EP4193794A1

EP4193794A1 - Mechanisms for efficient secondary cell group (scg) activation/de-activation and mechanisms for conditional pscell change or addition

Info

Publication number: EP4193794A1
Application number: EP21853703.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jaemin HAN; Yi Guo; Sudeep Kumar Palat; Yujian Zhang; Youn Hyoung Heo; Candy YIU
Original assignee: Intel Corp
Current assignee: Intel Corp
Priority date: 2020-08-06
Filing date: 2021-08-06
Publication date: 2023-06-14
Also published as: EP4193794A4; WO2022032210A1

Abstract

The apparatus of a master (M) next generation (NG) radio access node (RAN) (M-NG-RAN), a system, a method and a machine-readable medium. The apparatus includes one or more processors to: encode, for transmission to a secondary (S) NG-RAN (S-NG-RAN), a secondary node (SN) Addition Request message including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information; decode, from the S-NG-RAN, a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for a user equipment (UE), the multiple candidate PSCell configurations corresponding to respective multiple PSCells; encode, for transmission to the UE, a reconfiguration message to reconfigure the UE based on the SN Addition Request acknowledge message; and send the reconfiguration message to communications resources of the M-NG-RAN for transmission to the UE.

Description

MECHANISMS FOR EFFICIENT SECONDARY CELL GROUP (SCG) ACTIVATION/DE-ACTIVATION AND MECHANISMS FOR CONDITIONAL PSCELL CHANGE OR ADDITION CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This Application claims the benefit of, and priority from, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.63/062,239, entitled “ METHODS FOR EFFICIENT SECONDARY CELL GROUP (SCG) ACTIVATION/DE-ACTIVATION” and filed August 6, 2020, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.63/062,249, entitled “METHODS FOR CONDITIONAL PSCELL CHANGE OR ADDITION” and filed August 6, 2020. The disclosures of the prior applications are hereby incorporate by reference in their entirety in the disclosure of this application. BACKGROUND [0002] Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to the field of communication in a cellular network compliant with one of more Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0003] In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the present document. [0004] Fig.1 corresponds to Fig.8.6.1-1 in TS 38.401 and shows a RRC connected to RRC inactive state transition procedure. [0005] Fig.2 corresponds to Fig.8.6.2-1 in TS 38.401 and shows a RRC inactive to other RRC states transition procedure. [0006] Fig.3 corresponds to Fig.10.12.2-1 of TS 37.340, and shows a Support of Activity Notification procedure in MR-DC with 5GC with RRC_Inactive - SCG configuration suspended in SN. [0007] Fig.4 illustrates a procedure to suspend operation of gNB-DU in standalone or MN side according to an embodiment. [0008] Fig.5 illustrates a procedure to suspend operation of gNB-DU in standalone or MN side according to an embodiment. [0009] Fig.6A illustrates a SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet according to a first embodiment. [0010] Fig.6B illustrates a SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets according to a first embodiment. [0011] Fig.7A illustrates a SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet according to a second embodiment. [0012] Fig.7B illustrates a SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets according to a second embodiment. [0013] Fig.8 illustrates a procedure to enable a SN to configure multiple candidate PSCells according to an embodiment. [0014] Fig.9 illustrates a procedure to enable a MN to send SN additional requests to multiple SNs according to an embodiment. [0015] Fig.10 illustrates a procedure to enable a SN Modification Required message to inform the MN regarding intra-SN CPC and conditional reconfiguration IDs used by the current serving SN according to an embodiment. [0016] Fig.11 illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments. [0017] Fig.12 illustrates a User Equipment (UE) and a Radio Access Node (RAN) in wireless communication according to various embodiments. [0018] Fig.13 illustrates components according to some example embodiments, the components able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. [0019] Fig.14 illustrates a flow chart for a process according to a first embodiment. [0020] Fig.15 illustrates a flow chart for a process according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0021] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrases “A or B” and “A/B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B). [0022] I. MECHANISMS FOR EFFICIENT SECONDARY CELL GROUP (SCG) ACTIVATION/DE- ACTIVATION AND [0023] In 3GPP’s New Radio (NR) or 5G’s new Rel-17, a work item description (WID) for further enhancements on multi radio access technology dual connectivity (MR-DC) has been approved in RP-193249, where one of the objectives is to enhance secondary cell group (SCG) activation/de- activation (e.g., SCG suspend/resume) mechanism developed in Rel-16, for example by the following: 1. Support efficient activation/de-activation mechanism for one SCG and secondary cells (SCells) o Support for one SCG applies to next generation (NG) (NG) Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network NR dual connectivity (EN-DC), and NR dual connectivity (NR-DC) [radio access network (RAN) 2, 3 and 4 - RAN2, RAN3, RAN4] o Support for SCells applies to NR carrier aggregation (CA), based on RAN1 leading mechanisms [RAN1, RAN2, RAN4] o This objective applies to frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2). 2. Support of conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) change/addition [RAN2,RAN3] o support scenarios which are not addressed in Rel-16 NR mobility work item (WI). [0024] Regarding the above objective, some RRC-based activation/de-activation and measurement mechanisms, as well as some RAN3 signalling that support suspend/resume of master cell group (MCG) only or secondary cell group (SCG) may be considered. The extension of SCG resumption toward another secondary node was discussed as well accommodation of UE mobility during an INACTIVE state. [0025] Fig.1 corresponds to Fig.8.6.1-1 in TS 38.401 and shows a RRC connected to RRC inactive state transition procedure 100, which appears in technical specification (TS) 38.401. Fig.2 corresponds to Fig.8.6.2-1 in TS 38.401 and shows a RRC inactive to other RRC states transition procedure 200, which appears in TS 38.401. [0026] Fig.1 shows a radio resource control (RRC) connected to RRC inactive state transition procedure in 3GPP’s technical specification (TS) 38.401. In Fig.1, a network includes a UE 102, a NR Node B (gNB) distributed unit (DU) 104, and a gNB centralized unit (CU) 106 in communication with one another. Once the gNB-CU 106 determines UE 102 to enter into a RRC_inactive mode, it sends, at operation 1, a UE context release command to gNB-DU 104, which in turn sends a RRCRelease message to UE 102 at operation 2. At operation 3, the gNB-DU sends a UE Context Release Complete message to gNB-CU 106. [0027] In Fig.2, like components are shown with like reference numerals to those in Fig.1. After operation 1, which includes paging, UE 102 sends a RRCResumeRequest message to gNB-DU 104 at operation 3, At operation 4, the gNB-DU 104 sends an Initial UL RRC Message Transfer message to the gNB-CU 106, which then communicates with the gNB-DU 104 at operations 5 and 6 with respect to a UE Context Setup Request and Response, respectively. At operation 7, the gNB- CU 106 sends a downlink (DL) RRC Message Transfer message to the gNB-DU 104, which, by way of operation 8, sends a RRCResume/RRCReject/RRCSetup/RRCRelease message to the UE 102. At operation 9, the UE sends a RRCResumeComplete/RRCSetupComplete message to the gNB-DU 104, which in turn, at operation 10, sends a uplink (UL) RRC Message Transfer message to the gNB- CU 106. [0028] Some embodiments of the present disclosure include the following aspects: 1) Medium access control control element (MAC CE)-based, or any RAN1-based activation/de- activation mechanisms that can not only control an entire cell group (CG) (as in RRC-based scenarios as shown in Figs. 1 and 2), but also control activation/de-activation of a special cell (SpCell) or a secondary cell (SCell). 