WO2026008696A1

WO2026008696A1 - Transmission of information to ambient iot devices to allow uplink transmission

Info

Publication number: WO2026008696A1
Application number: PCT/EP2025/068824
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yuxin Wei; Vivek Sharma; Yassin Aden Awad
Original assignee: Sony Europe Ltd; Sony Group Corp
Current assignee: Sony Europe BV United Kingdom Branch; Sony Group Corp
Priority date: 2024-07-05
Filing date: 2025-07-02
Publication date: 2026-01-08
Anticipated expiration: 2027-01-05

Abstract

A method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network is provided. The method comprises transmitting availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device. The first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network. The first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

Description

TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION TO AMBIENT IOT DEVICES TO ALLOW UPLINK TRANSMISSION

BACKGROUND

Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to methods, a communications device and infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network.

The present application claims Paris Convention priority from European Patent Application No. 24186960.1 , filed on 5 July 2024, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Background

The “background” description provided is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in the background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

Recent generation mobile telecommunication systems, such as those based on the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (RTM)) defined Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G New Radio (NR) architectures, are able to support a wider range of services than simple voice and messaging services offered by previous generations of mobile telecommunication systems. For example, with the improved radio interface and enhanced data rates provided by LTE and NR systems, a user is able to experience high data rate applications such as mobile video streaming and mobile video conferencing that would previously only have been available via a fixed line data connection. In addition to supporting these kinds of more sophisticated services and devices, it is also proposed for newer generation mobile telecommunication systems such as NR to support less complex services and devices which make use of the reliable and wide ranging coverage of newer generation mobile telecommunication systems without necessarily needing to rely on the high data rates available in such systems. For example, a less complex device (such as an Internet -of-Things (loT) device) may be a tiny device equipped with sensors and a small battery capacity. Such a less complex device needs to transmit the sensor data at a typically infrequent and/or low data rate. Furthermore some devices (such as ambient loT devices) may not include a power source and may derive power for transmitting signals based on a received radio frequency carrier wave.

Current and future wireless communications networks are expected to routinely and efficiently support communications with an ever-increasing range of devices associated with a wider range of data traffic profiles and types than existing systems are optimised to support. For example, it is expected future wireless communications networks will be expected to efficiently support communications with devices including loT devices, ambient loT devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, high resolution video displays, virtual reality headsets, extended Reality (XR) and so on. Some of these different types of devices may be deployed in very large numbers, for example loT devices, and may typically be associated with the transmissions of relatively small amounts of data with relatively high latency tolerance. Other types of device, for example supporting high-definition video streaming, may be associated with transmissions of relatively large amounts of data with relatively low latency tolerance. Other types of device, for example used for autonomous vehicle communications and for other critical applications, may be characterised by data that should be transmitted through the network with low latency and high reliability. A single device type might also be associated with different traffic profiles I characteristics depending on the application(s) it is running. For example, different consideration may apply for efficiently supporting data exchange with a smartphone when it is running a video streaming application (high downlink data) as compared to when it is running an Internet browsing application (sporadic uplink and downlink data) or being used for voice communications by an emergency responder in an emergency scenario (data subject to stringent reliability and latency requirements).

In view of this there is expected to be a desire for current wireless communications networks, for example those which may be referred to as 5G or new radio (NR) systems I new radio access technology (RAT) systems, or indeed future 6G wireless communications, as well as future iterations I releases of existing systems, to efficiently support connectivity for a wide range of devices associated with different applications and different characteristic data traffic profiles and requirements. The desire to support these new use-cases and scenarios gives rise to new challenges for efficiently handling communications in wireless communications systems that need to be addressed.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure can help address or mitigate at least some of the issues discussed above.

Respective aspects and features of the present disclosure are defined in the appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the present technology. The described embodiments, together with further advantages, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting embodiments and advantages of the present disclosure are explained with reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like parts have the same numerical designations and wherein: Figures 1A and 1 B schematically represent examples of communication systems in which tags are deployed within a coverage area of an infrastructure equipment (e.g. a gNB) of a wireless communications network and in which carrier wave emitters are controlled by the infrastructure equipment to transmit carrier wave signals and backscattered signals are detected;

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example wireless communications network configured in accordance with a 5G or new radio (NR) 3 GPP standard according to example embodiments;

Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating in more detail a communications device (e.g. a UE) and an infrastructure equipment (e.g. a gNB) formed from components of the wireless communications network shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of backscattering circuitry;

Figure 5 is a schematic illustration representing an example in which a carrier wave signal transmitted by an external carrier wave emitter is backscattered;

Figure 6 schematically illustrates an example of an ambient loT device communicating with a network;

Figure 7A schematically illustrates an example of an ambient loT device communicating with a network;

Figure 7B schematically illustrates an example of an ambient loT device communicating with a network;

Figure 8 schematically illustrates an example of activation of on-demand SSB transmission;

Figure 9A illustrates a method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network in accordance with example embodiments;

Figure 9B illustrates a method of operating a communications device in accordance with example embodiments;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Ambient loT

In release 19 of 3GPP (Rel-19), 3GPP will study Ambient loT [1] where a communications device (such as a UE) is essentially a zero power communications device. In Ambient loT, it is considered that the communications device can harvest energy to power its communication with a base station (such as a gNB). For example, the energy can be harvested from solar or kinetic energy such as vibrations. Alternatively, the energy to power the communications device can come from incident radio frequency (RF) energy, either directly from a base station or from a carrier wave emitter (CWE). An example in which such communication devices are powered by radio frequency energy derived from radio signals transmitted as a carrier wave (CW) by a CWE is shown in Figures 1A and 1 B. Figures 1A and 1 B show a plurality of low-complexity communications devices 1 , which can be deployed in accordance with an ambient loT scenario, which can be referred to as “tags” because of the simplicity of the devices. These tags 1 are powered as a result of radio frequency energy received from an incident CW2 transmitted by the CWE 3.

In a first example illustrated by Figure 1 A, a base station 4, or gNB 4 according to 3GPP 5G terminology, receives a backscattered signal 5 from the tags 1 , the backscattered signal 5 being formed as a reflection of the carrier wave 2 transmitted by the CWE 3.

In a second example, a UE 7 receives a backscattered signal 5 from the tags 1. The UE 7 then transmits an indication of the received backscattered signals 5, which were received from the tags 1 , to the gNB 4 via a wireless access interface 8 formed between the gNB 4 and the UE 7. Therefore, the gNB 4) may control the CWEs 3 to transmit the CWs 2, and the backscattered signals are detected by the detection station (UE) 7, and the detection station transmits an indication of the detected backscattered signals to the gNB4.

The station which controls the CWEs 3 may be regarded as a controller station. The station which detects the backscattered signals 5 may be regarded as detection station. The detection station may also be referred to as reader. Therefore in the Figure 1A both the controller station and the detection station are formed by a gNB 4 whereas in Figure 1 B the detection station 7 in the form of the UE is separate from the gNB 4 which acts as a controller station.

According to the arrangements of Figures 1A and 1 B, the tags 1 may modulate the reflected or backscattered signal 5 with information which is detected by the gNB 4 or a UE 7 acting as a detection station.

As shown in Figures 1A and 1 B, the gNB 4, which provides a cell represented by dashed line 12 controls the CWE 3 to transmit the CW 2. In some examples, the CWE 3 is formed by a communications device (such as a UE) which operates with a wireless communications network of which the gNB 4 forms part. The gNB 4 has an interface 6 to the CWE 3. In some examples therefore the interface 6 may be a Uu interface using 3GPP terminology. In some examples, the CWE is part of the gNB 4. In this case, the interface 6 can be an internal interface to the gNB 4.

The CWE 3 can be a standalone device or can be part of another network node. In one example, the CWE is a UE, such as a legacy UE or smartphone. In this case, the UE can be controlled to send a suitable signal to act as a carrier wave signal. It is also possible for the AloT device to transmit data in the uplink by backscattering another signal (for example the DL signal from the gNB 4).

In some examples, such as the example of Figure 1 B, the backscattered signal 5 may be received by a separate detection station (e.g. UE 7) which does not form part of the gNB 4. However since example embodiments can operate within or in association with wireless communications networks, an architecture of a typical 5G or New Radio (NR) wireless communications network will be now be described with reference to Figures 2 and 3. In some examples the CWE 3 may be incorporated within the detection station as a reader, in that the reader both emits the carrier wave signals and detects the backscattered signal from the one or more tags. The reader may then send the decoded information to the controller station.

