WO2024148545A1

WO2024148545A1 - Measurement reporting for cell activation

Info

Publication number: WO2024148545A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/071826
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lei Du; Lars Dalsgaard; Jani-Pekka KAINULAINEN
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-01-11
Filing date: 2023-01-11
Publication date: 2024-07-18

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for measurement reporting for cell activation. In a method, a first device receives, from a second device, an activation command for a cell. The first device determines whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for the cell based on available measurements at the time when the activation command is received. Based on the determining, the first device transmits the measurement result of the type of measurements to the second device.

Description

MEASUREMENT REPORTING FOR CELL ACTIVATION

FIELDS

Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for measurement reporting for cell activation.

BACKGROUND

In the third-generation partnership project (3GPP) Release 18 (Rel-18) , in enhanced Radio resource management (RRM) , secondary cell (SCell) activation delay may be reduced in frequency range 2 (FR2) . For the FR2 SCell activation delay reduction, the following enhancement may be considered: cell detection enhancement for an unknown SCell, time and frequency (T/F) tracking enhancement, Layer 1 (L1) Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement delay reduction on a target SCell, reference signal enhancement and/or signaling enhancement for user equipment (UE) to meet the enhanced delay requirements, and/or the like.

An open issue is related to the reduction of the activation delay for an FR2 unknown SCell. The UE may be expected a long activation delay of such a SCell due to beam sweeping. The activation operations may include automatic gain control (AGC) , time and frequency synchronization (T/F sync) , cell search, L1-RSRP measurements, CSI measurements, and the like. To reduce the delay, the UE may be allowed to send to a network (NW) a Layer 3 (L3) measurement report with a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) index after receiving a SCell activation command. However, some details of such L3 measurement reporting are for further study, including, for example, triggering conditions, contents to be reported, transmission schemes of the reports, and/or the like.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: at a first device, receiving, from a second device, an activation command for a cell; determining whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for the cell based on available measurements at the time when the activation command is received; and transmitting, to the second device, the measurement result of the type of measurements based on the determining.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: at a second device, transmitting, to a first device, an activation command for a cell; receiving, from the first device, a measurement result of a type of measurements for the cell; and determining whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first device. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to perform the method according to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second device. The second device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to perform the method according to the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for performing the method according to the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for performing the method according to the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the second aspect.

It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling diagram for measurement reporting according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a first device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of various measurement types according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of an example communication process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a second device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example cell activation process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

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

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

As mentioned above, in 3GPP Rel-18, in enhanced RRM, SCell activation delay may be reduced in FR2. For FR2 SCell activation delay reduction, an open issue is related to activation of an FR2 unknown SCell. A SCell may have known and unknown states. If a SCell is "known" , it may mean that the UE has sent a L3 measurement report within a certain time period prior to receiving the SCell activation command, and the reported SSB indexes remain detectable. For example, for the first SCell activation in FR2 bands, a SCell may be known if it has been meeting the following conditions. Otherwise, it is considered as unknown.

- During the period equal to 4s for the UE supporting a power class 1/5 and 3s for the UE supporting a power class 2/3/4 before the UE receives the last activation command for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission configuration indication (TCI) , Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) TCI (when applicable) and semi-persistent Channel-State Information (CSI) -Reference Signal (RS) for Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) reporting (when applicable) :

- the UE has sent a valid L3-RSRP measurement report with an SSB index;

- a SCell activation command is received after the L3-RSRP reporting and no later than the time when the UE receives a medium access control (MAC) -control element (CE) command for TCI activation.

- During the period from the L3-RSRP reporting to the valid CQI reporting, the reported SSBs with indexes remain detectable according to the cell identification conditions, and the TCI state is selected based on one of the latest reported SSB indexes.

For an FR2 unknown SCell, the UE may be expected a long activation delay due to beam sweeping. To reduce the delay, the UE may send a L3 measurement report with a SSB index after receiving a SCell activation command. For example, if measurement results are available, the UE may report them to the NW. The UE may report a valid L3 measurement result after the SCell activation command. This L3 measurement report intends to provide the latest beam information of the SCell, hence, the unknown SCell may be turned into a known status or remain in known status. This may allow the UE and the network to align the cell state upon SCell activation if the states determined based on current known and unknown conditions are different at the UE and NW. Thus, the latest known and unknown states (including the SSB index) may be aligned to avoid misunderstanding on the SCell activation procedure.

However, there are no details regarding the L3 measurement reporting in the standards, such as triggering conditions, contents to be reported, how to transmit the reports, and/or the like. For example, the following aspects are for further study: whether to define new sub-states for known and unknown states for FR2 SCell, how and when to trigger, configure and report such L3 measurement results, necessity of L3 measurement reporting if UE has no valid measurement results, how to determine that the measurement result is available, what is reported in the L3 measurement reporting, and/or the like.

Moreover, the network may have no information about the measurement status at the UE. For example, it is unknown how long the UE has measured the cell or carrier or if the received measurement reporting is valid. It may be completely up to the UE to determine if the L3 measurement reporting is valid while it is unknown to the network what is “valid” .

