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WO2020197458A1 - Methods providing information relating to failure of connection establishment procedures and related wireless devices - Google Patents

Methods providing information relating to failure of connection establishment procedures and related wireless devices Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020197458A1
WO2020197458A1 PCT/SE2020/050038 SE2020050038W WO2020197458A1 WO 2020197458 A1 WO2020197458 A1 WO 2020197458A1 SE 2020050038 W SE2020050038 W SE 2020050038W WO 2020197458 A1 WO2020197458 A1 WO 2020197458A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
cell
connection establishment
failure
establishment procedure
wireless device
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/SE2020/050038
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Ali PARICHEHREHTEROUJENI
Wei Shen
Pradeepa Ramachandra
Icaro L. J. Da Silva
Malik Wahaj ARSHAD
Original Assignee
Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Application filed by Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) filed Critical Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Publication of WO2020197458A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020197458A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W76/00—Connection management
    • H04W76/10—Connection setup
    • H04W76/18—Management of setup rejection or failure
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W48/00—Access restriction; Network selection; Access point selection
    • H04W48/16—Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W16/00—Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
    • H04W16/24—Cell structures
    • H04W16/28—Cell structures using beam steering
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W24/00—Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
    • H04W24/08—Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W76/00—Connection management
    • H04W76/20—Manipulation of established connections
    • H04W76/27—Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates generally to communications, and more particularly to communication methods and related devices and nodes supporting wireless communications.
  • Accessibility measurement can comprise failures produced by two procedures - RRC Connection Request procedure and RRC Connection Resume procedure covered in sections 5.3.3 and 5.3.13 respectively of 3GPP TS 38.331 vl5.4.0 (2018-12).
  • Figure 1 A and IB respectively illustrate establishment procedures in IDLE mode and INACTIVE mode and corresponding timers.
  • REQUEST is used to request the E-UTRAN for the establishment of an RRC connection when the wireless device UE is in IDLE mode and RRC CONNECTION RESUME message is used to establish/resume a connection when the wireless device UE is in INACTIVE mode ( Figure 2.1- b).
  • a Random Access CHannel RACH procedure is initiated prior to both messages (in IDLE or INACTIVE modes) to provide the uplink time synchronisation as well as uplink grant for the wireless device UE.
  • the wireless device UE receives the Random Access Response RAR message (including the uplink grant and Timing Advance TA), it initiates the establishment procedure and starts the T300 timer or the T319 timer if the wireless device UE is in IDLE or INACTIVE mode respectively.
  • the UE establishment procedure may be prolonged so that the establishment timer (T300 or T319) expires.
  • the establishment timer T300 or T319
  • an accessibility measurement report will be logged to be transmitted to the network when UE comes back to the CONNETED mode.
  • the content of the connection establishment failure report (so- called ConnEstFailReport, sent by the UE) is shown in Figure 2.
  • ConnEstFailReport comprise the measurement of the failed cell, measurement of the neighbouring cells as well as some details of the RACH procedure.
  • the UE logs the mentioned information.
  • the T300 timer will be configured as part of UE-TimersAndConstants information element as shown in Figure 3.
  • the IE UE-TimersAndConstants contains timers and constants used by the UE in either RRC CONNECTED or RRC IDLE, and the UE-TimersAndConstants information element is illustrated in Figure 3.
  • Figure 3 illustrates content of UE-TimersAndConstants information element.
  • the UE shall:
  • the UE is a NB-IoT UE:
  • 3> if available, set the measResultNeighCells, in order of decreasing ranking- criterion as used for cell re-selection, to include neighbouring cell measurements for at most the following number of neighbouring cells: 6 intra-frequency and 3 inter-frequency neighbours per frequency as well as 3 inter-RAT neighbours, per frequency/ set of frequencies (GERAN) per RAT and according to the following:
  • the UE includes the latest results of the available measurements as used for cell reselection evaluation, which are performed in accordance with the performance
  • 4> include the horizontalVelocity, if available
  • 3> set the numberOfPreamblesSent to indicate the number of preambles sent by MAC for the failed random access procedure
  • contentionDetected to indicate whether contention resolution was not successful as specified in TS 36.321 [6] for at least one of the transmitted preambles for the failed random access procedure
  • the UE may discard the connection establishment failure information, i.e. release the UE variable VarConnEstFailReport, 48 hours after the failure is detected, upon power off or upon detach.
  • VarConnEstFailReport can be flagged to the network as availability field (connEstFaillnfoAvailable) in one of the following signaling when UE comes/is in connected mode: RRCConnectionSetupComplete; RRCConnectionResumeComplete; and/or
  • Establishment failure may be caused by random access problems (Medium Access Control MAC) in Long Term Evolution LTE.
  • RACH is a MAC layer procedure. Hence, it is the MAC layer that indicates to RRC a RACH failure, which happens e.g. when the maximum number of preamble retransmissions is reached (i.e. after the UE has tried to perform power ramping a number of times and/or went through failed contention resolutions). Explanation is provided below how the UE may reach a maximum number of preamble retransmissions.
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • RRC CONNECTED Radio Resource Control
  • RRC IDLE a UE performs random access for many different purposes, both in RRC CONNECTED and RRC IDLE.
  • LTE uses the RACH for initial network access, but in LTE the RACH cannot carry any user data, which is exclusively sent on the Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH). Instead, the LTE RACH is used to achieve uplink time
  • the eNodeB can schedule orthogonal uplink transmission resources for it. Relevant scenarios in which the RACH is used may therefore include:
  • a UE in RRC CONNECTED state but not uplink-synchronized, needing to send new uplink data or control information (e.g. an event-triggered measurement report);
  • new uplink data or control information e.g. an event-triggered measurement report
  • ACKnowledgement/Negative ACKnowledgement in the uplink
  • an uplink-synchronized UE is allowed to use the RACH to send a Scheduling Request (SR) if it does not have any other uplink resource.
  • SR Scheduling Request
  • Random access in LTE may be configured only as contention-based random access (CBRA), that implies an inherent risk of collision.
  • CBRA contention-based random access
  • Random access is captured in the MAC specifications (3GPP TS 36.321).
  • CBRA the UE randomly selects a preamble and transmits with a configurable initial power. Then, it waits for a Random-Access Response (RAR) in a configurable time window. That RAR contains a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI) and an UL grant for MSG.3 If the UE receives a RAR within the time window, it transmits MSG.3. If the UE has a C-RNTI allocated by the cell, UE addresses MSG.3 with that, otherwise it uses the TC-RNTI received in the RAR.
  • RAR Random-Access Response
  • the network sends a MSG.4 to possibly solve contention. If the UE has used the allocated C-RNTI in MSG.3, that is echoed back in MSG.4 to indicate that collision is resolved. Otherwise, the network addresses the UE with the TC-RNTI and includes in the MAC payload the UE identity used in MSG.3. If the UE identity matches the one the UE has, the UE considers the contention resolved.
  • the CBRA (Contention Based Random Access) procedure is summarized in Figure 9.
  • the UE transmits a random access preamble (with embedded 1 -bit indication for L2/L3 message size) to the eNodeB (also referred to as message 1 or MSG.l).
  • the eNodeB transmits a random access response (including Timing Adjustment, C-RNTI, UL grant for L2/L3 message, etc.) to the UE (also referred to as message 2 or MSG.2).
  • the UE transmits the L2/L3 message to the eNodeB (also referred to as message 3 or MSG.3).
  • the eNodeB transmits a message for early contention resolution to the UE (also referred to as message 4 or MSG.4).
  • the UE shall perform preamble re-transmission (MSG1) and initiate random access again.
  • MSG1 preamble re-transmission
  • collision in CBRA is considered to be detected if, after transmitting a MSG.3 using a TC-RNTI assigned to it in the RAR, the UE detects a MSG.4 addressing the same TC-RNTI but the UE Identity in the MSG.4 payload does not match the UE’s identity transmitted on MSG.3. Notice that collision is not considered in MAC as a failure case. Hence, upper layers are not aware that a collision has occurred.
  • Preamble retransmission is also triggered when the UE sends a preamble and does not receive a RAR within the RAR time window. In that case, the UE performs preamble power ramping and transmits the preamble again.
  • the UE when the Random Access Response RAR time window expires (for Contention Free Random Access CFRA or Contention Based Random Access CBRA) or when collision is detected, the UE performs preamble retransmission.
  • a configured parameter controls how many times the UE shall do that, as shown in Figure 10 as part of the RACH-ConfigCommon information element IE.
  • the IE RACH-ConfigCommon is used to specify the generic random access parameters, and contents of the RACH-ConfigCommon information element are illustrated in Figure 10.
  • a back-off indicator value will be received by the wireless device UE as part of the random access response RAR and which may vary between 5 to 1920ms according to the table of Backoff Parameter values in specification 38.321, provided as Figure 11.
  • the accessibility measurement report (i.e., ConnEstFailReport) is logged, once the UE selects a cell and succeeds with an establishment procedure, it includes an indication
  • ConnEstFaillnfoAvailable that it has an accessibility measurement report available in the RRC Reestablishment Complete message, to make the new serving cell aware of that availability if RPLMN of the new serving cell is equal to plmn-Identity stored in VarConnEstFailReport. Then, upon receiving an UEInformationRequest message with a flag“connEstFailReportReq” the UE shall include the ConnEstFailReport (stored in a UE variable VarConnEstFailReport, as described above) in an UEInformationResponse message and send to the network.
  • the UEInformationRequest, and UEInformationResponse messages are shown in Figures 12A-B and 13A-K.
  • the UEInformationRequest is the command used by E-UTRAN to retrieve information from the UE.
  • the Signalling radio bearer is SRBl
  • the RLC-SAP is AM
  • the Logical channel is DCCH
  • the Direction is E UTRAN to UE.
  • Contents of the UEInformationRequest message are illustrated in Figures 12A-B.
  • the UEInformationResponse message is used by the UE to transfer the information requested by the E-UTRAN.
  • the Signalling radio bearer is SRB1 or SRB2 (when logged measurement information is included)
  • the RLC-SAP is AM
  • the Logical channel is DCCH
  • the Direction is EE to E-UTRAN.
  • the cell in which the UE establishes the connection can forward the report to the last failed cell upon establishment failure report contents.
  • This forwarding of the ConnEstFail Report report is done to aid the failed serving cell with tuning of the establishment parameters such as beam configuration, cell quality derivation and beam suitability threshold.
  • RCEF RRC Connection Establishment Failure
  • RCEF reporting is activated to the eNB as a special Trace Session where the job type indicates RCEF reporting only.
  • the procedure is shown in Figure 4 where a UE experiences an RCEF event and the RRC establishment is successful to the same eNB.
  • Figure 4 illustrates an example scenario for RCEF reporting when UE RRC establishment is successful to the same eNB.
  • the eNB When the eNB receives the Trace Session activation indicating RCEF reporting only, the eNB shall start a Trace Session. This Trace Session shall collect only RCEF reports received from the UE.
  • Figure 5 shows another example where the UE RRC Establishment is failed to one eNB, but successful to another eNB.
  • Figure 5 illustrates an Example scenario for RCEF reporting when the UE RRC establishment is successful to a different eNB
  • the RCEF reports are fetched by the eNB.
  • a UE detects a RRC Connection Establishment Failure event, it collects certain information as described in TS 37.320. Once the eNB retrieves the RCEF report from the UE, as defined in TS 37.320[30], it shall save it to the Trace Record.
  • the Trace Record containing the RCEF reports that can be transferred to the TCE in the same mechanism as for normal subscriber and equipment trace or for MDT.
  • each cell broadcasts a primary and secondary synchronization signal (PSS/SSS) that encodes a physical cell identifier. This is how a UE identifies a cell in LTE.
  • PSS/SSS primary and secondary synchronization signal
  • NR equivalent signals also exist.
  • NR is designed to be possibly deployed in higher frequencies (e.g., above 6GHz) where beamforming is massively used, and these should be possibly beamformed for the same cell (and possibly in a time-domain manner, in a beam sweeping).
  • SSB Synchronization Signal and PBCH Block
  • MIB Master Information Block
  • a cell in NR is basically defined by a set of these SSBs that may be transmitted in 1 (typical implementation for lower frequencies, e.g., below 6GHz) or multiple downlink beams (typical implementation for lower frequencies, e.g., below 6GHz).
  • these SSBs carry the same physical cell identifier (PCI).
  • PCI physical cell identifier
  • SIB1 the RACH configuration, which comprises a mapping between the detected SSB covering the UE at a given point in time and the PRACH configuration (e.g., time, frequency, preamble, etc.) to be used.
  • each of these beams may transmit its own SSB which may be distinguished by an SSB index.
  • Figures 6 A and 6B illustrate cell and beam level mobility concepts in NR.
  • SSBs may be used for many different purposes, including RRM measurements (to assist UEs in idle and connected mode mobility) and beam selection upon random access.
  • a method may be provided to operate a wireless device.
  • a connection establishment procedure is initiated with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network.
  • information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure is stored in memory of the wireless device.
  • the information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell.
  • the information relating to the failure may further include information regarding at least one random access channel, RACH, attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
  • a wireless device may include processing circuitry and memory coupled with the processing circuitry.
  • the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to initiate a connection establishment procedure with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network.
  • the memory further includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to store information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure in memory of the wireless device responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell.
  • the information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell.
  • the information relating to the failure may further include information regarding at least one random access channel, RACH, attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
  • a wireless device is adapted to initiate a connection establishment procedure with respect to a cell of a wireless
  • the wireless device is further adapted to store information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure in memory of the wireless device responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell.
  • the information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell.
  • the information relating to the failure may further include information regarding at least one random access channel RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
  • Figure 1 A is a message diagram illustrating establishment procedures in Idle mode and a corresponding timer
  • Figure IB is a message diagram illustrating establishment procedures in Inactive mode and a corresponding timer
  • FIG. 2 illustrates content of an accessibility measurement report (referred to as ConnEstFailreport);
  • Figure 3 illustrates content of a UE-TimersAndConstants information element
  • Figure 4 illustrates RCEF reporting when UE RRC establishment is successful to the same eNB
  • Figure 5 illustrates RCEF reporting when UE RRC establishment is successful to a different eNB
  • Figures 6A and 6B illustrate cell and beam level mobility concepts
  • Figure 7 illustrates cell coverage area calculation based on beam coverage
  • Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating UE reporting after establishment procedure according to some embodiments of inventive concepts
  • FIG. 9 illustrates contention based random access CBRA operations
  • Figure 10 illustrates a RACH-ConfigCommon information element
  • Figure 11 is a table illustrating backoff parameter values
  • Figures 12A and 12B illustrate elements of a UEInformation Request message
  • Figures 13A-K illustrate elements of a UEInformation Response message
  • Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless device UE according to some embodiments of inventive concepts
  • Figure 15 is a block diagram illustrating a radio access network RAN node (e.g., a base station eNB/gNB) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;
  • a radio access network RAN node e.g., a base station eNB/gNB
  • Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a core network CN node (e.g., an AMF node, an SMF node, etc.) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;
  • a core network CN node e.g., an AMF node, an SMF node, etc.
