CN113286334A - ULI cell selection prioritization - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to ULI cell selection optimization. An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for a User Equipment (UE) to prioritize EN-DC capable cells over similar cells that do not support EN-DC. The UE may be configured to perform one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection and/or cell reselection, and may determine whether at least two LTE cells satisfy a selection criterion based on RSRP and/or SNR measurements. The UE may be configured to prioritize a first LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells over a second LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells based at least in part on supporting EN-DC in response to determining that the at least two LTE cells satisfy the selection criteria. The first LTE cell may indicate support for EN-DC, for example, via ULI IEs included in SIB2 broadcast by the first LTE cell. The UE may be configured to select the first LTE cell for camping on.

Description

ULI cell selection prioritization

Priority

The benefit of priority from U.S. provisional application serial No. 62/979,182 entitled "ULI Cell Selection priority" filed on 20.2.2020, this application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as if fully and completely set forth herein.

Technical Field

The present application relates to wireless devices, and more particularly, to apparatus, systems, and methods for prioritizing EN-DC capable cells over non-EN-DC capable similar cells.

Description of the related Art

The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smartphones and tablets have become more sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that take advantage of these functions.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) has become the technology of choice for most wireless network operators worldwide, providing mobile broadband data and high speed internet access to their subscriber groups. LTE defines a number of Downlink (DL) physical channels, classified as transport or control channels, to carry information blocks received from Medium Access Control (MAC) and higher layers. LTE also defines the number of physical layer channels for the Uplink (UL).

For example, LTE defines a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) as a DL transport channel. The PDSCH is the primary data-carrying channel allocated to users on a dynamic and opportunistic basis. The PDSCH carries data in Transport Blocks (TBs) corresponding to MAC Protocol Data Units (PDUs), which are transferred from the MAC layer to the Physical (PHY) layer once per Transmission Time Interval (TTI). The PDSCH is also used to transmit broadcast information such as System Information Blocks (SIBs) and paging messages.

As another example, LTE defines a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) as a DL control channel that carries resource allocations for UEs contained in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message. Multiple PDCCHs may be transmitted in the same subframe using Control Channel Elements (CCEs), each of which is nine sets of four resource elements called Resource Element Groups (REGs). The PDCCH employs Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation, with four QPSK symbols mapped to each REG. Furthermore, depending on the channel conditions, 1, 2, 4 or 8 CCEs may be used to ensure sufficient robustness.

In addition, LTE defines the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) as a UL channel shared by all devices (user equipment, UE) in a radio cell to transmit user data to the network. Scheduling of all UEs is under the control of the LTE base station (enhanced node B or eNB). The eNB informs the UE of the Resource Block (RB) allocation and the modulation and coding scheme to use using an uplink scheduling grant (DCI format 0). PUSCH typically supports QPSK and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). In addition to user data, the PUSCH carries any control information needed to decode the information, such as transport format indicators and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) parameters. The control data is multiplexed with the information data prior to Digital Fourier Transform (DFT) expansion.

The next telecommunication standard beyond the current international mobile telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced) standard is known as the 5 th generation mobile network or 5 th generation wireless system, or simply 5G (also known as 5G-NR, also simply NR, for 5G new radios). Compared to the current LTE standard, 5G-NR offers higher capacity for higher density mobile broadband users while supporting device-to-device ultra-reliable and large-scale machine communication, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption. Furthermore, the 5G-NR standard may allow for less restrictive UE scheduling compared to current LTE standards. Therefore, efforts are underway to take advantage of the higher throughput possible at higher frequencies in the continuing development of 5G-NR.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments relate to apparatuses, systems, and methods for prioritizing a cell that supports EN-DC over a similar cell that does not support EN-DC. In some embodiments, a wireless device (e.g., such as a user equipment device (UE)) may be configured to perform various methods to identify and prioritize cells that support EN-DC over similar cells that do not support EN-DC.

For example, the UE may be configured to perform one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection and/or cell reselection, and may determine whether at least two Long Term Evolution (LTE) cells satisfy a selection criterion based on Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements. The UE may be configured to prioritize a first LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells over a second LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells based at least in part on support for evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) -New Radio (NR) dual connectivity (EN-DC) in response to determining that the at least two LTE cells satisfy the selection criteria. In some embodiments, the first LTE cell may indicate support for EN-DC, e.g., via an Upper Layer Indication (ULI) Information Element (IE) included in a SIB2 broadcast by the first LTE cell. Additionally, the first LTE cell may be configured with NR neighbors included in SIB broadcasts. The UE may be configured to select a first LTE cell based at least in part on the first LTE cell supporting EN-DC, e.g., for camping.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with a plurality of different types of devices, including, but not limited to, cellular phones, tablets, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and any of a variety of other computing devices.

This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Thus, it should be understood that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the claims.

Drawings

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtained when the following detailed description of various embodiments is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

fig. 1A illustrates an example wireless communication system according to some embodiments.

Fig. 1B illustrates an example of a Base Station (BS) and an access point in communication with a User Equipment (UE) device, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a WLAN Access Point (AP) according to some embodiments.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a UE in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a BS in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of a cellular communication circuit in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 6A shows an example of a connection between an EPC network, an LTE base station (eNB), and a 5G NR base station (gNB).

Fig. 6B shows an example of a protocol stack for an eNB and a gNB.

Fig. 7A illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture that incorporates 3GPP (e.g., cellular) and non-3 GPP (e.g., non-cellular) access at the 5G CN, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 7B illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture that combines dual 3GPP (e.g., LTE and 5G NR) access and non-3 GPP access at a 5G CN in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a baseband processor architecture for a UE, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary UE mobility scenario, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 10-15 illustrate examples of flow diagrams for a UE (such as UE106) for cell selection/reselection through EN-DC cell prioritization, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 16 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method for assisting cell selection according to some embodiments.

While features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

Detailed Description

Term(s) for

The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

memory medium — any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "storage medium" is intended to include mounting media such as CD-ROM, floppy disk, or tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDRRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, e.g., a hard disk drive or optical storage; registers or other similar types of memory elements, and the like. The memory medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or combinations thereof. Further, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing the program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system through a network such as the internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside at different locations in different computer systems, e.g., connected by a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as a computer program) that are executable by one or more processors.

Carrier medium-a memory medium as described above, and a physical transmission medium such as a bus, a network, and/or other physical transmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable hardware element — includes various hardware devices that include a plurality of programmable functional blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), PLDs (programmable logic devices), FPOAs (field programmable object arrays), and CPLDs (complex PLDs). Programmable function blocks can range from fine grained (combinatorial logic units or look-up tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). The programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic components".

Computer system — any of various types of computing systems or processing systems, including Personal Computer Systems (PCs), mainframe computer systems, workstations, network appliances, internet appliances, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), television systems, grid computing systems, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" may be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") -mobile typeOr any of various types of computer system devices that are portable and perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iphones)^TMBased on Android^TMTelephone), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS)^TM、PlayStation Portable^TM、Gameboy Advance^TM、iPhone^TM) A laptop computer, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, smart glasses), a personal digital assistant, a portable internet device, a music player, a data storage device, or other handheld device, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" may be broadly defined to encompass any electronic device, computing device, and/or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) that is portable by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Base station-the term "base station" has its full scope in its ordinary sense and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing element-refers to various elements or combinations of elements capable of performing functions in a device, such as a user equipment or a cellular network device. The processing elements may include, for example: a processor and associated memory, portions or circuitry of individual processor cores, an entire processor core, a processor array, circuitry such as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), programmable hardware elements such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and any of the above in various combinations.

Channel-the medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that the term "channel" as used herein may be considered to be used in a manner that is consistent with the standard for the type of device to which the term is used, as the characteristics of the term "channel" may vary from one wireless protocol to another. In some standards, the channel width may be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support a scalable channel bandwidth of 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, a WLAN channel may be 22MHz wide, while a bluetooth channel may be 1MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions for channels. Further, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channels for uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.

Band-the term "band" has its ordinary meaning in its full scope and includes at least a segment of spectrum (e.g., the radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

Auto-refers to an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or device (e.g., circuit, programmable hardware element, ASIC, etc.) without user input directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thus, the term "automatically" is in contrast to a user manually performing or specifying an operation, wherein the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An automatic process may be initiated by input provided by a user, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting a check box, radio selection, etc.) is manually filling out the form even though the computer system must update the form in response to user actions. The form may be automatically filled in by a computer system, wherein the computer system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills in the form without any user entering answers specifying the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke automatic filling of the form, but not participate in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify answers to the fields but they are done automatically). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that have been taken by a user.

About-refers to a value that is close to correct or exact. For example, approximately may refer to a value within 1% to 10% of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however, that the actual threshold (or tolerance) may depend on the application. For example, in some embodiments, "about" may mean within 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other embodiments, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc., as desired or required by a particular application.

Concurrent-refers to parallel execution or implementation in which tasks, processes, or programs are executed in an at least partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be achieved using "strong" or strict parallelism, where tasks are executed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computing elements; or "weak parallelism" in which tasks are performed in an interleaved fashion (e.g., by performing time-multiplexing of threads).