5G New Radio (NR) Wireless Communications System

An example configuration of a wireless communications network which uses some of the terminology proposed for NR is shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2 a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs) 10 are connected to distributed control units (DUs) 42 by a connection interface represented as a line 16. Each of the TRPs 10 is arranged to transmit and receive signals via a wireless access interface within a radio frequency bandwidth available to the wireless communications network. Thus, within a range for performing radio communications via the wireless access interface, each of the TRPs 10, forms a cell of the wireless communications network as represented by a dashed line 12. As such, wireless communications devices 14 which are within a radio communications range provided by the cells 12 can transmit and receive signals to and from the TRPs 10 via the wireless access interface. Each of the distributed units 42 are connected to a central unit (CU) 40 (which may be referred to as a controlling node) via an interface 46. The central unit 40 is then connected to a core network 20 which may contain all other functions required for communicating data to and from the wireless communications devices and the core network 20. The core network 20 may be connected to other radio networks and infrastructure equipment.

The elements of the wireless access network shown in Figure 2 may operate in a similar way to corresponding elements of an LTE network. It will be appreciated that operational aspects of the telecommunications network represented in Figure 2 and of other networks discussed herein in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure which are not specifically described (for example in relation to specific communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) may be implemented in accordance with any known techniques, for example according to currently used approaches for implementing such operational aspects of wireless telecommunications systems, e.g. in accordance with the relevant standards.

The TRPs 10 of Figure 2 may in part have a corresponding functionality to a base station or eNodeB of an LTE network. It will be appreciated, therefore, that operational aspects of an NR network (for example in relation to specific communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) may be different to those known from LTE or other known mobile telecommunications standards. However, it will also be appreciated that each of the core network component, base stations and communications devices of an NR network will be functionally similar to, respectively, the core network component, base stations and communications devices of an LTE wireless communications network. In terms of broad top-level functionality, the central unit 40 and associated DUs 421 TRPs 10 may be broadly considered to provide functionality corresponding to the base station 1 of Figure 1 . The term network infrastructure equipment I access node may be used to encompass these elements and more conventional base station type elements of wireless telecommunications systems. Depending on the application at hand the responsibility for scheduling transmissions which are scheduled on the radio interface between the respective distributed units and the communications devices may lie with the CU 40, DUs 42 and/or TRPs 10. Communications devices 14 are represented in Figure 2 within the coverage area of respective communication cells 12. These communications devices 14 may thus exchange signalling with the CU 40 via the TRP 10 associated with their respective communications cells 12.

It will further be appreciated that Figure 2 represents merely one example of a proposed architecture for an NR-based telecommunications system in which approaches in accordance with the principles described herein may be adopted, and the functionality disclosed herein may also be applied in respect of wireless telecommunications systems having different architectures.

A more detailed diagram of some of the components of the network shown in Figure 2 is provided by Figure 3. In Figure 3, a TRP 10 as shown in Figure 2 comprises, as a simplified representation, a wireless transmitter 30, a wireless receiver 32 and a controller or controlling processor 34 which is configured to control the transmitter 30 and the receiver 32 to transmit radio signals to and receive radio signals from one or more UEs 14 within a cell 12 formed by the TRP 10. As shown in Figure 3, an example UE 14 is shown to include a corresponding wireless transmitter 49, wireless receiver 48 and a controller or controlling processor 44 which is configured to control the transmitter 49 to transmit signals representing uplink data to the wireless communications network via the wireless access interface formed by the TRP 10 and the receiver 48 to receive downlink data as signals transmitted by the transmitter 30 in accordance with the conventional operation.

The transmitters 30, 49 and the receivers 32, 48 (as well as other transmitters, receivers and transceivers described in relation to examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may include radio frequency filters and amplifiers as well as signal processing components and devices in order to transmit and receive radio signals in accordance, for example, with the 5G/NR standard. The controllers 34, 44 (as well as other controllers described in relation to examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may be, for example, a microprocessor, a CPU, or a dedicated chipset, etc., configured to carry out instructions which are stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-volatile memory. The processing steps described herein may be carried out by, for example, a microprocessor in conjunction with a random access memory, operating according to instructions stored on a computer readable medium.

The interface 46 between the DU 42 and the CU 40 is known as the F1 interface which can be a physical or a logical interface. The F1 interface 46 between CU and DU may operate in accordance with specifications 3GPP TS 38.470 and 3GPP TS 38.473 and, for example, may be formed from a fibre optic or other wired high bandwidth connection. In one example, the connection 16 from the TRP 10 to the DU 42 is via fibre optic. The connection between a TRP 10 and the core network 20 can be generally referred to as a backhaul, which comprises the interface 16 from TRP10 to the DU 42 and the F1 interface 46 from the DU 42 to the CU 40.

RF Incident Energy

As explained above with reference to the example shown in Figure 1 , Ambient loT proposes to use energy received from a radio frequency carrier wave in order to power devices. An Ambient loT device could be powered by other ambient power sources, such as solar or thermal power. Harvesting energy based on the incident RF energy has several advantages and disadvantages.

An advantage is the RF energy is always available. Hence the Ambient loT device can always be awake while being powered from this energy. Furthermore a signal transmitted in the uplink from a tag can be backscattered using the incident radio frequency wave.

A disadvantage is the received power of the RF energy source is typically low. A receiver operating on such energy typically requires a power level of -30dBm to -20dBm for operation, which is not consistent with the low amounts of received power that are typically available directly from a base station. This required received power level sets a limit on the range (communication distance) supported by the AloT system.

Another disadvantage is the transmission power level of a device that is powered by an RF energy source is typically very low. Such devices may operate based on backscattering technology, for example. The backscattered signal is created at the same carrier frequency as the incident RF energy. It is thus hard for the source of the RF energy (e.g. a gNB) to differentiate between the transmitted RF signal and the backscattered signal.

Another disadvantage is that, to reduce the power consumption of a receiver that operates on incident RF energy, a low power waveform I signaling scheme that is amenable to being decoded and received by a low power consumption receiver is typically required. For example, an on-off keying (OOK) signaling scheme may be used for such lower power communications. There are then issues of multiplexing this new signaling scheme with the currently supported orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and DFT-s-OFDM waveforms.

Despite the above listed disadvantages, it is considered that Ambient loT based on RF incident energy is feasible. Hence, 3GPP have started a study item on Ambient loT technology [1] and collected some initial design targets, requirements, topologies, deployment scenarios etc in a technical report TR38.848 [2],

Backscattering Principle A passive device can transmit in the uplink (UL) using the backscattering principle. The UL signal can be backscattered on RF incident energy that can be either ambient (some RF energy that is already being transmitted in the either, such as a cellular radio signal or a TV signal) or transmitted as a carrier-wave by a CW emitter for the express purpose of being backscattered. In either case, backscattering is performed based on the backscattering principle which is further described below.

Different from the conventional wireless communications device which actively generates its own signal, backscattering devices rely on reflecting an incident signal to transmit data. The encoded data is modulated by varying the amplitude (ASK), phase (PSK), or frequency (FSK) of the backscattered signal. More specifically, backscattering modulation is achieved by alternating between distinct load impedances of the antenna, with each impedance state leading to a unique characteristic of the reflected signal [3], Figure 4 illustrates a generic form of the backscattering circuitry including a matching network and an integrated circuit (IC).

There are two aspects of power that are relevant to the Ambient loT device:

• Absorbed power. This is the power that is energy harvested and can be used to drive the circuits within the tag.

• Reflected power. This is the power that is reflected as a backscattered signal.

Given the antenna and load impedances denoted as Z_a = R_a + jX_a and Z_n = R_n + jX_n,n = 1,2 , respectively, the reflection coefficient corresponding to each state is expressed as where * denotes the complex conjugate operation. Note that Figure 4 shows the antenna impedance Z_a as Z_ant. Note that it is possible for the load impedance to vary between more than two states, while in the present disclosure we consider binary state switching for the sake of simplicity. Ideally, when the load impedance is set to the complex conjugate of the antenna impedance at a certain state, n = 1 , = Z* , r_t = 0 holds and thus the received power is completely absorbed by the communications device, leading to a lower reflection state. Different reflection coefficients can be obtained with different values of load impedance. For example, a value of Z_n that is much greater than Z_a will lead to a reflection coefficient close to 1 , leading to a higher reflection state. Note that in practice, the reflection coefficient |r_n| depends on the manufacturing process and may vary within the range of (0,1).

The absorbed power can be calculated as

^in,n ⁼ ^avail (l ^— I ) where P_avai| denotes the power delivered from the antenna when the load impedance perfectly matches with the antenna impedance. Note that in the literature this is defined as the power transmission coefficient [4,5], In fact, the power captured by the antenna will be split into two; one part is scattered back to the reader while another part is delivered to the tag. For the design of the reflection ratio, a trade-off needs to be considered to balance the need for both parts of the power.

Given P_avaii, the average power absorbed by the device can be calculated as

Pin = Pavaii (Pl (l - I PJ ²) + P₂ (l - |P₂1²))

Where p_n,_n=1;2 denote the ratio of time duration for each impedance state; = p₂ holds if the probability of each impedance equals to the other (this also means same probability of Os and 1s appeared in the encoded data if the backscattered signal uses a pure OOK waveform). Assuming that there are no antenna losses, the backscattered signal power is calculated as (considering ideal antenna).

