WO2026027488A1 - Methods, communications device and infrastructure equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods, communications devices, infrastructure equipment, and circuitry are provided for ambient Internet of Things (A-IoT) devices to transmit and/or receive from various gNBs based on a single beam quality threshold value, regardless of the gNB to which the A-IoT device is registered. Accordingly, a legacy handover procedure is not required for an A-IoT device to transmit to different gNBs. The same security key may, in some cases, be used for communications between the A-IoT device and both a source and target gNB.

Description

METHODS, COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE AND INFRASTRUCTURE EQUIPMENT

The present application claims the Paris Convention priority of European patent application EP24191876.2, filed 30July 2024, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Disclosure

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

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 7 illustrates a registration and data transmission process for a communications device.

Figure 8 illustrates RRC state-dependent coverage areas for a plurality of base stations.

Figure 9 illustrates single beam quality thresholds for a plurality of base stations, according to any example of the present disclosure.

Figure 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method for a communications device (e.g. an A-loT) according to the present disclosure.

Figure 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method for an infrastructure equipment (e.g. a gNB) according to the present disclosure.

Figure 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method for an infrastructure equipment (e.g. a gNB) according to the present disclosure.

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 (GW) 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 1A, 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 gNB 4.

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

Systems incorporating NR technology are support different services (or types of services), which may be characterised by different requirements for latency, data rate and/or reliability. For example, Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services are characterised by high capacity with a requirement to support up to 20 Gb/s. The requirements for Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) services are for one transmission of a 32 byte packet to be transmitted from the radio protocol layer 2/3 SDU ingress point to the radio protocol layer 2/3 SDU egress point of the radio interface within 1 ms with a reliability of 1 - 10^-5 (99.999 %) or higher (99.9999%) [2].

Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) is another example of a service which may be supported by NR-based communications networks. In addition, systems may be expected to support further enhancements related to Industrial Internet of Things (I loT) in order to support services with new requirements of high availability, high reliability, low latency, and in some cases, high-accuracy positioning.

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. Base stations, which are an example of network infrastructure equipment, may also be referred to as transceiver stations, nodeBs, e-nodeBs, eNB, g-nodeBs, gNB and so forth. In this regard different terminology is often associated with different generations of wireless telecommunications systems for elements providing broadly comparable functionality. However, certain embodiments of the disclosure may be equally implemented in different generations of wireless telecommunications systems, and for simplicity certain terminology may be used regardless of the underlying network architecture. That is to say, the use of a specific term in relation to certain example implementations is not intended to indicate these implementations are limited to a certain generation of network that may be most associated with that particular terminology. As such, the terms infrastructure equipment, base station, transceiver stations, nodeBs, e-nodeBs, eNB, g-nodeBs, and gNB are used interchangeably in the present disclosure.

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 [3],

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 [4], 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 r > 7 — 7* n ~ + 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-, = Z*, r, = 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 (1 ^— 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 [5,6], 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_avcM, the average power absorbed by the device can be calculated as

Pin = Pavail

Where p_n,_n=i,₂ denote the ratio of time duration for each impedance state; p = 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). n _ Pavail |P1 ^— P2 |^{2 P}BS -

CW Emitter

The carrier-wave emitter (or CW emitter I C\NE) 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 or a higher layer message may be used to respond with a sensor reading etc. 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 Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)) as the tag’s clock would drift in the meantime.

6G-I0T Device Design loT devices are expected to be implemented in 6G wireless communications networks. Future, so-called 6G-I0T devices (communications devices) may include ambient loT devices as described above. However, 6G-I0T devices may also include other forms of device which may or may not harvest energy from ambient signals or backscatter signals from a CWE. That is, some 6G-I0T devices may have their own power source (such as a coin cell battery), and may be capable of actively generating a signal in order to communicate with the network. Such 6G-I0T devices may utilise comparatively low-power services at comparatively low data rates, for example for transmitting sensor data at a typically infrequent and/or low data rate. In addition, low complexity devices from previous generations (such as 5G loT devices and 4G MTC devices) may be supported in future networks, and as such may also be referred to as 6G-I0T devices.

