WO2025239665A1

WO2025239665A1 - Improvements in and relating to identity allocation in a telecommunication network

Info

Publication number: WO2025239665A1
Application number: PCT/KR2025/006509
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mahmoud Watfa; David Gutierrez Estevez; Chadi KHIRALLAH
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-05-17
Filing date: 2025-05-14
Publication date: 2025-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-17
Also published as: GB202407083D0; GB2700613A; GB202505821D0

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. Disclosed is a method of allocating a plurality, N, of identities to a User Equipment, UE, wherein a telecommunication network provides the N identities to the UE in a message.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO IDENTITY ALLOCATION IN A TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK

The present invention relates to improved means of allocating an identity to an element in a telecommunication network.

5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in "Sub 6GHz" bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in "Above 6GHz" bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture/protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture/service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

Due to the limitations of the current solutions for temporary identity allocation, embodiments of the present invention aim to provide a more efficient solution that does not require compute power and does not require signalling to be exchanged (for identity allocation) after every paging procedure.

According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus and method as set forth in the appended claims. Other features of the invention will be apparent from the dependent claims, and the description which follows.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of allocating a plurality, N, of identities to a User Equipment, UE, wherein a telecommunication network provides the N identities to the UE in a message.

In an embodiment, the N identities are provided to the UE in a single message.

In an embodiment, the single message is encrypted.

In an embodiment, when one of the N identities is used, the UE and the network are aware of which one of the N identities is being used at any one time.

In an embodiment, after use, the one of the N identities is discarded by the UE and the telecommunication network after use.

In an embodiment, a next identity from the remaining plurality of identities is designated for use according to a predetermined scheme known to both the UE and the telecommunication network.

In an embodiment, once a predetermined number of unused identities remains, the telecommunication allocates a new plurality of identities to the UE

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus arranged to perform the method of the first aspect.

According to one or more aspects of the present invention:

- A set of temporary identities are provided to the UE, based on UE capabilities e.g. memory, and/or subscription

- The UE and network determine a next temporary identity to be used either after paging or after the UE goes to connected mode on its own

- The UE and network discard any identity that has been used and the rest of the identities are considered valid. The UE and network choose to use a next identity based on a specific order or as long as the identity is considered valid and has not yet been used

- The network allocates a new set of identities before the last identity is used or after the last identity is used but before the UE's connection is released

- Any NAS or RRC or other protocol messages may be used for the proposals above

- The identities may be used in conjunction with another fixed identity component, or they may be considered to be a full identity on their own

The embodiments described herein are applicable to Ambient IoT devices but should not be considered to be restricted to only these devices. As such any other UE may operate based on the proposals herein. All solutions can apply to one UE or a group of UEs.

The term identity or identifier may refer to the same thing.

The embodiments herein do not rely on a particular message format especially on the interface between the RAN (e.g. gNB, eNB or NG-RAN, etc.) and the AIoT device, or between a UE and the AIoT device, or between the AIoT device and another AIoT device, or between multiple UEs, RAN entities and/or AIoT devices. As such all the details herein would apply regardless of how the message format is defined. What really matters is the type of information (or the contents of information) that is being sent and how the recipient acts upon it (or in response to receiving this information).

Note that an AIoT device may be referred to as a UE, or AIoT device may be considered a special type or category of a UE. A UE may have at least AIoT capabilities, or an AIoT device can be a UE with restricted capabilities, etc. In one example, Carrier Aggregation (CA), Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), handover and its related features (e.g., CHO, DAPS, etc.) are not supported by AIoT device. Additionally, the network may verify the capability of a given UE to be AIoT capable device or support AIoT capability.

For all the embodiments herein, new subscription information may be defined to indicate if the UE and/or the network can behave as proposed by the solutions. Furthermore, the network and the UE may exchange any related capability indication to signal (indicate or report) that the node in question can operate as proposed herein.

All messages or interactions between the UE and the network may be implemented using any protocol such as, but not limited to, NAS and/or RRC signalling/messages. Note that for all of the embodiments herein, any use of NAS or RRC message may be based on the existing NAS or RRC messages, or may be based on a new protocol message that may be defined for AIoT devices or any other UEs.

