WO2025216413A1 - Method and apparatus for aiml based dynamic coverage change - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for AIML based dynamic coverage change is provided. A first CU transmits a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory. The first CU receives a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AIML BASED DYNAMIC COVERAGE CHANGE

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for AIML based dynamic coverage change.

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.

Work has started in international telecommunication union (ITU) and 3GPP to develop requirements and specifications for new radio (NR) systems. 3GPP has to identify and develop the technology components needed for successfully standardizing the new RAT timely satisfying both the urgent market needs, and the more long-term requirements set forth by the ITU radio communication sector (ITU-R) international mobile telecommunications (IMT)-2020 process. 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.

The 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.

In NR, study for enhancements for Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) for Next Generation (NG)- Radio Access Network (RAN) is in progress.

In addition, studies for two new AI/ML based use cases, for example, Network Slicing and CCO, with existing NG-RAN interfaces and architecture (including non-split architecture and split architecture) are in progress.

Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) aims to detect and mitigate or resolve CCO issues (for example, coverage and cell edge interference issues).

For this purpose, OAM provides alternative coverage configurations including appropriate radio parameters to each NG-RAN node in advance. After detecting that a CCO issue has occurred, the NG-RAN node autonomously changes its coverage configuration. In addition, the NG-RAN node notifies neighboring NG-RAN nodes of the changed coverage configuration. After receiving this, neighboring NG-RAN nodes could change their coverage configurations considering the received information.

Since the operation starts when the CCO issue is detected, the CCO issue is not resolved until the operation is completed. Therefore, the quality of service provided to UEs may decrease, and the resources of NG-RAN nodes may not be managed efficiently.

To solve these problems, in NR, studies for AI/ML based CCO are in progress. Specific solutions are needed to support CCO based on AI/ML.

Therefore, studies for AIML based dynamic coverage change are required.

In an aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises: deriving, by a first Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node, a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU; transmitting, by the first CU of the first RAN node to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and receiving, by the first CU from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

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

The present disclosure can have various advantageous effects.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the base station could efficiently perform the AIML based dynamic coverage change.

For example, based on AI/ML-based predicted information provided by neighboring base stations, a base station can change part of its service area in advance at a specific time in the future. In addition, the base station can inform neighboring base stations of this information (information that part of the service area will be changed at a specific time in the future). The neighboring base station(s) can prepare for the changing situation based on this information.

Therefore, each base station can manage radio resources more efficiently and provide better quality of service to UEs.

In other words, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by predicting UE trajectory-related information, the base station can modify coverage/capacity in advance. CCO issues could be prevented in advance, and radio resources can be managed efficiently.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wireless network system could provide efficient solutions for the AIML based dynamic coverage change.

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.

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

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

FIG. 3 shows an example of a wireless device to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 4 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the overall architecture of an NG-RAN to which technical features of the present disclosure can be applied.

FIG. 8 shows an interface protocol structure for F1-C to which technical features of the present disclosure can be applied.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a successful operation for data collection reporting initiation.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an unsuccessful operation for data collection reporting initiation.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a successful operation for Data Collection Reporting.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a successful operation for NG-RAN node Configuration Update.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a successful operation for gNB-DU Configuration Update procedure.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a successful operation for gNB-CU Configuration Update procedure.

FIG. 15 shows an example of a method for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16a and FIG. 16b show a flow chart for AI/ML based CCO operation.

FIG. 17 shows an example of a method for AI/ML based dynamic coverage change.

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 multicarrier 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 DL and SC-FDMA in UL. Evolution of 3GPP LTE includes LTE-A (advanced), LTE-A Pro, and/or 5G NR (new radio).

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 (for example, 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.

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

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).

Partial use cases may require a plurality of categories for optimization and other use cases may focus only upon one key performance indicator (KPI). 5G supports such various use cases using a flexible and reliable method.

eMBB far surpasses basic mobile Internet access and covers abundant bidirectional work and media and entertainment applications in cloud and augmented reality. Data is one of 5G core motive forces and, in a 5G era, a dedicated voice service may not be provided for the first time. In 5G, it is expected that voice will be simply processed as an application program using data connection provided by a communication system. Main causes for increased traffic volume are due to an increase in the size of content and an increase in the number of applications requiring high data transmission rate. A streaming service (of audio and video), conversational video, and mobile Internet access will be more widely used as more devices are connected to the Internet. These many application programs require connectivity of an always turned-on state in order to push real-time information and alarm for users. Cloud storage and applications are rapidly increasing in a mobile communication platform and may be applied to both work and entertainment. The cloud storage is a special use case which accelerates growth of uplink data transmission rate. 5G is also used for remote work of cloud. When a tactile interface is used, 5G demands much lower end-to-end latency to maintain user good experience. Entertainment, for example, cloud gaming and video streaming, is another core element which increases demand for mobile broadband capability. Entertainment is essential for a smartphone and a tablet in any place including high mobility environments such as a train, a vehicle, and an airplane. Other use cases are augmented reality for entertainment and information search. In this case, the augmented reality requires very low latency and instantaneous data volume.

In addition, one of the most expected 5G use cases relates a function capable of smoothly connecting embedded sensors in all fields, for example, mMTC. It is expected that the number of potential Internet-of-things (IoT) devices will reach 204 hundred million up to the year of 2020. An industrial IoT is one of categories of performing a main role enabling a smart city, asset tracking, smart utility, agriculture, and security infrastructure through 5G.

URLLC includes a new service that will change industry through remote control of main infrastructure and an ultra-reliable/available low-latency link such as a self-driving vehicle. A level of reliability and latency is essential to control a smart grid, automatize industry, achieve robotics, and control and adjust a drone.

5G is a means of providing streaming evaluated as a few hundred megabits per second to gigabits per second and may complement fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and cable-based broadband (or DOCSIS). Such fast speed is needed to deliver TV in resolution of 4K or more (6K, 8K, and more), as well as virtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications include almost immersive sports games. A specific application program may require a special network configuration. For example, for VR games, gaming companies need to incorporate a core server into an edge network server of a network operator in order to minimize latency.

Automotive is expected to be a new important motivated force in 5G together with many use cases for mobile communication for vehicles. For example, entertainment for passengers requires high simultaneous capacity and mobile broadband with high mobility. This is because future users continue to expect connection of high quality regardless of their locations and speeds. Another use case of an automotive field is an AR dashboard. The AR dashboard causes a driver to identify an object in the dark in addition to an object seen from a front window and displays a distance from the object and a movement of the object by overlapping information talking to the driver. In the future, a wireless module enables communication between vehicles, information exchange between a vehicle and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange between a vehicle and other connected devices (e.g., devices accompanied by a pedestrian). A safety system guides alternative courses of a behavior so that a driver may drive more safely drive, thereby lowering the danger of an accident. The next stage will be a remotely controlled or self-driven vehicle. This requires very high reliability and very fast communication between different self-driven vehicles and between a vehicle and infrastructure. In the future, a self-driven vehicle will perform all driving activities and a driver will focus only upon abnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot identify. Technical requirements of a self-driven vehicle demand ultra-low latency and ultra-high reliability so that traffic safety is increased to a level that cannot be achieved by human being.

A smart city and a smart home/building mentioned as a smart society will be embedded in a high-density wireless sensor network. A distributed network of an intelligent sensor will identify conditions for costs and energy-efficient maintenance of a city or a home. Similar configurations may be performed for respective households. All of temperature sensors, window and heating controllers, burglar alarms, and home appliances are wirelessly connected. Many of these sensors are typically low in data transmission rate, power, and cost. However, real-time HD video may be demanded by a specific type of device to perform monitoring.

Consumption and distribution of energy including heat or gas is distributed at a higher level so that automated control of the distribution sensor network is demanded. The smart grid collects information and connects the sensors to each other using digital information and communication technology so as to act according to the collected information. Since this information may include behaviors of a supply company and a consumer, the smart grid may improve distribution of fuels such as electricity by a method having efficiency, reliability, economic feasibility, production sustainability, and automation. The smart grid may also be regarded as another sensor network having low latency.

Mission critical application (e.g., e-health) is one of 5G use scenarios. A health part contains many application programs capable of enjoying benefit of mobile communication. A communication system may support remote treatment that provides clinical treatment in a faraway place. Remote treatment may aid in reducing a barrier against distance and improve access to medical services that cannot be continuously available in a faraway rural area. Remote treatment is also used to perform important treatment and save lives in an emergency situation. The wireless sensor network based on mobile communication may provide remote monitoring and sensors for parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure.

