US Patent Application for METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR POWER HEADROOM REPORTING FOR MULTIPLE TRANSMISSION RECEPTION POINT (MULTI-TRP) TRANSMISSIONS Patent Application (Application #20240188005 issued June 6, 2024) (2024)

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/187,885, filed May 12, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference as set forth in full.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure generally relates to field of wireless communications, and more particularly relates to systems and methods related to reporting of signal power of user equipment.

BACKGROUND

The next generation mobile networks, in particular Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) systems such as Fifth Generation (5G) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) the capabilities of user equipment are shared with a network to prevent data loss. One of the capabilities includes the user equipment uplink transmission output power, which can change over time. For example, if there is a required signal to noise ratio that must be met, transmit power may be increased. Conversely, transmit power may be decreased if there is co-channel interference. In scenarios with different types of transmission reception points, such as macro-cells, small cells, pico-cells, femto-cells, remote radio heads, and relay nodes. There is a need for preventing data loss in Multi-TRP operations through improved transmit power reporting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrases “A or B” and “A/B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

The new radio release 15 and 16 for 5G provides that user equipment (UE) performs power control to adjust an uplink transmission output. The power control applies to physical channels such as the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). When there are multiple transmission reception points (TRPs), such as macro-cells, small cells, pico-cells, femto-cells, remote radio heads, and relay nodes, there are different pathloss calculations required for each and are beam specific.

The output of the PUSCH is shown as below equation (1):

$$\begin{gathered} \begin{array}{cc}{P}_{\mathrm{PUSCH},b,f,c}\left(i,j,q_d,l\right)= \\ \min \left\{\begin{array}{c}{P}_{\mathrm{CMAX},f,c}\left(i\right)\\ P_{0\_\mathrm{PUSCH},b,f,c}\left(j\right)+10{\log }_{10}\left(2^{\mu }·M_{\mathrm{RB},b,f,c}^{\mathrm{PUSCH}}\left(i\right)\right)+{\alpha }_{b,f,c}\left(j\right)·{\mathrm{PL}}_{b,f,c}\left(q_d\right)+{\Delta }_{\mathrm{TF},b,f,c}\left(i\right)+f_{b,f,c}\left(i,l\right)\end{array}\right\}=\left[\mathrm{dBm}\right]& \left(1\right)\end{array} \end{gathered}$$

The parameters shown in equation (1) include: b: UL BWP index; f: Carrier index; c: Serving cell; j: Parameter set configuration index; l: PUSCH power control adjustment state index; i: PUSCH transmission occasion; q_d: Reference signal index used for pathloss calculation, corresponding to different beams.

Generally, each component in the formula has the following meaning: P_CMAX: The UE maximum output power; P_{0_PUSCH}: The target received PUSCH power; M: Bandwidth in number of resource blocks; a: Pathloss compensation factor; PL: Pathloss (beam specific); Δ: Adjustment according to modulation coding scheme (MCS); f_b,f,c(i, l): Adjustment according to a transmit power control (TPC) command from gNB.

For power control, each user equipment (UE) needs to report the power head room (PHR) to the network so that each gNB can determine power available (head room) for power adjustment. In PUSCH the power headroom report is Type 1, and is defined in equation (2), below:

$$\begin{gathered} \begin{array}{cc}P{H}_{\mathrm{type}1,b,f,c}\left(i,j,q_d,l\right)=P_{CMAX,f,c}\left(i\right)-\left\{P_{0\_\mathrm{PUSCH},b,f,c}\left(j\right)+10{\log }_{10}\left(2^{\mu }·M_{\mathrm{RB},b,f,c}^{\mathrm{PUSCH}}\left(i\right)\right)+ \\ {a}_{b,f,c}\left(j\right)·{\mathrm{PL}}_{b,f,c}\left(q_d\right)+{\Delta }_{\mathrm{TF},b,f,c}\left(i\right)+f_{b,f,c}\left(i,l\right)\right\}\left[\mathrm{dB}\right]& \left(2\right)\end{array} \end{gathered}$$

Equation (2) contains the same parameters as described above with reference to equation (1). Both equations require a pathloss element, which can be different for different TRPs.

For power headroom reporting for medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) the 5G specification technical standard TS 38.321 defines two power headroom report reporting protocols.