In summary, an embodiment of the invention may be described thus:

- The network should allocate and provide more than one temporary identity to the UE, say N identities, where N is an integer e.g. 6

- The allocation of N identities can be sent to the UE in one message

- The UE and the network will use one identity at time such that both entities know ahead of time which identity would be used next as will be described later

Note that the temporary identity may refer to any temporary identity which may be used in the 3GPP system and/or in the 5GS such as but not limited to the 5G-GUTI or 5G-S-TMSI, or 5G-TMSI (Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity). The 5G S-TMSI is a shortened version of the 5G-GUTI, designed to facilitate efficiency in radio signalling procedures such as Paging and Service Request. The 5G-S-TMSI is comprised of the AMF Set ID, AMF Pointer and 5G-TMSI

The present disclosure provides optimized power and signalling efficiency and enhanced privacy protection by pre-allocating a plurality of temporary identifiers in a single encrypted message, leveraging capability indication and subscription information and synchronizing their ordered usage and deletion.

Figure 1 illustrates a message flow illustrating an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates a method of an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of a terminal or user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Figure 4 is a block diagram of a base station (BS) according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Figure 5 is a block diagram of a network entity according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

3GPP has agreed a study item for Release-19 which relates to Ambient Internet of Things (AIoT) devices. The study is captured in 3GPP document TR 23.700-13.

The following describes Key Issue (KI) #2 from the aforementioned document:

"5.2 Key Issue #2: Identification, Subscription, Registration and Connection management

5.2.1 Description

This Key Issue pertains to the authorization and management of Ambient IoT Devices to support Ambient IoT services.

Considering that Ambient IoT Devices are a new type of reduced capabilities devices, the existing subscription model may not be suitable. Specifically, there is the need to study the device identification method to support Ambient IoT devices which are under operator control.

Based on the above consideration, the aspects to be studied in this key issue include:

- Study whether subscription management, registration management and/or connection management are necessary for an Ambient IoT Device or a group of Ambient IoT Devices, and if so identify the necessary state machine(s), procedures and functionality considering the Ambient IoT Devices capability and characteristics.

- Study whether and how reachability and paging apply to Ambient IoT Device(s) considering the Ambient IoT devices capability and characteristics, and if so, what are the impacts.

- Study how to identify Ambient IoT Device or group of devices and how to format the identifier.

NOTE: NAS based Congestion control are not in the scope of this study."

As can be seen, KI#2 addresses device identification, reachability and paging. A solution has been proposed towards KI#2 where a light weight algorithm is suggested to be used for locally generating a temporary identity at the User Equipment (UE) and the network. This then enables the UE and network to use a temporary identity for the UE without a need to explicitly assign and allocate an identity over the air. This proposal is known as "Solution #1: AIoT Temporary Identifier Control" in the aforementioned document.

Note that in the Fifth Generation System (5GS), one of the temporary identities is referred to as the 5G-GUTI (5G Globally Unique Temporary Identity). There are requirements to assign a new 5G-GUTI for a UE as indicated below from 3GPP TS 33.501 V18.1.0, "Security architecture and procedures for 5G system" :

"Upon receiving Registration Request message of type "initial registration" or "mobility registration update" from a UE, the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) shall send a new 5G-GUTI to the UE in the registration procedure.

Upon receiving Registration Request message of type "periodic registration update" from a UE, the AMF should send a new 5G-GUTI to the UE in the registration procedure.

Upon receiving Service Request message sent by the UE in response to a Paging message, the AMF shall send a new 5G-GUTI to the UE. This new 5G-GUTI shall be sent before the current NAS signalling connection is released or the N1 Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signalling connection is suspended."

The main reason for allocating a new temporary identity (e.g. 5G-GUTI) after every paging procedure, and before the release of the NAS connection, is to minimize the ability of a rogue entity to track a user. If, for example, a UE uses the same temporary identity after being paged twice, then a rogue entity may be able to track the UE's location based on the unmodified temporary identity.

A problem in the prior art relates to a lack of an efficient method for allocating temporary identities while ensuring UE resources are not depleted.