Wireless and mobile communication gradually becomes important in the field of an industrial application. Wiring is high in installation and maintenance cost. Therefore, a possibility of replacing a cable with reconstructible wireless links is an attractive opportunity in many industrial fields. However, in order to achieve this replacement, it is necessary for wireless connection to be established with latency, reliability, and capacity similar to those of the cable and management of wireless connection needs to be simplified. Low latency and a very low error probability are new requirements when connection to 5G is needed.

Logistics and freight tracking are important use cases for mobile communication that enables inventory and package tracking anywhere using a location-based information system. The use cases of logistics and freight typically demand low data rate but require location information with a wide range and reliability.

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 new RAT (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 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 AR/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 UAV may be, for example, an aircraft aviated by a wireless control signal without a human being onboard.

The VR device may include, for example, a device for implementing an object or a background of the virtual world. The AR device may include, for example, a device implemented by connecting an object or a background of the virtual world to an object or a background of the real world. The MR device may include, for example, a device implemented by merging an object or a background of the virtual world into an object or a background of the real world. The hologram device may include, for example, a device for implementing a stereoscopic image of 360 degrees by recording and reproducing stereoscopic information, using an interference phenomenon of light generated when two laser lights called holography meet.

The public safety device may include, for example, an image relay device or an image device that is wearable on the body of a user.

The MTC device and the IoT device may be, for example, devices that do not require direct human intervention or manipulation. For example, the MTC device and the IoT device may include smartmeters, vending machines, thermometers, smartbulbs, door locks, or various sensors.

The medical device may be, for example, a device used for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, relieving, curing, or preventing disease. For example, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, relieving, or correcting injury or impairment. For example, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose of inspecting, replacing, or modifying a structure or a function. For example, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose of adjusting pregnancy. For example, the medical device may include a device for treatment, a device for operation, a device for (in vitro) diagnosis, a hearing aid, or a device for procedure.

The security device may be, for example, a device installed to prevent a danger that may arise and to maintain safety. For example, the security device may be a camera, a closed-circuit TV (CCTV), a recorder, or a black box.

The FinTech device may be, for example, a device capable of providing a financial service such as mobile payment. For example, the FinTech device may include a payment device or a point of sales (POS) system.

The weather/environment device may include, for example, a device for monitoring or predicting a weather/environment.

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.

AI refers to the field of studying artificial intelligence or the methodology that can create it, and machine learning refers to the field of defining various problems addressed in the field of AI and the field of methodology to solve them. Machine learning is also defined as an algorithm that increases the performance of a task through steady experience on a task.

Robot means a machine that automatically processes or operates a given task by its own ability. In particular, robots with the ability to recognize the environment and make self-determination to perform actions can be called intelligent robots. Robots can be classified as industrial, medical, home, military, etc., depending on the purpose or area of use. The robot can perform a variety of physical operations, such as moving the robot joints with actuators or motors. The movable robot also includes wheels, brakes, propellers, etc., on the drive, allowing it to drive on the ground or fly in the air.

Autonomous driving means a technology that drives on its own, and autonomous vehicles mean vehicles that drive without user's control or with minimal user's control. For example, autonomous driving may include maintaining lanes in motion, automatically adjusting speed such as adaptive cruise control, automatic driving along a set route, and automatically setting a route when a destination is set. The vehicle covers vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines, hybrid vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines and electric motors, and electric vehicles equipped with electric motors, and may include trains, motorcycles, etc., as well as cars. Autonomous vehicles can be seen as robots with autonomous driving functions.

Extended reality is collectively referred to as VR, AR, and MR. VR technology provides objects and backgrounds of real world only through computer graphic (CG) images. AR technology provides a virtual CG image on top of a real object image. MR technology is a CG technology that combines and combines virtual objects into the real world. MR technology is similar to AR technology in that they show real and virtual objects together. However, there is a difference in that in AR technology, virtual objects are used as complementary forms to real objects, while in MR technology, virtual objects and real objects are used as equal personalities.

NR supports multiples numerologies (and/or multiple subcarrier 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, for example, FR1 and 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. For example, 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 internet-of-things (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 machine type communication (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.FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

Referring to FIG. 2, a first wireless device 100 and a second wireless device 200 may transmit/receive radio signals to/from an external device through a variety of RATs (e.g., LTE and NR).

In FIG. 2, {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 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. It is exemplarily shown in FIG. 2 that the memory 104 is included in the processing chip 101. 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 configured 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 software code 105 which implements 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 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 software code 105 may control the processor 102 to perform one or more protocols. For example, 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. It is exemplarily shown in FIG. 2 that the memory 204 is included in the processing chip 201. 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 configured 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 software code 205 which implements 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 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 software code 205 may control the processor 202 to perform one or more protocols. For example, 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) and/or one or more service data unit (SDUs) 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 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. The descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software and the firmware or software may be configured to include the modules, procedures, or functions. Firmware or software configured to perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure may be included in the one or more processors 102 and 202 or stored in the one or more memories 104 and 204 so as to be driven by the one or more processors 102 and 202. The descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software in the form of code, commands, and/or a set of commands.

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 read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), flash memories, hard drives, registers, cash memories, computer-readable storage media, 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 and the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be configured 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.

In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as a transmitting device in uplink (UL) and as a receiving device in downlink (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 configured 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 configured 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.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a wireless device to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

The wireless device may be implemented in various forms according to a use-case/service (refer to FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 3, wireless devices 100 and 200 may correspond to the wireless devices 100 and 200 of FIG. 2 and may be configured by various elements, components, units/portions, and/or modules. For example, each of the wireless devices 100 and 200 may include a communication unit 110, a control unit 120, a memory unit 130, and additional components 140. The communication unit 110 may include a communication circuit 112 and transceiver(s) 114. For example, the communication circuit 112 may include the one or more processors 102 and 202 of FIG. 2 and/or the one or more memories 104 and 204 of FIG. 2. For example, the transceiver(s) 114 may include the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 of FIG. 2 and/or the one or more antennas 108 and 208 of FIG. 2. The control unit 120 is electrically connected to the communication unit 110, the memory unit 130, and the additional components 140 and controls overall operation of each of the wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the control unit 120 may control an electric/mechanical operation of each of the wireless devices 100 and 200 based on programs/code/commands/information stored in the memory unit 130. The control unit 120 may transmit the information stored in the memory unit 130 to the exterior (e.g., other communication devices) via the communication unit 110 through a wireless/wired interface or store, in the memory unit 130, information received through the wireless/wired interface from the exterior (e.g., other communication devices) via the communication unit 110.

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, input/output (I/O) unit (e.g., audio I/O port, video I/O port), a driving unit, and a computing unit. The wireless devices 100 and 200 may be implemented in the form of, without being limited to, the robot (100a of FIG. 1), the vehicles (100b-1 and 100b-2 of FIG. 1), the XR device (100c of FIG. 1), the hand-held device (100d of FIG. 1), the home appliance (100e of FIG. 1), the IoT device (100f of FIG. 1), a digital broadcast terminal, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTC device, a medicine device, a FinTech device (or a finance device), a security device, a climate/environment device, the AI server/device (400 of FIG. 1), the BSs (200 of FIG. 1), a network node, etc. The wireless devices 100 and 200 may be used in a mobile or fixed place according to a use-example/service.

In FIG. 3, the entirety of the various elements, components, units/portions, and/or modules in the wireless devices 100 and 200 may be connected to each other through a wired interface or at least a part thereof may be wirelessly connected through the communication unit 110. For example, in each of the wireless devices 100 and 200, the control unit 120 and the communication unit 110 may be connected by wire and the control unit 120 and first units (e.g., 130 and 140) may be wirelessly connected through the communication unit 110. Each element, component, unit/portion, and/or module within the wireless devices 100 and 200 may further include one or more elements. For example, the control unit 120 may be configured by a set of one or more processors. As an example, the control unit 120 may be configured by a set of a communication control processor, an application processor (AP), an electronic control unit (ECU), a graphical processing unit, and a memory control processor. As another example, the memory unit 130 may be configured by a RAM, a DRAM, a ROM, a flash memory, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and/or a combination thereof.

FIG. 4 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

Referring to FIG. 4, a UE 100 may correspond to the first wireless device 100 of FIG. 2 and/or the wireless device 100 or 200 of FIG. 3.

A UE 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a transceiver 106, one or more antennas 108, a power management module 110, a battery 112, a display 114, a keypad 116, a subscriber identification module (SIM) card 118, a speaker 120, and a microphone 122.

The processor 102 may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The processor 102 may be configured 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 a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (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 110 manages power for the processor 102 and/or the transceiver 106. The battery 112 supplies power to the power management module 110.

The display 114 outputs results processed by the processor 102. The keypad 116 receives inputs to be used by the processor 102. The keypad 116 may be shown on the display 114.