2) Suspend/resume of lower layers in DU (not release/re-establish) in standalone or on the master node (MN) side: o The baseline operation in standalone or MN side for RRC_INACIVE in Rel-15 was that the CU releases UE context in the DU when sending the UE into inactive, and re-establishes the UE context in the DU when receiving RRCResumeRequest and before sending RRCResume; o The same currently applies for the secondary node (SN) side in Rel-15, e.g., the UE context was released/re-established in the SN-DU side. But coming to Rel-16, suspend/resume became possible for lower layer in the SN-DU, thanks to the MR- DC and CA enhancement WI (LTE_NR_DC_carrier aggregation (CA)_enhancement core (enh-Core), RP-192336). o However, still in standalone or MN side, there is no suspend/resume support. 3) Activity Notification from SN currently reports user data activity in the SN (inactive, active), which is used by the MN to decide whether to send the UE to INACTIVE or not. However, data activity is not the only factor because, in NR, a SN is usually configured for capacity- boosting and thus often faces blockage or abrupt data rate change. If SCG-only suspension and resumption become possible, then the SN may better be de-activated in those cases while the UE is being served by the MN. [0029] Referring to the above, Fig.3, which corresponds to Fig.10.12.2-1 of TS 37.340, shows a Support of Activity Notification procedure 300 in MR-DC with 5GC with RRC_Inactive - SCG configuration suspended in SN, which shows suspend/resume as having been made possible for lower layers in the SN-DU (see for example operations 3 and 9). [0030] The present disclosure describes several embodiments. One or more embodiments may be used individually or jointly with other embodiments. Some embodiments are described below, including embodiments 1 through 5. [0031] 1. Embodiment I-1: MAC CE based activation/de-activation of entire CG or PCell/PSCell: [0032] A MAC-CE based solution that can activate/de-activate an entire CG or SpCell, instead of RRC, is presented as one example embodiment. A new MAC CE is defined, or the existing SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CEs can be extended to support this purpose. In addition, if the decision to suspend SCG is taken in the MN side, the MN-initiated SN modification procedure can be enhanced to request the SN to send the MAC CE deactivating SCG. [0033] 2. Embodiment I-2: DCI-based (or any RAN1-based) activation/de-activation of entire CG or PCell/PSCell or SCell: [0034] Another approach is based on downlink control information (DCI) (or any RAN1-based) is presented as one example embodiment. A new DCI format can be defined, or the existing DCI formats can be extended to support this purpose. [0035] 3. Embodiment I-3: Activation through another CG: [0036] According to another embodiment, if a CG (either MCG or SCG) was suspended, the MAC CE or DCI-based (or any RAN1-based) mechanisms in Embodiments 1 and 2 may not be used to re-activate. The CG has to be re-activated through another CG which was not suspended. There should be some mechanism for the suspended CG to request such re-activation through the non- suspended CG. The MAC-CE based or DCI-based (or any RAN1-based) mechanisms can also be extended to support activation of another CG. [0037] 4. Embodiment I-4: Suspend/resume of lower layers in DU (not release/re-establish) in standalone or MN side: [0038] According to a embodiment I-4, the signaling flows can be enhanced as shown in Figs.4 and 5. Figs.4 and 5 show procedures 400 and 500 to suspend (Fig.4) or resume (Fig.5) operation of gNB-DU in standalone or MN side. [0039] 5. Embodiment I-5: SN provides suspend/resume recommendation of SCG to the MN: [0040] According to a fifth embodiment, a minor improvement may be made so that the MN can decide suspend/resume of SCG not only based on the user data activity in the SN, but also based on other information such as a blockage event. [0041] Some embodiments as described herein enable efficient activation/de-activation of a SpCell or a SCell as well as activation through another CG, and further extend suspend/resume of lower layers in DU (not release/re-establish) to a standalone or MN side. [0042] Embodiment I-1: MAC CE based activation/de-activation of entire CG or PCell/PSCell: [0043] An example for embodiment I-1 is provided below for the NR MAC CE. A similar mechanism can be applied to the LTE MAC CE as well. [0044] For TS 38.321 [0045] 6.1.3.10 SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CEs [0046] The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet is identified by a MAC subheader with logical channel ID (LCID) as may be specified in a modified version of Table 6.2.1-1 of TS 38- 321. It has a fixed size and consists of a single octet containing seven C-fields and one P-field. [0047] The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE 600a with one octet is shown in Fig.6A. [0048] The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE 600b of four octets is shown in Fig.6B. It is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as may be specified in a modified version of Table 6.2.1- 1. It has a fixed size and consists of four octets containing 31 C-fields and one P-field. The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets is defined as follows, as suggested in Fig.6B. - C_i: If there is an SCell configured for the MAC entity with SCellIndex i as specified in TS 38.331; this field indicates the activation/deactivation status of the SCell with SCellIndex i, else the MAC entity shall ignore the C_i field. The C_i field is set to 1 to indicate that the SCell with SCellIndex i shall be activated. The C_i field is set to 0 to indicate that the SCell with SCellIndex i shall be deactivated. The activation/deactivation is also applied to the SCellIndex i corresponding to the PSCell; - P: The P field is set to 1 to indicate that the PCell shall be activated. The P field is set to 1 to indicate that the PCell shall be de-activated. [0049] The de-activation of a SpCell as well as all the SCells associated to a CG means that the CG is suspended. A CG is resumed when at least its SpCell is re-activated. [0050] Some example embodiment for the XnAP MN-initiated SN Modification procedure is as follows below. [0051] For TS 38.423 [0052] 9.1.2.5 S-NODE MODIFICATION REQUEST [0053] This message is sent by the M-NG-RAN node to the S-NG-RAN node to either request the preparation to modify S-NG-RAN node resources for a specific UE, or to query for the current SCG configuration, or to provide the S-RLF-related information to the S-NG-RAN node. The direction is M-NG-RAN node ^ S-NG-RAN node. [0054] Table 1 below shows an example of embodiment I-1 as described above.

Table 1 [0055] Embodiment I-3: Activation through another CG [0056] Some example embodiment for the XnAP (MN-initiated and SN-initiated) SN Modification procedure is as follows. [0057] For TS 38.423 [0058] 9.1.2.5 S-NODE MODIFICATION REQUEST [0059] This message is sent by the M-NG-RAN node to the S-NG-RAN node to either request the preparation to modify S-NG-RAN node resources for a specific UE, or to query for the current SCG configuration, or to provide the S-RLF-related information to the S-NG-RAN node. The direction is from M-NG-RAN node ^ S-NG-RAN node. Table 2 below shows an example of embodiment I-3 as described above.

