CN113286334B - ULI cell selection prioritization - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to ULI cell selection prioritization. The present invention discloses an apparatus, system and method for a user equipment device (UE) to prioritize a cell that supports EN‑DC over a similar cell that does not support EN‑DC. The UE may be configured to perform one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection and/or cell reselection, and may determine whether at least two LTE cells meet a selection criterion based on RSRP and/or SNR measurements. The UE may be configured to prioritize a first LTE cell among the at least two LTE cells over a second LTE cell among the at least two LTE cells based at least in part on supporting EN‑DC in response to determining that at least two LTE cells meet the selection criterion. The first LTE cell may indicate support for EN‑DC, for example, via a ULI IE included in a SIB2 broadcast by the first LTE cell. The UE may be configured to select the first LTE cell for pre-occupancy.

Description

ULI cell selection prioritization

Priority

The present application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. provisional application serial No. 62/979,182, entitled "ULI Cell Selection Prioritization," filed on even date 20 in month 2 of 2020, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as if fully and fully set forth herein.

Technical Field

The present application relates to wireless devices, and more particularly, to an apparatus, system, and method for prioritizing EN-DC enabled cells over similar cells that do not support EN-DC.

Description of related Art

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

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

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

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

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

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

Disclosure of Invention

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

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

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

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

Drawings

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

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

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

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

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

Fig. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a BS according to some embodiments.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of a cellular communication circuit, according to some embodiments.

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

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

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

Fig. 7B illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture that incorporates dual 3GPP (e.g., LTE and 5G NR) access at the 5G CN as well as non-3 GPP access, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a baseband processor architecture for a UE according to some embodiments.

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

Fig. 10-15 illustrate examples of flowcharts for a UE (such as UE 106) for cell selection/reselection by EN-DC cell prioritization, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 16 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method for assisting in cell selection, in accordance with some embodiments.

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

Detailed Description

Terminology

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

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

Carrier medium-memory medium as described above, as well as physical transmission media such as buses, networks, and/or other physical transmission media that transmit signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

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

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

User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") -any of various types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone ^TM, android ^TM based phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., nintendo DS ^TM、PlayStation Portable^TM、Gameboy Advance^TM、iPhone^TM), laptop computers, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), personal digital assistants, portable internet devices, music players, data storage devices or other handheld devices, and the like. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" may be broadly defined to encompass any electronic device, computing device, and/or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) that is portable and capable of wireless communication by a user.

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

Processing element-refers to various elements or combinations of elements capable of performing functions in a device, such as a user equipment or cellular network device. The processing elements can include, for example, processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), programmable hardware elements such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and any combinations thereof.

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

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

By automatically, it is meant an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or device (e.g., circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASIC, etc.) without requiring direct specification or user input of the action or operation. Thus, the term "automatic" is in contrast to a user manually performing or designating an operation, wherein the user provides input to directly perform the operation. The automated process may be initiated by input provided by the user, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually", where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user fills in an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) to manually fill in the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to user actions. The form may be automatically filled in by a computer system that (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills in the form without any user entering an answer to the specified fields. As indicated above, the user may refer to the automatic filling of the form, but not participate in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify answers to the fields, but they do so automatically). The present description provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

About-means approaching the correct or exact value. For example, about may refer to values within 1% to 10% of the exact (or desired) value. However, it should be noted that the actual threshold (or tolerance) may depend on the application. For example, in some embodiments, "about" may mean within 0.1% of some specified value or desired value, while in various other embodiments, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc., depending on the desire or requirement of a particular application.

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

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

For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be construed to include the phrase "configured to". The expression a component configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended to not refer to an explanation of 35u.s.c. ≡112 (f) for that component.

Fig. 1A and 1B-communication system

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

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

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

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

As shown, base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate with network 100 (e.g., a cellular service provider's core network, a telecommunications network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and/or the internet, among various possibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communication between user devices and/or between a user device and the network 100. In particular, the cellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 with various communication capabilities such as voice, SMS, and/or data services.

Base station 102A and other similar base stations operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards (such as base station 102 b..once..102N) may thus be provided as a network of cells, the network of cells may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping services over a geographic area to UEs 106A-N and similar devices via one or more cellular communication standards.

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

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

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

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

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

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or techniques. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, CDMA2000 (1 xRTT/1 xEV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD), LTE/LTE-advanced, or 5G NR and/or GSM using a single shared radio, LTE-advanced, or 5G NR using a single shared radio. The shared radio may be coupled to a single antenna or may be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, the radio components may include any combination of baseband processors, analog Radio Frequency (RF) signal processing circuits (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuits (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one or more portions of the receive chain and/or the transmit chain among a variety of wireless communication technologies, such as those discussed above.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radios shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, as well as one or more radios that are uniquely used by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include a shared radio for communicating using either LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or 1xRTT, or LTE or GSM), and separate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

Fig. 2-access point block diagram

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

AP 112 may include at least one network port 270. The network port 270 may be configured to couple to a wired network and provide access to the internet to a plurality of devices, such as the UE 106. For example, the network port 270 (or an additional network port) may be configured to couple to a local network, such as a home network or an enterprise network. For example, port 270 may be an ethernet port. The local network may provide a connection to additional networks, such as the internet.