In particular, it can be expected that the security requirements of the 5G system continue to apply to AIoT devices. For example, it should not be the case that AIoT devices become prone to tracking much more than any other type of UE in the system. As such, it is expected that a device's temporary identity will be re-allocated after every paging as has been explained above.

AIoT devices are expected to be limited in terms of resources such as power. It is therefore inefficient to allocate a new temporary identity after every paging procedure. The proposal set out above for a local algorithm in the UE and the network, where the algorithm generates a new temporary identity also has its drawbacks, especially in terms of power, since each generation of a new identity would require computational power to be used. With AIoT devices being very limited in power, this procedure can lead to an undesirable increase in power usage if multiple paging procedures are performed for an AIoT device.

Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how embodiments of the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

An embodiment of the invention provides a new capability indication. The AIoT device (or any type of UE) indicates its support for receiving (and/or handling, and/or storing, etc) more than one temporary identity at a time. The AIoT device (hereafter referred to as UE, where UE is not limited to an AIoT device only) may also indicate how many identities it can receive at a given time, where this may be based on memory or resources in the UE. The UE may determine the number, N, of identities which it can receive based on any one or more of the following:

· The total available memory in the UE (where this may be volatile or non-volatile memory)

· The length or size of the identity that is in question

· Any other resource and any other combination of resources

The UE indication may be sent in any message (e.g. NAS and/or RRC) using any field or information element (IE). For existing or newly defined RRC/NAS messages, new fields or IEs may be used, or existing fields or IEs can also be used.

The network may also indicate to the UE whether (or not) it supports (or accepts) providing more than one identity to the UE at a given time. This indication may be provided in any message (e.g. NAS and/or RRC) and in any field or IE, whether it is new or existing.

An indication from the network about its support of the feature, where the feature may refer to the allocation of at least one identity to a UE (at a given time and/or location) may also be considered by the UE as an acceptance by the network for the UE to use this feature when the network indeed provides e.g. more than one identity to the UE.

An embodiment of the invention provides new subscription information. A new subscription information is defined for a UE (or a group of UEs) where this subscription can indicate whether (or not) the network is allowed to apply the feature to the UE, where the feature may be the allocation of at least one identity to a given UE (or group of UEs, e.g. as identified by a group ID) at a time and/or location.

The subscription information may be defined (or stored) in any network node e.g. the Unified Data Management element, UDM, and may be provided to any other network function that serves the UE, where this network function may be an AMF or any equivalent which may be dedicated for AIoT devices.

The subscription information may also contain other information such as, but not limited to:

· The number M, where M is an integer, representing the number of identities that can be allocated to a UE at a given time

· The time duration T_id, representing the time after which the network should allocate another set of identity for the UE (or group of UEs) in question

Embodiments provide for the allocation of more than one identity. The network may determine to allocate more than one temporary identity to a UE, where this determination may be based on any one or more of the following:

· The capability indication from the UE indication that the UE can receive, process, handle, store, etc, more than one temporary identity

· Subscription information indicating that the UE can be provided with more than one temporary identity

· Local policies in the network which indicate that the UE (which may be part of a group of UEs, or a group of UEs) should be provided with more than one temporary identity

When allocating more than one temporary identity, the network should determine the number M of identities that should be allocated, where M may be an integer. The network may determine the value of M based on any of the following:

· The number indicated in the subscription information, where this number may be associated with a time period e.g. T_id, where T_id may represent the duration or period after which the network should re-allocate a new set of identities

· The indication from the UE, such as:

o The number N of identities that the UE can handle or save, etc

o The resource information in the UE e.g. available memory, etc

Based on the determination as set out above, the network may allocate a new set of temporary identities for a UE, where this information may be sent to the UE during any of the following procedures or transactions:

· Registration procedure: the network provides this information as part of the procedure that the UE registers with the network, where this registration may be initial registration or any other registration (such as periodic updates), etc. It should be noted that AIoT devices may perform other procedures that are equivalent to registration and hence may not be referred to as registration. These procedures may be validation, authentication, security procedures, etc. Hence the proposals herein are not to be restricted by the named used and therefore may apply for procedure. The network should allocate the set of identities before the connection is released or before the transaction is considered finalized

· Establishment of a connection or transaction following a paging or a network initiated request based on which the UE responds to the network. During this procedure, the network may allocate a new set of identities, preferably before the connection is released. The network may use any message to do so (e.g. NAS and/or RRC, or any new protocol messages that may be defined for AIoT).