Referring to FIG. 1 the single-entry power headroom report 100 is shown. The protocol illustrates a packet data unit (PDU) of eight blocks, with the first two block showing P and R. As shown, the PDU has a fixed size with two octets, a reserved bit “R” set to zero, a power headroom field (PH) 110 that indicates the power headroom level. The length of the field is 6 bits. The reported PH and the corresponding power headroom levels are measured values in dB. The P_CMAX,f,c field 120 indicates the P_CMAX,f,c used for calculation of the preceding PH field. As shown, field PH shows Type 1 and PCell.

Types of power headroom reporting are defined in the 5G specification. Type 1 power headroom: the difference between the nominal UE maximum transmit power and the estimated power for UL-SCH transmission per activated Serving Cell. Type 2 power headroom: the difference between the nominal UE maximum transmit power and the estimated power for UL-SCH and PUCCH transmission on special cell (SpCell) of the other MAC entity (i.e. E-UTRA MAC entity in EN-DC case only). Type 3 power headroom: the difference between the nominal UE maximum transmit power and the estimated power for SRS transmission per activated Serving Cell. A primary serving cell (PCell) is the serving cell which is responsible for network connection and mobility of the UE, and the SCell is the serving cell configured for carrier aggregation to increase downlink/uplink data rate of the UE.

Referring to FIG. 2, a multi-TRP operation PDU illustrates a power headroom report message format 200 for reporting the power headroom of a UE for a MAC-CE for multi-entry uplink transmit power control illustrating a Power Headroom Report (PHR) message format for reporting the PH of the UE for uplink transmit power control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The subheader for multi-TRP is a variable size depending on the number of TRPs, and includes a bitmap 250, a Type 2 PH field 210 and an octet with the associated PCMAC,f,c, field 220 for a special cell (SpCell) of another MAC entity, a Type 1 PH field 230 and an octet with the associated PCMAX,f,d field 240 for the primary cell (PCell). The PDU 200 further includes in ascending order based on a cell index, o e or multiple type X PH fields 250 and octets with the associated fields for serving cells other than the PCell indicated in the bitmap.

As shown, the V fields 260 indicate whether the PH value is based on a real transmission or a reference format. For Type 1 PH, V=0 indicates real transmission on PUSCH and V=1 indicates that a PUSCH reference format is used. For Type 2 PH, V=0 indicates real transmission on PUCCH and V=1 indicates that a PUCCH reference format is used. For Type 3 PH, V=0 indicates real transmission on SRS and V=1 indicates that an SRS reference format is used. Furthermore, for Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 PH, V=0 indicates the presence of the octet containing the associated PCMAX,f,c field, which indicates the PCMAX,f,c used for calculation of the preceding PH field, and V=1 indicates that the octet containing the associated PCMAX,f,c field is omitted.

The P fields 270 indicate whether the MAC entity applies power backoff due to power management. The MAC entity shall set P=1 if the corresponding PCMAX,f,c field would have had a different value if no power backoff due to power management had been applied. PCMAX,f,c field indicates the PCMAX,f,c used for calculation of the preceding PH field.

In one or more embodiments, for multi-TRP operation, the pathloss reference q_d and/or the power control adjustment state l may be associated with different TRPs, for example, the UE could maintain separate and simultaneously active pathloss references and closed loop power control loops for different TRPs. However, in the power headroom report MAC-CE including single-entry MAC-CE and multi-entry MAC-CE, there is no field to distinguish pathloss reference and/or power control adjustment state, resulting in the network side not knowing which TRP the power headroom report is reported to in a multi-TRP operation. Thus, the network does not know which TRP the power headroom report is reported to in multi-TRP operations belonging to the same cell. The importance of knowing pathloss references is important in that some TRPs in the same cell may have different characteristics that can change the pathloss calculations. Pathloss depends on the height of the TRP, the distance from the UE and whether the UE is the line of sight of the TRP, and these characteristics can be different for different TRPs that are communicating with the same UE. To prevent data loss and to benefit from 5G enhancements allowing multiple TRPs to communicate with the UE simultaneously, embodiments herein provide a power headroom report tracking procedure and power headroom report triggering for multi-TRP operation.