Table 2 [0060] 9.1.2.8 S-NODE MODIFICATION REQUIRED [0061] This message is sent by the S-NG-RAN node to the M-NG-RAN node to request the modification of S-NG-RAN node resources for a specific UE. The direction is from S-NG-RAN node ^ M-NG-RAN node. Table 3 below shows an example of embodiment I-3 as described above. Table 3 [0062] Some example implementation for the NR MAC CE is as follows. A similar mechanism can be applied to the LTE MAC CE as well. [0063] For TS 38.321 [0064] 6.1.3.10 SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CEs [0065] The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as may be specified in a modified version of Table 6.2.1-1 in TS 38.321. It has a fixed size and consists of a single octet containing seven C-fields and one A-field. [0066] The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE 700a with one octet is shown in Fig.7A. The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE 700b of four octets is shown in Fig.7B. [0067] The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets as shown in Fig.7B is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as may be specified in a modified version Table 6.2.1-1 in TS 38.321. It has a fixed size and consists of four octets containing 31 C-fields and one A-field. - C_i: If there is an SCell configured for the MAC entity with SCellIndex i as specified in TS 38.331, this field indicates the activation/deactivation status of the SCell with SCellIndex i, else the MAC entity shall ignore the C_i field. The C_i field is set to 1 to indicate that the SCell with SCellIndex i shall be activated. The C_i field is set to 0 to indicate that the SCell with SCellIndex i shall be deactivated; - A: The A field is set to 0 to indicate that another CG shall be suspended. The A field is set to 1 to indicate that another CG which was suspended before shall be re-activated. [0068] Embodiment I-5: SN provides suspend/resume recommendation of SCG to the MN [0069] Some example embodiment for XnAP TS 38.423 is as follows: [0070] For TS 38.423 [0071] 9.1.2.22 ACTIVITY NOTIFICATION [0072] An activity notification message is sent by a NG-RAN node to send notification to another NG-RAN node for one or several QoS flows or PDU sessions already established for a given UE. The direction is from NG-RAN node → NG-RAN node. Table 4 below shows an example of embodiment I-5 as described above.