For A-loT devices, 3GPP have agreed the following characteristics of A-loT network design outlined in Table 1 below:

Table 1

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

Table 2

6G-I0T Network Registration and Data Transfer

Based on the above A-I0T/6G-I0T device design, certain assumptions could be made regarding the operation of 6G-I0T devices and the network. These may include some or all of: a) 6G-I0T systems may or may not utilise legacy Reference Signal (RS) design, and 6G-I0T devices should be able to use signals from the network to perform measurements. b) 6G-I0T devices do not always perform measurements of signal quality/strength of network signals. c) 6G-I0T devices do not support any or certain RRC states and, in particular do not support the RRC connected state. 6G-I0T devices may support an RRC layer or whether a different network layer will perform a configuration for the 6G-I0T devices.

Assuming 6G-I0T devices will not support the RRC connected state (and possibly other RRC states), and that the 6G-I0T network will not provide Access Stratum (AS) security, 6G-I0T devices may be able to send/receive data to/from one or more surrounding cells. It may also be assumed that the UE (i.e. 6G-I0T) context or UE identifiers allocated at the time of registration are valid in other cells as well in order to ensure service continuity. Accordingly, the procedure shown in Figure 7 for initial registration and then data transfer may apply. As shown in Figure 7, the UE (6G-I0T device) 710 may perform an initial registration procedure 740 along with a first iteration of data transmission and/or reception 750A with a particular base station/gNB 720 of the network. The initial registration procedure may include the UE 710 transmitting 701 a RACH preamble, UE identifier and security token to the base station 720, the base station 720 transmitting 702 the UE identifier and security token to the core network (CN) 730, as well as the CN 730 transmitting to the UE 710 (via the base station 720) an authentication request 703 (including the UE 710 identifier and the security token), and the UE 710 transmitting to the CN 730 (via the base station 720) an authentication response 704. The first iteration of data transmission and/or reception 750A includes the UE 710 transmitting 705A uplink data and a UE 710 identifier to the base station 720, which in turn transmits 706A the uplink data and UE 710 identifier to the CN 730. The first iteration of data transmission and/or reception 750A may also include the CN 730 transmitting 707A data for the UE 710 to the base station 720 with the UE 710 identifier, where the base station 720 then transmits 708A the data and UE 710 identifier to the UE 710.

The UE 710 is then at a later time able to start another iteration of data transmission/reception 750B either with the same base station or another base station of the network. The second iteration of data transmission and/or reception 750B may also include the UE 710 transmitting 705B uplink data and a UE 710 identifier to the base station 720, which in turn transmits 706B the uplink data and UE 710 identifier to the CN 730. The first iteration of data transmission and/or reception 750B may also include the CN 730 transmitting 707B data for the UE 710 to the base station 720 with the UE 710 identifier, where the base station 720 then transmits 708B the data and UE 710 identifier to the UE 710. In order to send/receive data to/from another base station, the UE may perform some measurements of reference signals (RS) (or other signals) from the network (i.e. from various base stations) and perform synchronisation with the other base station.

This approach shown in Figure 7 may be contrasted with legacy 5G connected mode and idle/inactive state measurements. Connected mode measurements are specified in TS 38.300 [7] and TS 38.331 [8], the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. As per these document, for connected mode measurements a UE performs measurements on beams, and both Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 3 (L3) filtering is applied by the UE to these measurement samples. A trigger is then evaluated based on these consolidated cell level results. A number of beams that meet the trigger may then reported. The UE may be configured to perform measurements based on either a SSB or Channel Status Information (CSI) RS (CSI-RS). Furthermore, a list of cellspecific offsets, a list of excluded cells and a list of allowed cells may be reported to the UE form the network.