CW Emitter

The carrier-wave emitter (or CW emitter I CWE) transmits a carrier wave signal (CWS) that can be used by the tag to backscatter a signal from. The tag may additionally harvest energy from the CWS or simply use the power from the CWS to power the circuitry in the tag (i.e. energy may not be stored by the tag but may be used for ongoing operations). The scenario is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5 shows a tag 1 with a backscattering module 70. The backscattered signal is backscattered on the CW signal by the backscattering circuit, which may have the structure shown in Figure 4. The tag 1 includes an energy harvesting module 72, which converts energy of the carrier wave signal into power to drive a microcontroller 74 and the backscattering module 70.

The tag can be powered by non-RF energy sources, such as via solar power. The tag can also I alternatively be powered by an RF energy source. The RF energy source may be the same signal as the CW emitter (the CW signal may both power the tag and provide a signal that can be backscattered from).

The CW emitter devices may take the following forms:

• Base station. The base station (e.g. gNodeB) acts as the CW emitter.

• Intermediate node. A reader may act as the CW emitter. The reader is a device that receives the backscattered signal, demodulates it and sends the result to the base station. The reader may also send signals (R2D - reader to device) to the tag. • Dedicated node. The CW emitter may be a dedicated node whose purpose is to provide a CW signal that can be backscattered from. The CW signal can also be used to power the tag, as discussed above.

The tag may receive sufficient power to decode downlink signalling, but not have sufficient power to transmit a backscattered signal in the UL (there is insufficient link budget in the uplink). In an example, the tag can decode the AloT downlink based on ambient RF power, for example power that is received directly from the gNB. Note that the signals that are sent from a base station or reader to the tag are considered to be downlink signals from the perspective of the tag. These signals can be actually transmitted in uplink spectrum. A skilled artisan will understand when the term “downlink” refers to the topological direction of travel of a signal and when it refers to specific types of spectrum.

A CW emitter may be capable of transmitting different types of signal. For example, a CW emitter may be capable of transmitting a CW signal, as discussed above, which allows a tag to backscatter or harvest energy. Such a CW signal can be a single tone or multi-tone signal. In addition, a CW emitter may be able to transmit a reference signal. Such a reference signal may be a multi-tone signal, e.g. in the form of a reference signal used in LTE or NR networks. Examples include a sounding reference signal (SRS) or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), however the CW emitter may be able to transmit other types of reference signals.

The protocol for Ambient loT operation can be based on a command I response type of protocol. The detection station (which might be the gNodeB) sends a downlink command signal with a command to the tag. For example, the downlink command signal could indicate to the tag that it should respond with its identity (such as an identity number). The downlink command signal could indicate some further aspect of how the tag should respond. For example, the downlink command signal may indicate an amount of frequency shift that should be applied to the response signal, or may indicate a time at which the response signal should be transmitted. Based on the downlink command signal, the tag responds with a backscattered signal, where the backscattered signal is backscattered on the carrier wave signal.

Figure 6 shows an example of an A-loT network. There are three CWEs illustrated in the figure; each CWE is scheduled by the gNB for the CW transmission to the A-loT device (named as ‘Tag’ in this figure). The tag may also receive a command from the gNB and respond accordingly, e.g., standby, data transmission and reflection in a manner known by the gNB.

In a general indoor scenario, A-loT devices (also called tags) are deployed and attached to objects for various purposes, e.g., inventory, environment monitoring, etc. Tags are connected to a cellular network which is served by a single gNB or reader. Since the tags can only conduct backscattering communications, a bi-static topology is shown in order to enhance the communication range; this is realized by the deployment of multiple carrier wave emitters (CWEs) which transmit CWSs to the tag and enable backscattering at the tag. Capability of CWEs - CWEs can receive, process, and transmit OFDM-based multi-tone signals, for example control signals sent by a gNodeB or other controlling node. The CW that the CWEs transmit may be, for example, in the form of an unmodulated single-tone signal (however other types of tone may be used), which can be generated by only transmitting through a single OFDM subcarrier or other ways compatible to the OFDM based signal generation process.

Capability of tags - Depending on whether the tag can actively generate the signal or not, the tags are categorized into either active tags or (semi-) passive tags. Passive tags rely on backscattering communications. Active devices can actively generate a signal and transmit the signal at a desired frequency.

Passive tags cannot actively generate signals for transmission due to their low-complexity nature. They don’t support decoding OFDM-based multi-tone signals. They can decode signals that are sent on a R2D (reader to device, where the gNB can act as the reader) link when the R2D link uses a simple modulation scheme, such as OOK or FSK. This decoding could be done with a simple low power receiver, such as an envelope detector. For the D2R (device to reader) link, different backscattering modulation schemes may be applied, such as on-off keying (OOK), frequency shift keying (FSK), phase shift keying (PSK) and other schemes, given the incident CW signal.

Apart from the basic functionalities, e.g., data transmission, registration, and identification, etc., the tag is also able to be controlled, based on the command received from gNB on the R2D link, via its controller to achieve a certain reflection state, such as a high reflection state or a low/no reflection state. Note that the tag can exploit the difference between impedance states to yield various reflection ratios (as described above with reference to Fig. 4), e.g., constant absorption/reflection, etc. (i.e. high reflection and low/no reflection states can be achieved by changing the reflection ratios).

Depending on the availability of energy storage, tags are categorized into passive (without energy storage) and semi-passive (with energy storage) devices. An energy harvester is usually implemented to extend the life of the device and its type may include RF-based and other types of energy sources.

The tags have low accuracy clocks in order to reduce device complexity and to reduce tag power consumption. The tag is hence unable to accurately synchronise to the reader (e.g. gNB) and is unable to maintain accurate and consistent timing between synchronisation events (e.g. transmission of the SSB) as the tag’s clock would drift in the meantime.

Topologies and Agreements for Ambient loT Device Design

Use cases, topologies and functionalities required for AoT have been discussed in 3GPP TR 38.848 V18.0.0. For example, “Topology 1” and “Topology 2”, have been discussed as explained in more detail below.

Topology 1 : Base Station (BS)-Ambient loT Device An example of Topology 1 is shown in Figure 7A, which is a reproduction of Figure 4.2.1.1- 1 discussed in TR 38.848. In Topology 1 , an ambient loT device 704, device directly and bi-directionally communicates with a base station 702. The communication between the base station 702 and the ambient loT device 704 includes Ambient loT data and/or signalling. Although not shown in Figure 7A, Topology 1 includes the possibility that the BS transmitting to the Ambient loT device is a different from the BS receiving from the Ambient loT device.

Topology 2: Intermediate Node - Ambient loT device

An example of Topology 2 is shown in Figure 7B, which is a reproduction of Figure 4.2.1.1 - 2 discussed in TR 38.848. In Topology 2, the Ambient loT device 704 communicates bidirectionally with an intermediate node 706 between the Ambient loT device 704 and the base station 702. In Topology 2, the intermediate node 706 may be a relay, IAB node, UE, repeater, etc. which is capable of Ambient loT. The intermediate node 706 transfers Ambient loT data and/or signalling between BS 702 and the Ambient loT device 704.

Initial Agreements for Ambient-loT Design.

3GPP have agreed the following characteristics of ambient loT design outlined in Table 1 below:

Table 1 The present inventors have proposed that the following characteristics of Ambient loT design outlined in Table 2 below may be agreed in future generations of wireless telecommunications standards such as 6G:

Table 2

Therefore, loT devices are expected to be implemented in 6G wireless communications network. Furthermore, it is desirable to support low complexity devices from previous generations (such as 5G loT devices and 4G MTC devices) in future networks. However, future networks may employ other features which create technical challenges for low complexity devices, such as network energy saving (NES) as explained in more detail below.

Network Energy Saving (NES)

NES aims to reduce energy consumption in wireless communications networks, and therefore reduce the impact of wireless communications on the environment. For example, if less energy is consumed in wireless communications networks, fewer fossil fuels are burned, there are fewer greenhouse gas emissions and therefore environmental sustainability is improved. Furthermore, the reduction of energy consumption in wireless communications networks can reduce costs incurred by network operators.

5G I NR can handle advanced services and applications requiring very high data rates (for example, XR). Additionally, 5G I NR networks are becoming denser, using more antennas, and utilising larger bandwidths and an increasing number of frequency bands. Therefore, in at least some cases, energy consumption in 5G I NR is increasing. Since 5G I NR is becoming increasingly pervasive across various industries and geographical areas, it is becoming increasingly important to reduce the environmental impact of 5G /NR networks. NES solutions are therefore required.

In addition, energy consumption has become a key part of the operating expenses (OPEX) for network operators. According to a report from the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) [4], the energy cost of mobile networks accounts for approximately 23% of total operator costs. Most of the energy consumption comes from the radio access network and in particular from the Active Antenna Unit (AAU), with data centres and fibre transport accounting for a smaller share of the energy consumption. The energy consumption of a radio access network can be split into two parts: (1) a dynamic part which is only consumed when data transmission/reception is ongoing, and (2) a static part which is consumed all the time to maintain the necessary operation of the radio access network equipment, even when data transmission/reception is not on-going. Further details on NES can be found in [5],

In Release 19 of the 3GPP standards, an NES work item has been approved ([6]). The objectives of the work item are the following:

1. Specify procedures and signaling method(s) to support on-demand SSB SCell operation for UEs in connected mode configured with CA, for both intra-Zinter-band CA.

