CN111357351B

CN111357351B - Non-interrupted SCell operation in NR

Info

Publication number: CN111357351B
Application number: CN201780096923.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: L·达尔斯加德; R·K·尼米南; 张力
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2017-11-17
Filing date: 2017-11-17
Publication date: 2024-09-03
Anticipated expiration: 2037-11-17
Also published as: WO2019095329A1; CN111357351A

Abstract

An apparatus and method are provided by which a user equipment receives an instruction from a network control element, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used to perform synchronization signal block based measurements, and the user equipment performs the measurements according to the received instruction.

Description

Non-interrupted SCell operation in NR

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus, method and computer program product by which an interruption-free SCell operation may be achieved.

Background

The following meanings apply to the abbreviations in this specification:

3GPP third Generation partnership project

BW bandwidth

BWP bandwidth part

CA carrier aggregation

DC double connection

DRX discontinuous reception

E-UTRA evolved universal terrestrial radio access

GNB 5G base station

LTE Long term evolution (4G)

MGL measurement gap length

MGRP measurement gap repetition period

NR new radio

NCSG network controlled small gap

PBCH physical broadcast channel

PCell primary cell

RF radio frequency

RRC radio resource control

SCell secondary cell

SSB synchronization signal block

TTI transmission time interval

UE user equipment

Although not limited thereto, embodiments of the present invention relate to New Radios (NRs). In particular, 3GPP is currently discussing and defining NR and as part thereof UE measurements, measurement performance, gap and non-gap assisted measurements, intra-and inter-frequency measurements, and measurements of deactivated scells.

Furthermore, UE outage requirements introduced in LTE release 10 are discussed. When operating in CA or DC due to UE implementation, some UEs in LTE must do such an interruption. Currently, introduction of interrupt requirements for NR is also discussed.

However, such UE interrupts are problematic.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention address this situation and aim to reduce UE interruption.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus comprising: at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and the at least one processor, together with the at least one memory and the computer program code, configured to cause the apparatus at least to perform

Generating an instruction for the user equipment for performing synchronization signal block based measurements, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for measurements, and

Transmitting the instruction to the user equipment.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method comprising:

Transmitting the instruction to the user equipment.

The first and second aspects may be modified as follows:

For example, the information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for measurement may include an indication of the periodicity of the synchronization signal blocks to be used for measurement.

The information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for measurement may include an indication comprising the period, offset and duration of a synchronization signal block measurement window defining the position on the carrier on which the synchronization block measurement is located.

The indication may include a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

The user equipment may be scheduled based on information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for measurements.

A given carrier may contain a deactivated SCell.

When configuring a user equipment with an SCell, instructions for the user equipment may be included.

Furthermore, there may be multiple given carriers and the instructions for the user equipment may be generated such that for different carriers, synchronization signal blocks at the same location or at different locations will be instructed for measurement.

Further, information from the user equipment may be received indicating which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be preferably used for measurement, and instructions may be generated based on the information received from the user equipment.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and the at least one processor together with the at least one memory and the computer program code arranged to cause the apparatus to at least perform: an instruction is received from a network control element, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used for performing synchronization signal block based measurements, and the measurements are performed according to the received instruction.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a method comprising:

receiving an instruction from a network control element, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used for performing synchronization signal block based measurements, and

The measurement is performed according to the received instruction.

The third and fourth aspects may be modified as follows:

The information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for measurement may include an indication of the periodicity of the synchronization signal blocks to be used for measurement.

The information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for measurement may include the period, offset, and duration of the synchronization signal block window.

A given carrier may contain a deactivated SCell.

Further, the instructions may be received when the instructions are configured by the network control element with the SCell.

There may be a plurality of given carriers and the instruction may include information instructing that a synchronization signal block on the same location or different locations for different carriers is to be instructed for measurement.

Information may be generated indicating which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be preferably used for measurements, and the information may be transmitted to a network control element.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product comprising code means which, when run on a processing means or module, performs the method according to the second and/or fourth aspect and/or modifications thereof. The computer program product may be embodied on a computer readable medium and/or the computer program product may be capable of being loaded directly into an internal memory of a computer and/or capable of being transmitted via a network by at least one of an upload, download and push procedure.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus comprising

Means for generating an instruction for the user equipment for performing a synchronization signal block based measurement, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement, and

Means for transmitting instructions to the user equipment.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus comprising

Means for receiving an instruction from a network control element, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used for performing synchronization signal block based measurements, and

Means for performing measurements according to the received instructions.