The AP 112 may include at least one antenna 234, which may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE 106 via the wireless communication circuitry 230. The antenna 234 communicates with the wireless communication circuit 230 via a communication link 232. The communication chain 232 may include one or more receive chains, one or more transmit chains, or both. The wireless communication circuit 230 may be configured to communicate via Wi-Fi or WLAN (e.g., 802.11). For example, where an AP is co-located with a base station in the case of a small cell, or in other cases where it may be desirable for AP 112 to communicate via a variety of different wireless communication techniques, wireless communication circuitry 230 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate via a variety of other wireless communication techniques including, but not limited to, 5G NR, long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), global System for Mobile (GSM), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), CDMA2000, and the like.

In some embodiments, as described further below, AP 112 may be configured to perform a method for prioritizing EN-DC enabled cells over similar cells that do not support EN-DC as described further herein.

FIG. 3-block diagram of UE

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

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

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

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

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

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

As described above, in some embodiments, the UE 106 may include two or more SIMs. The inclusion of two or more SIMs in the UE 106 may allow the UE 106 to support two different telephone numbers and may allow the UE 106 to communicate over corresponding two or more respective networks. For example, the first SIM may support a first RAT, such as LTE, and the second SIM 310 supports a second RAT, such as 5G NR. Of course other implementations and RATs are possible. In some embodiments, when the UE 106 includes two SIMs, the UE 106 may support a dual card dual pass (DSDA) function. The DSDA function may allow the UE 106 to connect to two networks simultaneously (and using two different RATs), or to simultaneously maintain two connections supported by two different SIMs using the same or different RATs on the same or different networks. DSDA functionality may also allow UE 106 to receive voice calls or data traffic simultaneously on either telephone number. In some embodiments, the voice call may be a packet switched communication. In other words, voice calls may be received using voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology and/or voice over NR (VoNR) technology. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may support dual card dual standby (DSDS) functionality. The DSDS function may allow either of the two SIMs in the UE 106 to stand by for voice calls and/or data connections. In DSDS, when a call/data is established on one SIM, the other SIM is no longer active. In some embodiments, DSDx functions (DSDA or DSDS functions) may be implemented using a single SIM (e.g., eUICC) that executes multiple SIM applications for different carriers and/or RATs.

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

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

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

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

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

FIG. 4-block diagram of a base station

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station 102, according to some embodiments. Note that the base station of fig. 4 is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a Memory Management Unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and translate the addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a cellular communication circuit

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

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

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

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

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

In some embodiments, cellular communication circuit 330 may be configured to perform a method for prioritizing EN-DC enabled cells over similar cells that do not support EN-DC as further described herein.

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

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

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

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

5G NR architecture with LTE

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

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

In addition, as shown, the gNB 604 may include a MAC layer 634 that interfaces with the RLC layers 624a-624 b. The RLC layer 624a may interface with the PDCP layer 612b of the eNB 602 via an X ₂ interface for information exchange and/or coordination (e.g., scheduling UEs) between the eNB 602 and the gNB 604. In addition, the RLC layer 624b may interface with the PDCP layer 614. Similar to the dual connectivity specified in LTE-advanced release 12, PDCP layer 614 may interface with EPC network 600 via a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) bearer. Accordingly, the eNB 602 may be considered a master node (MeNB) and the gNB 604 may be considered a secondary node (SgNB). In some cases, the UE may be required to maintain a connection with both MeNB and SgNB. In such cases, the MeNB may be used to maintain a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the EPC, while SgNB may be used for capacity (e.g., additional downlink and/or uplink throughput).