Various components may be described as "configured to" perform one or more tasks. In such an environment, "configured to" is a broad expression generally meaning "having a" structure "that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some environments, "configured to" may be a broad recitation of structure generally meaning "having circuitry that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry forming the structure corresponding to "configured to" may comprise hardware circuitry.

For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such description should be construed to include the phrase "configured to". Expressing a component configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended to be an interpretation that does not invoke 35u.s.c. § 112(f) on that component.

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B-communication System

Fig. 1A illustrates a simplified example wireless communication system according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of fig. 1 is only one example of a possible system, and that the features of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102A that communicates with one or more user devices 106A, 106B through 106N, etc., over a transmission medium. Each user equipment may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE). Thus, the user equipment 106 is referred to as a UE or UE device.

The Base Station (BS)102A may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) or a cell site ("cellular base station") and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with the UEs 106A-106N.

The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell". The base station 102A and UE106 may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium utilizing any of a variety of Radio Access Technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), 5G new radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), and so forth. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB. Note that if base station 102A is implemented in a 5G NR environment, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gnnodeb" or "gNB.

As shown, the base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and/or the internet, among various possibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communication between user equipment and/or between user equipment and the network 100. In particular, the cellular base station 102A may provide the UE106 with various communication capabilities, such as voice, SMS, and/or data services.

Base station 102A and other similar base stations operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards, such as base station 102b.

Thus, although base station 102A may serve as a "serving cell" for UEs 106A-N as shown in fig. 1, each UE106 may also be capable of receiving signals (and possibly be within its communication range) from one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B-N and/or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells. Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication between user equipment and/or between user equipment and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and/or cells providing any of a variety of other granularities of service area sizes. For example, the base stations 102A-B shown in fig. 1 may be macro cells, while the base station 102N may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

In some embodiments, the base station 102A may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G new radio (5G NR) base station or "gNB. In some embodiments, the gNB may be connected to a legacy Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network and/or to a new radio communication core (NRC) network. Further, the gNB cell may include one or more Transition and Reception Points (TRPs). Further, a UE capable of operating according to the 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gnbs.

It is noted that the UE106 is capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, e.g., WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE-a, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.), the UE106 may be configured to communicate using wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocols (e.g., bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.). If desired, the UE106 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H or DVB-H), and/or any other wireless communication protocol. Other combinations of wireless communication standards, including more than two wireless communication standards, are also possible.

Fig. 1B illustrates a user equipment 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A-106N) in communication with a base station 102 and an access point 112, according to some embodiments. The UE106 may be a device, such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a computer or tablet, or virtually any type of wireless device, having cellular and non-cellular communication capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.).

The UE106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. The UE106 may perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or additionally, the UE106 may include a programmable hardware element, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) configured to perform any one of the method embodiments described herein or any portion of any one of the method embodiments described herein.

The UE106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some embodiments, the UE106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, CDMA2000(1xRTT/1xEV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD), LTE/LTE-advanced, or 5G NR using a single shared radio and/or GSM, LTE-advanced, or 5G NR using a single shared radio. The shared radio may be coupled to a single antenna or may be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, the radio components may include any combination of baseband processors, analog Radio Frequency (RF) signal processing circuits (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuits (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE106 may share one or more portions of a receive chain and/or a transmit chain among multiple wireless communication technologies, such as those discussed above.

In some embodiments, the UE106 may include separate transmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radios) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE106 may include one or more radios shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, as well as one or more radios used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE106 may include a shared radio for communicating using either LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or 1xRTT, or LTE or GSM), and a separate radio for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

FIG. 2-Access Point Block diagram

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of an Access Point (AP) 112. Note that the block diagram of the AP of fig. 2 is only one example of a possible system. As shown, the AP112 may include a processor 204 that may execute program instructions for the AP 112. The processor 204 may also be coupled (directly or indirectly) to a Memory Management Unit (MMU)240 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 204 and translate the addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 260 and Read Only Memory (ROM) 250).

The AP112 may include at least one network port 270. The network port 270 may be configured to couple to a wired network and provide access to the internet to a plurality of devices, such as the UE 106. For example, network port 270 (or an additional network port) may be configured to couple to a local network, such as a home network or an enterprise network. For example, port 270 may be an Ethernet port. The local network may provide a connection to additional networks, such as the internet.

The AP112 may include at least one antenna 234, which may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE106 via the wireless communication circuitry 230. The antenna 234 communicates with the wireless communication circuitry 230 via a communication link 232. The communication chain 232 may include one or more receive chains, one or more transmit chains, or both. The wireless communication circuitry 230 may be configured to communicate via Wi-Fi or WLAN (e.g., 802.11). For example, when the AP is co-located with a base station in the case of a small cell, or in other cases where it may be desirable for AP112 to communicate via various different wireless communication technologies, wireless communication circuitry 230 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate via various other wireless communication technologies including, but not limited to, 5G NR, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), Global System for Mobile (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), CDMA2000, and so forth.

In some embodiments, as described further below, the AP112 may be configured to perform a method for prioritizing a cell that supports EN-DC over a similar cell that does not support EN-DC, as described further herein.

FIG. 3-block diagram of a UE

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a communication device 106 according to some embodiments. It is noted that the block diagram of the communication device of fig. 3 is only one example of a possible communication device. According to an embodiment, the communication device 106 may be a User Equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and/or a combination of devices, among others. As shown, the communication device 106 may include a set of components 300 configured to perform core functions. For example, the set of components may be implemented as a system on a chip (SOC), which may include portions for various purposes. Alternatively, the set of components 300 may be implemented as a separate component or set of components for various purposes. The set of components 300 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to various other circuitry of the communication device 106.

For example, the communication device 106 can include various types of memory (e.g., including a NAND gate (NAND) flash memory 310), input/output interfaces such as a connector I/F320 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; docking station; charging station; input devices such as a microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices such as a speaker; etc.), a display 360 that can be integrated with the communication device 106 or external to the communication device 106, and cellular communication circuitry 330 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc., and short-to medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g., Bluetooth @)^TMAnd WLAN circuitry). In some embodiments, the communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as, for example, a network interface card for ethernet.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as the illustrated antennas 335 and 336. The short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329 may also be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as the antennas 337 and 338 shown. Alternatively, short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to antennas 335 and 336 in addition to or in lieu of being coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to antennas 337 and 338. The short-to-medium range wireless communication circuit 329 and/or the cellular communication circuit 330 may include multiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains to receive and/or transmit multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configuration.

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains (including and/or coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to dedicated processors and/or radios) of multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR), as described further below. Further, in some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may include a single transmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to a particular RAT. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g., LTE, and may communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with an additional radio, e.g., a second radio that may be dedicated to a second RAT (e.g., 5G NR) and may communicate with the dedicated receive chain and a shared transmit chain.

The communication device 106 may also include and/or be configured for use with one or more user interface elements. The user interface elements may include any of a variety of elements such as a display 360 (which may be a touch screen display), a keyboard (which may be a discrete keyboard or may be implemented as part of a touch screen display), a mouse, a microphone and/or a speaker, one or more cameras, one or more buttons, and/or any of a variety of other elements capable of providing information to a user and/or receiving or interpreting user input.

The communication device 106 may also include one or more smart cards 345 having SIM (subscriber identity module) functionality, such as one or more UICC cards (one or more universal integrated circuit cards) 345. It is noted that the term "SIM" or "SIM entity" is intended to include any of a variety of types of SIM implementations or SIM functions, such as one or more UICC cards 345, one or more euiccs, one or more esims, removable or embedded, and the like. In some embodiments, the UE106 may include at least two SIMs. Each SIM may execute one or more SIM applications and/or otherwise implement SIM functionality. Thus, each SIM may be a single smart card that may be embedded, for example, soldered onto a circuit board in the UE106, or each SIM 310 may be implemented as a removable smart card. Thus, the SIM may be one or more removable smart cards (such as a UICC card, sometimes referred to as a "SIM card"), and/or the SIM 310 may be one or more embedded cards (such as an embedded UICC (euicc), sometimes referred to as an "eSIM" or "eSIM card"). In some embodiments (such as when the SIM comprises an eUICC), one or more of the SIMs may implement embedded SIM (esim) functionality; in such embodiments, a single one of the SIMs may execute multiple SIM applications. Each SIM may include components such as a processor and/or memory; instructions for performing SIM/eSIM functions may be stored in the memory and executed by the processor. In some embodiments, the UE106 can include a combination of removable smart cards and fixed/non-removable smart cards (such as one or more eUICC cards that implement eSIM functionality) as desired. For example, the UE106 may include two embedded SIMs, two removable SIMs, or a combination of one embedded SIM and one removable SIM. Various other SIM configurations are also contemplated.