Drawings

These and other objects, features, details and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1A shows a gNB in accordance with an embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1B shows a flow chart of a process performed by the gNB in accordance with an embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2A shows a UE according to an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2B shows a flow chart of a process performed by a UE, according to an embodiment of the invention, and

Fig. 3 shows a diagram illustrating SSB/SMTC on a PCell and two scells and which SSB/SMTC is actually to be used for measurement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. It should be understood, however, that the description is given by way of example only, and that the described embodiments should in no way be construed as limiting the invention thereto.

However, before describing the embodiments, the fundamental problem of the present application will be described in more detail.

As described above, UE interrupts can be problematic. For example, in connection with the introduction of CA, it has been shown that once an operation on the SCell is initiated, e.g. RF for the SCell has to be started, the PCell may have a potential interruption. That is, the UE will not be able to start the second RF chain (i.e., on the SCell) without affecting the performance of the existing active RF chain (e.g., on the PCell). Such an impact may result in a lost scheduling opportunity, e.g., receiving one or more TTIs each time the RF chain is started or shut down.

However, in LTE, by taking into account certain rules, the UE is allowed to perform such an interruption when necessary. Roughly, the rules indicate that if the measurement period of the deactivated SCell is 640ms or more, the UE is allowed to cause up to 0.5% interruption. If the measurement period of the deactivated SCell (which is configured by the network-MEASCYCLESCELL) is less than 640ms, the UE is not allowed to cause an interruption unless explicitly allowed by the network. That is, the UE will indicate to the network that it will benefit from the outage, and when MEASCYCLESCELL is less than 640ms, then the network will allow or disallow the UE to cause the outage.

However, as noted above, allowing such interrupts can be problematic. In particular, in NR where CA and DC may also be applied, it is also likely that in NR, there will be UEs that will cause an interruption on one active RF chain when activating/deactivating the second RF chain. It is therefore beneficial that the NR does not introduce UE autonomous interruption, but rather has a controlled method as to how to handle such failures in reception on the active RF chain due to state changes (activation or deactivation) in the other RF chain.

Currently, the measurement gap is discussed as follows:

The Measurement Gap Repetition Periods (MGRP) of-20 ms, 40ms, 80ms and 160ms may be configured as specified by LTE RRC signaling specified in 36.331, or by NR RRC specified in 38.331

There can be 6 options for the Measurement Gap Length (MGL) of NR

Thus, there may be a total of 6 potential MGL options x 4 MGRP options = 24 gap pattern IDs for NR. Four of these options are expected to correspond to the already existing LTE gap patterns ID 0, 1,2, and 3. Some of the existing LTE gap patterns (e.g., nonUniform1, nonUniform2, nonUniform3, nonUniform4, and NCSG pattern IDs 0, 1,2, and 3) are not expected to be used for NR target cell measurements in release 15. Possibly, it may be defined in 38.133 that only a subset of the 24 gap pattern IDs are suitable for measurements in certain scenarios identified and defined by the RAN 4.

The measurement gap offset may be configured with a granularity based on the maximum slot length of all UE serving cells for which the gap has been configured.

In summary, the signaling for the UE to indicate "interrupt benefit" is defined in section 5.5.2.1 "measurement configuration" and section 6.3.5 "measurement information element" of 36.331.

The UE requirements related to the maximum number of interrupts are defined in section 7.8 of 36.133 "interrupt with carrier aggregation" and section 7.12 "interrupt with dual connectivity".

Then, the release 14 measurement enhancement WI introduces a new gap pattern to cope with the interruption-a small gap called Network Control (NCSG). These are defined in 36.133.

Release 15NR discussion it has been assumed that UE autonomous interrupts and related requirements are introduced.

Thus, there is clearly a need for a new solution as to how to remove potential interruptions caused by UE implementation.

Hereinafter, a general overview of embodiments of the present invention is described by referring to fig. 1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B, wherein fig. 1A shows gNB 1, and fig. 2A shows UE 2.

In particular, fig. 1A shows the gNB 1 as an example of the first apparatus such as the network control element according to the present embodiment. The gNB 1 comprises at least one processor 11 and at least one memory 12, the at least one memory 12 containing computer program code. The at least one processor 11, together with the at least one memory 12 and the computer program code, are configured to cause the apparatus at least to perform: generating an instruction for a user equipment (e.g., UE 2 shown in fig. 2A) to perform a synchronization signal block-based measurement, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement, and transmitting the instruction to the user equipment.

