WO2025211908A1

WO2025211908A1 - Activation and deactivation of candidate cell

Info

Publication number: WO2025211908A1
Application number: PCT/KR2025/095141
Authority: WO
Inventors: Siyoung Choi; Sunghoon Jung; Hongsuk Kim
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2024-04-02
Filing date: 2025-03-31
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-02

Abstract

A method and apparatus for activation and/or deactivation of a candidate cell based on joint instantaneous and filtered measurement results is provided. A wireless device receives information related to a condition from the network, derives a cell measurement result of a candidate cell, and determines whether to perform a beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the condition and the cell measurement result.

Description

ACTIVATION AND DEACTIVATION OF CANDIDATE CELL

The present disclosure relates to activation and/or deactivation of a candidate cell based on joint instantaneous and filtered measurement results.

3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a technology for enabling high-speed packet communications. Many schemes have been proposed for the LTE objective including those that aim to reduce user and provider costs, improve service quality, and expand and improve coverage and system capacity. The 3GPP LTE requires reduced cost per bit, increased service availability, flexible use of a frequency band, a simple structure, an open interface, and adequate power consumption of a terminal as an upper-level requirement.

3GPP New Radio (NR) targets a single technical framework addressing all usage scenarios, requirements and deployment scenarios including enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC), etc. The NR shall be inherently forward compatible. Further, the NR should be able to use any spectrum band ranging at least up to 100 GHz that may be made available for wireless communications even in a more distant future.

6G is the successor to 5G cellular technology. 6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency. The 6G technology market is expected to facilitate large improvements in the areas of imaging, presence technology and location awareness. Working in conjunction with Artificial Intelligence (AI), the 6G computational infrastructure will be able to identify the best place for computing to occur. This includes decisions about data storage, processing and sharing.

Layer 3 based mobility has evolved over several releases. Conditional Handover (CHO) and other conditional mobility procedures (Conditional PSCell Addition and Change (CPAC), Subsequent CPAC (SCPAC)) were developed to achieve high robustness by enabling the procedure to be executed without necessitating a signaling exchange with source cell beforehand. L1/L2 Triggered Mobility (LTM) as introduced in Rel-18 offers short interruption time but not with the same level of robustness as the conditional L3 mobility procedures. In Rel-19, enhancements should be specified so that the system can benefit from both the high robustness and short interruption.

In an aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises receiving information related to a condition from the network, deriving a cell measurement result of a candidate cell, and determining whether to perform a beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the condition and the cell measurement result.

In another aspect, an apparatus for implementing the above method is provided.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 3 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 6 shows a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 7 shows a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 8 shows an example of inter-gNB handover procedures to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 9 shows an example of signaling procedure for LTM to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a problem of activation/deactivation of a candidate cell based on L3 measurement to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a method to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

FIG. 12 shows an example of another method to which implementations of the present disclosure are applied.

The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to a variety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multiple access systems include a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) system, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) system, and a Multi Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (MC-FDMA) system. CDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a part of Evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employs OFDMA in Downlink (DL) and SC-FDMA in Uplink (UL). Evolution of 3GPP LTE includes LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-A Pro, 5G New Radio (NR) and/or 6G.

For convenience of description, implementations of the present disclosure are mainly described in regards to a 3GPP based wireless communication system. However, the technical features of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the following detailed description is given based on a mobile communication system corresponding to a 3GPP based wireless communication system, aspects of the present disclosure that are not limited to 3GPP based wireless communication system are applicable to other mobile communication systems.

For terms and technologies which are not specifically described among the terms of and technologies employed in the present disclosure, the wireless communication standard documents published before the present disclosure may be referenced.

In the present disclosure, "A or B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". In other words, "A or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as "A and/or B". For example, "A, B or C" in the present disclosure may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B and C".

In the present disclosure, slash (/) or comma (,) may mean "and/or". For example, "A/B" may mean "A and/or B". Accordingly, "A/B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". For example, "A, B, C" may mean "A, B or C".

In the present disclosure, "at least one of A and B" may mean "only A", "only B" or "both A and B". In addition, the expression "at least one of A or B" or "at least one of A and/or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as same as "at least one of A and B".

In addition, in the present disclosure, "at least one of A, B and C" may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B and C". In addition, "at least one of A, B or C" or "at least one of A, B and/or C" may mean "at least one of A, B and C".

Also, parentheses used in the present disclosure may mean "for example". In detail, when it is shown as "control information (PDCCH)", "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information". In other words, "control information" in the present disclosure is not limited to "PDCCH", and "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information". In addition, even when shown as "control information (i.e., PDCCH)", "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information".

Technical features that are separately described in one drawing in the present disclosure may be implemented separately or simultaneously.

Although not limited thereto, various descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts of the present disclosure disclosed herein can be applied to various fields requiring wireless communication and/or connection (e.g., 5G) between devices.

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to drawings. The same reference numerals in the following drawings and/or descriptions may refer to the same and/or corresponding hardware blocks, software blocks, and/or functional blocks unless otherwise indicated.

The 5G usage scenarios shown in FIG. 1 are only exemplary, and the technical features of the present disclosure can be applied to other 5G usage scenarios which are not shown in FIG. 1.

Three main requirement categories for 5G include (1) a category of enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), (2) a category of massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and (3) a category of Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC).

Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes wireless devices 100a to 100f, Base Stations (BSs) 200, and a network 300. Although FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G network as an example of the network of the communication system 1, the implementations of the present disclosure are not limited to the 5G system, and can be applied to the future communication system beyond the 5G system.

The BSs 200 and the network 300 may be implemented as wireless devices and a specific wireless device may operate as a BS/network node with respect to other wireless devices.

The wireless devices 100a to 100f represent devices performing communication using Radio Access Technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G NR or LTE) and may be referred to as communication/radio/5G devices. The wireless devices 100a to 100f may include, without being limited to, a robot 100a, vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2, an eXtended Reality (XR) device 100c, a hand-held device 100d, a home appliance 100e, an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device 100f, and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) device/server 400. For example, the vehicles may include a vehicle having a wireless communication function, an autonomous driving vehicle, and a vehicle capable of performing communication between vehicles. The vehicles may include an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone). The XR device may include an Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR)/Mixed Reality (MR) device and may be implemented in the form of a Head-Mounted Device (HMD), a Head-Up Display (HUD) mounted in a vehicle, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a home appliance device, a digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. The hand-held device may include a smartphone, a smartpad, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch or a smartglasses), and a computer (e.g., a notebook). The home appliance may include a TV, a refrigerator, and a washing machine. The IoT device may include a sensor and a smartmeter.

In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be called User Equipments (UEs). A UE may include, for example, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a navigation system, a slate Personal Computer (PC), a tablet PC, an ultrabook, a vehicle, a vehicle having an autonomous traveling function, a connected car, an UAV, an AI module, a robot, an AR device, a VR device, an MR device, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTC device, an IoT device, a medical device, a FinTech device (or a financial device), a security device, a weather/environment device, a device related to a 5G service, or a device related to a fourth industrial revolution field.

The wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the network 300 via the BSs 200. An AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices 100a to 100f and the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 may be configured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR) network, and a beyond-5G network. Although the wireless devices 100a to 100f may communicate with each other through the BSs 200/network 300, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may perform direct communication (e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without passing through the BSs 200/network 300. For example, the vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2 may perform direct communication (e.g., Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V)/Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). The IoT device (e.g., a sensor) may perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g., sensors) or other wireless devices 100a to 100f.

Wireless communication/connections 150a, 150b and 150c may be established between the wireless devices 100a to 100f and/or between wireless device 100a to 100f and BS 200 and/or between BSs 200. Herein, the wireless communication/connections may be established through various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink/downlink communication 150a, sidelink communication (or Device-to-Device (D2D) communication) 150b, inter-base station communication 150c (e.g., relay, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB)), etc. The wireless devices 100a to 100f and the BSs 200/the wireless devices 100a to 100f may transmit/receive radio signals to/from each other through the wireless communication/connections 150a, 150b and 150c. For example, the wireless communication/connections 150a, 150b and 150c may transmit/receive signals through various physical channels. To this end, at least a part of various configuration information configuring processes, various signal processing processes (e.g., channel encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and resource mapping/de-mapping), and resource allocating processes, for transmitting/receiving radio signals, may be performed based on the various proposals of the present disclosure.