5G core network architecture-interworking with Wi-Fi

In some embodiments, the 5G Core Network (CN) may be accessed via (or through) a cellular connection/interface (e.g., via a 3GPP communication architecture/protocol) and a non-cellular connection/interface (e.g., a non-3 GPP access architecture/protocol such as a Wi-Fi connection). Fig. 7A illustrates an example of a 5G network architecture that incorporates 3GPP (e.g., cellular) and non-3 GPP (e.g., non-cellular) access at a 5G CN, according to some embodiments. As shown, a user equipment device (e.g., UE 106) may access a 5G CN through both a radio access network (RAN, e.g., a gNB or base station 604) and an access point, such as AP 112. AP112 may include a connection to the internet 700 and a connection to a non-3 GPP interworking function (N3 IWF) 702 network entity. The N3IWF may include a connection to a core access and mobility management function (AMF) 704 of the 5G CN. The AMF 704 may include an instance of a 5G mobility management (5G MM) function associated with the UE 106. In addition, the RAN (e.g., the gNB 604) may also have a connection with the AMF 704. Thus, the 5G CN may support unified authentication over both connections and allow simultaneous registration of UE106 access via the gNB 604 and the AP 112. As shown, AMF 704 may include one or more functional entities associated with a 5G CN (e.g., a network tile selection function (NSSF) 720, a Short Message Service Function (SMSF) 722, an Application Function (AF) 724, a Unified Data Management (UDM) 726, a Policy Control Function (PCF) 728, and/or an authentication server function (AUSF) 730). Note that these functional entities may also be supported by Session Management Functions (SMFs) 706a and 706b of the 5G CN. AMF 706 may be connected to (or in communication with) SMF 706 a. In addition, the gNB 604 may communicate with (or be connected to) a User Plane Function (UPF) 708a, which may also communicate with the SMF 706 a. Similarly, the N3IWF 702 may communicate with the UPF 708b, which may also communicate with the SMF 706 b. Both UPFs may communicate with data networks (e.g., DNs 710a and 710 b) and/or the internet 700 and IMS core network 710.

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

It is noted that in various embodiments, one or more of the above-described network entities may be configured to perform a method of improving security checks in a 5G NR network, including, for example, a mechanism for prioritizing EN-DC enabled cells over similar cells that do not support EN-DC as further described herein.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a baseband processor architecture for a UE (e.g., UE 106) in accordance with some embodiments. As described above, the baseband processor architecture 800 depicted in fig. 8 may be implemented on one or more radios (e.g., radios 329 and/or 330 described above) or modems (e.g., modems 510 and/or 520) as described above. As shown, the non-access stratum 810 may include a 5g NAS 820 and a legacy NAS 850. The legacy NAS 850 may include a communication connection with a legacy Access Stratum (AS) 870. The 5g NAS 820 may include communication connections with the 5g AS 840 and the non-3 gpp AS 830, AS well AS the Wi-Fi AS 832. The 5g NAS 820 may include functional entities associated with two access layers. Thus, 5G NAS 820 may include a plurality of 5G MM entities 826 and 828 and 5G Session Management (SM) entities 822 and 824. The legacy NAS 850 may include functional entities such as a Short Message Service (SMS) entity 852, an Evolved Packet System (EPS) session management (ESM) entity 854, a Session Management (SM) entity 856, an EPS Mobility Management (EMM) entity 858, and a Mobility Management (MM)/GPRS Mobility Management (GMM) entity 860. Further, legacy AS 870 may include functional entities such AS LTE AS 872, UMTS AS 874, and/or GSM/GPRS AS 876.

Thus, the baseband processor architecture 800 allows for a common 5G-NAS for both 5G cellular and non-cellular (e.g., non-3 GPP access). Note that as shown, the 5G MM may maintain separate connection management and registration management state machines for each connection. In addition, a device (e.g., UE 106) may register to a single PLMN (e.g., 5G CN) using 5G cellular access as well as non-cellular access. Furthermore, a device may be in a connected state in one access and in an idle state in another access, and vice versa. Finally, for both accesses, there may be a common 5G-MM procedure (e.g., registration, de-registration, identification, authentication, etc.).

It is noted that in various embodiments, one or more of the above-described functional entities of the 5G NAS and/or 5G AS may be configured to perform a method for prioritizing EN-DC enabled cells over similar cells that do not support EN-DC, e.g., AS further described herein.

ULI for cell selection prioritization

In the current implementations, a mobile station, such as a user equipment device (UE), may receive various System Information Blocks (SIBs) from a cell, such as an LTE cell. The type 1SIB (e.g., SIB 1) may include cell access related information and may be transmitted from the network to the UE through a PDSCH channel. The type 2SIB (e.g., SIB 2) may include radio resource configuration information common to all UEs, including access class barring configuration, RACH related configuration, timers, uplink power control, sounding reference signal configuration, etc., and may also be transmitted from the network to the UE through the PDSCH channel. The type 3SIB (e.g., SIB 3) may include common information for intra-frequency, inter-frequency, and inter-technology cell reselection parameters, and may also be transmitted from the network to the UE through the PDSCH channel. In some implementations, SIB2 may include a 5G NR state indicator, such as a "upperLayerIndication" (ULI) parameter or "upperLayerIndication-r15", e.g., as defined by 3GPP TS 36.331V15.0.0. In some implementations, a separate instance may be broadcast for each PLMN identity associated with an LTE cell. The ULI may indicate to an upper layer of the protocol stack that the 5G NR cell is co-located with the LTE cell broadcasting SIB 2. In some implementations, the ULI parameter may be set to true or may be otherwise absent.