  • Figure 17 is a flow chart illustrating operations of a wireless device according to some embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • Figure 18 is a block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 19 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 20 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 21 is a block diagram of a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Figure 22 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Figure 23 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Figure 24 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Figure 25 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 26 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a wireless device UE 1400 (also referred to as a mobile terminal, a mobile communication terminal, a wireless communication device, a wireless terminal, mobile device, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, a user equipment node/terminal/device, etc.) configured to provide wireless communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • a wireless device UE 1400 also referred to as a mobile terminal, a mobile communication terminal, a wireless communication device, a wireless terminal, mobile device, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, a user equipment node/terminal/device, etc.
  • wireless device 1400 may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to wireless device QQ110 of Figure 18.
  • wireless device UE may include an antenna 1407 (e.g., corresponding to antenna QQ111 of Figure 18), and transceiver circuitry 1401 (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to interface QQ114 of Figure 18) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with a base station(s) (e.g., corresponding to network node QQ160 of Figure 18, also referred to as a RAN node) of a radio access network.
  • a base station(s) e.g., corresponding to network node QQ160 of Figure 18, also referred to as a RAN node
  • Wireless device UE may also include processing circuitry 1403 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry QQ120 of Figure 18) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry 1405 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium QQ130 of Figure 18) coupled to the processing circuitry.
  • the memory circuitry 1405 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1403 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 1403 may be defined to include memory so that separate memory circuitry is not required.
  • Wireless device UE may also include an interface (such as a user interface) coupled with processing circuitry 1403, and/or wireless device UE may be incorporated in a vehicle.
  • operations of wireless device UE may be performed by processing circuitry 1403 and/or transceiver circuitry 1401.
  • processing circuitry 1403 may control transceiver circuitry 1401 to transmit communications through transceiver circuitry 1401 over a radio interface to a radio access network node (also referred to as a base station) and/or to receive communications through transceiver circuitry 1401 from a RAN node over a radio interface.
  • modules may be stored in memory circuitry 1405, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1403, processing circuitry 1403 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to wireless devices).
  • FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a radio access network RAN node 1500 (also referred to as a network node, base station, eNodeB/eNB, gNodeB/gNB, etc.) of a Radio Access Network (RAN) configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • RAN node 1500 may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to network node QQ160 of Figure 18.
  • the RAN node may include transceiver circuitry 1501 (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface QQ190 of Figure 18) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with mobile terminals.
  • the RAN node may include network interface circuitry 1507 (also referred to as a network interface, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface QQ190 of Figure 18) configured to provide
  • the network node may also include processing circuitry 1503 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry QQ170) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry 1505 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium QQ180 of Figure 18) coupled to the processing circuitry.
  • processing circuitry 1503 also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry QQ170
  • memory circuitry 1505 also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium QQ180 of Figure 18
  • the memory circuitry 1505 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1503 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein.
  • processing circuitry 1503 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required.
  • processing circuitry 1503 may control transceiver 1501 to transmit downlink communications through transceiver 1501 over a radio interface to one or more mobile terminals UEs and/or to receive uplink communications through transceiver 1501 from one or more mobile terminals UEs over a radio interface.
  • processing circuitry 1503 may control network interface 1507 to transmit communications through network interface 1507 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface from one or more other network nodes.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1505, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1503, processing circuitry 1503 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to RAN nodes).
  • a network node may be implemented as a core network CN node without a transceiver.
  • transmission to a wireless device UE may be initiated by the network node so that transmission to the wireless device is provided through a network node including a transceiver (e.g., through a base station or RAN node).
  • initiating transmission may include transmitting through the transceiver.
  • Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a core network CN node (e.g., an SMF node, an AMF node, etc.) of a communication network configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • the CN node may include network interface circuitry 1607 (also referred to as a network interface) configured to provide communications with other nodes of the core network and/or the radio access network RAN.
  • the CN node may also include a processing circuitry 1603 (also referred to as a processor) coupled to the network interface circuitry, and memory circuitry 1605 (also referred to as memory) coupled to the processing circuitry.
  • the memory circuitry 1605 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1603 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein.
  • processing circuitry 1603 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required. As discussed herein, operations of the CN node may be performed by processing circuitry 1603 and/or network interface circuitry 1607. For example, processing circuitry 1603 may control network interface circuitry 1607 to transmit communications through network interface circuitry 1607 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface circuitry from one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory 1605, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1603, processing circuitry 1603 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to core network nodes).
  • Some embodiments of inventive concepts may address a lack of observability in the network handling the function to be optimized provided in existing MRO approaches in LTE if applied to NR. That may come from new issues that may occur in NR such as: misconfiguration of RLM, misconfiguration of cell quality derivation and beam reporting parameters,
  • ConnEstFailReport may suffice in an LTE network
  • CQD Cell Quality Derivation
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • NR Cell Quality derivation procedure
  • reference signals for CQD are transmitted in different beams and when more than one beam is used for the transmission of these reference signals, the UE receives these reference signals in different time instances.
  • cell quality derivation is described as part of cell selection and reselection text procedure as set forth below:
  • Cell selection and reselection UE shall perform measurements for cell selection and reselection purposes as specified in TS 38.133 [8]
  • the UE When evaluating Srxlev and Squal of non-serving cells for reselection evaluation purposes, the UE shall use parameters provided by the serving cell and for the final check on cell selection criterion, the UE shall use parameters provided by the target cell for cell reselection.
  • the NAS can control the RAT(s) in which the cell selection should be performed, for instance by indicating RAT(s) associated with the selected PLMN, and by maintaining a list of forbidden registration area(s) and a list of equivalent PLMNs.
  • the UE shall select a suitable cell based on RRC IDLE or RRC IN ACTIVE state measurements and cell selection criteria.
  • stored information for several RATs may be used by the UE.
  • the UE When camped on a cell, the UE shall regularly search for a better cell according to the cell reselection criteria. If a better cell is found, that cell is selected. The change of cell may imply a change of RAT. Details on performance requirements for cell reselection can be found in TS 38.133 [8]
  • the NAS is informed if the cell selection and reselection result in changes in the received system information relevant for NAS.
  • the UE shall camp on a suitable cell, monitor control channel(s) of that cell so that the UE can:
  • measurement quantity of a cell is up to UE implementation.
  • the measurement quantity of this cell is derived amongst the beams corresponding to the same cell based on SS/PBCH block as follows:
  • absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation is not configured in SIB2; or if the highest beam measurement quantity value is below or equal to absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation:
  • a cell measurement quantity as the linear average of the power values of up to nrofSS-BlocksToAverage of highest beam measurement quantity values above absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation.
  • the coverage area of cell- A can be derived based on the coverage area of SSB beams A1 to A3 and the coverage area of cell-B can be derived based on the coverage area of SSB beams B1 to B3.
  • the UE calculates the quality of the cells, it needs additional configuration on how to combine these beam level measurements into a cell level quality measurement. This is captured in the section 5.5.3.3 of the NR RRC specification 3GPP TS 38.331 vl5.4.0 (2018-12).
  • the cell quality can be derived either based on the strongest beam or based on the average of up to‘X’ strongest beams that are above a threshold‘T ⁇ )
  • T ⁇ threshold
  • These options can assist to reduce/prevent potential ping-pong handover that can arise when only the strongest beam is used for cell quality derivation when the UE is in connected mode.
  • an averaging based configuration can result in a UE being in a sub optimal cell, in particular when establishing a connection in idle mode.
  • the agreement was that the network can configure the UE with any of these options depending on which option suits best in terms of the radio condition within the cell’s coverage area.
  • the network can learn to improve/optimize these configuration parameters based on the accessibility measurements.
  • Figure 7 illustrates cell coverage are calculation based on the beam coverage. Therefore, some embodiments of inventive concepts may provide methods on the logging beam level measurement and beam ID as part of accessibility measurement that can assist the operators in configuring the cell quality derivation parameters (e.g., nrofSS-BlocksToAverage and absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation) to help the UEs being connected to the optimal cells.
  • the cell quality derivation parameters e.g., nrofSS-BlocksToAverage and absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation
  • selecting of the cell for establishment and suitability threshold would affect the performance of RACH procedure and hence sub optimal values for such parameters may cause additional delay in RACH process and or increase the RACH failure rate.
  • having a detailed history of the RACH attempts upon establishment failure can assist the operators on finer tuning of the corresponding parameters.
  • Some embodiments of inventive concepts may include methods executed by a wireless terminal/device (also referred to as a user equipment UE) for accessibility measurement upon establishment failure. Such methods may include: upon the detection of establishment failure, logging/storing at least one of the following information: beam measurement information of a failed cell on the reference signals (RS) the UE hears (e.g. SBB beams); beam measurement information of at least one neighboring cell(s) on RSs the UE hears (e.g. SSB beams); and/or logging information related to the RACH process behavior used for connection establishment (e.g., trace of the selected beams and number of attempts per beam).
  • RS reference signals
  • SSB beams beams
  • RACH process behavior used for connection establishment e.g., trace of the selected beams and number of attempts per beam
  • Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating UE reporting after establishment failure according to some embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • the UE may perform an
  • the UE may log/store data associated with establishment failure (including all possible beam level measurements and/or history of RACH attempts) at operation 3.2.
  • the UE may report the measurements/logged data associated with establishment failure to the network upon a successful establishment.
  • Logging and reporting the mentioned information as part of accessibility measurement may provide a possibility for further tuning of at least one of the following parameters by the network nodes (or operators, etc.): modifying cell quality derivation parameters; modifying cell selection/reselection parameters; and/or modifying at least on RACH parameter in RACH configuration, such as, initial power for preamble transmission, maximum number of attempts, threshold for beam selection, type of the preamble used, and/or any coordination between cells for interference coordination.
  • Detection of establishment failure can be done by: Expiry of T300 timer, Expiry of T319 timer, Stopping T300 timer upon cell reselection (while T300 is running), Stopping T319 timer upon cell reselection (while T300 is running), and/or Integrity protection failure while T319 is running.
  • At least one of the following information will be logged/stored by the UE.
  • Information may be logged related to establishment failure on the failed cell (where failure is detected) such as RRM measurements performed on SSB beams, including the beam identifier.
  • Measurements to be logged may be at least RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.
  • RRM measurements may be logged per beam on at least one neighbor cell such as measurements performed on beams for cell quality derivation. These beams may be reference signals (RS) that may be beamformed such as SSB resources.
  • Measurements to be logged may include at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.
  • At least one of the following information on the RACH procedure will be logged/stored by the UE.
  • information may be logged/stored of the beam selection procedure (e.g. SSB), such as: SSB beam identifier of the selected beam for RACH; Radio conditions of the selected beam/beams (e.g.
  • Time elapsed since the latest measurement sample the UE has taken before it has selected that beam i.e., a time information enabling the network to figure out how up to date were the measurements the UE took to make the decision on selecting a particular beam, or in the case of retransmission, to make the decision between selecting a new beam or selecting the same beam; Similar information as above (e.g., radio conditions, time elapsed, beam identifier, etc.) for neighbor beams in the same cell the UE is performing RACH; and/or Similar information as above (radio conditions, time elapsed, beam identifier) for neighbor beams in neighbor cells i.e. not the cell the UE is performing RACH.
  • the triggering parameter can be similar to LTE system (expiry of T300 timer), and the content of the report can include some parts or all the above-mentioned information in bullets 2 and 3.
  • the triggering parameter can be all the above-mentioned triggering timers in bullet 1, and the content of the report can be similar to the LTE specified ConnEstFailReport discussed above with respect to Figure 2.
  • the wireless device UE may report to the network at least one of the elements of information described above.
  • the UE may include in the
  • RRCSetup Complete message (or an RRCResumeComplete message or an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message) at least one indication that the UE has any of the establishment failure information available.
  • the network Upon transmitting that to the network, the network detects that the UE has that information available and requests the UE to report this information e.g. with a
  • UEInformationRequest message including a flag indicating that the UE shall report a specific failure information.
  • the UE Upon receiving that request (e.g. UEInformationRequest), the UE reports the information to the network e.g. in a UEInformationResponse message including an RLF report including at least one of the information described above.
  • the UE can provide a list of consecutive failures (if multiple establishment failures happen before connection establishment).
  • the UE can include all the embedded sensor measured data into the report, including UE orientation/altitude to log in addition to location, speed and heading (e.g., digital compass, gyroscope as well as barometer and etc.).
  • UE can include its speed state (low, mid, high) configured for example as part of speed-based scaling procedure.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1405 of Figure 14, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by respective wireless device processing circuitry 1403, processing circuitry 1403 performs respective operations of the flow chart.
  • processing circuitry 1403 may determine whether to provide a connection establishment. Responsive to determining to proceed at block 1701, processing circuitry 1403 may initiate a first connection establishment procedure with respect to a first cell of a wireless communication network at block 1705. At block 1709, a connection establishment procedure may be either successful or unsuccessful. Responsive to failure of the first connection establishment procedure with respect to the first cell at block 1709, processing circuitry 1403 may store information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure in memory 1405 at block 1715, wherein the information relating to the failure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the first cell and/or information regarding at least one random access channel RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
  • processing circuitry 1403 may determine to provide a second connection establishment after failure of the first connection establishment procedure. Responsive to determining to proceed at block 1701, processing circuitry 1403 may initiate initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure with respect to a second cell of the wireless communication network at block 1705.
  • processing circuitry 1403 may store information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure in memory 1405 at block 1715, wherein the information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the second cell and/or information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the second connection establishment procedure.
  • processing circuitry 1403 may determine to provide a third connection establishment at block 1701, and at block 1705, processing circuitry 1403 may initiate a third connection establishment procedure. Responsive to success of the third connection
  • processing circuitry 1403 may transmit the information relating to the failures of the first and/or second connection establishment procedures through transceiver 1401 to the wireless communication network at block 1719.
  • transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first and/or second connection establishment procedure may include transmitting an indication that the information relating to the failure of the first and/or second connection establishment procedure is available, receiving an information request message after transmitting the indication, and transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first and/or second connection establishment procedure in an information response message responsive to receiving the information request message.
  • the indication may be transmitted in a Radio Resource Control RRC Complete message (e.g., a, RRC Setup Complete message, an RRC Resume Complete message, or an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message) of the third connection establishment procedure.
  • the information relating to the failure includes the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell which comprises a radio resource management, RRM, measurement for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
  • RRM radio resource management
  • the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell comprises at least one of a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR, for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
  • the information relating to the failure includes the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure which comprises a beam identifier of a beam used to transmit a RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure.