2. Study procedures and signaling method(s) to support on-demand SIB1 for UEs in idle/inactive mode, including:

3. Specify adaptation of common signal/channel transmissions.

NES is also expected to be implemented in future generations of wireless communications standards such as 6G.

NES System Information (SI)

As will be understood by a person skilled in the art, system information is transmitted by infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network to communications devices in a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment. The system information informs the communications devices on how to access services provided by the wireless communications network. The system information comprises a master information block (MIB), system information block type 1 (SIB1) and a plurality of other system information blocks (SIBs). The MIB is broadcasted in the PBCH in each SSB.

The MIB comprises information required to decode SIB1. For example, MIB comprises a cell barred bit, system frame number, and a PDCCH configuration for SIB1 , for example. SIB1 comprises information required for performing initial access (for example, random access parameters such as time/frequency resources for PRACH (e.g an RO configuration), preambles, or barring parameters). In initial access, the UE transmits a PRACH in an RO of the RO configuration indicated by SIB1 , thereby initiating a random access procedure. After the random access procedure, the UE may enter the RRC_Connected mode. Therefore, MIB and SIB1 together provide all the information which is required for initial access Accordingly, SIB1 is defined as the “remaining minimum SI”. SIB1 may comprise scheduling information of the other SIBs (for example, mapping of SIBs to SI messages, periodicity of other SIBs and Sl-window size). SIB1 is periodically broadcasted over a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH), but may be provided on-demand as explained below. Periodically broadcasted SIB1 is typically an “always-on” signal. The information comprised in the other SIBs is not required for initial access and so SIB1 may comprise an indication of whether the other SIBs are provided on-demand, in which case, SIB1 may also comprise an indication of a PRACH configuration for use by the UE to request the other SIBs. SIB1 may also comprise radio resource configuration information common to all communications devices in the cell in which the SIB1 is transmitted. SIB1 may also comprise cell barring information.

The other SIBs may comprise one or more of: SIB2-SIB18 and SIBpos.

— SIB2 comprises cell re-selection information, mainly related to the serving cell;

— SIB3 comprises information about the serving frequency and intra-frequency neighbouring cells relevant for cell re-selection (including cell re-selection parameters common for a frequency as well as cell specific re-selection parameters);

— SIB4 comprises information about other NR frequencies and inter-frequency neighbouring cells relevant for cell re-selection (including cell re-selection parameters common for a frequency as well as cell specific re-selection parameters), which can also be used for NR idle/inactive measurements;

— SIB5 comprises information about E-UTRA frequencies and E-UTRA neighbouring cells relevant for cell re-selection (including cell re-selection parameters common for a frequency as well as cell specific re-selection parameters);

— SIB6 comprises an ETWS primary notification;

— SIB7 comprises an ETWS secondary notification;

— SIB8 comprises a CMAS warning notification;

— SIB9 comprises information related to GPS time and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC);

— SIB10 comprises the Human-Readable Network Names (HRNN) of the NPNs listed in SIB1 ;

— SIB11 comprises information related to idle/inactive measurements;

— SIB15 comprises information related to disaster roaming;

— SIB16 comprises slice-based cell reselection information;

— SIB17 comprises information related to TRS configuration for UEs in RRCJ DLE/RRC J NACTI VE;

— SIBpos comprises positioning assistance data as defined in TS 37.355 and TS 38.331 ;

— SIB18 comprises information related to the Group IDs for Network selection (GINs) associated with SNPNs listed in SIB1.

Further information regarding existing SI can be found in TS38.300 v18.0.0, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

In NES, energy may consumption may be reduced, for example, by switching the cell off or by adapting SSB transmissions and/or SIB1 transmissions as explained in more detail below. Adapted SSB and SIB1 Transmissions

In Release-15 of the 3GPP standards, the time domain positions of transmitted SSBs within a half frame are semi-statically configured. Furthermore, UEs assume a single periodicity for the transmitted SSBs. In NES, it is being considered to adapt SSB and/or SIB1 transmissions by adapting a transmission pattern of SSB and/or SIB1 transmissions. For example, the transmission pattern of an SSB and/or SIB1 may be adapted to change periodicity and/or time resource locations of SSB and/or SIB1. In another example, the transmission pattern of an SSB and/or SIB1 may be adapted to omit specified elements from SSB and/or SIB1. The transmission pattern can be adapted semi-statically or dynamically.

NES SIB1

As one example of an adaptation, it has been suggested to introduce an on-demand SIB1 . In other words, instead of infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network periodically broadcasting SIB1 , it has been proposed for infrastructure equipment (i.e. NES infrastructure equipment) to broadcast SIB1 only in response to a request (or trigger such as a wake-up signal) from a UE. Since the SIB1 would thereby be transmitted less often, network energy savings would be increased. However, the details of such an on-demand SIB1 have not yet been discussed. Furthermore, existing UEs which do not support NES (also referred to as “non-NES UEs”) are configured to expect the SIB1 to be periodic. Since non-NES UEs are already deployed in wireless communications networks, it is important that NES solutions do not significantly impact performance for non-NES UEs.

It has also been suggested, instead of on-demand SIB1 , and as another example of adaptation, to increase the period between successive SIB1 transmissions so that SIB1s are transmitted less often, thereby reducing network energy consumption.

Furthermore, as another example of adaptation, it has been suggested to introduce an on- demand SSB to improve network energy savings as will be discussed in more detail below.

NES SSB

Typically, a gNB broadcasts SSBs periodically. SSB is an “always-on” signal. This means the gNB must be awake to transmit SSB, even when no active UE is camped on the cell provided by the gNB. Consequently, SSB transmissions lead to high network energy consumption. A solution to reduce the network energy consumption caused by the mandatory periodic, always-on SSB is to configure an “on-demand SSB”. In the case of on-demand SSB, the gNB does not transmit SSB until it receives an activation command. The activation command may be received by the gNB from other network infrastructure equipment, or from a UE, requesting the on-demand SSB transmission.

An example of on-demand SSB transmission will be described with reference to Figure 8. As shown in Figure 8, a UE, or other network infrastructure equipment aside from the gNB 72, transmits an on-demand SSB activation command 74 to a gNB 72. Before the UE, or the other network infrastructure equipment, transmits the activation command 74 to the gNB 72, there is a period 78 during which SSB is not transmitted by the gNB 72. In response to receiving the activation command 74, the gNB 72 broadcasts a plurality of SSBs 84 during a transmission period 80. Within the transmission period 80, the SSBs 84 may be broadcasted periodically as shown in Figure 8. The gNB 72 may broadcast one SSB burst set in response to the activation command 74. The gNB 72 may receive a deactivation command 76 from the UE (or another UE in the cell provided by the gNB 72, or other network infrastructure equipment) to stop transmitting SSB. In response to receiving the deactivation command 76, the gNB 72 may stop transmitting SSB. Therefore, there is a period 82 after receiving the deactivation command during which SSB is not transmitted by the gNB 72. In some examples, the deactivation command may be implicit, for example, the gNB 72 may start a timer after receiving the activation command 74 and, when the timer expires, the gNB 72 may stop transmitting SSB.

In Release-19 of the 3GPP standards, on-demand SSB will be specified for secondary cells (SCells). However, it is envisaged that on-demand SSB may be applied to primary cell (Pcell) and primary SCG cell (PScell) in future releases.

It has also been suggested, instead of on-demand SSB, and as another example of adaptation, to increase the period between successive SSB transmissions so that SSBs are transmitted less often, thereby reducing network energy consumption.

The co-existence of low complexity devices with NES can create technical challenges as explained in more detail below,

Co-existence of low complexity devices

As discussed in TR38.848, in NR, low complexity devices such as AloT should support both co-site and new site deployments. Co-site deployments are those where the low complexity devices are located in, and configured to communicate with, the same cell as higher complexity devices such as mobile phones. New site deployments are those where the low complexity devices are located in, and configured to communicate with, a cell reserved for use by low complexity devices.

It is envisaged that low complexity devices may be deployed in NR networks with an available frequency spectrum exclusively reserved for the low complexity devices or shared with other, higher complexity devices.

It is envisaged that co-site and new site deployments will also be used in 6G wireless communications networks. Furthermore, the use of an exclusive or shared frequency spectrum is also being considered for 6G networks.

Furthermore, it is envisaged that 6G wireless communications networks will support low complexity devices from previous generations such as 4G MTC/NB-loT devices (e.g. energy meters). Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods, communications devices and infrastructure equipment which can support the co-existence of low complexity devices from previous generations in future generations of wireless communication network.