The embodiments described herein provide systems, mechanisms, and methods for ULI-assisted Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) search, e.g., to identify and/or prioritize EN-DC capable PLMNs, e.g., E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity introduced in 3GPP release 15 and allowing mobile devices to exchange data between themselves and NR base stations and simultaneous connections with LTE base stations. In some embodiments, a non-access stratum (NAS) layer may use ULI parameters (and/or multiple ULI parameters) to enhance PLMN searches for UEs (such as UE 106) in various scenarios (such as ring border scenarios, same priority scenarios), and/or to assist in user selection of PLMNs.

For example, in a ring border scenario, if one of the rings supports EN-DC and the currently registered ring does not support EN-DC, a high priority PLMN (HP-PLMN) scan of a different carrier ring may be performed. For example, when one ring supports EN-DC and a registered PLMN (R-PLMN) ring does not support EN-DC, then HP-PLMN scanning may be attempted to find a better ring, e.g., a ring with EN-DC support. In some embodiments, the search may be further enhanced such that HP-PLMN scanning may be attempted only if a database maintained within the device (e.g., in non-volatile memory) and/or a crowdsourcing database (crowd sourced database) owned by the device manufacturer that is downloaded on the device indicates EN-DC capability in another circle. In some embodiments, it may also be considered whether the ring supports dual connectivity (DC-NR) with NR support, e.g., if the R-PLMN has a DC-NR set to 1 in the above case, only then does HP-PLMN scanning be attempted. In some embodiments, when a mobile operator (e.g., mobile carrier) uses a "same priority" operator PLMN (e.g., PLMN priority set by the mobile operator), then an indication that a cell via ULI parameters includes EN-DC capability may be used as a "tie breaker" between cells with the same priority, e.g., if one cell supports EN-DC and another cell does not support EN-DC, then the cell supporting EN-DC may be prioritized over the cell not supporting EN-DC. In some embodiments, EN-DC capable networks may be prioritized over non-EN-DC capable networks when displaying the random PLMN portion of the manual PLMN list on the user interface (e.g., after equivalent home PLMNs and operator PLMNs).

In some embodiments, during an initial cell selection procedure performed by a UE, such as UE 106, the Radio Resource Control (RRC) may change the cell selection threshold/evaluation as follows:

a) If/when multiple cells are found during the cell selection procedure and if only some of those cells support EN-DC (e.g., as indicated by ULI parameters included in SIB 2), the UE may attempt to prioritize the cell selection procedure for cells that indicate support for EN-DC, e.g., if/when the cells are within a tolerance threshold (e.g., "x" dB) of the cell with the highest Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/or highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as measured by the UE;

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

c) The cell selection criteria for the EN-DC device may be a function of the conventional cell selection criteria + X for support of EN-DC (e.g., as indicated by the inclusion of UpperLayerInd IE in SIB 2), and where X is a bias factor configurable in the UE in some embodiments.

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

As described above, in EN-DC, LTE is a primary cell group (MCG) and NR is a Secondary Cell Group (SCG). Thus, a UE such as UE 106 may maintain a list/database (e.g., table and/or look-up table) of all LTE bands, different PLMNs that are available and belong to the home PLMN, and their corresponding EN-DC support. In some implementations, such a list/database (e.g., EN-dc_db) may be updated such that the last 10 camping cells/bands/PLMNs may be contained within the database. In addition, in some embodiments, a UE such as UE 106 may avoid S-criteria for reselection if the target cell does not support EN-DC (e.g., as indicated by ULI Information Elements (IEs) missing from SIB2 broadcast). Conversely, if the RSRP of the serving cell is better than a specified threshold (e.g., such as-110 dBm), the UE may preferably remain in the current cell/band/PLMN supporting EN-DC (e.g., as indicated by ULI IEs included in SIB2 broadcasts). In some embodiments, assuming that EN-dc_db has two entries in which two cells have ULI and the UE has to reselect to one of these cells, the UE may add an additional level of prioritization, e.g., based on the NR cells that the UE has previously camped on. For example, from the NR cell, the UE may populate EN-DC_db with factors (details) such as FR1/FR 2/SCS/BW. Based on these factors, the UE may then determine a preferred LTE cell to camp on and/or reselect to, e.g., an LTE cell such as one supporting EN-DC with FR1 range NR neighbor cells.

In some embodiments, for example, such as when a UE, such as UE 106, is operating in a non-standalone (NSA) mode and in an RRC connected state, if (when) the UE has any stored version of information about the target cell, in addition to the UE's cell measurements (e.g., RSRP, SNR), the UE may also consider (think) whether a particular LTE cell has an NR cell anchored to it based on ULI SIB2 parameters from any stored version of SIB2 received from the LTE cell (e.g., so that the LTE cell may support EN-DC). In such embodiments, the UE may prioritize such LTE cells over other LTE cells that do not have any NR cells within their coverage circle (e.g., also based on SIB2 received from those LTE cells). Furthermore, in some embodiments, if the prioritized LTE cell is within a minimum threshold of the cell with the highest RSRP and/or SNR as measured by the UE, the UE may report event A3 for such prioritized LTE cell. In some embodiments, the minimum threshold may be an absolute threshold, such as 3dB, for example, among other values. In some embodiments, the minimum threshold may be a percentage threshold, such as, for example, within 1%, 5% or 10% of the highest RSRP and/or SNR as measured by the UE, among other values.