For all of the above, or during any other procedure (although not necessarily explicitly listed herein) in which the network determines to provide more than one identity to a UE, the network should do so using a secured manner. In other words, the transmission of the set of identities should occur using a secured message.

When sending the set of identities to the UE, the network should indicate how many identities are present in the set. This may be achieved by means of dedicated fields that indicate the total number of identities which are sent to the UE.

Once a plurality of identities has been allocated by the network to the UE, it is important that there is synchronisation between the UE and the network, such that each entity can be sure it is using the correct one of the plurality of allocated identities.

When allocating a set of N identifiers, where N is an integer, the network and the UE should use one identity at a time in the order in which it is received. The order may be known to both the UE and the network or may be encoded such that a specific order is defined which indicates the first identity in the set, the second identity in the set, etc, and the Nth identity in the set. With this, the UE and the network should use one identity at a time. When a new identity is to be used, the UE and the network would determine the next identity based on the order received and then use this as the next identity, and so on. After an identity is used, the UE and the network would discard the used identity and determine a next identity to be used.

The UE and the network should optionally not use the same identity twice when communicating especially after the UE enters connected mode and then goes to idle mode.

The following rules may be defined for the network when allocating a new set of identities. The rules determine when a previously assigned (and optionally already used) identity can be allocated again:

· After a certain time elapses, e.g. as determined by local policies in the network or subscription information

· After the UE moves to a different location or area, where the area or location may be any method to determine UE locality e.g. based on coordinates, shape of an area, etc

· After the UE moves a certain minimum distance from the last location where the identity set was provided

Figure 1 shows an exemplary call flow of an embodiment, noting that the steps may be performed in a different order or combination. As such the figure is to be considered as an example only and the skilled person will readily appreciate that certain changes may be made without departing from the scope the invention, defined in the appended claims.

The procedure in Figure 1 describes how to support allocation of multiple temporary identities to AIoT devices is described step by step below. The three physical entities are AIoT device 100, RAN Reader (Base Station) 110 and AMF / AIoT NF 120.

1. The AIoT 100 device sends a registration/validation request to the AMF (or AIoT NF) 120. The request includes a capability indication for receiving multiple temporary identifiers. Optionally, the request may also include the maximum number of temporary identifiers that can be stored at the AIoT device.

2. The AMF (or AIoT NF) 120 allocates a set of temporary identifiers to the AIoT device 100 with N entries. The allocation may be performed based on device capability, subscription, or local policy.

3. A registration/validation response is sent by the AMF (or AIoT NF) 120 to the AIoT device 100 including the set of allocated temporary identifiers with N entries.

4. The AIoT device 100 stores the set of N temporary identifiers in the same order they were received in step 3. For example, if N identifiers were received, they should be stored so that the first identifier to be used is Temp ID#1, then Temp ID#2..., and lastly Temp ID#N.

5. A paging is sent from AMF (or AIoT NF) 120 to the AIoT device 100 via the RAN reader 110 including the first temporary identifier, i.e. Temp ID#1.

6. A NAS response message (e.g. control plane service request, service request, etc) is provided by the AIoT device 100 including the temporary identifier contained in step 5, i.e. Temp ID#1.

7. The temporary identifier in steps 5 and 6 is deleted locally both at the AIoT device 100 (see step 7a) and AMF 120 (or AIoT NF, see step 7b). In both cases, the next temporary identifier is set to be the next one in the set received in step 3, i.e. Temp ID#2.

8. The connection with the AIoT device 100 is released or the transaction/service is completed.

9. Steps 5 to 9 are repeated upon a new need for paging. Both the AIoT device 100 and the AMF (or AIoT NF) 120 locally delete any temporary identifier that has been used.