In addition, it is expected that future wireless communications networks will support Network Energy Saving (NES) as discussed above. However, the implementation of NES can cause technical challenges for lower complexity devices, particularly for co-site or shared spectrum deployments. For example, according to Rel-19 AloT devices cannot initiate uplink data transmissions unless paged by the network. However, it is envisaged that, in a 6G wireless communications network, this limitation will not be present - i.e. AloT devices (and other low complexity devices) will be able to initiate uplink data transmissions with the network without being paged if the device has data to transmit. This can cause technical challenges in networks with NES implemented. For example, if a cell is switched off for NES saving, the low complexity device may not be aware of this and therefore may attempt to transmit an uplink data transmission when the cell is switched off. The transmission of the uplink data may involve powering on a radio frequency transmitter of the device, performing reference signal measurements and initiating RACH to access the cell in which the uplink data is to be transmitted before transmitting the uplink data. However, since the uplink data transmission is attempted when the cell is switched off, the uplink data transmission will fail and therefore power will be wasted. Low-complexity devices may have a low energy storage, or even no energy storage, and therefore the wastage of power is particularly problematic for low-complexity devices. In another example, for example in a shared spectrum scenario, high complexity and low complexity devices may share the same frequency spectrum. However, since the data transmitted by low complexity devices (e.g. sensor data and the like) is typically lower priority than data transmitted by higher complexity (e.g. URLLC data), the communications resources in the shared spectrum may be prioritised for the higher complexity devices which may mean that there are insufficient resources for the lower complexity devices to communicate using the shared spectrum. The low complexity device may attempt to communicate using the shared spectrum only to realise that the communications resources are already occupied so that the communication fails and power is wasted.

Therefore, there is a need for improved methods, communications devices and infrastructure equipment which can provide improved power efficiency for low complexity devices.

In view of the above, there is provided a method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network as illustrated in Figure 9A. The method starts in step S2.

In step S4, the method comprises transmitting availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device. The first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network.

The first type of communications device may be an loT device, ambient loT device, or MTC device. loT devices may include sensors and actuators, for example. The first type of communications device may also be referred to as a “tag”.

The first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device (which may be alternatively referred to as a “second type of communications device”). Reduced complexity may comprise one or more of: a reduced energy storage capability (or no energy storage capability), a reduced transmission radio frequency bandwidth, a reduced reception radio frequency bandwidth, a smaller number of antennas, a reduced amount of memory storage, a reduced processing capability and a reduced power consumption. As mentioned above, the first type of communications device may have reduced energy storage (or no energy storage) capabilities compared with the second type of communications device. For example, the first type of communications device may have a lower amount of energy storage (e.g. a smaller, or no, battery capacity) than the second type of communications device. As mentioned above, the first type of communications device may have a reduced power consumption than the second type of communications device. For example, the first type of communications device may have a reduced transmission power capability compared with the second type of communications device. For example, a maximum transmission power of the first type of communications device may be less than a maximum transmission power of the second type of communications device.

The at least one other type of communications device is as a mobile phone, for example.

The availability may be transmitted over a single transmission or multiple transmissions. For example, the indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable (which hereinafter may be referred to as the “type indication”) and the indication of the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device (which hereinafter may be referred to as the “availability indication”, may be transmitted together in one transmission or may each be transmitted separately in two respective transmissions.

In some embodiments, the availability to communicate with the wireless communications network is an availability to transmit one or more uplink transmissions to the wireless communications network.

In some embodiments, the availability to communicate with the wireless communications network is an availability to communicate with the infrastructure equipment which transmits the availability information.

In some embodiments, the availability to communicate with the infrastructure equipment which transmits the availability information is an availability to communicate with the infrastructure equipment via a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted and in which the one or more communications devices of the first type are located. In such embodiments, one or more communications devices of the second type may also be located in the cell (e.g. a co-site scenario). Alternatively, the one or more communications devices may be located in a cell provided by other infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network (e.g. a new site scenario).

In some embodiments, the availability to communicate with the infrastructure equipment which transmits the availability information is an availability to communicate with the infrastructure equipment via a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment other than the cell in which the availability information is transmitted (e.g. in a scenario where a gNB provides multiple cells). Such embodiments are particularly useful when the one or more communications devices move from the cell in which the availability information is transmitted to the other cell.

In some embodiments, the availability to communicate with the wireless communications network is an availability to communicate with infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network other than the infrastructure equipment which transmits the availability information (e.g. in a scenario where a gNB which transmits to an loT device is different than the gNB which receives from the loT device).

Since the availability information is applicable to the first type of communications device, other types of communications device receiving the availability information may ignore the availability information.

The infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network may be a gNB, for example.

In some embodiments, the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have a network energy saving (NES) status.

In some embodiments, the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an explicit indication of a future time at which the cell will have the NES status. For example, the indication may indicate that the cell will switch off in one hour. In some embodiments, the indication that the cell will have the NES status comprises an implicit indication of the future time at which the cell will have the NES status - for example, the indication may comprise an indication that the cell currently has an NES status and the communications device receiving the indication determines based on this that the cell will have the NES status from now on (until otherwise indicated).

The future time is in the future relative to, for example, the time at which the indication that the cell will have the NES status is formed. However, from the perspective of a communications device receiving the indication, the indicated future time may be in the past relative to a clock maintained by the communications device. For example, an infrastructure equipment forming the indication that the cell will have an NES status may indicate that the cell will have an NES status in 2 minutes but it may take the communications device 3 minutes to receive the indication. Therefore, the time indicated is in the past from the perspective of the communications device.

The method ends in step S6.

In accordance with example embodiments, there is also provided a method of operating a communications device of a first type as illustrated in Figure 9B. The method starts in step S20.

In step S40, the method comprises receiving, from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, availability information comprising an indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type. The first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network.

The first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

In step S60, the method comprises, controlling a transmitter and/or receiver of the communications device of the first type in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type.

In some embodiments, the communications device of the first type may control the transmitter and/or the receiver not to communicate with a cell provided by the wireless communications network if the availability information indicates that the cell will have an NES status (such as switching off). In some embodiments, where the availability information indicates a time period for which the NES status of the cell will last, the communications device may control the transmitter and/or the receiver not to communicate with the wireless communications network via the cell during the time period and may control the transmitter and/or the receiver to communicate with the wireless communications network via the cell after the time period has passed.

In some embodiments, the indication that the cell will have the NES status is comprised in a mobility restriction list transmitted by the infrastructure equipment. The mobility restriction list indicates that the communications device of the first type is not allowed to communicate with the cell. In such embodiments, the time period for which the cell will have the NES status is indicated in the mobility restriction list.

In some embodiments, the communications device stores the time period for which the cell will have the NES status. Then, when the communications device moves out of the coverage of the cell, the communications device may determine not to perform a cell search until the time period for which the cell will have the NES status expires. In some embodiments, where indication that the cell will have the NES status indicates that the cell will be switched off, the indication may also comprise an indication of a frequency band of the cell. In such embodiments, the communications device of the first type may determine not to perform radio resource management (RRM) measurements on the frequency band of the cell. The method ends in step S80.

Reducing Impact of NES status on loT devices

As explained above, the implementation of NES can cause technical challenges for lower complexity devices. Therefore, in some embodiments, the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication that the cell provided by the wireless communications network will have a network energy saving (NES) status.

A cell may be regarded as having NES status if, for example, one or more of the following conditions apply:

— The cell is switched off;

— Synchronisation signal blocks (SSBs) are transmitted on-demand in the cell by the infrastructure equipment which provides the cell;

— System information block type 1 (SIB1) is transmitted on-demand in the cell by the infrastructure equipment which provides the cell;

— SSBs are transmitted in the cell by the infrastructure equipment which provides the cell with a greater time period between successive SSBs compared with a time period between successive SSBs transmitted before the NES status; and

— SIB1 is transmitted in the cell by the infrastructure equipment which provides the cell with a greater time period between successive SIB1s compared with a time period between successive SIB1s transmitted before the NES status;

— Synchronisation signal transmission (such as always-on synchronisation signal transmission) in the cell is switched off.

Based on the indication that the cell will have an NES status (hereinafter referred to as the “NES indication”), the one or more communications devices of the first type may control their respective transmitters and/or receivers not to communicate with the infrastructure equipment via the cell when the cell has the NES status. This may save power by avoiding the communications devices needlessly attempting to communicate with the infrastructure equipment because, for example, the cell is switched off. The one or more communications devices of the first type may switch off their radio frequency transceivers for example.

The NES indication may be an NES status change code for example. In some embodiments, the NES indication may include an indication of a time period for which the cell will have the NES status. For example, the NES indication may indicate how long the cell will be switched off for. Therefore, the one or more communications devices of the first type may determine when to attempt to communicate with the infrastructure equipment i.e. after the cell has switched back on. In some embodiments, the NES indication may explicitly indicate a future time at which the cell will have NES status and an indication of the time period for which the NES status will last. The one or more communications devices of the first type may turn their radio frequency transceivers off for the duration of the indicated time period for which the cell will have NES status.

