WO2018089879A1

WO2018089879A1 - Configuration of radio resource management measurement

Info

Publication number: WO2018089879A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/061263
Authority: WO
Inventors: Candy YIU; Daewon Lee; Yang Tang; Seunghee Han; Rui Huang; Youn Hyoung Heo; Hwan-Joon Kwon; Jie Cui; Kyeongin Jeong; Alexei Davydov
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2016-11-14
Filing date: 2017-11-13
Publication date: 2018-05-17
Also published as: CN109804592B; CN109804592A

Abstract

Herein described are apparatuses, systems, and methods associated with configuration of a radio resource management (RRM) measurement. An apparatus of a next generation NodeB (gNB) may include processing circuitry to determine a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal of a network that implements beamforming and generate a signal that indicates the resource. The apparatus may further include encoding circuitry, coupled with the processing circuitry, to encode the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that is to utilize the beamformed reference signal to perform a radio resource management measurement. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or described herein.

Description

CONFIGURATION OF RADIO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MEASUREMENT

Related Application

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Number

62/421,864, filed November 14, 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless networks. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to configuration of radio resource management measurement in wireless networks that implement beamforming.

Background

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

As wireless networks continue to expand, additional transmission and reception points have been introduced into the networks to support the increasing amount of user equipment and to increase the coverage area. User equipment may encounter multiple available transmission and reception points with which to connect as the user equipment moves within the networks, although may be limited to connecting to a single transmission and reception point at a time. Accordingly, determining which transmission and reception point would provide benefits, in terms of connectivity, to the user equipment and when a handover procedure should be initiated to transfer connectivity of the user equipment between transmission and reception points have become concerns to be addressed. Further, additional considerations in the determination have been introduced by advances in wireless networks, such as beamforming technology.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates a portion of an example network arrangement, according to various embodiments. Figure 2 illustrates a representation of an example signal transmission arrangement representation, according to various embodiments.

Figure 3 illustrates an example procedure to be performed by a network, according to various embodiments.

Figure 4 illustrates a first portion of an example procedure to be performed by user equipment, according to various embodiments.

Figure 5 illustrates a second portion of the example procedure to be performed by the user equipment of Figure 4, according to various embodiments.

Figure 6 illustrates an example representation of a configuration signal, according to various embodiments.

Figure 7 illustrates another example representation of a configuration signal, according to various embodiments.

Figure 8 illustrates an example architecture of a system of a network, according to various embodiments.

Figure 9 illustrates another example architecture of a system of a network, according to various embodiments.

Figure 10 illustrates example components of an electronic device, according to various embodiments.

Figure 11 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry, according to various embodiments.

Figure 12 illustrates an example control plane protocol stack, according to various embodiments.

Figure 13 illustrates an example user plane protocol stack, according to various embodiments.

Figure 14 illustrates a block diagram of example components, according to various embodiments.

Figure 15 illustrates an example computer-readable non-transitory storage medium, according to various embodiments.

Detailed Description

Apparatuses, methods and storage media associated with wireless networks are disclosed herein. In embodiments, an apparatus of a transmission and reception point may include processing circuitry to determine a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal of a network that implements beamforming and generate a signal that indicates the resource. The apparatus may further include encoding circuitry, coupled with the processing circuitry, to encode the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that is to utilize the beamformed reference signal to perform a radio resource management measurement.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout, and in which is shown by way of illustration embodiments that may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Aspects of the disclosure are disclosed in the accompanying description. Alternate embodiments of the present disclosure and their equivalents may be devised without parting from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. It should be noted that like elements disclosed below are indicated by like reference numbers in the drawings.

Various operations may be described as multiple discrete actions or operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the claimed subject matter.

However, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations may not be performed in the order of presentation. Operations described may be performed in a different order than the described embodiment. Various additional operations may be performed and/or described operations may be omitted in additional embodiments.

For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase "A and/or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase "A, B, and/or C" means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

The description may use the phrases "in an embodiment," or "in embodiments," which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," "having," and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an

Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.

While embodiments described herein refer to using synchronization signals, such as primary synchronization signal and/or secondary synchronization signal, it is to be understood that other embodiments may use other synchronization signals, which may be generically referred to as xSS.

As used herein, the term "cell" may refer to a new radio (NR) cell. The NR cell may be tied to a same identifier carried by NR-synchronization signal (SS).

The user equipment (UE), which may be NR UE described throughout this disclosure, may operate in an IDLE mode refers to a UE state similar to long term evolution (LTE) IDLE state. The definition of the IDLE mode may be defined by radio access network group 2 (RAN2).

The networks described herein, which may be NR networks, may support cell-level mobility based on downlink (DL) cell-level measurement (e.g. reference signal received power (RSRP) for each cell) in IDLE mode UE.

The following DL signals may be used for IDLE mode radio resource management (RRM) measurement: synchronization signal (e.g., NR-primary synchronization signal (PSS), NR-secondary synchronization signal (SSS)); reference signal (RS) for

demodulating broadcast channel; RS for mobility (which may have cell identifier associated with this RS and/or this RS may be for multi-beam and/or single-beam); and/or any combinations of the previous. Other signals may not be precluded.

Quasi-Co-Location (QCL) may be defined for DL signal for IDLE mode RRM measurement. Further, NR cell may be defined only for "IDLE mode" or for both IDLE and CONNECTED mode.

UEs described herein may operate in a UE state of CONNECTED mode, which may be similar to LTE CONNECTED state. The definition of LTE CONNECTED mode may be up to RAN2.

Layer 3 (L3) mobility may be based on DL measurement in CONNECTED mode

UE. At least non-UE-specific DL signals can be used for CONNECTED mode RRM measurement. UE-specific DL signals may be utilized for this.

The following DL signals may be utilized for CONNECTED mode RRM measurement: cell related RS which is carrying Cell-identifier (ID) (e.g. NR-PSS, NR- SSS); RS for mobility (which may be associated with beam-ID and/or Cell-ID); RS for demodulating broadcast channel; a combination of cell related RS which is carrying Cell- ID and RS for mobility. Other signals may not be precluded from use.

At least one of cell-level and beam-level measurement quantities may be supported for RRM reporting. RRM measurement quantities may be defined, e.g., RSRP, reference signal received quality (RSRQ). The following options may be utilized for RRM measurement quantities to be reported for L3 mobility: derived per cell (e.g., if multi- beam, as a function of multi-beam measurements); derived per beam; some combination thereof. Other options may not be precluded. Other UE states may be introduced (if introduced by RAN2).

The UEs described herein may operate in an RRC INACTIVE state. A UE and at least 1 next generation NodeB (gNB) may keep the application server (AS) context information in the RRC INACTIVE state. In RRC INACTIVE state, number of radio network identifiers may be limited. In the RRC INACTIVE state, a UE location can be known at the radio access network (RAN) based area level where that area may be a single cell or more than one cell. Area may be determined by the network.

DL-based mobility in RRC CONNECTED mode (optimized for data transmission, at least for network-controlled mobility) may include mobility with RRC involvement, concerning beams and the relation to the NR cell definition. UE may at least measure one or more individual beams and gNB may have mechanisms to consider those beams to perform handover (HO). This may at least trigger inter-gNB handovers and to optimize HO ping-pongs and/or HO failures. UE may report individual and/or combined quality of multiple beams. UE may be able to distinguish between the beams from its serving cell and beams from non-serving cells for RRM measurements in active mobility. UE may be able to determine if a beam is from its serving cell. Serving/non serving cell may be termed "serving/non serving set of beam." The UE may be informed via dedicated signalling or implicitly detected by the UE based on some broadcast signals. The cell in connected may relate to the cell in idle. A cell quality may be derived based on measurements from individual beams.

In connected mode, intra-cell mobility can be handled by mobility without radio resource control (RRC) involvement. There may be cases that do require RRC

involvement. The UE may be able to identify a beam. The beams may be identified as defined by radio access network group 1 (RANI).

In IDLE mode, UE may perform cell selection and reselection on NR Cells. A cell quality may be derived based on measurements.

For RRC driven uplink (UL)-based connected mode mobility, the following may be implemented. For connected active state mobility, DL-based handover may be supported, and UL based mobility can be supported or unsupported. For connected inactive state, DL-based reselection may be supported, and UL-based mobility can be supported or unsupported. Benefits of UL based mobility, compared to DL based mobility, may be implemented.

There may be two possibilities for the signal design for RRM: Reuse legacy channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for RRM; Design a new RS for RRM.

On the top of the RS design, the signal may be fixed periodic or dynamically configured by the network. The configuration in the higher layer may become very complex in case of a flexible design in physical layer. Embodiments herein may relate to how the higher layer configuration in different combination.

Figure 1 illustrates a portion of an example network arrangement 1000, according to various embodiments. The network arrangement 1000 may provide for connectivity to a network, such as the network associated with Figure 8 and/or Figure 9. In some embodiments, the network may be a new radio (NR) network and/or a fifth generation network. The network arrangement 1000 may include one or more cells, transmission and reception points, or some combination thereof, that implement beamforming. The beamforming may be in high frequency.