In some embodiments, for example, such as when a UE (such as UE 106) is operating in a non-standalone (NSA) mode and in an RRC connected state, the UE may maintain a list (e.g., database) of all LTE bands, different available PLMNs belonging to the home PLMN, and their corresponding ULI support. In some embodiments, the list (e.g., the database may be updated to the last 10 camped cells/bands/PLMNs).

In some embodiments, for example, such as when a UE (such as UE 106) is active in a cell with lte+nr (e.g., EN-DC) and the UE is operating in a non-standalone (NSA) mode and in an RRC connected state while experiencing Radio Link Failure (RLF) in the MCG, the UE may perform a system selection procedure to find the highest energy cell in order to reestablish a connection with the MCG (e.g., to send RRCReestablishment requests). In some embodiments, if the UE discovers more than one cell and the cells belong to different frequency bands or PLMNs, the UE may select a cell that supports NR (e.g., EN-DC).

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

In some embodiments, a UE such as UE 106 may operate in a 5G NR independent mode and may move to LTE coverage (e.g., downgrade radio access technology). In such embodiments, during the iRAT reselection, the UE may perform measurements and find multiple LTE cells. In some embodiments, the UE may prioritize LTE cells in SIB2 with upper layer indication parameters (e.g., upperLayerIndication) set to "true" over LTE cells that do not include upper layer indication parameters in SIB2 and/or have upper layer indication parameters set to "false. In such embodiments, the UE may benefit from lte+nr data speed in the event that the UE has not reselected back to 5G NR (e.g., standalone mode).

In some embodiments, a UE, such as UE 106, may store a subcarrier spacing (SCS) in an internal database as part of a cell acquisition procedure. In some embodiments, the internal database may also be uploaded to a server owned by the device manufacturer that serves as the crowdsourcing database. In some embodiments, the UE may opportunistically retrieve the crowdsourcing database (e.g., over Wi-Fi or another non-cellular interface). Thus, during the cell selection procedure, the UE may also retrieve the SCS of the cell from the database and may use the SCS for the cell selection and/or cell reselection procedure. For example, if the UE encounters a cell with multiple SCSs, the UE must select a particular SCS from the cell and initiate a camping procedure. In such cases, the selection of SCS by the UE may be based on:

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

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

In some embodiments, a UE, such as UE 106, may receive an indication from a network (e.g., base station 102) via SIB2 ULI as to whether the NR deployment is a frequency range 1 (FR 1) (e.g., sub 6GHz band, including 410MHz to 7125 MHz) or a frequency range 2 (FR 2) (e.g., a band of 24.25GHz to 52.6 GHz) deployment. In such embodiments, the UE may enhance cell selection and/or reselection (e.g., when the camping criteria match) based on SIB2 ULI (NR FR1 and NR FR 2). In some embodiments, it may be advantageous (and/or beneficial) for the UE to operate in lte+nrfr1. For example, in cases (instances) where thermal conditions (e.g., the likelihood of the UE overheating and/or the likelihood of requiring the UE to reduce performance to avoid overheating) may be a consideration, operating in lte+nrfr 1 may provide better (thermal) performance for the UE than operating in lte+nrfr 2. In some embodiments, it may be advantageous (and/or beneficial) for the UE to operate in lte+nrfr2. For example, operating in lte+nrfr 2 may provide better (throughput) performance for the UE than operating in lte+nrfr 1 in situations (instances) where higher throughput may be needed and/or desired (e.g., via Ultra Wideband (UWB) support).

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary UE movement scenario in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, a UE, such as UE 106, may be anchored in a first cell, such as 4G cell 920. The 4G cell 420 may include one or more base stations that may support fourth generation (4G) Radio Access Technologies (RATs), such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). UE 106 may be approaching the boundary of 4G cell 920 and, thus, may be approaching additional 4G cells 930 and/or 940. As shown, 4G cell 940 may anchor one or more 5G cells, such as cells 942-946. In other words, 4G cell 940 may support EN-DC via 5G cells 942-946. Thus, when UE 106 approaches the cell boundaries of 4G cells 930 and 940, UE 106 may receive SIB2 messages from both 4G cells. As described above, the 4G cell 940 may include an upper layer indication parameter set to true to indicate support for EN-DC and/or indicate availability of 5G NR support within the 4G cell 940. In addition, the 4G cell 930 may not include an upper layer indication parameter, thereby indicating a lack of support for EN-DC within the 4G cell 930, and/or may include an upper layer indication parameter set to "false" to indicate no support for EN-DC within the 4G cell 930. Thus, in addition to the UE 106 measuring radio conditions (e.g., such as RSRP and/or SNR), the UE 106 may also consider that the 4G cell 940 has 5G cells 942-946 anchored thereto. In some embodiments, based on the upper layer indication included in SIB2 broadcast from 4G cell 940, UE 106 may prioritize 4G cell 940 to exceed 4G cell 930, for example, when the radio condition measurements of the cells are within a specified percentage of each other and/or when the radio condition measurements of 4G cell 940 are within a specified range of the radio condition measurements of 4G cell 930.