NR supports multiples numerologies (and/or multiple Sub-Carrier Spacings (SCS)) to support various 5G services. For example, if SCS is 15 kHz, wide area can be supported in traditional cellular bands, and if SCS is 30 kHz/60 kHz, dense-urban, lower latency, and wider carrier bandwidth can be supported. If SCS is 60 kHz or higher, bandwidths greater than 24.25 GHz can be supported to overcome phase noise.

The NR frequency band may be defined as two types of frequency range, i.e., Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2). The numerical value of the frequency range may be changed. For example, the frequency ranges of the two types (FR1 and FR2) may be as shown in Table 1 below. For ease of explanation, in the frequency ranges used in the NR system, FR1 may mean "sub 6 GHz range", FR2 may mean "above 6 GHz range," and may be referred to as millimeter Wave (mmW).

Frequency Range designation	Corresponding frequency range	Subcarrier Spacing
FR1	450MHz - 6000MHz	15, 30, 60kHz
FR2	24250MHz - 52600MHz	60, 120, 240kHz

As mentioned above, the numerical value of the frequency range of the NR system may be changed. For example, FR1 may include a frequency band of 410MHz to 7125MHz as shown in Table 2 below. That is, FR1 may include a frequency band of 6GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or more. For example, a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or more included in FR1 may include an unlicensed band. Unlicensed bands may be used for a variety of purposes, for example for communication for vehicles (e.g., autonomous driving).

Frequency Range designation	Corresponding frequency range	Subcarrier Spacing
FR1	410MHz - 7125MHz	15, 30, 60kHz
FR2	24250MHz - 52600MHz	60, 120, 240kHz

Here, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may include NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) technology for low-power communication as well as LTE, NR and 6G. For example, NB-IoT technology may be an example of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, may be implemented in specifications such as LTE Cat NB1 and/or LTE Cat NB2, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. Additionally and/or alternatively, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may communicate based on LTE-M technology. For example, LTE-M technology may be an example of LPWAN technology and be called by various names such as enhanced MTC (eMTC). For example, LTE-M technology may be implemented in at least one of the various specifications, such as 1) LTE Cat 0, 2) LTE Cat M1, 3) LTE Cat M2, 4) LTE non-bandwidth limited (non-BL), 5) LTE-MTC, 6) LTE Machine Type Communication, and/or 7) LTE M, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. Additionally and/or alternatively, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may include at least one of ZigBee, Bluetooth, and/or LPWAN which take into account low-power communication, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. For example, ZigBee technology may generate Personal Area Networks (PANs) associated with small/low-power digital communication based on various specifications such as IEEE 802.15.4 and may be called various names.

In FIG. 2, The first wireless device 100 and/or the second wireless device 200 may be implemented in various forms according to use cases/services. For example, {the first wireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200} may correspond to at least one of {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the BS 200}, {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the wireless device 100a to 100f} and/or {the BS 200 and the BS 200} of FIG. 1. The first wireless device 100 and/or the second wireless device 200 may be configured by various elements, devices/parts, and/or modules.

The first wireless device 100 may include at least one transceiver, such as a transceiver 106, at least one processing chip, such as a processing chip 101, and/or one or more antennas 108.

The processing chip 101 may include at least one processor, such a processor 102, and at least one memory, such as a memory 104. Additional and/or alternatively, the memory 104 may be placed outside of the processing chip 101.

The processor 102 may control the memory 104 and/or the transceiver 106 and may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 102 may process information within the memory 104 to generate first information/signals and then transmit radio signals including the first information/signals through the transceiver 106. The processor 102 may receive radio signals including second information/signals through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the second information/signals in the memory 104.

The memory 104 may be operably connectable to the processor 102. The memory 104 may store various types of information and/or instructions. The memory 104 may store a firmware and/or a software code 105 which implements codes, commands, and/or a set of commands that, when executed by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and/or the software code 105 may implement instructions that, when executed by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and/or the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to perform one or more protocols. For example, the firmware and/or the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to perform one or more layers of the radio interface protocol.

Herein, the processor 102 and the memory 104 may be a part of a communication modem/circuit/chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 106 may be connected to the processor 102 and transmit and/or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 108. Each of the transceiver 106 may include a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transceiver 106 may be interchangeably used with Radio Frequency (RF) unit(s). In the present disclosure, the first wireless device 100 may represent a communication modem/circuit/chip.

The second wireless device 200 may include at least one transceiver, such as a transceiver 206, at least one processing chip, such as a processing chip 201, and/or one or more antennas 208.

The processing chip 201 may include at least one processor, such a processor 202, and at least one memory, such as a memory 204. Additional and/or alternatively, the memory 204 may be placed outside of the processing chip 201.

The processor 202 may control the memory 204 and/or the transceiver 206 and may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 202 may process information within the memory 204 to generate third information/signals and then transmit radio signals including the third information/signals through the transceiver 206. The processor 202 may receive radio signals including fourth information/signals through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the fourth information/signals in the memory 204.

The memory 204 may be operably connectable to the processor 202. The memory 204 may store various types of information and/or instructions. The memory 204 may store a firmware and/or a software code 205 which implements codes, commands, and/or a set of commands that, when executed by the processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and/or the software code 205 may implement instructions that, when executed by the processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and/or the software code 205 may control the processor 202 to perform one or more protocols. For example, the firmware and/or the software code 205 may control the processor 202 to perform one or more layers of the radio interface protocol.

Herein, the processor 202 and the memory 204 may be a part of a communication modem/circuit/chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 206 may be connected to the processor 202 and transmit and/or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 208. Each of the transceiver 206 may include a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transceiver 206 may be interchangeably used with RF unit. In the present disclosure, the second wireless device 200 may represent a communication modem/circuit/chip.

Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless devices 100 and 200 will be described more specifically. One or more protocol layers may be implemented by, without being limited to, one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as Physical (PHY) layer, Media Access Control (MAC) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer). The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs), one or more Service Data Unit (SDUs), messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure and provide the generated signals to the one or more transceivers 106 and 206. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may receive the signals (e.g., baseband signals) from the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 and acquire the PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure.

The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be referred to as controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. As an example, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), one or more Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may be configured by a set of a communication control processor, an Application Processor (AP), an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU), and a memory control processor.

The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals, messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and/or commands. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be configured by Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, hard drive, register, cash memory, computer-readable storage medium, and/or combinations thereof. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be located at the interior and/or exterior of the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 through various technologies such as wired or wireless connection.

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, to one or more other devices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, from one or more other devices. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit and receive radio signals. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, or radio signals to one or more other devices. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, or radio signals from one or more other devices.

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more antennas 108 and 208. Additionally and/or alternatively, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include one or more antennas 108 and 208. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be adapted to transmit and receive user data, control information, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, through the one or more antennas 108 and 208. In the present disclosure, the one or more antennas 108 and 208 may be a plurality of physical antennas or a plurality of logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports).

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert received user data, control information, radio signals/channels, etc., from RF band signals into baseband signals in order to process received user data, control information, radio signals/channels, etc., using the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert the user data, control information, radio signals/channels, etc., processed using the one or more processors 102 and 202 from the base band signals into the RF band signals. To this end, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include (analog) oscillators and/or filters. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 can up-convert OFDM baseband signals to OFDM signals by their (analog) oscillators and/or filters under the control of the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit the up-converted OFDM signals at the carrier frequency. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive OFDM signals at a carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDM signals into OFDM baseband signals by their (analog) oscillators and/or filters under the control of the one or more processors 102 and 202.

Although not shown in FIG. 2, the wireless devices 100 and 200 may further include additional components. The additional components 140 may be variously configured according to types of the wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the additional components 140 may include at least one of a power unit/battery, an Input/Output (I/O) device (e.g., audio I/O port, video I/O port), a driving device, and a computing device. The additional components 140 may be coupled to the one or more processors 102 and 202 via various technologies, such as a wired or wireless connection.