Table 4 [0073] II. MECHANISMS FOR CONDITIONAL PSCELL CHANGE OR ADDITION [0074] New Rel-17 WID for further enhancements on MR-DC has been approved in RP-193249, where one of the objectives is to support conditional PSCell addition/change (CPAC), which objectives were not addressed during Rel-16 NR mobility WI and include the following: 1. Support efficient activation/de-activation mechanism for one SCG and SCells o Support for one SCG applies to (NG) EN-DC, and NR-DC [RAN2, RAN3, RAN4] o Support for SCells applies to NR CA, based on RAN1 leading mechanisms [RAN1, RAN2, RAN4] o This objective applies to FR1 and FR2 2. Support of conditional PSCell change/addition [RAN2,RAN3] o support scenarios which are not addressed in Rel-16 NR mobility WI. [0075] The conditional PSCell change (CPC) refers to the change of PSCell in a conditional way, e.g., preparing and configuring multiple candidate PSCells to the UE in advance, among which the UE accesses one PSCell satisfying configured conditions. In Rel-16, a secondary node (SN) was able to trigger CPC, but candidate PSCells were limited to cells served by themselves (a.k.a. “intra-SN conditional PSCell change”). During this intra-SN CPC, the master node (MN) may or may not be involved (e.g. RRC reconfiguration via MCG signaling radio bearer (SRB) or SRB3 (a SRB for specific RRC messages when UE is in EN-DC)), but the MN was left oblivious of this process as execution conditions and candidate PSCell configurations are configured by the SN RRC message. [0076] In addition, in Rel-16, adding a PSCell could not be done in a conditional way. Namely, multiple candidate PSCells could not be configured in advance during an SN addition procedure. Moreover, a MN could not send addition requests to multiple SNs simultaneously. There could be only one SCG configuration in the UE side, for which the previously configured SCG configuration from one SN would be invalidated by the later SCG configuration from another SN, and it could be a disaster if delta signaling were to be used. Namely in Rel-16, MN should send addition request to only one SN (unless it failed to setup, in which case the MN can then send the request to another SN), and only one PSCell could be configured from a SN. [0077] Some embodiments aim to overcome such limitations in Rel-16, and extend the applicability of CPAC beyond the current serving SN so that the UE can be best benefited from having candidate PSCells possibly across multiple secondary nodes to choose from. [0078] Some considerations of the present disclosure include: ^ Each conditional PCell/PSCell configuration and the corresponding execution condition is associated with a unique ID, and up to 8 can be configured to the UE simultaneously in Rel- 16. ^ From a UE point of view, it does not matter from which network (NW) node a conditional PSCell configuration and its execution condition come down to the UE (either from MN or from the current serving SN or from a new SN). It is NW’s responsibility and some form of ID coordination is necessary between NW nodes when considering candidate PSCells across multiple nodes, which has been considered in our embodiments as well. ^ During the Rel-16 intra-SN CPC, no ID coordination was necessary because all the candidate PSCells were limited by “intra-SN” – the current serving SN was fully responsible of generating execution conditions and candidate PSCell configurations into its RRC message. ^ During the Rel-16 PCell conditional handover (CHO), no ID coordination was necessary between the source and the target because the source, for each candidate target cell, decided execution condition and put together conditional PCell configuration (e.g. CHO Command) obtained from the target into its RRC message. [0079] Some embodiments are described further below. Embodiments herein may be implemented individually or jointly. [0080] Embodiment II-1. SN addition procedure is enhanced to configure multiple candidate PSCells from a secondary node: [0081] A baseline solution is provided that enables a secondary node to configure multiple candidate PSCells during the SN addition procedure, which was limited to configure only one PSCell in Rel-16. The existing SN ADDITION REQUEST/ACKNOWLEDGE messages can be enhanced to support this purpose, and also to be backward compatible with the Rel-16 or earlier SN Addition procedure. [0082] Fig.8 shows a procedure 800 to enable a SN to configure multiple candidate PSCells. In Fig.8, a network includes a UE 102, a MN 804, and a SN 806 in communication with one another. At operation 1, the MN sends a SN Addition Request with conditional PSCell addition information to the SN. At operation 2, the SN sends a SN Addition Request Acknowledge with multiple PSCell configurations to the MN. At operation 3, the MN sends a RRC reconfiguration to the UE with information regarding the multiple candidate PSCell configurations. At operation 4, the UE sends a RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to the MN, which, at operation 5, sends a SN Reconfiguration Complete message to the SN. At operation 6, a random access procedure takes place between the UE and the SN, and, at operation 7, the UE sends a ULInformationTransferMRDC (CPAC Complete) message to the MN, which, at operation 8, sends a SN Reconfiguration Complete message to the SN. [0083] While the generation of a candidate PSCell configuration has to be done by a secondary node, there are several variants to embodiment II-1, based on who is responsible for ID management, execution condition, and candidate PSCell configuration to the UE as noted below: A. SN is responsible for ID management and candidate PSCell configuration to the UE (the similar approach as the Rel-16 intra-SN CPC): ^ In Rel-16 or earlier, when MN sends an addition request to SN, the candidateCellInfoListSN (or candidateCellInfoListSN-EUTRA) included in CGConfig-Info and the PCell ID IE included in the SN ADDITION REQUSET message are used by the SN to select a right PSCell (among neighboring cells of the PCell indicated) for the UE. The SN can be simply enhanced to select multiple candidate PSCells based on the same info and generate the SN RRC message as in the Rel-16 intra-SN CPC (e.g. no enhancement on step 2). ^ The MN may forward execution conditions for cells in those candidate cell info lists, for which the SN can simply include the forwarded execution condition in its RRC message (if the associated cell was selected by SN as a candidate PSCell). The SN may decide on its own and configure the execution condition into its SN RRC message. ^ The MN may provide a range of IDs that a SN can use in an SN ADDITION REQUEST message in case multiple secondary nodes are involved. B. MN is responsible for ID management but candidate PSCell configuration to the UE is done by the SN: ^ The MN may provide, in the SN ADDITION REQUEST message, an ID for a specific candidate cell (one of those candidate cell info for SN in CGConfig-Info) for which the SN may use this ID to link the corresponding PSCell configuration into its SN RRC message. ^ If the corresponding execution condition is decided by the MN, then the MN may directly configure it in its RRC message, so that the UE can link execution condition and candidate PSCell configuration based on the same ID. The MN may forward the execution condition to the SN by the SN ADDITION REQUEST message so that the SN can configure it together with the corresponding PSCell configuration into its SN RRC message. Or, the SN may decide on its own and configure the execution condition into its SN RRC message. C. MN is responsible for ID management and candidate PSCell configuration to the UE (the similar approach as the Rel-16 PCell CHO): ^ The SN may provide, in the SN ADDITION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, (multiple) candidate PSCell configurations so that the MN can put together in its RRC message with the corresponding IDs. The corresponding execution conditions can be generated and forwarded to the MN by the SN ADDITION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message. Or, the MN may decide on its own and configure the execution conditions int its MN RRC message. ^ The MN may request, in the SN ADDITION REQUEST message, how many is needed from the SN. D. Hybrid of above approaches [0084] Embodiment II-2 - SN addition procedure is enhanced so that multiple candidate PSCells from multiple secondary nodes can be configured to the UE simultaneously: [0085] Based on the solution described in Embodiment II-1, the MN may send addition requests to prepare candidate PSCells across multiple secondary nodes. The MN has to make sure the same conditional reconfiguration ID is not used for PSCell configurations prepared by a different secondary node. The maximum number of conditional reconfigurations (currently 8 in Rel-16) may be increased (e.g.32) to accommodate more candidate PSCell configurations. [0086] Fig.9 shows a procedure 900 to enable a MN to send SN additional requests to multiple SNs according to embodiment II-2. In Fig.9, a network includes a UE 102, a MN 904, and a SN 1 906a and a SN 2906b in communication with one another. At operation 1, the MN sends a SN Addition Request with conditional PSCell addition information to multiple SNs SN 1 and SN 2. At operation 2, the SNs SN 1 and SN 2 each send a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message with multiple PSCell configurations to the MN. Operations 3 and 4 are similar to those of Fig. 8. At operation 5, the MN sends a SN Reconfiguration Complete message to both SNs. The UE may evaluate execution conditions at this time, and start a random access procedure at operation 6 with SN 1 only. Operations 6a and 6b are similar to operations 7 and 8 of Fig.8, respectively. At operation 6c, SN 1 may send a handover success message to the MN, and at operation 7, the MN may send a SN Status Transfer message to SN 1. At operation 8, SN 2and MN may perform data forwarding to SN 1 by virtue of the handover, and at operation 9, the MN may initiate a SN release procedure toward SN 2, which has been discarded as a result of the handover. [0087] Once the UE is accessed to one of candidate PSCells, then the secondary node of which the UE successfully accessed (“SN 1” in Fig. 9) indicates the MN that the UE has successfully accessed. For this purpose, new X2AP/XnAP message can be defined or the existing HANDOVER SUCCESS message for CHO between the source and the target can be extended to be used between MN and SN. Once the MN receives such indication from the SN, the MN subsequently performs data forwarding and SN status transfer, and also releases another SNs (if any) that was prepared before. [0088] Embodiment II-3: SN-initiated SN modification procedure is enhanced so that the MN, knowing the Rel-16 intra-SN CPC is going on, may decide to prepare candidate PSCells in another SNs: [0089] The SN Modification Required message can be enhanced to inform the MN that the Rel- 16 intra-SN CPC is prepared, together with conditional reconfiguration IDs that were used by the current serving SN for the Rel-16 intra-SN CPC, so that the MN can decide and prepare additional candidate PSCells toward another SNs if any. [0090] Fig.10 shows a procedure 1000 to enable a SN Modification Required message to inform the MN regarding intra-SN CPC and conditional reconfiguration IDs used by the current serving SN, according to embodiment II-3. [0091] In Fig.10, a network includes a UE 102, a MN 1004, and a current serving SN 1006a and another SN 21006b in communication with one another. At operation 1, the current serving SN sends a SN Modification Required message to the MN, informing it of conditional PSCell change information. At operations 2/3, an MN initiated SN modification procedure may take place. At operation 4a, the MN may send a SN Addition Request with conditional PSCell addition information to the another SN, and at operation 4b, the another SN may send a SN Addition Request acknowledge message wit conditional PSCell addition information to the MN. Operations 4 and 5 may be similar to operations 3 and 4 of Fig. 8. At operation 6, the MN may send a SN Modification Confirm message to the current serving SN, and at operation 7, it may send a SN Reconfiguration Complete message to the another SN. The UE may then evaluate execution conditions. Operations 8, 8a, 8b, 8c, 9, 10 and 11 are similar to operations 6, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7, 8 and 9 of Fig.9, except that, where, in Fig. 9, there were communications with SN 1 to which a HO was taking place, in Fig.10, the communications are with the another SN, to which a HO is taking place. [0092] Thus, once multiple PSCell configurations across multiple secondary nodes are configured, the procedure follows as described in Embodiment II-2 (the above figure describes the case that the UE accessed one of candidate PSCells in “Another SN”). [0093] The embodiments of the present disclosure overcome Rel-16 limitations and extend the applicability of conditional PSCell addition/change so that the UE can be best benefited from having candidate PSCells possibly across multiple secondary nodes to choose from. [0094] Embodiment II-1: SN addition procedure is enhanced to configure multiple candidate PSCells from a secondary node: [0095] Some example embodiment for the XnAP SN Addition procedure is as follows. The similar mechanism can be applied to the X2AP SN Addition procedure as well. [0096] For TS 38.423 [0097] 9.1.2.1 S-NODE ADDITION REQUEST [0098] This message is sent by the M-NG-RAN node to the S-NG-RAN node to request the preparation of resources for dual connectivity operation for a specific UE. The direction is from M- NG-RAN node ^ S-NG-RAN node. Table 5 below shows an example of embodiment II-1 as described above.