  • the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt includes beam measurement information associated with the beam used for the RACH attempt.
  • RMM measurement, a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR,
  • the beam identifier is a first beam identifier, wherein the beam is a first beam of the cell, wherein the RACH attempt is first RACH attempt, and wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure comprises a second beam identifier of a second beam used to transmit a second RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure.
  • the cell is a first cell
  • the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of a second cell, and wherein the second cell is a neighbor of the first cell.
  • the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the second cell comprises at least one of a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR, for a beam of the second cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the second cell.
  • the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further comprises at least one of an orientation of the wireless device, an altitude of the wireless device, a location of the wireless device, an indication of a speed of movement of the wireless device, and/or a heading of movement of the wireless device.
  • connection establishment procedure is a first connection establishment procedure
  • the method further comprising: after storing the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure, initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure; and responsive to success of the second connection establishment procedure, transmitting (1719) the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure to the wireless communication network.
  • transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure comprises transmitting an indication that the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure is available, receiving an information request message after transmitting the indication, and transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure in an information response message responsive to receiving the information request message.
  • Embodiments 1-14 further comprising: initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure with respect to a second cell of a wireless communication network; and responsive to failure of the second connection establishment procedure with respect to the second cell, storing (1715) information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure in the memory of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the second cell and/or information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the second connection establishment procedure.
  • Embodiment 18 further comprising: after storing the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures, initiating (1705) a third connection establishment procedure; and responsive to success of the third connection establishment procedure, transmitting (1719) the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures to the wireless communication network.
  • storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to expiration of an establishment timer without receiving a response to a RACH attempt.
  • storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to stopping an establishment timer before receiving a response to an establishment request message.
  • connection establishment procedure comprises a connection request procedure and the establishment request message comprises a setup message
  • connection establishment procedure comprises a connection resume procedure and the establishment request message comprises resume request message
  • storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to an integrity protection failure while an establishment timer (e.g., a T319 timer) is running.
  • an establishment timer e.g., a T319 timer
  • a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, the wireless device comprising: processing circuitry (1403); and memory (1405) coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to perform operations according to any of Embodiments 1 -23.
  • a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, wherein the wireless device is adapted to perform according to any of Embodiments 1-23.
  • a computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1403) of a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1400) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 1-23.
  • a computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium including program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1403) of a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1400) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 1-23.
  • EUTRA/E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
  • EUTRAN/E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
  • gNB/gNodeB A radio base station in NR.
  • NG The interface/reference point between NG-RAN and 5GC.
  • PCell Primary Cell i.e. the primary cell of a MCG
  • PSCell Primary Secondary Cell i.e. the primary cell of a SCG
  • SpCell Special Cell i.e. either a PCell or a PSCell.
  • a gNB/eNB and a UE i.e. the radio interface.
  • Figure 18 illustrates a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments.
  • a wireless network such as the example wireless network illustrated in Figure 18.
  • the wireless network of Figure 18 only depicts network QQ106, network nodes QQ 160 and QQ 160b, and WDs QQ 110, QQ 110b, and QQ 110c (also referred to as mobile terminals).
  • a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or end device.
  • network node QQ160 and wireless device (WD) QQ110 are depicted with additional detail.
  • the wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate the wireless devices’ access to and/or use of the services provided by, or via, the wireless network.
  • the wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system.
  • the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures.
  • particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile
  • GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • WLAN wireless local area network
  • WiMax Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
  • Bluetooth ZigBee
  • Network QQ106 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks
  • PSTNs public switched telephone networks
  • WANs wide-area networks
  • LANs local area networks
  • Network node QQ160 and WD QQ110 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network.
  • the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.
  • network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless network.
  • network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).
  • APs access points
  • BSs base stations
  • eNBs evolved Node Bs
  • gNBs NR NodeBs
  • Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations.
  • a base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay.
  • a network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio.
  • RRUs remote radio units
  • RRHs Remote Radio Heads
  • Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio.
  • Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).
  • DAS distributed antenna system
  • network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs.
  • MSR multi-standard radio
  • RNCs radio network controllers
  • BSCs base station controllers
  • BTSs base transceiver stations
  • transmission points transmission nodes
  • MCEs multi-cell/multicast coordination entities
  • core network nodes e.g., MSCs, MMEs
  • O&M nodes e.g., OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs.
  • network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network.
  • network node QQ160 includes processing circuitry QQ170, device readable medium QQ180, interface QQ190, auxiliary equipment QQ184, power source QQ186, power circuitry QQ187, and antenna QQ162.
  • network node QQ160 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 18 may represent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components.
  • a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein.
  • components of network node QQ160 are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium QQ180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).
  • network node QQ160 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components.
  • network node QQ160 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components)
  • one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes.
  • a single RNC may control multiple NodeB’s.
  • each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node.
  • network node QQ160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs).
  • RATs radio access technologies
  • Network node QQ160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless
  • network node QQ160 technologies integrated into network node QQ160, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ160.
  • Processing circuitry QQ170 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry QQ170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • Processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise a combination of one or more of a
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ180 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174.
  • radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units
  • processing circuitry QQ170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ180 or memory within processing circuitry QQ170.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ170 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ170 alone or to other components of network node QQ160, but are enjoyed by network node QQ160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
  • Device readable medium QQ180 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry QQ170.
  • volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any
  • Device readable medium QQ180 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry QQ170 and, utilized by network node QQ160.
  • Device readable medium QQ180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry QQ170 and/or any data received via interface QQ190.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 and device readable medium QQ180 may be considered to be integrated.
  • Interface QQ190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node QQ160, network QQ106, and/or WDs QQ110. As illustrated, interface QQ190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) QQ194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network QQ106 over a wired connection. Interface QQ190 also includes radio front end circuitry QQ192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna QQ162. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 comprises filters QQ198 and amplifiers QQ196. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may be connected to antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170.
  • Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of fdters QQ198 and/or amplifiers QQ196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ162.
  • antenna QQ162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • the digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ170.
  • the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • network node QQ160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ192, instead, processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • all or some of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 may be considered a part of interface QQ190.
  • interface QQ190 may include one or more ports or terminals QQ194, radio front end circuitry QQ192, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface QQ190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry QQ174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
  • Antenna QQ162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry QQ190 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna QQ162 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz.
  • An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction
  • a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area
  • a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line.
  • the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as MIMO.
  • antenna QQ162 may be separate from network node QQ160 and may be connectable to network node QQ160 through an interface or port.
  • Antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment.
  • Power circuitry QQ187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node QQ160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry QQ187 may receive power from power source QQ186. Power source QQ186 and/or power circuitry QQ187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node QQ160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source QQ186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry QQ187 and/or network node QQ160.
  • network node QQ160 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry QQ187.
  • power source QQ186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry QQ187. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.
  • Other types of power sources such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.
  • network node QQ160 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 18 that may be responsible for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein.
  • network node QQ160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node QQ160 and to allow output of information from network node QQ160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node QQ160.
  • wireless device refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices.
  • the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE).
  • Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air.
  • a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction.
  • a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network.
  • Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop -embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE) a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc.
  • VoIP voice over IP
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • a wireless cameras a gaming console or device
  • a music storage device a playback appliance
  • a wearable terminal device a wireless endpoint
  • a mobile station a tablet, a laptop, a laptop -embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart
  • a WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device.
  • D2D device-to-device
  • V2V vehicle-to-vehicle
  • V2I vehicle-to-infrastructure
  • V2X vehicle-to-everything
  • a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node.
  • the WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device.
  • M2M machine-to-machine
  • the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard.
  • NB-IoT narrow band internet of things
  • machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.).
  • a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.
  • a WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.
  • wireless device QQ110 includes antenna QQ111, interface QQ114, processing circuitry QQ120, device readable medium QQ130, user interface equipment QQ132, auxiliary equipment QQ134, power source QQ136 and power circuitry QQ137.
  • WD QQ110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD QQ110, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD QQ110.
  • Antenna QQ111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface QQ114.
  • antenna QQ111 may be separate from WD QQ110 and be connectable to WD QQ110 through an interface or port.
  • Antenna QQ111, interface QQ114, and/or processing circuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD.
  • radio front end circuitry and/or antenna QQ111 may be considered an interface.
  • interface QQ114 comprises radio front end circuitry QQ112 and antenna QQ111.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 comprise one or more filters QQ118 and amplifiers QQ116.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ114 is connected to antenna QQ111 and processing circuitry QQ120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ111 and processing circuitry QQ120.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna QQ111.
  • WD QQ110 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ112; rather, processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ111.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ118 and/or amplifiers QQ116. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ111. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna QQ111 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ112. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ120.
  • the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • Processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise a combination of one or more of a
  • processing circuitry QQ120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ130 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126.
  • the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 of WD QQ110 may comprise a SOC.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips.
  • part or all of baseband processing circuitry QQ124 and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 and baseband processing circuitry QQ124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be a part of interface QQ114.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry QQ120.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer- readable storage medium.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ120 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 can be configured to perform the described functionality.
  • the benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ120 alone or to other components of WD QQ110, but are enjoyed by WD QQ110 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
  • Processing circuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry QQ120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • Device readable medium QQ130 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry QQ120.
  • Device readable medium QQ130 may include computer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry QQ120.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 and device readable medium QQ130 may be considered to be integrated.
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD QQ110. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment QQ132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD QQ110. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment QQ132 installed in WD QQ110. For example, if WD QQ110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD QQ110 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected).
  • usage e.g., the number of gallons used
  • a speaker that provides an audible alert
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment QQ132 is configured to allow input of information into WD QQ110, and is connected to processing circuitry QQ120 to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to process the input information. User interface equipment QQ132 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment QQ132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD QQ110, and to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to output information from WD QQ110.
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment QQ132, WD QQ110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.
  • Auxiliary equipment QQ134 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment QQ134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.
  • Power source QQ136 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used.
  • WD QQ110 may further comprise power circuitry QQ137 for delivering power from power source QQ136 to the various parts of WD QQ110 which need power from power source QQ136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD QQ110 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source QQ136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source QQ136. Power circuitry QQ137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source QQ136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD QQ110 to which power is supplied.
  • Figure 19 illustrates a user Equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 19 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described herein.
  • a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device.
  • a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller).
  • a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).
  • UE QQ2200 may be any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT LIE, a machine type communication (MTC) LIE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.
  • UE QQ200 is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP’s GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards.
  • 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
  • the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although Figure 19 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.
  • UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface QQ205, radio frequency (RF) interface QQ209, network connection interface QQ211, memory QQ215 including random access memory (RAM) QQ217, read-only memory (ROM) QQ219, and storage medium QQ221 or the like, communication subsystem QQ231, power source QQ233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.
  • Storage medium QQ221 includes operating system QQ223, application program QQ225, and data QQ227. In other embodiments, storage medium QQ221 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 19, or only a subset of the components. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data.
  • Processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above.
  • the processing circuitry QQ201 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.
  • input/output interface QQ205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device.
  • UE QQ200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface QQ205.
  • An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device.
  • a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE QQ200.
  • the output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof.
  • UE QQ200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface QQ205 to allow a user to capture information into UE QQ200.
  • the input device may include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like.
  • the presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user.
  • a sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof.
  • the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.
  • RF interface QQ209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna.
  • Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network QQ243a.
  • Network QQ243a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof.
  • network QQ243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network.
  • Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or the like.
  • Network connection interface QQ211 may implement receiver and transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like).
  • the transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.
  • RAM QQ217 may be configured to interface via bus QQ202 to processing circuitry QQ201 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers.
  • ROM QQ219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry QQ201.
  • ROM QQ219 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory.
  • Storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable
  • storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include operating system QQ223, application program QQ225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file QQ227.
  • Storage medium QQ221 may store, for use by UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
  • Storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppy disk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro- DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof.
  • RAID redundant array of independent disks
  • HD-DVD high-density digital versatile disc
  • HDDS holographic digital data storage
  • DIMM synchronous dynamic random access memory
  • SIM/RUIM removable user identity
  • Storage medium QQ221 may allow UE QQ200 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data.
  • An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied in storage medium QQ221, which may comprise a device readable medium.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with network QQ243b using communication subsystem QQ231.
  • Network QQ243a and network QQ243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks.
  • Communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network QQ243b.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802. QQ2, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like.
  • Each transceiver may include transmitter QQ233 and/or receiver QQ235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter QQ233 and receiver QQ235 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.
  • the communication functions of communication subsystem QQ231 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication.
  • Network QQ243b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (FAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof.
  • network QQ243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network.
  • Power source QQ213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE QQ200.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus QQ202.
  • any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry QQ201 perform the corresponding functions described herein.
  • the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry QQ201 and communication subsystem QQ231.
  • the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
  • Figure 20 illustrates a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 20 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.
  • virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources.
  • virtualization can be applied to a node (e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device) or components thereof and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines or containers executing on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).
  • a node e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node
  • a device e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device
  • some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes QQ330. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized.
  • the functions may be implemented by one or more applications QQ320 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.
  • Applications QQ320 are run in virtualization environment QQ300 which provides hardware QQ330 comprising processing circuitry QQ360 and memory QQ390.
  • Memory QQ390 contains instructions QQ395 executable by processing circuitry QQ360 whereby application QQ320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.
  • Virtualization environment QQ300 comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices QQ330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry QQ360, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated
  • COTS commercial off-the-shelf
  • Each hardware device may comprise memory QQ390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions QQ395 or software executed by processing circuitry QQ360.
  • Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) QQ370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface QQ380.
  • NICs network interface controllers
  • Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media QQ390-2 having stored therein software QQ395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry QQ360.
  • Software QQ395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers QQ350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines QQ340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
  • virtualization layers QQ350 also referred to as hypervisors
  • software to execute virtual machines QQ340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
  • Virtual machines QQ340 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance QQ320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines QQ340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
  • processing circuitry QQ360 executes software QQ395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer QQ350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM).
  • Virtualization layer QQ350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine QQ340.
  • hardware QQ330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ330 may comprise antenna QQ3225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ330 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) QQ3100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ320.
  • CPE customer premise equipment
  • NFV network function virtualization
  • NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.
  • virtual machine QQ340 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine.
  • Each of virtual machines QQ340, and that part of hardware QQ330 that executes that virtual machine be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines QQ340, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).
  • VNE virtual network elements
  • VNF Virtual Network Function
  • one or more radio units QQ3200 that each include one or more transmitters QQ3220 and one or more receivers QQ3210 may be coupled to one or more antennas QQ3225.
  • Radio units QQ3200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes QQ330 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station.