The SIM card 118 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 120 outputs sound-related results processed by the processor 102. The microphone 122 receives sound-related inputs to be used by the processor 102.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

In particular, FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a radio interface user plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS and FIG. 6 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. 5, the user plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (for example, a PHY layer) and Layer 2. Referring to FIG. 6, the control plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (for example, 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, for example, 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 node (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 5GC or 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.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the overall architecture of an NG-RAN to which technical features of the present disclosure can be applied.

Referring to FIG. 7, a gNB may include a gNB-CU (hereinafter, gNB-CU may be simply referred to as CU) and at least one gNB-DU (hereinafter, gNB-DU may be simply referred to as DU).

The gNB-CU is a logical node hosting RRC, SDAP and PDCP protocols of the gNB or an RRC and PDCP protocols of the en-gNB. The gNB-CU controls the operation of the at least one gNB-DU.

The gNB-DU is a logical node hosting RLC, MAC, and physical layers of the gNB or the en-gNB. The operation of the gNB-DU is partly controlled by the gNB-CU. One gNB-DU supports one or multiple cells. One cell is supported by only one gNB-DU.

The gNB-CU and gNB-DU are connected via an F1 interface. The gNB-CU terminates the F1 interface connected to the gNB-DU. The gNB-DU terminates the F1 interface connected to the gNB-CU. One gNB-DU is connected to only one gNB-CU. However, the gNB-DU may be connected to multiple gNB-CUs by appropriate implementation. The F1 interface is a logical interface. For NG-RAN, the NG and Xn-C interfaces for a gNB consisting of a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, terminate in the gNB-CU. For E-UTRAN-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC), the S1-U and X2-C interfaces for a gNB consisting of a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, terminate in the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs are only visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB.

Functions of the F1 interface includes F1 control (F1-C) functions as follows.

(1) F1 interface management function

The error indication function is used by the gNB-DU or gNB-CU to indicate to the gNB-CU or gNB-DU that an error has occurred.

The reset function is used to initialize the peer entity after node setup and after a failure event occurred. This procedure can be used by both the gNB-DU and the gNB-CU.

The F1 setup function allows to exchange application level data needed for the gNB-DU and gNB-CU to interoperate correctly on the F1 interface. The F1 setup is initiated by the gNB-DU.

The gNB-CU configuration update and gNB-DU configuration update functions allow to update application level configuration data needed between gNB-CU and gNB-DU to interoperate correctly over the F1 interface, and may activate or deactivate cells.

The F1 setup and gNB-DU configuration update functions allow to inform the single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) supported by the gNB-DU.

The F1 resource coordination function is used to transfer information about frequency resource sharing between gNB-CU and gNB-DU.

(2) System Information management function

Scheduling of system broadcast information is carried out in the gNB-DU. The gNB-DU is responsible for transmitting the system information according to the scheduling parameters available.

The gNB-DU is responsible for the encoding of NR master information block (MIB). In case broadcast of system information block type-1 (SIB1) and other SI messages is needed, the gNB-DU is responsible for the encoding of SIB1 and the gNB-CU is responsible for the encoding of other SI messages.

(3) F1 UE context management function

The F1 UE context management function supports the establishment and modification of the necessary overall UE context.

The establishment of the F1 UE context is initiated by the gNB-CU and accepted or rejected by the gNB-DU based on admission control criteria (e.g., resource not available).

The modification of the F1 UE context can be initiated by either gNB-CU or gNB-DU. The receiving node can accept or reject the modification. The F1 UE context management function also supports the release of the context previously established in the gNB-DU. The release of the context is triggered by the gNB-CU either directly or following a request received from the gNB-DU. The gNB-CU request the gNB-DU to release the UE Context when the UE enters RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE.

This function can be also used to manage DRBs and SRBs, for example, establishing, modifying and releasing DRB and SRB resources. The establishment and modification of DRB resources are triggered by the gNB-CU and accepted/rejected by the gNB-DU based on resource reservation information and QoS information to be provided to the gNB-DU. For each DRB to be setup or modified, the S-NSSAI may be provided by gNB-CU to the gNB-DU in the UE context setup procedure and the UE context modification procedure.

The mapping between QoS flows and radio bearers is performed by gNB-CU and the granularity of bearer related management over F1 is radio bearer level. For NG-RAN, the gNB-CU provides an aggregated DRB QoS profile and QoS flow profile to the gNB-DU, and the gNB-DU either accepts the request or rejects it with appropriate cause value. To support packet duplication for intra-gNB-DU carrier aggregation (CA), one data radio bearer should be configured with two GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP)-U tunnels between gNB-CU and a gNB-DU.

With this function, gNB-CU requests the gNB-DU to setup or change of the special cell (SpCell) for the UE, and the gNB-DU either accepts or rejects the request with appropriate cause value.

With this function, the gNB-CU requests the setup of the secondary cell(s) (SCell(s)) at the gNB-DU side, and the gNB-DU accepts all, some or none of the SCell(s) and replies to the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU requests the removal of the SCell(s) for the UE.

(4) RRC message transfer function

This function allows to transfer RRC messages between gNB-CU and gNB-DU. RRC messages are transferred over F1-C. The gNB-CU is responsible for the encoding of the dedicated RRC message with assistance information provided by gNB-DU.

(5) Paging function

The gNB-DU is responsible for transmitting the paging information according to the scheduling parameters provided.

The gNB-CU provides paging information to enable the gNB-DU to calculate the exact paging occasion (PO) and paging frame (PF). The gNB-CU determines the paging assignment (PA). The gNB-DU consolidates all the paging records for a particular PO, PF and PA, and encodes the final RRC message and broadcasts the paging message on the respective PO, PF in the PA.

(6) Warning messages information transfer function

This function allows to cooperate with the warning message transmission procedures over NG interface. The gNB-CU is responsible for encoding the warning related SI message and sending it together with other warning related information for the gNB-DU to broadcast over the radio interface.

FIG. 8 shows an interface protocol structure for F1-C to which technical features of the present disclosure can be applied.

A transport network layer (TNL) is based on Internet protocol (IP) transport, comprising a stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) layer on top of the IP layer. An application layer signaling protocol is referred to as an F1 application protocol (E1AP).

Hereinafter, technical features related to data collection are described. Sections of 3GPP TS 38.423 v18.0.0 may be referred.

Data Collection Reporting Initiation

This procedure is used by an NG-RAN node to request the reporting of information to another NG-RAN node to support, e.g., AI/ML in NG-RAN.

The procedure uses non UE-associated signalling.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a successful operation for data collection reporting initiation.

In FIG. 9, NG-RAN node1 initiates the procedure by sending the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message to NG-RAN node2 to start information reporting or to stop information reporting. Upon receipt, NG-RAN node2:

- shall initiate the requested information reporting according to the parameters given in the request in case the Registration Request IE is set to "start"; or

- shall stop all measurements and predictions and terminate the reporting in case the Registration Request IE is set to "stop".

If the Registration Request IE is set to "start" in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message and the Report Characteristics IE indicates cell-specific information reporting, the Cell To Report List for Data Collection IE shall be included.

If NG-RAN node2 is capable of providing all of the requested information, it shall initiate the information reporting as requested by NG-RAN node1 and respond with the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message.

If NG-RAN node2 is capable of providing some but not all of the requested information, it shall initiate the information reporting for the admitted requested information and include the Node Measurement Initiation Result List IE or the Per Cell Measurement Initiation Result List IE or both in the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message.

If the Reporting Periodicity IE in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is present, this indicates the periodicity for the reporting of configured measurement objects. The NG-RAN node2 shall report only once, unless otherwise requested within the Reporting Periodicity IE.

If the Requested Prediction Time IE in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is present, it indicates the specific point in time to which the prediction of the requested information applies. The NG-RAN node2 shall take it into account when generating the requested predicted information.

If the UE Trajectory Collection Configuration IE is present in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, the NG-RAN node2 shall take it into account for the configuration of UE trajectory collection and reporting. NG-RAN node2 shall report the UE trajectory only once. NG-RAN node2 shall terminate the collection when at least one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

- the time since UE was successfully handed over to NG-RAN node2 is equal to the value of the Collection Time Duration IE;

- the number of visited cells within NG-RAN node2 is equal to the value of the Number of Visited Cells IE, if included;

- UE moves to RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE state;

- UE is handed over to a cell belonging to an NG-RAN node different from NG-RAN node2.

The result of the UE trajectory collection is reported at the next available DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message.

If the UE Performance Collection Configuration IE is present in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, the NG-RAN node2 shall take it into account for the configuration of UE performance collection and reporting. NG-RAN node2 shall terminate the collection when at least one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

- the time since UE was successfully handed over to NG-RAN node2 is equal to the value of the Collection Time Duration IE;

- UE moves to RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE state;

- UE is handed over to another cell.