In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as a transmitting device in UL and as a receiving device in DL. In the implementations of the present disclosure, a BS may operate as a receiving device in UL and as a transmitting device in DL. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is mainly assumed that the first wireless device 100 acts as the UE, and the second wireless device 200 acts as the BS. For example, the processor(s) 102 connected to, mounted on or launched in the first wireless device 100 may be adapted to perform the UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 106 to perform the UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The processor(s) 202 connected to, mounted on or launched in the second wireless device 200 may be adapted to perform the BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 206 to perform the BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

In the present disclosure, a BS is also referred to as a node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), or a gNB.

Referring to FIG. 3, a UE 100 may correspond to the first wireless device 100 of FIG. 2.

A UE 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a transceiver 106, one or more antennas 108, a power management module 141, a battery 142, a display 143, a keypad 144, a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card 145, a speaker 146, and a microphone 147.

The processor 102 may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The processor 102 may be adapted to control one or more other components of the UE 100 to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. Layers of the radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 102. The processor 102 may include ASIC, other chipset, logic circuit and/or data processing device. The processor 102 may be an application processor. The processor 102 may include at least one of DSP, CPU, GPU, a modem (modulator and demodulator). An example of the processor 102 may be found in SNAPDRAGON^TM series of processors made by Qualcomm^®, EXYNOS^TM series of processors made by Samsung^®, A series of processors made by Apple^®, HELIO^TM series of processors made by MediaTek^®, ATOM^TM series of processors made by Intel^® or a corresponding next generation processor.

The memory 104 is operatively coupled with the processor 102 and stores a variety of information to operate the processor 102. The memory 104 may include ROM, RAM, flash memory, memory card, storage medium and/or other storage device. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The modules can be stored in the memory 104 and executed by the processor 102. The memory 104 can be implemented within the processor 102 or external to the processor 102 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 102 via various means as is known in the art.

The transceiver 106 is operatively coupled with the processor 102, and transmits and/or receives a radio signal. The transceiver 106 includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 106 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. The transceiver 106 controls the one or more antennas 108 to transmit and/or receive a radio signal.

The power management module 141 manages power for the processor 102 and/or the transceiver 106. The battery 142 supplies power to the power management module 141.

The display 143 outputs results processed by the processor 102. The keypad 144 receives inputs to be used by the processor 102. The keypad 144 may be shown on the display 143.

The SIM card 145 is an　integrated circuit　that is intended to　securely store the　International Mobile Subscriber Identity　(IMSI) number and its related　key, which are used to identify and authenticate subscribers on　mobile telephony　devices (such as　mobile phones　and　computers). It is also possible to store contact information on many SIM cards.

The speaker 146 outputs sound-related results processed by the processor 102. The microphone 147 receives sound-related inputs to be used by the processor 102.

In particular, FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a radio interface user plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS and FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a radio interface control plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS. The control plane refers to a path through which control messages used to manage call by a UE and a network are transported. The user plane refers to a path through which data generated in an application layer, for example, voice data or Internet packet data are transported. Referring to FIG. 4, the user plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (i.e., a PHY layer) and Layer 2. Referring to FIG. 5, the control plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (i.e., a PHY layer), Layer 2, Layer 3 (e.g., an RRC layer), and a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer. Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 are referred to as an Access Stratum (AS).

In the 3GPP LTE system, the Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, and PDCP. In the 3GPP NR system, the Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, PDCP and SDAP. The PHY layer offers to the MAC sublayer transport channels, the MAC sublayer offers to the RLC sublayer logical channels, the RLC sublayer offers to the PDCP sublayer RLC channels, the PDCP sublayer offers to the SDAP sublayer radio bearers. The SDAP sublayer offers to 5G core network Quality of Service (QoS) flows.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the MAC sublayer include: mapping between logical channels and transport channels; multiplexing/de-multiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one or different logical channels into/from Transport Blocks (TB) delivered to/from the physical layer on transport channels; scheduling information reporting; error correction through Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) (one HARQ entity per cell in case of Carrier Aggregation (CA)); priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling; priority handling between logical channels of one UE by means of logical channel prioritization; padding. A single MAC entity may support multiple numerologies, transmission timings and cells. Mapping restrictions in logical channel prioritization control which numerology(ies), cell(s), and transmission timing(s) a logical channel can use.

Different kinds of data transfer services are offered by MAC. To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple types of logical channels are defined, i.e., each supporting transfer of a particular type of information. Each logical channel type is defined by what type of information is transferred. Logical channels are classified into two groups: control channels and traffic channels. Control channels are used for the transfer of control plane information only, and traffic channels are used for the transfer of user plane information only. Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) is a downlink logical channel for broadcasting system control information, Paging Control Channel (PCCH) is a downlink logical channel that transfers paging information, system information change notifications and indications of ongoing Public Warning Service (PWS) broadcasts, Common Control Channel (CCCH) is a logical channel for transmitting control information between UEs and network and used for UEs having no RRC connection with the network, and Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH) is a point-to-point bi-directional logical channel that transmits dedicated control information between a UE and the network and used by UEs having an RRC connection. Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) is a point-to-point logical channel, dedicated to one UE, for the transfer of user information. A DTCH can exist in both uplink and downlink. In downlink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: BCCH can be mapped to Broadcast Channel (BCH); BCCH can be mapped to Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH); PCCH can be mapped to Paging Channel (PCH); CCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; DCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to DL-SCH. In uplink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: CCCH can be mapped to Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH); DCCH can be mapped to UL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to UL-SCH.

The RLC sublayer supports three transmission modes: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC configuration is per logical channel with no dependency on numerologies and/or transmission durations. In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode and include: transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent of the one in PDCP (UM and AM); error correction through ARQ (AM only); segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs; reassembly of SDU (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDU discard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; protocol error detection (AM only).

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the user plane include: sequence numbering; header compression and decompression using Robust Header Compression (ROHC); transfer of user data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; PDCP PDU routing (in case of split bearers); retransmission of PDCP SDUs; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; PDCP SDU discard; PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; PDCP status reporting for RLC AM; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers. The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the control plane include: sequence numbering; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; transfer of control plane data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of SDAP include: mapping between a QoS flow and a data radio bearer; marking QoS Flow ID (QFI) in both DL and UL packets. A single protocol entity of SDAP is configured for each individual PDU session.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RRC sublayer include: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by 5G Core network (5GC) or Next-Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN); establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and NG-RAN; security functions including key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs); mobility functions (including: handover and context transfer, UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection, inter-RAT mobility); QoS management functions; UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting; detection of and recovery from radio link failure; NAS message transfer to/from NAS from/to UE.

The frame structure shown in FIG. 6 is purely exemplary and the number of subframes, the number of slots, and/or the number of symbols in a frame may be variously changed. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, OFDM numerologies (e.g., SCS, Transmission Time Interval (TTI) duration) may be differently configured between a plurality of cells aggregated for one UE. For example, if a UE is configured with different SCSs for cells aggregated for the cell, an (absolute time) duration of a time resource (e.g., a subframe, a slot, or a TTI) including the same number of symbols may be different among the aggregated cells. Herein, symbols may include OFDM symbols (or Cyclic Prefix (CP)-OFDM symbols), SC-FDMA symbols (or Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols).

Referring to FIG. 6, downlink and uplink transmissions are organized into frames. Each frame has T_f = 10ms duration. Each frame is divided into two half-frames, where each of the half-frames has 5ms duration. Each half-frame consists of 5 subframes, where the duration T_sf per subframe is 1ms. Each subframe is divided into slots and the number of slots in a subframe depends on a subcarrier spacing. Each slot includes 14 or 12 OFDM symbols based on a CP. In a normal CP, each slot includes 14 OFDM symbols and, in an extended CP, each slot includes 12 OFDM symbols. The numerology is based on exponentially scalable subcarrier spacing Δf = 2^u*15 kHz.