The same parameters may be configured differently when UE is performing measurements in RRC idle/inactive mode and in RRC connected mode. The Abstract Syntax Notation 1 (ASN.1) structure in Table 3 below shows some parameters for performing measurements in RRC connected mode like absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation, nrofSS-BlocksToAverage, offsetMO, allowed cells list (allowedCellsToAddModList), and excluded cells list (excludedCellsToAddModList):

As mentioned above, these parameters may in some cases be indicated in a System Information Block (SIB), such as SIB2, for UEs to take into account of when in RRC idle/inactive mode. These parameters may be used by UEs in performing measurements of reference signals from base stations (i.e. gNBs) and performing cell reselection. However, as parameters may be configured differently for UEs based on RRC connection mode, the threshold for selecting a new cell may be different for UEs in RRC connected mode and UEs in RRC idle/inactive mode. Accordingly, an effective coverage area of a cell may be different based on the UE’s connection mode.

Figure 8 shows differing coverage levels for multiple cells based on the RRC status of the UE. Figure 8 shows three base stations 81 OA, 81 OB, 81 OC, each with a respective first coverage area (i.e. cell) 850A, 850B, 850C for UEs in RRC idle/inactive mode, and a respective second coverage area 860A, 860B, 860C for UEs in RRC connected mode. The example of Figure 8 may apply to a variety of scenarios. For example, for a UE in idle/inactive state intending to perform Small Data Transmission (SDT), a particular RSRP based threshold is defined. In other words, a UE in idle/inactive mode is allowed to initiate SDT only if its measurements of its serving cell is above the RSRP threshold. As such, a UE in bad radio coverage or towards an edge of a cell may not be allowed to initiate SDT.

In general, DL coverage may be greater than UL coverage, as UL coverage is limited by the transmission power of the UE. In general, the above-discussed thresholds are set based on DL coverage, as radio characteristics for UL and DL may be the same (e.g. the same for TDD and almost the same for FDD). As such, for UEs in idle/inactive mode where UL power is particularly limited, a threshold based on DL coverage may not be indicative of the UEs ability to transmit UL data.

6G-I0T Common Coverage Threshold

According to the present disclosure, a method for a communications device (e.g. a UE or 6G-loT) device is provided, comprising: performing a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment (e.g. a gNB/base station) of the wireless communications network; transmitting, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data; based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, performing a beam quality measurement for beams received from a plurality of infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is indicative of the communication device’s ability to successfully transmit uplink data to a respective infrastructure equipment, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment; and in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment.

In particular, according to examples of the present disclosure, a single threshold value (i.e. single coverage threshold) is set for beam quality measurements (e.g. reference signal received power (RSRP), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), received signal reference quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), or any other measurement of beam quality or strength) of signals (i.e. beams) transmitted by the gNB for UEs not having RRC states (e.g. 6G-I0T devices). The beams transmitted by the gNBs/base stations/infrastructure equipment may be reference signals, or may be substantially any other beam, any may be referred to below simply as beams or (reference) beams. The single threshold value is utilised instead of the combination of a threshold. An example of this arrangement is shown in Figure 9. In Figure 9, three infrastructure equipment 91 OA, 91 OB, 91 OC are shown each having a respective coverage threshold 950A, 950B, 950C, instead of two different coverage areas based on a UE’s RRC state.

Accordingly, as an example, after performing a registration procedure (e.g., a RACH procedure) with gNB 910B, the UE may transmit UL data for receipt by the gNB 910B. The UE may subsequently determine that is has further UL data to be transmitted to the network. Accordingly, performs a measurement of the beam quality of beams from each of gNBs 910A, 910B, 910C and transmit the further UL data to a particular one of the gNBs 910A, 910B, 910C based on the beam quality measurements. For example, the UE may determine that the beam from gNB 910B is above the predetermined threshold and thus may transmit the further UL data to the gNB 91 OB (with which the UE previously registered). Alternatively, the UE may determine that the beam from gNB 910C is above the predetermined threshold and thus may transmit the further UL data to the gNB 910C. This may be done without an RRC connection handover procedure from gNB 910B to gNB 910C, and without the UE registering with gNB 910C. However, in some cases the target gNB (i.e. gNB 91 OC) may receive (e.g. retrieve) UE context information from the source gNB (i.e. gNB 910B), e.g. via backhaul signalling or via the core network. This may be performed after receipt of the further UL data by the gNB 910C or prior to receipt of the further UL data by the gNB 910C. UE context information, may, for example, include various information, as specified in [7] and [8], This includes, for example one or more of: one or more identifiers for the UE and/or a subscriber identifier, session information, bearer information, one or more security keys, security context information (such as authentication information), a current cell identifier, a tracking area identifier, a subscriber profile, or one or more other types of information. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that UE context information for an A-loT device may not include one or more of the above types of information, or may include one or more other types of information not listed above.