10. Once the full set of identifiers have been used and deleted, the procedure is repeated from step 2 with a new set of temporary identifiers being allocated by the AMF/AIoT NF 120 to the AIoT device 100 before the connection is released.

Note that in Figure1, the RAN reader (BS) 110 may be any suitable logical function e.g. gNB, NG-RAN, UE in the middle, a combination of UE and RAN, etc. It need not be a distinct physical entity in its own right.

Note that in an alternative embodiment, when the UE or the network use the set of allocated identities, they may do so in any order. However when one identity is used, it should be discarded and then the rest of the identities can be used for selection or use of the next identity. Hence the order of use of the identity is not relevant as long as the identity is used once and then locally discarded. As such, when an entity (UE or network) uses an identity, the recipient (network or UE) should simply verify if the identity is part of the valid set i.e. the set containing identities which have not been used yet. The UE or network can respond with the same identity but only using it once. The UE and network can then discard the identity which has been used and then consider that the remaining identity or identities are valid. The network should allocate a new set of identities at some predetermined time, such as when only one identity remains or after the last identity is used.

Note that in all cases:

· The temporary identity may be considered a full identity on its own

· The temporary identity may be used in conjunction with another identity i.e. either in front of the other identity or after the other identity, so that another identity is formed by this combination

· When responding on the lower layers or over the air message (e.g. RRC message), a part of the temporary identity is used. This may also be applicable to NAS messages

Note that the descriptions set out above are also applicable for the case when the UE enters connected mode without being paged. For example, in mobile originated connections, the UE may use the next valid identity to identify itself. The network may simply verify the identity to be valid or not. If valid, the network can process the request or message from the UE. Upon release of the connection, the UE and the network discard the identity that was used by the UE in the last connection and hence determine a new next identity which can be used in either mobile originated messages or terminated cases in which the UE responds to a message.

In an alternative, the network may indicate to the UE if the same identity can be used more than once for mobile originated connections. The UE may then determine to use the identity more than once (or not) based on this indication from the network. The network may set the number of times that the UE can use the identity for mobile originated requests. The UE and network may then discard the identity in question after the maximum number of usage times has been reached by the UE for mobile originated cases. The next identity to be used may be determined as has already been set out.

For the sake of completeness, Figure 2 illustrates a method of an embodiment of the invention.

At step 11, the network allocates a plurality, N, of identities to a UE in a single encrypted message.

At step 12, one of the N identities is used. The network and the UE are aware of which one of the N identities is used.

At step 13, the used identity is discarded by both the UE and the network.

At step 14, a new identity is selected from the remaining identities, according to a scheme known to both the UE and the Network.

At step 15, at a predetermined threshold, a new plurality of identities is allocated to the UE.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of a terminal or user equipment (UE) 300 according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

The terminal is an electronic device capable of wireless communication, may include a User Equipment (UE), a portable phone, a smartphone, a tablet, an Internet of things (IoT) device, etc., having various form factors, and may perform wireless communication with a base station (BS) through a wireless channel.

Referring to Figure 3, the UE 300 may include at least one transceiver (hereinafter, referred to as simply "transceiver") 301, at least one processor (hereinafter, referred to as simply "processor") 302, and at least one memory (hereinafter, referred to as simply "memory") 303. According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the transceiver 301, the processor 302, and the memory 303 of the UE 300 may operate. However, components of the UE 300 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in Figure 3. In another embodiment, the UE 300 may either include components further to the above-mentioned components or omit some of the components. Further, in some embodiments, any combination of the transceiver 301, the processor 302, or the memory 303 may be integrated in the form of one component.

The transceiver 301 may be a communication circuit that enables the UE 300 to transmit or receive a signal to or from a BS through cellular communication. For example, the transceiver 301 may support at least one of various cellular communication technologies including 3rd generation (3G), 4th generation (4G), long term evolution (LTE), 5th generation (5G) NR, 6th generation (6G), and wireless communications of all following evolved generations.