As described above, in some embodiments, the UE106 may include two or more SIMs. Including two or more SIMs in the UE106 may allow the UE106 to support two different telephone numbers and may allow the UE106 to communicate over corresponding two or more respective networks. For example, a first SIM may support a first RAT, such as LTE, and a second SIM 310 supports a second RAT, such as 5G NR. Of course other implementations and RATs are possible. In some embodiments, when the UE106 includes two SIMs, the UE106 may support dual-SIM-dual-active (DSDA) functionality. The DSDA functionality may allow the UE106 to connect to two networks simultaneously (and use two different RATs), or to maintain two connections supported by two different SIMs using the same or different RATs simultaneously on the same or different networks. The DSDA functionality may also allow the UE106 to receive voice calls or data traffic simultaneously on any of the telephone numbers. In some embodiments, the voice call may be a packet-switched communication. In other words, voice calls may be received using voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology and/or voice over NR (VoNR) technology. In some embodiments, the UE106 may support dual-card dual-standby (DSDS) functionality. The DSDS function may allow either of the two SIMs in the UE106 to stand-by for voice calls and/or data connections. In DSDS, when a call/data is established on one SIM, the other SIM is no longer active. In some embodiments, the DSDx function (DSDA or DSDS function) may be implemented using a single SIM (e.g., eUICC) executing multiple SIM applications for different bearers and/or RATs.

As shown, SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that may execute program instructions for communication device 106 and a display circuit 304 that may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to display 360. The one or more processors 302 may also be coupled to a Memory Management Unit (MMU)340, which may be configured to receive addresses from the one or more processors 302 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, Read Only Memory (ROM)350, NAND flash memory 310), and/or to other circuits or devices, such as display circuit 304, short-to-mid-range wireless communication circuit 329, cellular communication circuit 330, connector I/F320, and/or display 360. MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protections and page table translations or settings. In some embodiments, MMU 340 may be included as part of processor 302.

As described above, the communication device 106 may be configured to communicate using wireless and/or wired communication circuitry. The communication device 106 may be configured to perform a method for prioritizing a cell that supports EN-DC over a similar cell that does not support EN-DC as further described herein.

As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing the above-described features of the communication device 106 to transmit scheduling profiles for power conservation to a network. The processor 302 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 302 of the communication device 106, in combination with one or more of the other components 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 329, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360, may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

Further, processor 302 may include one or more processing elements, as described herein. Accordingly, the processor 302 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 302. Further, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of one or more processors 302.

Further, the cellular communication circuit 330 and the short-to-medium range wireless communication circuit 329 may each include one or more processing elements, as described herein. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the cellular communication circuit 330 and, similarly, one or more processing elements may be included in the short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329. Accordingly, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuit 330. Further, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuit 330. Similarly, the short-to-mid range wireless communication circuitry 329 may include one or more ICs configured to perform the functions of the short-to-mid range wireless communication circuitry 329. Further, each integrated circuit can include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329.

FIG. 4-block diagram of a base station

Fig. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102 in accordance with some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of fig. 4 is only one example of possible base stations. As shown, base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for base station 102. Processor 404 may also be coupled to a Memory Management Unit (MMU)440 or other circuit or device that may be configured to receive addresses from processor 404 and translate the addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and Read Only Memory (ROM) 450).

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide a plurality of devices, such as the UE device 106, with access to the telephone network as described above in fig. 1 and 2.

The network port 470 (or additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and/or other services to multiple devices, such as UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to a telephone network via a core network, and/or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by a cellular service provider).

In some embodiments, the base station 102 may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G new radio (5G NR) base station, or "gNB. In such embodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network and/or to an NR core (NRC) network. Further, the base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more Transition and Reception Points (TRPs). Further, a UE capable of operating according to the 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gnbs.

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. The at least one antenna 434 may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio 430. Antenna 434 communicates with radio 430 via communication link 432. Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. Radio 430 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards including, but not limited to, 5G NR, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi and the like.

Base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly using a plurality of wireless communication standards. In some cases, base station 102 may include multiple radios that may enable base station 102 to communicate in accordance with multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, base station 102 may include an LTE radio to perform communications according to LTE and a 5G NR radio to perform communications according to 5G NR. In this case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility, the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio capable of performing communications in accordance with any of a number of wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

As described further herein subsequently, the base station 102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting implementations of the features described herein. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement or support implementation of some or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition), processor 404 of base station 102, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470, may be configured to implement or support implementations of some or all of the features described herein.

Further, processor 404 may be comprised of one or more processing elements, as described herein. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the processor 404. Accordingly, the processor 404 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 404. Further, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of one or more processors 404.

Additionally, radio 430 may be comprised of one or more processing elements, as described herein. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in radio 430. Thus, radio 430 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of radio 430. Further, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio 430.

FIG. 5: block diagram of cellular communication circuit

Fig. 5 illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a cellular communication circuit according to some embodiments. It is noted that the block diagram of the cellular communication circuit of fig. 5 is only one example of one possible cellular communication circuit. According to an embodiment, the cellular communication circuit 330 may be included in a communication device, such as the communication device 106 described above. As described above, the communication device 106 may be a User Equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and/or a combination of devices, among others.

The cellular communication circuitry 330 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335a-335b and 336 (in fig. 3). In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains (including and/or coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to dedicated processors and/or radios) of multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, as shown in fig. 5, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include a modem 510 and a modem 520. Modem 510 may be configured for communication according to a first RAT, such as LTE or LTE-a, for example, and modem 520 may be configured for communication according to a second RAT, such as 5G NR, for example.

As shown, modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and memory 516 in communication with processors 512. The modem 510 may communicate with a Radio Frequency (RF) front end 530. The RF front end 530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX)532 and transmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, the receive circuitry 532 may be in communication with a Downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via the antenna 335 a.

Similarly, modem 520 can include one or more processors 522 and memory 526 in communication with processors 522. The modem 520 may communicate with the RF front end 540. The RF front end 540 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry 544. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 542 may be in communication with a DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335 b.

In some implementations, a switch 570 can couple the transmit circuit 534 to an Uplink (UL) front end 572. Further, a switch 570 can couple transmit circuit 544 to an UL front end 572. UL front end 572 may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Accordingly, when the cellular communication circuitry 330 receives an instruction to transmit in accordance with the first RAT (e.g., supported via the modem 510), the switch 570 may be switched to a first state that allows the modem 510 to transmit signals in accordance with the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes the transmit circuitry 534 and the UL front end 572). Similarly, when the cellular communication circuitry 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., supported via the modem 520), the switch 570 may be switched to a second state that allows the modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes the transmit circuitry 544 and the UL front end 572).

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may be configured to perform a method for prioritizing a cell that supports EN-DC over a similar cell that does not support EN-DC as described further herein.

As described herein, modem 510 may include hardware and software components for implementing the features described above or UL data for time division multiplexed NSA NR operations, as well as various other techniques described herein. The processor 512 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), processor 512, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

Further, processor 512 may include one or more processing elements, as described herein. Accordingly, the processor 512 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 512. Further, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the processor 512.

As described herein, modem 520 may include hardware and software components intended to implement the above-described features for transmitting a power-saving scheduling profile to a network, as well as various other techniques described herein. The processor 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or additionally), in combination with one or more of the other components 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, the processor 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

Further, processor 522 may include one or more processing elements, as described herein. Accordingly, the processor 522 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 522. Further, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 522.

5G NR architecture with LTE

In some implementations, fifth generation (5G) wireless communications will initially be deployed concurrently with current wireless communications standards (e.g., LTE). For example, dual connectivity between LTE and 5G new radios (5G NRs or NRs) has been specified as part of the initial deployment of NRs. Thus, as shown in fig. 6A-6B, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network 600 may continue to communicate with the current LTE base station (e.g., eNB 602). Further, eNB 602 may communicate with a 5G NR base station (e.g., gNB 604) and may communicate data between EPC network 600 and gNB 604. Thus, EPC network 600 may be used (or reused), and gNB 604 may serve as additional capacity for user equipment, e.g., to provide increased downlink throughput for the UE. In other words, LTE may be used for control plane signaling and NR may be used for user plane signaling. Thus, LTE may be used to establish a connection with a network and NR may be used for data services.

Fig. 6B shows the proposed protocol stacks for eNB 602 and gNB 604. As shown, eNB 602 may include a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer 632 that interfaces with Radio Link Control (RLC) layers 622a-622 b. The RLC layer 622a may also interface with a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 612a, and the RLC layer 622b may interface with a PDCP layer 612 b. Similar to dual connectivity specified in LTE-advanced release 12, PDCP layer 612a may interface with EPC network 600 via a Master Cell Group (MCG) bearer, while PDCP layer 612b may interface with EPC network 600 via a split bearer.

Additionally, as shown, the gNB 604 may include a MAC layer 634 that interfaces with the RLC layers 624a-624 b. RLC layer 624a may pass through X₂The interface interfaces with the PDCP layer 612b of the eNB 602 for information exchange and/or coordination (e.g., scheduling UEs) between the eNB 602 and the gNB 604. Further, the RLC layer 624b may interface with the PDCP layer 614. Similar to the dual connectivity specified in LTE-advanced release 12, the PDCP layer 614 may interface with the EPC network 600 via a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) bearer. Thus, eNB 602 may be considered a primary sectionA point (MeNB), while a gNB 604 may be considered a secondary node (SgNB). In some cases, the UE may be required to maintain a connection with both the MeNB and the SgNB. In such cases, MeNB may be used to maintain a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the EPC, while SgNB may be used for capacity (e.g., additional downlink and/or uplink throughput).