Table 5 [0099] 9.1.2.2 S-NODE ADDITION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE [0100] This message is sent by the S-NG-RAN node to confirm the M-NG-RAN node about the S- NG-RAN node addition preparation. The direction is from S-NG-RAN node ^ M-NG-RAN node. Table 6 below provides an example of this embodiment as shown below. Table 6 [0101] Some example implementations for RRC specifications are as follows. Depending on which variant is used, an execution condition or candidate PSCell configuration may be configured by the MN RRC or the SN RRC message (or both). [0102] Moreover, if the variant C is used, LTE RRC should be enhanced for (NG)EN-DC since so far it can only contain only LTE RRC message for condReconfigurationToApply-r16. [0103] For TS 36.331 [0104] TS 36.331 may be modified as follows in relevant part. [0105] CondReconfigurationToAddModList [0106] The IE CondReconfigurationToAddModList concerns a list of conditional reconfigurations (e.g. conditional handover) to add or modify, for each entry the measId (associated to the triggering condition configuration) and the associated RRCConnectionReconfiguration. CondReconfigurationToAddModList information element -- ASN1START CondReconfigurationToAddModList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxCondConfig-r16)) OF CondReconfigurationAddMod-r16 CondReconfigurationAddMod-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { condReconfigurationId-r16 CondReconfigurationId-r16, triggerCondition-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..2)) OF MeasId OPTIONAL, -- Cond CondReconfigurationAdd condReconfigurationToApply-r16 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCConnectionReconfiguration or CONTAINING NR RRCReconfiguration) OPTIONAL,-- Cond CondReconfigurationAdd ... } -- ASN1STOP [0107] Table 7 below pertains to the above modification.

Table 7 [0108] For TS 38.331 [0109] TS 38.331 may be modified as follows in relevant part. [0110] CondReconfigToAddModList [0111] The IE CondReconfigToAddModList concerns a list of conditional reconfigurations to add or modify, with for each entry the condReconfigId and the associated condExecutionCond and condRRCReconfig. CondReconfigToAddModList information element -- ASN1START -- TAG-CONDRECONFIGTOADDMODLIST-START CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofCondCells-r16)) OF CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { condReconfigId-r16 CondReconfigId-r16, condExecutionCond-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..2)) OF MeasId OPTIONAL, -- Cond condReconfigAdd condRRCReconfig-r16 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCReconfiguration or CONTAINING LTE RRCConnectionReconfiguration) OPTIONAL, -- Cond condReconfigAdd ... } -- TAG-CONDRECONFIGTOADDMODLIST-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0112] Table 8 below pertains to the above modification. Table 8 [0113] TS 38.331 may further be modified as follows in relevant part. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////irrelevant operations skipped//////////////////////////////////////////////////////// MeasResults The IE MeasResults covers measured results for intra-frequency, inter-frequency, and inter- RAT mobility. MeasResults information element //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////irrelevant operations skipped///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// MeasResultNR ::= SEQUENCE { physCellId PhysCellId OPTIONAL, measResult SEQUENCE { cellResults SEQUENCE{ resultsSSB-Cell MeasQuantityResults OPTIONAL, resultsCSI-RS-Cell MeasQuantityResults OPTIONAL }, rsIndexResults SEQUENCE{ resultsSSB-Indexes ResultsPerSSB-IndexList OPTIONAL, resultsCSI-RS-Indexes ResultsPerCSI-RS-IndexList OPTIONAL } OPTIONAL }, ..., [[ cgi-Info CGI-InfoNR OPTIONAL, condExecutionCond-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..2)) OF MeasId OPTIONAL ]] } [0114] Embodiment II-2: SN addition procedure is enhanced so that multiple candidate PSCells from multiple secondary nodes can be configured to the UE simultaneously: [0115] Some example embodiment for XnAP is as follows. The similar mechanism can be applied to X2AP as well. [0116] For TS 38.423 [0117] 9.1.1.XX CONDITIONAL PSCELL SUCCESS [0118] This message is sent by the S-NG-RAN node to the M-NG-RAN node to indicate the successful access of the UE toward the S-NG-RAN node. The direction is from S-NG-RAN node ^ M-NG-RAN-node. Table 9 below pertains to the above embodiment. Table 9 [0119] Some example embodiments for RRC specifications in the context of embodiment II-2 are as follows. [0120] For TS 36.331 [0121] maxCondConfig-r16 INTEGER ::= 32 -- Maximum number of conditional configurations. [0122] For TS 38.331 [0123] maxNrofCondCells-r16 INTEGER ::= 32 -- Max number of conditional candidate SpCells. [0124] Embodiment 3: SN-initiated SN modification procedure is enhanced so that the MN, knowing the Rel-16 intra-SN CPC is going on, may decide to prepare candidate PSCells in another SNs [0125] Some example embodiment for XnAP is as follows. The similar mechanism can be applied to X2AP as well. [0126] For TS 38.423 [0127] 9.1.2.8 S-NODE MODIFICATION REQUIRED [0128] This message is sent by the S-NG-RAN node to the M-NG-RAN node to request the modification of S-NG-RAN node resources for a specific UE. The direction is from S-NG-RAN node ^ M-NG-RAN node. Table 10 below pertains to the above modification.

