WO2018144892A1

WO2018144892A1 - Provisions facilitating bandwidth adaptation transition and measurement

Info

Publication number: WO2018144892A1
Application number: PCT/US2018/016679
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rui Huang; Yang Tang; Jie Cui; Hong He
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2017-02-03
Filing date: 2018-02-02
Publication date: 2018-08-09
Also published as: DE112018000223T5

Abstract

A base station (BS) is configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) operation of a user equipment (UE). The BS determines BWA transition time of the UE based on the BWA capability information. The BWA transition time corresponds to a time interval during which the UE fails to meet a defined minimum level of communication performance. The BS generates a BWA transition command for transmission to the UE, with the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute. In response to the BWA transition command, the BS refrains from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time.

Description

PROVISIONS FACILITATING BANDWIDTH ADAPTATION

TRANSITION AND MEASUREMENT

PRIOR APPLICATIONS

[0001] This Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/454,457 filed February 3, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments pertain to wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to wireless networks including 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) networks, 3 GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, 3 GPP LTE-A (LTE

Advanced) networks, and fifth-generation (5G) networks. Other embodiments relate to Wi-Fi wireless local area networks (WLANs). Further embodiments are more generally applicable outside the purview of LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Aspects of the embodiments are directed to bandwidth adaptation.

BACKGROUND

[0003] There is an ongoing need to increase mobile network capacity while improving the energy management of mobile devices. Bandwidth adaptation (BWA) is a technique that is being developed to improve mobile network performance in both areas. One purpose of receiver BWA is to allow the user equipment (UE) to monitor the control channels using a narrow-bandwidth, low-power operating mode (such as during periods of low data activity), while retaining the ability to switch modes to a wider-bandwidth, higher-power mode to receive greater amounts of data (such as during periods of high data activity). While this technique brings a number of benefits, several challenges remain to be addressed in facilitating adaptive- bandwidth operations. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the following figures of the accompanying drawings.

[0005] FIG. 1 is a functional diagram of a 3 GPP network in accordance with some embodiments.

[0006] FIG. 2 is a functional diagram of a user device 200, also referred to as user equipment (UE) in accordance with some embodiments.

[0007] FIG. 3 illustrates a base station (BS) or infrastructure equipment radio head in accordance with an example.

[0008] FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary millimeter wave communication circuitry according to some aspects.

[0009] FIGs 4B and 4C illustrate examples for the transmit circuitry in FIG. 4A in some aspects.

[0010] FIG. 4D illustrates an exemplary radio frequency circuitry in FIG. 4 A according to some aspects.

[0011] FIG. 4E illustrates exemplary receive circuitry in FIG. 4A according to some aspects.

[0012] FIG. 5 illustrates protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to some aspects.

[0013] FIG. 6 illustrates protocol entities that may be implemented in wireless communication devices according to some examples.

[0014] FIGs. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating resource elements according to some aspects.

[0015] FIG. 8 is a simplified timing diagram illustrating BWA operation according to some aspects.

[0016] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating engines of a BS that perform BWA- related operations according to some embodiments.

[0017] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating BWA-related operation by a base station according to some examples.

[0018] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating engines of a UE that perform BWA- related operations according to some embodiments. [0019] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating operations that may be performed by a user device in support of BWA operation according to various examples.

[0020] FIG. 13 illustrates an architecture of a system of a network in accordance with some embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 14 illustrates example components of a device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0022] FIG. 15 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments.

[0023] FIG. 16 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

[0024] FIG. 17 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

[0025] FIG. 18 illustrates components of a core network in accordance with some embodiments.

[0026] FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system 1900 to support network functions virtualization.

[0027] FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. A number of examples are described in the context of 3GPP communication systems and components thereof. It will be understood that principles of the embodiments are applicable in other types of communication systems, such as Wi-Fi or Wi-Max networks, Bluetooth or other personal-area networks (PANs), Zigbee or other home- area networks (HANs), wireless mesh networks, and the like, without limitation, unless expressly limited by a corresponding claim.

[0029] Given the benefit of the present disclosure, persons skilled in the relevant technologies will be able to engineer suitable variations to implement principles of the embodiments in other types of communication systems. For example, it will be understood that a base station (BS) of a 3 GPP context is analogous, generally speaking, to a wireless access point (AP) of a WLAN context. Likewise, user equipment (UE) of a 3 GPP context is generally analogous to mobile stations (ST As) of WLANs. Various diverse embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other differences. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all presently-known, and after-arising, equivalents of those claims.

[0030] Various aspects of the embodiments are directed to facilitating efficient and effective operation in connection with BWA. As discussed above, in systems utilizing BWA, a UE may operate in a power-efficient narrowband state, and higher- performing wideband state. Each state is associated to data-carrying resource elements (REs) over which the UE is assumed to be able to receive control/data). The wideband state generally provides more REs than the narrowband state.

[0031] When the UE is not scheduled to transmit or receive data, or is scheduled to transmit or receive low-data-rate service (such as voice service), the UE can operate in the narrowband state to reduce power consumption. Power is conserved as the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuitry power consumption is generally proportional to the bandwidth. When the UE is scheduled to transmit or receive high- data-rate services (such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) service), the BS can command the UE to operate in the wideband state.

[0032] While a UE is configured in the narrowband state it may also be receiving a relatively small amount of data (e.g. control information, transmission control protocol (TCP) positive or negative acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs, etc.).

Hence, while in such narrowband state, in addition to receiving a control channel, the UE may still be able to receive data normally as long as the data transmission falls within the UE's narrow operating bandwidth.

[0033] From a system perspective, having less-active UEs operate in their respective narrowband states advantageously frees up resource elements of the serving BS to be allocated to UEs that are more active. Thus, power is saved in the less-active UEs, while the more active UEs may have more communications resources scheduled to facilitate improved data-communications performance.

[0034] In some examples, the adaptive bandwidth of a given UE may be controlled by the BS using signaling over a control channel such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), for instance, to command the UE to operate in a selected mode. In other examples, the UE may select its adaptive-bandwidth mode, and report its selection to the BS over a control channel such as the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In related examples, both approaches, BS-controlled, and UE- selected, BWA, may be employed. For instance, the BS may have ultimate authority over the adaptive bandwidth for the UEs that it server; however, UEs may send a request for a certain adaptive-bandwidth operating mode to the BS according to their individual preferential determination.

[0035] One practical challenge with the employment of adaptive bandwidth operating states has to do with the transition time as a UE's radio changes from one bandwidth to another. In transitioning, the UE's baseband processor interprets and executes the transition command, and the UE's radio circuitry performs RF retuning, analog-to-digital conversion settings changes, and automatic gain control (AGC) adjustment, among other operations. These operations have a settling time during which the radio circuitry approaches a steady state. During the transition time, the UE is not able to properly receive control or data messaging. Likewise, during the transition time, the UE may not be able to properly transmit control or data messaging.

[0036] Proper reception or transmission of control or data messaging is quantifiable in terms of meeting a predefined minimum level of communication performance. For instance, a minimum level of communication performance may be defined as a limit for missed frame acknowledgements (e.g., ACK, NACK messages). An example of such a limit is a maximum probability of 0.5% of missed ACK/NACK messages attributable to the BWA transition time. When a UE's radio circuitry is properly tuned and settled (outside of the BWA transition time), its nominal communication performance meets the defined minimum level of communication performance. However, during the BWA transition time, the UE's nominal communication performance fails to meet the minimum level of communication performance.