  • control system QQ3230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes QQ330 and radio units QQ3200.
  • Figure 21 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments.
  • a communication system includes telecommunication network QQ410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network QQ411, such as a radio access network, and core network QQ414.
  • Access network QQ411 comprises a plurality of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area QQ413a, QQ413b, QQ413c.
  • Each base station QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c is connectable to core network QQ414 over a wired or wireless connection QQ415.
  • a first UE QQ491 located in coverage area QQ413c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station QQ412c.
  • a second UE QQ492 in coverage area QQ413a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station QQ412a. While a plurality of UEs QQ491, QQ492 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station QQ412.
  • Telecommunication network QQ410 is itself connected to host computer QQ430, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm.
  • Host computer QQ430 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.
  • Connections QQ421 and QQ422 between telecommunication network QQ410 and host computer QQ430 may extend directly from core network QQ414 to host computer QQ430 or may go via an optional intermediate network QQ420.
  • Intermediate network QQ420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network QQ420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network QQ420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
  • the communication system of Figure 21 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 and host computer QQ430.
  • the connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ450.
  • Host computer QQ430 and the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection QQ450, using access network QQ411, core network QQ414, any intermediate network QQ420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries.
  • OTT connection QQ450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection QQ450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications.
  • base station QQ412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer QQ430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE QQ491.
  • base station QQ412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE QQ491 towards the host computer QQ430.
  • Figure 22 illustrates a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.
  • host computer QQ510 comprises hardware QQ515 including communication interface QQ516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500.
  • Host computer QQ510 further comprises processing circuitry QQ518, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities.
  • processing circuitry QQ518 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions.
  • Host computer QQ510 further comprises software QQ511, which is stored in or accessible by host computer QQ510 and executable by processing circuitry QQ518.
  • Software QQ511 includes host application QQ512.
  • Host application QQ512 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE QQ530 connecting via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510. In providing the service to the remote user, host application QQ512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection QQ550.
  • Communication system QQ500 further includes base station QQ520 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware QQ525 enabling it to communicate with host computer QQ510 and with UE QQ530.
  • Hardware QQ525 may include communication interface QQ526 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500, as well as radio interface QQ527 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection QQ570 with UE QQ530 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 22) served by base station QQ520.
  • Communication interface QQ526 may be configured to facilitate connection QQ560 to host computer QQ510.
  • Connection QQ560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 22) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system.
  • hardware QQ525 of base station QQ520 further includes processing circuitry QQ528, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions.
  • Base station QQ520 further has software QQ521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.
  • Communication system QQ500 further includes UE QQ530 already referred to.
  • Its hardware QQ535 may include radio interface QQ537 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection QQ570 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE QQ530 is currently located.
  • Hardware QQ535 ofUE QQ530 further includes processing circuitry QQ538, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions.
  • UE QQ530 further comprises software QQ531, which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ530 and executable by processing circuitry QQ538.
  • Software QQ531 includes client application QQ532.
  • Client application QQ532 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non -human user via UE QQ530, with the support of host computer QQ510.
  • an executing host application QQ512 may communicate with the executing client application QQ532 via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510.
  • client application QQ532 may receive request data from host application QQ512 and provide user data in response to the request data.
  • OTT connection QQ550 may transfer both the request data and the user data.
  • Client application QQ532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
  • host computer QQ510, base station QQ520 and UE QQ530 illustrated in Figure 22 may be similar or identical to host computer QQ430, one of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c and one of UEs QQ491, QQ492 of Figure 21, respectively.
  • the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 22 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 21.
  • OTT connection QQ550 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530 via base station QQ520, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.
  • Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from UE QQ530 or from the service provider operating host computer QQ510, or both. While OTT connection QQ550 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).
  • Wireless connection QQ570 between UE QQ530 and base station QQ520 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • One or more of the various embodiments may improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE QQ530 using OTT connection QQ550, in which wireless connection QQ570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the random access speed and/or reduce random access failure rates and thereby provide benefits such as faster and/or more reliable random access.
  • a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve.
  • the measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 may be implemented in software QQ511 and hardware QQ515 of host computer QQ510 or in software QQ531 and hardware QQ535 ofUE QQ530, or both.
  • sensors may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection QQ550 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software QQ511, QQ531 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities.
  • the reconfiguring of OTT connection QQ550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc. ; the reconfiguring need not affect base station QQ520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station QQ520. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art.
  • measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer QQ510’s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like.
  • the measurements may be implemented in that software QQ511 and QQ531 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection QQ550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.
  • Figure 23 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • FIG 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 23 will be included in this section.
  • the host computer provides user data.
  • substep QQ611 (which may be optional) of step QQ610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application.
  • step QQ620 the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE.
  • step QQ630 the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • step QQ640 the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.
  • Figure 24 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 24 will be included in this section.
  • the host computer provides user data.
  • the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application.
  • the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • step QQ730 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.
  • Figure 25 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • FIG 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 25 will be included in this section.
  • step QQ810 the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step QQ820, the UE provides user data.
  • substep QQ821 (which may be optional) of step QQ820, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application.
  • substep QQ811 (which may be optional) of step QQ810, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in substep QQ830 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step QQ840 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • Figure 26 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 26 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 26 will be included in this section.
  • step QQ910 (which may be optional)
  • the base station receives user data from the UE.
  • step QQ920 which may be optional
  • the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer.
  • step QQ930 (which may be optional)
  • the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.
  • any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses.
  • Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units.
  • These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like.
  • the processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc.
  • Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein.
  • the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
  • the term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein. At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s). lx RTT CDMA2000 lx Radio Transmission Technology
  • the terms “comprise”, “comprising”, “comprises”, “include”, “including”, “includes”, “have”, “has”, “having”, or variants thereof are open-ended, and include one or more stated features, integers, elements, steps, components or functions but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, elements, steps, components, functions or groups thereof.
  • the common abbreviation “e.g.”, which derives from the Latin phrase “exempli gratia” may be used to introduce or specify a general example or examples of a previously mentioned item, and is not intended to be limiting of such item.
  • the common abbreviation “i.e.”, which derives from the Latin phrase “id est,” may be used to specify a particular item from a more general recitation.
  • Example embodiments are described herein with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of computer-implemented methods, apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer program products. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions that are performed by one or more computer circuits.
  • These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor circuit of a general purpose computer circuit, special purpose computer circuit, and/or other programmable data processing circuit to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, transform and control transistors, values stored in memory locations, and other hardware components within such circuitry to implement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks, and thereby create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block(s).

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Abstract

Methods of operating a wireless device are disclosed. A connection establishment procedure is initiated (1705) with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network. Responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell, information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure is stored (1715) in memory of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell.

Description

METHODS PROVIDING INFORMATION RELATING TO FAILURE OF CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT PROCEDURES AND RELATED WIRELESS DEVICES
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure relates generally to communications, and more particularly to communication methods and related devices and nodes supporting wireless communications.
BACKGROUND
Accessibility measurement can comprise failures produced by two procedures - RRC Connection Request procedure and RRC Connection Resume procedure covered in sections 5.3.3 and 5.3.13 respectively of 3GPP TS 38.331 vl5.4.0 (2018-12).
Figure 1 A and IB respectively illustrate establishment procedures in IDLE mode and INACTIVE mode and corresponding timers.
As shown in Figures 1 A and IB, a Radio Resource Control RRC CONNECTION
REQUEST is used to request the E-UTRAN for the establishment of an RRC connection when the wireless device UE is in IDLE mode and RRC CONNECTION RESUME message is used to establish/resume a connection when the wireless device UE is in INACTIVE mode (Figure 2.1- b). Note that a Random Access CHannel RACH procedure is initiated prior to both messages (in IDLE or INACTIVE modes) to provide the uplink time synchronisation as well as uplink grant for the wireless device UE. Once the wireless device UE receives the Random Access Response RAR message (including the uplink grant and Timing Advance TA), it initiates the establishment procedure and starts the T300 timer or the T319 timer if the wireless device UE is in IDLE or INACTIVE mode respectively. The UE establishment procedure may be prolonged so that the establishment timer (T300 or T319) expires. Upon expiration of establishment timer, an accessibility measurement report will be logged to be transmitted to the network when UE comes back to the CONNETED mode. The content of the connection establishment failure report (so- called ConnEstFailReport, sent by the UE) is shown in Figure 2.
The contents of ConnEstFailReport comprise the measurement of the failed cell, measurement of the neighbouring cells as well as some details of the RACH procedure. Once the T300 timer expires, the UE logs the mentioned information. The T300 timer will be configured as part of UE-TimersAndConstants information element as shown in Figure 3. The IE UE-TimersAndConstants contains timers and constants used by the UE in either RRC CONNECTED or RRC IDLE, and the UE-TimersAndConstants information element is illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3 illustrates content of UE-TimersAndConstants information element.
UE actions upon establishment failures when the T300 timer expires are discussed in RRC specification 3 GPP TS 36.331 V15.3.0 (2018-09) as set forth below:
T300 expiry
The UE shall:
1> if timer T300 expires:
2> if UE has sent RRCConnectionResumeRequest message and has not received
RRCConnectionResume message:
3> reset MAC and re-establish RLC for all RBs that are established;
3> suspend SRB1;
2> else:
3> reset MAC, release the MAC configuration and re-establish RLC for all
RBs that are established;
2> if the UE is a NB-IoT UE:
3> if connEstFailOffset is included in SystemInformationBlockType2-NB:
4> use connEstFailOffset for the parameter Qoffsettemp for the concerned cell when performing cell selection and reselection according to TS 36.304 [4];
3> else:
4> use value of infinity for the parameter Qoffsettemp for the concerned cell when performing cell selection and reselection according to TS 36.304 [4];
NOTE 0: For NB-IoT, the number of times that the UE detects T300 expiry on the same cell before applying connEstFailOffset and the amount of time that the UE applies connEstFailOffset before removing the offset from evaluation of the cell is up to UE implementation. 2> else if the UE supports RRC Connection Establishment failure temporary Qoffset and T300 has expired a consecutive connEstFailCount times on the same cell for which txFailParams is included in SystemInformationBlockType2:
3> for a period as indicated by connEstFailOffsetValidity:
4> use connEstFailOffset for the parameter Qoffsettemp for the concerned cell when performing cell selection and reselection according to TS 36.304 [4] and TS 25.304 [40];
NOTE 1 : When performing cell selection, if no suitable or acceptable cell can be found, it is up to EE implementation whether to stop using connEstFailOffset for the parameter Qoffsettemp during connEstFailOffsetValidity for the concerned cell.
2> except for NB-IoT, store the following connection establishment failure information in the VarConnEstFail Report by setting its fields as follows:
3> clear the information included in VarConnEstFailReport, if any;
3> set the plmn-Identity to the PLMN selected by upper layers (see TS 23.122 [11], TS 24.301 [35]) from the PLMN(s) included in the plmn-IdentityList in SystemlnformationBlockTypel;
3> set the failedCellld to the global cell identity of the cell where connection establishment failure is detected;
3> set the measResultFailedCell to include the RSRP and RSRQ, if available, of the cell where connection establishment failure is detected and based on measurements collected up to the moment the UE detected the failure;
3> if available, set the measResultNeighCells, in order of decreasing ranking- criterion as used for cell re-selection, to include neighbouring cell measurements for at most the following number of neighbouring cells: 6 intra-frequency and 3 inter-frequency neighbours per frequency as well as 3 inter-RAT neighbours, per frequency/ set of frequencies (GERAN) per RAT and according to the following:
4> for each neighbour cell included, include the optional fields that are available;
NOTE 2: The UE includes the latest results of the available measurements as used for cell reselection evaluation, which are performed in accordance with the performance
requirements as specified in TS 36.133 [16] 3> if available, set the logMeasResultListWLAN to include the WLAN measurement results, in order of decreasing RSSI for WLAN APs;
3> if available, set the logMeasResultListBT to include the Bluetooth measurement results, in order of decreasing RSSI for Bluetooth beacons;
3> if detailed location information is available, set the content of the locationlnfo as follows:
4> include the locationCoordinates;
4> include the horizontalVelocity, if available;
3> set the numberOfPreamblesSent to indicate the number of preambles sent by MAC for the failed random access procedure;
3> set contentionDetected to indicate whether contention resolution was not successful as specified in TS 36.321 [6] for at least one of the transmitted preambles for the failed random access procedure;
3> set maxTxPowerReached to indicate whether or not the maximum power level was used for the last transmitted preamble, see TS 36.321 [6];
2> if UE has initiated UP-EDT:
3> perform the actions upon abortion of UP-EDT as specified in 5.3.3.9a;
2> if in RRC INACTIVE:
3> perform the actions upon leaving RRC INACTIVE as specified in 5.3.12, with release cause 'RRC connection failure';
2> else inform upper layers about the failure to establish the RRC connection or failure to resume the RRC connection with suspend indication, upon which the procedure ends;
The UE may discard the connection establishment failure information, i.e. release the UE variable VarConnEstFailReport, 48 hours after the failure is detected, upon power off or upon detach.
The content of VarConnEstFailReport can be flagged to the network as availability field (connEstFaillnfoAvailable) in one of the following signaling when UE comes/is in connected mode: RRCConnectionSetupComplete; RRCConnectionResumeComplete; and/or
RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete. Establishment failure may be caused by random access problems (Medium Access Control MAC) in Long Term Evolution LTE.
RACH is a MAC layer procedure. Hence, it is the MAC layer that indicates to RRC a RACH failure, which happens e.g. when the maximum number of preamble retransmissions is reached (i.e. after the UE has tried to perform power ramping a number of times and/or went through failed contention resolutions). Explanation is provided below how the UE may reach a maximum number of preamble retransmissions.
Generally, in LTE, a UE performs random access for many different purposes, both in RRC CONNECTED and RRC IDLE. LTE uses the RACH for initial network access, but in LTE the RACH cannot carry any user data, which is exclusively sent on the Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH). Instead, the LTE RACH is used to achieve uplink time
synchronization for a UE which either has not yet acquired, or has lost, its uplink
synchronization. Once uplink synchronization is achieved for a UE, the eNodeB can schedule orthogonal uplink transmission resources for it. Relevant scenarios in which the RACH is used may therefore include:
(1) A UE in RRC CONNECTED state, but not uplink-synchronized, needing to send new uplink data or control information (e.g. an event-triggered measurement report);
(2) A UE in RRC CONNECTED state, but not uplink-synchronized, needing to receive new downlink data, and therefore to transmit corresponding
ACKnowledgement/Negative ACKnowledgement (ACK/NACK) in the uplink;
(3) A UE in RRC CONNECTED state, handing over from its current serving cell to a target cell;
(4) For positioning purposes in RRC CONNECTED state, when timing advance is needed for UE positioning (See Section 19.4);
(5) A transition from RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE state to RRC CONNECTED, for example for initial access or tracking area updates;
(6) Recovering from radio link failure (re-establishment procedure).