In the illustrated embodiment, the network arrangement 1000 includes a first cell 1002 and a second cell 1004. The first cell 1002 may be associated with a first NodeB 1006, which may be a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a next generation NodeB (gNodeB), or some combination thereof. The first NodeB 1006 may provide connectivity of one or more elements within the first cell 1002 to the network. The elements may include one or more transmission and reception points (TRPs), one or more user equipments (UEs), or some combination thereof. In particular, the first NodeB 1006 may provide connectivity between the elements and a core network, such as core network XS20 (Fig. 8).

A first group of TRPs 1010 may be located within the first cell 1002. The first group of TRPs 1010 may provide for connectivity between the first NodeB 1006 and UEs located within the first cell 1002. The first group of TRPs 1010 may include antennas to relay communications, NodeBs (such as NodeBs, eNodeBs, and/or gNodeBs), or some combination thereof.

Each of the TRPs within the first group of TRPs 1010 may transmit signals, via broadcasting and/or beamforming, to UEs. The signals may be generated by the first NodeB 1006 and each of the TRPs may relay the signals to the UEs. In the illustrated embodiment, the TRPs are illustrated as transmitting the signals via beamforming, as illustrated via the beams 1012. The signals may include, but are not limited to, reference signals, which may include channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), synchronization signals (such as primary synchronization signals (PSS) and/or secondary synchronization signals (SSS)), beam reference signals (BRS), measurement reference signals (MRS), and/or other reference signals. In particular, the signals may be beamformed reference signals. The signals may be transmitted at a periodicity, in response to triggers (such as reception of signals from UEs), or some combination thereof. For example, the signals may be transmitted when the system frame number (SFN) modulo the periodicity is equal to a time indicated by the time information 606 (Fig. 6). For further example, if the time indicated by the time information 606 is equal to one, then the signal is transmitted when the SFN modulo the periodicity is equal to one. In some embodiments, the time may be indicated by a timing index included in the time information 606.

The second cell 1004 may be associated with a second NodeB 1008, which may be a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a next generation NodeB (gNodeB), or some combination thereof. The second NodeB 1008 may provide connectivity of one or more elements within the second cell 1004 to the network. The elements may include one or more transmission and reception points (TRPs), one or more UEs, or some combination thereof. In particular, the second NodeB 1008 may provide connectivity between the elements and the core network, such as core network XS20 (Fig. 8).

A second group of TRPs 1014 may be located within the second cell 1004. The second group of TRPs 1014 may provide for connectivity between the second NodeB 1008 and UEs located within the second cell 1004. The second group of TRPs 1014 may include antennas to relay communications, NodeBs (such as NodeBs, eNodeBs, and/or gNodeBs), or some combination thereof.

Each of the TRPs within the second group of TRPs 1014 may transmit signals, via broadcasting and/or beamforming, to UEs. The signals may be generated by the second NodeB 1008 and each of the TRPs may relay the signals to the UEs. In the illustrated embodiment, a first TRP within the second group of TRPs 1014 broadcasts the signals (as illustrated by broadcast 1016) and the other TRPs within the second group of TRPs 1014 beamform the signals (as illustrated by beams 1018). The signals may include, but are not limited to, reference signals, which may include CSI-RS, synchronization signals (such as PSS and/or SSS), BRS, MRS, and/or other reference signals. In particular, the signals may be beamformed reference signals. The signals may be transmitted at a periodicity, in response to triggers (such as reception of signals from UEs), or some combination thereof. For example, the signals may be transmitted when the SFN modulo the periodicity is equal to a time indicated by the time information 606 (Fig. 6). For further example, if the time indicated by the time information 606 is equal to one, then the signal is transmitted when the SFN modulo the periodicity is equal to one. In some embodiments, the time may be indicated by a timing index included in the time information 606.

A first UE 1020 and a second UE 1022 are illustrated within the network arrangement 1000. The first UE 1020 and the second UE 1022 may include one or more of the features of the UE XS01 (Fig. 8) and/or the UE XS02 (Fig. 8). The first NodeB 1006 and/or the second NodeB 1008 may provide connectivity to the network for the first UE 1020 and/or the second UE 1022.

The first UE 1020 is illustrated as being moved from a first location 1020a within the first cell 1002 to a second location 1020b within the second cell 1004. As the first UE 1020 is moved from the first location 1020a to the second location 1020b, connectivity to the network may transition from being provided by one of the TRPs within the first group of TRPs 1010 of the first cell 1002 to being provided by one of the TRPs within the second group of TRPs 1014 of the second cell 1004. The transition may be implemented via a handover (HO) procedure. It is to be understood that the HO procedure may be any HO procedure known by one having ordinary skill in the art utilized for HO of a UE moving between cells of a network.

The network (which may include the core network, the first NodeB 1006, and/or the second NodeB 1008) and/or the first UE 1020 may determine which of the TRPs within the first cell 1002 and/or the second cell 1004 are to provide connectivity to the first UE 1020 based on measurements of the signals transmitted by the TRPs. For example, the first UE 1020 may perform measurements on the signals received from the TRPs and the HO procedure may be initiated by the network based on the results of the measurement. For example, the HO procedure may be initiated based on the

measurements performed by the first UE 1020 indicating that a TRP other than a current TRP providing connectivity to the first UE 1020 would provide better connectivity to the first UE 1020. In some embodiments, the first UE 1020 may generate a measurement report based on the measurements of the signals performed by the first UE 1020 and transmit the measurement report to the network (via the TRPs, the first NodeB 1006, the second NodeB 1008, or some combination thereof). The network may initiate the HO procedure based on the measurement report. In particular, the core network, or some component thereof, may initiate the HO procedure. The first UE 1020 may perform the measurements on the beamformed reference signals (which may include CSI-RS, synchronization signals (such as the PSS and/or the SSS), the BRS, the MRS, other references signals, or some combination thereof) received from each of the TRPs. The measurements may include radio resource management (RRM) measurements, which may include a received power measurement, a received quality measurement, or some combination thereof. In embodiments where the first UE 1020 generates the measurement report, the measurement report may include the results of the RRM measurements for each of the signals received by the first UE 1020. The signals may further include an identifier of the TRP that transmitted the signal, the cell with which the signal is associated, the NodeB (such as the first NodeB 1006 and/or the second NodeB 1008) with which the signal is associated, or some combination thereof. The measurement report may include an indication of the TRP, the cell, and/or the NodeB with which each of the measurements in the measurement report are associated.

In the illustrated embodiment, a first TRP 1024, within the first cell 1002, may be providing connectivity to the first UE 1020 when the first UE 1020 is located at the first location 1020a. As the first UE 1020 is moved to the second location 1020b, the network and/or the first UE 1020 may determine that a second TRP 1026, located within the second cell 1004, can provide better connectivity to the first UE 1020 than the first TRP 1024 based on the measurements performed by the first UE 1020. The network and/or the first UE 1020 may initiate the HO procedure based on the determination that the second TRP 1026 can provide better connectivity than the first TRP 1024. For example, the core network of the network may initiate the HO procedure. Upon completion of the HO procedure, the second TRP 1026 may provide connectivity to the first UE 1020.

The second UE 1022 is illustrated as being moved from a first location 1022a within the second cell 1004 to a second location 1022b within the second cell 1004. As the second UE 1022 is moved from the first location 1022a to the second location 1022b, connectivity to the network may transition from being provided by one of the TRPs within the second group of TRPs 1014 of the second cell 1004 to being provided by another of the TRPs within the second group of TRPs 1014 of the second cell 1004. The transition may be implemented via a HO procedure. It is to be understood that the HO procedure may be any HO procedure known by one having ordinary skill in the art utilized for HO of a UE moving between TRPs of a cell within a network. The management of connectivity as a UE transitions between TRPs within a cell may be referred to as beam management.

The network (which may include the core network, the first NodeB 1006, and/or the second NodeB 1008) and/or the second UE 1022 may determine which of the TRPs within the first cell 1002 and/or the second cell 1004 are to provide connectivity to the second UE 1022 based on measurements of the signals transmitted by the TRPs. For example, the second UE 1022 may perform measurements on the signals received from the TRPs and the HO procedure may be initiated based on the results of the measurement. For example, the HO procedure may be initiated based on the measurements performed by the second UE 1022 indicating that a TRP other than a current TRP providing connectivity to the second UE 1022 would provide better connectivity to the second UE 1022. In some embodiments, the second UE 1022 may generate a measurement report based on the measurements of the signals performed by the second UE 1022 and transmit the measurement report to the network (via the TRPs, the first NodeB 1006, the second NodeB 1008, or some combination thereof). The network may initiate the HO procedure based on the measurement report. In particular, the core network, or some component thereof, may initiate the HO procedure.

