WO2025210591A1 - Methods and nodes for the a-iot command procedure - Google Patents

Abstract

There is provided a method performed by a network node. The method comprises: sending a paging request to a plurality of devices indicating contention based random access resources; receiving a random identity (ID) from a device from the plurality of devices in one of the random access resources; determining an Access Stratum (AS) device ID based on the random ID or transformed random ID; and sending the AS device ID to the device. A method in the device is also provided.

Description

Methods and nodes for the A-IoT Command Procedure

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefits of priority of US 63/575,283, entitled “A-IoT Command Procedure” and filed at the USPTO on April 5, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] This application relates to communication networks and more particularly to methods and apparatuses/nodes for the A-IoT Command procedure.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Zero-Energy Internet of Thing (loT) & Ambient-IoT (A-IoT)

[0004] Wireless loT devices are often battery powered and both the need to change battery and the battery lifetime may be concerns for many potential applications such as asset tracking or environmental/industrial sensors. For this reason, the wireless communications industry has been interested in so-called zero-energy (ZE) devices. ZE devices refer to wireless loT devices that do not require battery replacement, and often harvest energy from the environment. In some use cases, such as monitoring the temperature of foodstuffs, the ZE devices may have small batteries that are disposable (e.g., organic, compostable batteries), rechargeable or have very limited capacity.

[0005] These ZE-IoT devices can in addition be of very small form factor and could even be printable and they target ultra-low power consumption to enable operation based on either energyharvesting from an ambient sources or back-scattering communication (e.g. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)). That is, instead of relying on energy for communication being provided by a battery, it is instead harvested from an ambient source, such as vibrations, solar power, Radio frequency (RF), etc. (harvesting), or a charge carrier wave is provided to the device which is modulated and reflected back to a reader (in the back-scattering communication case). This enables energy autonomous operation during the lifetime of the devices without need for either manual replacement or charging of the batteries. Compared to existing radio access technologies, this puts new requirements on the radio interface and the protocols.

[0006] Deployment scenarios, use cases, services for A-IoT are described in clause 4 of TR 38.848 V 1.0.0.

[0007] Use cases

[0008] Two sets or levels of grouping were defined. The first, Grouping A, is on the basis of the deployment environment(s) described for a use case in TR 22.840 [2], and the second, Grouping B, is on the basis of functionality/application described in TR 22.840 [2], [0009] Grouping A: Indoor, Outdoor, Indoor/outdoor. [0010] Grouping B: Inventory, Sensors, Positioning, Command.

[0011] These two groupings are then used to form representative use cases (rUCs), which are used in Clause 4.2 - Deployment scenarios and connectivity topologies.

[0012] This resulted in the following mapping from SAI use cases and traffic scenarios onto RAN rUCs as illustrated in TR 38.848 V 1.0.0 Table 1/ 4.1.1-1: Mapping between RAN representative use cases and SAI use cases.

[0013] Connectivity topologies

[0014] The following connectivity topologies for A-IoT networks and devices are defined for the purposes of the study. In all these topologies, the A-IoT device may be provided with a carrier wave from other node(s) either inside or outside the topology. The links in each topology may be bidirectional or unidirectional.

[0015] Base Station (BS), User Equipment (UE), assisting node, or intermediate node could be multiple BSs or UEs, respectively. The mixture of indoor and outdoor placement of such nodes is regarded as a network implementation choice. Account would need to be taken of potential impact on device or node complexity. In the connectivity topologies, this does not imply the existence of multi-hop assisting or intermediate nodes. Different topologies are described below with reference to Figs. 1 to 5, respectively.

[0016] Topology 1 : BS A-IoT device (illustrated in Fig, 1)

[0017] In Topology 1, the A-IoT device directly and bidirectionally communicates with a base station. The communication between the base station and the A-IoT device includes A-IoT data and/or signalling. This topology includes the possibility that the BS transmitting to the Ambient loT device is a different from the BS receiving from the A-IoT device.

[0018] Topology 2: BS «-» intermediate node «-» A-IoT device (as illustrated in Fig, 2)

[0019] In Topology 2, the A-IoT device communicates bidirectionally with an intermediate node between the device and base station. In this topology, the intermediate node can be a relay, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, UE, repeater, etc., which is capable of A-IoT. The intermediate node transfers A-IoT data and/or signalling between the BS and the A-IoT device.

[0020] Topology 3: BS assisting node «-» A-IoT device «-» BS (as illustrated in Fig, 3 and Fig. 4)

[0021] In Topology 3, the A-IoT device transmits data/signalling to a base station, and receives data/signalling from the assisting node (as shown in Fig. 3, which illustrates a topology with downlink assistance); or the A-IoT device receives data/signalling from a base station and transmits data/signalling to the assisting node (as shown in Fig. 4, which illustrates a topology with uplink assistance). In this topology, the assisting node can be a relay, IAB, UE, repeater, etc., which is capable of A-IoT.