Table 10 [0129] Systems And Implementations [0130] Figs.11-13 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of disclosed embodiments. [0131] Fig.11 illustrates a network 1100 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 800 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like. [0132] The network 1100 may include a UE 1102, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 1104 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 1102 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 1104 by a Uu interface. The UE 1102 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, IoT device, etc. [0133] In some embodiments, the network 1100 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. [0134] In some embodiments, the UE 1102 may additionally communicate with an AP 1106 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 1106 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 1104. The connection between the UE 1102 and the AP 1106 may be consistent with any IEEE 1102.11 protocol, wherein the AP 1106 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 1102, RAN 1104, and AP 1106 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 1102 being configured by the RAN 1104 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources. [0135] The RAN 1104 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 1108. AN 1108 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 1102 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, the AN 1108 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 1120 and the UE 1102. In some embodiments, the AN 1108 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 1108 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 1108 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells. [0136] In embodiments in which the RAN 1104 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 1104 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 1104 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc. [0137] The ANs of the RAN 1104 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 1102 with an air interface for network access. The UE 1102 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 1104. For example, the UE 1102 and RAN 1104 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 1102 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc. [0138] The RAN 1104 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. [0139] In V2X scenarios the UE 1102 or AN 1108 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU”; a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU”; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network. [0140] In some embodiments, the RAN 1104 may be an LTE RAN 1110 with eNBs, for example, eNB 1112. The LTE RAN 1110 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands. [0141] In some embodiments, the RAN 1104 may be an NG-RAN 1114 with gNBs, for example, gNB 1116, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 1118. The gNB 1116 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 1116 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 1118 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 1116 and the ng-eNB 1118 may connect with each other over an Xn interface. [0142] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 1114 and a UPF 1148 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN1114 and an AMF 1144 (e.g., N2 interface). [0143] The NG-RAN 1114 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH. [0144] In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 1102 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 1102, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 1102 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 1102 and in some cases at the gNB 1116. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load. [0145] The RAN 1104 is communicatively coupled to CN 1120 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 1102). The components of the CN 1120 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 1120 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 1120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 1120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. [0146] In some embodiments, the CN 1120 may be an LTE CN 1122, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 1122 may include MME 1124, SGW 1126, SGSN 1128, HSS 1130, PGW 1132, and PCRF 1134 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 1122 may be briefly introduced as follows. [0147] The MME 1124 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 1102 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc. [0148] The SGW 1126 may terminate an S1 interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 1122. The SGW 1126 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. [0149] The SGSN 1128 may track a location of the UE 1102 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 1128 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 1124; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 1124 and the SGSN 1128 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states. [0150] The HSS 1130 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The HSS 1130 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 1130 and the MME 1124 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 1120. [0151] The PGW 1132 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 1136 that may include an application/content server 1138. The PGW 1132 may route data packets between the LTE CN 1122 and the data network 1136. The PGW 1132 may be coupled with the SGW 1126 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 1132 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 1132 and the data network YX 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 1132 may be coupled with a PCRF 1134 via a Gx reference point. [0152] The PCRF 1134 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 1122. The PCRF 1134 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 1138 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 1132 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI. [0153] In some embodiments, the CN 1120 may be a 5GC 1140. The 5GC 1140 may include an AUSF 1142, AMF 1144, SMF 1146, UPF 1148, NSSF 1150, NEF 1152, NRF 1154, PCF 1156, UDM 1158, and AF 1160 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 1140 may be briefly introduced as follows. [0154] The AUSF 1142 may store data for authentication of UE 1102 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 1142 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 1140 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 1142 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. [0155] The AMF 1144 may allow other functions of the 5GC 1140 to communicate with the UE 1102 and the RAN 1104 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 1102. The AMF 1144 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 1102), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 1144 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 1102 and the SMF 1146, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 1144 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 1102 and an SMSF. AMF 1144 may interact with the AUSF 1142 and the UE 1102 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 1144 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 1104 and the AMF 1144; and the AMF 1144 may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 1144 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 1102 over an N3 IWF interface. [0156] The SMF 1146 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 1148 and AN 1108); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 1148 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 1144 over N2 to AN 1108; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 1102 and the data network 1136. [0157] The UPF 1148 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 1136, and a branching point to support multi- homed PDU session. The UPF 1148 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF-to- QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 1148 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. [0158] The NSSF 1150 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 1102. The NSSF 1150 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 1150 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 1102, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 1154. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 1102 may be triggered by the AMF 1144 with which the UE 1102 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 1150, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 1150 may interact with the AMF 1144 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 1150 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface. [0159] The NEF 1152 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 1160), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 1152 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 1152 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 1160 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 1152 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 1152 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 1152 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 1152 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 1152 may exhibit an Nnef service- based interface. [0160] The NRF 1154 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 1154 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 1154 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface. [0161] The PCF 1156 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 1156 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 1158. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 1156 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface. [0162] The UDM 1158 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 1102. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 1158 and the AMF 1144. The UDM 1158 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 1158 and the PCF 1156, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 1102) for the NEF 1152. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 1158, PCF 1156, and NEF 1152 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing 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. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 1158 may exhibit the Nudm service- based interface. [0163] The AF 1160 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. [0164] In some embodiments, the 5GC 1140 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 1102 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 1140 may select a UPF 1148 close to the UE 1102 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 1148 to data network 1136 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 1160. In this way, the AF 1160 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 1160 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 1160 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 1160 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface. [0165] The data network 1136 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 1138. [0166] Fig.12 schematically illustrates a wireless network 1200 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 1200 may include a UE 1202 in wireless communication with an AN 1204. The UE 1202 and AN 1204 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein. [0167] The UE 1202 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 1204 via connection 1206. The connection 1206 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies. [0168] The UE 1202 may include a host platform 1208 coupled with a modem platform 1210. The host platform 1208 may include application processing circuitry 1212, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 1214 of the modem platform 1210. The application processing circuitry 1212 may run various applications for the UE 1202 that source/sink application data. The application processing circuitry 1212 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations [0169] The protocol processing circuitry 1214 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 1206. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 1214 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations. [0170] The modem platform 1210 may further include digital baseband circuitry 1216 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 1214 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/ decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/ bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/ detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions. [0171] The modem platform 1210 may further include transmit circuitry 1218, receive circuitry 1220, RF circuitry 1222, and RF front end (RFFE) 1224, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 1226. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 1218 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 1220 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 1222 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 1224 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 1218, receive circuitry 1220, RF circuitry 1222, RFFE 1224, and antenna panels 1226 (referred generically as “transmit/receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is time division multiplexed (TDM) or frequency division multiplexed (FDM), in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc. [0172] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 1214 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components. [0173] A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 1226, RFFE 1224, RF circuitry 1222, receive circuitry 1220, digital baseband circuitry 1216, and protocol processing circuitry 1214. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 1226 may receive a transmission from the AN 1204 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 1226. [0174] A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 1214, digital baseband circuitry 1216, transmit circuitry 1218, RF circuitry 1222, RFFE 1224, and antenna panels 1226. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 1204 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 1226. [0175] Similar to the UE 1202, the AN 1204 may include a host platform 1228 coupled with a modem platform 1230. The host platform 1228 may include application processing circuitry 1232 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 1234 of the modem platform 1230. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 1236, transmit circuitry 1238, receive circuitry 1240, RF circuitry 1242, RFFE circuitry 1244, and antenna panels 1246. The components of the AN 1204 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 1202. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 1208 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling. [0176] Fig.13 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.13 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1300 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1310, one or more memory/storage devices 1320, and one or more communication resources 1330, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1340 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1302 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1300. [0177] The processors 1310 may include, for example, a processor 1312 and a processor 1314. The processors 1310 may be, for example, 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 DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof. [0178] The memory/storage devices 1320 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1320 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-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. [0179] The communication resources 1330 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1304 or one or more databases 1306 or other network elements via a network 1308. For example, the communication resources 1330 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. [0180] Instructions 1350 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 1310 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1350 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 1310 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1320, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 1350 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1300 from any combination of the peripheral devices 1304 or the databases 1306. Accordingly, the memory of processors 1310, the memory/storage devices 1320, the peripheral devices 1304, and the databases 1306 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. [0181] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section. [0182] Embodiments Processes: [0183] Fig.14 shows a process 1400 according to an embodiment. At operation 1402, the process includes encoding for transmission to a secondary (S) NG-RAN (S-NG-RAN), a secondary node (SN) Addition Request message including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information. At operation 1404, the process includes decoding a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message from the S-NG-RAN, including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for a user equipment (UE), the multiple candidate PSCell configurations corresponding to respective multiple PSCells. At operation 1406, the process includes encoding, for transmission to the UE, a reconfiguration message to reconfigure the UE based on the SN Addition Request acknowledge message. At operation 1408, the process includes sending the reconfiguration message to communications resources for transmission to the UE. [0184] Fig.15 shows a process 1500 according to an embodiment. At operation 1502, the process includes decoding a secondary node (SN) Addition Request message from a master (M) NG-RAN (M-NG-RAN), the S Addition Request message including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information. At operation 1504, the process includes encoding, for transmission to the M-NG-RAN, a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for a user equipment (UE), the multiple candidate PSCell configurations corresponding to respective multiple PSCells. At operation 1506, the process includes decoding a SN Reconfiguration Complete message from the M-NG-RAN, the SN Reconfiguration Complete Message to indicate a reconfiguration of the UE based on the SN Addition Request acknowledge message. [0185] Examples: [0186] Example 1 includes an apparatus of a master (M) next generation (NG) radio access node (RAN) (M-NG-RAN) , the apparatus including a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory storing instructions, and the one or more processors to implement the instructions to: encode, for transmission to a secondary (S) NG-RAN (S-NG-RAN), a secondary node (SN) Addition Request message including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information; decode, from the S-NG-RAN, a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for a user equipment (UE), the multiple candidate PSCell configurations corresponding to respective multiple PSCells; encode, for transmission to the UE, a reconfiguration message to reconfigure the UE based on the SN Addition Request acknowledge message; and send the reconfiguration message to communications resources of the M-NG-RAN for transmission to the UE. [0187] Example 2 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the reconfiguration message is a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message. [0188] Example 3 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message includes execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells. [0189] Example 4 includes the subject matter of Example 1, the one or more processors to determine execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells. [0190] Example 5 includes the subject matter of Example 4, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes the execution conditions. [0191] Example 6 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 4-5, wherein the reconfiguration message includes the execution conditions. [0192] Example 7 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5, the one or more processors to determine one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells, the SN Addition Request message including the one or more conditional reconfiguration IDs. [0193] Example 8 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5, wherein the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message includes one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells. [0194] Example 9 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes an indication of a number of candidate PSCells being requested for addition. [0195] Example 10 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5 and 9, wherein the M-NG-RAN corresponds to a New Radio (NR) Node B (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB). [0196] Example 11 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5 and 9, the one or more processors to: encode, for transmission to a plurality of S-NG-RANs, a plurality of respective SN Addition Request messages each including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information; decode, from the plurality of S-NG-RANs, respective SN Addition Request Acknowledge messages, each of the SN Addition Request Acknowledge messages including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for the UE, the multiple candidate PSCell configurations of each SN Addition Request Acknowledge message corresponding to respective multiple PSCells. [0197] Example 12 includes the subject matter of Example 11, the one or more processors to decode a message from the UE including an indication of successful access by the UE of one of the multiple candidate PSCells. [0198] Example 13 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5 and 9, the one or more processors to initiate a SN modification procedure to change to a new S-NG-RAN other than the S-NG-RAN. [0199] Example 14 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5 and 9, further including the communications resources. [0200] Example 15 includes a method to be performed at an apparatus of secondary (S) next generation (NG) radio access node (RAN) (S-NG-RAN), the method including: decoding a secondary node (SN) Addition Request message from a master (M) NG-RAN (M-NG-RAN), the S Addition Request message including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information; encoding, for transmission to the M-NG-RAN, a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for a user equipment (UE), the multiple candidate PSCell configurations corresponding to respective multiple PSCells; decoding a SN Reconfiguration Complete message from the M-NG-RAN, the SN Reconfiguration Complete Message to indicate a reconfiguration of the UE based on the SN Addition Request acknowledge message. [0201] Example 16 includes the subject matter of Example 15, wherein the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message includes execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells. [0202] Example 17 includes the subject matter of Example 15, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells. [0203] Example 18 includes the subject matter of Example 15, the SN Addition Request message including one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells. [0204] Example 19 includes the subject matter of Example 15, the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells. [0205] Example 20 includes the subject matter of Example 15, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes an indication of a number of candidate PSCells being requested for addition. [0206] Example 21 includes the subject matter of Example 15, wherein the S-NG-RAN corresponds to a New Radio (NR) Node B (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB). [0207] Example 22 includes the subject matter of Example 15, the one or more processors to encode a message for transmission to the M-NG-RAN including an indication of successful handover based on the SN Reconfiguration Complete message. [0208] Example 23 includes the subject matter of Example 15, the one or more processors to encode, for transmission to the M-NG-RAN, a message including an indication of the S-NG-RAN’s conditional configuration for intra-SN conditional PSCell change for the UE. [0209] Example 24 includes a machine readable medium including code, when executed, to cause a machine to perform the method of any one of Examples 15-23. [0210] Example 25 includes an apparatus including means to perform the method of any one of Examples 15-23. [0211] Example 1A may include an apparatus to be employed as eNodeB (eNB) or next generation NodeB (gNB) in EPS or 5GS, comprising: a MN (master node) and a SN (secondary node) inter-connected via X2 or Xn interface, means to support MAC CE based or DCI based (or any RAN1 based) activation/de-activation of an entire CG or PCell/PSCell for the UE. [0212] Example 2A may include MN, once decides to de-active SCG, requests SN to send a MAC CE or a DCI (or any RAN1 based) de-activating SCG in the UE. [0213] Example 3A may include MN (or SN), once decides to re-active its own cell group e.g. MCG (or SCG), requests SN (or MN) to send a MAC CE or a DCI (or any RAN1 based) re-activating MCG (or SCG) in the UE. [0214] Example 4A may include MN or gNB suspends and resumes its lower layers during INACTIVE <> CONNECTED transition. [0215] Example 5A may include SN provides suspend/resume recommendation of SCG to MN. [0216] Example 6A may include a method of a master node (MN), the method comprising: determining to deactivate a secondary cell group (SCG); andencoding, for transmission to a secondary node (SN) based on the determination, a request for the SN to send a message to a UE to deactivate the SCG. [0217] Example 7A may include the method of Example 6A or some other example herein, wherein the message is a MAC CE or a DCI. [0218] Example 8A may include a method of a master node (MN), the method comprising: determining to activate a master cell group (MCG); andencoding, for transmission to a secondary node (SN) based on the determination, a request for the SN to send a message to a UE to activate the MCG. [0219] Example 9A may include the method of Example 8A or some other example herein, wherein the message is a MAC CE or a DCI. [0220] Example 10A may include a method of a secondary node (SN), the method comprising: determining to activate a secondary cell group (SCG); andencoding, for transmission to a master node (MN) based on the determination, a request for the MN to send a message to a UE to activate the SCG. [0221] Example 11A may include the method of Example 10A or some other example herein, wherein the message is a MAC CE or a DCI. [0222] Example 1B may include an apparatus to be employed as eNodeB (eNB) or next generation NodeB (gNB) in EPS or 5GS, comprising: a MN (master node) and a SN (secondary node) inter-connected via X2 or Xn interface; and means to support the conditional PSCell addition or change for the UE. [0223] Example 2B may include a method in which the MN indicates to SN that SN addition request is due to conditional PSCell addition or change. [0224] Example 3B may include the SN in example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the SN selects (multiple) candidate PSCells based on the info provided in SN addition request message from MN and generates candidate PSCell configurations. [0225] Example 4B may include the candidate PSCell configurations in example 3 or some other example herein, wherein the candidate PSCell configurations are configured to the UE by SN RRC message. [0226] Example 5B may include the candidate PSCell configurations in example 3 or some other example herein, wherein the candidate PSCell configurations are forwarded to the MN by SN addition request acknowledge message and configured to the UE by MN RRC message. [0227] Example 6B may include SN in example 3 or some other example herein, wherein decides execution conditions for the selected candidate PSCells. [0228] Example 7B may include the execution conditions in example 6 or some other example herein, wherein are configured to the UE by SN RRC message. [0229] Example 8B may include the execution conditions in example 6 or some other example herein, wherein are forwarded to the MN by SN addition request acknowledge message and configured to the UE by MN RRC message. [0230] Example 9B may include MN in example 2 or some other example herein, wherein decides execution conditions for candidate cells. [0231] Example 10B may include the execution conditions in Example 9B or some other example herein are configured to the UE by MN RRC message. [0232] Example 11B may include the execution conditions in Example 9B or some other example herein are forwarded to the SN by SN addition request message and configured to the UE by SN RRC message. [0233] Example 12B may include MN in Example 5B or some other example herein, wherein decides execution conditions for candidate cells which are configured to the UE by MN RRC message. [0234] Example 13B may include MN in Example 2B or some other example herein, wherein provides a conditional reconfiguration ID for a specific candidate cell or a range of conditional reconfiguration IDs that SN can use by SN addition request message. [0235] Example 14B may include SN in Example13B or some other example herein, wherein decides conditional reconfiguration ID for the generated candidate PSCell configuration based on IDs provided from MN. [0236] Example 15B may include SN in Example 3B or some other example herein, wherein decides conditional reconfiguration ID on its own for the generated candidate PSCell configuration. [0237] Example 16B may include SN in Example14B or Example15B or some other example herein provides the used conditional reconfiguration IDs and the associated candidate PSCell info to the MN via SN addition request acknowledge message. [0238] Example 17B may include MN in Example 2B or some other example herein, wherein provides how many candidate PSCells is requested in SN addition request message to SN. [0239] Example 18B may include UE uses conditional reconfiguration ID to link conditional PSCell configuration and execution condition received via MN RRC message or SN RRC message. [0240] Example 19B may include LTE RRC (or NR RRC) is enhanced to carry candidate PSCell configuration from gNB (or eNB) for EN-DC (or NGEN-DC). [0241] Example 20B may include MN in Example 2B or some other example herein, wherein sends conditional SN addition requests to multiple SNs. [0242] Example 21B may include SN in Example20B or some other example herein, wherein for which the UE successfully accessed one of its candidate PSCell informs MN about successful access from the UE. [0243] Example 22B may include number of maximum conditional configurations that can be configured to the UE are increased from 8. [0244] Example 23B may include SN informs MN about SN’s conditional configuration for intra- SN conditional PSCell change to the UE (e.g. candidate PSCells, conditional reconfiguration IDs, execution conditions). [0245] Example 24B may include MN in Example23B or some other example herein, wherein decides preparing candidate PSCells in another SNs than the SN in Example23B. [0246] Example 25B may include a method of an SN, the method comprising: receiving, from a MN, an SN addition request; receiving, from the MN, an indication that the SN addition request is due to a conditional PSCell addition or change. [0247] Example 26B may include the method of Example25B or some other example herein, further comprising selecting candidate PSCells based on the SN addition request and/or the indication. [0248] Example 27B may include the method of Example26B or some other example herein, further comprising generating candidate PSCell configurations for the candidate PSCells. [0249] Example 28B may include the method of Example27B or some other example herein, further comprising encoding a message for transmission a UE, wherein the message includes the candidate PSCell configurations. [0250] Example 29B may include the method of Example28B or some other example herein, wherein the message is an RRC message. [0251] Example 30B may include the method of Example27B or some other example herein, further comprising encoding a message for transmission to the MN, wherein the message includes the candidate PSCell configurations. [0252] Example 31B may include the method of Example30B or some other example herein, wherein the MN is to configure a UE with the PSCell configurations. [0253] Example Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or any other method or process described herein. [0254] Example Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or any other method or process described herein. [0255] Example Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or any other method or process described herein. [0256] Example Z04 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions or parts thereof. [0257] Example Z05 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions thereof. [0258] Example Z06 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions or parts thereof. [0259] Example Z07 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. [0260] Example Z08 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. [0261] Example Z09 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. [0262] Example Z10 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions thereof. [0263] Example Z11 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-11, or portions thereof. [0264] Example Z12 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. [0265] Example Z13 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. [0266] Example Z14 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. [0267] Example Z15 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. [0268] Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Claims