5G core network architecture-interworking with Wi-Fi

In some embodiments, a 5G Core Network (CN) may be accessed via (or through) a cellular connection/interface (e.g., via a 3GPP communication architecture/protocol) and a non-cellular connection/interface (e.g., a non-3 GPP access architecture/protocol such as a Wi-Fi connection). Fig. 7A illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture that incorporates 3GPP (e.g., cellular) and non-3 GPP (e.g., non-cellular) access at the 5G CN, in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, a user equipment device (e.g., UE106) may access a 5G CN through both a radio access network (RAN, e.g., a gNB or base station 604) and an access point, such as AP 112. The AP112 may include a connection to the internet 700 and a connection to a non-3 GPP interworking function (N3IWF)702 network entity. The N3IWF may include a connection to the core access and mobility management function (AMF)704 of the 5G CN. The AMF 704 may include an example of a 5G mobility management (5G MM) function associated with the UE 106. In addition, the RAN (e.g., gNB 604) may also have a connection with AMF 704. Thus, the 5G CN may support unified authentication over both connections and allow simultaneous registration of UE106 access via the gNB 604 and AP 112. As shown, the AMF 704 may include one or more functional entities associated with the 5G CN (e.g., a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)720, a Short Message Service Function (SMSF)722, an Application Function (AF)724, a Unified Data Management (UDM)726, a Policy Control Function (PCF)728, and/or an authentication server function (AUSF) 730). Note that these functional entities may also be supported by Session Management Functions (SMFs) 706a and 706b of the 5G CN. The AMF 706 may be connected to (or in communication with) the SMF706 a. Further, the gNB 604 may be in communication with (or connected to) a User Plane Function (UPF)708a, which may also be in communication with the SMF706 a. Similarly, the N3IWF 702 may communicate with the UPF 708b, which may also communicate with the SMF706 b. Both UPFs may communicate with a data network (e.g., DNs 710a and 710b) and/or internet 700 and IMS core network 710.

Fig. 7B illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture that combines dual 3GPP (e.g., LTE and 5G NR) access and non-3 GPP access at a 5G CN in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, a user equipment device (e.g., UE106) may access a 5G CN through both a radio access network (RAN, e.g., a gNB or base station 604 or eNB or base station 602) and an access point, such as AP 112. The AP112 may include a connection to the internet 700 and a connection to an N3IWF 702 network entity. The N3IWF may include a connection to the AMF 704 of the 5G CN. AMF 704 may include an example of 5G MM functionality associated with UE 106. In addition, the RAN (e.g., gNB 604) may also have a connection with AMF 704. Thus, the 5G CN may support unified authentication over both connections and allow simultaneous registration of UE106 access via the gNB 604 and AP 112. In addition, the 5G CN may support dual registration of UEs on both legacy networks (e.g., LTE via base station 602) and 5G networks (e.g., via base station 604). As shown, the base station 602 may have connectivity to a Mobility Management Entity (MME)742 and a Serving Gateway (SGW) 744. MME742 may have connections to both SGW 744 and AMF 704. Additionally, the SGW 744 may have connections to both the SMF706 a and the UPF 708 a. As shown, the AMF 704 may include one or more functional entities (e.g., NSSF 720, SMSF 722, AF724, UDM 726, PCF 728, and/or AUSF 730) associated with the 5G CN. Note that UDM 726 may also include Home Subscriber Server (HSS) functionality, and that the PCF may also include Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). Note also that these functional entities may also be supported by SMF706 a and SMF706b of the 5G CN. The AMF 706 may be connected to (or in communication with) the SMF706 a. Further, the gNB 604 may communicate with (or be connected to) a UPF 708a, which may also communicate with the SMF706 a. Similarly, the N3IWF 702 may communicate with the UPF 708b, which may also communicate with the SMF706 b. Both UPFs may communicate with a data network (e.g., DNs 710a and 710b) and/or internet 700 and IMS core network 710.

It is noted that in various embodiments, one or more of the above-described network entities may be configured to perform a method of improving security checks in a 5G NR network, including, for example, a mechanism for prioritizing EN-DC capable cells over non-EN-DC capable similar cells as further described herein.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a baseband processor architecture for a UE (e.g., UE106) in accordance with some embodiments. As described above, the baseband processor architecture 800 depicted in fig. 8 may be implemented on one or more radios (e.g., radios 329 and/or 330 described above) or modems (e.g., modems 510 and/or 520) as described above. As shown, the non-access stratum 810 may include a 5G NAS 820 and a legacy NAS 850. The legacy NAS 850 may include a communication connection with a legacy Access Stratum (AS) 870. The 5G NAS 820 may include communication connections with a 5G AS 840 and non-3 GPP AS 830 and Wi-Fi AS 832. The 5G NAS 820 may include functional entities associated with two access stratum layers. Thus, the 5G NAS 820 may include a plurality of 5G MM entities 826 and 828 and 5G Session Management (SM) entities 822 and 824. The legacy NAS 850 may include functional entities such as a Short Message Service (SMS) entity 852, an Evolved Packet System (EPS) session management (ESM) entity 854, a Session Management (SM) entity 856, an EPS Mobility Management (EMM) entity 858, and a Mobility Management (MM)/GPRS Mobility Management (GMM) entity 860. Further, the legacy AS 870 may include functional entities such AS an LTE AS 872, a UMTS AS 874, and/or a GSM/GPRS AS 876.

Thus, the baseband processor architecture 800 allows a common 5G-NAS for both 5G cellular and non-cellular (e.g., non-3 GPP access). Note that as shown, the 5G MM may maintain separate connection management and registration management state machines for each connection. In addition, a device (e.g., UE106) may register with a single PLMN (e.g., 5G CN) using 5G cellular access as well as non-cellular access. Furthermore, a device may be in a connected state in one access and in an idle state in another access, or vice versa. Finally, there may be a common 5G-MM procedure (e.g., registration, de-registration, identification, authentication, etc.) for both accesses.

It is noted that in various embodiments, one or more of the above-described functional entities of the 5G NAS and/or the 5G AS may be configured to perform a method for prioritizing EN-DC capable cells over non-EN-DC capable similar cells, e.g., AS described further herein.

ULI for cell selection optimization

In the current implementation, a mobile station, such as a user equipment device (UE), may receive various System Information Blocks (SIBs) from a cell, such as an LTE cell. The type 1SIB (e.g., SIB1) may include cell access related information and may be transmitted from the network to the UE through a PDSCH channel. A type 2SIB (e.g., SIB2) may include radio resource configuration information common to all UEs, including access class barring configurations, RACH related configurations, timers, uplink power control, sounding reference signal configurations, etc., and may also be transmitted from the network to the UEs over the PDSCH channel. Type 3 SIBs (e.g., SIB3) may include common information for intra-frequency, inter-frequency, and inter-technology cell reselection parameters and may also be transmitted from the network to the UE over the PDSCH channel. In some implementations, the SIB2 may include a 5G NR state indicator, such as an "upperLayerIndication" (ULI) parameter or "upperLayerIndication-r 15", for example, as defined by 3GPP TS 36.331 V15.0.0. In some implementations, a separate instance may be broadcast for each PLMN identity associated with an LTE cell. The ULI may indicate to the upper layers of the protocol stack that the 5G NR cell is co-located with the LTE cell broadcasting SIB 2. In some implementations, the ULI parameter may be set to true or may be otherwise absent.

Embodiments described herein provide systems, mechanisms, and methods for ULI-assisted Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) search, e.g., to identify and/or prioritize EN-DC capable PLMNs, e.g., E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity introduced in 3GPP release 15 and allowing mobile devices to exchange data between themselves and NR base stations as well as simultaneous connectivity with LTE base stations. In some embodiments, a non-access stratum (NAS) layer may use a ULI parameter (and/or ULI parameters) to enhance PLMN search for a UE (such as UE106) in various scenarios (such as a circle boundary scenario, a same priority scenario), and/or to facilitate user selection of a PLMN.

For example, in a circle boundary scenario, if one of the circles supports EN-DC and the current registration circle does not support EN-DC, a high priority PLMN (HP-PLMN) scan of a different carrier circle may be performed. For example, when one turn supports EN-DC and a registered PLMN (R-PLMN) turn does not support EN-DC, then HP-PLMN scanning may be attempted to find a better turn, e.g., a turn with EN-DC support. In some embodiments, the search may be further enhanced such that HP-PLMN scanning may only be attempted if (when) a database maintained within the device (e.g., in non-volatile memory) and/or a device manufacturer owned crowdsourced database (crowed sourced database) downloaded on the device indicates EN-DC capability in another circle. In some embodiments, it may also be taken into account whether the circle supports dual connectivity with NR support (DC-NR), e.g. if the R-PLMN has a DC-NR set to 1 in the above case, only then HP-PLMN scanning is attempted. In some embodiments, when a mobile operator (e.g., a mobile carrier) uses a "same priority" operator PLMN (e.g., a PLMN priority set by the mobile operator), then the indication that the cells via the ULI parameter include EN-DC capability may serve as a "tiebreaker" between cells having the same priority, e.g., if one cell supports EN-DC and another cell does not support EN-DC, then the cells supporting EN-DC may be prioritized over the cells that do not support EN-DC. In some embodiments, when displaying the random PLMN portion of the manual PLMN list on the user interface (e.g., after an equivalent home PLMN and operator PLMN), the EN-DC capable networks may be prioritized over the non-EN-DC capable networks.