The second UE 1022 may perform the measurements on the beamformed reference signals (which may include CSI-RS, synchronization signals (such as the PSS and/or the SSS), the BRS, the MRS, other reference signals, or some combination thereof) received from each of the TRPs. The measurements may include RRM measurements, which may include a received power measurement, a received quality measurement, or some combination thereof. In embodiments where the second UE 1022 generates the measurement report, the measurement report may include the results of the RRM measurements for each of the signals received by the second UE 1022. The signals may further include an identifier of the TRP that transmitted the signal, the cell with which the signal is associated, the NodeB (such as the first NodeB 1006 and/or the second NodeB 1008) with which the signal is associated, or some combination thereof. The measurement report may include an indication of the TRP, the cell, and/or the NodeB with which each of the measurements in the measurement report are associated.

In the illustrated embodiment, a third TRP 1028, within the second cell 1004, may be providing connectivity to the second UE 1022 when the second UE 1022 is located at the first location 1022a. As the second UE 1022 is moved to the second location 1022b, the network and/or the second UE 1022 may determine that the second TRP 1026, located within the second cell 1004, can provide better connectivity to the second UE 1022 than the third TRP 1028 based on the measurements performed by the second UE 1022. The network and/or the second UE 1022 may initiate the HO procedure based on the determination that the second TRP 1026 can provide better connectivity than the second TRP 1026. For example, the core network of the network may initiate the HO procedure. Upon completion of the HO procedure, the second TRP 1026 may provide connectivity to the second UE 1022.

Figure 2 illustrates a representation of an example signal transmission arrangement representation 200, according to various embodiments. The representation 200 may represent resources for transmissions of signals via beams (such as the beams 1012 (Fig. 1) and/or the beams 1018 (Fig. 1)) and/or broadcast (such as the broadcast 1016 (Fig. 1)). In particular, each of the squares in the representation 200 may represent a resource for transmission of a signal. Each resource may correspond to a frequency at which a signal transmitted on the resource would be transmitted and a time that the signal would be transmitted. For simplicity, description of the representation 200 may refer only to signals transmitted via beams (referred to as "beams") and, particularly, to a first beam and a second beam, which may be beamformed reference signals. However, it is to be understood that additional beams and/or broadcasts may be transmitted on the resources in the illustrated embodiment and/or in other embodiments. Additionally, the description of the representation 200 refers to resources on which beams are not transmitted. However, this is to be understood to indicate resources that are not utilized for the beamformed reference signals described herein, but may be utilized for transmission of other signals than the beamformed reference signals.

The white squares may indicate resources on which beams are not transmitted and the gray squares may indicate resources on which beams are transmitted. Each gray square may represent transmission of a single beam on the resource. The representation 200 may be a representation of a signal transmission arrangement for a single cell (such as the first cell 1002 (Fig. 1) and/or the second cell 1004 (Fig. 1)) within the network.

In the illustrated embodiment, multiple beams may be transmitted at the same time with each beam being transmitted at a different frequency. For example, a first beam may be transmitted on a first resource 202 corresponding to a first frequency and a first time, and a second beam may be transmitted on a second resource 204 corresponding to a second frequency, different from the first frequency, and the first time. The first beam may be transmitted by a TRP within a cell and the second beam may be transmitted by a TRP within the same cell, wherein the TRP that transmits the second beam may be the same TRP as or a different TRP from the TRP that transmits the first beam. Other beams within the cell may be transmitted at the same time and at different frequencies from the first beam and the second beam.

Further in the illustrated embodiment, the beams may be transmitted periodically. For example, the first beam may be transmitted on the first resource 202 corresponding to the first frequency and the first time, and may be transmitted again on a third resource 206 corresponding to the first frequency and a second time, the second time being different than the first time. Further, the first beam may be transmitted again on a fourth resource 208 corresponding to the first frequency and a third time, the third time being different from both the first time and the second time. The period between the first time, the second time, and the third time may be indicated by periodicity 210.

In some embodiments, the beams may be transmitted when the SFN modulo the periodicity is equal to a time indicated by the time information 606 (Fig. 6). For further example, if the time indicated by the time information 606 is equal to one, then the signal is transmitted when the SFN modulo the periodicity is equal to one. In some

embodiments, the time may be indicated by a timing index included in the time information 606.

The illustrated embodiment, where the beams are transmitted at the same times, may be referred to as a synchronized cell arrangement. In other embodiments, the beams may be transmitted at different times, which may be referred to as an unsynchronized cell arrangement. For example, the first beam may be transmitted at a different time from the second beam in the unsynchronized cell arrangement. Further, in some embodiments, different beams may be transmitted at the same frequency at different times. For example, the first beam may be transmitted on a resource corresponding to a frequency and a time, and the second beam may be transmitted on another resource corresponding to the same frequency and a different time.

Still further, in other embodiments, the beams may transmitted dynamically (such as in response to a trigger) rather than periodically. For example, a NodeB (such as an NodeB, an eNB, and/or a gNB) may cause one or more of the TRPs to transmit beams in response to receiving a signal from one or more of the UEs. In some embodiments, the NodeB may cause the TRPs to transmit the beams in response to receiving a request from a UE for transmission of the beams to be measured. The UE may transmit the request in response to the UE detecting that a previously received configuration for performing measurements of the signals is no longer valid. The UE may transmit the request via a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission, which may be differentiated from other PRACH transmissions occurring during initial access or a cell re-selection procedure.

As described in relation to Figure 1, UEs (such as the first UE 1020 (Fig. 1) and the second UE 1022 (Fig. 1)) may measure signals transmitted by TRPs (such as the first group of TRPs 1010 (Fig. 1) and the second group of TRPs 1014 (Fig. 1)). As illustrated by Figure 2, it can be understood that the signals (described as beams in Figure 2) may be transmitted by the TRPs within a cell at certain frequencies and certain times.

Accordingly, it would be understood that the UEs would need to monitor for the signals at the certain frequencies and the certain times to perform the measurements on the signals. In order for UEs to monitor for the signals at the certain frequencies and the certain times, the UEs may be configured to monitor for the signals as described further in relation to Figure 3 through Figure 7.

Figure 3 illustrates an example procedure 300 to be performed by a network, according to various embodiments. The network may include one or more of the features of and/or may implemented by the network described in relation to the network arrangement 1000. In particular, the network may include a core network (such as the core network XS20 (Fig. 8)), one or more NodeBs (such as the first NodeB 1006 (Fig. 1) and/or the second NodeB 1008 (Fig. 1)), one or more TRPs (such as the first group of TRPs 1010 (Fig. 1) and/or the second group of TRPs 1014 (Fig. 1)), or some combination thereof. Further, one or more components of the network may perform the procedures, or portions thereof.

In stage 302, the network may determine a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal. In some embodiments, the core network and/or the NodeBs may determine the resource for transmission of the beamformed reference signal. For example, referring to Figure 2, the network may determine that the first resource 202 (Fig. 2). Further, in some embodiments, the network may define the resource for transmission of the beamformed reference signal based on determining which resources are available for transmission of the beamformed reference signal and defining one of the available resources as the resource for transmission of the beamformed reference signal.

In some embodiments, the network may determine resources for transmission of beamformed reference signals for all the beams (such as the beams 1012 (Fig. 1) and/or the beams 1018 (Fig. 1)) transmitted by a TRP, within a cell, within the network, or some combination thereof in stage 302. The resource for each of the transmissions of the beamformed reference signals may be different from the resources utilized for transmission of the other beamformed reference signals. Further, in some embodiments, the network may determine a periodicity associated with the beamformed reference signal. In particular, the beamformed reference signal may be transmitted periodically, wherein the determined resource may be utilized for one for transmission of the beamformed reference signal. Other resources occurring at times associated with the periodicity of the beamformed reference signal may be utilized for subsequent transmissions of the beamformed reference signal. In some embodiments, the network may further determine a measurement gap offset associated with the beamformed reference signal.

In stage 304, the network may generate a signal to indicate the resource for the transmission of the beamformed reference signal. The signal may include one or more of the features of the configuration signals described in relation to Figure 6 and Figure 7. In some embodiments, the signal may further indicate the resources for the transmission of the beamformed reference signals for all the beams transmitted by a TRP, within a cell, within the network, or some combination thereof.

Further, in stage 304, the network may encode the signal for transmission to a UE.

For example, encoding circuitry (described in relation to Fig. 10) may encode the signal for transmission.

In stage 306, the network may generate a mapping based on the signal. In particular, the mapping may indicate a relationship between the information included in the signal generated in stage 304 and one or more of the features of the network architecture. For example, in embodiments where the signal includes a process identifier, a time, and a frequency associated with the beamformed reference signal, the mapping may indicate that combination of the process identifier, the time, and the frequency are associated with a beam, a beam identifier, a cell, or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, the time may be indicated by a timing index, wherein the time index may uniquely identify the beam, the beam identifier, the cell, or some combination thereof. Further, in some embodiments, there may be multiple timing indexes, wherein each timing index uniquely identifies each beam, respectively, within a cell. In some embodiments, stage 306 may be omitted and the network may not generate the mapping.

In stage 308, the network may identify a PRACH transmission received from a UE, the PRACH transmission including a request for transmission of the beamformed reference signal for measurement by the UE. In some embodiments, stage 308 may be performed prior to stage 302, stage 304, stage 306, or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, stage 302, stage 304, stage 306, stage 312, or some combination thereof may be performed in response to the network identifying the PRACH transmission.