According to an embodiment, the UE 300 may include a plurality of transceivers. In the case of supporting evolved-universal terrestrial radio access-new radio (E-UTRA-NR) sual connectivity (EN-DC), the UE 300 may include a first transceiver supporting the 4G LTE wireless communication and a second transceiver supporting the 5G NR wireless communication. According to another embodiment, in the case of supporting NR-dual connectivity (NR-DC), the UE 300 may include a plurality of transceivers supporting the 5G NR wireless communication. According to still another embodiment, in the case of supporting near field wireless communication, the UE 300 may separately include a transceiver supporting at least one standard in the group of wireless communication protocol standards as defined in the protocol standards for Bluetooth®, wireless local area network (WLAN) network (including institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11-2016 standard or its amendments, e.g., 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be, without being limited thereto).

According to an embodiment, the transceiver 301 may include various circuit structures used to transmit or receive signals to or from a BS through a wireless channel. The signals may include control information and data. For example, the transceiver 301 may include a radio frequency (RF) transmitter for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of a transmitted signal and an RF receiver for low-noise-amplifying a received signal and down-converting the frequency thereof. The transceiver 301 may output a signal received through a wireless channel to the processor 302 and may transmit, through a wireless channel, a signal output from the processor 302.

The processor 302 may control general operations of the UE 300 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 302 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 302 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 303, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 302 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme.

The processor 302 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the transceiver 301 to control the transceiver 301.

The processor 302 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. For example, the processor 302 may include a communication processor (CP) configured to control communication operations and an application processor (AP) configured to control execution of an upper layer (for example, an application layer) . In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 302 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 302 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the transceiver 301 or the memory 303.

The processor 302 may perform or control or cause an operation of the UE 300 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 302 may control operations of the UE 300 for processing a downlink signal received from a BS or generating and transmitting an uplink signal to a BS. To this end, the processor 302 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 303, so as to control other components of the UE 300 to enable execution of various operations.

The memory 303 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 303 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

The memory 303 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 302 and may be accessed by the processor 302.

The memory 303 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 302. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 302 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 303, the processor 302 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the UE 300 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 303 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and/or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

The BS 400 may perform wireless communication with at least one user equipment (UE) located within the area of the BS 400 through a wireless channel.

Referring to Figure 4, the BS 400 may include at least one transceiver (hereinafter, referred to as simply "transceiver") 401, at least one processor (hereinafter, referred to as simply "processor") 402, and at least one memory (hereinafter, referred to as simply "memory") 403. According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the transceiver 401, the processor 402, and the memory 403 of the BS 400 may operate. However, components of the BS 400 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in Figure 4. In another embodiment, the BS 400 may either include components further to the above-mentioned components or omit some of the components. Further, in some embodiments, any combination of the transceiver 401, the processor 402, or the memory 403 may be integrated in the form of one component.

The transceiver 401 may be a communication circuit that enables the BS 400 to transmit or receive a signal to or from the UE 300 through cellular communication. For example, the transceiver 401 may support various cellular communication technologies including 3rd generation (3G), 4th generation (4G), long term evolution (LTE), 5th generation (5G) NR, 6th generation (6G), and wireless communications of all following evolved generations. According to an embodiment, the transceiver 401 may include various circuit structures used to transmit or receive signals to or from a UE through a wireless channel. The signals may include control information and data. For example, the transceiver 401 may include a radio frequency (RF) transmitter for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of a transmitted signal and an RF receiver for low-noise-amplifying a received signal and down-converting the frequency thereof. The transceiver 401 may output a signal received through a wireless channel to the processor 402 and may transmit, through a wireless channel, a signal output from the processor 402.

The processor 402 may control general operations of the BS 400 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 402 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 402 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 403, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 402 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme.

The processor 402 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the transceiver 401 to control the transceiver 401.

The processor 402 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 402 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 402 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the transceiver 401 or the memory 403.

The processor 402 may perform or control or cause an operation of the BS 400 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 402 may control operations of the BS 400 for generating and transmitting a downlink signal to a UE or processing an uplink signal received from a UE. Otherwise, the BS 400 may transmit or receive a signal to or from a neighboring BS, transfer a signal received from a UE to an upper node of the network, or transmit a signal transferred from an upper node of the network to a UE. To this end, the processor 402 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 403, so as to control other components of the BS 400 to enable execution of various operations.

The memory 403 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 403 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

The memory 403 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 402 and may be accessed by the processor 402.