In one or more embodiments, techniques for power headroom report tracking procedure are provided along with methods of associating PHR triggering and reporting in Multi-TRP operation.

In accordance with one or more embodiments a power headroom report is triggered if pathloss is changed upon a pathloss reference change. For single-TRP operation, the gNB can know which pathloss reference is used when the power headroom report is calculated. For multi-TRP operation, different pathloss reference signals (RS) are expected to be active simultaneously and used from different TRPs. Embodiments herein address the fact that there may be little or no correlation in the variation of measured pathloss between TRPs.

The 5G specification, release 17 description of multi-TRP operation provides PUSCH repetition that could be enabled for use different TRPs. In this case, it is unclear how a gNB differentiates the power headroom report towards different TRPs since in current power headroom report MAC-CE there is no explicit identification of TRPs. In addition, the pathloss variation among TRPs may be large enough to trigger PHR, but the pathloss variation toward the same TRP may be not enough to trigger a PHR. Thus, there is a potential for data loss or at least a lack of efficiency among TRPs.

Therefore, current power headroom report reporting mechanism may not work well in multi-TRP operation. In one or more embodiments, a mechanism supports power headroom report per pathloss-reference. More particularly, in one embodiment, pathloss variation is measured with respect to a set of pathloss-references for power headroom report triggering between two consecutive power headroom report reporting instances. For example, if multiple TRPs are in a cell area for a UE, there could be multiple pathloss references. The same set of pathloss-reference signals may be identified by gNB configuration. As an example, a set of pathloss-reference signals may be associated with the same physical cell identifier (PCI).

The set of pathloss-references may include a single pathloss-reference. The set of pathloss-reference signals may also be associated with an identifier. As another example, a set of pathloss-reference signals may be included in the same MAC-CE message.

In another embodiment, a single power headroom report timer configuration can be used for power headroom report triggering. Alternatively a separate power headroom report timer configuration can be used for each pathloss-reference RS set.

In another embodiment, the power headroom report determination (calculation) is based on the same pathloss-reference set used for power headroom report triggering.

In another embodiment, a power headroom report includes an identification of the pathloss-reference set index or TRP index or PCID or a pathloss-reference RS ID that is associated with a MAC-CE.

In another embodiment, the power headroom report is carried on a PUSCH transmission occasion associated with the same pathloss-reference set used for power headroom report triggering.

As an example, a PUSCH transmission occasion is associated with a pathloss-reference set if it is using a reference signal (RS) from the same pathloss-reference set for power control. As another example, a PUSCH transmission occasion is associated with a pathloss-reference set if the pathloss-reference RS or the SRI is associated with the same PCID as the pathloss-reference set.

In another embodiment, a PUSCH transmission occasion is associated with a pathloss-reference set if both are associated with the same identifier. To be specific, in one embodiment, a pathloss-reference can be the RS resource index, q_d. One of the power headroom report triggering event can be ‘phr-ProhibitTimer expires or has expired and the pathloss with respect to the same RS resource index, q_d, has changed more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange dB for at least one activated Serving Cell of any MAC entity of which the active downlink bandwidth part (DL BWP) is not a dormant BWP which is used as a pathloss reference since the last transmission of a power headroom report in this MAC entity when the MAC entity has UL resources for new transmission.

In another embodiment, a pathloss-reference can be associated with a TRP index or an SRS resource set index, which means the power headroom report triggering is TRP specific. In this sense, the UE knows which RS resource indices belong to TRP-1 (or SRS resource set-0) and which RS resource indices belong to TRP-2 (or SRS resource set-1). In 5G release 15 and 16, the maximum value of q_d is 3 and 63 respectively. For example, in the case of q_d=3, let the first group of RSs with q_d=0 and q_d=1 correspond to TRP-1, and the second group of RSs with q_d=2 and q_d=3 correspond to TRP-2.