[0037] According to some embodiments, the BWA transition time for a given UE is known. The transition time may be reported to the BS explicitly or implicitly, and the BS may schedule BWA transitions, and likewise the BS may schedule communications with the UE following each BWA transition such that messaging between the BS and the UE is suppressed or avoided during the UE's BWA transition time. [0038] In some embodiments, explicit reporting of the BWA transition time includes the UE providing an indicator that either includes a value of the BWA transition time, or is otherwise associated with a predefined transition time or range of transition times, as part of the control-channel configuration information exchange between the UE and the BS.

[0039] In related embodiments, implicit reporting of the BWA transition time involves the BS having advance knowledge of different types or classes of UEs, and likewise having advance knowledge of the BWA transition times for the various types or classes. In the implicit reporting example, the BS may simply receive and decode the UE type indicator from the UE and, using this information, the BS may determine, using its advance knowledge, the corresponding BWA transition time that was pre-associated with the UE type.

[0040] In another aspect, some embodiments are directed to radio link monitoring during BWA transitions. Due to BWA, the bandwidth of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may be changed during the reception of control signaling by the UE, from which the UE is to perform radio link monitoring (RLM). The change in bandwidth mid-stream during the RLM may adversely affect the accuracy of the RLM measurements and link quality assessment. Accordingly, various embodiments include variation of RLM evaluation criteria commensurately with transition of bandwidth as part of the BWA operations.

[0041] FIG. 1 is a functional diagram of a 3GPP network in accordance with some embodiments. The network comprises a radio access network (RAN) (e.g., as depicted, the E-UTRAN or evolved universal terrestrial radio access network) 101 and the core network 120 (e.g., shown as an evolved packet core (EPC)) coupled together through an SI interface 115. For convenience and brevity sake, only a portion of the core network 120, as well as the RAN 101, is shown.

[0042] The core network 120 includes a mobility management entity (MME) 122, a serving gateway (serving GW) 124, and packet data network gateway (PDN GW) 126. The RAN 101 includes one or more BSs, such as evolved Node-B (eNB) 104, new-radio Node Bs (gNB) 106, or the like, for communicating with user equipment (UE) 102. Hereinafter, the terms eNB, gNB, and BS (BS) may be used

interchangeably unless a specific distinction is intended, in which case the distinction will be specifically pointed out. The BSs 104, 106 may include macro eNBs and low power (LP) eNBs. In accordance with some embodiments, the BSs 104, 106 may transmit a downlink control message to the UE 102 to indicate an allocation of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) channel resources. The UE 102 may receive the downlink control message from the BSs 104, 106, and may transmit an uplink control message to the BSs 104, 106 in at least a portion of the PUCCH channel resources. These embodiments will be described in more detail below.

[0043] The MME 122 is similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSN). The MME 122 manages mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The serving GW 124 terminates the interface toward the RAN 101, and routes data packets between the RAN 101 and the core network 120. In addition, it may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-eNB handoffs and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The serving GW 124 and the MME 122 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. The PDN GW 126 terminates a SGi interface toward the packet data network (PDN). The PDN GW 126 routes data packets between the EPC 120 and the external PDN, and may be a key node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. It may also provide an anchor point for mobility with non-LTE accesses. The external PDN can be any kind of IP network, as well as an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) domain. The PDN GW 126 and the serving GW 124 may be implemented in one physical node or separated physical nodes.

[0044] The BSs 104, 106 (macro and micro) terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for a UE 102. In some embodiments, a BS 104, 106 may fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 101 including but not limited to RNC (radio network controller functions) such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. In accordance with embodiments, UE 102 may be configured to communicate with a BS 104, 106 over a multipath fading channel in accordance with an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique. The OFDM signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

[0045] The SI interface 115 is the interface that separates the RAN 101 and the EPC 120. It is split into two parts: the Sl-U, which carries traffic data between the BSs 104, 106 and the serving GW 124, and the SI -MME, which is a signaling interface between the BS 104, 106 and the MME 122. The X2 interface is the interface between BS 104, 106. The X2 interface comprises two parts, the X2-C and X2-U. The X2-C is the control plane interface between the BS 104, 106, while the X2-U is the user plane interface between the BSs 104, 106.

[0046] With cellular networks, LP cells are typically used to extend coverage to indoor areas where outdoor signals do not reach well, or to add network capacity in areas with very dense phone usage, such as train stations. As used herein, the term low power (LP) eNB or gNB refers to any suitable relatively low power eNB or gNB for implementing a narrower cell (narrower than a macro cell) such as a femtocell, a picocell, or a micro cell. Femtocell eNBs or gNBs are typically provided by a mobile network operator to its residential or enterprise customers. A femtocell is typically the size of a residential gateway or smaller and generally connects to the user's broadband line. Once plugged in, the femtocell connects to the mobile operator's mobile network and provides extra coverage in a range of typically 30 to 50 meters for residential femtocells. Thus, a LP eNB or gNB might be a femtocell eNB or gNB since it is coupled through the PDN GW 126. Similarly, a picocell is a wireless communication system typically covering a small area, such as in-building (offices, shopping malls, train stations, etc.), or more recently in-aircraft. A picocell eNB or gNB can generally connect through the X2 link to another eNB or gNB such as a macro eNB or gNB through its BS controller (BSC) functionality. Thus, LP eNB or gNB may be implemented with a picocell since it is coupled to a macro eNB via an X2 interface. Picocells or other LP BSs may incorporate some or all functionality of a macro BS. In some cases, this may be referred to as an access point BS or enterprise femtocell.

[0047] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from a BS 104, 106 to a UE 102, while uplink transmission from the UE 102 to the BS 104, 106 may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time- frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid correspond to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element (RE). Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks (RBs), which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements in the frequency domain and may represent the smallest quanta of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. With particular relevance to this disclosure, two of these physical downlink channels are the physical downlink shared channel and the physical down link control channel.

[0048] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data and higher-layer signaling to a UE 102 (FIG. 1). The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It also informs the UE 102 about the transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (e.g., assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 102 within a cell) may be performed at the BS 104, 106 based on channel quality information fed back from the UE 102 to the BS 104, 106, and then the downlink resource assignment information may be sent to the UE 102 on the control channel (PDCCH) used for (assigned to) the UE 102.

[0049] The PDCCH uses CCEs (control channel elements) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex- valued symbols are first organized into quadruplets, which are then permuted using a sub-block inter-leaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH is transmitted using one or more of these control channel elements (CCEs), where each CCE corresponds to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four QPSK symbols are mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=l, 2, 4, or 8).

[0050] As used herein, the term circuitry may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware engines that include instruction-execution hardware. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware or software.

[0051] FIG. 2 is a functional diagram of a user device 200, also referred to as user equipment (UE) in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 200 may be a mobile device in some aspects and includes an application processor 205, baseband processor 210 (also referred to as a baseband module), radio front end module (RFEM) 215, memory 220, connectivity module 225, near field communication (NFC) controller 230, audio driver 235, camera driver 240, touch screen 245, display driver 250, sensors 255, removable memory 260, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 265 and smart battery 270.

[0052] In some aspects, application processor 205 may include, for example, one or more CPU cores and one or more of cache memory, low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as serial peripheral interface (SPI), inter-integrated circuit (I2C) or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input-output (IO), memory card controllers such as secure digital / multi-media card (SD/MMC) or similar, universal serial bus (USB) interfaces, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports.