The memory 403 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 402. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 402 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 403, the processor 402 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the BS 400 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 403 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and/or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

The UE or the base station may perform various communication procedures related to the control plane or the user plane by cooperating with one or more network entities based on wireless communication. For example, the UE may communicate with network entity such as an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) or a Session Management Function (SMF) via the base station, or the base station may perform at least one communication procedure by directly transmitting and receiving signals to/from, or relaying signals between, the network entities.

The structure of the above-described network entity will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

The network entity 500 may include an entity (apparatus, device, or server, etc.) that performs one or more network functions (NFs) or a part of a network function constituting a core network (e.g., a 5th generation (5G) core (5GC)) in a communication system. In this case, multiple NFs may be implemented within a single network entity, or a single NF may be distributed and implemented across a plurality of network entities. In addition, when an NF is implemented within the network entity, the NF may be implemented in the form of software, and in such a case, a program for operating the NF may be stored in memory of the network entity 500.

A single NF may be implemented by one or more instances, which may be deployed on the same network entity or distributed across multiple network entities to operate. The instance may be a software unit that logically executes a specific network function, and may be implemented in a form that is decoupled from physical hardware resources. Further, one or more NFs may be implemented in the form of one network slice to operate to satisfy specifications required by a particular service.

The NF may include at least one of an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a local session management function (L-SMF), a user plane function (UPF), a local user plane function (L-UPF), a policy control function (PCF), a unified data management (UDM), a unified data repository (UDR), a network exposure function (NEF), a network repository function (NRF), an application function (AF), a network slice selection function (NSSF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), a network slice admission control function (NSACF), an authentication server function (AUSF), or a data network (DN).

Referring to Figure 5, the network entity 500 may include at least one network interface 501, at least one processor 502 (hereinafter, "processor"), and at least one memory 503 (hereinafter, "memory"). As described above, a NF may be implemented in the form of a physical device such as the network entity 500, or may be virtualized and executed in the form of an instance. When implemented as an instance, the NF need not necessarily include physical components as illustrated in Figure 5. In such a case, the instance may be logically represented as comprising one or more logical functional elements.

According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the network interface 501, the processor 502, and the memory 503 of the network entity 500 may operate. However, components of the network entity 500 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in Figure 5. In another embodiment, the network entity 500 may either include components further to the above-mentioned components or omit some of the components. Further, in an embodiment, the network interface 501, the processor 502, or the memory 503 may be integrated in the form of one component.

The network interface 501 is a collective term for a transmitter part of the network entity 500 and a receiver part of the network entity 500, and may be a communication circuit for transmitting or receiving a signal to or from a user equipment (UE), a base station (BS), or another network entity. Here, the communication circuit may include both a communication circuit for wireless communication and a communication circuit for a wired communication. For example, the network interface 501 may include a circuit, logic, hardware, etc., configured to exchange a control plane message or a user plane message with a UE, a BS, or other core network entities through wireless communication or wired communication. The network interface 501 may operate using various protocols (e.g., non-access stratum (NAS) protocol). The network interface 501 may also be referred to, for convenience of description or depending on implementation, as a communication circuitry, a network interface circuitry, or a communication interface circuitry.

The processor 502 may control general operations of the network entity 500 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 502 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 502 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 503, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 502 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme. Further, it should be noted that, according to another embodiment, in a case where Za NF is implemented in the form of an instance, the network function may be not necessarily configured by physical hardware.

According to an embodiment, the processor 502 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the network interface 501 to control the network interface 501.

The processor 502 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 502 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 502 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the network interface 501 or the memory 503.

The processor 502 may perform or control or cause an operation of the network entity 500 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 502 may control operations of the network entity 500 for exchanging a control plane message or a user plane message with a UE, a BS, or other core network entities through wireless or wired communication, using various protocols (e.g., NAS protocol). To this end, the processor 502 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 503, so as to control other components of the network entity 500 to enable execution of various operations.

The memory 503 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 503 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

The memory 503 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 502 and may be accessed by the processor 502.