Further, in some embodiments, stage 308 may be omitted.

In stage 310, the network may identify a cell level measurement report received from a UE. The cell level measurement report may include results of a cell level measurement performed by the UE. The network may dynamically assign when the cell level measurement is to be reported to the network. In some embodiments, stage 310 may be performed prior to stage 302, stage 304, stage 306, or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, stage 302, stage 304, stage 306, stage 312, or some combination thereof may be performed in response to the network identifying the cell level

measurement report. Further, in some embodiments, stage 310 may be omitted.

In stage 312, the network may transmit the signal to a UE. For example, the core network and/or the NodeB may transmit the signal via the NodeB and/or a TRP to the UE. The signal may be transmitted via higher layers of the network. In some embodiments, the network may transmit the signal to the UE in response to identifying the PRACH transmission and/or the cell level measurement report. For example, the PRACH transmission and/or the cell level measurement report may trigger the network to transmit the signal. Accordingly, in these embodiments, the transmission of the signal may be dynamic rather than periodic.

In stage 314, the network may transmit the mapping to a UE. For example, the core network and/or the NodeB may transmit the signal via the NodeB and/or a TRP to the UE. The mapping may be transmitted via higher layers of the network. In some embodiments, the mapping may be transmitted via a dedicated signal or broadcast to UEs. In some embodiments, stage 314 may be omitted. For example, stage 314 may be omitted in embodiments where stage 306 is omitted.

In stage 316, the network may transmit the beamformed reference signal. The beamformed reference signal may be transmitted on the determined resource. For example, the core network and/or the NodeB may transmit the beamformed signal via the NodeB and/or a TRP.

Figure 4 illustrates a first portion of an example procedure 400 to be performed by UE, according to various embodiments. The UE may include one or more of the features of and/or be implemented by the first UE 1020 (Fig. 1), the second UE 1022 (Fig. 1), the UE XSOl (Fig. 8), and/or the UE XS02 (Fig. 8). In some embodiments, the first portion of the procedure 400 may be omitted and the procedure may initiate at the second portion illustrated in Figure 5. In stage 402, the UE may generate a PRACH transmission that includes a request for a transmission of a beamformed reference signal to be measured by the UE. The UE may generate the PRACH transmission based on the UE determining that a current configuration of the UE for measurement of the beamformed reference signal is no longer valid. Further, the UE may determine that it is still within transmission range of a cell of the network.

Further, in stage 402, the UE may encode the PRACH transmission for transmission to the network. For example, encoding circuitry (described in relation to Fig. 10) may encode the PRACH transmission for transmission.

In stage 404, the UE may transmit the PRACH transmission to a network. For example, the UE may transmit the PRACH transmission to a core network (such as the core network XS20 (Fig. 8)) and/or a NodeB (such as the first NodeB 1006 (Fig. 1) and/or the second NodeB 1008 (Fig. 1)) via a NodeB and/or a TRP (such as a TRP of the first group of TRPs 1010 (Fig. 1) and/or the second group of TRPs 1014 (Fig. 1)). In some embodiments, stage 402 and stage 404 may be omitted.

In stage 406, the UE may perform a cell level RRM measurement. For example, the UE may perform a received power measurement, a received quality measurement, or some combination thereof on one or more reference signals associated with one or more cells (such as the first cell 1002 (Fig. 1) and/or the second cell 1004 (Fig. 1)). In some embodiments, the UE may perform the cell level RRM measurement on a synchronization signal (such as the PSS and/or the SSS). In some embodiments, the PSS and/or the SSS may be utilized for the cell level RRM measurement while the UE is in an IDLE state. The network may configure the cell level measurement. Further, the UE may perform the cell level measurement periodically.

In stage 408, the UE may initiate countdown of a time-to-trigger (TTT) counter.

The countdown of the TTT counter may be initiated in response to the UE performing the cell level RRM measurement. The TTT counter may initiate counting from a value which may be predetermined, determined by the UE, signaled by the network, or some combination thereof.

In stage 410, the UE may generate a cell level measurement report. The cell level measurement report may include results of the cell level RRM measurement performed in stage 406. Further, in stage 410, the UE may encode the cell level measurement report for transmission to the network. For example, encoding circuitry (described in relation to Fig. 10) may encode the cell level measurement report for transmission. In stage 412, the UE may transmit the cell level measurement report to the network. For example, the cell level measurement may be transmitted to the core network and/or the NodeB via a NodeB and/or a TRP. In some embodiments, the cell level measurement report may be transmitted in response to expiration of the TTT counter initiated in stage 408. Further, in some embodiments, the cell level measurement report may be transmitted to other UEs in addition to, or in lieu of, being transmitted to the network. In other embodiments, the cell level measurement report may not be transmitted. In some embodiments, stage 410 and stage 412 may be omitted. In some other embodiments, stages 406, 408, 410, and 412 may be omitted.

Off-page connector 414 may indicate continuation of the first portion of the procedure 400 illustrated in Figure 4 to the off-page connector 414 of the second portion of the procedure 400 illustrated in Figure 5.

Figure 5 illustrates a second portion of the example procedure 400 to be performed by the UE of Figure 4, according to various embodiments. In some embodiments, the second portion of the procedure 400 may be initiated in response to the first portion of the procedure 400 being completed. In other embodiments, one or more of the stages of the second portion may be performed prior to and/or concurrently to one or more of the stages of the first portion. Further, in embodiments where the first portion of the procedure 400 is omitted, the second portion of the procedure 400 may be initiated independently from the first portion and/or periodically.

In stage 416, the UE may identify an indication of a resource in a signal received from the network. In particular, the UE may identify the indication of the resource in the signal transmitted by the network in stage 312 (Fig. 3). The resource may be associated with a beamformed reference signal to be transmitted by the network. In some embodiments, where the signal indicates more than one resource, the UE may identify the indication for all, or some portion thereof, of the resources indicated by the signal. Each of the resources may be associated with individual beamformed reference signals to be transmitted by the network, with a one-to-one ratio of resources to beamformed reference signals.

In stage 418, the UE may identify a mapping received from the network. In particular, the UE may identify the mapping transmitted by the network in stage 314 (Fig. 3). In some embodiments, stage 418 may be omitted. In particular, in embodiments where stage 314 is omitted, stage 418 may also be omitted.

In stage 420, the UE may perform an RRM measurement on at least one beamformed reference signal associated with the resource or resources identified in stage 416. In particular, the UE may monitor the identified resource or resources for the beamformed reference signal or the beamformed reference signals, respectively. The beamformed reference signals may include CSI-RS, synchronization signals (such as PSS and/or SSS), BRS, MRS, and/or other reference signals. The UE may not be monitoring the non-identified resources for beamformed reference signals, which may result in energy saving operation of the UE. The RRM measurement may include a received power measurement, a received quality measurement, or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, the UE may perform the RRM measurement in response to expiration of the TTT counter initiated in stage 408. The RRM measurement may be a beam level measurement and the network may configure the beam level measurement. For example, in some embodiments, the UE may perform the RRM measurement on the CSI-RS in response to the expiration of the TTT counter initiated in stage 408 in response to the cell level RRM measurement performed in stage 406, wherein the cell level RRM

measurement was performed on a synchronization signal (such as the PSS and/or the SSS). In some embodiments, the synchronization signal may be a new radio

synchronization signal (NR-SS), such as the NR-PSS and/or the NR-SSS)

In stage 422, the UE may generate a measurement report. The measurement report may include a result or results of the RRM measurement performed in stage 420. Further, in stage 422, the UE may encode the measurement report for transmission to the network. For example, encoding circuitry (described in relation to Fig. 10) may encode the measurement report for transmission.

In stage 424, the UE may transmit the measurement report to the network. For example, the UE may transmit the measurement report to the core network and/or the NodeB via a NodeB and/or a TRP. The network may determine whether to initiate and/or perform a HO operation for the UE based on the measurement report. Further, in some embodiments, the cell level measurement report may be transmitted to other UEs in addition to, or in lieu of, being transmitted to the network.

Figure 6 illustrates an example representation 600 of a configuration signal, according to various embodiments. In particular, the configuration signal may be the signal generated by the network in stage 304 (Fig. 3) and transmitted in stage 312 (Fig. 3) in some embodiments. Further, the configuration signal may be received by the UE and the UE may identify indication of a resource in the configuration signal, as described in stage 416 (Fig. 5). The representation 600 may illustrate information included in the configuration signal that may indicate a resource. Further, the information included in the configuration signal may be associated with a beamformed reference signal that is to be transmitted on the resource.

The configuration signal may include a process identifier 602, as indicated by the representation 600. The process identifier 602 may be a cell identifier in some embodiments. In particular, the cell identifier may identify a cell (such as the first cell 1002 (Fig. 1) and/or the second cell 1004 (Fig. 1)) within the network. In other embodiments, the process identifier 602 may be an identifier that is uniquely associated with a TRP (such as a TRP of the first group of TRPs 1010 (Fig. 1) and/or the second group of TRPs 1014 (Fig. 1)). The UE may utilize the process identifier 602 to determine a cell or TRP associated with a beamformed reference signal to be transmitted on the resource when the UE identifies the indication of the resource in stage 416 (Fig. 5).