As an example, the thresholds 950 may be absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation, which may be set to a particular value according to a UE’s expected ability to successfully transmit uplink data, based on the measured beam quality measurements of the beam transmitted by the gNB. Beams above this threshold value may be considered of acceptable quality, and therefore suitable for initiating UE UL transmission. In some cases, only a gNB with which the UE performed the registration procedure or has most recently transmitted UL data, or a neighboring gNB, may be considered suitable for subsequent UL transmissions. Accordingly, legacy cell reselection mechanisms are not required, and a UE may simply evaluate current measurements against the threshold. That is, according to the present disclosure, a gNB is selected only as part of the uplink transmission process (i.e. based on identifying uplink data to be transmitted), and is not performed prior to the identification of the uplink data to be transmitted.

As discussed above, the target gNB may receive UE context information, which may or may not include a security key which is utilised for communications between the UE and the source gNB (e.g. transmission of the first uplink data). For example, in some cases the same security key or no security key may be utilised by the UE for communicating with the source gNB and the target gNB. In other cases, the security key should be updated. In such cases, in response to determining that the security key should be updated or security should be started in the target gNB, the source gNB may not provide the security key to the target gNB, and a new security key may be generated (e.g. by the target gNB or by the UE) for communications between the target gNB and the UE. It should, however, be appreciated that the target gNB may still be provided with the security key even in cases where the security key should be updated. The target gNB may in this case determine that the security should be updated and elect not to use the existing security key, as in legacy systems. A new security key may therefore be generated, as discussed above or no security key is generated (if a security key is not necessary).

The threshold may in some cases be broadcast to UEs, for example in a system information broadcast (SIB). In other cases, the threshold may be transmitted in UE-specific signaling, such as in a paging message or as part of message sequence for data transmission and reception. Alternatively, the threshold may be signaled in common signaling for receipt by a group of UEs (for example using a UE identifier). In some cases, a common configuration for multiple UEs or a UE-specific configuration may be conveyed to UE(s) at the beginning of an access round or radio frame (i.e. a time period where transmission and reception take place), and the threshold can be included in that configuration. Such a configuration can be included in a paging message prior to the UE starting an UL transmission. In some cases, the predetermined threshold may be fixed in specifications.

In some examples, the predetermined threshold against which the UE compares the beam quality measurement(s) (e.g. absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation) may be an average of a plurality of beam quality thresholds for a plurality of base stations. Furthermore, in some cases the predetermined threshold may be the same for multiple (or all) base stations, or each base station may have its own associated predetermined threshold. Accordingly, the UE may receive an indication of whether the predetermined threshold is applicable to multiple base stations/beams.

In some cases, the UE may determine that beams from multiple base stations meet the predetermined threshold(s). In such cases, the UE may select a particular base station based on one or more of a variety of factors. For example, the UE may select a particular base station based on one or more rules specified by the network, and/or may select the base station having the highest beam quality/strength, and/or based on a priority list (e.g. based on base station load), and/or based on one or more features provided by the base stations (such as network energy savings (NES)).