[0022] Topology 4: UE «-» A-IoT device (as illustrated in Fig, 5)

[0023] In Topology 4, the A- loT device communicates bidirectionally with a UE. The communication between the UE and the A-IoT device includes A-IoT data and/or signalling.

[0024] Deployment scenarios can be as follows:

[0025] Deployment scenario 1 : Device indoors, base station indoors;

[0026] Deployment scenario 2: Device indoors, base station outdoors;

[0027] Deployment scenario 3 : Device indoors, UE-based reader;

[0028] Deployment scenario 4: Device outdoors, base station outdoors;

[0029] Deployment scenario 5 : Device outdoors, UE-based reader;

[0030] Device categories

[0031] A-IoT devices are characterized in the study according to their energy storage capacity, and capability of generating RF signals fortheir transmissions.

[0032] The study considers that a device has either: No energy storage at all; or Limited energy storage.

[0033] Relying on these storage capacities, the study considers the following set of Ambient loT devices:

[0034] -Device A: No energy storage, no independent signal generation/amplification, i.e. backscattering transmission.

[0035] -Device B: Has energy storage, no independent signal generation, i.e. backscattering transmission. Use of stored energy can include amplification for reflected signals.

[0036] -Device C: Has energy storage, has independent signal generation, i.e., active RF components for transmission.

[0037] A limited energy storage can be different among implementations within Device B or implementations within Device C. Such storage is expected to be order(s) of magnitude smaller than a NarrowBand (NB)-IoT device would typically include.

[0038] Devices A, B, and C are able to demodulate control signals, data signals, etc. from the relevant entity in RAN according to connectivity topology.

[0039] Functional and protocol simplifications for A/ZE loT

[0040] For A-IoT, 3GPP will target an loT segment well below the existing Consumer loT (CIoT) technologies rather than replacing the existing 3GPP PLWA technologies. It is expected that together with simplifications in the physical layer design, the higher layer (L2/L3) design will also be much more lightweighted than the existing higher layer design in 3GPP, i.e., a minimal set of functionalities (both at access stratum (AS) and non-access stratum (NAS) levels), which is even more simplified compared to the design adopted for the existing CIoT technologies, should be used to operate A-IoT devices. One way of such simplifications is to design a communication protocol shifted from fully connection oriented with both NAS and Radio Resource Control (RRC) connections between the device and network to connectionless type of communication without RRC connections or even without NAS connections between the device and network so that the protocol and signaling overhead associated with the handshaking between the device and network is minimized. This means A-IoT devices do not setup and maintain an RRC connection with the network, also A-IoT devices do not setup and maintain AS context including (dedicated) radio bearer, logical channel, etc.

[0041] One way to implement connectionless communication is to employ message-based or self-contained transmission where context/control information associated with the signaling/data traffic is transmitted together with or right after the signaling/data traffic where in the latter case (i.e., the right after case) there is no other transmission between the context/control information and the associated signaling/data traffic carrying the information that is needed for reception of the signaling/data traffic. One such example is that in downlink (DL), the signaling/data traffic is transmitted within or right after the paging message.

SUMMARY

[0042] There currently exist certain challenge(s). A-IoT has been agreed to be a study and/or work item for Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Rel-19. Currently, two use cases are prioritized: Inventory and Command procedures. The purpose of the inventory procedure is to get device status, and the purpose of the command procedure is to do read/write in the device.

[0043] The inventory procedure has somewhat common understanding in the 3GPP domain where the core network (CN)/Application Function (AF) initiates the inventory procedure and the RAN node provides the resource allocation to support the inventory procedure. However, the precise way or solution (resource allocation/signaling) is yet to be discussed and agreed in 3GPP. [0044] Also, the command procedure is still not clear as its procedural signaling and resource allocation heavily depend on how the inventory procedure (or registration) is conducted or done.

[0045] Therefore, it is necessary to study the issue pertinent to the command procedure and develop corresponding solutions assuming plausible assumptions for the inventory procedure.

[0046] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

[0047] Generally stated, the embodiments provide a basic framework on executing the command procedure which involves reading/writing at the device. The device is required to be registered or inventoried a-priory so that the new generation (NG) RAN (NGRAN) can establish local context, e.g., in the form of Access Stratum (AS) ID. The AS ID can help the NGRAN to target or follow up or approach the device and perform the command procedure (initiated by a CN/AF). Another alternative to the AS ID is also discussed, which is to utilize dedicated access during the inventory or registration procedure, where in this dedicated access, the command procedure related to tasks (e.g. write, read) can be executed. Some examples provide handling of the command (read and write) procedure subject to the inventory/registration. Some examples provide allocation of the AS ID during the inventory or registration procedure for the command procedure to follow up. Some examples provide allocation or utilization of dedicated access slots during the inventory for the command procedure to follow up.

