned after validation of the device ID of the device and authentication with the device.

Then, the method 700 may proceed to step S702, in which the device may perform a registration procedure, in response to a trigger of the registration procedure from a network node, wherein the trigger is transmitted independent to the inventory procedure.

In an embodiment, none the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, and the dedicated message may be initiated from the AF.

In an embodiment, the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message may include a flag for indicating whether a registration procedure is requested for the device.

In an embodiment, the DL command may be one of read, write, or modify command.

In an embodiment, the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message may include information for the device to determine whether to perform the registration procedure.

In an embodiment, whether to perform the registration procedure may be determined based on a capability or an operation of the device.

In an embodiment, the one or more devices may be passive devices.

The above steps are only examples, and the device may perform any related actions described with respect to Figures 1 to 5.

Figure 8 is a schematic block diagram showing an example network node 800, according to the embodiments herein. In an embodiment, the example network node 800 in Figure 8 may be implemented as the CN node (such as AMF) , RAN node (such as gNB) , OAM node, AF node, or even another A-IoT, such as those shown in Figures 1 to 5.

In an embodiment, the network node 800 may comprise a processing circuitry 801; and a power supply circuitry 802 configured to supply power to the processing circuitry 801. The processing circuitry 801 may be configured to perform any of the steps in the example method 600 as shown in the schematic flow charts of Figure 6 respectively; the details thereof are omitted here.

Note that, the network node 800 may be implemented as hardware, software, firmware and any combination thereof. For example, the network node 800 may include a plurality of units, circuities, modules or the like, each of which may be used to perform one or more steps of the example method 600 or one or more steps shown in Figures 1 to 5 related to a network node.

Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram showing an example device 900, according to the embodiments herein. In an embodiment, the example device 900 in Figure 9 may be implemented as one of one or more A-IoT devices, such as those shown in Figures 1 to 5.

In an embodiment, the device 900 may comprise a processing circuitry 901; and a power supply circuitry 902 configured to supply power to the processing circuitry 901. The processing circuitry 901 may be configured to perform any of the steps in the example method 700 as shown in the schematic flow charts of Figure 7 respectively; the details thereof are omitted here.

Note that, the device 900 may be implemented as hardware, software, firmware and any combination thereof. For example, the device 900 may include a plurality of units, circuities, modules or the like, each of which may be used to perform one or more steps of the example method 700 or one or more steps shown in Figures 1 to 5 related to an A-IoT device.

Figure 10 shows an example of a communication system 1000 in accordance with some embodiments.

In the example, the communication system 1000 includes a telecommunication network 1002 that includes an access network 1004, such as a radio access network (RAN) , and a core network 1006, which includes one or more core network nodes 1008. The access network 1004 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1010a and 1010b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1010) , or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 1002 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 1002 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 1002, including one or more network nodes 1010 and/or core network nodes 1008.

Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU) , an open distributed unit (O-DU) , an open central unit (O-CU) , including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP) , a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp) , or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification) . The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 1010 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE) , such as by connecting UEs 1012a, 1012b, 1012c, and 1012d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1012) to the core network 1006 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 1000 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 1000 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs 1012 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 1010 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1010 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1012 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1002 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 1002.

In the depicted example, the core network 1006 connects the network nodes 1010 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 1016. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 1006 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1008) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1008. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) , Mobility Management Entity (MME) , Home Subscriber Server (HSS) , Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) , Session Management Function (SMF) , Authentication Server Function (AUSF) , Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF) , Unified Data Management (UDM) , Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) , Network Exposure Function (NEF) , and/or a User Plane Function (UPF) .

The host 1016 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1004 and/or the telecommunication network 1002. The host 1016 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system 1000 of Figure 10 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) ; Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) ; Long Term Evolution (LTE) , and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G) ; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi) ; and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) , Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, the telecommunication network 1002 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 1002 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1002. For example, the telecommunications network 1002 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) /Massive IoT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 1012 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1004 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1004. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single-or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) , such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio –Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) .

In the example, the hub 1014 communicates with the access network 1004 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1012c and/or 1012d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1010b) . In some examples, the hub 1014 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1014 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1006 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 1010, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1014. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 1014 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1014 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1014 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

The hub 1014 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1010b. The hub 1014 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 1014 and UEs (e.g., UE 1012c and/or 1012d) , and between the hub 1014 and the core network 1006. In other examples, the hub 1014 is connected to the core network 1006 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1014 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1004 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1010 while still connected via the hub 1014 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1014 may be a dedicated hub –that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 1010b. In other embodiments, the hub 1014 may be a non-dedicated hub –that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1010b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

Figure 11 shows a UE 1100 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 1100 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 1012 of Figure 1. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA) , wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage/playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE) , vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) , including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) , vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) , vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) , or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) . In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) . Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter) .

The UE 1100 includes processing circuitry 1102 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1104 to an input/output interface 1106, a power source 1108, a memory 1110, a communication interface 1112, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 11. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The processing circuitry 1102 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 1110. The processing circuitry 1102 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) , etc. ) ; programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) , together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1102 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs) .