In some embodiments, during an initial cell selection procedure performed by a UE, such as UE106, Radio Resource Control (RRC) may change the cell selection threshold/evaluation as follows:

a) if/when multiple cells are found during the cell selection procedure and if only some of those cells support EN-DC (e.g., as indicated by the ULI parameter included in SIB2), the UE may attempt to prioritize the cell selection procedure for cells indicating support for EN-DC, e.g., if/when a cell is within a tolerance threshold (e.g., "x" dB) of a cell having the highest Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/or highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as measured by the UE;

b) whenever the UE camps on a cell that has broadcast an UpperLayerInd Information Element (IE), the UE may store this information in a database, such as ACQ DB/APACS DB, and may use the same information when it prepares a candidate cell list during an SLS procedure (user frequency scan);

c) the cell selection criterion of the EN-DC device may be a function of the support of EN-DC by conventional cell selection criterion + X (e.g., as indicated by the inclusion of the UpperLayerInd IE in SIB2), and wherein in some embodiments, X is a bias factor that may be configured in the UE.

In some embodiments, within the list of prioritized cells that support EN-DC, the UE may use existing mechanisms to select the cell to camp on (e.g., the strongest cell based on channel/signal measurements). In some embodiments, when the reselection timer is about to expire for a candidate neighboring cell having approximately the same energy, and in order to break the tie, the ULI may be used for the neighboring cell that preferably includes the ULI in the SIB2 broadcast. Note that during the time period defined by the reselection timer and more than one second has elapsed since the UE camped on the current serving cell, the candidate cell may be required to be better than the serving cell (e.g., higher RSRP and/or higher SNR as measured by the UE).

As described above, in EN-DC, LTE is a Master Cell Group (MCG) and NR is a Secondary Cell Group (SCG). Thus, a UE such as UE106 may maintain a list/database (e.g., a table and/or a look-up table) of all LTE bands, different PLMNs available and belonging to the home PLMN, and their corresponding EN-DC support. In some implementations, such lists/databases (e.g., EN-DC _ db) may be updated so that the last 10 camped cells/bands/PLMNs may be included within the database. Additionally, in some embodiments, a UE such as UE106 may avoid the S-standard for reselection if the target cell does not support EN-DC (e.g., as indicated by the missing ULI Information Element (IE) from the SIB2 broadcast). Conversely, if the RSRP of the serving cell is better than a specified threshold (e.g., such as-110 dBm), the UE may preferably remain in the current cell/band/PLMN that supports EN-DC (e.g., as indicated by the ULI IE included in the SIB2 broadcast). In some embodiments, assuming that EN-DC _ db has two entries where two cells have ULI and the UE must reselect to one of these cells, the UE may add an additional level of prioritization, e.g., based on the NR cell the UE has previously camped on. For example, from an NR cell, the UE may populate EN-DC _ db with factors (details) such as FR1/FR 2/SCS/BW. Based on these factors, the UE may then determine a preferred LTE cell to camp on and/or reselect to, e.g., an LTE cell such as an EN-DC capable LTE cell supporting an NR neighbor cell with FR1 range.

In some embodiments, for example, such as when a UE such as UE106 is operating in non-standalone (NSA) mode and in an RRC connected state, if (when) the UE has any stored version of information about the target cell, the UE may consider (think of) whether a particular LTE cell has an NR cell anchored to it (e.g., so that the LTE cell may support EN-DC) based on ULI SIB2 parameters from any stored version of SIB2 received from the LTE cell, in addition to the UE's cell measurement values (e.g., RSRP, SNR). In such embodiments, the UE may prioritize such LTE cells over other LTE cells that do not have any NR cells within its coverage circle (e.g., also based on SIBs 2 received from those LTE cells). Further, in some embodiments, if the prioritized LTE cell is within a minimum threshold of the cell having the highest RSRP and/or SNR as measured by the UE, the UE may report event a3 for such prioritized LTE cell. In some embodiments, the minimum threshold may be an absolute threshold, such as 3dB, for example, among other values. In some embodiments, the minimum threshold may be a percentage threshold, such as within 1%, 5%, or 10% of the highest RSRP and/or SNR, as measured by the UE, among other values, for example.

In some embodiments, a UE, such as UE106, may maintain a list (e.g., a database) of all LTE bands, different available PLMNs belonging to a home PLMN, and their corresponding ULI support, such as when the UE operates in a non-standalone (NSA) mode and in an RRC connected state, for example. In some embodiments, the list (e.g., the database may be updated to the last 10 camped cells/bands/PLMNs).

In some embodiments, for example, such as when a UE (such as UE106) is operating in a non-standalone (NSA) mode and in an RRC connected state while a cell with LTE + NR (e.g., EN-DC) is active and the UE is experiencing Radio Link Failure (RLF) in the MCG, the UE may perform a system selection procedure to find the highest energy cell in order to re-establish a connection with the MCG (e.g., to send a rrcelestablishment request). In some embodiments, the UE may select a cell that supports NR (e.g., EN-DC) if the UE finds more than one cell and the cells belong to different frequency bands or PLMNs.

In some embodiments, such mechanisms may facilitate access to high data rate, low latency 5G-NR systems, and may result in an overall higher percentage of time on LTE +5G NR compared to LTE in mobile scenarios only. In some embodiments, the network configuration may determine when SCGs are actually added, however such mechanisms may maximize the chances of a UE attaching to an LTE cell having an NR cell anchored to it in overlapping LTE cell coverage.

In some embodiments, a UE such as UE106 may operate in a 5G NR independent mode and may move to LTE coverage (e.g., downgrade the radio access technology). In such embodiments, during iRAT reselection, the UE may perform measurements and discover multiple LTE cells. In some embodiments, the UE may prioritize LTE cells with an upper layer indication parameter (e.g., upperlayer indication) set to "true" in SIB2 over LTE cells that do not include an upper layer indication parameter in SIB2 and/or have an upper layer indication parameter set to "false". In such implementations, the UE may benefit from LTE + NR data speeds if the UE has not reselected back to a 5G NR (e.g., standalone mode).

In some embodiments, a UE such as UE106 may store subcarrier spacing (SCS) in an internal database as part of a cell acquisition procedure. In some embodiments, the internal database may also be uploaded to a server owned by the device manufacturer that serves as a crowdsourcing database. In some embodiments, the UE may opportunistically (e.g., via Wi-Fi or another non-cellular interface) retrieve the crowdsourcing database. Thus, during a cell selection procedure, the UE may also retrieve the SCS for the cell from the database and may use the SCS for the cell selection and/or cell reselection procedure. For example, if the UE encounters a cell with multiple SCS's, the UE must select a particular SCS from the cell and initiate the camping procedure. In such cases, the UE selection of SCS may be based on:

a. type and delay of the application requesting the RRC connection; and/or

b. The motivation for cell selection is to camp on the cell for reachability purposes (e.g., the UE may then select small SCS), or for higher throughput purposes.

In some embodiments, a UE such as UE106 may receive an indication from a network (e.g., base station 102) via a SIB2 ULI as to whether the NR deployment is a frequency range 1(FR1) (e.g., sub 6GHz band, including 410MHz to 7125MHz) or frequency range 2(FR2) (e.g., 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz band) deployment. In such embodiments, the UE may enhance cell selection and/or reselection (e.g., when the camping criteria match) based on SIB2 ULI (NR FR1 and NR FR 2). In some embodiments, it may be advantageous (and/or beneficial) for the UE to operate in LTE + NR FR 1. For example, in a case (example) where thermal conditions (e.g., a likelihood of overheating the UE and/or a likelihood of requiring the UE to reduce performance to avoid overheating) may be a consideration, operating in LTE + NR FR1 may provide better (thermal) performance for the UE than operating in LTE + NR FR 2. In some embodiments, it may be advantageous (and/or beneficial) for the UE to operate in LTE + NR FR 2. For example, in a situation (example) where higher throughput (e.g., via ultra-wideband (UWB) support) may be needed and/or desired, operating in LTE + NR FR2 may provide better (throughput) performance for the UE than operating in LTE + NR FR 1.

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary UE mobility scenario, in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, a UE such as UE106 may be anchored in a first cell such as 4G cell 920. The 4G cell 420 may include one or more base stations that may support a fourth generation (4G) Radio Access Technology (RAT), such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). The UE106 may be approaching the boundary of the 4G cell 920 and, thus, may be approaching an additional 4G cell 930 and/or 940. As shown, 4G cell 940 may anchor one or more 5G cells, such as cells 942-946. In other words, 4G cell 940 may support EN-DC via 5G cells 942-946. Thus, when UE106 is near the cell boundaries of 4G cells 930 and 940, UE106 may receive the SIB2 message from both 4G cells. As described above, the 4G cell 940 may include an upper layer indication parameter set to "true" to indicate support for EN-DC and/or to indicate availability of 5G NR support within the 4G cell 940. Additionally, the 4G cell 930 may not include an upper layer indication parameter, thereby indicating a lack of support for EN-DC within the 4G cell 930, and/or may include an upper layer indication parameter set to "false" to indicate no support for EN-DC within the 4G cell 930. Thus, in addition to the UE106 measuring radio conditions (e.g., such as RSRP and/or SNR), the UE106 may also consider that the 4G cell 940 has the 5G cell 942-946 anchored to it. In some embodiments, based on the upper layer indication included in the SIB2 broadcast from the 4G cell 940, the UE106 may prioritize the 4G cell 940 over the 4G cell 930, e.g., when the radio condition measurements of the cells are within a specified percentage of each other and/or when the radio condition measurements of the 4G cell 940 are within a specified range of the radio condition measurements of the 4G cell 930.