The configuration signal may include frequency information 604, as indicated by the representation 600. The frequency information 604 may provide a frequency of the resource. In particular, the frequency information 604 may provide the frequency at which the beamformed reference signal is to be transmitted on the resource.

The configuration signal may include time information 606, as indicated by the representation 600. The time information 606 may provide a time of the resource. In particular, the time information 606 may provide the time at which the beamformed reference signal is to be transmitted on the resource. In some embodiments, the time information 606 may include a time index that indicates the time of the resource. The UE may utilize the frequency information 604 and the time information 606 to determine a specific resource on which the beamformed reference signal is to be transmitted. For example, the UE may monitor for the beamformed reference signal on the resource by monitoring for the beamformed reference signal being transmitted at the frequency provided by the frequency information 604 and at the time provided by the time information 606.

In some embodiments where there are multiple beams (such as the beams 1012 (Fig. 1) and/or the beams 1018 (Fig. 1)) to be transmitted within a cell, the process identifier 602 and one of the frequency information 604 and the time information 606 may retain a value for each beam, whereas the other of the frequency information 604 and the time information 606 may be incremented and/or set equal to a beam identifier associated with the beam. For example, a beam with beam identifier of 1 within a cell with cell identifier of 1 may have a process identifier 602 of 1, frequency information 604 that indicates 1 , and time information 606 that indicates 1. A beam with a beam identifier of 2 within the same cell may have a process identifier 602 of 1 , frequency information 604 that indicates 1, and time information 606 that indicates 2.

The configuration signal may further include periodicity information 608, as indicated by the representation 600. The periodicity information 608 may provide a time between transmissions of the beamformed reference signal. The UE may utilize the periodicity information 608 to determine subsequent resources on which the beamformed reference signal is to be transmitted. For example, the UE may determine the resource for a first transmission of the beamformed reference signal based on the frequency information 604 and the time information 606, and may determine the resource for a subsequent transmission of the beamformed reference signal by determining a resource having the frequency of the resource for the first transmission and occurring at the time after the resource for the first transmission. In some embodiments, the periodicity information 608 may be omitted.

In some embodiments, the process identifier 602, the frequency information 604, and the time information 606 may be utilized to uniquely identify a beam identifier associated with a beam (such as the beams 1012 (Fig. 1) and/or the beams 1018 (Fig. 1)), wherein the beam may carry the beamformed reference signal. In these embodiments, the network may generate a mapping (described in stage 306 (Fig. 3)) between the beam identifier and the associated process identifier 602, the frequency information 604, and the time information 606 that indicates the relationship between the elements.

Figure 7 illustrates another example representation 700 of a configuration signal, according to various embodiments. In particular, the configuration signal may be the signal generated by the network in stage 304 (Fig. 3) and transmitted in stage 312 (Fig. 3) in some embodiments. Further, the configuration signal may be received by the UE and the UE may identify indication of a resource in the configuration signal, as described in stage 416 (Fig. 5). The representation 700 may illustrate information included in the configuration signal that may indicate a resource. Further, the information included in the configuration signal may be associated with a beamformed reference signal that is to be transmitted on the resource.

The configuration signal may include measurement gap offset information 702 associated with the beamformed reference signal, as indicated by the representation 700. Further, the configuration signal may include periodicity information 704 associated with the beamformed reference signal, as indicated by the representation 700. The UE may determine a resource that the beamformed reference signal is to be transmitted on based on the measurement gap offset information 702 and the periodicity information 704.

Figure 8 illustrates an architecture of a system XS00 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system XS00 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) XS01 and a UE XS02. The UEs XS01 and XS02 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs XS01 and XS02 can comprise an Internet of

Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity - Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with shortlived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UEs XS01 and XS02 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) XS 10— the RAN XS10 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs XS01 and XS02 utilize connections XS03 and XS04, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections XS03 and XS04 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In this embodiment, the UEs XS01 and XS02 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface XS05. The ProSe interface XS05 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE XS02 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) XS06 via connection XS07. The connection XS07 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP XS06 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP XS06 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

The RAN XS10 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections XS03 and XS04. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN XS10 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node XS11, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node XS 12.

Any of the RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs XSOl and XS02. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN XS 10 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs XSOl and XS02 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 to the UEs XS01 and XS02, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher- layer signaling to the UEs XS01 and XS02. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs XS01 and XS02 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE XS02 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs XS01 and XS02. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs XS01 and XS02.

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

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

The RAN XS10 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) XS20— via an SI interface XS13. In embodiments, the CN XS20 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment the SI interface XS13 is split into two parts: the Sl-U interface XS14, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 and the serving gateway (S-GW) XS22, and the SI -mobility management entity (MME) interface XS15, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 and MMEs XS21.

In this embodiment, the CN XS20 comprises the MMEs XS21, the S-GW XS22, the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) XS23, and a home subscriber server (HSS) XS24. The MMEs XS21 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs XS21 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS XS24 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities ' handling of communication sessions. The CN XS20 may comprise one or several HSSs XS24, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS XS24 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

The S-GW XS22 may terminate the S 1 interface XS 13 towards the RAN XS 10, and routes data packets between the RAN XS10 and the CN XS20. In addition, the S-GW XS22 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The P-GW XS23 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW XS23 may route data packets between the EPC network XS20 and external networks such as a network including the application server XS30 (altematively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface XS25. Generally, the application server XS30 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW XS23 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server XS30 via an IP communications interface XS25. The application server XS30 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over- Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs XS01 and XS02 via the CN XS20.

The P-GW XS23 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) XS26 is the policy and charging control element of the CN XS20. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF XS26 may be communicatively coupled to the application server XS30 via the P-GW XS23. The application server XS30 may signal the PCRF XS26 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF XS26 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server XS30.

Figure 9 illustrates an architecture of a system XR00 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system XR00 is shown to include a UE XR01, which may be the same or similar to UEs XS01 and XS02 discussed previously; a RAN node XR11, which may be the same or similar to RAN nodes XS11 and XS12 discussed previously; a User Plane Function (UPF) XR02; a Data network (DN) XR03, which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5G Core Network (5GC or CN) XR20.

The CN XR20 may include an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) XR22; a Core Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) XR21; a Session Management Function (SMF) XR24; a Network Exposure Function (NEF) XR23; a Policy Control function (PCF) XR26; a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF) XR25; a Unified Data Management (UDM) XR27; and an Application Function (AF) XR28. The CN XR20 may also include other elements that are not shown, such as a Structured Data Storage network function (SDSF), an Unstructured Data Storage network function (UDSF), and the like.

The UPF XR02 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to DN XR03, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF XR02 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, enforce user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for user plane (e.g. packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF XR02 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN XR03 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN XR03 may include, or be similar to, application server XS30 discussed previously.

The AUSF XR22 may store data for authentication of UE XROl and handle authentication related functionality. The AUSF XR22 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types.

The AMF XR21 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE XROl, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF XR21 may provide transport for SM messages between UE XROl and/or RAN nodes XRl l and SMF XR24, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF XR21 may also provide transport for short message service (SMS) messages between UE XROl and an SMS function (SMSF) (not shown by FIG. 9). AMF XR21 may act as Security Anchor Function (SEA), which may include interaction with the AUSF XR22 and the UE XROl, receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE XROl authentication process. Where universal subscriber identity module (USIM) based authentication is used, the AMF XR21 may retrieve the security material from the AUSF XR22. AMF XR21 may also include a Security Context Management (SCM) function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF XR21 may be a termination point of RAN CP interface (N2 reference point), a termination point of NAS (Nl) signalling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.

AMF XR21 may also support NAS signalling with a UE XR01 over an N3 interworking-function (IWF) interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. N33IWF may be a termination point for the N2 and N3 interfaces for control plane and user plane, respectively, and as such, may handle N2 signalling from SMF and AMF for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnelling, mark N3 user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated to such marking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS (Nl) signalling between the UE XR01 and AMF XR21, and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE XR01 and UPF XR02. The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE XR01.

The SMF XR24 may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation & management (including optional Authorization); Selection and control of UP function; Configures traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces towards Policy control functions; control part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI System); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink Data Notification; initiator of AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; determine SSC mode of a session. The SMF XR24 may include the following roaming functionality: handle local enforcement to apply QoS service level agreements (SLAs) (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI System); support for interaction with external DN for transport of signalling for PDU session authorization/authenti cation by external DN.

The NEF XR23 may provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re- exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF XR28), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF XR23 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF XR23 may also translate information exchanged with the AF XR28 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF XR23 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF XR23 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at the NEF XR23 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF XR23 to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics.

The NRF XR25 may support service discovery functions, receive NF Discovery Requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF XR25 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services.

The PCF XR26 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behaviour. The PCF XR26 may also implement a front end (FE) to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a user data repository (UDR) of UDM XR27.

The UDM XR27 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE XR01. The UDM XR27 may include two parts, an application FE and a User Data Repository (UDR). The UDM XR27 may include a UDM FE, which is in charge of processing of credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM- FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing; user identification handling; access authorization; registration/mobility management; and subscription management. The UDR may interact with PCF XR26. UDM XR27 may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logic as discussed previously.