In the example, the input/output interface 1106 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1100. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc. ) , a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source 1108 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) , photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 1108 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1108 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1100 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1108. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1108 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1100 to which power is supplied.

The memory 1110 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) , electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 1110 includes one or more application programs 1114, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1116. The memory 1110 may store, for use by the UE 1100, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

The memory 1110 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID) , flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM) , synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) , external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs) , such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC) , integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card. ’ The memory 1110 may allow the UE 1100 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1110, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry 1102 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1112. The communication interface 1112 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1122. The communication interface 1112 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network) . Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1118 and/or a receiver 1120 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth) . Moreover, the transmitter 1118 and receiver 1120 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1122) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1112 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR) , UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) , synchronous optical networking (SONET) , Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) , QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) , and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1112, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature) , random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors) , in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent) , in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request) , or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient) .

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

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal-or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) , and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 1100 shown in Figure 11.

As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

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

Figure 12 shows a network node 1200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points) , base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs) ) , O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU) .

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and/or remote radio units (RRUs) , sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) . Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS) .

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs) , base transceiver stations (BTSs) , transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs) , Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs) ) , and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs) .

The network node 1200 includes a processing circuitry 1202, a memory 1204, a communication interface 1206, and a power source 1208. The network node 1200 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc. ) , which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1200 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components) , one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1200 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs) . In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1204 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1210 may be shared by different RATs) . The network node 1200 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1200, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1200.

The processing circuitry 1202 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1200 components, such as the memory 1204, to provide network node 1200 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes a system on a chip (SOC) . In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1212 and the baseband processing circuitry 1214 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips) , boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory 1204 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , mass storage media (for example, a hard disk) , removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD) ) , and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1202. The memory 1204 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1202 and utilized by the network node 1200. The memory 1204 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1202 and/or any data received via the communication interface 1206. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 and memory 1204 is integrated.

The communication interface 1206 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 1206 comprises port (s) /terminal (s) 1216 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1206 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1218 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1210. Radio front-end circuitry 1218 comprises filters 1220 and amplifiers 1222. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may be connected to an antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1220 and/or amplifiers 1222. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1210. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1210 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1218. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1202. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1200 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1218, instead, the processing circuitry 1202 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1210. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1212 is part of the communication interface 1206. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1206 includes one or more ports or terminals 1216, the radio front-end circuitry 1218, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1212, as part of a radio unit (not shown) , and the communication interface 1206 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1214, which is part of a digital unit (not shown) .

The antenna 1210 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1210 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1218 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1210 is separate from the network node 1200 and connectable to the network node 1200 through an interface or port.

The antenna 1210, communication interface 1206, and/or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1210, the communication interface 1206, and/or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source 1208 provides power to the various components of network node 1200 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component) . The power source 1208 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1200 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1200 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1208. As a further example, the power source 1208 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node 1200 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 12 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1200 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1200 and to allow output of information from the network node 1200. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1200. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of FIG. 10, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 1218 and the RF transceiver circuitry 1212 may be omitted.

Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host) , then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1300 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

Applications 1302 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc. ) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 1304 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1306 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs) ) , provide VMs 1308a and 1308b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1308) , and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1306 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1308.

The VMs 1308 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1306. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1302 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1308, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV) . NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 1308 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1308, and that part of hardware 1304 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1308 on top of the hardware 1304 and corresponds to the application 1302.

Hardware 1304 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1304 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1304 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1310, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1302. In some embodiments, hardware 1304 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1312 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram showing an example computer-implemented apparatus 1400, according to the embodiments herein. In an embodiment, the apparatus 1400 may be configured as the above mentioned apparatus, such as the CN node (such as AMF) , RAN node (such as gNB) , OAM node, AF node, or A-IoT device, such as those shown in Figures 1 to 5.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 1400 may include but not limited to at least one processor such as Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1401, a computer-readable medium 1402, and a memory 1403. The memory 1403 may comprise a volatile (e.g., Random Access Memory, RAM) and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., a hard disk or flash memory) . In an embodiment, the computer-readable medium 1402 may be configured to store a computer program and/or instructions, which, when executed by the processor 1401, causes the processor 1401 to carry out any of the above mentioned methods.

In an embodiment, the computer-readable medium 1402 (such as non-transitory computer readable medium) may be stored in the memory 1403. In another embodiment, the computer program may be stored in a remote location for example computer program product 1404 (also may be embodied as computer-readable medium) , and accessible by the processor 1401 via for example carrier 1405.