According to certain examples, a base station may indicate a timing of the (reference) beam(s) to be measured by the UE. For example, base station 91 OB may indicate a timing of the reference beam transmitted by base station 910B to the UE. In some examples, the base station 910B may additionally or alternatively indicate a timing of the reference beam transmitted by base station 91 OA and/or base station 91 OC to the UE. In some examples, a base station may indicate to a UE that it is time-synchronised with a neighbouring base station. For example, base station 91 OB may indicate to a UE that base station 910A and/or base station 910C are time-synchronised with base station 91 OB. Time-synchronised base stations have aligned slot timings. Accordingly, the UE knows that time-synchronised base stations will transmit beams for measurement (e.g. reference signals) within a particular time window (i.e. within a predefined time window). Therefore, the total time for which a UE monitors for beams to measure can be reduced, meaning the UE can activate its RF receiver for a shorter amount of time, thereby conserving power. The indication of time-synchronised base stations may be broadcast or included in UE-specific signalling. Furthermore, base stations which are time-synchronised may transmit their beams (e.g. reference signals) using different frequency resources (i.e. different frequency domain positions/subcarriers within the network bandwidth) in order to avoid interference.

As discussed above, the above techniques may be applicable for A-loT (e.g. 6G-I0T) communications devices (i.e. 6G-I0T UEs). As such, the communications devices according to the present disclosure may be a less complex type of device than other types of communications devices configured to communicate with the network, such as mobile phones. Communications devices according to the present disclosure may therefore have no RRC state with the network, and may be classed as an loT device, a Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) device. The communications devices may also be ambient loT devices, and as such may include power harvesting capabilities, and/or may transmit uplink data to the network by backscattering/reflecting the (reference) beams received from the base station(s).

Figure 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method 100 for a communications device (e.g. an A-loT) according to the present disclosure. The method includes a step S110 of performing a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network. Step S120 includes transmitting, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data. Step 130 includes: based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, performing a beam quality measurement for beams received from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment. Step S140 includes: in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment.

Figure 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method 200 for an infrastructure equipment (e.g. a gNB) according to the present disclosure. Step S210 includes transmitting, for receipt by the communications device, a beam for measurement of beam quality by a communications device registered to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network. Step 220 includes receiving, from the communications device, uplink data. Step S230 includes receiving context information for the communications device, wherein the context information allows the infrastructure equipment to transmit to and/or receive signals from the communications device without updating a security key included in the context information.

Figure 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method 300 for an infrastructure equipment (e.g. a gNB) according to the present disclosure. Step S310 includes performing a registration procedure with a communications device. Step S320 includes receiving, from the communications device, uplink data. Step S330 includes providing, to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, context information for the communications device.

The methods described herein may also be embodied or encoded in a computer-readable medium, such as a computer-readable storage medium, containing instructions. Instructions embedded or encoded in a computer-readable medium may cause a programmable processor, or other processor, to perform the method, e.g., when the instructions are executed. Computer- readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable storage media and transient communication media. Computer readable storage media, which is tangible and non-transitory, may include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable read only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a cassette, magnetic media, optical media, or other computer-readable storage media. The term “computer-readable storage media” refers to physical storage media, and not signals, carrier waves, or other transient media. As noted above, computer readable media may include transient communication media. Such communication media may occur within a single computer system or between multiple computer systems, and may take the form of transient signal-conveying media such as carrier waves and transmission signals.

Accordingly, from one perspective there has been described methods, communications devices, infrastructure equipment, and circuitry are provided for ambient Internet of Things (A-loT) devices to transmit and/or receive from various gNBs based on a single beam quality threshold value, regardless of the gNB to which the A-loT device is registered. Accordingly, a legacy handover procedure is not required for an A-loT device to transmit to different gNBs. The same security key may, in some cases, be used for communications between the A-loT device and both a source and target gNB.

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

1. A method of operating a communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising: performing a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; transmitting, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data; based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, performing a beam quality measurement for beams received from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment; and in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment. 2. The method according to clause 1 , wherein the predetermined threshold is indicative of the communication device’s capability ability to successfully transmit uplink data to a respective infrastructure equipment.

3. The method according to clause 1 , wherein the first infrastructure equipment and the second infrastructure equipment are the same infrastructure equipment.

4. The method according to clause 1 , wherein the first infrastructure equipment and the second infrastructure equipment are different to one another.

5. The method according to clause 4, wherein the second infrastructure equipment neighbours the first infrastructure equipment.