In some embodiments, where the NES status is that SSB transmission has been adapted to have a greater time period between successive transmissions than before the NES status, then the NES indication may comprise an explicit indication of the future time and an indication of the greater time period between successive SSB transmissions.

In some embodiments, the cell may have NES status periodically. In such cases, the NES indication may comprise an indication of the periodicity with which the cell has the NES status.

In some embodiments, the NES indication comprises an identification of the cell and a frequency band of the cell. The identification may be a physical cell identifier (PCI), for example.

In some embodiments, the availability information comprises an identification of the one or more communications devices of the first type. In such embodiments, the availability information is only applicable to the identified one or more communications devices of the first type identified in the availability information. Therefore, communications devices of the first type receiving the availability information, but which are not identified in the availability information, may determine to ignore the availability information. The identification may be a device ID (where only one of the communications devices is identified) or a group ID (where more than one of the communications devices is identified).

In some embodiments, the availability information comprises an indication that the first type of communications device is not permitted to transmit an uplink wake-up signal (WUS) to trigger the cell to change to a non-NES status (hereinafter referred to as a No- WUS indication). For example, no-WUS indication may comprise an indication that the first type of communications device is not permitted to transmit a WUS which causes one or more of:

— cell to switch back on;

— the on-demand SSB to be disabled;

— the on-demand SIB1 to be disabled;

— the period between successive instances of SSB to decrease; and

— the period between successive instances of SIB1 to decrease. Data transmitted by lower complexity devices tends to be less urgent than data transmitted by higher complexity devices. For example, lower complexity device data may comprise sensor readings whereas higher complexity device data may comprise data with stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements. Therefore, by preventing communications devices of the first type from transmitting a WUS, the energy saving benefits of maintaining the NES status can be achieved. Although this may delay data from the first type of communications devices being communicated to the infrastructure equipment, this may be acceptable because such data is typically non-urgent as explained above.

In some embodiments, the infrastructure equipment may transmit an indication to the one or more communications devices of the first type to indicate that the cell no longer has NES status (referred to hereinafter as a “non-NES indication”). The non-NES indication may be transmitted as a paging message WUS, for example. The non-NES indication may comprise an indication of a frequency of the cell. This means the one or more communications devices of the first type do not have to perform a cell search on all frequencies to access the cell, which typically consumes a large amount of power.

In some embodiments, the availability information comprises an indication that another cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status (which may be referred to as a “second NES indication”). In some embodiments, the first NES indication may be for a cell in which the availability information is transmitted (and in which the one or more communications devices of the first type are located) provided by the infrastructure equipment which transmits the availability information. In such embodiments, the second NES indication may be for another cell provided by the infrastructure equipment or for a cell provided by other infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network. In this way, the infrastructure equipment which transmits the availability information can inform the one or more communications devices of the first type of NES status changes in the current cell and neighboring cells. This indication is particularly useful where one or more of the communications devices of the first type move between cells.

The second NES indication may contain substantially the same information as the NES indication transmitted by the infrastructure equipment as described above but applied to the other cell provided by the infrastructure equipment or the cell provided by the other infrastructure equipment. The second NES indication may comprise an indication of an identity of the other cell (for example, the PCI of the other cell). The second NES indication may comprise an indication of the frequency band of the other cell.

In some embodiments, the NES indication comprises an indication that synchronisation signals transmitted in the cell will be switched off. For example, the cell may have always- on synchronisation signal transmission which is switched off.

Allocating Communications Resources for loT Devices

Configured Grant In configured grant, an information element (IE) referred to as “ConfiguredGrantConfig” may comprise one or more of the following fields: “periodicity", “periodicityExf’ and “cg- SDT-Periodicity-Ext”. Each of these field indicate a periodicity of the configured grant according to a subcarrier spacing. If only the periodicity filed is present in the IE, then the periodicity indicated by this field is used. If the “periodicity” and “periodicityExf fields are present ion the IE, then the periodicity indicated by the “periodicity” field is ignored and the periodicity indicated by the “periodicityExf’ field is used. If the “cg-SDT-Periodicity-Ext” is present in the IE and the “periodicity” and/or “periodicityExf’ fields are present in the IE, then the periodicity indicated by the periodicity” and/or “periodicityExf’ fields is ignored and the periodicity indicated by the “cg-SDT-Periodicity-Ext” field is used.

The definition of these fields, as provided by TS 38.331 (the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety), is reproduced in Table 3.

Table 3

Taking a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz as an example, the “periodictyExt” field indicates

5 that the maximum periodicity can be up to 640ms. However, in cells with an NES status, the period of SSB transmissions may be more than 640 ms and/or the period of SIB1 transmissions may be more than 640 ms. As will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, a communications device receiving a configured grant either transmits in the next available resources of the configured grant or receives an indication from the network to skip the next available resources in the configured grant. Accordingly, when more resources than are needed are allocated for the communications device, the network has to inefficiently transmit a signal to indicate to the communications device to skip the next available resources in the configured grant or the communications device has to transmit the to the network which is a waste of energy and radio resources. Accordingly, configured grant resources may be inefficiently allocated.

Using a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz in another example, the “cg-SDT-Periodicity-Ext” field indicates that the maximum periodicity for small data transmission (SDT) can be up to 2816*1280ms which is around 1 hour. However, in cells with an NES status, the cell may be switched off for more than an hour and may be switched off for 24 hours for example. Accordingly, configured grant resources may be inefficiently allocated because resources may be allocated during the switch-off period when they cannot be used by devices of the first type.

Therefore, in some embodiments, the indication of an availability of the infrastructure equipment to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprise an indication of a periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the first type of communications device to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein a time period between successive instances of the communications resources is longer than a time period between successive instances of communications resources in another periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment to communicate with one or more communications devices of the at least one other type of communications device. In other words, the period of a configured grant configuration for communications devices of the first type (e.g. loT devices) may be longer than a period of a configured grant resource configuration for communications devices of the second type (e.g. mobile phones). In some embodiments, the period of the configured grant resource configuration for the first type of communications device may be equal to the time for which the cell has the NES status. For example, if the period of configured grant resource configuration is less than the period of SIB1 or SSB transmission, then the network will have to transmit signals indicating to the communications device to skip available resources less often, thereby improving resource utilisation efficiency.

In some embodiments, the period of the configured grant resource configuration for the first type of communications device may correspond to a period after which the infrastructure equipment expects there to be resources available for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type because, for example, there is less, or no, higher priority traffic from communications devices of the second type. Accordingly, resources are more efficiently allocated since, for example, the one or more communications devices of the first type may not be allocated resources of the first type when they are unable to use them due to an NEs status of the cell or the cell being busy due to other higher priority traffic.

Dynamic Grant

In some embodiments, the indication of an availability of the infrastructure equipment to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of communications resources allocated for the one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device and an indication of a time period after which the communications resources are valid for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type. In other words, availability information may comprise a dynamic grant for the one or more communications devices of the first type and a time period indicating when the resources in the dynamic grant are valid for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type. Therefore, the one or more communications devices of the first type may not use the resources indicated in the dynamic grant until the time period indicating when the resources are valid has passed. The time period may indicate that the resources are valid when the NES status of the cell has ended (for example, the cell switches back on). In another example, the time period may indicate that the resources are valid when the infrastructure equipment expects there to be resources available for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type because, for example, there is less, or no, higher priority traffic from communications devices of the second type. Therefore, communications resources are efficiently allocated.

The indication of the time period may be, for example, an occasion or radio frame number or a GMT time when the cell is available or a period (time range) after which the dynamic grant is available for example. The indication of the time period may be comprised in a broadcast signal, a paging message, or downlink control information (DCI), for example. The indication of the time period may be transmitted together with or separately from the dynamic grant. For example, in the case of a DCI, the downlink grant and the indication of the time period may be transmitted in the same DCI. If the indication of the time period is in a paging message, the indication of the time condition may apply to all the communications devices of the first type which receive the time condition, or the paging message may comprise a device ID, or group ID, to identify one or more communications devices of the first type for which the indication of the time period applies.

In some embodiments, the one or more communications devices of the first type which receive the indication of the time condition may determine to enter a dormant I sleep state during the time period and wake-up when the time period expires and the one or more communications devices have data transmit. Consequently, power is efficiently utilised.

Signaling for Availability Information

In some embodiments, the availability information is comprised in a paging message transmitted by the infrastructure equipment. In some embodiments, the availability information is comprised in a dynamic signal transmitted by the infrastructure equipment. The dynamic signal may be a Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) or an L1 signal.

In some embodiments, the availability information is transmitted as a broadcast signal.

In some embodiments, the availability information is transmitted is transmitted as a groupcast signal.