[0053] In some aspects, baseband module 210 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, and/or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0054] FIG. 3 illustrates a BS or infrastructure equipment radio head 300 in accordance with an example. The BS radio head 300 may include one or more of application processor 305, baseband modules 310, one or more radio front end modules 315, memory 320, power management circuitry 325, power tee circuitry 330, network controller 335, network interface connector 340, satellite navigation receiver module 345, and user interface 350.

[0055] In some aspects, application processor 305 may include one or more CPU cores and one or more of cache memory, low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I2C or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose 10, memory card controllers such as SD/MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports.

[0056] In some aspects, baseband processor 310 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0057] In some aspects, memory 320 may include one or more of volatile memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including highspeed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) and/or a three-dimensional crosspoint memory. Memory 320 may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards.

[0058] In some aspects, power management integrated circuitry 325 may include one or more of voltage regulators, surge protectors, power alarm detection circuitry and one or more backup power sources such as a battery or capacitor. Power alarm detection circuitry may detect one or more of brown out (under- voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions.

[0059] In some aspects, power tee circuitry 330 may provide for electrical power drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the BS radio head 300 using a single cable.

[0060] In some aspects, network controller 335 may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet. Network connectivity may be provided using a physical connection which is one of electrical (commonly referred to as copper interconnect), optical or wireless.

[0061] In some aspects, satellite navigation receiver module 345 may include circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted by one or more navigation satellite constellations such as the global positioning system (GPS), Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS), Galileo and/or BeiDou. The receiver 345 may provide data to application processor 305 which may include one or more of position data or time data. Application processor 305 may use time data to synchronize operations with other radio BSs.

[0062] In some aspects, user interface 350 may include one or more of physical or virtual buttons, such as a reset button, one or more indicators such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a display screen.

[0063] FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary communication circuitry 400 according to some aspects. Communication circuitry 400 is alternatively grouped according to functions. Components as shown in FIG. 4 are shown here for illustrative purposes and may include other components not shown.

[0064] Communication circuitry 400 may include protocol processing circuitry 405, which may implement one or more of medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC) and non-access stratum (NAS) functions. Protocol processing circuitry 405 may include one or more processing cores (not shown) to execute instructions and one or more memory structures (not shown) to store program and data information.

[0065] Communication circuitry 400 may further include digital baseband circuitry 410, which may implement physical layer (PHY) functions including one or more of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) functions, scrambling and/or descrambling, coding and/or decoding, layer mapping and/or de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol and/or bit metric determination, multi-antenna port pre- coding and/or decoding which may include one or more of space-time, space- frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation and/or detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation and/or detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0066] Communication circuitry 400 may further include transmit circuitry 415, receive circuitry 420 and/or antenna array circuitry 430.

[0067] Communication circuitry 400 may further include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 425. In an aspect of the invention, RF circuitry 425 may include multiple parallel RF chains for one or more of transmit or receive functions, each connected to one or more antennas of the antenna array 430.

[0068] In an aspect of the disclosure, protocol processing circuitry 405 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for one or more of digital baseband circuitry 410, transmit circuitry 415, receive circuitry 420, and/or radio frequency circuitry 425. [0069] Figures 4B and 4C illustrate examples for transmit circuitry 415 in FIG. 4 A in some aspects. The exemplary transmit circuitry 415 of FIG. 4B may include one or more of digital to analog converters (DACs) 440, analog baseband circuitry 445, up-conversion circuitry 450 and filtering and amplification circuitry 455. In another aspect, 4C illustrates an exemplary transmit circuitry 415 which includes digital transmit circuitry 465 and output circuitry 470.

[0070] FIG. 4D illustrates an exemplary radio frequency circuitry 425 in FIG. 4A according to some aspects.

[0071] Radio frequency circuitry 425 may include one or more instances of radio chain circuitry 472, which in some aspects may include one or more filters, power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, programmable phase shifters and power supplies (not shown).

[0072] Radio frequency circuitry 425 may include power combining and dividing circuitry 474 in some aspects. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 474 may operate bidirectionally, such that the same physical circuitry may be configured to operate as a power divider when the device is transmitting, and as a power combiner when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 474 may one or more include wholly or partially separate circuitries to perform power dividing when the device is transmitting and power combining when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 474 may include passive circuitry comprising one or more two- way power divider/combiners arranged in a tree. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 474 may include active circuitry comprising amplifier circuits.

[0073] In some aspects, radio frequency circuitry 425 may connect to transmit circuitry 415 and receive circuitry 420 in FIG. 4 A via one or more radio chain interfaces 476 or a combined radio chain interface 478.

[0074] In some aspects, one or more radio chain interfaces 476 may provide one or more interfaces to one or more receive or transmit signals, each associated with a single antenna structure which may comprise one or more antennas.

[0075] In some aspects, the combined radio chain interface 478 may provide a single interface to one or more receive or transmit signals, each associated with a group of antenna structures comprising one or more antennas. [0076] FIG. 4E illustrates exemplary receive circuitry 420 in FIG. 4A according to some aspects. Receive circuitry 420 may include one or more of parallel receive circuitry 482 and/or one or more of combined receive circuitry 484.

[0077] In some aspects, the one or more parallel receive circuitry 482 and one or more combined receive circuitry 484 may include one or more Intermediate

Frequency (IF) down-conversion circuitry 486, IF processing circuitry 488, baseband down-conversion circuitry 490, baseband processing circuitry 492 and analog-to- digital converter (ADC) circuitry 494.

[0078] An illustration of protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to some aspects is illustrated in FIG. 5.

[0079] In some aspects, protocol layers may include one or more of physical layer (PHY) 510, medium access control layer (MAC) 520, radio link control layer (RLC) 530, packet data convergence protocol layer (PDCP) 540, service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer 547, radio resource control layer (RRC) 555, and non-access stratum (NAS) layer 557, in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated.

[0080] According to some aspects, protocol layers may include one or more service access points that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

[0081] According to some aspects, PHY 510 may transmit and receive physical layer signals 505 that may be received or transmitted respectively by one or more other communication devices. According to some aspects, physical layer signals 505 may comprise one or more physical channels.

[0082] According to some aspects, an instance of PHY 510 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of MAC 520 via one or more physical layer service access points (PHY-SAP) 515. According to some aspects, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP 515 may comprise one or more transport channels.

[0083] According to some aspects, an instance of MAC 510 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of RLC 530 via one or more medium access control service access points (MAC-SAP) 525. According to some aspects, requests and indications communicated via MAC- SAP 525 may comprise one or more logical channels.

[0084] According to some aspects, an instance of RLC 530 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP 540 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAP) 535. According to some aspects, requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP 535 may comprise one or more RLC channels.

[0085] According to some aspects, an instance of PDCP 540 may process requests from and provide indications to one or more of an instance of RRC 555 and one or more instances of SDAP 547 via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP) 545. According to some aspects, requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP 545 may comprise one or more radio bearers.

[0086] According to some aspects, an instance of SDAP 547 may process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more service data adaptation protocol service access points (SDAP-SAP) 549.

According to some aspects, requests and indications communicated via SDAP-SAP 549 may comprise one or more quality of service (QoS) flows.

[0087] According to some aspects, RRC entity 555 may configure, via one or more management service access points (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 510, MAC 520, RLC 530, PDCP 540 and SDAP 547. According to some aspects, an instance of RRC 555 may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities via one or more RRC service access points (RRC- SAP) 556.