In one or more embodiments, power headroom reporting can be triggered when the pathloss within the same group of RSs changes, but cannot be triggered when the pathloss across a different group of RSs changes. Thus, one of the power headroom report triggering events can be ‘phr-ProhibitTimer expires or has expired and the pathloss with respect to the same group of RS resource indices, has changed more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange dB for at least one activated Serving Cell of any MAC entity of which the active DL BWP is not dormant BWP which is used as a pathloss reference since the last transmission of a power headroom report in this MAC entity when the MAC entity has UL resources for new transmissions, wherein the group of RS resource indices is TRP specific.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a flow diagram illustrates a method 400 in accordance with one or more embodiments for a user equipment operating in multi-TRP mode. As shown block 410 provides for detecting a triggering of a plurality of pathloss references from a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) between activation of successive power headroom reporting instances. For example, as discussed above, different embodiments describe how pathloss references may activate a power headroom report to be sent to a TRP. For multi-TRP operation, the pathloss reference q_d and/or the power control adjustment state l may be associated with different TRPs. Thus a user equipment may maintain separate and simultaneously active pathloss references and closed loop power control loops for different TRPs.

Block 410 includes optional block 4101 which provides for measuring a plurality of pathloss variations with respect to the plurality of pathloss references for each of the plurality of TRPs. For example the plurality of pathloss references may be used to generate a power headroom report. Block 410 also includes optional block 4102 which provides for measuring the plurality of pathloss variations using a single power headroom timer within the user equipment. For example, a power headroom report power headroom report triggering event can be when a ‘phr-ProhibitTimer expires or has expired and the pathloss with respect to the same RS resource index, q_d, identifying a TPR has changed more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange dB.

Block 420 provides for tracking a power headroom concurrently for the plurality of TRPs during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation to enable power headroom reporting for each respective TRP. For example different identifiers can identify TRPs to enable such reporting.

Block 430 provides for tracking power headroom concurrently for each TRP of the plurality of TRPs in use during mTRP operation upon detection of the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references. For example, as described above, pathloss references may be triggered and a multi-entry MAC-CE, for example, may be altered to include fields tracking power headroom of each TRP in accordance with one or more embodiments.

Block 440 provides for providing a power headroom determination and a power headroom report to each of the plurality of TRPs in use during mTRP operation based on the triggered plurality of pathloss references.

Block 450 provides for identifying activation information that triggers the plurality of pathloss references associated with each of the respective transmission-reception points (TRPs).

Block 460 provides for maintaining separate and simultaneous closed-loop power control loops for each of the plurality of TRPs using the respective pathloss references. For example the closed-loop power control loops include at least one of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) control loop, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a sending reference signal (SRS) control loop. For example, a PUSCH transmission occasion may be associated with a pathloss-reference set if it is using a reference signal (RS) from the same pathloss-reference set for power control.

Block 470 provides for transmitting uplink signals to the plurality of TRPs based on the tracked power headroom. For example, the PUSCH uplink signal, the SRS control loop and the PUCCH control channel are each candidates for sending a power headroom report that enables the TRP to calculate uplink signals within the user equipment's abilities.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram illustrates another method in accordance with one or more embodiments for a TRP. As shown, block 510, provides for receiving a power headroom report from a user equipment during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation, the power headroom report received concurrently with power headroom reporting received at each other TRP in use during the mTRP operation upon detection by the user equipment of triggered pathloss references between activation of successive power headroom reporting instances. Within block 510 is optional block 5101 which provides for receiving the power headroom report including identification of a TRP index, a physical cell identifier (PCID), and a pathloss reference signal (RS) identifier associated with a MAC-CE.

Within block 5101 is optional block 510201 which provides for receiving the power headroom report when the user equipment phr-ProhibitTimer expires and the pathloss with respect to a same reference signal resource index, q_d changes more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange.

Within block 5102 is also block 510202 which provides for receiving the power headrooom report based on separate and simultaneous active pathloss references at the user equipment over closed loop power control loops for different TRPs.

Block 520 provides for receiving the power headroom report with uplink signals from the user equipment concurrently with each other TRP in use during the mTRP operation, the uplink signals including a control channel (PUCCH) control loop, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a sending reference signal (SRS) control loop. For example the power headroom report may be sent to each TRP with a PUSCH control message.

Block 530 provides for receiving the power headroom report from the user equipment when the user equipment measures a plurality of pathloss variations using a single power headroom timer configuration. For example, the power headroom timer discussed above expiring may be a single power headroom timer relevant to pathloss detection. In other embodiments, more than one power headroom timer may be appropriate when there are many TRPs in operation and pathloss variations are detected more frequently.