Table 3 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot N^slot _symb, the number of slots per frame N^frame,u _slot, and the number of slots per subframe N^subframe,u _slot for the normal CP, according to the subcarrier spacing Δf = 2^u*15 kHz.

u	N ^slot _symb	N ^frame,u _slot	N ^subframe,u _slot
0	14	10	1
1	14	20	2
2	14	40	4
3	14	80	8
4	14	160	16

Table 4 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot N^slot _symb, the number of slots per frame N^frame,u _slot, and the number of slots per subframe N^subframe,u _slot for the extended CP, according to the subcarrier spacing Δf = 2^u*15 kHz.

u	N ^slot _symb	N ^frame,u _slot	N ^subframe,u _slot
2	12	40	4

A slot includes plural symbols (e.g., 14 or 12 symbols) in the time domain. For each numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing) and carrier, a resource grid of N ^size,u _grid,x*N ^RB _sc subcarriers and N ^subframe,u _symb OFDM symbols is defined, starting at Common Resource Block (CRB) N ^start,u _grid indicated by higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling), where N ^size,u _grid,x is the number of Resource Blocks (RBs) in the resource grid and the subscript x is DL for downlink and UL for uplink. N ^RB _sc is the number of subcarriers per RB. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, N ^RB _sc is 12 generally. There is one resource grid for a given antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration u, and transmission direction (DL or UL). The carrier bandwidth N ^size,u _grid for subcarrier spacing configuration u is given by the higher-layer parameter (e.g., RRC parameter). Each element in the resource grid for the antenna port p and the subcarrier spacing configuration u is referred to as a Resource Element (RE) and one complex symbol may be mapped to each RE. Each RE in the resource grid is uniquely identified by an index k in the frequency domain and an index l representing a symbol location relative to a reference point in the time domain. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, an RB is defined by 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain.

In the 3GPP NR system, RBs are classified into CRBs and Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs). CRBs are numbered from 0 and upwards in the frequency domain for subcarrier spacing configuration u. The center of subcarrier 0 of CRB 0 for subcarrier spacing configuration u coincides with 'point A' which serves as a common reference point for resource block grids. In the 3GPP NR system, PRBs are defined within a BandWidth Part (BWP) and numbered from 0 to N ^size _BWP,i-1, where i is the number of the bandwidth part. The relation between the physical resource block n_PRB in the bandwidth part i and the common resource block n_CRB is as follows: n_PRB = n_CRB + N ^size _BWP,i, where N ^size _BWP,i is the common resource block where bandwidth part starts relative to CRB 0. The BWP includes a plurality of consecutive RBs. A carrier may include a maximum of N (e.g., 5) BWPs. A UE may be configured with one or more BWPs on a given component carrier. Only one BWP among BWPs configured to the UE can active at a time. The active BWP defines the UE's operating bandwidth within the cell's operating bandwidth.

In the present disclosure, the term "cell" may refer to a geographic area to which one or more nodes provide a communication system, or refer to radio resources. A "cell" as a geographic area may be understood as coverage within which a node can provide service using a carrier and a "cell" as radio resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) is associated with bandwidth which is a frequency range configured by the carrier. The "cell" associated with the radio resources is defined by a combination of downlink resources and uplink resources, for example, a combination of a DL Component Carrier (CC) and a UL CC. The cell may be configured by downlink resources only, or may be configured by downlink resources and uplink resources. Since DL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of transmitting a valid signal, and UL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of receiving the valid signal from the UE, depends upon a carrier carrying the signal, the coverage of the node may be associated with coverage of the "cell" of radio resources used by the node. Accordingly, the term "cell" may be used to represent service coverage of the node sometimes, radio resources at other times, or a range that signals using the radio resources can reach with valid strength at other times.

In CA, two or more CCs are aggregated. A UE may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or multiple CCs depending on its capabilities. CA is supported for both contiguous and non-contiguous CCs. When CA is configured, the UE only has one RRC connection with the network. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the NAS mobility information, and at RRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the security input. This cell is referred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). The PCell is a cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. Depending on UE capabilities, Secondary Cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. An SCell is a cell providing additional radio resources on top of Special Cell (SpCell). The configured set of serving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells. For Dual Connectivity (DC) operation, the term SpCell refers to the PCell of the Master Cell Group (MCG) or the Primary SCell (PSCell) of the Secondary Cell Group (SCG). An SpCell supports Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmission and contention-based random access, and is always activated. The MCG is a group of serving cells associated with a master node, comprised of the SpCell (PCell) and optionally one or more SCells. The SCG is the subset of serving cells associated with a secondary node, comprised of the PSCell and zero or more SCells, for a UE configured with DC. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC, there is only one serving cell comprised of the PCell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/DC, the term "serving cells" is used to denote the set of cells comprised of the SpCell(s) and all SCells. In DC, two MAC entities are configured in a UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG.

Referring to FIG. 7, "RB" denotes a radio bearer, and "H" denotes a header. Radio bearers are categorized into two groups: DRBs for user plane data and SRBs for control plane data. The MAC PDU is transmitted/received using radio resources through the PHY layer to/from an external device. The MAC PDU arrives to the PHY layer in the form of a transport block.

In the PHY layer, the uplink transport channels UL-SCH and Random Access Channel (RACH) are mapped to their physical channels Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), respectively, and the downlink transport channels DL-SCH, BCH and PCH are mapped to Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) and PDSCH, respectively. In the PHY layer, Uplink Control Information (UCI) is mapped to PUCCH, and Downlink Control Information (DCI) is mapped to Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). A MAC PDU related to UL-SCH is transmitted by a UE via a PUSCH based on an UL grant, and a MAC PDU related to DL-SCH is transmitted by a BS via a PDSCH based on a DL assignment.

Network controlled mobility applies to UEs in RRC_CONNECTED and is categorized into two types of mobility: cell level mobility and beam level mobility. Beam level mobility includes intra-cell beam level mobility and inter-cell beam level mobility.

Cell level mobility requires explicit RRC signaling to be triggered, i.e., handover.

For inter-gNB handover, the signaling procedures consist of at least the following elemental components described in FIG. 8.

1. Step 1: The source gNB initiates handover and issues a HANDOVER REQUEST over the Xn interface.

2. Step 2: The target gNB performs admission control and provides the new RRC configuration as part of the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE.

3. Step 3: The source gNB provides the RRC configuration to the UE by forwarding the RRCReconfiguration message received in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE. The RRCReconfiguration message includes at least cell ID and all information required to access the target cell so that the UE can access the target cell without reading system information. For some cases, the information required for contention-based and contention-free random access can be included in the RRCReconfiguration message. The access information to the target cell may include beam specific information, if any.

4. Step 4: The UE moves the RRC connection to the target gNB and replies with the RRCReconfigurationComplete.

User data may also be sent in step 4 if the grant allows.

Beam level mobility does not require explicit RRC signaling to be triggered. Beam level mobility can be within a cell, or between cells, the latter is referred to as Inter-Cell Beam Management (ICBM). For ICBM, a UE can receive or transmit UE dedicated channels/signals via a Transmission/Reception Point (TRP) associated with a Physical Cell ID (PCI) different from the PCI of a serving cell, while non-UE-dedicated channels/signals can only be received via a TRP associated with a PCI of the serving cell. The gNB provides via RRC signaling the UE with measurement configuration containing configurations of Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)/Channel State Information (CSI) resources and resource sets, reports and trigger states for triggering channel and interference measurements and reports. In case of ICBM, a measurement configuration includes SSB resources associated with PCIs different from the PCI of a serving cell. Beam level mobility is then dealt with at lower layers by means of physical layer and MAC layer control signaling, and RRC is not required to know which beam is being used at a given point in time.

SSB-based beam level mobility is based on　the SSB associated to the initial DL BWP and can only be　configured for　the initial DL BWPs and for　DL BWPs　containing the SSB associated to the initial DL BWP. For　other DL BWPs, beam level mobility can only be performed based on CSI-Reference Signal (RS).

A Conditional Handover (CHO) is defined as a handover that is executed by the UE when one or more handover execution conditions are met. The UE starts evaluating the execution condition(s) upon receiving the CHO configuration, and stops evaluating the execution condition(s) once a handover is executed.