The computer-readable medium 1402 and/or the computer program product 1404 may be distributed and/or stored on a removable computer-readable medium, e.g. diskette, CD (Compact Disk) , DVD (Digital Video Disk) , flash or similar removable memory media (e.g. compact flash, SD (secure digital) , memory stick, mini SD card, MMC multimedia card, smart media) , HD-DVD (High Definition DVD) , or Blu-ray DVD, USB (Universal Serial Bus) based removable memory media, magnetic tape media, optical storage media, magneto-optical media, bubble memory, or distributed as a propagated signal via a network (e.g. Ethernet, ATM, ISDN, PSTN, X. 25, Internet, Local Area Network (LAN) , or similar networks capable of transporting data packets to the infrastructure node) .

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

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

Claims

A method performed by a network node for triggering registration, the method comprising:

- initiating an inventory procedure; and

- triggering a registration procedure independent to the inventory procedure, to request one or more devices to perform the registration procedure.
The method of claim 1, wherein the inventory procedure is an initial inventory procedure; and

the initial inventory procedure is initiated from an Application Function (AF) .
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein one or more device ID of the respective one or more devices are obtained via the inventory procedure, and

the method further comprising:

- assigning one or more temporary device IDs for the respective one or more devices.
The method of claim 3, wherein for a device of the one or more devices, the temporary device ID is assigned after validating the device ID of the device and performing authentication with the device.
The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

- setting a timer for maintaining an inventory status of a device; and

- initiating another inventory procedure, if the inventory status is expired.
The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the registration procedure is triggered via a subsequent inventory message, a Downlink (DL) command, or a dedicated message.
The method of claim 6, wherein each of the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, and the dedicated message includes one or more temporary device IDs of a group of devices.
The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein none of the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, and the dedicated message is initiated from the AF.
The method of any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message includes a flag for indicating whether a registration procedure is requested for a specific device.
The method of any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message includes a procedure indication for indicating the requested procedure.
The method of any of claims 6 to 10, wherein the DL command is one of read, write, or modify command.
The method of any of claims 6 to 11, wherein the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message includes information for a device to determine whether to perform the registration procedure.
The method of any of claims 1 to 12, wherein whether to perform the registration procedure is determined based on a capability or an operation of the device.
The method of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the inventory procedure and the registration procedure are performed at different hours of a day.
The method of any of claims 1 to 14, further comprising:

- storing information obtained in the registration procedure without informing the AF, until another inventory procedure initiated from the AF.
The method of any of claims 1 to 15, further comprising:

- suspending the registration procedure if the network is in a congestion.
The method of any of claims 1 to 16, wherein the registration procedure is triggered by a Network Function (NF) of Core Network (CN) , a network node of a Random Access Network (RAN) , or an Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) node.
The method of any of claims 1 to 17, wherein the one or more devices are Ambient Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more devices are passive devices.
A method performed by a device for registration, the method comprising:

- performing an inventory procedure; and

- performing a registration procedure, in response to a trigger of the registration procedure from a network node independent to the inventory procedure.
The method of claim 20, wherein the inventory procedure is an initial inventory procedure; and

the initial inventory procedure is initiated from an Application Function (AF) .
The method of claim 20 or 21, further comprising:

- providing a device ID of the device to the network node in the inventory procedure, and

- receiving an assigned temporary device ID from the network node.
The method of claim 22, wherein the temporary device ID is assigned after validation of the device ID of the device and authentication with the device.
The method of any of claims 20 to 23, wherein the registration procedure is triggered via a subsequent inventory message, a Downlink (DL) command, or a dedicated message.
The method of claim 24, wherein each of the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, and the dedicated message includes one or more temporary device IDs of a group of devices.
The method of claim 24 or 25, wherein none the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, and the dedicated message is initiated from the AF.
The method of any of claims 24 to 26, wherein the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message includes a flag for indicating whether a registration procedure is requested for the device.
The method of any of claims 24 to 27, wherein the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message includes a procedure indication for indicating the requested procedure.
The method of any of claims 24 to 28, wherein the DL command is one of read, write, or modify command.
The method of any of claims 24 to 29, wherein the subsequent inventory message, the DL command, or the dedicated message includes information for the device to determine whether to perform the registration procedure.
The method of any of claims 20 to 30, wherein whether to perform the registration procedure is determined based on a capability or an operation of the device.
The method of any of claims 20 to 31, wherein the inventory procedure and the registration procedure are performed at different hours of a day.
The method of any of claims 20 to 32, wherein the registration procedure is triggered by a Network Function (NF) of Core Network (CN) , a network node of a Random Access Network (RAN) , or an Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) node.
The method of any of claims 20 to 33, wherein the one or more devices are Ambient Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The method of claim 34, wherein the one or more devices are passive devices.
A network node for triggering registration, the network node comprising:

processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 1 to 19;

power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
A user equipment for registration, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of any of claims 20 to 35; and

power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
A device for registration, the device comprising:

an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals;

radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry;

the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of any of claims 20 to 35;

an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the device to be processed by the processing circuitry;

an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the device that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and

a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the device.
A computer readable medium comprising computer readable code, which when run on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-35.
A computer readable product comprising computer readable code, which when run on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-35.