[0048] For example, there is provided a method in a network node. The method comprises: sending a paging request to a plurality of devices indicating contention based random access resources; receiving a random ID from a device from the plurality of devices in one of the random access resources; determining an AS device ID based on the random ID or transformed random ID; and sending the AS device ID to the device. A network node for performing this method is also provided.

[0049] Furthermore, there is provided a method in a device. The method comprises: receiving a paging request from a network node indicating contention based random access resources; sending a random ID to the network node in response to the paging request, in one of the random access resources; and receiving an AS device ID, determined based on the random ID or transformed random ID. A device for performing this method is also provided.

[0050] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s):

[0051] - Providing a basic framework for how to achieve read/write tasks at the device.

[0052] - Providing an AS ID, which can help devices to follow up in a dedicated manner, thus eliminating collision or contention.

[0053] - The device can use the AS ID instead of a core network node (CN) ID to connect or access the network which has its own benefits. The AS ID tends to be smaller or has low payload size compared to the CN ID.

[0054] The teachings of certain embodiments may improve, e.g., the data rate, latency, power consumption.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] Exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the following figures, in which: [0056] Fig. 1 illustrates Topology 1 in TR 38.848 VI.0.0 for A-IoT networks.

[0057] Fig. 2 illustrates Topology 2 in TR 38.848 VI.0.0 for A-IoT networks.

[0058] Fig. 3 illustrates Topology 3 with DL assistance in TR 38.848 VI.0.0 for A-IoT networks.

[0059] Fig. 4 illustrates Topology 3 with UL assistance in TR 38.848 VI.0.0 for A-IoT networks.

[0060] Fig. 5 illustrates Topology 4 in TR 38.848 VI.0.0 for A-IoT networks.

[0061] Fig. 6 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram for the command procedure initiated by CN/AF for the purpose of read/write at the device, according to an embodiment.

[0062] Fig. 7 illustrates an example of multiple devices that are allocated dedicated resources using scheduling after collision resolution based on devices’ randomly selected CRID.

[0063] Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram, according to some embodiments.

[0064] Fig. 9 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram, according to some embodiments.

[0065] Fig 10 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram for the inventory procedure without the allocation of AS or RAN scope ID, according to some embodiment.

[0066] Fig. 11 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram for the command procedure where the AS ID is allocated first, according to some embodiments.

[0067] Fig. 12 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram for the inventory procedure with the allocation of AS or RAN scope ID, which is followed by command procedure, according to some embodiments.

[0068] Fig. 13 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method in a network node, according to an embodiment.

[0069] Fig. 14 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method in a UE/device, according to an embodiment.

[0070] Fig. 15 shows an example of a communication system, according to an embodiment.

[0071] Fig. 16 shows a schematic diagram of a UE, according to an embodiment.

[0072] Fig. 17 shows a schematic diagram of a network node, according to an embodiment.

[0073] Fig. 18 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0074] 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.

[0075] Terminology and disclaimer [0076] In below embodiments, we have considered or assumed use cases with ultra-low power devices, zero-energy or A-IoT devices.

[0077] The term RAN node is used which can be a network node or a UE. Examples of network nodes are NodeB (NB), base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNB, gNB, MeNB, SeNB, location measurement unit (LMU), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, IAB, repeater, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (CU), e.g. in a gNB, Distributed Unit (DU), 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.g. E-SMLC), 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.).

[0078] 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.).

[0079] 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 periodically configured by the network node. [0080] In this disclosure, ‘A-IoT UE’, ‘A-IoT device’, ‘device’, or ‘UE’ are used interchangeably without losing the meaning.

[0081] In this disclosure, ‘intermediate node’, ‘intermediate UE’, ‘UE’ are used interchangeably without losing the meaning.

[0082] One embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 6, which shows the command procedure initiated by a CN/AF for the purpose of read/write at the device.