The AF XR28 may provide application influence on traffic routing, access to the

Network Capability Exposure (NCE), and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC and AF XR28 to provide information to each other via NEF XR23, which may be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE XR01 access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF XR02 close to the UE XR01 and execute traffic steering from the UPF XR02 to DN XR03 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF XR28. In this way, the AF XR28 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF XR28 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF XR28 to interact directly with relevant NFs.

As discussed previously, the CN XR20 may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to/from the UE XROl to/from other entities, such as an SMS-gateway mobile swith center (GMSC)/interworking mobile services switching center (IWMSC)/SMS -router. The SMS may also interact with AMF XR21 and UDM XR27 for notification procedure that the UE XROl is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM XR27 when UE XRO 1 is available for SMS).

The system XR00 may include the following service-based interfaces: Namf: Service-based interface exhibited by AMF; Nsmf: Service-based interface exhibited by SMF; Nnef: Service-based interface exhibited by NEF; Npcf: Service-based interface exhibited by PCF; Nudm: Service-based interface exhibited by UDM; Naf: Service-based interface exhibited by AF; Nnrf: Service-based interface exhibited by NRF; and Nausf: Service-based interface exhibited by AUSF.

The system XR00 may include the following reference points: Nl : Reference point between the UE and the AMF; N2: Reference point between the (R)AN and the AMF; N3: Reference point between the (R)AN and the UPF; N4: Reference point between the SMF and the UPF; and N6: Reference point between the UPF and a Data Network. There may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs, however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted for clarity. For example, an N5 reference point may be between the PCF and the AF; an N7 reference point may be between the PCF and the SMF; an Ni l reference point may be between the AMF and SMF; etc. In some embodiments, the CN XR20 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME XS21) and the AMF XR21 in order to enable interworking between CN XR20 and CN XS20.

Although not shown by FIG. 9, system XR00 may include multiple RAN nodes XR11 wherein an Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes XR11 (e.g., gNBs and the like) that connecting to 5GC XR20, between a RAN node XR11 (e.g., gNB) connecting to 5GC XR20 and an eNB (e.g., a RAN node XS 11 of FIG. 8), and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC XR20.

In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE XROl in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes XRl 1. The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node XRl 1 to new (target) serving RAN node XRl 1 ; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node XRl 1 to new (target) serving RAN node XRl 1.

A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a general packet radio service tunneling protocol user (GTP-U) layer on top of a universal datagram protocol (UDP) and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on an stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) layer. The SCTP layer may be on top of an IP layer. The SCTP layer provides the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer point-to-point

transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. Figure 10 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of an electronic device 100. In embodiments, the electronic device 100 may be, implement, be incorporated into, or otherwise be a part of a user equipment (UE), an evolved NodeB (eNB), and/or some other electronic device. In some

embodiments, the electronic device 100 may include application circuitry 102, baseband circuitry 104, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 106, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 108 and one or more antennas 110, coupled together at least as shown. In embodiments where the electronic device 100 is implemented in or by an eNB, the electronic device 100 may also include network interface circuitry (not shown) for communicating over a wired interface (for example, an X2 interface, an SI interface, and the like).

The application circuitry 102 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 102 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors 102a. The processor(s) 102a may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors 102a may be coupled with and/or may include computer-readable media 102b (also referred to as "CRM 102b", "memory 102b", "storage 102b", or "memory /storage 102b") and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the CRM 102b to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

The baseband circuitry 104 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 104 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 106 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 106. Baseband circuity 104 may interface with the application circuitry 102 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 106. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 104 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 104a, third generation (3G) baseband processor 104b, fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 104c, and/or other baseband processor(s) 104d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 104 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 104a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 106. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 104 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 104 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. The encoding/decoding circuitry may encode and/or decode signals for transmission between components described herein. For example, the encoding/decoding circuitry may encode the signal generated in stage 304 (Fig. 3) for transmission to the UE. Further, the encoding/decoding circuitry may encode the measurement report generated in stage 422 (Fig. 5) for transmission to the network. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 104 may include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or radio resource control (RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 104e of the baseband circuitry 104 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 104f. The audio DSP(s) 104f may include elements for

compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry 104 may further include computer-readable media 104g (also referred to as "CRM 104g", "memory 104g", "storage 104g", or "CRM 104g"). The CRM 104g may be used to load and store data and/or instructions for operations performed by the processors of the baseband circuitry 104. CRM 104g for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The CRM 104g may include any combination of various levels of memory /storage including, but not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) having embedded software instructions (e.g., firmware), random access memory (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM)), cache, buffers, etc.). The CRM 104g may be shared among the various processors or dedicated to particular processors. Components of the baseband circuitry 104 may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 104 and the application circuitry 102 may be implemented together, such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 104 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 104 may support communication with an E-UTRAN and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 104 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 106 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various

embodiments, the RF circuitry 106 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc., to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 106 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 108 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 104. RF circuitry 106 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry to up- convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 104 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 108 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 106 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 106 may include mixer circuitry 106a, amplifier circuitry 106b and filter circuitry 106c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 106 may include filter circuitry 106c and mixer circuitry 106a. RF circuitry 106 may also include synthesizer circuitry 106d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 106a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 106a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 108 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 106d. The amplifier circuitry 106b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 106c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 104 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 106a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 106a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 106d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 108. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 104 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 106c. The filter circuitry 106c may include a low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 106a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and/or upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 106a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 106a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 106a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 106 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 104 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 106.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio integrated circuit (IC) circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 106d may be a fractional -N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 106d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. The synthesizer circuitry 106d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 106a of the RF circuitry 106 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 106d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 104 or the application circuitry 102 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 102.

Synthesizer circuitry 106d of the RF circuitry 106 may include a divider, a delay- locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DP A). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 106d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 106 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 108 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 110, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 106 for further processing. FEM circuitry 108 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 106 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 110. In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 108 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 108 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 108 may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 106). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 108 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 106), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1 10).

In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 may include additional elements such as, for example, a display, a camera, one or more sensors, and/or interface circuitry (for example, input/output (I/O) interfaces or buses) (not shown). In embodiments where the electronic device is implemented in or by an eNB, the electronic device 100 may include network interface circuitry. The network interface circuitry may be one or more computer hardware components that connect electronic device 100 to one or more network elements, such as one or more servers within a core network or one or more other eNBs via a wired connection. To this end, the network interface circuitry may include one or more dedicated processors and/or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to

communicate using one or more network communications protocols such as X2 application protocol (AP), SI AP, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), Ethernet, Point-to-Point (PPP), Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), and/or any other suitable network communications protocols.

In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 of Figure 10 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, and/or methods as described herein, or portions thereof.

Figure 11 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 104 of FIG. 10 may comprise processors 104a-104e and a memory 104g utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 104a-104e may include a memory interface, XU04A-XU04E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 104g.

The baseband circuitry 104 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface XU12 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 104), an application circuitry interface XU14 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 102 of FIG. 10), an RF circuitry interface XU16 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 106 of FIG. 10), a wireless hardware connectivity interface XU18 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface XU20 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from power management circuitry.

Figure 12 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane XV00 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE XS01 (or alternatively, the UE XS02), the RAN node XS 11 (or alternatively, the RAN node XS 12), and the MME XS21.

The PHY layer XV01 may transmit or receive information used by the MAC layer XV02 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer XV01 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC layer XV05. The PHY layer XV01 may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

The MAC layer XV02 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization.

The RLC layer XV03 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer XV03 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC layer XV03 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.

The PDCP layer XV 04 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

The main services and functions of the RRC layer XV05 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to the non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.

The UE XS01 and the RAN node XS11 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer XV01, the MAC layer XV02, the RLC layer XV03, the PDCP layer XV04, and the RRC layer XV05.

The non-access stratum (NAS) protocols XV06 form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE XS01 and the MME XS21. The NAS protocols XV06 support the mobility of the UE XS01 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE XS01 and the P-GW XS23.

The SI Application Protocol (Sl-AP) layer XV 15 may support the functions of the

SI interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node XSl l and the CN XS20. The Sl-AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services andnon UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) XV 14 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node XSl l and the MME XS21 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP layer XV13. The L2 layer XV12 and the LI layer XVI 1 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN node and the MME to exchange information.

The RAN node XS11 and the MME XS21 may utilize an SI -MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer XVI 1, the L2 layer XV 12, the IP layer XV 13, the SCTP layer XV 14, and the Sl-AP layer XV15.

Figure 13 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane XW00 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE XS01 (or alternatively, the UE XS02), the RAN node XS11 (or alternatively, the RAN node XS12), the S-GW XS22, and the P-GW XS23. The user plane XW00 may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane XV00. For example, the UE XS01 and the RAN node XS11 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer XV01, the MAC layer XV02, the RLC layer XV03, the PDCP layer XV04.