6. The method according to clause 4 or clause 5, wherein performing the beam quality measurement for beams received from a plurality of infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, comprises performing the beam quality measurement for a first beam received from the first infrastructure equipment, and for a second beam received from the second infrastructure equipment.

7. The method according to any of clauses 4-6, wherein transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment is performed without performing a cell reselection procedure prior to identifying second uplink data.

8. The method according to any of clauses 4-7, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the first beam received from the first infrastructure equipment.

9. The method according to any of clauses 4-8, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the second beam received from the second infrastructure equipment.

10. The method according to any of clauses 4-9, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of whether the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment.

11. The method according to clause 10, wherein the indication of whether the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment is broadcast for receipt by a plurality of communications devices.

12. The method according to clause 10 or 11 , further comprising: based on determining, according to the indication of whether the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment, that the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment, attempting to detect beams from both the first and second infrastructure equipment within a predetermined time window.

13. The method according to any of clauses 4-12, wherein the beams received from the first infrastructure equipment and the second infrastructure equipment have different frequency resources.

14. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein the communications device is of a 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.

15. The method according to clause 14, wherein the at least one other type of communications device is a mobile phone.

16. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein communications device is an internet-of-things (loT) device.

17. The method according to clause 16, wherein the loT device is an ambient loT device.

18. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein the communications device is a Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) device.

19. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein the communications device has no Radio Resource Control (RRC) state with the wireless communications network.

20. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein in response to the beam quality measurement of beams received from two or more infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment based on one or more predefined rules.

21. The method according to clause 20, wherein the one or more predefined rules include a priority level for each of the two or more infrastructure equipment.

22. The method according to clause 20 or clause 21 , wherein the one or more predefined rules include transmitting the second uplink data to the infrastructure equipment of the two or more infrastructure equipment having a respective measured beam with the best measured beam quality.

23. The method according to any preceding clause, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of the predetermined threshold.

24. The method according to clause 23, wherein the indication of the predetermined threshold is received in a broadcast message.

25. The method according to clause 23, wherein the indication of the predetermined threshold is received in signalling intended for a group of communications device including the communications device.

26. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein the predetermined threshold is an average beam quality measurement for a particular beam.

27. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein the second uplink data is transmitted in a reflection of the beam received from the second infrastructure equipment.

28. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment are reference signals.

29. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein transmitting the first uplink data utilises a security key. 30. The method according to clause 29, wherein transmitting the second uplink data utilises the security key.

31. The method according to clause 30, wherein transmitting the second uplink data utilises a different security key.

32. A communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the communications device comprising: a transceiver; and a controller; wherein the transceiver and controller are together configured to: perform a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; transmit, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data; based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, perform a beam quality measurement for beams received from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment; and in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmit the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment.

33. Circuitry for a communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry; and controller circuitry; wherein the transceiver circuitry and controller circuitry are together configured to: perform a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; transmit, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data; based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, perform a beam quality measurement for beams received from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment; and in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmit the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment. 34. A method of operating an infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from a communications device, the method comprising: transmitting, for receipt by the communications device, a beam for measurement of beam quality by a communications device registered to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; receiving, from the communications device, uplink data; and receiving context information for the communications device, wherein the context information allows the infrastructure equipment to transmit to and/or receive signals from the communications device without updating a security key included in the context information.

35. The method according to clause 34, wherein the context information is received from the other infrastructure equipment.

36. The method according to any of clauses 34-35, wherein the context information indicates whether the security key should be updated.

37. The method according to any of clauses 34-36, wherein the security key is utilised by the infrastructure equipment for receiving the uplink data from the communications device.

38. The method according to any of clauses 34-37, wherein the communications device of a first type, and wherein the infrastructure equipment is further configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more communications devices of one or more other types, 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 other type of communications device.

39. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: one or more transceivers configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver to: transmit, for receipt by the communications device, a beam for measurement of beam quality by a communications device registered to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and receive context information for the communications device, wherein the context information allows the infrastructure equipment to transmit to and/or receive signals from the communications device without updating a security key included in the context information.

40. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, for receipt by the communications device, a beam for measurement of beam quality by a communications device registered to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and receive context information for the communications device, wherein the context information allows the infrastructure equipment to transmit to and/or receive signals from the communications device without updating a security key included in the context information.

41. A method of operating an infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from a communications device, the method comprising: performing a registration procedure with a communications device; receiving, from the communications device, uplink data; and providing, to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, context information for the communications device.

42. The method according to clause 40, wherein providing the context information includes providing a security key to the other infrastructure equipment based on determining that the security key should not be updated.

43. The method according to clause 40, wherein providing the context information includes refraining from providing a security key to the other infrastructure equipment based on determining that the security key should be updated.

44. The method according to any of clauses 40-43, wherein the communications device of a first type, and wherein the infrastructure equipment is further configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more communications devices of one or more other types, 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 other type of communications device.

45. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: one or more transceivers configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver to: perform a registration procedure with a communications device; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and provide, to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, context information for the communications device.

46. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: perform a registration procedure with a communications device; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and provide, to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, context information for the communications device.

47. A method of operating a wireless communications system comprising: a first infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from a communications device, and a second infrastructure equipment forming part of the wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from the communications device, the method comprising: performing, by the first infrastructure equipment, a registration procedure with the communications device; receiving, from the communications device, first uplink data; transmitting, by both the first and second infrastructure equipment, a beam for measurement of beam quality by the communications device; receiving, by the second infrastructure equipment, second uplink data from the communications device.

48. A wireless communications system comprising: infrastructure equipment according to clause 39 and 45; and a communications device according to clause 32.

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 computer-readable medium (in particular, a non-transitory or transitory computer-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 computer- readable (transitory or non-transitory) 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

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[2] TR 38.913, “3^rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Study on Scenarios and Requirements for Next Generation Access Technologies (Release 14)”, 3GPP, v14.3.0, August 2017.

[3] TR38.848. “Study on Ambient loT (Internet of Things) in RAN”, 3GPP.

[4] 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.

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

[6] 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

[7] TS 38.300, Release 18, v18.1.0, 3GPP

[8] TS 38.331 , Release 18, v18.1.0, 3GPP

Claims

1. A method of operating a communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising: performing a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; transmitting, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data; based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, performing a beam quality measurement for beams received from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment; and in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined threshold is indicative of the communication device’s capability ability to successfully transmit uplink data to a respective infrastructure equipment.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first infrastructure equipment and the second infrastructure equipment are the same infrastructure equipment.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first infrastructure equipment and the second infrastructure equipment are different to one another.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the second infrastructure equipment neighbours the first infrastructure equipment.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein performing the beam quality measurement for beams received from a plurality of infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, comprises performing the beam quality measurement for a first beam received from the first infrastructure equipment, and for a second beam received from the second infrastructure equipment.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment is performed without performing a cell reselection procedure prior to identifying second uplink data.

8. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the first beam received from the first infrastructure equipment.

9. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the second beam received from the second infrastructure equipment.

10. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of whether the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the indication of whether the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment is broadcast for receipt by a plurality of communications devices.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: based on determining, according to the indication of whether the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment, that the second infrastructure equipment is time-synchronised with the first infrastructure equipment, attempting to detect beams from both the first and second infrastructure equipment within a predetermined time window.

13. The method according to claim 4, wherein the beams received from the first infrastructure equipment and the second infrastructure equipment have different frequency resources.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the communications device is of a 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.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the at least one other type of communications device is a mobile phone.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein communications device is an internet-of-things (loT) device.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the loT device is an ambient loT device.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the communications device is a Machine-Type- Communication (MTC) device.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communications device has no Radio Resource Control (RRC) state with the wireless communications network.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in response to the beam quality measurement of beams received from two or more infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmitting the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment based on one or more predefined rules.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the one or more predefined rules include a priority level for each of the two or more infrastructure equipment.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the one or more predefined rules include transmitting the second uplink data to the infrastructure equipment of the two or more infrastructure equipment having a respective measured beam with the best measured beam quality.

23. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the first infrastructure equipment, an indication of the predetermined threshold.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the indication of the predetermined threshold is received in a broadcast message.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the indication of the predetermined threshold is received in signalling intended for a group of communications device including the communications device.

26. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined threshold is an average beam quality measurement for a particular beam.

27. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second uplink data is transmitted in a reflection of the beam received from the second infrastructure equipment.

28. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment are reference signals.

29. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting the first uplink data utilises a security key.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein transmitting the second uplink data utilises the security key.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein transmitting the second uplink data utilises a different security key.

32. A communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the communications device comprising: a transceiver; and a controller; wherein the transceiver and controller are together configured to: perform a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; transmit, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data; based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, perform a beam quality measurement for beams received from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment; and in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmit the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment.

33. Circuitry for a communications device configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry; and controller circuitry; wherein the transceiver circuitry and controller circuitry are together configured to: perform a registration procedure with a first infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; transmit, to the first infrastructure equipment, first uplink data; based on identifying second uplink data for transmission to the wireless communications network, perform a beam quality measurement for beams received from one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, wherein performing the beam quality measurement comprises comparing the beam quality measurement of the received beams against a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is the same for each of the beams received from the plurality of infrastructure equipment; and in response to the beam quality measurement of a beam received from a second infrastructure equipment of the plurality of infrastructure equipment being above the predetermined threshold, transmit the second uplink data to the second infrastructure equipment.

34. A method of operating an infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from a communications device, the method comprising: transmitting, for receipt by the communications device, a beam for measurement of beam quality by a communications device registered to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; receiving, from the communications device, uplink data; and receiving context information for the communications device, wherein the context information allows the infrastructure equipment to transmit to and/or receive signals from the communications device without updating a security key included in the context information.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the context information is received from the other infrastructure equipment.

36. The method according to claim 34, wherein the context information indicates whether the security key should be updated.

37. The method according to claim 34, wherein the security key is utilised by the infrastructure equipment for receiving the uplink data from the communications device.

38. The method according to claim 34, wherein the communications device of a first type, and wherein the infrastructure equipment is further configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more communications devices of one or more other types, 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 other type of communications device.

39. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: one or more transceivers configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver to: transmit, for receipt by the communications device, a beam for measurement of beam quality by a communications device registered to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and receive context information for the communications device, wherein the context information allows the infrastructure equipment to transmit to and/or receive signals from the communications device without updating a security key included in the context information.

40. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, for receipt by the communications device, a beam for measurement of beam quality by a communications device registered to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and receive context information for the communications device, wherein the context information allows the infrastructure equipment to transmit to and/or receive signals from the communications device without updating a security key included in the context information.

41. A method of operating an infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from a communications device, the method comprising: performing a registration procedure with a communications device; receiving, from the communications device, uplink data; and providing, to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, context information for the communications device.

42. The method according to claim 40, wherein providing the context information includes providing a security key to the other infrastructure equipment based on determining that the security key should not be updated.

43. The method according to claim 40, wherein providing the context information includes refraining from providing a security key to the other infrastructure equipment based on determining that the security key should be updated.

44. The method according to claim 40, wherein the communications device of a first type, and wherein the infrastructure equipment is further configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from one or more communications devices of one or more other types, 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 other type of communications device.

45. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: one or more transceivers configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver to: perform a registration procedure with a communications device; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and provide, to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, context information for the communications device.

46. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more communications devices; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: perform a registration procedure with a communications device; receive, from the communications device, uplink data; and provide, to another infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network, context information for the communications device.

47. A method of operating a wireless communications system comprising: a first infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from a communications device, and a second infrastructure equipment forming part of the wireless communications network and configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from the communications device, the method comprising: performing, by the first infrastructure equipment, a registration procedure with the communications device; receiving, from the communications device, first uplink data; transmitting, by both the first and second infrastructure equipment, a beam for measurement of beam quality by the communications device; receiving, by the second infrastructure equipment, second uplink data from the communications device.

48. A wireless communications system comprising: infrastructure equipment according to claim 39 and 45; and a communications device according to claim 32.