[0083] For example, a user/device 10, which is inventoried or registered, can receive a command request (step 40), from a CN/AIoTF 30, via a gNB/reader 20, to initiate a read or write procedure at the device 10 or group of devices. The device 10 or groups of devices can be identified by their CN credentials or IDs which can be included in the command request coming from the CN/AMF/ A-IoT Function (AIoTF) 30. For example, the CN/AIoTF 30 sends the command request, which can include the CN device ID, to the gNB/reader 20. The command request can be a NAS message, which includes device sensitive credentials or IDs or other information. In step 45, the gNB/reader 20 determines the mapping between the CN device ID and an AS ID by searching through a mapping table, for example. Other methods of mapping can be applied, as understood by a skilled person in the art. Once the corresponding AS ID is determined, in step 50, the gNB/reader 20 sends a query/scheduling (of resources) request and a command request to the device 10 using the determined AS device ID. The command request can include the determined AS device ID. Upon reception of the command request, the device 10 sends a command response to the gNB/reader, in step 55. The command response can include the AS device ID. The gNB/reader sends or forwards the command response to the CN/AIoTF in step 60.

[0084] It should be noted that IDs other than the AS ID could be used, which have advantages over the CN ID, for example. Also, it should be understood that the AS device ID or AS ID refer to the same kind of IDs.

[0085] In one example, as described above, in order to follow up with a given device 10 using the command procedure, the RAN nodes/gNB require a handler or local ID in the form of an AS ID or AS device ID. This AS ID can be allocated during the inventory procedure (see Figs. 10 and 12), and/or the registration, and/or prior or before the command procedure or the beginning of command procedure (see Fig. 11).

[0086] In one example, the mapping table at the NGRAN node/gNB contains the mapping between CN IDs and AS IDs for different devices 10. In order to find the AS ID from the mapping table, the command request can include some device credentials outside the NAS message (e.g., in NGAP) so that the device credentials are visible to the RAN node/gNB and thus it can draw out the corresponding AS ID from the mapping table.

[0087] In another example, the AS ID validity is defined for a certain time period, e.g., for some seconds, hours, days or weeks, etc. It means that, once the device is allocated an AS ID, a timer is initiated and the AS ID remains valid until the timer is running.

[0088] In one example, the command request can be of two types:

[0089] - Read-based command request: the command request is sent to read the device’s information (application or device centric information). Taking a cue from RFID memories type, the information can be stored in various devices’ memories, e.g., user bank (for application purpose), memory holding hardware/manufacture information (Tag Identifier (TID) memory), application/device IDs related information stored in Evolved Packet Core (EPC), or similar, memory, other information stored in a reserved memory; [0090] - Write-based command request: the command request is sent to write new or replace old device’s information (application or device centric information). For example, the command request can send commands which allocates/writes: a. new ID (application/CN/temp/RAN scope ID) - this can be saved in EPC or user memory bank; and b. other application information, e.g., product information, manufacturing dates, expiry dates, etc., in user bank or reserved memory bank.

[0091] In one example, the AS ID is not needed if the read/write command request is followed by the inventory procedure in the same access slot, where the access slot is secured by the target device in a dedicated manner. Fig. 7 illustrates multiple devices being allocated dedicated resources using scheduling after collision resolution based on devices’ randomly selected contention resolution IDs (CRID).

[0092] Notably, Fig. 7 depicts multiple users during contention in the inventory procedure and once the collision is resolved using the CRID, the current scheduling chain can be used to initiate the read and write procedure without the need of AS ID . For example, in Fig. 7, two devices select some random IDs (CRIDs), e.g. UL CRID l and UL CRID 2 (see 180), and transmit in UL. The devices will receive common DL messages indicating resource allocation information corresponding to each CRID in the Medium Access Control (MAC) payloads. These multiple MAC payloads can be part of the same physical Transport Block (TB) or separate TBs. The separate TBs will have cost as the device needs to monitor multiple TBs to check the relevant payload. For example, the DL Msg2 for Acknowledgement is received (box 185). This DL Msg2 may indicate resource allocation for:

[0093] - CRID 1 : UL Msg3 and DL Msg4 resource configuration or DL Msg4 is preconfigured w.r.t. UL Msg3;

[0094] - CRID 2 : UL Msg3 and DL Msg4 resource configuration or DL Msg4 is preconfigured w.r.t. UL Msg3.

[0095] Once the dedicated resource allocation or chain is established, the read command (device ID or other application information) or write command can be initiated without the necessity of allocating an AS ID.

[0096] In one embodiment, specifically for the write procedure, the example of Fig. 6 can be modified to include writing signaling examples. Some options are described below.