Fig. 10-13 illustrate examples of flowcharts for a UE (such as UE 106) for cell selection/reselection by EN-DC cell prioritization, in accordance with some embodiments. The methods shown in fig. 10-13 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices.

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

At 1002, a UE, such as UE 106, may determine whether it is operating in Standalone (SA) mode or non-standalone (NSA) mode. In other words, a 5G NR capable UE may determine whether the UE is attached to only a 5G NR cell or whether the UE is attached to a 4G LTE cell including a 5G NR cell (e.g., EN-DC) anchored thereto.

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

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

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

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

At 1102, a UE, such as UE 106, may determine whether it is attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and in an RRC idle state. In other words, the UE may determine whether it is in a state in which it may continue cell reselection.

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

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

At 1108, in response to determining that either condition is not met (e.g., the serving cell is not below a threshold (e.g., associated with a radio condition) and/or the neighbor cell is unable to provide an improved (e.g., better) radio condition, e.g., as compared to the serving cell), the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation and continue performing serving cell and/or neighbor cell measurements.

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

At 1112, in response to determining that only one neighboring LTE cell exists, the UE may reselect to the neighboring cell, for example, when cell reselection criteria are met.

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

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

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

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

At 1122, in response to determining that the at least one measured LTE cell is acting as an anchor and meeting any other selection criteria, the UE may prioritize the at least one measured LTE cell over LTE cells that may be ranked higher based on radio measurement values and reselect to the at least one measured LTE cell. In some embodiments, such prioritization may allow the UE to advantageously select LTE cells that support EN-DC over LTE cells that do not support EN-DC.

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

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

At 1202, a UE, such as UE 106, may determine whether it is performing a cell scan as part of cell selection. In some embodiments, the UE may determine whether it is performing cell scanning on LTE frequencies as part of cell selection. In some embodiments, the UE may be in an RRC idle state during the scan.

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

Alternatively, at 1206, in response to determining that the UE is performing a cell scan as part of cell selection, the UE may determine whether any candidate cells meet cell selection criteria.

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

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

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

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

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

Alternatively, in response to determining that there are no cells acting as anchors and meeting any other selection criteria, the UE may continue cell selection based on the measured radio performance of the cells at 1218.

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

At 1302, a UE, such as UE 106, may determine whether it is attached to a 3G and/or LTE cell and in an RRC connected state. In other words, the UE may determine whether it is in a state in which it may continue cell reselection.

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

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

At 1308, in response to determining that either condition is not met (e.g., the serving cell is not below a threshold (e.g., associated with a radio condition) and/or the neighbor cell is unable to provide an improved (e.g., better) radio condition, e.g., as compared to the serving cell), the UE may continue normal (e.g., standard) operation and continue performing serving cell and/or neighbor cell measurements.

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

At 1312, in response to determining that only one neighboring LTE cell exists, the UE may report event A3, e.g., when cell reselection criteria are met.

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

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

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

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

At 1322, in response to determining that the at least one measured LTE cell is acting as an anchor and meeting any other selection criteria, the UE may prioritize the at least one measured LTE cell over LTE cells that may be ranked higher based on radio measurement values and reselect to the at least one measured LTE cell. In some embodiments, such prioritization may allow the UE to advantageously select LTE cells that support EN-DC over LTE cells that do not support EN-DC.

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

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

At 1402, a UE, such as UE 106, may populate a database (e.g., a data structure stored on the UE, such as a look-up table) with LTE cell information (e.g., such as NR bands, SCS, BW, FR, FR2, etc.) of previously camped cells. In some embodiments, the database may be EN-DC_db.

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

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

At 1408, in response to determining that there are more than two LTE cells that have included ULI in the SIB2 message, the UE may determine whether there are LTE cells in a database (e.g., EN-dc_db).

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

At 1412, in response to determining that an LTE cell is present in the database, the UE may prioritize the LTE cell in the database based at least in part on various NR parameters (such as one or more of NR frequency bands, SCS, BW, FR, FR2, etc.).