Fig. 10-13 illustrate examples of flow diagrams for a UE (such as UE106) for cell selection/reselection through EN-DC cell prioritization, according to some embodiments. The methods shown in fig. 10-13 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices.

For example, fig. 10 illustrates an example of a flow diagram for a UE to prioritize cells based on an upper layer indication received for at least one of the cells, in accordance with some embodiments. As noted, the method shown in fig. 10 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1002, a UE such as UE106 may determine whether it is operating in an independent (SA) mode or a non-independent (NSA) mode. In other words, a 5G NR capable UE may determine whether the UE is attached to only a 5G NR cell, or whether the UE is attached to a 4G LTE cell that includes a 5G NR cell (e.g., EN-DC) anchored thereto.

At 1004, when the UE determines that it is operating in standalone mode and during reselection to an LTE cell (e.g., from a 5G cell to a 4G cell), the UE may determine whether more than one LTE cell measured satisfies reselection criteria, such as S criteria, for example.

Alternatively, when the UE determines that it is operating in a non-standalone mode, the UE may perform various actions depending on the state and/or condition of the UE, for example. For example, at 1006, during system selection, the UE may determine whether more than one LTE cell is available (e.g., determine whether the UE has measured more than one LTE cell). As another example, during cell reselection, the UE may determine whether more than one LTE cell measured satisfies reselection criteria, such as S criteria, for example, at 1008. As a further example, when LTE and NR are active and the UE experiences radio link failure in LTE, the UE may determine whether more than one LTE cell is available (e.g., determine whether the UE has measured more than one LTE cell).

At 1012, in response to determining that more than one LTE cell is available, for example, at any of method elements 1004 and 1010, the UE may prioritize LTE cells in which the upper layer indication parameter has been set to "true" in the SIB2 received from the LTE cell. In other words, the UE may prefer to select an LTE cell indicating 5G NR support over an LTE cell not indicating 5G NR support (e.g., via an upper layer indication parameter in the broadcasted SIB 2).

As another example, fig. 11 illustrates an example of a flow diagram for a UE to prioritize cells during reselection based on an upper layer indication received for at least one of the cells, in accordance with some embodiments. As noted, the method shown in fig. 11 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1102, a UE such as UE106 may determine whether it is attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and in an RRC idle state. In other words, the UE may determine whether it is in a state where it can proceed with cell reselection.

At 1104, in response to determining that the UE is not attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and is in an RRC idle state, the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation related to other Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

Alternatively, at 1106, in response to determining that the UE is attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and in an RRC idle state, the UE may perform radio measurements of its serving cell as well as neighboring cells (e.g., inter-frequency, intra-frequency, and/or inter-RAT neighboring cells). The UE may determine, based on the performed radio measurements, whether the serving cell is below a threshold (e.g., associated with radio conditions) and/or whether the neighboring cell may provide improved (e.g., better) radio conditions, e.g., as compared to the serving cell.

At 1108, in response to determining that neither condition is met (e.g., the serving cell is not below a threshold (e.g., associated with radio conditions) and/or the neighboring cell is unable to provide improved (e.g., better) radio conditions, e.g., as compared to the serving cell), the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation and continue to perform serving cell and/or neighboring cell measurements.

Alternatively, at 1110, in response to determining that at least one of the conditions is met (e.g., the serving cell is below a threshold (e.g., associated with radio conditions) and/or the neighboring cell may provide improved (e.g., better) radio conditions, e.g., as compared to the serving cell), the UE may determine whether there is more than one neighboring LTE cell.

At 1112, in response to determining that there is only one neighboring LTE cell, the UE may reselect to a neighboring cell, e.g., when cell reselection criteria are met.

Alternatively, at 1114, in response to determining that there is more than one neighboring LTE cell, the UE may rank the neighboring cells based on radio measurements (e.g., such as RSRP and/or SNR). In other words, the UE may rank the LTE cells based on the performed radio measurements.

At 1116, the UE may determine whether any of the measured LTE cells has a stored version of the broadcasted SIB 2. In other words, the UE may determine whether it has received the SIB2 from any of the measured (and subsequently ranked/ordered) LTE cells.

At 1118, in response to determining that the UE does not have any stored version of the broadcasted SIB2 from the measured LTE cell, the UE may continue cell reselection based on the measured radio performance of the LTE cell.

Alternatively, at 1120, in response to determining that the UE does have at least one stored version of the broadcasted SIB2 from the measured LTE cells, the UE may determine whether any of the measured LTE cells are used as an anchor for the NR cell (e.g., based on an upper layer indicator parameter included in the SIB 2). In some embodiments, the UE may also determine whether any of the measured LTE cells serve as an anchor for the NR cell and satisfy one or more reselection criteria, such as being within a defined threshold of the LTE cell ranked highest based on radio measurements and/or having an RSRP greater than the defined threshold. In some embodiments, the defined threshold may be adjusted to enhance performance and/or improve selection of EN-DC enabled LTE cells.

At 1122, in response to determining that the at least one measured LTE cell serves as an anchor and satisfies any other selection criteria, the UE may prioritize the at least one measured LTE cell over LTE cells that may be ranked higher based on radio measurements and reselect to the at least one measured LTE cell. In some embodiments, this prioritization may allow the UE to advantageously select an EN-DC capable LTE cell relative to an EN-DC incapable LTE cell.

Alternatively, in response to determining that there is no LTE cell that serves as an anchor and satisfies any other selection criteria, the UE may continue cell reselection based on the measured radio performance of the LTE cell at 1118.

As another example, fig. 12 illustrates an example of a flow diagram for a UE to prioritize cells during cell selection based on an upper layer indication received for at least one of the cells, according to some embodiments. As noted, the method shown in fig. 12 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1202, a UE such as UE106 may determine whether it is performing a cell scan as part of cell selection. In some embodiments, the UE may determine whether it is performing cell scanning on LTE frequencies as part of cell selection. In some embodiments, the UE may be in an RRC idle state during scanning.

At 1204, in response to determining that the UE does not perform cell scanning as part of cell selection, the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation related to other Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

Alternatively, at 1206, in response to determining that the UE is performing cell scanning as part of cell selection, the UE may determine whether any candidate cells satisfy the cell selection criterion.

At 1208, in response to determining that the condition is not satisfied (e.g., there are no candidate cells that satisfy the cell selection criterion), the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation and continue scanning for cells that satisfy the cell selection criterion.

Alternatively, at 1210, in response to determining that there is at least one candidate cell that satisfies the cell selection criterion, the UE may determine whether there is more than one cell that satisfies the cell selection criterion. In response to determining that there are no additional cells that satisfy the cell selection criterion, the method may continue at 1208, as described above.

At 1214, in response to determining that there is more than one cell that satisfies the cell selection criterion, the UE may rank the neighboring cells based on radio measurements (e.g., such as RSRP and/or SNR). In other words, the UE may rank the cells based on the performed radio measurements.

At 1220, the UE may determine whether any of the measured cells are used as an anchor for the NR cell (e.g., based on an upper layer indicator parameter included in SIB 2). In some embodiments, the UE may also determine whether any of the measured cells serve as an anchor for the NR cell and meet one or more selection criteria, such as being within a defined threshold of the highest ranked cell based on radio measurement values and/or having an RSRP greater than the defined threshold. In some embodiments, the defined threshold may be adjusted to enhance performance and/or improve selection of EN-DC capable cells.

At 1222, in response to determining that the at least one measured cell serves as an anchor and satisfies any other selection criteria, the UE may prioritize the at least one measured cell over cells that may be ranked higher based on radio measurement values and reselect to the at least one measured cell. In some embodiments, this prioritization may allow the UE to advantageously select a cell supporting EN-DC relative to TE cells that do not support EN-DC.

Alternatively, in response to determining that there is no cell that serves as an anchor and satisfies any other selection criteria, the UE may continue cell selection based on the measured radio performance of the cell at 1218.

As a further example, fig. 13 illustrates an example of a flow diagram for a UE to prioritize cells during reselection based on an upper layer indication received for at least one of the cells when the UE is in an RRC connected state, in accordance with some embodiments. As noted, the method shown in fig. 13 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1302, a UE such as UE106 may determine whether it is attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and in an RRC connected state. In other words, the UE may determine whether it is in a state where it can proceed with cell reselection.

At 1304, in response to determining that the UE is not attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and is in an RRC connected state, the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation related to other Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

Alternatively, at 1306, in response to determining that the UE is attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and in an RRC connected state, the UE may perform radio measurements of its serving cell as well as neighboring cells (e.g., inter-frequency, intra-frequency, and/or inter-RAT neighboring cells). The UE may determine, based on the performed radio measurements, whether the serving cell is below a threshold (e.g., associated with radio conditions) and/or whether the neighboring cell may provide improved (e.g., better) radio conditions, e.g., as compared to the serving cell.