The result of the UE performance collection is reported at the next available DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message.

Interaction with the Data Collection Reporting procedure

When starting a measurement, the Report Characteristics IE in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message indicates the type of objects NG-RAN node2 shall perform measurements or predictions on. NG-RAN node2 shall include in the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message:

- the SSB Area Radio Resource Status List IE, excluding the DL scheduling PDCCH CCE usage IE and UL scheduling PDCCH CCE usage IE, included in the Predicted Radio Resource Status IE, if the first bit, "Predicted Radio Resource Status" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Predicted Number of Active UEs IE, if the second bit, "Predicted Number of Active UEs" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Predicted RRC Connections IE, if the third bit, "Predicted RRC Connections" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Average UE Throughput DL IE, if the fourth bit, "Average UE Throughput DL" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Average UE Throughput UL IE, if the fifth bit, "Average UE Throughput UL" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Average Packet Delay IE, if the sixth bit, "Average Packet Delay" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Average Packet Loss DL IE, if the seventh bit, "Average Packet Loss DL" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Energy Cost IE, if the eighth bit, "Energy Cost" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

- the Measured UE Trajectory IE, if the ninth bit, "Measured UE Trajectory" of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1".

FIG. 10 shows an example of an unsuccessful operation for data collection reporting initiation.

In FIG. 10, NG-RAN node1 initiates the procedure by sending the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message to NG-RAN node2.

If none of the requested information can be initiated, NG-RAN node2 shall send the DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

Abnormal Conditions

For the same Measurement ID, if the initiating NG-RAN node1 does not receive either the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message or the DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message, the NG-RAN node1 may reinitiate the Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure towards the same NG-RAN node, provided that the content of the new DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is identical to the content of the previously unacknowledged DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message.

If the NG-RAN node2 receives a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message which includes the Registration Request IE set to "stop" and if the NG-RAN node2 Measurement ID value received in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is not used, the NG-RAN node2 shall initiate DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

If in the Report Characteristics IE bitmap all bits are set to "0" in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, then NG-RAN node2 shall initiate a DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

If the NG-RAN node2 receives a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message which includes the Registration Request IE set to "start" and the NG -RAN node1 Measurement ID IE corresponding to an existing on-going Data Collection reporting, then NG-RAN node2 shall initiate a DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

Data Collection Reporting

This procedure is initiated by an NG-RAN node to report information accepted by the NG-RAN node following a successful Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure for the purpose of, e.g., AI/ML in NG-RAN.

The procedure uses non UE-associated signalling.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a successful operation for Data Collection Reporting.

In FIG. 11, NG-RAN node1 may receive, from NG-RAN node2, a data collection update message.

NG-RAN node2 shall report the accepted information in DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. The accepted information is the information that was successfully initiated during the preceding Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure.

NG -RAN node Configuration Update

The purpose of the NG-RAN node Configuration Update procedure is to update application level configuration data needed for two NG-RAN nodes to interoperate correctly over the Xn-C interface.

- Update of application level configuration data also applies between two NG-RAN nodes in case the SN (for example the gNB) does not broadcast system information other than for radio frame timing and SFN. How to use this information when this option is used is not explicitly specified.

The procedure uses non UE-associated signalling.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a successful operation for NG-RAN node Configuration Update.

In FIG. 12, the NG-RAN node1 initiates the procedure by sending the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message to a peer NG-RAN node2.

If Supplementary Uplink is configured at the NG-RAN node1, the NG-RAN node1 shall include in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message the SUL Information IE and the Supported SUL band List IE for each cell added in the Served NR Cells To Add IE and in the Served NR Cells To Modify IE.

If Supplementary Uplink is configured at the NG-RAN node2, the NG-RAN node2 shall include in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message the SUL Information IE and the Supported SUL band List IE for each cell added in the Served NR Cells IE if any.

If the TAI Support List IE is included in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the receiving node shall replace the previously provided TAI Support List IE by the received TAI Support List IE.

If the Cell Assistance Information NR IE is present, the NG-RAN node2 shall, if supported, use it to generate the Served NR Cells IE and include the list in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message.

If the Cell Assistance Information E- UTRA IE is present, the NG-RAN node2 shall, if supported, use it to generate the Served E- UTRA Cells IE and include the list in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message.

If the Partial List Indicator NR IE is included in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message and set to "partial" the NG-RAN node1 shall, if supported, assume that the Served NR Cells IE in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message includes a partial list of NR cells.

If the Partial List Indicator E- UTRA IE is included in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message and set to "partial" the NG-RAN node1 shall, if supported, assume that the Served E- UTRA Cells IE in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message includes a partial list of NR cells.

If the Cell and Capacity Assistance Information NR IE is present in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message from the candidate NG-RAN node2, the NG-RAN node1 shall, if supported, store the collected information to be used for future NG-RAN node interface management.

If the Cell and Capacity Assistance Information E- UTRA IE is present in the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message from the candidate NG-RAN node2, the NG-RAN node1 shall, if supported, store the collected information to be used for future NG-RAN node interface management.

Hereinafter, technical features related to Configuration Update are described. Sections of 3GPP TS 38.473 v18.0.0 may be referred.

gNB -DU Configuration Update

The purpose of the gNB-DU Configuration Update procedure is to update application level configuration data needed for the gNB-DU and the gNB-CU to interoperate correctly on the F1 interface. This procedure does not affect existing UE-related contexts, if any. The procedure uses non-UE associated signalling.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a successful operation for gNB-DU Configuration Update procedure.

In FIG. 13, the gNB-DU initiates the procedure by sending a GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message to the gNB-CU including an appropriate set of updated configuration data that it has just taken into operational use. The gNB-CU responds with GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message to acknowledge that it successfully updated the configuration data. If an information element is not included in the GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-CU shall interpret that the corresponding configuration data is not changed and shall continue to operate the F1-C interface with the existing related configuration data.

The updated configuration data shall be stored in both nodes and used as long as there is an operational TNL association or until any further update is performed.

If gNB-DU ID IE is contained in the GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message for a newly established SCTP association, the gNB-CU will associate this association with the related gNB-DU.

If Served Cells To Add Item IE is contained in the GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-CU shall add cell information according to the information in the Served Cell Information IE. For NG-RAN, the gNB-DU shall include the gNB-DU System Information IE.

If Served Cells To Modify Item IE is contained in the GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-CU shall modify information of cell indicated by Old NR CGI IE according to the information in the Served Cell Information IE and overwrite the served cell information for the affected served cell. Further, if the gNB-DU System Information IE is present the gNB-CU shall store and replace any previous information received.

If Served Cells To Delete Item IE is contained in the GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-CU shall delete information of cell indicated by Old NR CGI IE.

gNB -CU Configuration Update

The purpose of the gNB-CU Configuration Update procedure is to update application level configuration data needed for the gNB-DU and gNB-CU to interoperate correctly on the F1 interface. This procedure does not affect existing UE-related contexts, if any. The procedure uses non-UE associated signalling.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a successful operation for gNB-CU Configuration Update procedure.

In FIG. 14, the gNB-CU initiates the procedure by sending a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message including the appropriate updated configuration data to the gNB-DU. The gNB-DU responds with a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message to acknowledge that it successfully updated the configuration data. If an information element is not included in the GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-DU shall interpret that the corresponding configuration data is not changed and shall continue to operate the F1-C interface with the existing related configuration data.

The updated configuration data shall be stored in the respective node and used as long as there is an operational TNL association or until any further update is performed.

If Cells to be Activated List Item IE is contained in the GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-DU shall activate the cell indicated by NR CGI IE and reconfigure the physical cell identity for which the NR PCI IE is included.

If the SSBs within the cell to be Activated List IE is included in the Cells to be Activated List Item IE within the gNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-DU shall, if supported, only activate those SSB beams indicated by the SSB Index IE.

If at least one requested SSB beam in the SSBs within the cell to be Activated List IE is activated, the gNB-DU includes the Cells with SSBs Activated List IE in the GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message. The gNB-CU shall consider that the SSB beams indicated by the SSBs activated List IE as activated.

If Cells to be Deactivated List Item IE is contained in the GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, the gNB-DU shall deactivate the cell indicated by NR CGI IE.

If Cells to be Activated List Item IE is contained in the GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message and the indicated cells are already activated, the gNB-DU shall update the cell information received in Cells to be Activated List Item IE.

If Cells to be Activated List Item IE is included in the GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, and the information for the cell indicated by the NR CGI IE includes the IAB Info IAB-donor-CU IE, the gNB-DU shall, if supported, apply the IAB STC Info IE therein to the indicated cell.