[0088] FIG. 6 illustrates protocol entities that may be implemented in wireless communication devices according to some examples. Wireless communication devices in these examples may include one or more of a user equipment (UE) 660, a BS, which may be termed an evolved node B (eNB), or new radio node B (gNB) 680, and a network function, which may be termed a mobility management entity (MME), or an access and mobility management function (AMF) 694, according to some aspects.

[0089] According to some aspects, gNB 680 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macro-cell, a femto-cell or other suitable device, or in an alternative aspect, may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network termed a cloud radio access network (CRAN).

[0090] According to some aspects, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 660, gNB 680 and AMF 694, may be described as implementing all or part of a protocol stack in which the layers are considered to be ordered from lowest to highest in the order PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS. According to some aspects, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 660, gNB 680 and AMF 694, may communicate with a respective peer protocol entity that may be implemented on another device, using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication.

[0091] According to some aspects, UE PHY 672 and peer entity gNB PHY 690 may communicate using signals transmitted and received via a wireless medium. According to some aspects, UE MAC 670 and peer entity gNB MAC 688 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE PHY 672 and gNB PHY 690. According to some aspects, UE RLC 668 and peer entity gNB RLC 686 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE MAC 670 and gNB MAC 688. According to some aspects, UE PDCP 666 and peer entity gNB PDCP 684 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE RLC 668 and 5 GNB RLC 686. According to some aspects, UE RRC 664 and gNB RRC 682 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE PDCP 666 and gNB PDCP 684. According to some aspects, UE NAS 662 and AMF NAS 692 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE RRC 664 and gNB RRC 682.

[0092] In some aspects, a sub-component of a transmitted signal constituting one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one symbol interval in the time domain may be termed a resource element. Resource elements may be depicted in a grid form as shown in FIG. 7 A and FIG. 7B.

[0093] In some aspects, illustrated in FIG. 7A, resource elements may be grouped into rectangular resource blocks 700 consisting of 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain and the P symbols in the time domain, where P may correspond to the number of symbols contained in one slot, and may be 6, 7, or any other suitable number of symbols.

[0094] In some alternative aspects, illustrated in FIG. 7B, resource elements may be grouped into resource blocks 700 consisting of 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain and one symbol in the time domain.

[0095] In the depictions of FIG. 7 A and FIG. 7B, each resource element 705 may be indexed as (k, 1) where k is the index number of subcarrier, in the range 0 to N.M- 1, where N is the number of subcarriers in a resource block, and M is the number of resource blocks spanning a component carrier in the frequency domain.

[0096] FIG. 8 is a simplified timing diagram illustrating BWA operation of a UE, in communication with a BS, according to some aspects. As depicted, various control and data communications take place as a function of time t. These communications may be while the UE is in a narrowband state 802 having bandwidth 803, or wideband state 804 having bandwidth 805. As depicted, communications operations may include control channel communication 808 and data communication 810. An instance of control channel communication in narrowband state 802 is indicated at 808A, and an instance of control channel communication in wideband state 804 is indicated at 808B. Similarly, an instance of data communication in narrowband state 802 is indicated at 81 OA, and an instance of data communication in wideband state 804 is indicated at 810B. BWA transition time 812 represents the time between narrowband state 802 and wideband state 804 during which the UE is not able to conduct normal communications activity due to one or more of: the processing time of UE RF BWA command, the settling time of RF retuning, the settling time of AID or D/A conversion, the settling time of AGC, and the like.

[0097] As described above, in various embodiments, the BWA may be initiated by the BS, either based entirely on the BS's determination, or in response to a UE's request for a change of bandwidth state.

[0098] In some embodiments, the BS maintains knowledge of a UE's BWA transition time 812, and schedules communication with a bandwidth-adapting UE in such a manner that no uplink or downlink communications are scheduled for the UE during BWA transition time 812.

[0099] Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, engines, engines, or circuitry which for the sake of consistency are termed engines, although it will be understood that these terms may be used interchangeably. Engines may be hardware, software, or firmware communicatively coupled to one or more processors in order to carry out the operations described herein. Engines may be hardware engines, and as such engines may be considered tangible entities capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as an engine. In an example, the whole or part of one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as an engine that operates to perform specified operations. In an example, the software may reside on a machine-readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the engine, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations. Accordingly, the term hardware engine is understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein.

[0100] Considering examples in which engines are temporarily configured, each of the engines need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example, where the engines comprise a general-purpose hardware processor core configured using software; the general-purpose hardware processor core may be configured as respective different engines at different times. Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor core, for example, to constitute a particular engine at one instance of time and to constitute a different engine at a different instance of time.

[0101] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating engines of a BS that perform BWA- related operations according to some embodiments. Engines 902-908 may be implemented in application processor 305 (FIG. 3), baseband module 310, or as a combination of these components, for example.

[0102] BWA decision engine 902 is constructed, programmed, or otherwise configured, to determine a call for BWA of individual UEs. For a given UE, the call for BWA to narrowband state 802 from wideband state 804 may be generated in response to a passage of a predefined amount of time during which the UE has not actively received an amount of data in excess of a minimal-activity threshold. For example, a passage of two minutes during which the UE has not sent or received more than 200 KB of data may constitute a call for BWA transition to narrowband state 802. Similarly, in response to the minimal-activity threshold being exceeded, BWA transition to wideband state 804 may be called for.

[0103] UE parameters data store 904 contains information on the various UEs that are currently being served by the BS. The UE parameters may include BWA transition time for individual UEs or by UE type, or information from which a given UE's BWA transition time may be determined. [0104] Resource scheduler 906 is constructed, programmed, or otherwise configured, to read the UE parameters data store 904, determine the BWA transition time for particular UEs, and schedule resource elements for uplink and downlink data and control channels in a suitable manner to avoid having UEs communicate during their respective BWA transition time following a BWA transition. During a given UE's BWA transition time, resource elements may instead be scheduled to other UEs which are not in their BWA transition time.

[0105] Command generator 908 is constructed, programmed, or otherwise configured, to encode BWA-related commands for reception by UEs, including commands to transition to narrowband state 802, or wideband state 804, for example.

[0106] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating BWA-related operation by a BS according to some examples. As depicted, process 1000 may be performed by application processor 305 and associated circuitry of BS radio head 300 (FIG. 3), or by a system having a different architecture. Notably, process 1000 is a machine- implemented process that operates autonomously (e.g., without user interaction). In addition, it is important to note that process 1000 is a richly-featured embodiment that may be realized as described; in addition, portions of the process may be implemented while others are excluded in various embodiments. The following Additional Notes and Examples section details various combinations, without limitation, that are contemplated. It should also be noted that in various

embodiments, certain process operations may be performed in a different ordering than depicted in FIG. 10.

[0107] At 1002, the BS facilitates random access by a UE. This operation may include a series of operations that carry out a random-access protocol, including such operations as responding to a random access preamble, radio resource control (RRC) signaling, and the like. At 1004, the BS obtains UE type information from the UE, which may provide (explicitly or implicitly) the UE's BWA capability, and BWA performance parameters, which in turn may include the BWA transition time of the UE. Various UEs may have different BWA transition times. It is also contemplated that certain classes of UEs may conform to a standardized BWA transition time limit that is known by the BS.

[0108] At 1006, the BS maintains a data structure (e.g., UE parameters data store 904) including UE-specific or type-specific BWA capabilities, and PWA

performance parameters, such as the BWA transition time, for various UEs or UE types. As described above, the BWA transition time for a given UE is therefore known, or determinable. The transition time may have been reported to the BS explicitly or implicitly by the UE.