One additional exceptional case is that an uplink-synchronized UE is allowed to use the RACH to send a Scheduling Request (SR) if it does not have any other uplink resource.
In the context of establishment procedures (either in IDLE or INACTIVE states), Random access in LTE may be configured only as contention-based random access (CBRA), that implies an inherent risk of collision. In the following text, the CBRA procedure that is leveraged as a process in establishment procedures is discussed.
Preamble retransmission due to collision detection of RAR not being received is discussed below.
Random access is captured in the MAC specifications (3GPP TS 36.321). In CBRA the UE randomly selects a preamble and transmits with a configurable initial power. Then, it waits for a Random-Access Response (RAR) in a configurable time window. That RAR contains a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI) and an UL grant for MSG.3 If the UE receives a RAR within the time window, it transmits MSG.3. If the UE has a C-RNTI allocated by the cell, UE addresses MSG.3 with that, otherwise it uses the TC-RNTI received in the RAR. As a preamble collision might have happened, different UEs might have received the same RAR, hence, the network sends a MSG.4 to possibly solve contention. If the UE has used the allocated C-RNTI in MSG.3, that is echoed back in MSG.4 to indicate that collision is resolved. Otherwise, the network addresses the UE with the TC-RNTI and includes in the MAC payload the UE identity used in MSG.3. If the UE identity matches the one the UE has, the UE considers the contention resolved.
The CBRA (Contention Based Random Access) procedure is summarized in Figure 9. At operation 1 of Figure 9, the UE transmits a random access preamble (with embedded 1 -bit indication for L2/L3 message size) to the eNodeB (also referred to as message 1 or MSG.l). At operation 2 of Figure 9, the eNodeB transmits a random access response (including Timing Adjustment, C-RNTI, UL grant for L2/L3 message, etc.) to the UE (also referred to as message 2 or MSG.2). At operation 3 of Figure 9, the UE transmits the L2/L3 message to the eNodeB (also referred to as message 3 or MSG.3). At operation 4, the eNodeB transmits a message for early contention resolution to the UE (also referred to as message 4 or MSG.4).
In the case that collision is detected, the UE shall perform preamble re-transmission (MSG1) and initiate random access again. And, collision in CBRA is considered to be detected if, after transmitting a MSG.3 using a TC-RNTI assigned to it in the RAR, the UE detects a MSG.4 addressing the same TC-RNTI but the UE Identity in the MSG.4 payload does not match the UE’s identity transmitted on MSG.3. Notice that collision is not considered in MAC as a failure case. Hence, upper layers are not aware that a collision has occurred. Preamble retransmission is also triggered when the UE sends a preamble and does not receive a RAR within the RAR time window. In that case, the UE performs preamble power ramping and transmits the preamble again.
In all these cases, when the Random Access Response RAR time window expires (for Contention Free Random Access CFRA or Contention Based Random Access CBRA) or when collision is detected, the UE performs preamble retransmission.
A configured parameter controls how many times the UE shall do that, as shown in Figure 10 as part of the RACH-ConfigCommon information element IE.
The IE RACH-ConfigCommon is used to specify the generic random access parameters, and contents of the RACH-ConfigCommon information element are illustrated in Figure 10.
However, in case of establishment failure, the wireless device UE may not reach the maximum number of transmissions as the RACH process may experience longer delay due to the back-off time required in case of contention, as part of contention resolution phase. A back-off indicator value will be received by the wireless device UE as part of the random access response RAR and which may vary between 5 to 1920ms according to the table of Backoff Parameter values in specification 38.321, provided as Figure 11.
In an LTE network, after the establishment failure is declared upon expiry of T300, the accessibility measurement report (i.e., ConnEstFailReport) is logged, once the UE selects a cell and succeeds with an establishment procedure, it includes an indication
“connEstFaillnfoAvailable” that it has an accessibility measurement report available in the RRC Reestablishment Complete message, to make the new serving cell aware of that availability if RPLMN of the new serving cell is equal to plmn-Identity stored in VarConnEstFailReport. Then, upon receiving an UEInformationRequest message with a flag“connEstFailReportReq” the UE shall include the ConnEstFailReport (stored in a UE variable VarConnEstFailReport, as described above) in an UEInformationResponse message and send to the network.
The UEInformationRequest, and UEInformationResponse messages are shown in Figures 12A-B and 13A-K.
The UEInformationRequest is the command used by E-UTRAN to retrieve information from the UE. For UEInformationRequest, the Signalling radio bearer is SRBl, the RLC-SAP is AM, the Logical channel is DCCH, and the Direction is E UTRAN to UE. Contents of the UEInformationRequest message are illustrated in Figures 12A-B. The UEInformationResponse message is used by the UE to transfer the information requested by the E-UTRAN. For the EEInformationResponse, the Signalling radio bearer is SRB1 or SRB2 (when logged measurement information is included), the RLC-SAP is AM, the Logical channel is DCCH, and the Direction is EE to E-UTRAN.
Contents of the UEInformationResponse message are illustrated in Figures 13A-K.
Based on the contents of the accessibility measurement report (e.g. the globally unique identity of the last failed cell, CellGloballdEUTRA), the cell in which the UE establishes the connection can forward the report to the last failed cell upon establishment failure report contents. This forwarding of the ConnEstFail Report report is done to aid the failed serving cell with tuning of the establishment parameters such as beam configuration, cell quality derivation and beam suitability threshold.
RRC Connection Establishment Failure (RCEF) reporting to TCE, and trace session activation for RCEF reporting are discussed below.
RCEF reporting is activated to the eNB as a special Trace Session where the job type indicates RCEF reporting only. The procedure is shown in Figure 4 where a UE experiences an RCEF event and the RRC establishment is successful to the same eNB.
Figure 4 illustrates an example scenario for RCEF reporting when UE RRC establishment is successful to the same eNB.
When the eNB receives the Trace Session activation indicating RCEF reporting only, the eNB shall start a Trace Session. This Trace Session shall collect only RCEF reports received from the UE. The Trace Session activation message received from the EMS shall contain the following information: Trace Reference, Job type=RCEF reporting only, and/or IP address of the TCE.
Figure 5 shows another example where the UE RRC Establishment is failed to one eNB, but successful to another eNB. Figure 5 illustrates an Example scenario for RCEF reporting when the UE RRC establishment is successful to a different eNB
If the UE establishes the RRC connection successfully, the RCEF reports are fetched by the eNB. The procedures to be used at eNB to forward the RCEF reports towards the
management system are the same regardless of whether RCEF occurred at this eNB or a different eNB. If a UE detects a RRC Connection Establishment Failure event, it collects certain information as described in TS 37.320. Once the eNB retrieves the RCEF report from the UE, as defined in TS 37.320[30], it shall save it to the Trace Record. The Trace Record containing the RCEF reports that can be transferred to the TCE in the same mechanism as for normal subscriber and equipment trace or for MDT.
Establishment failure and accessibility measurement in NR, and Cell and beam-based mobility concepts in NR are discussed below.
In LTE, each cell broadcasts a primary and secondary synchronization signal (PSS/SSS) that encodes a physical cell identifier. This is how a UE identifies a cell in LTE. In NR, equivalent signals also exist. In addition, as NR is designed to be possibly deployed in higher frequencies (e.g., above 6GHz) where beamforming is massively used, and these should be possibly beamformed for the same cell (and possibly in a time-domain manner, in a beam sweeping). And, when transmitted in different beams, each of these PSS/SSS for the same cell has its own identification, in what is called a Synchronization Signal and PBCH Block (SSB), as in addition, a Master Information Block MIB is also included in each beam.
Hence, one could say that a cell in NR is basically defined by a set of these SSBs that may be transmitted in 1 (typical implementation for lower frequencies, e.g., below 6GHz) or multiple downlink beams (typical implementation for lower frequencies, e.g., below 6GHz). For the same cell, these SSBs carry the same physical cell identifier (PCI). For standalone operation, i.e., to support UEs camping on an NR cell, they also carry in SIB1 the RACH configuration, which comprises a mapping between the detected SSB covering the UE at a given point in time and the PRACH configuration (e.g., time, frequency, preamble, etc.) to be used. For that, each of these beams may transmit its own SSB which may be distinguished by an SSB index.
Figures 6 A and 6B illustrate cell and beam level mobility concepts in NR.
These SSBs may be used for many different purposes, including RRM measurements (to assist UEs in idle and connected mode mobility) and beam selection upon random access.
SUMMARY
According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, a method may be provided to operate a wireless device. A connection establishment procedure is initiated with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network. Responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell, information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure is stored in memory of the wireless device. The information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell. In some embodiments, the information relating to the failure may further include information regarding at least one random access channel, RACH, attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
According to some other embodiments of inventive concepts, a wireless device may include processing circuitry and memory coupled with the processing circuitry. The memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to initiate a connection establishment procedure with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network. The memory further includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to store information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure in memory of the wireless device responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell. The information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell. In some embodiments, the information relating to the failure may further include information regarding at least one random access channel, RACH, attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
According to still other embodiments of inventive concepts, a wireless device is adapted to initiate a connection establishment procedure with respect to a cell of a wireless
communication network. The wireless device is further adapted to store information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure in memory of the wireless device responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell. The information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell. In some embodiments, the information relating to the failure may further include information regarding at least one random access channel RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
Existing reports relating to failure of connection establishment may be insufficient with respect to cells including multiple beams. By storing information relating to beam measurements and/or RACH attempts associated with individual beams responsive to a failure of a connection establishment procedure, such information may be reported after a success of a subsequent connection establishment. By storing/reporting such information, further/improved tuning of one or more of the following network parameters may be provided by: modifying cell quality derivation parameters; modifying cell selection/reselection parameters; modifying at least one RACH parameter in a RACH configuration, such as, initial power for preamble transmission, maximum number of attempts, threshold for beam selection, type of the preamble used, and/or coordination between cells for interference coordination.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of inventive concepts. In the drawings:
Figure 1 A is a message diagram illustrating establishment procedures in Idle mode and a corresponding timer;
Figure IB is a message diagram illustrating establishment procedures in Inactive mode and a corresponding timer;
Figure 2 illustrates content of an accessibility measurement report (referred to as ConnEstFailreport);
Figure 3 illustrates content of a UE-TimersAndConstants information element;
Figure 4 illustrates RCEF reporting when UE RRC establishment is successful to the same eNB;
Figure 5 illustrates RCEF reporting when UE RRC establishment is successful to a different eNB;
Figures 6A and 6B illustrate cell and beam level mobility concepts;
Figure 7 illustrates cell coverage area calculation based on beam coverage;
Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating UE reporting after establishment procedure according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;
Figure 9 illustrates contention based random access CBRA operations;
Figure 10 illustrates a RACH-ConfigCommon information element;
Figure 11 is a table illustrating backoff parameter values;
Figures 12A and 12B illustrate elements of a UEInformation Request message;
Figures 13A-K illustrate elements of a UEInformation Response message;
Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless device UE according to some embodiments of inventive concepts; Figure 15 is a block diagram illustrating a radio access network RAN node (e.g., a base station eNB/gNB) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;
Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a core network CN node (e.g., an AMF node, an SMF node, etc.) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;
Figure 17 is a flow chart illustrating operations of a wireless device according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;
Figure 18 is a block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with some
embodiments;
Figure 19 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments Figure 20 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 21 is a block diagram of a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 22 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 23 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 24 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;
Figure 25 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments; and
Figure 26 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of embodiments of inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of present inventive concepts to those skilled in the art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present/used in another embodiment.
The following description presents various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. These embodiments are presented as teaching examples and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosed subject matter. For example, certain details of the described embodiments may be modified, omitted, or expanded upon without departing from the scope of the described subject matter.
Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a wireless device UE 1400 (also referred to as a mobile terminal, a mobile communication terminal, a wireless communication device, a wireless terminal, mobile device, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, a user equipment node/terminal/device, etc.) configured to provide wireless communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. (Wireless device 1400 may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to wireless device QQ110 of Figure 18.) As shown, wireless device UE may include an antenna 1407 (e.g., corresponding to antenna QQ111 of Figure 18), and transceiver circuitry 1401 (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to interface QQ114 of Figure 18) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with a base station(s) (e.g., corresponding to network node QQ160 of Figure 18, also referred to as a RAN node) of a radio access network. Wireless device UE may also include processing circuitry 1403 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry QQ120 of Figure 18) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry 1405 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium QQ130 of Figure 18) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry 1405 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1403 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 1403 may be defined to include memory so that separate memory circuitry is not required. Wireless device UE may also include an interface (such as a user interface) coupled with processing circuitry 1403, and/or wireless device UE may be incorporated in a vehicle.
As discussed herein, operations of wireless device UE may be performed by processing circuitry 1403 and/or transceiver circuitry 1401. For example, processing circuitry 1403 may control transceiver circuitry 1401 to transmit communications through transceiver circuitry 1401 over a radio interface to a radio access network node (also referred to as a base station) and/or to receive communications through transceiver circuitry 1401 from a RAN node over a radio interface. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory circuitry 1405, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1403, processing circuitry 1403 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to wireless devices).
Figure 15 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a radio access network RAN node 1500 (also referred to as a network node, base station, eNodeB/eNB, gNodeB/gNB, etc.) of a Radio Access Network (RAN) configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. (RAN node 1500 may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to network node QQ160 of Figure 18.) As shown, the RAN node may include transceiver circuitry 1501 (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface QQ190 of Figure 18) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with mobile terminals. The RAN node may include network interface circuitry 1507 (also referred to as a network interface, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface QQ190 of Figure 18) configured to provide
communications with other nodes (e.g., with other base stations) of the RAN and/or core network CN. The network node may also include processing circuitry 1503 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry QQ170) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry 1505 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium QQ180 of Figure 18) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry 1505 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1503 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 1503 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required. As discussed herein, operations of the RAN node may be performed by processing circuitry 1503, network interface 1507, and/or transceiver 1501. For example, processing circuitry 1503 may control transceiver 1501 to transmit downlink communications through transceiver 1501 over a radio interface to one or more mobile terminals UEs and/or to receive uplink communications through transceiver 1501 from one or more mobile terminals UEs over a radio interface. Similarly, processing circuitry 1503 may control network interface 1507 to transmit communications through network interface 1507 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface from one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory 1505, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1503, processing circuitry 1503 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to RAN nodes).
According to some other embodiments, a network node may be implemented as a core network CN node without a transceiver. In such embodiments, transmission to a wireless device UE may be initiated by the network node so that transmission to the wireless device is provided through a network node including a transceiver (e.g., through a base station or RAN node). According to embodiments where the network node is a RAN node including a transceiver, initiating transmission may include transmitting through the transceiver.
Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a core network CN node (e.g., an SMF node, an AMF node, etc.) of a communication network configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. As shown, the CN node may include network interface circuitry 1607 (also referred to as a network interface) configured to provide communications with other nodes of the core network and/or the radio access network RAN. The CN node may also include a processing circuitry 1603 (also referred to as a processor) coupled to the network interface circuitry, and memory circuitry 1605 (also referred to as memory) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry 1605 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1603 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein.
According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 1603 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required. As discussed herein, operations of the CN node may be performed by processing circuitry 1603 and/or network interface circuitry 1607. For example, processing circuitry 1603 may control network interface circuitry 1607 to transmit communications through network interface circuitry 1607 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface circuitry from one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory 1605, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1603, processing circuitry 1603 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to core network nodes).
Some embodiments of inventive concepts may address a lack of observability in the network handling the function to be optimized provided in existing MRO approaches in LTE if applied to NR. That may come from new issues that may occur in NR such as: misconfiguration of RLM, misconfiguration of cell quality derivation and beam reporting parameters,
misconfiguration of beam failure detection and beam recovery and, in more general terms, the effects of beam-based monitoring (i.e. based on beam measurements) in NR in different procedures.
Although the content of ConnEstFailReport may suffice in an LTE network, there might be some NR specific features such as beam forming that may have dramatic impact on the performance of establishment procedure (in particular on cell quality derivation and embedded RACH procedure) that lends itself a more careful consideration when reporting accessibility measurement.
Misconfiguration of Cell Quality Derivation (CQD) and beam reporting parameters may occur. One difference in NR compared to LTE is that the way the UE calculates cell quality (Cell Quality derivation procedure) is quite configurable by the network. In NR, reference signals for CQD are transmitted in different beams and when more than one beam is used for the transmission of these reference signals, the UE receives these reference signals in different time instances. There are also other parameters as in LTE, but possibly configurable per beam (e.g. filter parameters). In sections 5.2 and 5.2.1 of NR specification 3GPP TS 38.304 vl 5.2.0 (2018- 12), cell quality derivation is described as part of cell selection and reselection text procedure as set forth below:
Cell selection and reselection UE shall perform measurements for cell selection and reselection purposes as specified in TS 38.133 [8]
When evaluating Srxlev and Squal of non-serving cells for reselection evaluation purposes, the UE shall use parameters provided by the serving cell and for the final check on cell selection criterion, the UE shall use parameters provided by the target cell for cell reselection.
The NAS can control the RAT(s) in which the cell selection should be performed, for instance by indicating RAT(s) associated with the selected PLMN, and by maintaining a list of forbidden registration area(s) and a list of equivalent PLMNs. The UE shall select a suitable cell based on RRC IDLE or RRC IN ACTIVE state measurements and cell selection criteria.
In order to expedite the cell selection process, stored information for several RATs, if available, may be used by the UE.
When camped on a cell, the UE shall regularly search for a better cell according to the cell reselection criteria. If a better cell is found, that cell is selected. The change of cell may imply a change of RAT. Details on performance requirements for cell reselection can be found in TS 38.133 [8]
The NAS is informed if the cell selection and reselection result in changes in the received system information relevant for NAS.
For normal service, the UE shall camp on a suitable cell, monitor control channel(s) of that cell so that the UE can:
receive system information from the PLMN; and
- receive registration area information from the PLMN, e.g., tracking area information; and
- receive other AS and NAS Information; and
if registered:
- receive paging and notification messages from the PLMN; and
- initiate transfer to Connected mode.
For cell selection in multi-beam operations, measurement quantity of a cell is up to UE implementation. For cell reselection in multi-beam operations, the measurement quantity of this cell is derived amongst the beams corresponding to the same cell based on SS/PBCH block as follows:
if nrofSS-BlocksToAverage is not configured in SIB2; or
if absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation is not configured in SIB2; or if the highest beam measurement quantity value is below or equal to absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation:
- derive a cell measurement quantity as the highest beam measurement quantity value, where each beam measurement quantity is described in TS 38.215 [11]
else:
- derive a cell measurement quantity as the linear average of the power values of up to nrofSS-BlocksToAverage of highest beam measurement quantity values above absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation.
To exemplify, as shown in Figure 7, the coverage area of cell- A can be derived based on the coverage area of SSB beams A1 to A3 and the coverage area of cell-B can be derived based on the coverage area of SSB beams B1 to B3. Generally, when the UE calculates the quality of the cells, it needs additional configuration on how to combine these beam level measurements into a cell level quality measurement. This is captured in the section 5.5.3.3 of the NR RRC specification 3GPP TS 38.331 vl5.4.0 (2018-12). In summary, the cell quality can be derived either based on the strongest beam or based on the average of up to‘X’ strongest beams that are above a threshold‘T\ These options can assist to reduce/prevent potential ping-pong handover that can arise when only the strongest beam is used for cell quality derivation when the UE is in connected mode. However, an averaging based configuration can result in a UE being in a sub optimal cell, in particular when establishing a connection in idle mode. In the end, the agreement was that the network can configure the UE with any of these options depending on which option suits best in terms of the radio condition within the cell’s coverage area. In addition, the network can learn to improve/optimize these configuration parameters based on the accessibility measurements.
Figure 7 illustrates cell coverage are calculation based on the beam coverage. Therefore, some embodiments of inventive concepts may provide methods on the logging beam level measurement and beam ID as part of accessibility measurement that can assist the operators in configuring the cell quality derivation parameters (e.g., nrofSS-BlocksToAverage and absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation) to help the UEs being connected to the optimal cells.
With the same reasoning, selecting of the cell for establishment and suitability threshold would affect the performance of RACH procedure and hence sub optimal values for such parameters may cause additional delay in RACH process and or increase the RACH failure rate. In this regard, having a detailed history of the RACH attempts upon establishment failure can assist the operators on finer tuning of the corresponding parameters.
Some embodiments of inventive concepts may include methods executed by a wireless terminal/device (also referred to as a user equipment UE) for accessibility measurement upon establishment failure. Such methods may include: upon the detection of establishment failure, logging/storing at least one of the following information: beam measurement information of a failed cell on the reference signals (RS) the UE hears (e.g. SBB beams); beam measurement information of at least one neighboring cell(s) on RSs the UE hears (e.g. SSB beams); and/or logging information related to the RACH process behavior used for connection establishment (e.g., trace of the selected beams and number of attempts per beam).
Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating UE reporting after establishment failure according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. At operation 3.1, the UE may perform an
establishment procedure on the selected cell. Responsive to failure of the establishment procedure, the UE may log/store data associated with establishment failure (including all possible beam level measurements and/or history of RACH attempts) at operation 3.2. At operation 3.3, the UE may report the measurements/logged data associated with establishment failure to the network upon a successful establishment.
Logging and reporting the mentioned information as part of accessibility measurement may provide a possibility for further tuning of at least one of the following parameters by the network nodes (or operators, etc.): modifying cell quality derivation parameters; modifying cell selection/reselection parameters; and/or modifying at least on RACH parameter in RACH configuration, such as, initial power for preamble transmission, maximum number of attempts, threshold for beam selection, type of the preamble used, and/or any coordination between cells for interference coordination. Detection of establishment failure can be done by: Expiry of T300 timer, Expiry of T319 timer, Stopping T300 timer upon cell reselection (while T300 is running), Stopping T319 timer upon cell reselection (while T300 is running), and/or Integrity protection failure while T319 is running.
Upon the detection of establishment failure (according to one of the above-mentioned triggering cause), at least one of the following information will be logged/stored by the UE. Information may be logged related to establishment failure on the failed cell (where failure is detected) such as RRM measurements performed on SSB beams, including the beam identifier. Measurements to be logged may be at least RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc. RRM measurements may be logged per beam on at least one neighbor cell such as measurements performed on beams for cell quality derivation. These beams may be reference signals (RS) that may be beamformed such as SSB resources. Measurements to be logged may include at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.
Upon detection of establishment failure (according to one of the above-mentioned triggering cause), at least one of the following information on the RACH procedure will be logged/stored by the UE. Upon each attempt to transmit a RACH preamble, information may be logged/stored of the beam selection procedure (e.g. SSB), such as: SSB beam identifier of the selected beam for RACH; Radio conditions of the selected beam/beams (e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR); Time elapsed since the latest measurement sample the UE has taken before it has selected that beam (i.e., a time information enabling the network to figure out how up to date were the measurements the UE took to make the decision on selecting a particular beam, or in the case of retransmission, to make the decision between selecting a new beam or selecting the same beam; Similar information as above (e.g., radio conditions, time elapsed, beam identifier, etc.) for neighbor beams in the same cell the UE is performing RACH; and/or Similar information as above (radio conditions, time elapsed, beam identifier) for neighbor beams in neighbor cells i.e. not the cell the UE is performing RACH.
In other embodiments, the triggering parameter can be similar to LTE system (expiry of T300 timer), and the content of the report can include some parts or all the above-mentioned information in bullets 2 and 3. In still other embodiments, the triggering parameter can be all the above-mentioned triggering timers in bullet 1, and the content of the report can be similar to the LTE specified ConnEstFailReport discussed above with respect to Figure 2.
Upon establishment of a connection after establishment, and after logging failure information as discussed above, the wireless device UE may report to the network at least one of the elements of information described above. In one variant, the UE may include in the
RRCSetup Complete message (or an RRCResumeComplete message or an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message) at least one indication that the UE has any of the establishment failure information available. Upon transmitting that to the network, the network detects that the UE has that information available and requests the UE to report this information e.g. with a
UEInformationRequest message including a flag indicating that the UE shall report a specific failure information. Upon receiving that request (e.g. UEInformationRequest), the UE reports the information to the network e.g. in a UEInformationResponse message including an RLF report including at least one of the information described above.
In yet other embodiments, the UE can provide a list of consecutive failures (if multiple establishment failures happen before connection establishment).
In more embodiments, the UE can include all the embedded sensor measured data into the report, including UE orientation/altitude to log in addition to location, speed and heading (e.g., digital compass, gyroscope as well as barometer and etc.). In yet another embodiment, UE can include its speed state (low, mid, high) configured for example as part of speed-based scaling procedure.
Operations of the wireless device 1400 (implemented using the structure of the block diagram of Figure 14) will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart of Figure 17 according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. For example, modules may be stored in memory 1405 of Figure 14, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by respective wireless device processing circuitry 1403, processing circuitry 1403 performs respective operations of the flow chart.
At block 1701, processing circuitry 1403 may determine whether to provide a connection establishment. Responsive to determining to proceed at block 1701, processing circuitry 1403 may initiate a first connection establishment procedure with respect to a first cell of a wireless communication network at block 1705. At block 1709, a connection establishment procedure may be either successful or unsuccessful. Responsive to failure of the first connection establishment procedure with respect to the first cell at block 1709, processing circuitry 1403 may store information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure in memory 1405 at block 1715, wherein the information relating to the failure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the first cell and/or information regarding at least one random access channel RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
At block 1701, processing circuitry 1403 may determine to provide a second connection establishment after failure of the first connection establishment procedure. Responsive to determining to proceed at block 1701, processing circuitry 1403 may initiate initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure with respect to a second cell of the wireless communication network at block 1705.
Responsive to failure of the second connection establishment procedure with respect to the second cell at block 1709, processing circuitry 1403 may store information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure in memory 1405 at block 1715, wherein the information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the second cell and/or information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the second connection establishment procedure.
After storing the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures, processing circuitry 1403 may determine to provide a third connection establishment at block 1701, and at block 1705, processing circuitry 1403 may initiate a third connection establishment procedure. Responsive to success of the third connection
establishment procedure at block 1709, processing circuitry 1403 may transmit the information relating to the failures of the first and/or second connection establishment procedures through transceiver 1401 to the wireless communication network at block 1719.
At block 1719, transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first and/or second connection establishment procedure may include transmitting an indication that the information relating to the failure of the first and/or second connection establishment procedure is available, receiving an information request message after transmitting the indication, and transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first and/or second connection establishment procedure in an information response message responsive to receiving the information request message. The indication, for example, may be transmitted in a Radio Resource Control RRC Complete message (e.g., a, RRC Setup Complete message, an RRC Resume Complete message, or an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message) of the third connection establishment procedure.
Various operations from the flow chart of Figure 17 may be optional with respect to some embodiments of wireless devices and related methods. Regarding methods of example embodiment 1 (set forth below), for example, operations of blocks 1701, 1709, and 1719 of Figurel7 may be optional.
Example embodiments are discussed below.
1. A method of operating a wireless device (1400), the method comprising: initiating (1705) a connection establishment procedure with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network; and responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell, storing (1715) information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure in memory (1405) of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell and/or information regarding at least one random access channel, RACH, attempt of the connection establishment procedure.
2. The method of Embodiment 1 , wherein the information relating to the failure includes the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell which comprises a radio resource management, RRM, measurement for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
3. The method of any of Embodiments 1-2, wherein the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell comprises at least one of a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR, for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
4. The method of any of Embodiments 1-3, wherein the information relating to the failure includes the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure which comprises a beam identifier of a beam used to transmit a RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure. 5. The method of Embodiment 4, wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt includes beam measurement information associated with the beam used for the RACH attempt.
6. The method of Embodiment 5, wherein the beam measurement information associated with the beam used for the RACH attempt comprises at least one of a radio resource
management, RMM, measurement, a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR,
7. The method of any of Embodiments 4-6, wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt comprises an indication of a time and/or an elapsed time associated with the beam measurement information.
8. The method of any of Embodiments 4-7, wherein the RACH attempt comprises transmission of a RACH preamble to the cell using the beam.
9. The method of any of Embodiments 4-8, wherein the beam identifier is a first beam identifier, wherein the beam is a first beam of the cell, wherein the RACH attempt is first RACH attempt, and wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure comprises a second beam identifier of a second beam used to transmit a second RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure.
10. The method of Embodiment 9, wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt includes second beam measurement information associated with the second beam used for the second RACH attempt.
11. The method of any of Embodiments 1-10, wherein the cell is a first cell, wherein the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of a second cell, and wherein the second cell is a neighbor of the first cell.
12. The method of Embodiment 11, wherein the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the second cell comprises a radio resource management, RRM,
measurement for a beam of the second cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the second cell.
13. The method of any of Embodiments 11 -12, wherein the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the second cell comprises at least one of a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR, for a beam of the second cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the second cell.
14. The method of any of Embodiments 1-13, wherein the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further comprises at least one of an orientation of the wireless device, an altitude of the wireless device, a location of the wireless device, an indication of a speed of movement of the wireless device, and/or a heading of movement of the wireless device.