At 1308, in response to determining that neither condition is met (e.g., the serving cell is not below a threshold (e.g., associated with radio conditions) and/or the neighboring cell is unable to provide improved (e.g., better) radio conditions, e.g., as compared to the serving cell), the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation and continue to perform serving cell and/or neighboring cell measurements.

Alternatively, at 1310, in response to determining that at least one of the conditions is met (e.g., the serving cell is below a threshold (e.g., associated with radio conditions) and/or the neighboring cell may provide improved (e.g., better) radio conditions, e.g., as compared to the serving cell), the UE may determine whether there is more than one neighboring LTE cell.

At 1312, in response to determining that there is only one neighboring LTE cell, the UE may report event a3, for example, when cell reselection criteria are met.

Alternatively, at 1314, in response to determining that there is more than one neighboring LTE cell, the UE may rank the neighboring cells based on radio measurements (e.g., such as RSRP and/or SNR). In other words, the UE may rank the LTE cells based on the performed radio measurements.

At 1316, the UE may determine whether any of the measured LTE cells has a stored version of the broadcasted SIB 2. In other words, the UE may determine whether it has received the SIB2 from any of the measured (and subsequently ranked/ordered) LTE cells.

At 1318, in response to determining that the UE does not have any stored version of the broadcasted SIB2 from the measured LTE cell, the UE may continue cell reselection based on the measured radio performance of the LTE cell.

Alternatively, at 1320, in response to determining that the UE does have at least one stored version of the broadcasted SIB2 from the measured LTE cells, the UE may determine whether any of the measured LTE cells are used as an anchor for the NR cell (e.g., based on an upper layer indicator parameter included in the SIB 2). In some embodiments, the UE may also determine whether any of the measured LTE cells serve as an anchor for the NR cell and satisfy one or more reselection criteria, such as being within a defined threshold of the LTE cell ranked highest based on radio measurements and/or having an RSRP greater than the defined threshold. In some embodiments, the defined threshold may be adjusted to enhance performance and/or improve selection of EN-DC enabled LTE cells.

At 1322, in response to determining that the at least one measured LTE cell serves as an anchor and satisfies any other selection criteria, the UE may prioritize the at least one measured LTE cell over LTE cells that may be ranked higher based on radio measurements and reselect to the at least one measured LTE cell. In some embodiments, this prioritization may allow the UE to advantageously select an EN-DC capable LTE cell relative to an EN-DC incapable LTE cell.

Alternatively, in response to determining that there is no LTE cell that serves as an anchor and satisfies any other selection criteria, the UE may continue cell reselection based on the measured radio performance of the LTE cell at 1318.

Fig. 14 illustrates an example of a flow diagram for a UE to prioritize LTE cells based on NR parameters included in a ULI, in accordance with some embodiments. The method shown in fig. 14 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1402, a UE, such as UE106, can populate a database (e.g., a data structure stored on the UE, such as a lookup table) with LTE cell information (e.g., such as NR frequency bands, SCS, BW, FR1, FR2, etc.) of previously camped cells. In some embodiments, the database may be EN-DC _ db.

At 1404, the UE may determine whether more than two LTE cells have included the ULI in the SIB2 message.

At 1406, in response to determining that there are no more than two LTE cells that have included the ULI in the SIB2 message, no further optimization is needed (e.g., ordering of LTE cells that have included the ULI in the SIB2 message).

At 1408, in response to determining that there are more than two LTE cells that already include the ULI in the SIB2 message, the UE may determine whether there are LTE cells in the database (e.g., EN-DC _ db).

At 1410, in response to determining that there is no LTE cell in the database, the UE may add a cell to the database.

At 1412, in response to determining that an LTE cell is present in the database, the UE may prioritize the LTE cells in the database based at least in part on various NR parameters, such as one or more of NR frequency band, SCS, BW, FR1, FR2, and the like.

In some embodiments, a UE such as UE106 may be a dual SIM device. In such embodiments, the first SIM (e.g., SIM1) may be data-preferred and the second SIM (e.g., SIM2) may be non-data-preferred. In some embodiments, if (when) SIM2 detects an LTE cell indicating support for the UpperLayerInd IE, and if (when) SIM1 does not find an LTE cell with the UpperLayerInd IE, then the baseband processor of the UE may suggest to the application processor of the UE to perform a data preference switch to SIM 2. Such a handover may allow the NR EN-DC to be activated (e.g., if the user indicates that the cellular data prefers a change in handover consent). In some embodiments, the UE may maintain data PDN contexts on both SIMs within the baseband processor, and the application processor may select an IP context for the active data SIM interface.

For example, fig. 15 illustrates an example of a flow diagram for a dual-SIM UE to prioritize SIMs based on ULI in SIB2, in accordance with some embodiments. The method shown in fig. 15 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1502, a UE such as UE106 may be a 5G capable dual SIM device with a data preferred SIM 1. In other words, the UE may prefer to use the first SIM for data transfer with respect to the second SIM.

At 1504, the UE may determine whether data switching is active, e.g., whether the UE may switch data preferences between a first SIM (e.g., SIM1) and a second SIM (e.g., SIM 2).

At 1506, in response to determining that data handover is not active, the UE may continue to prefer SIM1 for data.

At 1508, in response to determining that the data handover is active, the UE may determine whether the SIM1 is 5G NR active, i.e., in standalone mode or non-standalone mode. In response to determining that SIM1 is not 5G NR active, the UE may continue to prefer SIM1 for data at 1506.

At 1510, in response to determining that SIM1 is 5G NR active, the UE may determine whether SIM2 indicates the presence of a 5G NR via a ULI in SIB2 broadcast by the LTE cell. In response to determining that the SIM2 does not indicate the presence of a 5G NR, the UE may continue to prefer the SIM1 for data at 1506.

At 1512, in response to determining that the SIM2 does indicate the presence of a 5G NR, the UE may switch the SIM2 to a data preferred SIM. Additionally, in some embodiments, the UE may continue to monitor ULI in SIB2 of SIM 1. In some embodiments, when the UE receives the ULI in SIM2 of SIM1, the UE may switch SIM1 to the data preferred SIM.

Fig. 16 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method for assisting cell selection according to some embodiments. The method shown in fig. 16 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1602, a UE such as UE106 may perform one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection and/or cell reselection.

At 1604, the UE may determine whether at least two Long Term Evolution (LTE) cells meet a selection criterion based on reference signal received power (RSPR) and/or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements.

At 1606, the UE may prioritize a first LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells over a second LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells based on support for evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) -New Radio (NR) dual connectivity (EN-DC) in response to determining that the at least two LTE cells satisfy the selection criteria. In some embodiments, the first LTE cell may indicate support for EN-DC. In some embodiments, the second LTE cell may not indicate support for EN-DC. In some embodiments, the first LTE cell may be within tolerance thresholds of RSRP and/or SNR of the second LTE cell. In some embodiments, the tolerance threshold may be an absolute threshold. In some embodiments, the tolerance threshold may be a percentage threshold. In some embodiments, prioritizing the first LTE cell to exceed the second LTE cell based on the support for EN-DC may further include confirming that a measured RSRP of the first LTE cell is greater than an RSRP threshold. In some embodiments, prioritizing the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on the support for EN-DC may include determining that the first LTE cell is configured with NR neighbor cells and determining that the second LTE cell is not configured with NR neighbor cells. In some embodiments, prioritizing the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on the support for EN-DC may include determining that the first LTE cell was previously configured in EN-DC mode based on historical information stored at the UE, and determining that the second LTE cell was not previously configured in EN-DC mode based on the historical information.

At 1608, the UE may select a first LTE cell, e.g., for camping. In other words, the UE may prefer (and select) an LTE cell that supports EN-DC over an LTE cell that does not support EN-DC. In some embodiments, prioritizing the first LTE cell to exceed the second LTE cell based on support for EN-DC may include receiving a first SIB2 indicating support for EN-DC from the first LTE cell and receiving a second SIB2 not indicating support for EN-DC from the second LTE cell. In some embodiments, to indicate support for EN-DC, the first SIB2 includes an Upper Layer Indicator (ULI) parameter (or information element) in SIB2, and the inclusion of the ULI parameter indicates support for EN-DC. In some embodiments, the UE may determine that the ULI parameter has a value equal to "true," thereby indicating support for EN-DC. In some embodiments, a value of "1" may indicate "true" and a value of "0" may indicate "false". In some embodiments, selecting the first LTE cell may include selecting the first LTE cell based on the first LTE cell indicating support for NR frequency range 1(NR FR 1). In some embodiments, selecting the first LTE cell may include selecting the first LTE cell based on the first LTE cell indicating support for NR frequency range 2(FNR 2). In some embodiments, the SIB2 received from the first LTE cell may include an Upper Layer Indicator (ULI) parameter indicating support for one or both of NR FR1 and/or NR FR 2. In some embodiments, the NR FR1 may include a sub 6GHz frequency band, and the NR FR2 may include a 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz frequency band. In some embodiments, selecting the first LTE cell may include selecting a subcarrier spacing (SCS) from a plurality of SCS's of the first LTE cell. In some embodiments, selecting the SCS may include selecting the SCS from a plurality of SCS based at least in part on a type and a delay of an application requesting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection. In some embodiments, selecting the SCS may include selecting the SCS from a plurality of SCS based at least in part on whether the selection of the first LTE cell is for reachability purposes or for enhanced throughput purposes.