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) layer XW04 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security (UDP/IP) layer XW03 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node XS 11 and the S-GW XS22 may utilize an Sl-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer XVI 1, the L2 layer XV12, the UDP/IP layer XW03, and the GTP-U layer XW04. The S-GW XS22 and the P-GW XS23 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer XVI 1, the L2 layer XV12, the UDP/IP layer XW03, and the GTP-U layer XW04. As discussed above with respect to

FIG. 12, NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE XS01 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE XS01 and the P-GW XS23.

Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 14 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources XZ00 including one or more processors (or processor cores) XZ10, one or more memory /storage devices XZ20, and one or more communication resources XZ30, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus XZ40. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor XZ02 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources XZ00.

The processors XZ10 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor XZ12 and a processor XZ14. The memory /storage devices XZ20 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory /storage devices XZ20 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read- only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources XZ30 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices XZ04 or one or more databases XZ06 via a network XZ08. For example, the communication resources XZ30 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

Instructions XZ50 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors XZ10 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions XZ50 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors XZ10 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory /storage devices XZ20, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions XZ50 may be transferred to the hardware resources XZ00 from any combination of the peripheral devices XZ04 or the databases XZ06. Accordingly, the memory of processors XZ10, the memory /storage devices XZ20, the peripheral devices XZ04, and the databases XZ06 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present disclosure may be embodied as methods or computer program products. Accordingly, the present disclosure, in addition to being embodied in hardware as earlier described, may take the form of an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to as a "circuit," "module" or "system." Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied in any tangible or non-transitory medium of expression having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. Figure 15 illustrates an example computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that may be suitable for use to store instructions that cause an apparatus, in response to execution of the instructions by the apparatus, to practice selected aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 1502 may include a number of programming instructions 1504. Programming instructions 1504 may be configured to enable a device, e.g., a NodeB (such as the first NodeB 1006 (Fig. 1) and/or the second NodeB 1008 (Fig. 1)), a TRP (such as a TRP of the first group of TRPs 1010 (Fig. 1) and/or the second group of TRPs 1014 (Fig. 1)), a UE (such as the first UE 1020 (Fig. 1) and/or the second UE 1022 (Fig. 1)), and/or a core network (such as the core network XS20 (Fig. 8)), in response to execution of the programming instructions. In alternate embodiments, programming instructions 1504 may be disposed on multiple computer-readable non-transitory storage media 1502 instead. In still other embodiments, programming instructions 1504 may be disposed on computer-readable transitory storage media 1502, such as signals.

Any combination of one or more computer usable or computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non- exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device. Note that the computer- usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer- readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer- usable medium may include a propagated data signal with the computer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program

instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Example 1 may include an apparatus of a next generation NodeB (gNB), comprising processing circuitry to determine a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal of a network that implements beamforming and generate a signal that indicates the resource, and encoding circuitry, coupled with the processing circuitry, to encode the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that is to utilize the beamformed reference signal to perform a radio resource management measurement.

Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 , wherein the signal includes a process identifier, frequency information associated with the resource, and time information associated with the resource.

Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 2, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 2, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 5 may include the apparatus of example 2, wherein the signal further includes a periodicity associated with the beamformed reference signal.

Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 2, wherein the process identifier, the frequency information, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, and wherein the processing circuitry is to further generate a mapping between a cell identifier and the beam identifier, and wherein the encoding circuitry is to further encode the mapping for transmission to the UE.

Example 7 may include the apparatus of example 2, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

Example 8 may include the apparatus of example 1 , wherein the signal includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the beamformed reference signal.

Example 9 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-8, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

Example 10 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1 -8, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a synchronization signal.

Example 1 1 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1 -8, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a beam reference signal or a measurement reference signal.

Example 12 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1 -8, wherein the processing circuitry is to further identify a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted to the UE in response to identification of the PRACH transmission. Example 13 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-8, wherein the beamformed reference signal is associated with a beam level measurement, wherein the processing circuitry is further to identify a cell level measurement report received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted in response to identification of the cell level measurement report.

Example 14 may include one or more computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by a next generation NodeB (gNB), cause the gNB to determine a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal, a synchronization signal, a beam reference signal, or a measurement reference signal, generate a signal that indicates the resource, and encode the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that utilizes the beamformed reference signal to perform a radio resource management measurement.

Example 15 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 14, wherein the signal includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

Example 16 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 15, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 17 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 15, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 18 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 15, wherein the signal further includes a periodicity associated with the beamformed reference signal.

Example 19 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 15, wherein the process identifier, the frequency information, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, and wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the gNB, further cause the gNB to generate a mapping between a cell identifier and the beam identifier and encode the mapping for transmission to the UE.

Example 20 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 15, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

Example 21 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 13, wherein the signal includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource. Example 22 may include the one or more computer-readable media of any of examples 13-21 , wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the gNB, further cause the gNB to identify a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted to the UE in response to identification of the PRACH transmission.

Example 23 may include the one or more computer-readable media of any of examples 13-21 , wherein the beamformed reference signal is associated with a beam level measurement, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the gNB, further cause the gNB to identify a cell level measurement report received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted in response to identification of the cell level measurement report.

Example 24 may include a method for configuring radio resource management (RRM) measurement in a network that implements beamforming, comprising determining, via a next generation NodeB (gNB), a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal of a network that implements beamforming, generating, via the gNB, a signal that indicates the resource, and encoding, via the gNB, the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that utilizes the beamformed reference signal to perform an RRM measurement.

Example 25 may include the method of example 24, wherein the signal includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

Example 26 may include the method of example 25, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 27 may include the method of example 25, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 28 may include the method of example 25, wherein the signal further includes a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 29 may include the method of example 25, wherein the process identifier, the frequency, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, and wherein the method further comprises generating, via the gNB, a mapping between a cell identifier and the beam identifier and encoding, via the gNB, the mapping for transmission to the UE.

Example 30 may include the method of example 25, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index. Example 31 may include the method of example 22, wherein the signal includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 32 may include the method of any of examples 22-31, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

Example 33 may include the method of any of examples 22-31, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a synchronization signal.

Example 34 may include the method of any of examples 22-31, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a beam reference signal or a measurement reference signal.

Example 35 may include the method of any of examples 22-31, further comprising identifying, via the gNB, a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted to the UE in response to identification of the PRACH transmission.

Example 36 may include the method of any of examples 22-31, wherein the beamformed reference signal is associated with a beam level measurement, wherein the method further comprises identifying, via the gNB, a cell level measurement report received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted in response to identification of the cell level measurement report.

Example 37 may include an apparatus of a next generation NodeB (gNB), comprising means for determining a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal of a network that implements beamforming and generating a signal that indicates the resource and means for encoding the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that utilizes the beamformed reference signal to perform an RRM measurement.

Example 38 may include the apparatus of example 37, wherein the signal includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

Example 39 may include the apparatus of example 38, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 40 may include the apparatus of example 38, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 41 may include the apparatus of example 38, wherein the signal further includes a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 42 may include the apparatus of example 38, wherein the process identifier, the frequency, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, and wherein the apparatus further includes means for generating a mapping between a cell identifier and the beam identifier and means for encoding the mapping for transmission to the UE.

Example 43 may include the apparatus of example 38, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

Example 44 may include the apparatus of any of examples 37-43, wherein the signal includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 45 may include the apparatus of any of examples 37-43, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

Example 46 may include the apparatus of any of examples 37-43, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a synchronization signal.

Example 47 may include the apparatus of any of examples 37-43, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a beam reference signal or a measurement reference signal.

Example 48 may include the apparatus of any of examples 37-43, further comprising means for identifying a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted to the UE in response to identification of the PRACH transmission.

Example 49 may include the apparatus of any of examples 37-43, wherein the beamformed reference signal is associated with a beam level measurement, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for identifying, via the gNB, a cell level measurement report received from the UE, and wherein the signal is to be transmitted in response to identification of the cell level measurement report.

Example 50 may include an apparatus for a user equipment, comprising processing circuitry to identify an indication of a resource in a signal received from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the resource to be utilized for transmission of a beamformed reference signal and perform a radio resource management (RRM) measurement with the beamformed reference signal on the resource.

Example 51 may include the apparatus of example 50, wherein the processing circuitry is to further generate a measurement report based on the RRM measurement, and wherein the apparatus further comprises encoding circuitry, coupled with the processing circuitry, to encode the measurement report for transmission to the gNB.

Example 52 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein the indication includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

Example 53 may include the apparatus of example 52, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 54 may include the apparatus of example 52, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 55 may include the apparatus of example 52, wherein the indication further includes a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 56 may include the apparatus of example 52, wherein the process identifier, the frequency information, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, wherein the processing circuitry is to further identify a mapping received from the gNB, and wherein the mapping indicates a relationship between the beam identifier and a cell identifier.

Example 57 may include the apparatus of example 52, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

Example 58 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein the indication includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 59 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

Example 60 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a synchronization signal.

Example 61 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a beam reference signal or a measurement reference signal.

Example 62 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein the processing circuitry is to further generate a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission, wherein the apparatus further comprises encoding circuitry, coupled to the processing circuitry, to encode the PRACH transmission for transmission to the gNB, and wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the PRACH transmission.