SYSTEMS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a network 600 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 600 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like.

The network 600 may include a UE 602, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 604 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 602 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 604 by a Uu interface. The UE 602 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, IoT device, etc.

In some embodiments, the network 600 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

In some embodiments, the UE 602 may additionally communicate with an AP 606 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 606 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 604. The connection between the UE 602 and the AP 606 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 606 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 602, RAN 604, and AP 606 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 602 being configured by the RAN 604 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

The RAN 604 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 608. AN 608 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 602 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, the AN 608 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 620 and the UE 602. In some embodiments, the AN 608 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 608 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 608 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In embodiments in which the RAN 604 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 604 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 604 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

The ANs of the RAN 604 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 602 with an air interface for network access. The UE 602 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 604. For example, the UE 602 and RAN 604 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 602 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

The RAN 604 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

In V2X scenarios the UE 602 or AN 608 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU”; a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU”; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

In some embodiments, the RAN 604 may be an LTE RAN 610 with eNBs, for example, eNB 612. The LTE RAN 610 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands.

In some embodiments, the RAN 604 may be an NG-RAN 614 with gNBs, for example, gNB 616, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 618. The gNB 616 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 616 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 618 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 616 and the ng-eNB 618 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 614 and a UPF 648 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN614 and an AMF 644 (e.g., N2 interface).

The NG-RAN 614 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operating on FRI bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHZ. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH.

In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 602 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 602, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 602 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 602 and in some cases at the gNB 616. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

The RAN 604 is communicatively coupled to CN 620 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 602). The components of the CN 620 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 620 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 620 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 620 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

In some embodiments, the CN 620 may be an LTE CN 622, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 622 may include MME 624, SGW 626, SGSN 628, HSS 630, PGW 632, and PCRF 634 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 622 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The MME 624 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 602 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

The SGW 626 may terminate an S1 interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 622. The SGW 626 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

The SGSN 628 may track a location of the UE 602 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 628 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 624; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 624 and the SGSN 628 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states.

The HSS 630 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The HSS 630 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 630 and the MME 624 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 620.

The PGW 632 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 636 that may include an application/content server 638. The PGW 632 may route data packets between the LTE CN 622 and the data network 636. The PGW 632 may be coupled with the SGW 626 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 632 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 632 and the data network 6 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 632 may be coupled with a PCRF 634 via a Gx reference point.

The PCRF 634 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 622. The PCRF 634 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 638 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 632 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

In some embodiments, the CN 620 may be a 5GC 640. The 5GC 640 may include an AUSF 642, AMF 644, SMF 646, UPF 648, NSSF 650, NEF 652, NRF 654, PCF 656, UDM 658, and AF 660 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 640 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The AUSF 642 may store data for authentication of UE 602 and handle authentication-related functionality. The AUSF 642 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 640 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 642 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.

The AMF 644 may allow other functions of the 5GC 640 to communicate with the UE 602 and the RAN 604 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 602. The AMF 644 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 602), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 644 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 602 and the SMF 646, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 644 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 602 and an SMSF. AMF 644 may interact with the AUSF 642 and the UE 602 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 644 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 604 and the AMF 644; and the AMF 644 may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 644 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 602 over an N3 IWF interface.

The SMF 646 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 648 and AN 608); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 648 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 644 over N2 to AN 608; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 602 and the data network 636.

The UPF 648 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 636, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 648 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF-to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 648 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

The NSSF 650 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 602. The NSSF 650 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 650 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 602, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 654. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 602 may be triggered by the AMF 644 with which the UE 602 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 650, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 650 may interact with the AMF 644 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 650 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

The NEF 652 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 660), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 652 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 652 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 660 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 652 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 652 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 652 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 652 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 652 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 654 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 654 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 654 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 656 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 656 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 658. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 656 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

The UDM 658 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 602. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 658 and the AMF 644. The UDM 658 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 658 and the PCF 656, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 602) for the NEF 652. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 658, PCF 656, and NEF 652 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 658 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

The AF 660 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

In some embodiments, the 5GC 640 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 602 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 640 may select a UPF 648 close to the UE 602 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 648 to data network 636 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 660. In this way, the AF 660 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 660 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 660 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 660 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.