Hereinafter, technical features related to coverage capacity optimization (CCO) are described. Sections of 3GPP TS 38.300 v17.7.0 and 3GPP TS 38.401 v17.7.0 may be referred.

Support for Coverage and Capacity Optimisation

The objective of NR Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) function is to detect and resolve or mitigate CCO issues, e.g. coverage and cell edge interference issues.

OAM requirements

Each NG-RAN node may be configured with alternative coverage configurations by OAM. The alternative coverage configurations contain relevant radio parameters and may also include a range for how each parameter is allowed to be adjusted.

Dynamic coverage configuration changes

An NG-RAN node may autonomously adjust within and switch between coverage configurations. When a change is executed, a NG-RAN node may notify its neighbour NG-RAN nodes using the NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message with the list of cells and SSBs with modified coverage included. The list contains the CGI of each modified cell with its coverage state indicator and optionally the SSB index of each modified SSB with its coverage state indicator.

The coverage state indicator may be used at the receiving NG-RAN node to adjust the functions of the Mobility Robustness Optimisation, e.g. by using the coverage state indicator to retrieve a previously stored Mobility Robustness Optimisation state. The coverage state indicator may also be used at the receiving NG-RAN node to adopt coverage configurations matching with neighbouring cells coverage configurations.

If the list includes indication about planned reconfiguration and possibly a list of replacing cells, the receiving NG-RAN node may use this to avoid connection or re-establishment failures during the reconfiguration. Also, if the sending NG-RAN node adds cells in inactive state, the receiving NG-RAN node may use this information to avoid connection or re-establishment failures. The receiving NG-RAN node may also use the notification to reduce the impact on mobility. The receiving NG-RAN node should avoid triggering handovers towards cell(s) that are indicated to be inactive.

Centralized PCI Assignment

For centralized PCI assignment in gNB, the OAM assigns a single PCI for each NR cell in the gNB, and the gNB selects this value as the PCI of the NR cell.

Distributed PCI Assignment

For distributed PCI assignment in gNB, the OAM assigns a list of PCIs for each NR cell in the gNB, and the gNB selects a PCI value from the list of PCIs. The gNB may restrict this list by removing some PCIs that are reported by UEs, reported over the Xn interface by neighboring gNBs, and/or acquired through other methods, e.g. detected over the air using a downlink receiver.

Support for CCO

The NR Capacity and Coverage Optimization (CCO) Function in non-split gNB case is provided. The objective of this function is to detect and mitigate coverage and cell edge interference issues.

OAM requirements

Each gNB-DU may be configured with alternative coverage configurations by OAM. The alternative coverage configurations contain relevant radio parameters and may also include a range for how each parameter is allowed to be adjusted.

Dynamic coverage configuration changes

In case of split gNB architecture, CCO detection function is located at the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU signals to the gNB-DU the CCO issue and the affected cells and beams. The gNB-DU resolves the CCO issue concerning own served cell by local action within the OAM configured limits. The gNB-DU may also take into account information received for other cells when adopting the CCO configuration. The gNB-DU informs the gNB-CU of the new coverage states adopted.

Support of RAN visible QoE measurement

The RAN visible QoE measurement function is provided.

In split gNB architecture, upon the reception of the RAN visible QoE measurement report from the UE, the gNB-CU may forward it to the gNB-DU.

In NR, study for enhancements for Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) for NG-RAN is in progress.

The aim of this study is to further investigate new AI/ML based use cases and identify enhancements to support AI/ML functionality.

The detailed objectives are listed as follows:

- Study two new AI/ML based use cases, for example, Network Slicing and CCO, with existing NG-RAN interfaces and architecture (including non-split architecture and split architecture).

- NR leftovers as candidates for normative work, as follows:

> Mobility optimization for NR-DC

> Split architecture support use cases based on the conclusions

> Energy Saving enhancements, e.g., Energy Cost Prediction

> Continuous MDT collection targeting the same UE across RRC states

> Multi-hop UE trajectory across gNBs

Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) aims to detect and mitigate or resolve CCO issues (for example, coverage and cell edge interference issues).

For this purpose, OAM provides alternative coverage configurations including appropriate radio parameters to each NG-RAN node in advance. After detecting that a CCO issue has occurred, the NG-RAN node autonomously changes its coverage configuration. In addition, the NG-RAN node notifies neighboring NG-RAN nodes of the changed coverage configuration. After receiving this, neighboring NG-RAN nodes could change their coverage configurations considering the received information.

Since the operation starts when the CCO issue is detected, the CCO issue is not resolved until the operation is completed. Therefore, the quality of service provided to UEs may decrease, and the resources of NG-RAN nodes may not be managed efficiently.

To solve these problems, in NR, studies for AI/ML based CCO are in progress. Specific solutions are needed to support CCO based on AI/ML.

Therefore, studies for AIML based dynamic coverage change are required.

Hereinafter, a method for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, will be described with reference to the following drawings.

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. Herein, a wireless device may be referred to as a user equipment (UE).

FIG. 15 shows an example of a method for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In particular, FIG. 15 shows an example of a method performed by a first Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node.

In step S1501, the first CU may derive a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU.

For example, the first CU may determine that modification of a coverage and/or a capacity of the at least one cell is required, based on the predicted UE trajectory related to the at least one cell.

For example, the first CU may transmit, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message including a UE Trajectory Report Request.

For example, the first CU may receive, from the second CU, a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message including a predicted UE trajectory related to one or more cells belong to the second CU derived by the second CU.

In step S1502, the first CU may transmit, to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory.

For example, the first message may further include the predicted UE trajectory derived by the second CU.

For example, the first message further may include information informing a reason why the modification of the coverage and/or the capacity of the at least one cell is required.

For example, the first message may include (i) information related to a cell identity (ID) for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) a number of UEs entering or leaving each cell, (iii) a number of UEs staying in each cell, and/or (iv) a number of UEs staying in each radio resource control (RRC) state.

For example, the first message may include information related to at least one UE ID associated with the predicted UE trajectory derived by the first CU.

For example, the first message may include (i) a Cell ID for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a maximum number, (iii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a minimum number, and/or (iv) information related to the maximum number and/or the minimum number.

For example, the first message may include information related to a coverage configuration including a cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell.

In step S1503, the first CU may receive, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

For example, the second message may include (i) one or more cell IDs of one or more cells belonging to the first DU whose service areas are to be changed and (ii) a coverage configuration related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell. For example, the coverage configuration may be selected from coverage configurations provided by Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM). For example, the first DU may select the coverage configuration based on the received information from the first CU.

For example, the first CU may transmit, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a third message including (i) the information related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) the information related to the time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the predicted UE trajectory may be related to a wireless device. The wireless device may be in communication with at least one of a user equipment, a network, or an autonomous vehicle other than the wireless device.

Hereinafter, technical features related to a method for AI/ML based dynamic coverage change are described.

The base station can be configured as a CU-DU split. The base station (gNB1-CU) can detect CCO issue in advance using not only its own predicted information but also the predicted information of the adjacent CU-DU split base station (gNB2-CU). For this purpose, the gNB1-CU may provide the gNB2-CU with a UE Trajectory Report Request, which requests the gNB2-CU to report the predicted UE trajectories for the UEs that are expected to move to the gNB1-CU.

The UE Trajectory Report Request may include condition information for reporting predicted UE trajectory information to gNB1-CU.

After receiving this, gNB2-CU may provide UE Trajectory Information to gNB1-CU.

The UE Trajectory Information may include UE ID of UE(s) predicted to move to gNB1-CU and predicted UE trajectory of the UE(s).

The predicted UE trajectory may include the cell ID of the cell(s) belonging to the gNB1-CU. Additionally, the predicted UE trajectory may include (i) time information for how long a UE predicted to move will stay in each cell and/or (ii) time information for (how long a UE predicted to move will stay) in each RRC state.

In addition, UE Trajectory Information may include time information of the arrival of the UE included in the predicted UE trajectory for each cell.

After determining whether a change in the service area of the cell(s) belonging to the gNB1-CU is required, the gNB1-CU can provide CCO Information to the gNB1-DU.

Based on the predicted UE trajectory information of the gNB1-CU and the predicted UE trajectory information provided by the gNB2-CU, CCO Information may include cell ID, the number of UEs entering or leaving the cell by time zone, the number of UEs staying in the cell, and/or the number of the UEs staying in RRC states for each cell belonging to the gNB1-DU.

Additionally, CCO Information may include time information and/or the number of UEs at that time for the lowest and/or highest number of UEs staying in each cell belonging to the gNB1-DU.

Additionally, CCO Information may include predicted UE trajectory information of gNB1-CU, predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB2-CU, and/or UE ID of UE corresponding to each predicted UE trajectory.