[0097] Option 1 : After the command request sent by the gNB to the device (or a group of devices), see step 50, the gNB can send additional signaling containing DL data. Then in the command response, the device can include acknowledgement (ACK) for the received data. This option is illustrated in Fig. 8, for example, for the case where the NGRAN schedules the device (DL scheduling command), and then writes data (perform DL data transmission) to the device. The network can combine both DL signalings into one subject to device requirements. The device can send feedback to CN/RAN/AF as per defined policies. Notably, Fig. 8 shows the NGRAN/gNB 20 scheduling the device 10 with resources (DL scheduling command) in step 50, and then writes data (perform DL data transmission) to the device, in step 70. The network node/gNB 20 can combine both DL signaling (scheduling and writing data) into one subject to device requirements. The device 10 can send feedback to the gNB (step 75), which can forward the feedback to the CN/RAN/AF 30 as per defined policies for example, in step 80.

[0098] Option 2: After the command request, the user/device 10 sends feedback indicating it is ready to receive DL data. Then, the network node/gNB can send data, and in response, the device can send to the RAN/CN/AF level feedback. Such an embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 9, for the case where the NGRAN schedules the device, receives feedback for scheduling (of resources) and then writes data (perform DL) to the device. The device can send feedback to CN/RAN/AF as per defined policies. Notably, in Fig. 9, the NGRAN/gNB 20 schedules resources to the device 10 in step 50. Then, in step 82, the gNB 20 receives feedback for scheduling of the resources from the device 10. In step 84, the gNB 20 then writes data (perform DL) to the device 10. The device 10 can send feedback to the CN/RAN/AF (step 88) as per defined policies, via the gNB (step 86). [0099] In one embodiment, the AS ID is not needed to be allocated to a device by the reader. As shown in Fig. 10, the procedure is initiated by the CN 30 for the inventory purpose. Indeed, Fig . 10 illustrates an inventory procedure without the allocation of AS or RAN scope ID . As shown in Fig. 10, in step 100, the CN/AIoTF 30 sends an inventory request to the gNB/reader 20. Upon reception of the message (inventory request), the reader 20 initiates a scheduling/query round towards the device 10 or group of devices 10, by sending a query/scheduling and inventory request to the devices 10, in step 102. An intended device can use a contention-based access procedure to access the channel. In the initial UL transmission, it is sufficient for the device 10 to send a random ID for contention resolution purpose, in step 104. This random ID will be ACKed by the reader (step 106) to indicate that the device 10 is the winner for the access procedure. After that, the device 10 may further provide information in subsequent transmissions (step 108), which is addressed to/with the random ID. After this procedure, the random ID is abandoned by the device and the reader.

[0100] In one embodiment, upon reception of a command message (which is not for inventory purpose), the reader initiates a scheduling round towards devices. This embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 11, which shows the command procedure where the AS ID is allocated first. [0101] For example, as shown in Fig. 11, an intended device 10 would need to initiate a contention-based access procedure to access the channel. In this case, the initial transmission contains a random ID for contention resolution purpose. If the device 10 wins the contention, the reader would promote this random ID to a formal AS ID, which can be the same as the random ID, or a transformed ID based on the random ID. More specifically, in step 120, the CN 30 sends a command request to the gNB 20, the command request comprising the CN device ID. In step 122, the gNB/reader 20 sends the command request and scheduling/query to the device 10. This command request may comprise a random ID for contention resolution purposes. If the device 10 wins the contention, the device 10 sends a response to the reader 20, the response comprising the random ID, in step 124. In step 126, the reader 20 promotes the random ID into an AS device ID or AS ID. In step 130, the reader 20 sends the AS device ID and an acknowledgement to the device 10. Optionally, the reader indicates/signals to the device that the device 10 needs to store/convert this random ID to the formal AS ID. In step 132, the device 10 stores the random ID as the AS device ID received from the reader 20. In step 134, the device sends a command response comprising the AS device ID to the CN/AIoTF 30 (step 136) via the reader 20 (step 134).

[0102] In the subsequent transmissions, the device uses this AS ID to communicate with the reader.

[0103] As a variant, the reader 20 and the device 10 don’t convert the random ID to the AS ID. The device 10 uses the random ID to communicate with the reader after the contention resolution. After the communication is done, the random ID is abandoned by the device and the reader.

[0104] It is beneficial to apply the formal AS ID for a device during the communication with the network. The UE context information (containing the AS ID) can be stored in the network, so that the device can apply contention free based transmissions, by skipping the contention-based access procedure.

[0105] In another example, a command procedure (which is not for inventory purpose) is accompanied with an inventory procedure beforehand. This example is illustrated in Fig. 12. The inventory procedure is aimed to locate the device (i.e., located/close to which RAN node) before sending the command message to the corresponding RAN node. In this example, the RAN node needs to maintain a mapping table between CN device IDs and AS device IDs. After the inventory procedure, the RAN node receives a command request from the CN for the device. The RAN node needs to first search the mapping table in order to find the corresponding AS device ID for the device. After that, the RAN node can initiate communications with the device. [0106] The reason why the reader needs to allocate the AS device IDs to the devices, and also maintain the mapping table, is due to the following reasons:

[0107] - There may be multiple devices in communications with the RAN and the CN. These multiple devices may use different frequency domain resources to communicate with the reader. In this case, the reader needs to identify which device is the target upon reception of a command request message.