In some embodiments, a UE, such as UE 106, may be a dual SIM device. In such embodiments, the first SIM (e.g., SIM 1) may be data-preferred and the second SIM (e.g., SIM 2) may be non-data-preferred. In some embodiments, if (when) SIM2 detects an LTE cell indicating support for UpperLayerInd IE, and if (when) SIM1 does not find an LTE cell with UpperLayerInd IE, then the baseband processor of the UE may suggest that the application processor of the UE perform a data preference handover to SIM 2. Such a handover may allow NR EN-DC to be activated (e.g., if the user indicates a change in cellular data preference handover consent). In some embodiments, the UE may maintain data PDN contexts on both SIMs within the baseband processor, and the application processor may select the IP context of the active data SIM interface.

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

At 1502, a UE, such as UE 106, may be a 5G capable dual SIM device with a data preferred SIM 1. In other words, the UE may preferably use the first SIM to transmit data relative to the second SIM.

At 1504, the UE may determine whether a data handoff is active, e.g., whether the UE may handoff data preferences between a first SIM (e.g., SIM 1) and a second SIM (e.g., SIM 2).

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

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

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

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

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

At 1602, a UE, such as UE 106, may perform one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection and/or cell reselection.

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

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

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

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

In some embodiments, the UE may store in a database cell information of a first LTE cell including one or more of NR frequency bands, NR subcarrier spacing (SCS), NR Bandwidth (BW), NR frequency range 1 (NR FR 1) support, and/or NR frequency range 2 (NR FR 2) support. In some embodiments, the database may include EN-DC_db.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., UE 106) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read from the memory medium and execute the program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

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

Claims (20)