The data network 636 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 638.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a wireless network 700 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 700 may include a UE 702 in wireless communication with an AN 704. The UE 702 and AN 704 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein.

The UE 702 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 704 via connection 706. The connection 706 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6 GHZ frequencies.

The UE 702 may include a host platform 708 coupled with a modem platform 710. The host platform 708 may include application processing circuitry 712, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 714 of the modem platform 710. The application processing circuitry 712 may run various applications for the UE 702 that source/sink application data. The application processing circuitry 712 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations.

The protocol processing circuitry 714 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 706. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 714 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

The modem platform 710 may further include digital baseband circuitry 716 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 714 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

The modem platform 710 may further include transmit circuitry 718, receive circuitry 720, RF circuitry 722, and RF front end (RFFE) 724, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 726. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 718 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 720 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 722 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 724 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 718, receive circuitry 720, RF circuitry 722, RFFE 724, and antenna panels 726 (referred generically as “transmit/receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 714 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components.

A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 726, RFFE 724, RF circuitry 722, receive circuitry 720, digital baseband circuitry 716, and protocol processing circuitry 714. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 726 may receive a transmission from the AN 704 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 726.

A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 714, digital baseband circuitry 716, transmit circuitry 718, RF circuitry 722, RFFE 724, and antenna panels 726. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 704 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 726.

Similar to the UE 702, the AN 704 may include a host platform 728 coupled with a modem platform 730. The host platform 728 may include application processing circuitry 732 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 734 of the modem platform 730. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 736, transmit circuitry 738, receive circuitry 740, RF circuitry 742, RFFE circuitry 744, and antenna panels 746. The components of the AN 704 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 702. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 708 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 8 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 800 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 810, one or more memory/storage devices 820, and one or more communication resources 830, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 840 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 802 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 800.

The processors 810 may include, for example, a processor 812 and a processor 814. The processors 810 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 820 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 830 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 804 or one or more databases 806 or other network elements via a network 808. For example, the communication resources 830 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 850 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 810 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 820, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 850 may be transferred to the hardware resources 800 from any combination of the peripheral devices 804 or the databases 806. Accordingly, the memory of processors 810, the memory/storage devices 820, the peripheral devices 804, and the databases 806 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Example 1 may include a method for user equipment in a wireless network comprising: detecting a triggering of a plurality of pathloss references from a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) between activation of successive power headroom reporting instances; tracking a power headroom concurrently for the plurality of TRPs during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation to enable power headroom reporting for each respective TRP; tracking power headroom concurrently for each TRP of the plurality of TRPs in use during mTRP operation upon detection of the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references; and providing a power headroom determination and a power headroom report to each of the plurality of TRPs in use during mTRP operation based on the triggered plurality of pathloss references.

Example 2 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the detecting the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references from the plurality of TRPs further comprises: measuring a plurality of pathloss variations with respect to the plurality of pathloss-references for each of the plurality of TRPs.

Example 3 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the detecting the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references from the plurality of TRPs further comprises: measuring the plurality of pathloss variations using a single power headroom timer within the user equipment.

Example 4 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the detecting the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references from the plurality of TRPs further comprises: measuring the plurality of pathloss variations using a separate power headroom timer configuration for each pathloss reference set.

Example 5 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: identifying activation information that triggers the plurality of pathloss references associated with each of the respective transmission-reception points (TRPs); and concurrently tracking the power headroom of the plurality of TRPs based on the respective pathloss references for each TRP.

Example 6 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: maintaining separate and simultaneous closed-loop power control loops for each of the plurality of TRPs using the respective pathloss references.

Example 7 may include the method of example 6 and/or some other example herein, wherein the closed-loop power control loops include at least one of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) control loop, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a sending reference signal (SRS) control loop.

Example 8 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the plurality of pathloss references are used to generate the power headroom report.

Example 9 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: activating the power headroom determination via a power headroom timer within the user equipment, the activating based on the triggered plurality of pathloss references.

Example 10 may include the method of example 1 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: transmitting uplink signals to the plurality of TRPs based on the tracked power headroom.