[0108] - There may be subsequent transmissions and receptions after the command procedure.

[0109] More specifically, Fig. 12 shows the CN 30 sending an inventory request to the device

10 via the reader 20, in step 140. In step 142, the reader 20 sends the inventory request and the query/scheduling (of resources) to the device 10. The inventory request can be a paging request and can indicate the resources. In step 144, the device 10 sends a random ID to the reader. In step 146, the reader promotes the random ID to the AS device ID. In step 148, the reader sends an ACK and the AS device ID to the device 10. In step 150, the device stores the random ID as the AS device ID communicated by the gNB. In step 152, the device sends an inventory response, containing the AS device ID to the gNB 20. The gNB 20 sends/forwards the inventory response to the CN 30, in step 154. In step 156, the CN 30 sends a command request comprising a CN device ID to the gNB 20. In step 158, the gNB finds the mapping between the CN device ID and an AS device ID by searching a mapping table, for example. In step 160, the gNB 20 sends a query/scheduling (of resources) and a command request comprising the AS device ID to the device 10. In step 162, the device 10 sends a command response comprising the AS device ID to the gNB, which forwards the command response to the CN in step 164.

[0110] In one embodiment, when a device 10 initiates a contention-based access procedure, after the device sends its random ID in the first UL transmission (i.e., Msgl), the reader sends an ACK message (i.e., Msg2) containing the random ID indicating that the device has won the contention resolution. The device sends a further transmission (i.e., Msg3) containing the random ID to the reader. The reader may further reply to the device with a message (i.e., Msg4), which also contains the random ID. In this way, Msg2 and Msg4 can be combined together to address the contention resolution. In other words, Msg2 is used to address the contention where multiple devices select different random IDs. Msg4 in addition is used to address the contention where multiple devices select the same random ID.

[oni] In another embodiment, when a device 10 initiates a contention-based access procedure, the device sends a pre-allocated /predefined AS ID for contention resolution instead of a random ID. In this case, Msg4 would not be needed, since the scenario where multiple devices select/use the same ID for contention resolution can be avoided via proper pre-configuration/pre- allocation.

[0112] Now turning to Fig. 13, an exemplary flow chart of a method 200 in a network will be described. The method 200 can be implemented in a network node, such as a gNB 20 of Fig. 6 and the network node 1510 of Fig. 15 and 1700 of Fig. 17. Method 200 comprises:

[0113] Step 210: sending a paging request to a plurality of devices indicating contention based random access resources;

[0114] Step 220: receiving a random ID from a device from the plurality of devices in one of the random access resources ID;

[0115] Step 230: determining an AS device ID based on the random ID ortransformed random ID; and

[0116] Step 240: sending the AS device ID to the device.

[0117] In some examples, the network node communicates with the device using the AS device ID for subsequent transmissions. In some examples, the network node receives a message from the device, the message comprising an inventory response using the AS device ID. In some examples, the AS device ID is the same as the random ID. In some examples, the network node sends to the device a scheduling request or a command request or a combination of both, using the AS device ID. In some examples, the network node receives a command response from the device using the AS device ID. In some examples, the command request is a NAS message. In some examples, the AS device ID is valid for a time period. In some examples, the network node sends a message to the device to indicate that the device needs to store the AS device ID.

[0118] Now turning to Fig. 14, an exemplary flow chart of a method 300 in a network will be described. The method 300 can be implemented in device, such as an A-IoT UE, for example the device 10 of Fig. 6, and the UE 1512 of Fig. 15 and 1600 of Fig. 16. Method 300 comprises:

[0119] Step 310: receiving a paging request from a network node indicating contention based random access resources;

[0120] Step 320: sending a random ID to the network node in response to the paging request, in one of the random access resources; and

[0121] Step 330: receiving an AS device ID, determined based on the random ID or transformed random ID.

[0122] In some examples, the device communicates with the network node using the AS device ID for subsequent transmissions. In some examples, the device receives a command request from the network node, the command request comprising the AS device ID. In some examples, the device sends a command response to the network node using the AS device ID. In some examples, the device sends a message to the network node, the message comprising an inventory response using the AS device ID. In some examples, the AS device ID is the same as the random ID. In some examples, the command request is a NAS message. In some examples, the AS device ID is valid for a time period. In some examples, the device receives a message from the network node to indicate that the device needs to store the AS device ID. In some examples, the device receives additional downlink (DL) data from the network node, after receiving the command request. In some examples, the device sends a feedback message to the network node, in response to the receipt of the downlink data. In some examples, the device sends a message to the network node, the message comprising an indication that the device is ready to receive DL data.