In other words, by referring to the flowchart shown in fig. 1B, in step S11, an instruction for the user equipment to perform synchronization signal block based measurements is generated, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for measurements. In step S12, the instruction is transmitted to the user equipment.

Fig. 2A shows an example of the UE 2 as the second apparatus according to the present embodiment. The UE 2 comprises at least one processor 21 and at least one memory 22, the at least one memory 22 containing computer program code. The at least one processor 21, together with the at least one memory 22 and the computer program code, are configured to cause the apparatus at least to perform: an instruction is received from a network control element (e.g., gNB 1 shown in FIG. 1A) that includes information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used to perform synchronization signal block-based measurements, and the measurements are performed according to the received instruction.

In other words, by referring to the flowchart shown in fig. 2B, in step S1 an instruction is received from the network control element, wherein the instruction comprises information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used for performing the synchronization signal block based measurements. In step S22, the measurement is performed on the basis of the received instruction, i.e. only on the indicated Synchronization Signal Block (SSB).

Thus, according to embodiments of the invention, the UE is configured with information indicating those SSBs on a given carrier (such as SCell) are to be used for measurements (i.e. SSB-based measurements).

In this way, the network may control which SSBs the UE will perform measurements on, and thus may reduce the number of gaps or breaks due to SSB-based measurements. Moreover, the network knows which SSBs are used by the UE for measurement, so that the network can schedule the UE accordingly, avoiding scheduling when the UE cannot receive.

The gNB 1 may further comprise a transmitter 13 connected to the processor 11, through which transmitter 13 the instructions are transmitted to the user equipment. In addition, for example, the gNB 1 may also include an input/output (I/O) unit or function (interface) connected to the processor 11 in order to provide connectivity to other elements, such as the UE2 and other network elements. In particular, the I/O unit or function may also include a receiver.

Similarly, the UE 2 may also comprise a receiver 23 connected to the processor 21 for receiving instructions from the network control element. In addition, the UE 2 may further include an input/output (I/O) unit or function (interface) connected to the processor 21. For example, the I/O units or functions may comprise transmitters.

In the following, some further details of embodiments of the invention are described.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method is presented that can both address some UE types from pulling active RF chains when the operating state of another RF chain changes, and also address this effect on the system level in a controlled way without introducing UE autonomous gaps.

This is done by having the network indicate to the UE: the UE should use which SSB on a given deactivated SCell (or basically which SMTC on a given carrier) for SSB-based measurements. Alternatively, the network may also indicate to the UE SMTC comprising a period, an offset and a duration of an SSB measurement window dedicated to measurements of deactivated scells. For example, the SSB measurement window may define the location on the carrier where the synchronization block measurement is located. The UE should use this SMTC and SCell measurements periodically for deactivation after receiving such an indication, whether or not SS blocks will occur more frequently. Once the network has configured such instances to the UE, the UE should perform measurements in the time domain using the indicated SSB or SMTC instance.

At least UEs that have indicated that they cause a change in the state of the pull RF chain may obtain such a measurement instance indication from the network. Since the network now knows which UEs caused the pull and when they measured, the network will know when the UEs will not be able to receive (or transmit) due to the pull. The network may then omit scheduling UEs in this case. Furthermore, it should be noted that all of these may be network configurable. For example, the configuration may be part of an SCell configuration.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, well-defined rules and requirements are introduced, which are related to potential reception (and transmission) failures on UEs on one RF chain side due to operating state changes on the second RF chain.

In NR, no synchronous signal is assumed to be transmitted in a continuous manner as known in conventional systems (e.g. LTE), except in some special cases (e.g. lower frequency band asynchronous networks). The synchronization signal containing PBCH is transmitted in DTX or periodic fashion each time periodically in terms of SSB (SS block). SSB periodicity is network configurable and may vary, and may be as long as 160ms (e.g., 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 ms). The SSB periodicity needs to be at least 20ms for the carriers that the network can use for initial access. Otherwise, the network may be free to configure any suitable SSB periodicity.

The UE will need to perform SSB-based measurements on the deactivated SCell and such measurements may be made on the SSB. Since SSB is fixed in time, UE measurements will be limited in time opportunity to SSB time opportunity. However, if not defined, when to use which SSB of the measured SCell(s) to measure which deactivated SCell depends on UE implementation. In this case, there will be a similar situation as in LTE, and when changing the state of the RF chain will cause interference to the active RF chain-the UE will break autonomously, the UE will malfunction due to pulling.