Example 11 may include a power headroom report comprising: a measurement related to transmit power of a user equipment; and a timer calculation by the user equipment related to a transmission reception point (TRP) among a plurality of transmission reception points during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation, the timer calculation configured by the user equipment upon detection of a triggering of a plurality of pathloss references from a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs), the timer calculation determined independently for each respective TRP during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation.

Example 12 may include the power headroom report of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the timer calculation enables measurement of a plurality of pathloss variations with respect to the plurality of pathloss-references for each of the plurality of TRPs between activation of successive power headroom reporting instances.

Example 13 may include the power headroom report of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the measurement related to transmit power of a user equipment may be taken concurrently by the user equipment while performing power headroom tracking of the plurality of TRPs based on the pathloss references for each respected TRP.

Example 14 may include the power headroom report of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the measurement related to transmit power of a user equipment may include a measurement of a plurality of pathloss variations using a single power headroom timer within the user equipment.

Example 15 may include the power headroom report of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the measurement related to transmit power of a user equipment may be performed after a triggering event when a ‘phr-ProhibitTimer expires and pathloss with respect to resource index, q_d, identifying a TPR changes more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange dB.

Example 16 may include the power headroom report of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the measurement related to the transmit power of the user equipment may be generated from a plurality of pathloss references, including identification of a TRP index, a physical cell identifier (PCID), and a pathloss reference signal (RS) identifier associated with a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).

Example 17 may include the power headroom report of example 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the measurement related to the transmit power of the user equipment may be generated by a power headroom timer activation based on the plurality of pathloss references.

Example 18 may include a method for a transmission reception point (TRP) in a wireless network comprising: receiving a power headroom report from a user equipment during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation, the power headroom report received concurrently with power headroom reporting received at each other TRP in use during the mTRP operation upon detection by the user equipment of triggered pathloss references between activation of successive power headroom reporting instances; and receiving the power headroom report with uplink signals from the user equipment concurrently with each other TRP in use during the mTRP operation, the uplink signals including one of a control channel (PUCCH) control loop, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a sending reference signal (SRS) control loop.

Example 19 may include the method of example 18 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: receiving the power headroom report from the user equipment when the user equipment measures a plurality of pathloss variations using a single power headroom timer configuration.

Example 20 may include the method of example 18 and/or some other example herein, wherein the receiving the power headroom report from the user equipment during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation further comprises: receiving the power headroom report including identification of a TRP index, a physical cell identifier (PCID), and a pathloss reference signal (RS) identifier associated with a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).

Example 21 may include the method of example 18 and/or some other example herein, wherein the receiving the power headroom report from the user equipment during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation further comprises: receiving the power headroom report based on a power headroom timer within the user equipment that activates a power headroom determination and the power headroom report based on a triggered plurality of pathloss references.

Example 22 may include the method of example 21 and/or some other example herein, wherein the receiving the power headroom report based on a power headroom timer within the user equipment that activates a power headroom determination and the power headroom report based on the triggered plurality of pathloss references further comprises: receiving the power headroom report when the user equipment ‘phr-ProhibitTimer expires and the pathloss with respect to a same reference signal resource index, q_d, changes more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange.

Example 23 may include the method of example 21 and/or some other example herein, wherein the receiving the power headroom report from the user equipment during mTRP operation, the power headroom report received concurrently with power headroom reporting received at each other TRP in use during the mTRP operation upon detection by the user equipment of triggered pathloss references between activation of successive power headroom reporting instances further comprises: receiving the power headroom report based on separately and simultaneously active pathloss references at the user equipment over closed loop power control loops for different TRPs.

Example 24 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing any of the methods of examples 1-23.

Example 25 may include a network node comprising a communication interface and processing circuitry connected thereto and configured to perform the methods of examples 1-23.

Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 27 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 29 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 30 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions thereof.

Example 31 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 32 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 33 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 34 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 35 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions thereof.

Example 36 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-23, or portions thereof.

Example 37 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example 38 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example 39 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Example 40 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 v16.0.0 (2019 June). For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

The foregoing description provides illustration and description of various example embodiments, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. Where specific details are set forth in order to describe example embodiments of the disclosure, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the disclosure can be practiced without, or with variation of, these specific details. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the present disclosure and the appended claims.

Terminology

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block.

The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.

The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC.

The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell.

The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.