Additionally, CCO Information may include the reason why gNB1-CU detected CCO.

After receiving CCO Information, gNB1-DU may determine the cell whose service area should be changed among the cells belonging to gNB1-DU based on the information.

gNB1-DU can provide Coverage Modification Information to gNB1-CU.

Coverage Modification Information may include (i) cell IDs of one or more cells, among the cells belonging to gNB1-DU, whose service area is scheduled to change, and (ii) a configuration selected from among coverage configurations provided in advance via OAM.

Additionally, Coverage Modification Information may include information on the time at which the service area is expected to change for each cell, or may include information on the time (at which the service area is expected to change) regardless of the cell.

gNB1-CU may provide the Coverage Modification Information received to gNB2-CU.

Based on the received Coverage Modification Information, the gNB2-CU can determine whether the service area of the cell(s) belonging to the gNB2-CU needs to change. In addition, the gNB2-CU can provide CCO Information to the gNB2-DU.

When the CCO Information includes information about the time when the service area of the gNB1-CU is expected to change, or includes information about a time when the service area of the gNB1-CU is expected to change regardless of the cell, when the expected time to change arrives, the gNB2-DU applies the (selected) changed coverage configuration. In addition, the gNB2-DU may provide the gNB2-CU with information about the changed coverage configuration related to the change of the service area.

Before the time to be changed (when the time information is received), gNB2-DU can determine the time information of the service area to be changed per coverage configuration and/or per cell or determine a single time information (of the service area) to be changed regardless of the cell. gNB2-DU can provide the determined time information to gNB2-CU.

FIG. 16a and FIG. 16b show a flow chart for AI/ML based CCO operation.

In particular, FIG. 16a and FIG. 16b present a method to enable existing CCOs to operate based on AI/ML.

In step S1600, gNB1-CU and gNB2-CU can perform UE trajectory prediction by considering the speed, movement direction, etc. of UEs within their service area.

Each gNB-CU can perform UE trajectory prediction for UEs through signaling with the gNB-DU(s) managed by the gNB-CU.

In step S1601, gNB1-CU can send a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST, an existing XnAP message, or a new XnAP message to gNB2-CU.

This message may include a UE Trajectory Report Request. The UE Trajectory Report Request may be provided for the purpose of requesting the gNB1-CU to report related information (for example, predicted UE trajectory), when there are UEs predicted to move to the gNB1-CU. This Request may include condition information for reporting the related information to the gNB1-CU.

The condition information may include one or more of the following condition information:

- If at least one cell belonging to the gNB1-CU is added to the predicted UE trajectory of a specific UE among the UEs within the gNB2-CU service area,

- If there is a change in the number of cells, belonging to gNB1-CU, in the predicted UE trajectory of a specific UE (for example, addition/deletion of cells) among the UEs within the gNB2-CU service area

- If the period value for reporting is provided to gNB2-CU and the provided period is satisfied

In step S1602, gNB2-CU can send a DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message, an existing XnAP message, or a new XnAP message to gNB1-CU in response.

In step S1603, if the report condition provided by gNB1-CU is satisfied, gNB2-CU can send a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message, an existing XnAP message, or a new XnAP message to gNB1-CU.

The UE Trajectory Information may include the UE ID (for example, NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID) of the UE(s) predicted to move to the gNB1-CU by the gNB2-CU and the predicted UE trajectory of the UE(s).

The predicted UE trajectory may include cell IDs of cell(s) belonging to the gNB1-CU, and may include cell IDs of cell(s) belonging to a gNB-CU other than the gNB1-CU.

Additionally, UE Trajectory Information may include time information for how long a UE (predicted to move) will stay in each cell and/or time information for how long a UE will stay in each RRC state.

UE Trajectory Information may include time information at which the UE arrives at each cell included in the predicted UE trajectory and may include time information at which handover with the gNB1-CU begins.

For example, gNB2-CU can request gNB1-CU to perform the same operation as step S1601 to step S1603 and receive related information.

For example, gNB2-CU can send UE Trajectory Report Request to gNB1-CU as in step S1601, and gNB2-CU can receive UE Trajectory Information from gNB1-CU as in step S1603. These operations can be performed before step S1610 is triggered.

In step S1604, considering (i) predicted UE trajectory information of UEs within the service area of gNB1-CU, (ii) information related to UEs predicted to move to gNB1-CU, received from gNB2-CU, and/or (iii) cell measurements results provided from gNB2-CU (for example, predicted radio resource status, predicted number of active UEs, etc.), gNB1-CU determines whether change of service area of cell(s) belonging to gNB1-CU is required.

In step S1605, gNB1-CU can send a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message to gNB1-DU.

This message can include CCO Information. CCO Information can include one or more of the following information:

- Based on the predicted UE trajectory information of gNB1-CU and the predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB2-CU, Cell ID for each cell belonging to gNB1-DU, number of UEs entering or leaving the cell by time zone, number of UEs staying in the cell, and/or number of the UEs staying in the RRC states

- Based on the predicted UE trajectory information of gNB1-CU and the predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB2-CU, cell ID for each cell belonging to gNB1-DU, time information for the case where the number of UEs stays the least and/or the case where the number of UEs stays the most, and/or the number of UEs in each case

- predicted UE trajectory information of gNB1-CU and predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB2-CU and/or UE ID of UEs corresponding to each predicted UE trajectory

- If OAM does not provide alternative coverage configurations in advance, coverage configuration including cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell,

- Information related to why gNB1-CU detected CCO (for example, coverage, cell edge capacity, energy saving, etc.)

In step S1606, gNB1-DU sends a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message to gNB1-CU in response.

In step S1607, based on the received CCO Information, gNB1-DU determines the cell whose service area should be changed among the cells belonging to gNB1-DU. gNB1-DU sends a GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message to gNB1-CU.

This message may include Coverage Modification Information. Coverage Modification Information may include (i) cell IDs of one or more cells belonging to gNB1-DU whose service area is to be changed and (ii) a configuration selected from coverage configurations provided in advance via OAM.

If there is no coverage configuration provided in advance through OAM, a coverage configuration with appropriate radio parameters may be included. In addition, Coverage Modification Information may include information on the time at which the service area is expected to change for each cell, or information on the time at which a (service area) is expected to change regardless of the cell.

For example, in step S1606, based on the information received through step S1605, gNB1-DU can determine the cell whose service area should be changed among the cells belonging to gNB1-DU. In this case, Coverage Modification Information can be sent to gNB1-CU in step S1606. In step S1607, Coverage Modification Information may not be included.

In step S1608, gNB1-CU may send a GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message to gNB1-DU in response.

In step S1609, gNB1-CU may send a NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, an existing XnAP message, or a new XnAP message to gNB2-CU.

This message may include Coverage Modification Information. The Coverage Modification Information may include (i) cell IDs of one or more cells, belonging to the gNB1-CU, whose service area is scheduled to be changed, and (ii) a configuration selected from coverage configurations provided in advance via OAM.

If there is no coverage configuration provided in advance via OAM, Coverage Modification Information may include a coverage configuration with appropriate radio parameters.

In addition, Coverage Modification Information may include information on the time at which the service area is expected to change for each cell, or information on the time at which a (service area) is expected to change regardless of the cell.

In step S1610, after receiving Coverage Modification Information from gNB1-CU, gNB2-CU determines whether a change in service area for cell(s) belonging to gNB2-CU is required.

In step S1611, gNB2-CU can send a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, an existing F1AP message or a new F1AP message to gNB2-DU. This message can include CCO Information. CCO Information can contain one or more of the following information:

- CCO Information includes (i) cell ID and time information when the service area is expected to change for each cell belonging to the gNB1-CU included in the received Coverage Modification Information, (ii) single time information when (service area) is expected to change regardless of the cell, and/or (iii) a configuration selected from coverage configurations provided through OAM in advance.

- Based on the predicted UE trajectory information of gNB2-CU and the predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB1-CU, cell ID for each cell belonging to gNB2-DU, number of UEs entering or leaving the cell by time zone, number of UEs staying in the cell, and/or number of UEs staying in each RRC state

- Based on the predicted UE trajectory information of gNB2-CU and the predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB1-CU, cell ID for each cell belonging to gNB2-DU, time information for the case where the number of UEs stays the least and/or time information for the case where the number of UEs stays the most, and/or the number of UEs in each case.

- predicted UE trajectory information of gNB2-CU and predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB1-CU, and/or UE ID of UE corresponding to each predicted UE trajectory

- If OAM does not provide alternative coverage configurations in advance, coverage configuration including cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell included in the received Coverage Modification Information

- Information related to why gNB2-CU detected CCO (For example, coverage, cell edge capacity, energy saving, etc.)