The following principles apply to CHO:

- The CHO configuration contains the configuration of CHO candidate cell(s) generated by the candidate gNB(s) and execution condition(s) generated by the source gNB.

- An execution condition may consist of one or two trigger condition(s) (CHO events A3/). Only single RS type is supported and at most two different trigger quantities (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), RSRP and Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), etc.) can be configured simultaneously for the evaluation of CHO execution condition of a single candidate cell.

- Before any CHO execution condition is satisfied, upon reception of HO command (without CHO configuration), the UE executes the HO procedure, regardless of any previously received CHO configuration.

- While executing CHO, i.e., from the time when the UE starts synchronization with target cell, the UE does not monitor source cell.

L1/L2 Triggered Mobility (LTM) is a procedure in which a gNB receives L1 measurement report(s) from a UE, and on their basis the gNB changes UE's serving cell by a cell switch command signaled via a MAC CE. The cell switch command indicates an LTM candidate cell configuration that the gNB previously prepared and provided to the UE through RRC signaling. Then the UE switches to the target cell according to the cell switch command. The LTM procedure can be used to reduce the mobility latency.

When configured by the network, it is possible to activate Transmission Configuration Index (TCI) states of one or multiple cells that are different from the current serving cell. For instance, the TCI states of the LTM candidate cells can be activated in advance before any of those cells become the serving cell. This allows the UE to be DL synchronized with those cells, thereby facilitating a faster cell switch to one of those cells when cell switch is triggered.

When configured by the network, it is possible to initiate UL Timing Advance (TA) acquisition procedure to one or multiple cells that are different from the current serving cell. For instance, the network may request the UE to perform early TA acquisition of a candidate cell before a cell switch. The early TA acquisition is triggered by PDCCH order or realized through UE-based TA measurement. In the former case, the gNB to which the candidate cell belongs calculates the TA value and sends it to the gNB to which the serving cell belongs. The serving cell sends the TA value in the LTM cell switch command MAC CE when triggering LTM cell switch. In the latter case, the UE applies the TA value measured by itself and performs RACH-less LTM upon receiving the cell switch command.

If UE-based TA measurement is configured, the UE performs RACH-less LTM upon receiving the cell switch command. Otherwise, the UE determines whether to access the target cell with the RA procedure depending on whether a TA value is provided in the cell switch command. For RACH-less LTM, the UE accesses the target cell via a configured grant provided in the LTM candidate cell configuration and selects the configured grant occasion associated with the beam indicated in the cell switch command. If the LTM candidate cell configuration does not include a configured grant, the UE may monitor PDCCH for dynamic scheduling from the target cell upon LTM cell switch. Before RACH-less LTM procedure completion, the UE may not trigger random access procedure if it does not have a valid PUCCH resource for triggered Scheduling Requests (SRs).

The following principles apply to LTM:

- The UE does not update its security key after an intra-gNB LTM cell switch.

- Subsequent LTM is supported.

LTM supports both intra-gNB-Distributed Unit (DU) and intra-gNB-Centralized Unit (CU) inter-gNB-DU mobility. LTM supports both intra-frequency and inter-frequency mobility, including mobility to inter-frequency cell that is not a current serving cell. The following scenarios are supported:

- PCell change in non-CA scenario and non-DC scenario,

- PCell change in CA scenario,

- DC scenario, MCG PCell change and SCG PSCell change without MN involvement case (i.e., intra-SN PSCell change).

While the UE has stored LTM candidate cell configurations, the UE can also execute any L3 handover command sent by the network.

Cell switch command is conveyed in a MAC Control Element (CE), which contains the necessary information to perform the LTM cell switch.

Subsequent LTM is done by repeating the early synchronization, LTM cell switch execution, and LTM cell switch completion steps without releasing other LTM candidate cell configurations after each LTM cell switch completion.

The signaling procedure for LTM is as follows.

1. Step 1: The UE sends a MeasurementReport message to the gNB. The gNB decides to configure LTM and initiates candidate cell(s) preparation.

2. Step 2: The gNB transmits an RRCReconfiguration message to the UE including the LTM candidate cell configurations of one or multiple candidate cells.

3. Step 3: The UE stores the LTM candidate cell configurations and transmits an RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the gNB.

4a. Step 4a: The UE may perform DL synchronization with the candidate cell(s) before receiving the cell switch command.

4b. Step 4b: When UE-based TA measurement is configured, the UE may acquire the TA value(s) of the candidate cell(s) by measurement. Otherwise, the UE may perform early TA acquisition with the candidate cell(s) as requested by the network before receiving the cell switch command. This may be done via Contention-Free Random Access (CFRA) triggered by a PDCCH order from the source cell, following which the UE may send preamble towards the indicated candidate cell. In order to minimize the data interruption of the source cell due to CFRA towards the candidate cell(s), the UE may not receive random access response from the network for the purpose of TA value acquisition and the TA value of the candidate cell is indicated in the cell switch command. The UE may not maintain the TA timer for the candidate cell and relies on network implementation to guarantee the TA validity.

5. Step 5: The UE performs L1 measurements on the configured candidate cell(s) and transmits L1 measurement reports to the gNB. L1 measurement should be performed as long as RRC reconfiguration (step 2) is applicable.

6. Step 6: The gNB decides to execute cell switch to a target cell and transmits a MAC CE triggering cell switch by including the candidate configuration index of the target cell. The UE switches to the target cell and applies the configuration indicated by candidate configuration index.

7. Step 7: The UE may perform the random access procedure towards the target cell, if the UE does not have valid TA of the target cell. The UE may perform CFRA if the LTM cell switch command MAC CE contains information for CFRA.

8. Step 8: The UE completes the LTM cell switch procedure by sending RRCReconfigurationComplete message to target cell. If the UE has performed a random access procedure in step 7, the UE considers that LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the random access procedure is successfully completed. For RACH-less LTM, the UE considers that LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the UE determines that the network has successfully received its first UL data. The UE determines successful reception of its first UL data by receiving a PDCCH addressing the UE's Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity (C-RNTI) in the target cell, which schedules a new transmission following the first UL data. The PDCCH carries either a DL assignment or an UL grant addressing the same HARQ process as the first UL data.

The steps 4-8 can be performed multiple times for subsequent LTM using the LTM candidate cell configuration(s) provided in step 2.

For LTM, the UE may perform link management (e.g., L1 measurement, L1 measurement reporting, or early UL/DL synchronization) to one or more LTM candidate cells based on LTM configuration provided by the network. If the number of LTM candidate cells configured for a specific UE is too large, UE complexity/overhead may increase due to link management of LTM candidate cells.

Support of LTM based on CSI-RS-based L1 measurement is being discussed. LTM based on CSI-RS-based L1 measurement may provide higher-performance inter-cell mobility than LTM based on SSB-based L1 measurement by performing early synchronization and/or activation of fine-beams of the LTM candidate cell. CSI-RS-based L1 measurement may require a larger number of reference signals than conventional SSB-based L1 measurement. Consequently, CSI-RS based L1 measurements may worsen UE complexity/overhead due to link management of LTM candidate cells.

To address the UE complexity/overhead problem due to link management of LTM candidate cells mentioned above, activation/deactivation of one or more LTM candidate cells may be considered. Furthermore, UE-based LTM trigger, e.g., execution condition-based mobility like CHO, would be standardized. LTM triggered by the UE based on, e.g., execution condition, may called Conditional LTM (CLTM). For CLTM, UE-based activation/deactivation of one or more LTM candidate cells may be necessary.

For LTM candidate cells, the L3 measurement configuration (i.e., measurement object) may be provided separately from the L1 measurement configuration for LTM. The average value taken from the L1 measurement in the time domain (e.g., exponential weighted moving average) may be used as the L3 measurement result. In other words, the L3 measurement result may be a filtered measurement result based on the L1 measurement results (e.g., instantaneous measurement results), where filtering may be performed in time domain, spatial domain, etc.