What is claimed is: 1. An apparatus of a master (M) next generation (NG) radio access node (RAN) (M-NG-RAN) , the apparatus including a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory storing instructions, and the one or more processors to implement the instructions to: encode, for transmission to a secondary (S) NG-RAN (S-NG-RAN), a secondary node (SN) Addition Request message including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information; decode, from the S-NG-RAN, a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for a user equipment (UE), the multiple candidate PSCell configurations corresponding to respective multiple PSCells; encode, for transmission to the UE, a reconfiguration message to reconfigure the UE based on the SN Addition Request acknowledge message; and send the reconfiguration message to communications resources of the M-NG-RAN for transmission to the UE.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration message is a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message includes execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, the one or more processors to determine execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes the execution conditions.

6. The apparatus of any one of claims 4-5, wherein the reconfiguration message includes the execution conditions.

7. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-5, the one or more processors to determine one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells, the SN Addition Request message including the one or more conditional reconfiguration IDs.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message includes one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes an indication of a number of candidate PSCells being requested for addition.

10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-5 and 9, wherein the M-NG-RAN corresponds to a New Radio (NR) Node B (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB).

11. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-5 and 9, the one or more processors to: encode, for transmission to a plurality of S-NG-RANs, a plurality of respective SN Addition Request messages each including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information; decode, from the plurality of S-NG-RANs, respective SN Addition Request Acknowledge messages, each of the SN Addition Request Acknowledge messages including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for the UE, the multiple candidate PSCell configurations of each SN Addition Request Acknowledge message corresponding to respective multiple PSCells.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, the one or more processors to decode a message from the UE including an indication of successful access by the UE of one of the multiple candidate PSCells.

13. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-5 and 9, the one or more processors to initiate a SN modification procedure to change to a new S-NG-RAN other than the S-NG-RAN.

14. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-5 and 9, further including the communications resources.

15. A method to be performed at an apparatus of secondary (S) next generation (NG) radio access node (RAN) (S-NG-RAN), the method including: decoding a secondary node (SN) Addition Request message from a master (M) NG-RAN (M- NG-RAN), the S Addition Request message including conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition information; encoding, for transmission to the M-NG-RAN, a SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including multiple candidate PSCell configurations for a user equipment (UE), the multiple candidate PSCell configurations corresponding to respective multiple PSCells; decoding a SN Reconfiguration Complete message from the M-NG-RAN, the SN Reconfiguration Complete Message to indicate a reconfiguration of the UE based on the SN Addition Request acknowledge message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message includes execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes execution conditions for the multiple candidate PSCells.

18. The method of claim 15, the SN Addition Request message including one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells.

19. The method of claim 15, the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message including one or more conditional reconfiguration identifications (IDs) for one or more corresponding ones of the candidate PSCells.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the SN Addition Request message includes an indication of a number of candidate PSCells being requested for addition.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the S-NG-RAN corresponds to a New Radio (NR) Node B (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB).

22. The method of claim 15, the one or more processors to encode a message for transmission to the M-NG-RAN including an indication of successful handover based on the SN Reconfiguration Complete message.

23. The method of claim 15, the one or more processors to encode, for transmission to the M- NG-RAN, a message including an indication of the S-NG-RAN’s conditional configuration for intra- SN conditional PSCell change for the UE.

24. A machine readable medium including code, when executed, to cause a machine to perform the method of any one of claims 15-23.

25. An apparatus including means to perform the method of any one of claims 15-23.