In some embodiments, the UE may store the SCS in an internal database as part of the cell acquisition procedure. In some implementations, the UE may upload and/or transmit an internal database to a server that serves as a crowdsourcing database. In some embodiments, the server may be a server owned by the device manufacturer. In some implementations, the UE may download and/or retrieve the crowdsourcing database. In such implementations, the UE may store the crowdsourcing database as an internal database. In some implementations, the crowdsourced database can be downloaded/retrieved over a non-cellular interface. In some implementations, the non-cellular interface is one of a Wi-Fi interface or a bluetooth interface.

In some embodiments, a UE may store cell information for a first LTE cell in a database, the cell information for the first LTE cell including one or more of NR frequency band, NR subcarrier spacing (SCS), NR Bandwidth (BW), NR frequency range 1(NR FR1) support, and/or NR frequency range 2(NR FR2) support. In some embodiments, the database may include EN-DC _ db.

In some embodiments, the UE may determine that it is operating in an NR independent mode of operation. In such embodiments, cell selection or cell reselection may include reselection from an NR cell to an LTE cell.

In some embodiments, the UE may determine that it is operating in a non-standalone mode of operation. In such implementations, cell selection and/or cell reselection may include at least one of: cell reselection when the UE is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, cell selection when the UE is in an RRC idle state, cell reselection when the UE is in an RRC inactive state, and/or cell selection when the UE experiences an LTE cell radio link failure. In some embodiments, when the cell selection or cell reselection comprises cell selection when the UE is in an RRC idle state, prioritizing the first LTE cell to exceed the second LTE cell based on the support of EN-DC may comprise confirming that a measured RSRP of the first LTE cell is greater than an RSRP threshold.

In some embodiments, the UE may include a first Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) associated with the first LTE cell and a second SIM associated with the second LTE cell, and the second SIM may be a data preferred SIM. In such embodiments, the data preference may be switched to the first SIM based on prioritizing the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell.

It is well known that the use of personally identifiable information should comply with privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be explicitly stated to the user.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of various forms. For example, some embodiments may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more custom designed hardware devices, such as ASICs. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements, such as FPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium may be configured such that it stores program instructions and/or data, wherein the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., UE106) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The apparatus may be embodied in any of various forms.

Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.

Claims (20)

1. A user equipment device (UE), comprising:

one or more antennas;

one or more radios, wherein each of the one or more radios is configured to perform cellular communication using at least one Radio Access Technology (RAT);

one or more processors coupled to the one or more radios, wherein the one or more processors and the one or more radios are configured to perform voice and/or data communications;

wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to:

performing one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection or cell reselection;

determining whether at least two Long Term Evolution (LTE) cells satisfy a selection criterion based on one or more of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements;

in response to determining that at least two LTE cells satisfy the selection criteria, prioritizing a first LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells over a second LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells based on support for evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) -New Radio (NR) dual connectivity (EN-DC), wherein the first LTE cell indicates support for EN-DC, wherein the second LTE cell does not indicate support for EN-DC, and wherein the first LTE cell is within a tolerance threshold of RSRP and/or SNR of the second LTE cell; and

selecting the first LTE cell.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein to prioritize the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

receive a first SIB2 from the first LTE cell indicating support for EN-DC; and

receive a second SIB2 from the second LTE cell that does not indicate support for EN-DC; and is

Wherein to indicate support for EN-DC, the first SIB2 includes an Upper Layer Indicator (ULI) parameter, and wherein inclusion of the ULI parameter in the first SIB2 indicates support for EN-DC.

3. The UE of claim 2, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

determining that the ULI parameter has a value equal to "true", thereby indicating support for EN-DC, wherein a value of "1" indicates "true" and a value of "0" indicates "false".

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

storing cell information of the first LTE cell in a database, the cell information of the first LTE cell comprising one or more of NR frequency band, NR subcarrier spacing (SCS), NR Bandwidth (BW), NR frequency range 1(FR1) support, or NR frequency range 2(FR2) support, wherein the database comprises EN-DC _ db.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

determining whether the UE is operating in an NR standalone mode of operation or a non-standalone mode of operation; and is

Wherein cell selection or cell reselection comprises reselection from an NR cell to an LTE cell when the UE is operating in the NR standalone mode of operation; and is

Wherein, when the UE is operating in a non-standalone mode of operation, cell selection or cell reselection comprises at least one of:

cell reselection while the UE is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state;

cell selection when the UE is in an RRC idle state;

cell reselection while the UE is in an RRC inactive state; or

Cell selection when the UE experiences LTE cell radio link failure.

6. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein, when the cell selection or cell reselection comprises cell selection when the UE is in an RRC idle state, to prioritize the first of the at least two LTE cells over the second of the at least two LTE cells based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

confirming that a measured RSRP of the first LTE cell is greater than an RSRP threshold.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein the UE further comprises:

a first Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) associated with the first LTE cell; and

a second SIM associated with the second LET cell;

wherein the second SIM is a data preferred SIM; and is

Wherein switching data preferences to the first SIM is based on prioritizing the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell.

8. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein to prioritize the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

determining that the first LTE cell is configured with an NR neighbor cell; and

determining that the second LTE cell is not configured with NR neighbor cells.

9. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein to prioritize the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

determining that the first LTE cell was previously configured in an EN-DC mode based on historical information stored at the UE; and

determining that the second LTE cell has not been previously configured in an EN-DC mode based on the history information.

10. The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to,

wherein to select the first LTE cell, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:

selecting the first LTE cell based on the first LTE cell indicating support for at least one of NR frequency range 1(FR1) or NR frequency range 2(FR2), wherein a SIB2 received from the first LTE cell includes an Upper Layer Indicator (ULI) parameter indicating support for one or both of NR frequency range 1(NR FR1) and/or NR frequency range 2(NR FR2), wherein NR FR1 includes a sub 6GHz band, and wherein NR FR2 includes a 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz band.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:

performing one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection or cell reselection;

determining whether at least two cells satisfy a selection criterion based on one or more of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements;

in response to determining that at least two cells meet the selection criteria, prioritizing a first cell of the at least two cells over a second cell of the at least two cells based on support for a dual connectivity mode of operation, wherein the first cell indicates support for the dual connectivity mode of operation, wherein the second cell does not indicate support for the dual connectivity mode of operation, and wherein the first cell is within a tolerance threshold of an RSRP and/or an SNR of the second cell; and

selecting the first cell.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed in a substantially cylindrical configuration,

wherein to select the first cell, the processor is further configured to select a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) from a plurality of SCSs of the first cell.

13. The apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein,

wherein to select the SCS, the processor is further configured to select the SCS from the plurality of SCSs based at least in part on at least one of: a type and delay of an application requesting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection, whether the selection of the first cell is for reachability purposes, or whether the selection of the first cell is for enhanced throughput purposes.

14. The apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

storing the SCS in an internal database as part of a cell acquisition procedure; and

generating instructions to upload and/or transmit the internal database to a server acting as a crowdsourcing database, wherein the server is a device manufacturer owned server.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed in a substantially cylindrical configuration,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

downloading and/or retrieving a crowdsourcing database from a server; wherein the crowdsourcing database comprises cell information for the at least two cells; wherein the cell information comprises one or more of New Radio (NR) band, NR subcarrier spacing (SCS), NR Bandwidth (BW), NR frequency range 1(FR1) support, or NR frequency range 2(FR2) support; and

storing the crowdsourcing database as an internal database.

16. The apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein,

wherein the crowdsourcing database is downloaded/retrieved over a non-cellular interface.

17. A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by processing circuitry to cause a user equipment device (UE) to:

determining whether at least two cells satisfy a selection criterion based on one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection or cell reselection;

in response to determining that at least two LTE cells satisfy the selection criteria, prioritizing a first cell of the at least two cells over a second cell of the at least two cells based on support for evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) -New Radio (NR) dual connectivity (EN-DC), wherein the first cell indicates support for EN-DC, wherein the second cell does not indicate support for EN-DC, and wherein the first cell is within a tolerance threshold of the second cell; and

selecting the first cell based on the prioritizing.

18. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 17,

wherein to prioritize the first cell over the second cell based on support for EN-DC, the program instructions are further executable to cause the UE to:

receiving a first SIB2 from the first cell indicating support for EN-DC; and

receiving a second SIB2 from the second cell indicating no support for EN-DC; and is

Wherein to indicate support for EN-DC, the first SIB2 includes an Upper Layer Indicator (ULI) parameter, and wherein inclusion of the ULI parameter in the first SIB2 indicates support for EN-DC.

19. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 17,

wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the UE to:

storing cell information for the first cell in a database, the cell information for the first cell comprising one or more of NR frequency band, NR subcarrier spacing (SCS), NR Bandwidth (BW), NR frequency range 1(FR1) support, or NR frequency range 2(FR2) support.

20. The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 17,

wherein the tolerance threshold is one of an absolute threshold or a percentage threshold.

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