[0109] At 1008, the BS (e.g., via BWA decision engine 902) obtains a call for BWA transition from one state to another, for a specific UE. The call may be locally generated in the BS. The call may be initiated by the BS itself, or it may be externally initiated, such as by a request for BWA from the UE, for instance. In the latter case, the BS may still exercise ultimate control of whether and when BWA transition is to take place.

[0110] At 1010, in response to the call for BWA transition for the specific UE, the BS generates and encodes a BWA command for transmission to the UE (e.g., via command generator 908). The BWA command may be sent via the PDCCH, for example.

[0111] At 1012, the BS (e.g., via resource scheduler 906) determines the BWA transition time of the UE. The BWA transition time may be looked up directly in the data structure maintained at 1006, for example, or it may be derived or otherwise determined based on the UE-specific or type-specific BWA performance parameters that are stored in the data structure.

[0112] At 1014, the BS (e.g., via resource scheduler 906) refrains from scheduling communications with the transitioning UE during the UE's BWA transition time. In a related example, various different UEs or types of UEs being served by the BS may have different BWA transition times; accordingly, the time duration during which the BS refrains from communicating with the individual UEs may be variable, and UE- specific.

[0113] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating engines of a UE that perform BWA- related operations according to some embodiments. Engines 1102-1108 may be implemented in application processor 205 (FIG. 2), baseband module 210, or as a combination of these components, for example.

[0114] BWA decision engine 1102 is present in embodiments that support some degree of BWA decision- making by the UE. Accordingly, BWA decision engine 1102 is constructed, programmed, or otherwise configured, to determine a call for BWA transition. A variety of factors may be taken into account by BWA decision engine 1102, including such factors as expected communication data volume, which may be based on the activities of the operating system or applications of the UE, the present extent of user interactivity with the UE, the location, movement, or other contextual indicia relating to the UE, just to name a few.

[0115] BWA capability and performance data store 1104 maintains BWA-related information that is to be passed to each serving BS, and which the respective BS may use to control BWA operation. BWA capability information may represent the extent of the UE's ability to respond to BWA transition commands, and may include specifications or limits on the bandwidths that the UE may be configured with as part of BWA operation. This information may be explicitly provided to the BS. In a related embodiment, data store 1104 contains UE type information, which the BS may use to look up the applicable BWA-related parameters as part of an implicit scheme of providing this information for the BS.

[0116] BWA request generator 1106 is constructed, programmed, or otherwise configured, to encode BWA transition requests for transmission to the serving BS, in response to a call for BWA transition by BWA decision engine 1102. The BWA transition requests may be sent via the PUCCH, for example.

[0117] BWA command processor 1108 is constructed, programmed, or otherwise configured, to decode BWA-related commands received from the serving BS, and to pass these commands to the appropriate circuitry to institute the BWA state transition called for by the commands. BWA command processor 1108 is to further pass the commands to BWA decision engine so that the latter may apply its decision rules in accordance with the current or forthcoming commanded BWA state.

[0118] Radio link quality measurement parameter selector 1110 is constructed, programmed, or otherwise configured, to automatically vary radio link quality measurement parameters to vary the RLM evaluation criteria commensurately with transition of bandwidth as part of the BWA operations.

[0119] During downlink communications, whether in control channel

communication 808, or data communication 810, the UE may receive one or more reference signals from the BS that the UE can measures to assess downlink radio link quality, and report the same to the BS. In some examples, the UE compares the assessed downlink signal quality to defined quality parameters, Qout, and Qin. The parameter Qout is a threshold defined as the level at which the downlink radio link cannot be reliably received and may, for instance, correspond to a 10% block error rate of a hypothetical PDCCH transmission taking into account physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) errors with certain predefined transmission parameters. The parameter Qin is a threshold defined as the level at which the downlink radio link quality can be significantly more reliably received than at Qout and may, for instance, correspond to a 2% block error rate of a hypothetical PDCCH transmission taking into account the PCFICH errors with certain predefined transmission parameters.

[0120] Radio link quality measurement parameter selector 1110 may select values of the parameters Qout and Qin based on the BWA bandwidth state, such as in response to BWA transition commands processed by BWA command processor 1108. Variation of the parameter values may be achieved by looking up suitable values in a lookup table or other suitable data structure, that correspond to the BWA bandwidth state in which the UE is to operate.

[0121] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating operations that may be performed by a user device in support of BWA operation according to various examples. As depicted, process 1200 may be performed by application processor 205, baseband processor 210, and associated circuitry of UE 200 (FIG. 2), or by a system having a different architecture. Process 1200 is a machine-implemented process that operates autonomously (e.g., without user interaction), though it may be initiated by a user. In addition, process 1200 is a richly-featured embodiment that may be realized as described; in addition, portions of the process may be implemented while others are excluded in various embodiments. The following Additional Notes and Examples section details various combinations, without limitation, that are contemplated. It should also be noted that in various embodiments, certain process operations may be performed in a different ordering than depicted in FIG. 12.

[0122] At 1202, the UE executes a random access protocol with the BS to initiate connectivity. As part of the protocol, the UE may supply its BWA capability and BWA performance information to the BS. At 1204, in embodiments where the UE is able to initiate calls for BWA state transition, the UE (via BWA decision engine 1102, for instance), determines a call for BWA. As discussed above, a wide variety of factors may be applied in the UE's decision-making. At 1206, the UE (e.g., via BWA request generator 1106) generates and encodes a BWA transition request, to be transmitted to the BS via the PUCCH, for example.

[0123] At 1208, the UE (e.g., via BWA command processor 1108) decodes a received BWA command from the BS. At 1210, in response to the BWA command, the UE (e.g., via BWA command processor 1108) initiates the BWA state transition to adjust the UE's operations for the transitioned-to bandwidth. These operations may include uplink and downlink communications over control and data channels, as well as assessment of radio link quality based on measurement of received reference signaling.

[0124] At 1212, the UE refrains from communicating during the BWA transition time. In some examples, this is accomplished passively by the UE simply due to the fact that the BS refrains from scheduling any uplink and downlink communications with the UE during this time. In another example, the UE may actively suppress any transmission and reception activity during its known BWA transition time.

[0125] At 1214, the UE (e.g., via radio link measurement parameter selector 1110) adjusts the RLM criteria to be commensurate with the new BWA state to which the UE transitions. Thus, any ensuing RLM operations would be properly computed taking into account new bandwidth according to the current BWA state.

[0126] FIG. 13 illustrates an architecture of a system 1300 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system 1300 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 1301 and a UE 1302. The UEs 1301 and 1302 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[0127] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 1301 and 1302 can comprise an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type

communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to- device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. [0128] The UEs 1301 and 1302 may be configured to connect, e.g.,

communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 1310 - the RAN 1310 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs 1301 and 1302 utilize connections 1303 and 1304, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 1303 and 1304 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3 GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

[0129] In this embodiment, the UEs 1301 and 1302 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 1305. The ProSe interface 1305 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery

Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

[0130] The UE 1302 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 1306 via connection 1307. The connection 1307 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 1306 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 1306 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0131] The RAN 1310 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 1303 and 1304. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 1310 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 1311, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 1312.

[0132] Any of the RAN nodes 1311 and 1312 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 1301 and 1302. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 1311 and 1312 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 1310 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0133] In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 1301 and 1302 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 1311 and 1312 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC- FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink

communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

[0134] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 1311 and 1312 to the UEs 1301 and 1302, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time- frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. [0135] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 1301 and 1302. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 1301 and 1302 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 1311 and 1312 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 1301 and 1302. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 1301 and 1302.