1. A user equipment device UE, comprising: one or more antennas; One or more radio components configured to perform cellular communications using at least one radio access technology (RAT); one or more processors coupled to the one or more radios, wherein the one or more processors and the one or more radios are configured to perform voice and/or data communications; The one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to: performing one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection or cell reselection; Determining whether at least two Long Term Evolution (LTE) cells meet a selection criterion based on one or more of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) measurement value; In response to determining that at least two LTE cells satisfy the selection criteria, prioritizing a first LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells over a second LTE cell of the at least two LTE cells based on support for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) - New Radio (NR) dual connectivity (EN-DC), wherein the first LTE cell indicates support for EN-DC, wherein the second LTE cell does not indicate support for EN-DC, and wherein the first LTE cell is within a tolerance threshold of RSRP and/or SNR of the second LTE cell; and The first LTE cell is selected based on that the first LTE cell indicates support for at least one of NR frequency range 1, i.e., NR FR1, or NR frequency range 2, i.e., NR FR2, wherein a first system information block type 2, i.e., SIB2, received from the first LTE cell includes an upper layer indicator ULI indicating support for NR FR1 and/or NR FR2, and wherein NR FR1 includes a sub 6 GHz frequency band and NR FR2 includes a frequency band from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. 2. The UE according to claim 1, Wherein, in order to prioritize the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receiving, from the first LTE cell, a first SIB2 indicating support for EN-DC; and receiving, from the second LTE cell, a second SIB2 that does not indicate support for EN-DC; and In order to indicate support for EN-DC, the first SIB2 includes the ULI. 3. The UE according to claim 2, The one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: The ULI is determined to have a value equal to "TRUE", thereby indicating support for EN-DC, wherein a value of "1" indicates "TRUE" and a value of "0" indicates "FALSE". 4. The UE according to claim 1, The one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: The cell information of the first LTE cell is stored in a database, wherein the cell information of the first LTE cell includes one or more of an NR frequency band, an NR subcarrier spacing SCS, an NR bandwidth BW, NR FR1 support, or NR FR2 support, wherein the database includes EN-DC_db. 5. The UE according to claim 1, The one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: determining whether the UE is operating in an NR standalone operation mode or a non-standalone operation mode; and wherein, when the UE is operating in the NR independent operation mode, cell selection or cell reselection comprises reselecting from an NR cell to an LTE cell; and Wherein, when the UE is operating in a non-independent operation mode, the cell selection or the cell reselection includes at least one of the following: cell reselection when the UE is in a radio resource control RRC idle state; Cell selection when the UE is in RRC idle state; Cell reselection when the UE is in RRC inactive state; or Cell selection when the UE experiences LTE cell radio link failure. 6. The UE according to claim 1, Wherein, when the cell selection or the cell reselection includes a cell selection when the UE is in an RRC idle state, in order to prioritize the first LTE cell among the at least two LTE cells over the second LTE cell among the at least two LTE cells based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: Confirm that the measured RSRP of the first LTE cell is greater than an RSRP threshold. 7. The UE according to claim 1, The UE further comprises: a first Subscriber Identity Module SIM, said first SIM being associated with said first LTE cell; and a second SIM, the second SIM being associated with the second LTE cell; wherein the second SIM is a data preferred SIM; and Wherein data is preferentially handed over to the first SIM based on prioritizing the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell. 8. The UE according to claim 1, Wherein, in order to prioritize the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: Determining that the first LTE cell is configured with an NR neighbor cell; and Determine that the second LTE cell is not configured with an NR neighbor cell. 9. The UE according to claim 1, Wherein, in order to prioritize the first LTE cell over the second LTE cell based on support for EN-DC, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: determining, based on historical information stored at the UE, that the first LTE cell was previously configured in EN-DC mode; and Based on the historical information, it is determined that the second LTE cell was not previously configured in EN-DC mode. 10. The UE according to claim 1, In order to select the first LTE cell, the one or more processors are further configured to enable the UE to: An SCS is selected from a plurality of subcarrier spacings SCS of the first LTE cell based at least in part on at least one of: the type and latency of an application requesting a radio resource control (RRC) connection, whether the selection of the first LTE cell is for reachability purposes, or whether the selection of the first LTE cell is for enhanced throughput purposes. 11. An apparatus comprising: Memory; and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: performing one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection or cell reselection; Determining whether at least two cells meet the selection criteria based on one or more of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement value; In response to determining that at least two cells satisfy the selection criteria, prioritizing a first cell of the at least two cells over a second cell of the at least two cells based on support for a dual connectivity mode of operation, wherein the first cell indicates support for the dual connectivity mode of operation, wherein the second cell does not indicate support for the dual connectivity mode of operation, and wherein the first cell is within a tolerance threshold of RSRP and/or SNR of the second cell; and The first cell is selected based on that the first cell indicates support for at least one of NR frequency range 1, i.e., NR FR1, or NR frequency range 2, i.e., NR FR2, wherein a first system information block type 2, i.e., SIB2, received from the first cell includes an upper layer indicator ULI indicating support for NR FR1 and/or NR FR2, and wherein NR FR1 includes a sub6 GHz band and NR FR2 includes a frequency band from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. 12. The device according to claim 11, In order to select the first cell, the processor is further configured to select an SCS from a plurality of subcarrier spacings SCS of the first cell. 13. The device according to claim 12, Wherein, in order to select the SCS, the processor is further configured to select the SCS from the multiple SCSs based at least in part on at least one of: the type and delay of the application requesting the radio resource control RRC connection, whether the selection of the first cell is for reachability purposes, or whether the selection of the first cell is for enhanced throughput purposes. 14. The device according to claim 12, The processor is further configured to: Storing the SCS in an internal database as part of a cell acquisition procedure; and Instructions are generated to upload and/or transmit the internal database to a server used as a crowd-sourced database, wherein the server is a server owned by the device manufacturer. 15. The device according to claim 11, The processor is further configured to: Downloading and/or obtaining a crowdsourced database from a server; wherein the crowdsourced database includes cell information of the at least two cells; wherein the cell information includes one or more of a new radio NR frequency band, a NR subcarrier spacing SCS, a NR bandwidth BW, NR FR1 support, or NR FR2 support; and The crowd-sourced database is stored as an internal database, wherein the crowd-sourced database is downloaded/retrieved via a non-cellular interface. 16. A method for a user equipment device UE, comprising: determining whether at least two cells satisfy a selection criterion based on one or more measurement scans associated with cell selection or cell reselection; In response to determining that at least two cells satisfy the selection criteria, prioritizing a first cell of the at least two cells over a second cell of the at least two cells based on support for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) - New Radio (NR) dual connectivity (EN-DC), wherein the first cell indicates support for EN-DC, wherein the second cell does not indicate support for EN-DC, and wherein the first cell is within a tolerance threshold of the second cell; and The first cell is selected based on that the first cell indicates support for at least one of NR frequency range 1, i.e., NR FR1, or NR frequency range 2, i.e., NR FR2, wherein a first system information block type 2, i.e., SIB2, received from the first cell includes an upper layer indicator ULI indicating support for NR FR1 and/or NR FR2, and wherein NR FR1 includes a sub6 GHz band and NR FR2 includes a frequency band from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. 17. The method according to claim 16, In order to prioritize the first cell over the second cell based on support for EN-DC, the method further comprises: receiving, from the first cell, a first SIB2 indicating support for EN-DC; and receiving, from the second cell, a second SIB2 not indicating support for EN-DC; and In order to indicate support for EN-DC, the first SIB2 includes the ULI. 18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: The cell information of the first cell is stored in a database, wherein the cell information of the first cell includes one or more of an NR frequency band, an NR subcarrier spacing SCS, an NR bandwidth BW, NR FR1 support, or NR FR2 support. 19. The method according to claim 16, The tolerance threshold is one of an absolute threshold or a percentage threshold. 20. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processing circuit of a User Equipment device (UE), causes the UE to perform a method according to any one of claims 16-19.