Example 63 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the processing circuitry is to further perform a cell level RRM measurement and generate a cell level measurement report based on the cell level RRM measurement, and the apparatus further comprises encoding circuitry, coupled to the processing circuitry, to encode the cell level measurement report for transmission to the gNB, wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the cell level RRM measurement.

Example 64 may include the apparatus of example 63, wherein the processing circuitry is to further initiate countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the cell level measurement report is to be transmitted to the gNB upon expiration of the time-to-trigger.

Example 65 may include the apparatus of any of examples 50 or 51, wherein the RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the processing circuitry is to further perform a cell level RRM measurement and initiate countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the beam level RRM measurement is to be performed upon expiration of the time-to- trigger.

Example 66 may include one or more computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to identify an indication of a resource in a signal received, via the RF circuitry, from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the resource to be utilized for transmission of a beamformed reference signal, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal, a synchronization signal, a beam reference signal, or a measurement reference signal and perform a radio resource management (RRM) measurement with the beamformed reference signal on the resource.

Example 67 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 66, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the UE, further cause the UE to generate a measurement report based on the RRM measurement and encode the measurement report for transmission to the gNB.

Example 68 may include the one or more computer-readable media of any of examples 66 or 67, wherein the indication includes a process identifier, frequency information, and a time information associated with the resource.

Example 69 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 68, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 70 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 68, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 71 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 68, wherein the indication further includes a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 72 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 68, wherein the process identifier, the frequency information, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the UE, further cause the UE to identify a mapping received from the gNB, and wherein the mapping indicates a relationship between the beam identifier and a cell identifier.

Example 73 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 68, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

Example 74 may include the one or more computer-readable media of any of examples 66 or 67, wherein the indication includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 75 may include the one or more computer-readable media of any of examples 66 or 67, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the UE, further cause the UE to generate a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and encode the PRACH transmission for transmission to the gNB, wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the PRACH transmission.

Example 76 may include the one or more computer-readable media of any of examples 66 or 67, wherein RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the UE, further cause the UE to perform a cell level RRM measurement, generate a cell level measurement report based on the cell level RRM measurement, and encode the cell level measurement report for transmission to the gNB, wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the cell level RRM measurement.

Example 77 may include the one or more computer-readable media of example 76, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the UE, further cause the UE to initiate countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the cell level measurement report is to be transmitted to the gNB upon expiration of the time-to-trigger.

Example 78 may include the one or more computer-readable media of any of examples 66 or 67, wherein the RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the UE, further cause the UE to perform a cell level RRM measurement and initiate countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the beam level RRM measurement is to be performed upon expiration of the time-to-trigger.

Example 79 may include a method for performing radio resource management

(RRM) measurement in a network that implements beamforming, comprising identifying, via a user equipment (UE), an indication of a resource in a signal received from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the resource to be utilized for transmission of a beamformed reference signal and performing, via the UE, the RRM measurement with the beamformed reference signal on the resource.

Example 80 may include the method of example 79, further comprising generating, via the UE, a measurement report based on the RRM measurement, and encoding, via the UE, the measurement report for transmission to the gNB.

Example 81 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, wherein the indication includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

Example 82 may include the method of example 81, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 83 may include the method of example 81, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 84 may include the method of example 81, wherein the indication further includes a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 85 may include the method of example 81, wherein the process identifier, the frequency information, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, wherein the method further comprises identifying, via the UE, a mapping received, via the RF circuitry, from the gNB, and wherein the mapping indicates a relationship between the beam identifier and a cell identifier.

Example 86 may include the method of example 81, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

Example 87 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, wherein the indication includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 88 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal. Example 89 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a synchronization signal.

Example 90 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a beam reference signal or a measurement reference signal.

Example 91 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, further comprising generating, via the UE, a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and encoding, via the UE, the PRACH transmission for transmission to the gNB, wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the PRACH transmission.

Example 92 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, wherein RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the method further comprises performing, via the UE, a cell level RRM measurement, generating, via the UE, a cell level measurement report based on the cell level RRM measurement, and encoding, via the UE, the cell level measurement report for transmission to the gNB, wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the cell level RRM measurement.

Example 93 may include the method of example 92, further comprising initiating, via the UE, countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the cell level measurement report is to be transmitted upon expiration of the time-to-trigger.

Example 94 may include the method of any of examples 79 or 80, wherein the RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the method further comprises performing, via the UE, a cell level RRM measurement and initiating, via the UE, countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the beam level RRM measurement is to be performed upon expiration of the time-to-trigger.

Example 95 may include an apparatus for a user equipment, comprising means for identifying an indication of a resource in a signal received from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the resource to be utilized for transmission of a beamformed reference signal and means for performing a radio resource management (RRM) measurement with the beamformed reference signal on the resource.

Example 96 may include the apparatus of example 95, further comprising means for generating a measurement report based on the RRM measurement and means for encoding the measurement report for transmission to the gNB.

Example 97 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, wherein the indication includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

Example 98 may include the apparatus of example 97, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

Example 99 may include the apparatus of example 97, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

Example 100 may include the apparatus of example 97, wherein the indication further includes a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 101 may include the apparatus of example 97, wherein the process identifier, the frequency information, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for identifying a mapping received from the gNB, and wherein the mapping indicates a relationship between the beam identifier and a cell identifier.

Example 102 may include the apparatus of example 97, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

Example 103 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, wherein the indication includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

Example 104 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

Example 105 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a synchronization signal.

Example 106 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a beam reference signal or a measurement reference signal.

Example 107 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, further comprising means for generating a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and means for encoding the PRACH transmission for transmission to the gNB, wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the PRACH transmission.

Example 108 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, wherein RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the apparatus further comprises means for performing a cell level RRM measurement, means for generating a cell level measurement report based on the cell level RRM measurement, and means for encoding the cell level measurement report for transmission to the gNB, wherein the gNB is to transmit the signal with the indication of the resource in response to reception of the cell level RRM measurement.

Example 109 may include the apparatus of example 108, further comprising means for initiating, via the UE, countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the cell level measurement report is to be transmitted upon expiration of the time-to-trigger.

Example 1 10 may include the apparatus of any of examples 95 or 96, wherein the RRM measurement is a beam level RRM measurement, and wherein the apparatus further comprises means for performing a cell level RRM measurement and means for initiating countdown of a time-to-trigger in response to performance of the cell level RRM measurement, wherein the beam level RRM measurement is to be performed upon expiration of the time-to-trigger.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the disclosed embodiments of the disclosed device and associated methods without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure covers the modifications and variations of the embodiments disclosed above provided that the modifications and variations come within the scope of any claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An apparatus of a next generation NodeB (gNB), comprising:

processing circuitry to:

determine a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal of a network that implements beamforming; and

generate a signal that indicates the resource; and

encoding circuitry, coupled with the processing circuitry, to encode the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that is to utilize the beamformed reference signal to perform a radio resource management measurement.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal includes a process identifier, frequency information associated with the resource, and time information associated with the resource.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the process identifier is an identifier that is uniquely associated with a transmission and reception point.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the signal further includes a periodicity associated with the beamformed reference signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the process identifier, the frequency information, and the time information uniquely identify a beam identifier, and wherein the processing circuitry is to further generate a mapping between a cell identifier and the beam identifier, and wherein the encoding circuitry is to further encode the mapping for transmission to the UE.

7.. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the time information includes an indication of a timing index.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the beamformed reference signal.

9. The apparatus of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

10. The apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a synchronization signal.

1 1. One or more computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by a next generation NodeB (gNB), cause the gNB to:

determine a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal, a synchronization signal, a beam reference signal, or a measurement reference signal;

generate a signal that indicates the resource; and

encode the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that utilizes the beamformed reference signal to perform a radio resource management measurement.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 1, wherein the signal includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the signal further includes a periodicity associated with the beamformed reference signal.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of any of claims 11 -13, wherein the signal includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

15. An apparatus of a next generation NodeB (gNB), comprising:

means for determining a resource for transmission of a beamformed reference signal of a network that implements beamforming and generating a signal that indicates the resource; and

means for encoding the signal for transmission to a user equipment (UE) that utilizes the beamformed reference signal to perform an RRM measurement.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the signal includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the signal further includes a periodicity associated with the resource.

18. The apparatus of any of claims 15-17, wherein the signal includes a measurement gap offset and a periodicity associated with the resource.

19. An apparatus for a user equipment, comprising:

processing circuitry to:

identify an indication of a resource in a signal received from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the resource to be utilized for transmission of a beamformed reference signal; and

perform a radio resource management (RRM) measurement with the beamformed reference signal on the resource.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the indication includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the process identifier is a cell identifier.

22. The apparatus of any of claims 19-21, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

23. An apparatus for a user equipment, comprising:

means for identifying an indication of a resource in a signal received from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the resource to be utilized for transmission of a beamformed reference signal; and

means for performing a radio resource management (RRM) measurement with the beamformed reference signal on the resource.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the indication includes a process identifier, frequency information, and time information associated with the resource.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the beamformed reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.