The filtered measurement result based on instantaneous measurement results may not reflect rapid change of channel quality in an environment where channel quality changes dynamically (e.g., FR2 environment). Since LTM (and/or CLTM) is a mobility dependent on instantaneous measurement result (e.g., L1 measurement result), LTM candidate cell management (e.g., activation/deactivation of LTM candidate cell) based on filtered measurement result (e.g., L3 measurement result) may reduce LTM cell switch opportunities, resulting in degradation of UE QoS/Quality of Experience (QoE).

Referring to FIG. 10, the UE operation over time is as follows.

- At time point t0: A candidate cell deactivation is performed. That is, link management of the candidate cell is deactivated.

- At time point t1: Even though the instantaneous L1 measurement result is good enough, the candidate cell deactivation is maintained because the filtered L3 measurement result is not good enough for activating the candidate cell.

- At time point t2: Even though the instantaneous L1 measurement result is good enough, the candidate cell deactivation is maintained because the filtered L3 measurement result is not good enough for activating the candidate cell.

- At time point t3: A candidate cell activation is performed based on the filtered L3 measurement. That is, link management of the candidate cell is activated.

- After time point t3: It is possible to perform LTM cell switch to the candidate cell.

At time point t1 or t2, LTM cell switch could be performed with the candidate cell based on the L1 measurement, but the LTM cell switch opportunity was missed due to candidate cell deactivation based on the L3 measurement. If the candidate cell was activated at time point t1 or t2, LTM cell switch could be performed earlier than time point t3.

In other words, candidate cell activation based on L3 measurement may cause late candidate cell activation, which can result in missed LTM cell switch opportunity or late LTM cell switch. Therefore, it may be necessary to consider instantaneous channel quality (e.g., L1 measurement) for candidate cell activation.

Meanwhile, candidate cell deactivation based on L3 measurement may also cause late candidate cell deactivation, but the problem may be minimal compared to the candidate cell activation based on L3 measurement. In addition, candidate cell deactivation based on L1 measurement may cause increase UE complexity due to frequent deactivation/activation.

Therefore, an evaluation condition may be needed for which candidate cell deactivation is performed conservatively and candidate cell activation is performed aggressively.

According to implementations of the present disclosure, the UE may receive one or more candidate cell configurations for mobility. Each candidate cell configuration may include a link management configuration for each candidate cell.

According to implementations of the present disclosure, the UE may receive information related to a condition for activation and/or deactivation of link management for each candidate cell. The information related to the condition may be included in each candidate cell configuration and/or each link management configuration. For the condition, instantaneous measurement result (e.g., L1 measurement result) and filtered measurement result (e.g., L3 measurement result) may be jointly considered.

According to implementations of the present disclosure, if the deactivation condition for an activated candidate cell is met, the UE may stop performing link management of the candidate cell. If the activation condition for a deactivated candidate cell is met, the UE may start performing ink management of the candidate cell.

According to implementations of the present disclosure, in order to increase LTM cell switch opportunities, the deactivation condition may be based on filtered measurement results, but the activation condition may be based on joint measurement result of instantaneous and filtered measurement results.

For example, the deactivation of the LTM candidate cell may be performed based on a condition related to L3 measurement result. For example, the condition for deactivating a candidate cell may be that L3 measurement result is smaller than threshold 1.

For example, the activation of the LTM candidate cell may be performed based on a condition related to joint of L1 measurement result and L3 measurement result. For example, the condition for activating a candidate cell may be that L1 measurement is larger than a threshold 2 or L3 measurement result is larger than threshold. For another example, the condition for activating a candidate cell may be that L1 measurement result is larger than threshold 2 and difference from between L1 measurement result and L3 measurement result is larger than threshold 3.

In the present disclosure, L1 measurement (result) may have the same meaning as instantaneous measurement (result) and/or beam measurement (result). L3 measurement (result) may have the same meaning as filtered measurement (result) and/or cell measurement (result).

In the present disclosure, link management may refer to evaluating and/or measuring some resources/reference signals/measurement targets for performing LTM to one or more LTM candidate cells. For example, link management may include at least one of L1 measurement, L1 measurement reporting, or early UL/DL synchronization.

In the present disclosure, for the sake of convenience, a Cell Group (CG) may be classified as regular CG and candidate CG. Regular SCG may be activated or deactivated based on network command or UE based condition. Candidate CG may be activated as regular CG if applicable condition is met. Regular CG may become candidate CG if applicable condition is met. For example, if there is a constraint that only one regular SCG can be activated, if a candidate SCG candidate becomes a new regular SCG, the previous regular SCG may become a candidate SCG.

The following drawings are created to explain specific embodiments of the present disclosure. The names of the specific devices or the names of the specific signals/messages/fields shown in the drawings are provided by way of example, and thus the technical features of the present disclosure are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

In step S1100, the method comprises receiving a configuration for a candidate cell for mobility from a network.

In some implementations, the configuration may include a link management configuration. For example, the wireless device may be configured with a list of link management configuration for one or more candidate cells.

In some implementations, the link management configuration may be associated with at least one or more cell groups. For example, a certain link management configuration may be associated with a specific CG, e.g., MCG or SCG. For example, A certain link management configuration may be associated with a candidate CG.

In some implementations, each link management configuration may comprise link management resource information and/or link management parameters.

For example, the link management configuration may comprise resource information related to a radio link monitoring (RLM) and/or parameters for the RLM. That is, the link management configuration may be for RLM configuration. For example, the RLM configuration may comprise RLM resources (e.g., RS information) and/or RLM parameters (e.g., counter, timer).

For example, the link management configuration may comprise resource information related to a beam failure detection (BFD) and/or parameters for the BFD. That is, the link management configuration may be for BFD configuration. For example, the BFD configuration may comprise BFD resources (e.g., RS information) and/or BFD parameters (e.g., counter, timer).

For example, the link management configuration may comprise parameters related to UL timing management operation. For example, the link management configuration may include uplink signaling such as RACH resources, uplink reference signaling such as Sounding RS (SRS), and UE based Timing Advance (TA) measurement, etc.

For example, the link management configuration may comprise parameters related to DL synchronization. For example, the link management configuration may include beam information (e.g., SSB, Transmission Configuration Index (TCI) state configuration).

In some implementations, the link management configuration may comprise common resource information and/or common parameters applicable for both a regular cell group and a candidate cell group, and the link management configuration may be configured separately for the regular cell group and the candidate cell group, respectively. For example, the link management configuration may comprise separate link management resource information and/or link management parameters for regular CG and candidate CG, respectively. The link management configuration may comprise common link management resource information and/or link management parameters applicable for both regular CG and candidate CG.

In some implementations, the link management configuration may comprise common resource information and/or common parameters applicable for both an activated candidate cell group and a deactivated candidate cell group, and the link management configuration may be configured separately for the activated candidate cell group and the deactivated candidate cell group, respectively. For example, the link management configuration may comprise separate link management resource information and/or link management parameters for activated candidate CG and deactivated candidate CG, respectively. The link management configuration may comprise common link management resource information and link management parameters applicable for both activated candidate CG and deactivated candidate CG.

In some implementations, the configuration may include information related to an initial state of link management (e.g., activated or deactivated)

In step S1110, the method comprises receiving information related to a condition from the network.

In some implementations, the wireless device may be configured with activation condition and/or deactivation condition for one or more candidate cells.

The deactivation condition for link management of an activated candidate cell may include at least one of the followings.

- Filtered measurement result(s) based condition: e.g., filtered measurement result is smaller than threshold_1

- Instantaneous measurement result(s) based condition: e.g., instantaneous measurement result is smaller than threshold_2

- Condition based on joint instantaneous and filtered measurement result(s): e.g., filtered measurement result is smaller than threshold_3 and instantaneous measurement result is smaller than threshold_4, or filtered measurement result is smaller than threshold_3 or instantaneous measurement result is smaller than threshold_4

The activation condition for link management of a deactivated candidate cell may include at least one of the followings.

- Filtered measurement result(s) based condition: e.g. filtered measurement result is larger than threshold_5

- Instantaneous measurement result(s) based condition: e.g. instantaneous measurement result is larger than threshold_6

- Condition based on joint instantaneous and filtered measurement result(s): e.g. filtered measurement result is larger than threshold_7 and instantaneous measurement result is larger than threshold_8, or e.g. filtered measurement result is larger than threshold_7 or instantaneous measurement result is larger than threshold_8

In some implementations, in order to increase LTM cell switch opportunities, the deactivation condition may be based on filtered measurement results, whereas the activation condition may be based on joint measurement result of instantaneous and filtered measurement results.