In step S1612, gNB2-DU sends a GNB-CU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message to gNB2-CU in response.

In step S1613, if the CCO Information received from the gNB2-CU includes time information at which the service area is expected to change or includes one time information at which the service area is expected to change regardless of the cell, one of the following actions could be performed.

- When the time to change is reached, gNB2-DU applies the (selected) changed coverage configuration and provides the changed coverage configuration information (for example, existing Coverage Modification Notification) related to the change of service area to gNB2-CU through a GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message.

- Before the time to be changed (when the time information is received), gNB2-DU determines (i) the coverage configuration to be changed and (ii) the time information for the service area to be changed per cell or a single time information to be changed regardless of the cell. gNB2-DU includes the determined information in the Coverage Modification Information. gNB2-DU provides the Coverage Modification Information through a GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message.

For example, based on the information received through step S1611 in step S1612, gNB2-DU can determine which cell among the cells belonging to gNB2-DU should have its service area changed. In this case, Coverage Modification Information can be sent to gNB2-CU in step S1612. Step S1613 may not include Coverage Modification Information.

In step S1614, gNB2-CU can send a GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message, an existing F1AP message, or a new F1AP message to gNB2-DU in response.

In step S1615, gNB2-CU can send an NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message, an existing XnAP message, or a new XnAP message to gNB1-CU in response to step S1609.

In step S1616, gNB2-CU can send an NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE message, an existing XnAP message, or a new XnAP message to gNB1-CU. This message can include Coverage Modification Information received from gNB2-DU. gNB1-CU that received Coverage Modification Information can forward it to gNB1-DU.

For example, gNB2-CU, which has received Coverage Modification Information from gNB2-DU, can provide the received Coverage Modification Information to gNB1-CU in step S1615. In this case, Coverage Modification Information may not be provided through step S1616.

In step S1617, gNB1-CU can send an NG-RAN NODE CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACKNOWLEDGE message, an existing XnAP message, or a new XnAP message to gNB2-CU in response.

FIG. 17 shows an example of a method for AI/ML based dynamic coverage change.

In particular, FIG. 17 presents a method for supporting AI/ML-based CCO.

In step S1701, gNB1-CU may provide UE Trajectory Report Request to request gNB2-CU to report information related to a UE predicted to move to gNB1-CU.

In step S1702, the gNB1-CU can receive, from the gNB2-CU, UE Trajectory Information including information related to UE(s) predicted to move to the gNB1-CU.

In step S1703, in order to provide information related to UEs expected to enter or exit the cell(s) belonging to the gNB1-DU and to allow the gNB1-DU to change the service area of the corresponding cell(s), the gNB1-CU may provide CCO Information to the gNB1-DU.

In step S1704, gNB1-CU can receive Coverage Modification Information including information related to change of service area from gNB1-DU.

In step S1705, gNB1-CU can provide Coverage Modification Information to gNB2-CU to notify that some of the service areas belonging to gNB1-CU have changed.

For example, the UE Trajectory Report Request may include condition information for reporting predicted UE trajectories of UEs predicted to move to gNB1-CU.

For example, the UE Trajectory Information may include UE IDs of UEs predicted to move to gNB1-CU and predicted UE trajectories of the UEs.

For example, the predicted UE trajectory may include the cell ID of the cell(s) predicted to move to. In addition, the predicted UE trajectory may include time information for how long the predicted UE will stay in each cell and/or time information for (how long the predicted UE will stay in) each RRC state.

For example, based on the predicted UE trajectory information of gNB1-CU and the predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB2-CU, CCO Information may include cell ID for each cell belonging to gNB1-DU, the number of UEs entering or leaving the cell by time zone, the number of UEs staying in the each cell, and/or the number of the UEs staying in each RRC state.

In addition, CCO Information may include (i) cell ID, (ii) time information when the number of UEs staying is the lowest and/or (iii) time information when the number of UEs staying is the highest and/or (iv) number of UEs at that time, for each cell belonging to gNB1-DU. In addition, CCO Information may include (i) predicted UE trajectory information of gNB1-CU, (ii) predicted UE trajectory information provided by gNB2-CU, and/or (iii) UE ID of UE corresponding to each predicted UE trajectory.

For example, Coverage Modification Information may include the cell ID of one or more cells belonging to gNB1-DU whose service area is scheduled to be changed and a configuration selected from among coverage configurations provided in advance via OAM.

Coverage Modification Information may include information on the time at which the service area is expected to change for each cell, or may include information on the single time at which a service area is expected to change, regardless of the cell.

Some of the detailed steps shown in the examples of FIG. 15, FIG. 16a, FIG. 16b, and FIG. 17 may not be essential steps and may be omitted. In addition to the steps shown in FIG. 15, FIG. 16a, FIG. 16b, and FIG. 17, other steps may be added, and the order of the steps may vary. Some of the above steps may have their own technical meaning.

Hereinafter, a RAN node for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, will be described.

The RAN node may be the gNB in FIG. 7. The RAN node may include a Central Unit (CU) and at least one Distributed Unit (DU). For example, a first gNB and a second gNB may be the gNB in FIG. 7.

A Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node may include at least one memory and at least one processor operatively coupled to the memory.

The 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 operations comprising: deriving a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU; transmitting, to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and receiving, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

For example, the operations may comprise: determining that modification of a coverage and/or a capacity of the at least one cell is required, based on the predicted UE trajectory related to the at least one cell.

For example, the first message may further include information informing a reason why the modification of the coverage and/or the capacity of the at least one cell is required.

For example, the operations may comprise: transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a third message including (i) the information related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) the information related to the time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

For example, the first message may include (i) information related to a cell identity (ID) for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) a number of UEs entering or leaving each cell, (iii) a number of UEs staying in each cell, and/or (iv) a number of UEs staying in each radio resource control (RRC) state.

For example, the first message may include information related to at least one UE ID associated with the predicted UE trajectory derived by the first CU.For example, the first message may include (i) a Cell ID for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a maximum number, (iii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a minimum number, and/or (iv) information related to the maximum number and/or the minimum number.

For example, the first message may include information related to a coverage configuration including a cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell.

For example, the second message may include (i) one or more cell IDs of one or more cells belonging to the first DU whose service areas are to be changed and (ii) a coverage configuration related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell.

For example, the coverage configuration may be selected from coverage configurations provided by Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM).

For example, the operations may comprise: transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message including a UE Trajectory Report Request.

For example, the operations may comprise: receiving, from the second CU, a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message including a predicted UE trajectory related to one or more cells belong to the second CU derived by the second CU.

For example, the first message further may include the predicted UE trajectory derived by the second CU.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the predicted UE trajectory may be related to a wireless device. The wireless device may be in communication with at least one of a user equipment, a network, or an autonomous vehicle other than the wireless device.

Hereinafter, a processor for a Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, will be described.

The processor may be adapted to control the first CU to perform operations comprising: deriving a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU; transmitting, to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and receiving, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

For example, the operations may comprise: determining that modification of a coverage and/or a capacity of the at least one cell is required, based on the predicted UE trajectory related to the at least one cell.

For example, the first message may further include information informing a reason why the modification of the coverage and/or the capacity of the at least one cell is required.

For example, the operations may comprise: transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a third message including (i) the information related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) the information related to the time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

For example, the first message may include (i) information related to a cell identity (ID) for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) a number of UEs entering or leaving each cell, (iii) a number of UEs staying in each cell, and/or (iv) a number of UEs staying in each radio resource control (RRC) state.

For example, the first message may include information related to at least one UE ID associated with the predicted UE trajectory derived by the first CU.

For example, the first message may include (i) a Cell ID for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a maximum number, (iii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a minimum number, and/or (iv) information related to the maximum number and/or the minimum number.

For example, the first message may include information related to a coverage configuration including a cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell.

For example, the second message may include (i) one or more cell IDs of one or more cells belonging to the first DU whose service areas are to be changed and (ii) a coverage configuration related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell.

For example, the coverage configuration may be selected from coverage configurations provided by Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM).

For example, the operations may comprise: transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message including a UE Trajectory Report Request.

For example, the operations may comprise: receiving, from the second CU, a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message including a predicted UE trajectory related to one or more cells belong to the second CU derived by the second CU.

For example, the first message further may include the predicted UE trajectory derived by the second CU.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the predicted UE trajectory may be related to a wireless device. The wireless device may be in communication with at least one of a user equipment, a network, or an autonomous vehicle other than the wireless device.

Hereinafter, a non-transitory computer-readable medium has stored thereon a plurality of instructions for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, will be described.

According to some embodiment of the present disclosure, the technical features of the present disclosure could 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 memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other storage medium.