The following numbered paragraphs provide further example aspects and features of the present technique:

Paragraph 1. A method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising transmitting availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

Paragraph 2. A method according to paragraph 1 , wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have a network energy saving (NES) status, the cell provided by the wireless communications network being a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted, or another cell provided by the infrastructure equipment, or a cell provided by other infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network.

Paragraph 3. A method according to paragraph 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that the cell will be switched off.

Paragraph 4. A method according to paragraph 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that synchronisation signals transmitted in the cell will be switched off.

Paragraph 5. A method according to paragraph 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an indication that transmission of a synchronisation signal block (SSB) in the cell will be adapted, and an indication that on-demand system information block (SIB) transmission in the cell will be adapted.

Paragraph 6. A method according to any of paragraphs 2 to 5, wherein the indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status comprises an indication of a future time at which the cell will have the NES status.

Paragraph 7. A method according to any of paragraphs 2 to 6, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period for which the cell will have the NES status.

Paragraph 8. A method according to any of paragraphs 2 to 7, wherein the cell has the NES status periodically and the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of the periodicity with which the cell has the NES status.

Paragraph 9. A method according to any of paragraphs 2 to 8, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period after which the one or more communications devices of the first type should check whether or not the cell still has the NES status.

Paragraph 10. A method according to any of paragraphs 2 to 9, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an identification of the cell, and a frequency band of the cell.

Paragraph 11. A method according to any of paragraphs 2 to 10, wherein the availability information comprises an indication that the first type of communications device is not permitted to transmit an uplink wake-up signal (WUS) to trigger the cell to change to a non-NES status.

Paragraph 12. A method according to any of paragraphs 2 to 11 , wherein the availability information comprises an indication that another cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status.

Paragraph 13. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 12, wherein the availability information is comprised in a paging message transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 14. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 12, wherein the availability information is comprised in a dynamic signal transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 15. A method according to paragraph 14, wherein the dynamic signal is a Medium Access Control Element (MAC CE).

Paragraph 16. A method according to paragraph 14, wherein the dynamic signal is an L1 signal. Paragraph 17. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 16, wherein the availability information comprises an identification of the one or more communications devices of the first type.

Paragraph 18. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 17, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of a periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the first type of communications device to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein a time period between successive instances of the communications resources is longer than a time period between successive instances of communications resources in another periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment to communicate with one or more communications devices of the at least one other type of communications device.

Paragraph 19. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 17, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device and an indication of a time period after which the communications resources are valid for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type.

Paragraph 20. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 19, wherein the availability information is transmitted as a broadcast signal.

Paragraph 21. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 20, wherein the availability information is transmitted is transmitted as a groupcast signal.

Paragraph 22. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 21 , wherein the first type of communications device is an internet-of-things (loT) device.

Paragraph 23. A method according to paragraph 22, wherein the loT device is an ambient loT device.

Paragraph 24. A method according to of paragraphs 1 to 23, wherein the first type of communications device is a Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) device.

Paragraph 25. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 24, wherein the at least one other type of communications device is a mobile phone.

Paragraph 26. A method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 25, wherein one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are configured to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein the one or more communications devices of the first type and the one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are located in a same cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted. Paragraph 27. A method of operating a communications device of a first type, the method comprising receiving, from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, availability information comprising an indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device, and controlling a transmitter and/or receiver of the communications device of the first type in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type .

Paragraph 28. A method according to paragraph 27, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate the communications device of the first type comprises an indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have a network energy saving (NES) status, the cell provided by the wireless communications network being a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted, or another cell provided by the infrastructure equipment, or a cell provided by other infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network.

Paragraph 29. A method according to paragraph 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that the cell will be switched off.

Paragraph 30. A method according to paragraph 29, wherein the indication of that the cell will be switched off comprises an indication of the frequency band of the cell, and the method comprises determining not to perform radio resource management (RRM) measurements on the frequency band of the cell.

Paragraph 31. A method according to paragraph 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that synchronisation signals transmitted in the cell will be switched off.

Paragraph 32. A method according to paragraph 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an indication that transmission of a synchronisation signal block (SSB) in the cell will be adapted, and an indication that on-demand system information block (SIB) transmission in the cell will be adapted.

Paragraph 33. A method according to any of paragraphs 28 to 32, wherein the indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status comprises an indication of a future time at which the cell will have the NES status, wherein the controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type comprises controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver not to communicate with the wireless communications network via the cell at the future time.

Paragraph 34. A method according to any of paragraphs 28 to 33, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period for which the cell will have the NES status, wherein the controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type comprises controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver not to communicate with the wireless communications network via the cell for the time period for which the cell will have the NES status.

Paragraph 35. A method according to paragraph 34, wherein the indication that the cell will have the NES status is comprised in a mobility restriction list transmitted by the infrastructure equipment, the mobility restriction list indicating that the communications device of the first type is not allowed to communicate with the cell, and the time period for which the cell will have the NES status is indicated in the mobility restriction list.

Paragraph 36. A method according to paragraph 34 or paragraph 35, comprising storing the time period for which the cell will have the NES status, moving out-of-coverage of the cell, and determining not to perform a cell search until the time period for which the cell will have the NES status expires.

Paragraph 37. A method according to any of paragraphs 28 to 36, wherein the cell has the NES status periodically and the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of the periodicity with which the cell has the NES status.

Paragraph 38. A method according to any of paragraphs 28 to 37, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period after which the one or more communications devices of the first type should check whether or not the cell still has the NES status. Paragraph 39. A method according to any of paragraphs 28 to 38, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an identification of the cell, and a frequency band of the cell.

Paragraph 40. A method according to any of paragraphs 28 to 39, wherein the availability information comprises an indication that the first type of communications device is not permitted to transmit an uplink wake-up signal (WUS) to trigger the cell to change to a non-NES status.

Paragraph 41 . A method according to any of paragraphs 28 to 40, wherein the availability information comprises an indication that another cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status.

Paragraph 42. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 41 , wherein the availability information is comprised in a paging message transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 43. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 41 , wherein the availability information is comprised in a dynamic signal transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 44. A method according to paragraph 43, wherein the dynamic signal is a Medium Access Control Element (MAC CE).

Paragraph 45. A method according to paragraph 43, wherein the dynamic signal is an L1 signal.

Paragraph 46. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 45, wherein the availability information comprises an identification of the communications device of the first type.

Paragraph 47. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 46, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of a periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the first type of communications device to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein a time period between successive instances of the communications resources is longer than a time period between successive instances of communications resources in another periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment to communicate with one or more communications devices of the at least one other type of communications device.

Paragraph 48. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 46, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device and an indication of a time period after which the communications resources are valid for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type.

Paragraph 49. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 48, wherein the availability information is transmitted as a broadcast signal.

Paragraph 50. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 49, wherein the availability information is transmitted is transmitted as a groupcast signal.

Paragraph 51 . A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 50, wherein the first type of communications device is an internet-of-things (loT) device.

Paragraph 52. A method according to paragraph 51 , wherein the loT device is an ambient loT device.

Paragraph 53. A method according to of paragraphs 27 to 52, wherein the first type of communications device is a Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) device.

Paragraph 54. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 53, wherein the at least one other type of communications device is a mobile phone.

Paragraph 55. A method according to any of paragraphs 27 to 54, wherein one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are configured to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein the one or more communications devices of the first type and the one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are located in a same cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted.

Paragraph 56. Infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising a transmitter configured to transmit signals, a receiver configured to receive signals, a controller configured in combination with the transmitter and the receiver to transmit availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

Paragraph 57. A communications device of a first type, the communications device of the first type comprising a transmitter configured to transmit signals, a receiver configured to receive signals, a controller configured in combination with the transmitter and the receiver to receive, from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, availability information comprising an indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device, and control the transmitter and/or the receiver of the communications device of the first type in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type.

Paragraph 58. Circuitry for infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals, receiver circuitry configured to receive signals, controller circuitry configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to transmit availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

Paragraph 59. Circuitry for a communications device of a first type, the circuitry comprising transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals, receiver circuitry configured to receive signals, controller circuitry configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to receive, from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, availability information comprising an indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device, and control the transmitter circuitry and/or the receiver circuitry of the communications device of the first type in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type.

Paragraph 60. A computer program which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to any of paragraphs 1 to 55.

Paragraph 61. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program according to paragraph 60.

Numerous modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the clauses, the disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

In so far as embodiments of the disclosure have been described as being implemented, at least in part, by one or more software-controlled information processing apparatuses, it will be appreciated that a machine-readable medium (in particular, a non-transitory machine-readable medium) carrying such software, such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, semiconductor memory or the like, is also considered to represent an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, the present disclosure should be understood to include a non-transitory storage medium comprising code components which cause a computer to perform any of the disclosed method(s).

It will be appreciated that the above description for clarity has described embodiments with reference to different functional units, circuitry and/or processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, circuitry and/or processors may be used without detracting from the embodiments.