In some implementations, the instantaneous measurement result may refer to at least one of the followings.

- RSRP of a beam associated with a specific SSB for a given time;

- RSRQ of a beam associated with a specific SSB for a given time;

- SINR of a beam associated with a specific SSB for a given time;

- RSRP of a beam associated with a specific CSI-RS for a given time;

- RSRQ of a beam associated with a specific CSI-RS for a given time;

- SINR of a beam associated with a specific CSI-RS for a given time;

- L1 measurement result in 5G NR

In some implementations, the filtered measurement result may refer to at least one of the followings.

- Spatial average of instantaneous measurement results: e.g. average value of instantaneous measurement results corresponding to all SSB related beams associated with the candidate cell, or average value of instantaneous measurement results corresponding to all CSI-RS related beams associated with the candidate cell, or average value of instantaneous measurement results corresponding to top-k beams

- Temporal average of instantaneous measurement results: e.g., average value of instantaneous measurement results over a time window, or Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) of instantaneous measurement results over a time window

- Spatial-temporal average of instantaneous measurement results

- Instantaneous measurement results of top-k beams

- Best instantaneous measurement result and differential value between the best instantaneous measurement result and other instantaneous measurement results

- Differential value compared to the previous filtered measurement result

- Differential value compared to the previous instantaneous measurement result

- L3 measurement result in 5G NR

In step S1120, the method comprises deriving a cell measurement result of the candidate cell.

For example, the network may configure the wireless device in RRC_CONNECTED to derive RSRP, RSRQ and SINR measurement results per cell associated to NR measurement objects based on parameters configured in the measObject (e.g. maximum number of beams to be averaged and beam consolidation thresholds) and in the reportConfig (rsType to be measured, SS/PBCH block or CSI-RS).

The network may configure the wireless device in RRC_IDLE or in RRC_INACTIVE to derive RSRP and RSRQ measurement results per cell associated to NR carriers based on parameters configured in measIdleCarrierListNR within VarMeasIdleConfig.

The UE may:

1> for each cell measurement quantity to be derived based on SS/PBCH block:

2> if nrofSS-BlocksToAverage is not configured in the associated measObject in RRC_CONNECTED or in the associated entry in measIdleCarrierListNR within VarMeasIdleConfig in RRC_IDLE/RRC_INACTIVE; or

2> if absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation is not configured in the associated measObject in RRC_CONNECTED or in the associated entry in measIdleCarrierListNR within VarMeasIdleConfig in RRC_IDLE/RRC_INACTIVE; or

2> if the highest beam measurement quantity value is below or equal to absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation:

3> derive each cell measurement quantity based on SS/PBCH block as the highest beam measurement quantity value;

2> else:

3> derive each cell measurement quantity based on SS/PBCH block as the linear power scale average of the highest beam measurement quantity values above absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation where the total number of averaged beams shall not exceed nrofSS-BlocksToAverage;

2> if in RRC_CONNECTED, apply layer 3 cell filtering;

1> for each cell measurement quantity to be derived based on CSI-RS:

2> consider a CSI-RS resource to be applicable for deriving cell measurements when the concerned CSI-RS resource is included in the csi-rs-CellMobility including the physCellId of the cell in theCSI-RSResourceConfigMobility in the associated measObject;

2> if nrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage in the associated measObject is not configured; or

2> if absThreshCSI-RS-Consolidation in the associated measObject is not configured; or

2> if the highest beam measurement quantity value is below or equal to absThreshCSI-RS-Consolidation:

3> derive each cell measurement quantity based on applicable CSI-RS resources for the cell as the highest beam measurement quantity value;

2> else:

3> derive each cell measurement quantity based on CSI-RS as the linear power scale average of the highest beam measurement quantity values above absThreshCSI-RS-Consolidation where the total number of averaged beams shall not exceed nrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage;

2> apply layer 3 cell filtering.

For derivation of layer 3 beam filtered measurement, the UE may:

1> for each layer 3 beam filtered measurement quantity to be derived based on SS/PBCH block;

2> derive each configured beam measurement quantity based on SS/PBCH block, and apply layer 3 beam filtering;

1> for each layer 3 beam filtered measurement quantity to be derived based on CSI-RS;

2> derive each configured beam measurement quantity based on CSI-RS, and apply layer 3 beam filtering.

In step S1130, the method comprises determining whether to perform a beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the condition and the cell measurement result.

In some implementations, it may be determined not to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the cell measurement result satisfying the condition. The cell measurement result satisfying the condition may comprise the cell measurement result being smaller than a first threshold. The method may further comprise informing the network that the beam measurement related to the candidate cell is determined not to be performed. The method may further comprise stopping and/or pausing an operation related to the beam management of the candidate cell based on determining not to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell.

For example, the wireless device may deactivate link management operation of the candidate cell if the deactivation condition for the candidate cell is met. The wireless device may indicate deactivation of link management of a candidate cell to the network. The wireless device may stop/pause operations related to the link management of the candidate cell upon deactivation. Deactivation of candidate cell may include at least one of the following operations.

- Stop/pause LTM L1 measurement of the candidate cell

- Stop/pause early DL synchronization (e.g., early TCI state activation) to the candidate cell: The wireless device may deactivate the activated TCI states corresponding to the candidate cell upon deactivation.

- Stop/pause early UL synchronization (e.g., UE based TA measurement, RACH-based early TA acquisition) to the candidate cell: The wireless device may stop measuring UE based TA of the candidate cell upon deactivation. The wireless device may delete the UE based TA measurement of the candidate cell upon deactivation.

- Stop/pause RLM of the candidate cell

In some implementations, it may be determined to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the cell measurement result and a beam measurement result satisfying the condition. The cell measurement result and the beam measurement result satisfying the condition may comprise the cell measurement result being larger than a second threshold and/or the beam measurement result being larger than a third threshold. The method may further comprise informing the network that the beam measurement related to the candidate cell is determined to be performed to the network. The method may further comprise starting an operation related to the beam management of the candidate cell based on determining to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell.

For example, the wireless device may activate link management operation of the candidate cell if the activation condition for the candidate cell is met. The wireless device may indicate activation of link management of a candidate cell to the network. The wireless device may start operations related to the link management of the candidate cell upon activation. Activation of candidate cell may include at least one of the following operations.

- Start LTM L1 measurement of the candidate cell based on the link management configuration

- Start early DL synchronization (e.g., early TCI state activation) to the candidate cell based on the link management configuration

- Start early UL synchronization (e.g., UE based TA measurement, RACH-based early TA acquisition) to the candidate cell based on the link management configuration: The wireless device may start measuring UE based TA of the candidate cell upon deactivation.

- Start radio RLM of the candidate cell based on the link management configuration

In some implementations, the method may be performed by a wireless device. the wireless device may be in communication with at least one of a mobile device, a network, and/or autonomous vehicles other than the wireless device.

Furthermore, the method described above in FIG. 11 may be performed by a wireless device. The wireless device may be implemented by the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2 and/or the UE 100 shown in FIG. 3.

The wireless device comprises at least one transceiver, at least one processor, and at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform the method described in FIG. 11.

More specifically, the wireless device receives a configuration for a candidate cell for mobility from a network.

For example, the link management configuration may comprise resource information related to a radio link monitoring and/or parameters for the RLM. That is, the link management configuration may be for RLM configuration. For example, the RLM configuration may comprise RLM resources (e.g., RS information) and/or RLM parameters (e.g., counter, timer).

For example, the link management configuration may comprise resource information related to a beam failure detection and/or parameters for the BFD. That is, the link management configuration may be for BFD configuration. For example, the BFD configuration may comprise BFD resources (e.g., RS information) and/or BFD parameters (e.g., counter, timer).

For example, the link management configuration may comprise parameters related to UL timing management operation. For example, the link management configuration may include uplink signaling such as RACH resources, uplink reference signaling such as SRS, and UE based TA measurement, etc.