Some example of storage medium is 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 another 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 random access memory (RAM) such as synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (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 embodiment of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium has stored thereon a plurality of instructions.

When executed by a processor of a first Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node, cause the first CU to perform operations, the operations comprising: deriving a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU; transmitting, to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and receiving, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

For example, the operations may comprise: determining that modification of a coverage and/or a capacity of the at least one cell is required, based on the predicted UE trajectory related to the at least one cell.

For example, the first message may further include information informing a reason why the modification of the coverage and/or the capacity of the at least one cell is required.

For example, the operations may comprise: transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a third message including (i) the information related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) the information related to the time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

For example, the first message may include (i) information related to a cell identity (ID) for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) a number of UEs entering or leaving each cell, (iii) a number of UEs staying in each cell, and/or (iv) a number of UEs staying in each radio resource control (RRC) state.

For example, the first message may include information related to at least one UE ID associated with the predicted UE trajectory derived by the first CU.

For example, the first message may include (i) a Cell ID for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a maximum number, (iii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a minimum number, and/or (iv) information related to the maximum number and/or the minimum number.

For example, the first message may include information related to a coverage configuration including a cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell.

For example, the second message may include (i) one or more cell IDs of one or more cells belonging to the first DU whose service areas are to be changed and (ii) a coverage configuration related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell.

For example, the coverage configuration may be selected from coverage configurations provided by Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM).

For example, the operations may comprise: transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message including a UE Trajectory Report Request.

For example, the operations may comprise: receiving, from the second CU, a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message including a predicted UE trajectory related to one or more cells belong to the second CU derived by the second CU.

For example, the first message further may include the predicted UE trajectory derived by the second CU.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the predicted UE trajectory may be related to a wireless device. The wireless device may be in communication with at least one of a user equipment, a network, or an autonomous vehicle other than the wireless device.

Hereinafter, a method performed by a wireless device for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, will be described.

The wireless device to transmit, to a first CU of a first RAN node, information related to a UE trajectory of the wireless device. In this case, the first CU may derive a predicted trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU. The first CU may transmit, to a first DU of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory. The first CU receive, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for AIML based dynamic coverage change, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, will be described.

The wireless device may include a transceiver, a memory, and a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. For example, the wireless device may be the first wireless device 100 or the second wireless device 200 of FIGS. 2 and 3, or the UE 100 of FIG. 4.

The processor may be configured to control the wireless device to transmit, to a first CU of a first RAN node, information related to a UE trajectory of the wireless device. In this case, the first CU may derive a predicted trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU. The first CU may transmit, to a first DU of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory. The first CU receive, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.

The present disclosure can have various advantageous effects.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the base station could efficiently perform the AIML based dynamic coverage change.

For example, based on AI/ML-based predicted information provided by neighboring base stations, a base station can change part of its service area in advance at a specific time in the future. In addition, the base station can inform neighboring base stations of this information (information that part of the service area will be changed at a specific time in the future). The neighboring base station(s) can prepare for the changing situation based on this information.

Therefore, each base station can manage radio resources more efficiently and provide better quality of service to UEs.

In other words, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by predicting UE trajectory-related information, the base station can modify coverage/capacity in advance. CCO issues could be prevented in advance, and radio resources can be managed efficiently.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wireless network system could provide efficient solutions for the AIML based dynamic coverage change.

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 (32)

1. A method, comprising:

   deriving, by a first Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node, a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU;

   transmitting, by the first CU of the first RAN node to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and

   receiving, by the first CU from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

   determining, by the first CU, that modification of a coverage and/or a capacity of the at least one cell is required, based on the predicted UE trajectory related to the at least one cell.
3. The method of claim 2,

   wherein the first message further includes information informing a reason why the modification of the coverage and/or the capacity of the at least one cell is required.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

   transmitting, by the first CU to a second CU of a second RAN node, a third message including (i) the information related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) the information related to the time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.
5. The method of claim 1,

   wherein the first message includes (i) information related to a cell identity (ID) for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) a number of UEs entering or leaving each cell, (iii) a number of UEs staying in each cell, and/or (iv) a number of UEs staying in each radio resource control (RRC) state.
6. The method of claim 1,

   wherein the first message includes information related to at least one UE ID associated with the predicted UE trajectory derived by the first CU.
7. The method of claim 1,

   wherein the first message includes (i) a Cell ID for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a maximum number, (iii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a minimum number, and/or (iv) information related to the maximum number and/or the minimum number.
8. The method of claim 1,

   wherein the first message includes information related to a coverage configuration including a cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell,
9. The method of claim 1,

   wherein the second message includes (i) one or more cell IDs of one or more cells belonging to the first DU whose service areas are to be changed and (ii) a coverage configuration related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell.
10. The method of claim 9,

    wherein the coverage configuration is selected from coverage configurations provided by Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM).
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

    transmitting, by the first CU to a second CU of a second RAN node, a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message including a UE Trajectory Report Request.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

    receiving, by the first CU from the second CU, a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message including a predicted UE trajectory related to one or more cells belong to the second CU derived by the second CU.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

    wherein the first message further includes the predicted UE trajectory derived by the second CU.
14. The method of claim 1,

    wherein the predicted UE trajectory is related to a wireless device, and

    wherein the wireless device is in communication with at least one of a user equipment, a network, or an autonomous vehicle other than the wireless device.
15. A first Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node, comprising:

    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 operations comprising:

    deriving a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU;

    transmitting, to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and

    receiving, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.
16. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprising:

    determining that modification of a coverage and/or a capacity of the at least one cell is required, based on the predicted UE trajectory related to the at least one cell.
17. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 16,

    wherein the first message further includes information informing a reason why the modification of the coverage and/or the capacity of the at least one cell is required.
18. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprising:

    transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a third message including (i) the information related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) the information related to the time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.
19. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15,

    wherein the first message includes (i) information related to a cell identity (ID) for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) a number of UEs entering or leaving each cell, (iii) a number of UEs staying in each cell, and/or (iv) a number of UEs staying in each radio resource control (RRC) state.
20. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15,

    wherein the first message includes information related to at least one UE ID associated with the predicted UE trajectory derived by the first CU.
21. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15,

    wherein the first message includes (i) a Cell ID for each cell belonging to the first DU, (ii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a maximum number, (iii) information related to a time point at which a number of UEs reaches a minimum number, and/or (iv) information related to the maximum number and/or the minimum number.
22. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15,

    wherein the first message includes information related to a coverage configuration including a cell ID and radio parameters required for coverage change for each cell,
23. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15,

    wherein the second message includes (i) one or more cell IDs of one or more cells belonging to the first DU whose service areas are to be changed and (ii) a coverage configuration related to the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell.
24. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 23,

    wherein the coverage configuration is selected from coverage configurations provided by Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM).
25. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprising:

    transmitting, to a second CU of a second RAN node, a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message including a UE Trajectory Report Request.
26. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 25, wherein the operations further comprising:

    receiving, from the second CU, a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message including a predicted UE trajectory related to one or more cells belong to the second CU derived by the second CU.
27. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 26,

    wherein the first message further includes the predicted UE trajectory derived by the second CU.
28. The first CU of the first RAN node of claim 15,

    wherein the predicted UE trajectory is related to a wireless device, and

    wherein the wireless device is in communication with at least one of a user equipment, a network, or an autonomous vehicle other than the wireless device.
29. A processor for a first Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node in a wireless communication system, wherein the processor is adapted to control the first CU to perform operations comprising:

    deriving a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU;

    transmitting, to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and

    receiving, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.
30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, which, when executed by a processor of a first Central Unit (CU) of a first Radio Access Network (RAN) node, cause the first CU to perform operations, the operations comprising,

    deriving a predicted User Equipment (UE) trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU;

    transmitting, to a first Distributed Unit (DU) of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory; and

    receiving, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.
31. A method, comprising:

    transmitting, by a wireless device to a first CU of a first RAN node, information related to a UE trajectory of the wireless device,

    wherein the first CU derives a predicted trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU,

    wherein the first CU transmits, to a first DU of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory, and

    wherein the first CU receives, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.
32. 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 operations comprising:

    transmitting, to a first CU of a first RAN node, information related to a UE trajectory of the wireless device,

    wherein the first CU derives a predicted trajectory related to at least one cell belong to the first CU,

    wherein the first CU transmits, to a first DU of the first RAN node, a first message including (i) information related to the at least one cell and/or (ii) information related to the predicted UE trajectory, and

    wherein the first CU receives, from the first DU, a second message including (i) information related to a modified coverage and/or a modified capacity of the at least one cell and (ii) information related to a time point at which the modified coverage and/or the modified capacity of the at least one cell is applied.