[0136] The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex- valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=l, 2, 4, or 8).

[0137] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

[0138] The RAN 1310 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 1320 -via an SI interface 1313. In embodiments, the CN 1320 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment the SI interface 1313 is split into two parts: the Sl-U interface 1314, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 1311 and 1312 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 1322, and the Sl-mobility management entity (MME) interface 1315, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 1311 and 1312 and MMEs 1321.

[0139] In this embodiment, the CN 1320 comprises the MMEs 1321, the S-GW 1322, the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 1323, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 1324. The MMEs 1321 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 1321 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 1324 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The CN 1320 may comprise one or several HSSs 1324, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 1324 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

[0140] The S-GW 1322 may terminate the S 1 interface 1313 towards the RAN 1310, and routes data packets between the RAN 1310 and the CN 1320. In addition, the S-GW 1322 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0141] The P-GW 1323 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 1323 may route data packets between the EPC network 1323 and external networks such as a network including the application server 1330 (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 1325. Generally, the application server 1330 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 1323 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 1330 via an IP communications interface 1325. The application server 1330 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 1301 and 1302 via the CN 1320. [0142] The P-GW 1323 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 1326 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 1320. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 1326 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 1330 via the P-GW 1323. The application server 1330 may signal the PCRF 1326 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 1326 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 1330.

[0143] FIG. 14 illustrates example components of a device 1400 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 1400 may include application circuitry 1402, baseband circuitry 1404, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 1406, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1408, one or more antennas 1410, and power management circuitry (PMC) 1412 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 1400 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 1400 may include less elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 1402, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 1400 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, ?sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface.? In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C- RAN) implementations).

[0144] The application circuitry 1402 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1402 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one ?or more single-core or multi-core processors. ?The processor(s) may include any combination of ?general-purpose processors and ?dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application ?processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to ?execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or ?operating systems to run on the device 1400. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 1402 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

[0145] The baseband circuitry 1404 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one ?or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 1404 may include one or more baseband ?processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1406 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1406. Baseband processing circuity 1404 may interface with the application circuitry 1402 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 1406. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1404 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 1404 A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 1404B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 1404C, or other baseband processor(s) 1404D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 1404 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 1404A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable ?communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1406. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1404A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 1404G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1404E. The radio control functions ?may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency ?shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1404 may include Fast- Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1404 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0146] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1404 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 1404F. The audio DSP(s) 1404F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband ?circuitry 1404 and the application circuitry 1402 may be implemented ?together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC). ?

[0147] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1404 may provide for communication ?compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the ?baseband circuitry 1404 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio ?access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks WMA ), a ?wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in ?which the baseband circuitry 1404 is configured to support radio communications of more than ?one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0148] RF circuitry 1406 may enable communication with wireless networks using ?modulated ?electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the ?RF circuitry 1406 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication ?with the wireless network. RF circuitry 1406 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1408 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 1404. RF circuitry 1406 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 1404 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1408 for transmission.

[0149] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1406 may include mixer circuitry 1406a, amplifier circuitry 1406b and filter circuitry 1406c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1406 may include filter circuitry 1406c and mixer circuitry 1406a. RF circuitry 1406 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1406d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1408 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 1406d. The amplifier circuitry 1406b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 1406c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 1404 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0150] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1406d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1408. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1404 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1406c.

[0151] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[0152] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 1406 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 1404 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 1406.

[0153] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. [0154] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be a fractional- N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0155] The synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1406a of the RF circuitry 1406 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

[0156] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1404 or the applications processor 1402 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 1402.

[0157] Synthesizer circuitry 1406d of the RF circuitry 1406 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DP A). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0158] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1406 may include an IQ/polar converter.

[0159] FEM circuitry 1408 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1410, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1406 for further processing. FEM circuitry 1408 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 1406 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1410. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1406, solely in the FEM 1408, or in both the RF circuitry 1406 and the FEM 1408.

[0160] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1408 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1406). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1408 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1406), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1410).

[0161] In some embodiments, the PMC 1412 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 1404. In particular, the PMC 1412 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 1412 may often be included when the device 1400 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC 1412 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0162] While FIG. 14 shows the PMC 1412 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 1404. However, in other embodiments, the PMC 14 12 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 1402, RF circuitry 1406, or FEM 1408.

[0163] In some embodiments, the PMC 1412 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 1400. For example, if the device 1400 is in an RRC Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 1400 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[0164] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 1400 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 1400 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 1400 may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC Connected state.

[0165] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

[0166] Processors of the application circuitry 1402 and processors of the baseband circuitry 1404 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 1404, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 1404 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

[0167] FIG. 15 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 1404 of FIG. 14 may comprise processors 1404A-1404E and a memory 1404G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 1404A-1404E may include a memory interface, 1504A-1504E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 1404G. [0168] The baseband circuitry 1404 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface 1512 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 1404), an application circuitry interface 1514 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 1402 of FIG. 14), an RF circuitry interface 1516 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 1406 of FIG. 14), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 1518 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components,

Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface 1520 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC 1412.

[0169] FIG. 16 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane 1600 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 1301 (or alternatively, the UE 1302), the RAN node 1311 (or alternatively, the RAN node 1312), and the MME 1321.

[0170] The PHY layer 1601 may transmit or receive information used by the MAC layer 1602 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer 1601 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC layer 1605. The PHY layer 1601 may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

[0171] The MAC layer 1602 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization.

[0172] The RLC layer 1603 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 1603 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC layer 1603 may also execute re- segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0173] The PDCP layer 1604 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0174] The main services and functions of the RRC layer 1605 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to the non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.

[0175] The UE 1301 and the RAN node 1311 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 1601, the MAC layer 1602, the RLC layer 1603, the PDCP layer 1604, and the RRC layer 1605.

[0176] The non-access stratum (NAS) protocols 1606 form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE 1301 and the MME 1321. The NAS protocols 1606 support the mobility of the UE 1301 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 1301 and the P-GW 1323.

[0177] The SI Application Protocol (Sl-AP) layer 1615 may support the functions of the SI interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node 1311 and the CN 1320. The Sl-AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0178] The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 1614 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 1311 and the MME 1321 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP layer 1613. The L2 layer 1612 and the LI layer 1611 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN node and the MME to exchange information.

[0179] The RAN node 1311 and the MME 1321 may utilize an S 1 -MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 1611, the L2 layer 1612, the IP layer 1613, the SCTP layer 1614, and the Sl-AP layer 1615.

[0180] FIG. 17 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane 1700 is shown as a

communications protocol stack between the UE 1301 (or alternatively, the UE 1302), the RAN node 1311 (or alternatively, the RAN node 1312), the S-GW 1322, and the P-GW 1323. The user plane 1700 may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane 1600. For example, the UE 1301 and the RAN node 1311 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 1601, the MAC layer 1602, the RLC layer 1603, the PDCP layer 1604.

[0181] The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) layer 1704 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security (UDP/IP) layer 1703 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node 1311 and the S-GW 1322 may utilize an Sl-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 1611, the L2 layer 1612, the UDP/IP layer 1703, and the GTP-U layer 1704. The S-GW 1322 and the P-GW 1323 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 1611, the L2 layer 1612, the UDP/IP layer 1703, and the GTP-U layer 1704. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 16, NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE 1301 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 1301 and the P-GW 1323.

[0182] FIG. 18 illustrates components of a core network in accordance with some embodiments. The components of the CN 1320 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non- transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN 1320 may be referred to as a network slice 1801. A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 1320 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1802 (e.g., the network sub-slice 1802 is shown to include the PGW 1323 and the PCRF 1326).