For example, the link management configuration may comprise parameters related to DL synchronization. For example, the link management configuration may include beam information (e.g., SSB, TCI state configuration).

The wireless device receives information related to a condition from the network.

- RSRP of a beam associated with a specific SSB for a given time;

- RSRQ of a beam associated with a specific SSB for a given time;

- SINR of a beam associated with a specific SSB for a given time;

- RSRP of a beam associated with a specific CSI-RS for a given time;

- RSRQ of a beam associated with a specific CSI-RS for a given time;

- SINR of a beam associated with a specific CSI-RS for a given time;

- L1 measurement result in 5G NR

- Temporal average of instantaneous measurement results: e.g., average value of instantaneous measurement results over a time window, or EWMA of instantaneous measurement results over a time window

- Spatial-temporal average of instantaneous measurement results

- Instantaneous measurement results of top-k beams

- Differential value compared to the previous filtered measurement result

- Differential value compared to the previous instantaneous measurement result

- L3 measurement result in 5G NR

The wireless device derives a cell measurement result of the candidate cell.

The wireless device determines whether to perform a beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the condition and the cell measurement result.

- Stop/pause LTM L1 measurement of the candidate cell

- Stop/pause RLM of the candidate cell

Furthermore, the method described above in FIG. 11 may be performed by control of a processing apparatus adapted to control a wireless device. The processing apparatus may be implemented by the processor 102 included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2 and/or the processor 102 included in the UE 100 shown in FIG. 3.

The processing apparatus adapted to control the wireless device comprises at least one processor, and at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is adapted to perform the method described in FIG. 11.

Furthermore, the method described above in FIG. 11 may be performed by a software code 105 stored in the memory 104 included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2.

The technical features of the present disclosure may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. For example, a method performed by a wireless device in a wireless communication may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. For example, a software may reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other storage medium.

Some example of storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. For other example, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.

The computer-readable medium may include a tangible and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

For example, non-transitory computer-readable media may include RAM such as Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), ROM, Non-Volatile RAM (NVRAM), EEPROM, flash memory, magnetic or optical data storage media, or any other medium that can be used to store instructions or data structures. Non-transitory computer-readable media may also include combinations of the above.

In addition, the method described herein may be realized at least in part by a computer-readable communication medium that carries or communicates code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed, read, and/or executed by a computer.

According to some implementations of the present disclosure, a non-transitory Computer-Readable Medium (CRM) stores instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor, perform the method described in FIG. 11.

In step S1200, the method comprises transmitting a configuration for a candidate cell for mobility to a wireless device.

In step S1210, the method comprises transmitting information related to a condition to the wireless device.

A cell measurement result of the candidate cell is derived, and whether to perform a beam measurement related to the candidate cell is determined based on the condition and the cell measurement result.

Furthermore, the method described above in FIG. 12 may be performed by a base station. The base station may be implemented by the second wireless device 200 shown in FIG. 2.

The base station comprises at least one transceiver, at least one processor, and at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform the method described in FIG. 12.

More specifically, the base station transmits a configuration for a candidate cell for mobility to a wireless device.

The base station transmits information related to a condition to the wireless device.

The present disclosure may have various advantageous effects.

For example, UE complexity/overhead can be reduced by not performing link management (e.g., L1 measurement, L1 measurement reporting, early UL/DL synchronization, etc.) for some candidate cells through candidate cell deactivation.

For example, by considering joint L1 and L3 measurement for candidate cell activation, LTM cell switch can be performed in a timely manner.

For example, QoE/QoS for the UE can increase.

Advantageous effects which can be obtained through specific embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the advantageous effects listed above. For example, there may be a variety of technical effects that a person having ordinary skill in the related art can understand and/or derive from the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specific effects of the present disclosure are not limited to those explicitly described herein, but may include various effects that may be understood or derived from the technical features of the present disclosure.

Claims in the present disclosure can be combined in a various way. For instance, technical features in method claims of the present disclosure can be combined to be implemented or performed in an apparatus, and technical features in apparatus claims can be combined to be implemented or performed in a method. Further, technical features in method claim(s) and apparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed in an apparatus. Further, technical features in method claim(s) and apparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed in a method. Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

A method comprising:

receiving a configuration for a candidate cell for mobility from a network;

receiving information related to a condition from the network;

deriving a cell measurement result of the candidate cell; and

determining whether to perform a beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the condition and the cell measurement result.
The method of claim 1, wherein it is determined not to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the cell measurement result satisfying the condition.
The method of claim 2, wherein the cell measurement result satisfying the condition comprises the cell measurement result being smaller than a first threshold.
The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the method further comprises informing the network that the beam measurement related to the candidate cell is determined not to be performed.
The method of any claims 2 to 4, wherein the method further comprises stopping and/or pausing an operation related to the beam management of the candidate cell based on determining not to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell.
The method of claim 1, wherein it is determined to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell based on the cell measurement result and a beam measurement result satisfying the condition.
The method of claim 6, wherein the cell measurement result and the beam measurement result satisfying the condition comprises the cell measurement result being larger than a second threshold and/or the beam measurement result being larger than a third threshold.
The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the method further comprises informing the network that the beam measurement related to the candidate cell is determined to be performed to the network.
The method of any claims 6 to 8, wherein the method further comprises starting an operation related to the beam management of the candidate cell based on determining to perform the beam measurement related to the candidate cell.
The method of any claims 1 to 9, wherein the configuration includes a link management configuration.
The method of claim 10, wherein the link management configuration is associated with at least one or more cell groups.
The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the link management configuration comprises resource information related to a radio link monitoring (RLM) and/or parameters for the RLM.
The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the link management configuration comprises resource information related to a beam failure detection (BFD) and/or parameters for the BFD.
The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the link management configuration comprises parameters related to an uplink (UL) timing management operation.
The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the link management configuration comprises parameters related to a downlink (DL) synchronization.
The method of any claims 10 to 15, wherein the link management configuration comprises common resource information and/or common parameters applicable for both a regular cell group and a candidate cell group, and

wherein the link management configuration is configured separately for the regular cell group and the candidate cell group, respectively.
The method of any claims 10 to 15, wherein the link management configuration comprises common resource information and/or common parameters applicable for both an activated candidate cell group and a deactivated candidate cell group, and

wherein the link management configuration is configured separately for the activated candidate cell group and the deactivated candidate cell group, respectively.
The method of any claims 10 to 17, wherein the configuration includes information related to an initial state of link management.
The method of any claims 1 to 18, wherein a result of the beam measurement comprises at least one of: i) a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of a beam associated with a specific synchronization signal block (SSB) for a given time, ii) a RSRP, a RSRQ, or a SINR of a beam associated with a specific channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for a given time, or iii) a layer-1 (L1) measurement result.
The method of any claims 1 to 19, wherein the cell measurement result comprises at least one of: i) spatial average of instantaneous measurement results, ii) a temporal average of instantaneous measurement results, iii) a spatial-temporal average of instantaneous measurement results, iv) instantaneous measurement results of K number of best beams, v) a differential value compared to a previous cell measurement result, vi) a differential value compared to a previous beam measurement result, or vii) a layer-1 (L3) measurement result.
The method of any claims 1 to 20, wherein the method is performed by a wireless device.
The method of claim 21, wherein the wireless device is in communication with at least one of a mobile device, a network, and/or autonomous vehicles other than the wireless device.
A wireless device comprising:

at least one transceiver;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform the method of any claims 1 to 22.
A processing apparatus adapted to control a wireless device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor,

wherein the at least one processor is adapted to perform the method of any claims 1 to 22.
A non-transitory Computer Readable Medium (CRM) storing instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor, perform the method of any claims 1 to 22.
A method comprising:

transmitting a configuration for a candidate cell for mobility to a wireless device; and

transmitting information related to a condition to the wireless device,

wherein a cell measurement result of the candidate cell is derived, and

wherein whether to perform a beam measurement related to the candidate cell is determined based on the condition and the cell measurement result.
A base station comprising:

at least one transceiver;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform the method of claim 26.