[0123] Fig. 15 shows an example of a communication system 1500 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0124] In the example, the communication system 1500 includes a telecommunication network 1502 that includes an access network 1504, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1506, which includes one or more core network nodes 1508. The access network 1504 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1510a and 1510b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1510), or any other similar 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 1502 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 1502 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 1502, including one or more network nodes 1510 and/or core network nodes 1508.

[0125] 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 Al, Fl, Wl, El, 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 0-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 1510 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 1512a, 1512b, 1512c, and 1512d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1512) to the core network 1506 over one or more wireless connections.

[0126] 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 1500 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 1500 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

[0127] The UEs 1512 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 1510 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1510 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1512 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1502 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 1502.

[0128] In the depicted example, the core network 1506 connects the network nodes 1510 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 1516. 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 1506 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1508) 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 1508. 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).

[0129] The host 1516 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1504 and/or the telecommunication network 1502. The host 1516 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.

[0130] As a whole, the communication system 1500 of Fig. 15 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.

[0131] In some examples, the telecommunication network 1502 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 1502 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1502. For example, the telecommunications network 1502 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0132] In some examples, the UEs 1512 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 1504 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1504. 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 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).

[0133] In the example, the hub 1514 communicates with the access network 1504 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1512c and/or 1512d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1510b). In some examples, the hub 1514 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1514 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1506 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1514 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 1510, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1514. As another example, the hub 1514 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 1514 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 1514 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1514 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1514 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0134] The hub 1514 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1510b. The hub 1514 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 1514 and UEs (e.g., UE 1512c and/or 1512d), and between the hub 1514 and the core network 1506. In other examples, the hub 1514 is connected to the core network 1506 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1514 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1504 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1510 while still connected via the hub 1514 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1514 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 1510b. In other embodiments, the hub 1514 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1510b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels. [0135] Fig. 16 shows a UE 1600 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 1600 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 1512 of Fig. 15. 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, 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 3GPP, including a narrow band (NB)-IoT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE, an A-IoT UE, and a device such as the device 10 of Fig. 6, etc.

[0136] 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). 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).

[0137] The UE 1600 includes processing circuitry 1602 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1604 to an input/output interface 1606, a power source 1608, a memory 1610, a communication interface 1612, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 16. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, e.g. multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0138] The processing circuitry 1602 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 1610. The processing circuitry 1602 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays, application specific integrated circuits, 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 1602 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). The processing circuitry 1602 may be further configured to perform any of the steps of method 300 of Fig. 14 and method 600 of Fig. 16.

[0139] In the example, the input/output interface 1606 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 smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1600. 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 smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. 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.

[0140] In some embodiments, the power source 1608 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 1608 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1608 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1600 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable . Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1608. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1608 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1600 to which power is supplied.

[0141] The memory 1610 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 1610 includes one or more application programs 1614, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1616. The memory 1610 may store, for use by the UE 1600, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0142] The memory 1610 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 1610 may allow the UE 1600 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 1610, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0143] The processing circuitry 1602 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1612. The communication interface 1612 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1622. The communication interface 1612 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 1618 and/or a receiver 1620 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1618 and receiver 1620 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1622) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0144] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1612 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/intemet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0145] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1612, 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). [0146] 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.

[0147] A UE, when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 1600 shown in Fig. 16. Also, the circuitry and/or software of an A-IoT may be much smaller than an loT device.

[0148] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0149] 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.

[0150] Fig. 17 shows a network node 1700 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, NBs, evolved NBs (eNBs) and NR NBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0151] BSs 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, pico, micro, 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). 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).

[0152] 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).

[0153] The network node 1700 includes a processing circuitry 1702, a memory 1704, a communication interface 1706, and a power source 1708. The network node 1700 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NB 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 1700 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. The network node 1700 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1700, 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 1700.

[0154] The processing circuitry 1702 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 1700 components, such as the memory 1704, to provide network node 1700 functionality.

[0155] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1702 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1702 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1712 and baseband processing circuitry 1714. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1712 and the baseband processing circuitry 1714 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 1712 and baseband processing circuitry 1714 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units. The processing circuitry 1702 may be further configured to perform any steps of method 200 of Fig. 13 and method 400 of Fig. 15.

[0156] The memory 1704 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, RAM, 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 1702. The memory 1704 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 1702 and utilized by the network node 1700. The memory 1704 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1702 and/or any data received via the communication interface 1706. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1702 and memory 1704 is integrated.