[0183] NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions.

[0184] FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system 1900 to support NFV. The system 1900 is illustrated as including a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) 1902, a network function virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) 1904, a VNF manager (VNFM) 1906, virtualized network functions (VNFs) 1908, an element manager (EM) 1910, an NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) 1912, and a network manager (NM) 1914.

[0185] The VIM 1902 manages the resources of the NFVI 1904. The NFVI 1904 can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system 1900. The VIM 1902 may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the FVI 1904 (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of virtual machines (VMs) associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0186] The VNFM 1906 may manage the VNFs 1908. The VNFs 1908 may be used to execute EPC components/functions. The VNFM 1906 may manage the life cycle of the VNFs 1908 and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNFs 1908. The EM 1910 may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs 1908. The tracking data from the VNFM 1906 and the EM 1910 may comprise, for example, performance measurement (PM) data used by the VIM 1902 or the NFVI 1904. Both the VNFM 1906 and the EM 1910 can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system 1900.

[0187] The NFVO 1912 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI 1904 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 1914 may provide a package of end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM 1910).

[0188] FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Specifically, FIG. 20 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 2000 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 2010, one or more memory/ storage devices 2020, and one or more communication resources 2030, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 2040. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 2002 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/ sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 2000

[0189] The processors 2010 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 2012 and a processor 2014.

[0190] The memory/storage devices 2020 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/ storage devices 2020 may include, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0191] The communication resources 2030 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 2004 or one or more databases 2006 via a network 2008. For example, the communication resources 2030 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

[0192] Instructions 2050 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 2010 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 2050 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 2010 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 2020, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 2050 may be transferred to the hardware resources 2000 from any combination of the peripheral devices 2004 or the databases 2006. Accordingly, the memory of processors 2010, the memory/storage devices 2020, the peripheral devices 2004, and the databases 2006 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0193] Additional notes and examples:

[0194] Example 1 is apparatus of a base station (BS) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) operation of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: memory to store BWA capability information of the UE; and processing circuitry to: determine a call for BWA for the UE, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; determine BWA transition time of the UE based on the BWA capability information, the BWA transition time corresponding to a time interval during which the UE is unable to meet a minimum level of communication performance; generate a BWA transition command for transmission to the UE, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; and in response to the BWA transition command, refrain from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time.

[0195] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes, wherein the BWA operation includes variability of communication bandwidth of at least one channel selected from the group consisting of: a physical downlink control channel

(PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or any combination thereof.

[0196] In Example 3, the subject matter of Examples 1-2 includes, wherein the communication bandwidth change varies between a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is relatively wider than the second bandwidth.

[0197] In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

[0198] In Example 5, the subject matter of Example 4 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

[0199] In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1-5 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a UE-specific BWA transition time value.

[0200] In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 1-6 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a UE type indicator, and wherein the memory of the BS is to store a BWA transition time value corresponding to the UE type indicator.

[0201] In Example 8, the subject matter of Examples 1-7 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a range of BWA transition time values corresponding to the UE. [0202] In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 1-8 includes, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the BS to refrain from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time by allocating time-frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time to devices other than the UE.

[0203] In Example 10, the subject matter of Examples 1-9 includes, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of application processor circuitry.

[0204] In Example 11, the subject matter of Examples 1-10 includes, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of baseband processor circuitry.

[0205] Example 12 is apparatus of user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising: memory containing BWA operational instructions; and processing circuitry to execute the BWA operational instructions to: cause radio- frequency (RF) circuitry of the UE to communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth; determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS; decode a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; in response to the BWA transition command, cause the RF circuitry of the UE to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; and refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time.

[0206] In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 includes, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause RF circuitry of the UE to communicate with the BS within the first bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance, and wherein the processing circuitry is to further cause RF circuitry of the UE to communicate with the BS within the second bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance.

[0207] In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 12-13 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

[0208] In Example 15, the subject matter of Example 14 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

[0209] In Example 16, the subject matter of Examples 12-15 includes, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time in response to the UE lacking any allocated time- frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time.

[0210] In Example 17, the subject matter of Examples 12-16 includes, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time by suppressing communication by the UE during any allocated time-frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time.

[0211] In Example 18, the subject matter of Examples 12-17 includes, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the UE to: determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; and generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS.

[0212] In Example 19, the subject matter of Examples 12-18 includes, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and in response to the BWA transition command, the processing circuitry is to vary the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth.

[0213] In Example 20, the subject matter of Examples 12-19 includes, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of application processor circuitry. [0214] In Example 21, the subject matter of Examples 12-20 includes, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of baseband processor circuitry.

[0215] Example 22 is apparatus of user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising: memory containing BWA operational instructions; and processing circuitry to execute the BWA operational instructions to: cause radio- frequency (RF) circuitry of the UE to communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth; decode a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; in response to the BWA transition command, cause the RF circuitry of the UE to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; cause the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and in response to the BWA transition command, vary the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth.

[0216] In Example 23, the subject matter of Example 22 includes, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the UE to: determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; and generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS.

[0217] In Example 24, the subject matter of Examples 22-23 includes, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of application processor circuitry.

[0218] In Example 25, the subject matter of Examples 22-24 includes, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of baseband processor circuitry. [0219] Example 26 is at least one machine-readable medium containing

instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a of a base station (BS) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) operation of a user equipment (UE), cause the BS to : determine a call for BWA for the UE, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity;

determine BWA transition time of the UE based on the BWA capability information, the BWA transition time corresponding to a time interval during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; generate a BWA transition command for transmission to the UE, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; and in response to the BWA transition command, refrain from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time.

[0220] In Example 27, the subject matter of Example 26 includes, wherein the communication bandwidth change varies between a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is relatively wider than the second bandwidth.

[0221] In Example 28, the subject matter of Examples 26-27 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

[0222] In Example 29, the subject matter of Example 28 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

[0223] In Example 30, the subject matter of Examples 26-29 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a UE-specific BWA transition time value.

[0224] In Example 31, the subject matter of Examples 26-30 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a UE type indicator, and wherein the BS is to store a BWA transition time value corresponding to the UE type indicator.

[0225] In Example 32, the subject matter of Examples 26-31 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a range of BWA transition time values corresponding to the UE.

[0226] In Example 33, the subject matter of Examples 26-32 includes, wherein the instructions are to further cause the BS to refrain from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time by allocating time-frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time to devices other than the UE.

[0227] Example 34 is at least one machine-readable medium containing

instructions that, when executed on processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), cause the UE to: communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth; determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS; decode a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; in response to the BWA transition command, cause the UE to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; and refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time.

[0228] In Example 35, the subject matter of Example 34 includes, wherein the instructions are to further cause the UE to communicate with the BS within the first bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance, and wherein the instructions are to further cause the UE to communicate with the BS within the second bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance.

[0229] In Example 36, the subject matter of Examples 34-35 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

[0230] In Example 37, the subject matter of Example 36 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

[0231] In Example 38, the subject matter of Examples 34-37 includes, wherein theinstructions are to cause the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time in response to the UE lacking any allocated time- frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time.

[0232] In Example 39, the subject matter of Examples 34-38 includes, wherein the instructions are to cause the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time by suppressing communication by the UE during any allocated time-frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time.

[0233] In Example 40, the subject matter of Examples 34-39 includes, wherein the instructions are to cause the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and in response to the BWA transition command, the instructions are to vary the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth.