Described embodiments may be implemented in any suitable form including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. Described embodiments may optionally be implemented at least partly as computer software running on one or more computer processors (e.g. data processors and/or digital signal processors). The elements and components of any embodiment may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed, the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in a plurality of units or as part of other functional units. As such, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in a single unit or may be physically and functionally distributed between different units, circuitry and/or processors.

Although the present disclosure has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to those embodiments. Additionally, although a feature may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in the art would recognize that various features of the described embodiments may be combined in any manner suitable to implement the present disclosure.

REFERENCES [1] RP-234058, “New SID: Study on solutions for Ambient loT (Internet of Things) in NR”. RAN plenary #102. Edinburgh. December 2023.

[2] TR38.848. “Study on Ambient loT (Internet of Things) in RAN”.

[3] Van Huynh, Nguyen, Dinh Thai Hoang, Xiao Lu, Dusit Niyato, Ping Wang, and Dong In Kim. "Ambient Backscatter Communications: A Contemporary Survey." IEEE

Communications Surveys & Tutorials 20, no. 4 (2018): 2889-2922.

[4] RP-234065, “New WID: Enhancements of network energy savings for NR,” 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting#102, Edinburgh, Scotland, December 11 th-15th, 2023

[5] GSMA, 5G energy efficiencies: Green is the new black, https://data.gsmaintelligence.com/api-web/v2/research-file- download?id=54165956&file=241120-5G-energy.pdf

[6] TR 38.864, “Study on network energy savings for NR”, 3GPP, V18.1.0, March 2023.

Claims

1. A method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising transmitting availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have a network energy saving (NES) status, the cell provided by the wireless communications network being a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted, or another cell provided by the infrastructure equipment, or a cell provided by other infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that the cell will be switched off.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that synchronisation signals transmitted in the cell will be switched off.

5. A method according to claim 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an indication that transmission of a synchronisation signal block (SSB) in the cell will be adapted, and an indication that on-demand system information block (SIB) transmission in the cell will be adapted.

6. A method according to claim 2, wherein the indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status comprises an indication of a future time at which the cell will have the NES status.

7. A method according to claim 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period for which the cell will have the NES status.

8. A method according to claim 2, wherein the cell has the NES status periodically and the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of the periodicity with which the cell has the NES status.

9. A method according to claim 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period after which the one or more communications devices of the first type should check whether or not the cell still has the NES status.

10. A method according to claim 2, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an identification of the cell, and a frequency band of the cell.

11. A method according to claim 2, wherein the availability information comprises an indication that the first type of communications device is not permitted to transmit an uplink wake-up signal (WUS) to trigger the cell to change to a non-NES status.

12. A method according to claim 2, wherein the availability information comprises an indication that another cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status.

13. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the availability information is comprised in a paging message transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

14. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the availability information is comprised in a dynamic signal transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the dynamic signal is a Medium Access Control Element (MAC CE).

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein the dynamic signal is an L1 signal.

17. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the availability information comprises an identification of the one or more communications devices of the first type.

18. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of a periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the first type of communications device to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein a time period between successive instances of the communications resources is longer than a time period between successive instances of communications resources in another periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment to communicate with one or more communications devices of the at least one other type of communications device.

19. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device and an indication of a time period after which the communications resources are valid for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type.

20. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the availability information is transmitted as a broadcast signal.

21. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the availability information is transmitted is transmitted as a groupcast signal.

22. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first type of communications device is an internet-of-things (loT) device.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the loT device is an ambient loT device.

24. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first type of communications device is a Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) device.

25. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one other type of communications device is a mobile phone.

26. A method according to claim 1 , wherein one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are configured to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein the one or more communications devices of the first type and the one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are located in a same cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted.

27. A method of operating a communications device of a first type, the method comprising receiving, from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, availability information comprising an indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device, and controlling a transmitter and/or receiver of the communications device of the first type in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate the communications device of the first type comprises an indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have a network energy saving (NES) status, the cell provided by the wireless communications network being a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted, or another cell provided by the infrastructure equipment, or a cell provided by other infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network.

29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that the cell will be switched off.

30. A method according to claim 29, wherein the indication of that the cell will be switched off comprises an indication of the frequency band of the cell, and the method comprises determining not to perform radio resource management (RRM) measurements on the frequency band of the cell.

31. A method according to claim 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication that synchronisation signals transmitted in the cell will be switched off.

32. A method according to claim 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an indication that transmission of a synchronisation signal block (SSB) in the cell will be adapted, and an indication that on-demand system information block (SIB) transmission in the cell will be adapted.

33. A method according to claim 28, wherein the indication that a cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status comprises an indication of a future time at which the cell will have the NES status, wherein the controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type comprises controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver not to communicate with the wireless communications network via the cell at the future time.

34. A method according to claim 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period for which the cell will have the NES status, wherein the controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type comprises controlling the transmitter and/or the receiver not to communicate with the wireless communications network via the cell for the time period for which the cell will have the NES status.

35. A method according to claim 34, wherein the indication that the cell will have the NES status is comprised in a mobility restriction list transmitted by the infrastructure equipment, the mobility restriction list indicating that the communications device of the first type is not allowed to communicate with the cell, and the time period for which the cell will have the NES status is indicated in the mobility restriction list.

36. A method according to claim 34, comprising storing the time period for which the cell will have the NES status, moving out-of-coverage of the cell, and determining not to perform a cell search until the time period for which the cell will have the NES status expires.

37. A method according to claim 28, wherein the cell has the NES status periodically and the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of the periodicity with which the cell has the NES status.

38. A method according to claim 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises an indication of a time period after which the one or more communications devices of the first type should check whether or not the cell still has the NES status.

39. A method according to claim 28, wherein the indication that the cell will have an NES status comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of: an identification of the cell, and a frequency band of the cell.

40. A method according to claim 28, wherein the availability information comprises an indication that the first type of communications device is not permitted to transmit an uplink wake-up signal (WUS) to trigger the cell to change to a non-NES status.

41 . A method according to claim 28, wherein the availability information comprises an indication that another cell provided by the wireless communications network will have an NES status.

42. A method according to claim 27, wherein the availability information is comprised in a paging message transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

43. A method according to claim 27, wherein the availability information is comprised in a dynamic signal transmitted by the infrastructure equipment.

44. A method according to claim 43, wherein the dynamic signal is a Medium Access Control Element (MAC CE).

45. A method according to claim 43, wherein the dynamic signal is an L1 signal.

46. A method according to claim 27, wherein the availability information comprises an identification of the communications device of the first type.

47. A method according to claim 27, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of a periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the first type of communications device to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein a time period between successive instances of the communications resources is longer than a time period between successive instances of communications resources in another periodic configuration of instances of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment to communicate with one or more communications devices of the at least one other type of communications device.

48. A method according to claim 27, wherein the indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device comprises an indication of communications resources allocated by the infrastructure equipment for the one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device and an indication of a time period after which the communications resources are valid for use by the one or more communications devices of the first type.

49. A method according to claim 27, wherein the availability information is transmitted as a broadcast signal.

50. A method according to claim 27, wherein the availability information is transmitted is transmitted as a groupcast signal.

51 . A method according to claim 27, wherein the first type of communications device is an internet-of-things (loT) device.

52. A method according to claim 51 , wherein the loT device is an ambient loT device.

53. A method according to claim 27, wherein the first type of communications device is a Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) device.

54. A method according to claim 27, wherein the at least one other type of communications device is a mobile phone.

55. A method according to claim 27, wherein one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are configured to communicate with the infrastructure equipment, wherein the one or more communications devices of the first type and the one or more communications devices of the at least one other type are located in a same cell provided by the infrastructure equipment in which the availability information is transmitted.

56. Infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising a transmitter configured to transmit signals, a receiver configured to receive signals, a controller configured in combination with the transmitter and the receiver to transmit availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

57. A communications device of a first type, the communications device of the first type comprising a transmitter configured to transmit signals, a receiver configured to receive signals, a controller configured in combination with the transmitter and the receiver to receive, from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, availability information comprising an indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device, and control the transmitter and/or the receiver of the communications device of the first type in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type.

58. Circuitry for infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals, receiver circuitry configured to receive signals, controller circuitry configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to transmit availability information comprising an indication of a first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with one or more communications devices of the first type of communications device, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device.

59. Circuitry for a communications device of a first type, the circuitry comprising transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals, receiver circuitry configured to receive signals, controller circuitry configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to receive, from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, availability information comprising an indication of the first type of communications device to which the availability information is applicable and an indication of an availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type, wherein the first type of communications device is one of a plurality of types of communications device configured to communicate with the wireless communications network, and the first type of communications device has a reduced hardware complexity compared with at least one other type of communications device of the plurality of types of communications device, and control the transmitter circuitry and/or the receiver circuitry of the communications device of the first type in accordance with the availability of the wireless communications network to communicate with the communications device of the first type.

60. A computer program which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to claim 1 or claim 27.

61 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program according to claim 60.