[0157] The communication interface 1706 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 1706 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1716 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1706 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1718 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1710. Radio front-end circuitry 1718 comprises filters 1720 and amplifiers 1722. The radio front-end circuitry 1718 may be connected to an antenna 1710 and processing circuitry 1702. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1710 and processing circuitry 1702. The radio front-end circuitry 1718 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio frontend circuitry 1718 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1720 and/or amplifiers 1722. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1710. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1710 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1718. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1702. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

[0158] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1700 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1718, instead, the processing circuitry 1702 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1710. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1712 is part of the communication interface 1706. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1706 includes one or more ports or terminals 1716, the radio front-end circuitry 1718, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1712, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1706 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1714, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0159] The antenna 1710 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1710 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1718 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1710 is separate from the network node 1700 and connectable to the network node 1700 through an interface or port.

[0160] The antenna 1710, communication interface 1706, and/or the processing circuitry 1702 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 1710, the communication interface 1706, and/or the processing circuitry 1702 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.

[0161] The power source 1708 provides power to the various components of network node 1700 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1708 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1700 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1700 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 1708. As a further example, the power source 1708 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.

[0162] Embodiments of the network node 1700 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. 17 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 1700 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1700 and to allow output of information from the network node 1700. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1700. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of Fig. 15, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 1718 and the RF transceiver circuitry 1712 may be omitted.

[0163] Fig. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1800 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 1800 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 1800 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. [0164] Applications 1802 (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.

[0165] Hardware 1804 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 1806 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1808a and 1808b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1808), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1806 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1808.

[0166] The VMs 1808 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1806. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1802 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1808, 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.

[0167] In the context of NFV, a VM 1808 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 1808, and that part of hardware 1804 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 1808 on top of the hardware 1804 and corresponds to the application 1802.

[0168] Hardware 1804 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1804 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1804 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 1810, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1802. In some embodiments, hardware 1804 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmiters 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 1812 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0169] 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. 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.

[0170] 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.

[0171] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings.

Claims

1. A method (200) performed by a network node (1510, 1700), the method comprising:

- sending (210) a paging request to a plurality of devices indicating contention based random access resources;

- receiving (220) a random identity (ID) from a device from the plurality of devices in one of the random access resources;

- determining (230) an Access Stratum (AS) device ID based on the random ID or transformed random ID; and

- sending (240) the AS device ID to the device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with the device using the AS device ID for subsequent transmissions.

3. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, further comprising receiving a message from the device, the message comprising an inventory response using the AS device ID.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the AS device ID is the same as the random ID.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising sending to the device a scheduling request or a command request or a combination of both, using the AS device ID.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving a command response from the device using the AS device ID.

7. The method of any one of claims 5 to 6, wherein the command request is a Non Access Stratum (NAS) message.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the AS device ID is valid for a time period.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising sending a message to the device to indicate that the device needs to store the AS device ID.

10. A method (300) performed by a device (1512,1600), the method comprising:

- receiving (310) a paging request from a network node indicating contention based random access resources;

- sending (320) a random identity (ID) to the network node in response to the paging request, in one of the random access resources; and

- receiving (330) an Access Stratum (AS) device ID, determined based on the random ID or transformed random ID.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising communicating with the network node using the AS device ID for subsequent transmissions.

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, further comprising receiving a command request from the network node, the command request comprising the AS device ID.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending a command response to the network node using the AS device ID.

14. The method of any one of claims 10 to 13, further comprising sending a message to the network node, the message comprising an inventory response using the AS device ID.

15. The method of any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein the AS device ID is the same as the random ID.

16. The method of any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the command request is a NAS message.

17. The method of any one of claims 10 to 16, wherein the AS device ID is valid for a time period.

18. The method of any one of claims 10 to 17, further comprising receiving a message from the network node to indicate that the device needs to store the AS device ID.

19. The method of any one of claims 12 to 18, further comprising receiving additional downlink (DL) data from the network node, after receiving the command request.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising sending a feedback message to the network node, in response to the receipt of the downlink data.

21. The method of any one of claims 10 to 20, further comprising sending a message to the network node, the message comprising an indication that the device is ready to receive DL data.

22. A network node (1510, 1700) for communicating with one or more devices (1512,1600), the network node comprising a network interface (1706) and processing circuitry (1702) connected thereto, the processing circuitry configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

23. A device (1512,1600) for communicating with a network node (1510, 1700), the device comprising a network interface (1612) and processing circuitry (1602) connected thereto, the processing circuitry configured to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 21.

24. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the methods according to any one of claims 1 to 21.