15. The method of any of Embodiments 1-14, wherein the connection establishment procedure is a first connection establishment procedure, the method further comprising: after storing the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure, initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure; and responsive to success of the second connection establishment procedure, transmitting (1719) the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure to the wireless communication network.
16. The method of Embodiment 15, wherein transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure comprises transmitting an indication that the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure is available, receiving an information request message after transmitting the indication, and transmitting the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure in an information response message responsive to receiving the information request message.
17. The method of Embodiment 16, wherein the indication is transmitted in a Radio Resource Control, RRC, Complete message (e.g., a, RRC Setup Complete message, an RRC Resume Complete message, or an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message) of the second connection establishment procedure.
18. The method of any of Embodiments 1-14 further comprising: initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure with respect to a second cell of a wireless communication network; and responsive to failure of the second connection establishment procedure with respect to the second cell, storing (1715) information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure in the memory of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the second cell and/or information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the second connection establishment procedure.
19. The method of Embodiment 18 further comprising: after storing the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures, initiating (1705) a third connection establishment procedure; and responsive to success of the third connection establishment procedure, transmitting (1719) the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures to the wireless communication network.
20. The method of any ofEmbodiments 1-19, wherein storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to expiration of an establishment timer without receiving a response to a RACH attempt.
21. The method of any ofEmbodiments 1-19, wherein storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to stopping an establishment timer before receiving a response to an establishment request message.
22. The method of Embodiment 21 , wherein the connection establishment procedure comprises a connection request procedure and the establishment request message comprises a setup message, or wherein the connection establishment procedure comprises a connection resume procedure and the establishment request message comprises resume request message.
23. The method of any ofEmbodiments 1-19, wherein storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to an integrity protection failure while an establishment timer (e.g., a T319 timer) is running.
24. A wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, the wireless device comprising: processing circuitry (1403); and memory (1405) coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to perform operations according to any of Embodiments 1 -23.
25. A wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, wherein the wireless device is adapted to perform according to any of Embodiments 1-23.
26. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1403) of a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1400) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 1-23.
27. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium including program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1403) of a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1400) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 1-23.
Explanations are provided below for various abbreviations/acronyms used in the present disclosure.
Abbreviation Explanation
3 GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
5G 5th Generation
5GC 5G Core network
AMF Access and Mobility management Function
AS Access Stratum
CE Control Element
CFRA Contention Free Random Access
CHO Conditional Handover
CN Core Network
C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier
CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference Signal
dB decibel
DC Dual Connectivity
DL Downlink
eNB eNodeB
eNodeB Evolved NodeB
EPC Evolved Packet Core
EUTRA/E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
EUTRAN/E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
FFS For Further Study
gNB/gNodeB A radio base station in NR.
GPRS General Packet Radio Service GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol
HO Handover
IE Information Element
LTE Long Term Evolution
MAC Medium Access Control
MAC CE MAC Control Element
MCG Master Cell Group
MDT Minimization of drive tests
MME Mobility Management Entity
MSG Message
NAS Non-access Stratum
NG The interface/reference point between NG-RAN and 5GC.
NGAP NG Application Protocol / Next Generation Application Protocol
NG-RAN Next Generation Radio Access Network
NR New Radio
PCell Primary Cell (i.e. the primary cell of a MCG)
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
PSCell Primary Secondary Cell (i.e. the primary cell of a SCG)
QoS Quality of Service
RA Random Access
RAR Random Access Response
RACH Random Access Channel
RAN Radio Access Network
RAT Radio Access Technology
RRC Radio Resource Control
RRM Radio Resource Management
RS Reference Signal
RSRP Reference Signal Received Power
RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality
SI The interface/reference point between E-UTRAN and EPC.
SCell Secondary Cell SCG Secondary Cell Group
SINR Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio
SpCell Special Cell, i.e. either a PCell or a PSCell.
SN Sequence Number
SRB Signaling Radio Bearer
SSB Synchronization Signal Block
TS Technical Specification
UE User Equipment
UP User Plane
UPF User Plane Function
Uu The interface/reference point between
a gNB/eNB and a UE, i.e. the radio interface.
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
X2 The interface/reference point between two eNBs.
X2AP X2 Application Protocol
Xn The interface/reference point between two gNBs.
Additional explanation is provided below.
Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.
Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.
Figure 18 illustrates a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments.
Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wireless network, such as the example wireless network illustrated in Figure 18. For simplicity, the wireless network of Figure 18 only depicts network QQ106, network nodes QQ 160 and QQ 160b, and WDs QQ 110, QQ 110b, and QQ 110c (also referred to as mobile terminals). In practice, a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or end device. Of the illustrated components, network node QQ160 and wireless device (WD) QQ110 are depicted with additional detail. The wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate the wireless devices’ access to and/or use of the services provided by, or via, the wireless network.
The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standards; and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.
Network QQ106 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks
(WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices. Network node QQ160 and WD QQ110 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.
As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. As another example, a network node may be a virtual network node as described in more detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network. In Figure 18, network node QQ160 includes processing circuitry QQ170, device readable medium QQ180, interface QQ190, auxiliary equipment QQ184, power source QQ186, power circuitry QQ187, and antenna QQ162. Although network node QQ160 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 18 may represent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Moreover, while the components of network node QQ160 are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium QQ180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).
Similarly, network node QQ160 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which network node QQ160 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB’s. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, network node QQ160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium QQ180 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna QQ162 may be shared by the RATs). Network node QQ160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless
technologies integrated into network node QQ160, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ160.
Processing circuitry QQ170 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry QQ170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
Processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise a combination of one or more of a
microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ160 components, such as device readable medium QQ180, network node QQ160 functionality. For example, processing circuitry QQ170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ180 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).
In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units
In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or other such network device may be performed by processing circuitry QQ170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ180 or memory within processing circuitry QQ170. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ170 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry QQ170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ170 alone or to other components of network node QQ160, but are enjoyed by network node QQ160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
Device readable medium QQ180 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry QQ170. Device readable medium QQ180 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry QQ170 and, utilized by network node QQ160. Device readable medium QQ180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry QQ170 and/or any data received via interface QQ190. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ170 and device readable medium QQ180 may be considered to be integrated.
Interface QQ190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node QQ160, network QQ106, and/or WDs QQ110. As illustrated, interface QQ190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) QQ194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network QQ106 over a wired connection. Interface QQ190 also includes radio front end circuitry QQ192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna QQ162. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 comprises filters QQ198 and amplifiers QQ196. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may be connected to antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of fdters QQ198 and/or amplifiers QQ196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ162. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna QQ162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ192. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ170. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
In certain alternative embodiments, network node QQ160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ192, instead, processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 may be considered a part of interface QQ190. In still other embodiments, interface QQ190 may include one or more ports or terminals QQ194, radio front end circuitry QQ192, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface QQ190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry QQ174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
Antenna QQ162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry QQ190 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna QQ162 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as MIMO. In certain embodiments, antenna QQ162 may be separate from network node QQ160 and may be connectable to network node QQ160 through an interface or port.
Antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment.
Power circuitry QQ187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node QQ160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry QQ187 may receive power from power source QQ186. Power source QQ186 and/or power circuitry QQ187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node QQ160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source QQ186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry QQ187 and/or network node QQ160. For example, network node QQ160 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry QQ187. As a further example, power source QQ186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry QQ187. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.
Alternative embodiments of network node QQ160 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 18 that may be responsible for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node QQ160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node QQ160 and to allow output of information from network node QQ160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node QQ160.
As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE). Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop -embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE) a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.
As illustrated, wireless device QQ110 includes antenna QQ111, interface QQ114, processing circuitry QQ120, device readable medium QQ130, user interface equipment QQ132, auxiliary equipment QQ134, power source QQ136 and power circuitry QQ137. WD QQ110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD QQ110, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD QQ110.
Antenna QQ111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface QQ114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna QQ111 may be separate from WD QQ110 and be connectable to WD QQ110 through an interface or port. Antenna QQ111, interface QQ114, and/or processing circuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna QQ111 may be considered an interface.
As illustrated, interface QQ114 comprises radio front end circuitry QQ112 and antenna QQ111. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 comprise one or more filters QQ118 and amplifiers QQ116. Radio front end circuitry QQ114 is connected to antenna QQ111 and processing circuitry QQ120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ111 and processing circuitry QQ120. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna QQ111. In some embodiments, WD QQ110 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ112; rather, processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ111. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be considered a part of interface QQ114. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ118 and/or amplifiers QQ116. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ111. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna QQ111 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ112. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ120. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
Processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise a combination of one or more of a
microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD QQ 110 components, such as device readable medium QQ130, WD QQ110 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry QQ120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ130 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.
As illustrated, processing circuitry QQ120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry QQ120 of WD QQ110 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry QQ124 and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 and baseband processing circuitry QQ124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be a part of interface QQ114. RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry QQ120.
In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry QQ120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ120 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry QQ120 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ120 alone or to other components of WD QQ110, but are enjoyed by WD QQ110 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
Processing circuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry QQ120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
Device readable medium QQ130 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry QQ120. Device readable medium QQ130 may include computer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry QQ120. In some embodiments, processing circuitry QQ120 and device readable medium QQ130 may be considered to be integrated.
User interface equipment QQ132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD QQ110. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment QQ132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD QQ110. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment QQ132 installed in WD QQ110. For example, if WD QQ110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD QQ110 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected). User interface equipment QQ132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment QQ132 is configured to allow input of information into WD QQ110, and is connected to processing circuitry QQ120 to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to process the input information. User interface equipment QQ132 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment QQ132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD QQ110, and to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to output information from WD QQ110. User interface equipment QQ132 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment QQ132, WD QQ110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.
Auxiliary equipment QQ134 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment QQ134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.
Power source QQ136 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used. WD QQ110 may further comprise power circuitry QQ137 for delivering power from power source QQ136 to the various parts of WD QQ110 which need power from power source QQ136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry QQ137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry QQ137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD QQ110 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power circuitry QQ137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source QQ136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source QQ136. Power circuitry QQ137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source QQ136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD QQ110 to which power is supplied.
Figure 19 illustrates a user Equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 19 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE QQ2200 may be any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT LIE, a machine type communication (MTC) LIE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. UE QQ200, as illustrated in Figure 19, is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP’s GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although Figure 19 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.
In Figure 19, UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface QQ205, radio frequency (RF) interface QQ209, network connection interface QQ211, memory QQ215 including random access memory (RAM) QQ217, read-only memory (ROM) QQ219, and storage medium QQ221 or the like, communication subsystem QQ231, power source QQ233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium QQ221 includes operating system QQ223, application program QQ225, and data QQ227. In other embodiments, storage medium QQ221 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 19, or only a subset of the components. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.
In Figure 19, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ201 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.
In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface QQ205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE QQ200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface QQ205. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE QQ200. The output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. UE QQ200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface QQ205 to allow a user to capture information into UE QQ200. The input device may include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.
In Figure 19, RF interface QQ209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network QQ243a. Network QQ243a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network QQ243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or the like. Network connection interface QQ211 may implement receiver and transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.
RAM QQ217 may be configured to interface via bus QQ202 to processing circuitry QQ201 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM QQ219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry QQ201. For example, ROM QQ219 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, or flash drives. In one example, storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include operating system QQ223, application program QQ225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file QQ227. Storage medium QQ221 may store, for use by UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
Storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppy disk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro- DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storage medium QQ221 may allow UE QQ200 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied in storage medium QQ221, which may comprise a device readable medium.
In Figure 19, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with network QQ243b using communication subsystem QQ231. Network QQ243a and network QQ243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks.
Communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network QQ243b. For example, communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802. QQ2, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter QQ233 and/or receiver QQ235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter QQ233 and receiver QQ235 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.
In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of communication subsystem QQ231 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. For example, communication subsystem QQ231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network QQ243b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (FAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network QQ243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source QQ213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE QQ200.
The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components ofUE QQ200 or partitioned across multiple components of UE QQ200.
Further, the features, benefits, and/or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus QQ202. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry QQ201 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry QQ201 and communication subsystem QQ231. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
Figure 20 illustrates a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments. Figure 20 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node (e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device) or components thereof and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines or containers executing on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).
In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes QQ330. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized.
The functions may be implemented by one or more applications QQ320 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications QQ320 are run in virtualization environment QQ300 which provides hardware QQ330 comprising processing circuitry QQ360 and memory QQ390. Memory QQ390 contains instructions QQ395 executable by processing circuitry QQ360 whereby application QQ320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.
Virtualization environment QQ300, comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices QQ330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry QQ360, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated
Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or special purpose processors. Each hardware device may comprise memory QQ390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions QQ395 or software executed by processing circuitry QQ360. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) QQ370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface QQ380. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media QQ390-2 having stored therein software QQ395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry QQ360. Software QQ395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers QQ350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines QQ340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
Virtual machines QQ340, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance QQ320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines QQ340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
During operation, processing circuitry QQ360 executes software QQ395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer QQ350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer QQ350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine QQ340.
As shown in Figure 20, hardware QQ330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ330 may comprise antenna QQ3225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ330 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) QQ3100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ320.
Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.
In the context of NFV, virtual machine QQ340 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtual machines QQ340, and that part of hardware QQ330 that executes that virtual machine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines QQ340, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).
Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more virtual machines QQ340 on top of hardware networking infrastructure QQ330 and corresponds to application QQ320 in Figure 20.
In some embodiments, one or more radio units QQ3200 that each include one or more transmitters QQ3220 and one or more receivers QQ3210 may be coupled to one or more antennas QQ3225. Radio units QQ3200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes QQ330 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station.
In some embodiments, some signalling can be effected with the use of control system QQ3230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes QQ330 and radio units QQ3200.
Figure 21 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments.
With reference to FIGURE 21, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes telecommunication network QQ410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network QQ411, such as a radio access network, and core network QQ414. Access network QQ411 comprises a plurality of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area QQ413a, QQ413b, QQ413c. Each base station QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c is connectable to core network QQ414 over a wired or wireless connection QQ415. A first UE QQ491 located in coverage area QQ413c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station QQ412c. A second UE QQ492 in coverage area QQ413a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station QQ412a. While a plurality of UEs QQ491, QQ492 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station QQ412.
Telecommunication network QQ410 is itself connected to host computer QQ430, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. Host computer QQ430 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections QQ421 and QQ422 between telecommunication network QQ410 and host computer QQ430 may extend directly from core network QQ414 to host computer QQ430 or may go via an optional intermediate network QQ420. Intermediate network QQ420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network QQ420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network QQ420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
The communication system of Figure 21 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 and host computer QQ430. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ450. Host computer QQ430 and the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection QQ450, using access network QQ411, core network QQ414, any intermediate network QQ420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection QQ450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection QQ450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station QQ412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer QQ430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE QQ491. Similarly, base station QQ412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE QQ491 towards the host computer QQ430.