[0234] Example 41 is at least one machine-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed on a user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), cause the UE to: cause the UE to communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth; decode a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; in response to the BWA transition command, cause the UE to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; cause the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and in response to the BWA transition command, vary the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth.

[0235] In Example 42, the subject matter of Example 41 includes, wherein the instructions are to cause the UE to: determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; and generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS.

[0236] Example 43 is apparatus of a base station (BS) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) operation of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: means for determining BWA transition time of the UE based on the BWA capability information, the BWA transition time corresponding to a time interval during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; means for generating a BWA transition command for transmission to the UE, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; and means for refraining from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time in response to the BWA transition command.

[0237] In Example 44, the subject matter of Example 43 includes, wherein the communication bandwidth change varies between a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is relatively wider than the second bandwidth.

[0238] In Example 45, the subject matter of Examples 43-44 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

[0239] In Example 46, the subject matter of Example 45 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

[0240] In Example 47, the subject matter of Examples 43-46 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a UE-specific BWA transition time value.

[0241] In Example 48, the subject matter of Examples 43-47 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a UE type indicator, and wherein the memory of the BS is to store a BWA transition time value corresponding to the UE type indicator.

[0242] In Example 49, the subject matter of Examples 43-48 includes, wherein the BWA capability information includes a range of BWA transition time values corresponding to the UE.

[0243] In Example 50, the subject matter of Examples 43-49 includes, wherein the means for refraining from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time include means for allocating time-frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time to devices other than the UE.

[0244] Example 51 is apparatus of user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising: means for causing the UE to communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth; means for decoding a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; means for causing the UE, in response to the BWA transition command, to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; and means for refraining from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time.

[0245] In Example 52, the subject matter of Example 51 includes, means for causing the UE to communicate with the BS within the first bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance, and means for further causing the UE to communicate with the BS within the second bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance.

[0246] In Example 53, the subject matter of Examples 51-52 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

[0247] In Example 54, the subject matter of Example 53 includes, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

[0248] In Example 55, the subject matter of Examples 51-54 includes, means for causing the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time in response to the UE lacking any allocated time-frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time.

[0249] In Example 56, the subject matter of Examples 51-55 includes, means for causing the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time by suppressing communication by the UE during any allocated time- frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time. [0250] In Example 57, the subject matter of Examples 51-56 includes, means for causing the UE to: determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; and generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS.

[0251] In Example 58, the subject matter of Examples 51-57 includes, means for causing the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and means for varying the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth in response to the BWA transition command.

[0252] Example 59 is apparatus of user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising: means for causing the UE to communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth; means for decoding a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; means for causing, in response to the BWA transition command, the UE to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; means for causing the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and means for varying the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth in response to the BWA transition command.

[0253] In Example 60, the subject matter of Example 59 includes, means for causing the UE to: determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; and generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS.

[0254] Example 61 is at least one machine-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform operations to implement of any of Examples 1-60.

[0255] Example 64 is a method to implement of any of Examples 1-60.

[0256] The above detailed description includes references to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments that may be practiced. These embodiments are also referred to herein as "examples." Such examples may include elements in addition to those shown or described. However, also contemplated are examples that include the elements shown or described. Moreover, also contemplated are examples using any combination or permutation of those elements shown or described (or one or more aspects thereof), either with respect to a particular example (or one or more aspects thereof), or with respect to other examples (or one or more aspects thereof) shown or described herein.

[0257] Publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, as though individually incorporated by reference. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) are supplementary to that of this document; for irreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

[0258] In this document, the terms "a" or "an" are used, as is common in patent documents, to include one or more than one, independent of any other instances or usages of "at least one" or "one or more." In this document, the term "or" is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that "A or B" includes "A but not B," "B but not A," and "A and B," unless otherwise indicated. In the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein." Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms "first," "second," and "third," etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to suggest a numerical order for their objects.

[0259] The above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or more aspects thereof) may be used in combination with others. Other embodiments may be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure. However, the claims may not set forth every feature disclosed herein as embodiments may feature a subset of said features. Further, embodiments may include fewer features than those disclosed in a particular example. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with a claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. The scope of the embodiments disclosed herein is to be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus of a base station (BS) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) operation of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: memory to store BWA capability information of the UE; and

processing circuitry to:

determine a call for BWA for the UE, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity;

determine BWA transition time of the UE based on the BWA capability information, the BWA transition time corresponding to a time interval during which the UE is unable to meet a minimum level of communication performance;

generate a BWA transition command for transmission to the UE, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute; and

in response to the BWA transition command, refrain from

communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the BWA operation includes variability of communication bandwidth of at least one channel selected from the group consisting of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or any combination thereof.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication bandwidth change varies between a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth, wherein the first bandwidth is relatively wider than the second bandwidth.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the BWA capability information includes UE-specific BWA transition time value.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the BWA capability information includes UE type indicator, and wherein the memory of the BS is to store a BWA transition time value corresponding to the UE type indicator.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the BWA capability information includes range of BWA transition time values corresponding to the UE.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the BS to refrain from communicating with the UE during the BWA transition time by allocating time- frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time to devices other than the UE.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of application processor circuitry.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory and processing circuitry are incorporated as part of baseband processor circuitry.

12. Apparatus of user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising:

memory containing BWA operational instructions; and

processing circuitry to execute the BWA operational instructions to:

cause radio-frequency (RF) circuitry of the UE to communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth; decode a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute;

in response to the BWA transition command, cause the RF circuitry of the UE to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance;

cause the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and

in response to the BWA transition command, vary the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry is to cause the UE to:

determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity; and

generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS.

14. At least one machine-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed on processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configurable for controlling bandwidth adaptation (BWA) and to communicate with a base station (BS), cause the UE to:

communicate with the BS within a first bandwidth;

determine a call for BWA transition, wherein communication bandwidth of the UE is variably changed between a relatively narrower bandwidth during relatively low UE communication activity, and a relatively wider bandwidth during relatively high UE communication activity;

generate a BWA transition request in response to the call for BWA transition, the BWA transition request being encoded for transmission to the BS;

decode a BWA transition command received from the BS, the BWA transition command indicating a communication bandwidth change for the UE to institute;

in response to the BWA transition command, cause the UE to transition to communicating with the BS within a second bandwidth, wherein the second bandwidth is different from the first bandwidth, and wherein the transition from communication in the first bandwidth to communication in the second bandwidth occurs over a BWA transition time during which the UE fails to meet a minimum level of communication performance; and

refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time.

15. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are to further cause the UE to communicate with the BS within the first bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance, and wherein the instructions are to further cause the UE to communicate with the BS within the second bandwidth while meeting the minimum level of communication performance.

16. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined in terms of probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging.

17. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the minimum level of communication performance is defined as a probability of missed message acknowledgement messaging not exceeding 0.5%.

18. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein

theinstructions are to cause the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time in response to the UE lacking any allocated time- frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time.

19. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are to cause the UE to refrain from communicating with the BS during the BWA transition time by suppressing communication by the UE during any allocated time-frequency resource elements during the BWA transition time.

20. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are to cause the UE to assess radio link quality based on measurement of reference signaling from the BS, wherein the radio link quality is assessed based on comparison of reference signaling measurement to radio link assessment criteria; and in response to the BWA transition command, the instructions are to vary the radio link assessment criteria commensurately with the transition from the first bandwidth to the second bandwidth.