By instructing the UE when to measure a given SCell on which SSB, the time domain uncertainty will disappear from the equation and any interference on the active RF chains (in the time domain) will be known to the gNB-i.e. the UE autonomous interruption has been eliminated.

In fig. 3, one such method is shown. Fig. 3 shows a diagram illustrating SSB/SMTC on PCell and two scells (SCell 1 and SCell 2) and which SSB/SMTC will actually be used for measurement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Here, SSB periodicity on all cells is set to 20ms. The network has indicated MEASCYCLESCELL as 160ms and also indicates which SSB on each SCell the UE should use for measuring the deactivated SCell.

Also shown is a potential failure on the active RF chain (PCell) caused by a change of state of e.g. the second receiver (SCell 1 or SCell 2). These are shown as gaps (not all shown, but indicated by arrows).

Alternatively, the network may indicate to the UE that a certain SMTC with a period of 160ms (i.e. the first SSB of the eight SSBs) is used for measurements of all deactivated scells. The UE may then decide which SCell (e.g., SCell1 or SCell 2) to measure in each SMTC instance. The measurement performance of the deactivated SCell will be defined based on the SMTC period (160 ms in this example) and the number of deactivated scells (2 in this example). In the figure, this means that the network indicates to the UE that all deactivated scells should be measured based on a SMTC period of 160ms (and the measured SSB/SMTC will be aligned). Even if SSB/SMTC occurs more frequently, the UE should observe a measurement periodicity of 160 ms.

Since the SSB location and UE measurement time are known to the network, any impact of activating/deactivating the second RF chain on the active RF chain is predictable and can be considered in the gNB scheduler. How this effect is taken into account in the gNB scheduler may be left to the gNB implementation. An example would be not scheduling UEs in interfered locations, another example would be relying on retransmissions, and furthermore, the coding may also ensure reduced impact. These are merely examples—however, all rely on the gNB having knowledge of when the UE performs measurements on deactivated SCcells.

Thus, the "gap" in fig. 3 should not be considered as a gap known to conventional systems where the gap is configured by the network. Allocating explicit gaps to deal with the above problem would be an option-but this can be quite complex. As previously mentioned, implicit gaps are relatively simple. This would mean that the network could know when a failure occurred and could process these accordingly.

In practice, the measurement opportunities associated with a given SCell (or carrier) may be configured in many different ways. Some examples:

When the UE is configured with SCell, the network may include SSB measurement time information

Different scells may or may not have the same measurement time opportunity (different measurement time opportunities are shown in fig. 3).

The related signaling will need to be supported by RRC signaling (38.331), while the UE requirements also need to be defined (38.133).

Another alternative is to let the UE indicate a favorable SCell measurement opportunity to the network. Such indication may be implemented based on optimized UE measurements.

Similar methods may be applied to other SCell operations in addition to the de-activated SCell measurements. For example. It may also be applied to the addition/removal of scells and the activation/deactivation of scells.

One significant advantage of this solution is that it removes any UE autonomous interruption and thus removes system impact. At the same time, it allows for a UE implementation that requires such transitional failure-which is unavoidable or beneficial in some cases from a power saving perspective. In the future, with more integrated implementations, situations may become more common where a state change on one RF chain may interfere with reception/transmission on another RF chain.

The present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible.

For example, in the above embodiment, the process is described for NR. However, the procedure may be applied to any radio technology as long as different synchronization signal blocks on the carrier may be used for measurements. In particular, the procedure may also be applied to LTE.

Further, in the above embodiments, two RF chains are shown as examples. However, the invention is not limited thereto and more than two RF chains are also possible.

In general, various embodiments of the UE may include, but are not limited to, mobile stations, cellular telephones, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) having wireless communication capabilities, portable computers having wireless communication capabilities, image capture devices such as digital cameras having wireless communication capabilities, gaming devices having wireless communication capabilities, music storage and playback appliances having wireless communication capabilities, internet appliances permitting wireless internet access and browsing, as well as portable units or terminals that incorporate such functions.

The memories 12 and 22 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory. Processors 11 and 21 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture.

Furthermore, the term "circuitry" as used in this disclosure refers to all of the following:

(a) Pure hardware circuit implementations (such as implementations in analog and/or digital circuitry only), and

(B) A combination of circuitry and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable): (i) A combination of processor(s), or (ii) portions of processor/software (including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s) that work together to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions), and

(C) Circuits that require software or firmware to operate, such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), even if the software or firmware is not physically present.

The definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this disclosure, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this disclosure, the term "circuitry" would also encompass an implementation of only a processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term "circuitry" shall also cover (e.g., and if applicable to the particular claim element) a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit like an integrated circuit in a mobile phone or server, a cellular network device, or other network device.

It is to be understood that the above description is illustrative of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications and applications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for communication comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, configured to cause the apparatus at least to perform:

generating an instruction for a user equipment for performing synchronization signal block based measurements, the instruction comprising information on which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for the measurements, the given carrier containing a deactivated SCell, and

The instructions for the user equipment are included in configuration information when the user equipment is configured with the SCell.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication of periodicity of the synchronization signal blocks to be used for the measurement.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication comprising a period, an offset, and a duration of a synchronization signal block measurement window defining a location on the carrier on which a measurement of the synchronization signal block is located.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the indication comprises a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration.

5. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one processor, together with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to further perform:

The user equipment is scheduled based on the information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier signal are to be used for the measurements.

6. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein

There are a plurality of given carriers, and

The at least one processor, along with the at least one memory and the computer program code, are configured to cause the apparatus to further perform:

The instructions for the user equipment are generated such that for different carriers, synchronization signal blocks at the same location or at different locations are instructed for the measurements.

7. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the processor, together with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to further perform:

Receiving information from the user equipment, the information indicating which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurements, and

The instructions are generated based on the information received from the user device.

8. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the device is or is part of a network control element.

9. An apparatus for communication comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, and the at least one processor, together with the at least one memory and the computer program code, arranged to cause the apparatus at least to perform:

When the apparatus is configured with a secondary cell (SCell) by a network control element, receiving in configuration information an instruction from the network control element, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used for performing synchronization signal block based measurements, the given carrier containing the SCell deactivated, and

The measurement is performed according to the received instruction.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication of periodicity of the synchronization signal blocks to be used for the measurement.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication comprising a period, an offset, and a duration of a synchronization signal block window.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the indication comprises a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration.

13. The device of any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein

There are a plurality of given carriers, and

The instructions include information that instructs synchronization signal blocks on the same location or different locations for different carriers to be instructed for the measurement.

14. The apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the at least one processor, together with the at least one memory and the computer program code, is configured to cause the apparatus to further perform:

generating information indicating which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement, an

Transmitting said information to said network control element.

15. The apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the apparatus is or is part of a user equipment.

16. A method for communication, comprising:

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication of periodicity of the synchronization signal blocks to be used for the measurement.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication comprising a period, an offset, and a duration of a synchronization signal block measurement window defining a location on the carrier where a measurement of the synchronization signal block is located.

19. The method of claim 17 or 18, wherein the indication comprises a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration.

20. The method of any of claims 16 to 18, further comprising:

21. The method of any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein

There are a plurality of given carriers, and

The method further comprises the steps of:

22. The method of any of claims 16 to 18, further comprising:

23. The method according to any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the method is performed by a network control element.

24. A method for communication, comprising:

When an apparatus is configured with a secondary cell (SCell) by a network control element, receiving in configuration information an instruction from the network control element, the instruction comprising information about which synchronization signal blocks on a given carrier are to be used for performing synchronization signal block based measurements, the given carrier containing the deactivated SCell, and

The measurement is performed according to the received instruction.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication of periodicity of the synchronization signal blocks to be used for the measurement.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the information about which synchronization signal blocks on the given carrier signal are to be used for the measurement comprises an indication comprising a period, an offset, and a duration of a synchronization signal block window.

27. The method of claim 26 or 26, wherein the indication comprises a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration.

28. The method of any one of claims 24 to 26, wherein

There are a plurality of given carriers, and

The instructions include information that instructs synchronization signal blocks at the same location or different locations for different carriers to be instructed for the measurement.

29. The method of any of claims 24 to 26, further comprising:

Transmitting said information to said network control element.

30. The method of any of claims 24 to 26, wherein the method is performed by a user equipment.

31. A computer readable medium comprising computer program code which, when run on a processing means or module of an apparatus, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.

32. The computer readable medium according to claim 31, wherein the computer program code is directly loadable into an internal memory of the computer and/or transmittable via a network by at least one of an upload, a download and a push procedure.