The memory 503 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 502. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 502 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 503, the processor 502 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the network entity 500 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 503 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and/or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

At least some of the example embodiments described herein may be constructed, partially or wholly, using dedicated special-purpose hardware. Terms such as 'component', 'module' or 'unit' used herein may include, but are not limited to, a hardware device, such as circuitry in the form of discrete or integrated components, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which performs certain tasks or provides the associated functionality. In some embodiments, the described elements may be configured to reside on a tangible, persistent, addressable storage medium and may be configured to execute on one or more processors. These functional elements may in some embodiments include, by way of example, components, such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. Although the example embodiments have been described with reference to the components, modules and units discussed herein, such functional elements may be combined into fewer elements or separated into additional elements. Various combinations of optional features have been described herein, and it will be appreciated that described features may be combined in any suitable combination. In particular, the features of any one example embodiment may be combined with features of any other embodiment, as appropriate, except where such combinations are mutually exclusive. Throughout this specification, the term "comprising" or "comprises" means including the component(s) specified but not to the exclusion of the presence of others.

Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

transmitting, to a network entity, a request message including a capability indication for receiving multiple temporary identifiers;

receiving, from the network entity, a response message including a set of temporary identifiers allocated by the network entity; and

storing the set of the temporary identifiers.
The method of claim 1, wherein the set of the temporary identifiers is stored in an order in which the temporary identifiers are received.
The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from the network entity, a paging message including a first temporary identifier contained in the set of the temporary identifiers;

transmitting, as a response to the paging message, to the network entity, a non-access stratum (NAS) response message including the first temporary identifier;

deleting the first temporary identifier from the set of the temporary identifiers; and

determining a next temporary identifier according to the order.
The method of claim 1, wherein the request message includes information on a maximum number of temporary identifiers to be stored at the UE.
A method performed by a network entity in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a request message including a capability indication for receiving multiple temporary identifiers;

allocating a set of temporary identifiers based on the capability indication; and

transmitting, to the UE, a response message including the set of the temporary identifiers.
The method of claim 5, wherein the temporary identifiers are transmitted in order.
The method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting, to the UE, a paging message including a first temporary identifier contained in the set of the temporary identifiers;

receiving, from the UE, a non-access stratum (NAS) response message, as a response to the paging message, including the first temporary identifier;

deleting the first temporary identifier from the set of the temporary identifiers; and

determining a next temporary identifier according to the order.
The method of claim 5, wherein the request message includes information on a maximum number of temporary identifiers to be stored at the UE.
A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:

at least one transceiver;

at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; and

at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the UE to:

transmit, to a network entity, a request message including a capability indication for receiving multiple temporary identifiers;

receive, from the network entity, a response message including a set of temporary identifiers allocated by the network entity; and

store the set of the temporary identifiers.
The UE of claim 9, wherein the set of the temporary identifiers is stored in an order in which the temporary identifiers are received.
The UE of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the UE to:

receive, from the network entity, a paging message including a first temporary identifier contained in the set of the temporary identifiers;

transmit, as a response to the paging message, to the network entity, a non-access stratum (NAS) response message including the first temporary identifier;

delete the first temporary identifier from the set of the temporary identifiers; and

determine a next temporary identifier according to the order.
The UE of claim 9, wherein the request message includes information on a maximum number of temporary identifiers to be stored at the UE.
A network entity in a wireless communication system, the network entity comprising:

at least one network interface;

at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one network interface; and

at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the network entity to:

receive, from a user equipment (UE), a request message including a capability indication for receiving multiple temporary identifiers;

allocate a set of temporary identifiers based on the capability indication; and

transmit, to the UE, a response message including the set of the temporary identifiers.
The network entity of claim 13,

wherein the temporary identifiers are transmitted in order, and

wherein the instructions further cause the network entity to:

transmit, to the UE, a paging message including a first temporary identifier contained in the set of the temporary identifiers;

receive, from the UE, a non-access stratum (NAS) response message, as a response to the paging message, including the first temporary identifier;

delete the first temporary identifier from the set of the temporary identifiers; and

determine a next temporary identifier according to the order.
The network entity of claim 13, wherein the request message includes information on a maximum number of temporary identifiers to be stored at the UE.