Figure 22 illustrates a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.
Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 22. In communication system QQ500, host computer QQ510 comprises hardware QQ515 including communication interface QQ516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500. Host computer QQ510 further comprises processing circuitry QQ518, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry QQ518 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer QQ510 further comprises software QQ511, which is stored in or accessible by host computer QQ510 and executable by processing circuitry QQ518. Software QQ511 includes host application QQ512. Host application QQ512 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE QQ530 connecting via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510. In providing the service to the remote user, host application QQ512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection QQ550.
Communication system QQ500 further includes base station QQ520 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware QQ525 enabling it to communicate with host computer QQ510 and with UE QQ530. Hardware QQ525 may include communication interface QQ526 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500, as well as radio interface QQ527 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection QQ570 with UE QQ530 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 22) served by base station QQ520.
Communication interface QQ526 may be configured to facilitate connection QQ560 to host computer QQ510. Connection QQ560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 22) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, hardware QQ525 of base station QQ520 further includes processing circuitry QQ528, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Base station QQ520 further has software QQ521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.
Communication system QQ500 further includes UE QQ530 already referred to. Its hardware QQ535 may include radio interface QQ537 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection QQ570 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE QQ530 is currently located. Hardware QQ535 ofUE QQ530 further includes processing circuitry QQ538, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. UE QQ530 further comprises software QQ531, which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ530 and executable by processing circuitry QQ538. Software QQ531 includes client application QQ532. Client application QQ532 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non -human user via UE QQ530, with the support of host computer QQ510. In host computer QQ510, an executing host application QQ512 may communicate with the executing client application QQ532 via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510. In providing the service to the user, client application QQ532 may receive request data from host application QQ512 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection QQ550 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application QQ532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
It is noted that host computer QQ510, base station QQ520 and UE QQ530 illustrated in Figure 22 may be similar or identical to host computer QQ430, one of base stations QQ412a, QQ412b, QQ412c and one of UEs QQ491, QQ492 of Figure 21, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 22 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 21.
In Figure 22, OTT connection QQ550 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530 via base station QQ520, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from UE QQ530 or from the service provider operating host computer QQ510, or both. While OTT connection QQ550 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).
Wireless connection QQ570 between UE QQ530 and base station QQ520 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments may improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE QQ530 using OTT connection QQ550, in which wireless connection QQ570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the random access speed and/or reduce random access failure rates and thereby provide benefits such as faster and/or more reliable random access.
A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 may be implemented in software QQ511 and hardware QQ515 of host computer QQ510 or in software QQ531 and hardware QQ535 ofUE QQ530, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection QQ550 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software QQ511, QQ531 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection QQ550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc. ; the reconfiguring need not affect base station QQ520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station QQ520. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer QQ510’s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software QQ511 and QQ531 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection QQ550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.
Figure 23 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
Figure 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 23 will be included in this section. In step QQ610, the host computer provides user data. In substep QQ611 (which may be optional) of step QQ610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step QQ620, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step QQ630 (which may be optional), the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step QQ640 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer. Figure 24 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 24 will be included in this section. In step QQ710 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step QQ720, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step QQ730 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.
Figure 25 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
Figure 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 25 will be included in this section. In step QQ810 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step QQ820, the UE provides user data. In substep QQ821 (which may be optional) of step QQ820, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In substep QQ811 (which may be optional) of step QQ810, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in substep QQ830 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step QQ840 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
Figure 26 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments Figure 26 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 26 will be included in this section. In step QQ910 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step QQ920 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step QQ930 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.
Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein. At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s). lx RTT CDMA2000 lx Radio Transmission Technology
ABS Almost Blank Subframe
ARQ Automatic Repeat Request
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
BCCH Broadcast Control Channel
BCH Broadcast Channel
CA Carrier Aggregation
CC Carrier Component
CCCH SDU Common Control Channel SDU
CDMA Code Division Multiplexing Access
CGI Cell Global Identifier
CIR Channel Impulse Response
CP Cyclic Prefix
CPICH Common Pilot Channel
CPICH Ec/No CPICH Received energy per chip
divided by the power density in the band
CQI Channel Quality information
CSI Channel State Information
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
DM Demodulation
DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal
DRX Discontinuous Reception
DTX Discontinuous Transmission
DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel
DUT Device Under Test
E-CID Enhanced Cell-ID (positioning method)
E-SMLC Evolved-Serving Mobile Location Centre
ECGI Evolved CGI ePDCCH enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel
E-SMLC evolved Serving Mobile Location Center
E-UTRA Evolved UTRA
E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN
FDD Frequency Division Duplex
GERAN GSM EDGE Radio Access Network
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
GSM Global System for Mobile communication
HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request
HSPA High Speed Packet Access
HRPD High Rate Packet Data
LOS Line of Sight
LPP LTE Positioning Protocol
MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services
MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network
MBSFN ABS MBSFN Almost Blank Subframe
MIB Master Information Block
MSC Mobile Switching Center
NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel
OCNG OFDMA Channel Noise Generator
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
OSS Operations Support System
OTDOA Observed Time Difference of Arrival
O&M Operation and Maintenance
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel
P-CCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channel
PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDP Profile Delay Profde
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel PGW Packet Gateway
PHICH Physical Hybrid- ARQ Indicator Channel
PMI Precoder Matrix Indicator
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
PRS Positioning Reference Signal
PSS Primary Synchronization Signal
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
RACH Random Access Channel
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
RAN Radio Access Network
RLM Radio Link Management
RNC Radio Network Controller
RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier
RRM Radio Resource Management
RS Reference Signal
RSCP Received Signal Code Power
RSRP Reference Symbol Received Power OR
Reference Signal Received Power
RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality OR
Reference Symbol Received Quality
RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator
RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference
SCH Synchronization Channel
SCell Secondary Cell
SDU Service Data Unit
SFN System Frame Number
SGW Serving Gateway
SI System Information
SIB System Information Block
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio SON Self Optimized Network
ss Synchronization Signal
sss Secondary Synchronization Signal
TDD Time Division Duplex
TDOA Time Difference of Arrival
TOA Time of Arrival
TSS Tertiary Synchronization Signal
TTI Transmission Time Interval
UL Uplink
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module
UTDOA Uplink Time Difference of Arrival
UTRA Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
WCDMA Wide CDMA
Further definitions and embodiments are discussed below.
In the above-description of various embodiments of present inventive concepts, it is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of present inventive concepts. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which present inventive concepts belong. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
When an element is referred to as being "connected", "coupled", "responsive", or variants thereof to another element, it can be directly connected, coupled, or responsive to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected", "directly coupled", "directly responsive", or variants thereof to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Uike numbers refer to like elements throughout. Furthermore, "coupled", "connected", "responsive", or variants thereof as used herein may include wirelessly coupled, connected, or responsive. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity. The term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements/operations, these elements/operations should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element/operation from another
element/operation. Thus a first element/operation in some embodiments could be termed a second element/operation in other embodiments without departing from the teachings of present inventive concepts. The same reference numerals or the same reference designators denote the same or similar elements throughout the specification.
As used herein, the terms "comprise", "comprising", "comprises", "include", "including", "includes", "have", "has", "having", or variants thereof are open-ended, and include one or more stated features, integers, elements, steps, components or functions but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, elements, steps, components, functions or groups thereof. Furthermore, as used herein, the common abbreviation "e.g.", which derives from the Latin phrase "exempli gratia," may be used to introduce or specify a general example or examples of a previously mentioned item, and is not intended to be limiting of such item. The common abbreviation "i.e.", which derives from the Latin phrase "id est," may be used to specify a particular item from a more general recitation.
Example embodiments are described herein with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of computer-implemented methods, apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer program products. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions that are performed by one or more computer circuits. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor circuit of a general purpose computer circuit, special purpose computer circuit, and/or other programmable data processing circuit to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, transform and control transistors, values stored in memory locations, and other hardware components within such circuitry to implement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks, and thereby create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block(s).
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a tangible computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks. Accordingly, embodiments of present inventive concepts may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) that runs on a processor such as a digital signal processor, which may collectively be referred to as "circuitry," "a module" or variants thereof.
It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality /acts involved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or the functionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be at least partially integrated. Finally, other blocks may be added/inserted between the blocks that are illustrated, and/or blocks/operations may be omitted without departing from the scope of inventive concepts. Moreover, although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.
Many variations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without substantially departing from the principles of the present inventive concepts. All such variations and modifications are intended to be included herein within the scope of present inventive concepts. Accordingly, the above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the examples of embodiments are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall within the spirit and scope of present inventive concepts. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of present inventive concepts are to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the present disclosure including the examples of embodiments and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1. A method of operating a wireless device (1400), the method comprising:
initiating (1705) a connection establishment procedure with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network; and
responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell, storing (1715) information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure in memory (1405) of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell.
2. The method of Claim 1, wherein the information relating to the failure includes the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell which comprises a radio resource management, RRM, measurement for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
3. The method of any of Claims 1 -2, wherein the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell comprises at least one of a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR, for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
4. The method of any of Claims 1 -3 , wherein the information relating to the failure further includes information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the connection
establishment procedure which comprises a beam identifier of a beam used to transmit a RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure.
5. The method of Claim 4, wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt includes beam measurement information associated with the beam used for the RACH attempt.
6. The method of any of Claims 4-5, wherein the beam identifier is a first beam identifier, wherein the beam is a first beam of the cell, wherein the RACH attempt is first RACH attempt, and wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure comprises a second beam identifier of a second beam used to transmit a second RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure.
7. The method of Claim 6, wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt includes second beam measurement information associated with the second beam used for the second RACH attempt.
8. The method of any of Claims 1 -7, wherein the cell is a first cell, wherein the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of a second cell, and wherein the second cell is a neighbor of the first cell.
9. The method of Claim 8, wherein the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the second cell comprises a radio resource management, RRM, measurement for a beam of the second cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the second cell.
10. The method of any of Claims 1-9, wherein the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further comprises at least one of an orientation of the wireless device, an altitude of the wireless device, a location of the wireless device, an indication of a speed of movement of the wireless device, and/or a heading of movement of the wireless device.
11. The method of any of Claims 1-10, wherein the connection establishment procedure is a first connection establishment procedure, the method further comprising:
after storing the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure, initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure; and
responsive to success of the second connection establishment procedure, transmitting (1719) the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure to the wireless communication network.
12. The method of any of Claims 1-10 further comprising: initiating (1705) a second connection establishment procedure with respect to a second cell of a wireless communication network; and
responsive to failure of the second connection establishment procedure with respect to the second cell, storing (1715) information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure in the memory of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the second cell and/or information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the second connection establishment procedure.
13. The method of Claim 12 further comprising:
after storing the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures, initiating (1705) a third connection establishment procedure; and
responsive to success of the third connection establishment procedure, transmitting (1719) the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures to the wireless communication network.
14. The method of any of Claims 1-13, wherein storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to stopping an establishment timer before receiving a response to an establishment request message.
15. The method of any of Claims 1-13, wherein storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to an integrity protection failure while an establishment timer is running.
16. A wireless device (1400) adapted to perform according to any of Claims 1-15.
17. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1403) of a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1400) to perform operations according to any of claims 1-15.
18. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium including program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1403) of a wireless device (1400) configured to operate in a communication network, whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1400) to perform operations according to any of claims 1 -15.
19. A wireless device (1400) comprising:
processing circuitry (1403); and
memory (1405) coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to,
initiate a connection establishment procedure with respect to a cell of a wireless communication network, and
responsive to failure of the connection establishment procedure with respect to the cell, store information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure in memory (1405) of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of the cell.
20. The wireless device (1400) of Claim 19, wherein the information relating to the failure includes the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell which comprises a radio resource management, RRM, measurement for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
21. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-20, wherein the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the cell comprises at least one of a reference signal received power, RSRP, a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, and/or a signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR, for a beam of the cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the cell.
22. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-21, wherein the information relating to the failure further includes information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure which comprises a beam identifier of a beam used to transmit a RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure.
23. The wireless device (1400) of Claim 22, wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt includes beam measurement information associated with the beam used for the RACH attempt.
24. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 22-23, wherein the beam identifier is a first beam identifier, wherein the beam is a first beam of the cell, wherein the RACH attempt is first RACH attempt, and wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt of the connection establishment procedure comprises a second beam identifier of a second beam used to transmit a second RACH attempt to the cell for the connection establishment procedure.
25. The wireless device (1400) of Claim 24, wherein the information regarding the at least one RACH attempt includes second beam measurement information associated with the second beam used for the second RACH attempt.
26. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-25, wherein the cell is a first cell, wherein the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further includes beam measurement information for at least one beam of a second cell, and wherein the second cell is a neighbor of the first cell.
27. The wireless device (1400) of Claim 26, wherein the beam measurement information for the at least one beam of the second cell comprises a radio resource management, RRM, measurement for a beam of the second cell and a beam identifier of the beam of the second cell.
28. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-27, wherein the information relating to the failure of the connection establishment procedure further comprises at least one of an orientation of the wireless device, an altitude of the wireless device, a location of the wireless device, an indication of a speed of movement of the wireless device, and/or a heading of movement of the wireless device.
29. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-28, wherein the connection establishment procedure is a first connection establishment procedure, wherein the memory further includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to,
after storing the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure, initiate a second connection establishment procedure, and
responsive to success of the second connection establishment procedure, transmit the information relating to the failure of the first connection establishment procedure to the wireless communication network.
30. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-28, wherein the memory further includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to,
initiate a second connection establishment procedure with respect to a second cell of a wireless communication network, and
responsive to failure of the second connection establishment procedure with respect to the second cell, store information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure in the memory of the wireless device, wherein the information relating to the failure of the second connection establishment procedure includes at least one of beam measurement information for at least one beam of the second cell and/or information regarding at least one RACH attempt of the second connection establishment procedure.
31. The wireless device (1400) of Claim 30, wherein the memory further includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the wireless device to,
after storing the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures, initiate a third connection establishment procedure, and
responsive to success of the third connection establishment procedure, transmit the information relating to the failures of the first and second connection establishment procedures to the wireless communication network.
32. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-31, wherein storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to stopping an establishment timer before receiving a response to an establishment request message.
33. The wireless device (1400) of any of Claims 19-31, wherein storing the information relating to the failure comprises storing the information relating to the failure responsive to an integrity protection failure while an establishment timer is running.
PCT/SE2020/050038 2019-03-28 2020-01-16 Methods providing information relating to failure of connection establishment procedures and related wireless devices WO2020197458A1 (en)

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