In addition, the UE may have performed different types of measurements on the to-be-activated SCell before receiving the SCell activation command. For example, in connection with setup enhancement from idle and inactive modes, the UE may perform idle or inactive-mode measurements on the possible target cell before the UE sets up the connection. The measurement requirements in this scenario may be based on idle and inactive measurement requirements accounting a discontinuous reception (DRX) or paging cycle in the idle mode. Moreover, the UE may perform validation measurements during and after a radio resource control (RRC) connection setup procedure.

The UE may be configured with inter-frequency measurements on a carrier including a target cell before the target cell is added or configured as a SCell for carrier aggregation (CA) or PSCell for dual connectivity (DC) . In this case, the measurement requirements may be based on inter-frequency measurements such as gap assisted measurements based on SSB and SSB-based RRM measurement timing configuration (SMTC) on the target cell and accounting any gap sharing. The UE may perform the intra-frequency measurements on a cell after the cell has been configured or added as a serving cell. This may apply to a cell which is configured in deactivated or activated states (which means that the cell is becoming a SCell or PSCell, a serving cell) . Similar requirements may apply when a SCell or PSCell is deactivated from the activated state. The measurement requirements are based on the intra-frequency measurement requirements for example a deactivated SCell applying a configured cycle measCycleSCell. In the following, some example embodiments will be described using SCell as an example while the example embodiments herein can be applied in general for other serving cells such as for example PSCell.

Depending on when and how the SCell is configured and/or activated, the measurement status and the latest measurement occasion at the time of the SCell activation command may be related to any of the above measurements. For instance, if the SCell is activated immediately after being added (or configured) , the UE may not have time to do any intra-frequency measurements on the (deactivated) SCell before the SCell is activated. Instead, the UE may have only the inter-frequency measurement result of the cell if configured. In another example, if the UE is not configured with the inter-frequency measurement on a cell either, the available measurement result at the UE may be from the idle mode measurement. In any case, the network has no means of knowing which type of measurements (if any) the UE may have performed when receiving the L3 measurement reporting after the SCell activation command.

As these measurements have different measurement periods and accuracy requirements, it is not clear to the network how the reported results in the measurement report are derived, for example, how many received signal samples have been used, and hence the measurement accuracy may not be clear. As the L3 measurement reporting may be used to inform the network of the beam index information for SCell activation, the ambiguity of the L3 measurement reporting could be misleading to the network and hence bring negative impacts to the activation procedure.

Therefore, the clear information about the “valid L3 measurement reporting” may be expected so that the network can get a complete knowledge of the received reporting and may determine if it can be used for the SCell activation directly. Although the issue is originating from activating an FR2 SCell, the problem is also valid for other frequency ranges such as FR1 SCell activation and also for a primary SCell (PSCell) activation. Hence the proposed solution in this disclosure can be applied in general for different frequency ranges including for example both FR1 and FR2, and may also apply in general for any serving cell type including both a SCell and a Special Cell (SpCell) .

Example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a measurement reporting scheme. With this scheme, a first device such as the UE determines whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for reporting based on available measurements at the time when an activation command is received for a cell (also referred to as a target cell) such as a SCell. Then, the first device sends to a second device such as a gNB the measurement result of the type of measurements based on the determining. For the purpose of discussion, in the context of the present disclosure, a type of measurements will also be referred to as a measurement type.

Accordingly, the second device determines whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid or not. Then, the second device may perform actions based on the determining result. For example, if the received measurement result is valid, the second device may transmit, to the first device, a TCI activation command for the cell. Thus, some regular L3 and L1 operations can be skipped for the cell activation.

In this way, the SCell activation delay may be reduced. Moreover, the activation of a deactivated SCell may be facilitated.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices, including a first device 110 and a second device 120, can communicate with each other.

In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first device 110 operating as a terminal device and the second device 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other devices, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other devices.

In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 is a terminal device and the second device 120 is a network device, a link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the first device 110 to the second device 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the second device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver) . In UL, the first device 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) , and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) , Time Division Duplex (TDD) , Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

In the environment 100, the first device 110 may have access to a communication network via a plurality of cells, including a first cell 121 (also referred to as Cell1) and a second cell 122 (also referred to as Cell2) for CA, for example. Either or both cells may be provided by the second device 120 or any other suitable devices which may employ the same or different radio access technology. In some example embodiments, the first cell 121 may be a primary cell (PCell) , and the second cell 122 may be a primary secondary cell (PSCell) or a secondary cell (SCell) . Although two cells 121 and 122 are shown in FIG. 1, less or more cells may be provided for the first device 110.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may be configured to implement a beamforming technique and transmit signals to the first device 110 via a plurality of beams. The first device 110 may be configured to receive the signals transmitted by the second device 120 via the plurality of beams. There may be different beams configured for the first cell 121 and the second cell 122. As shown in FIG. 1, a beam 130 may be configured for the second cell 122. It is to be understood that the second cell 122 may have more beams associated therewith. Although not shown, the first cell 121 may also have beams associated therewith.

It is to be understood that the numbers of devices, cells and beams are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable numbers of devices, cells and beams adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a signaling diagram 200 for measurement reporting between the first and second devices 110 and 120 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling diagram 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the second device 120 (such as a gNB) transmits (205) , to the first device 110 (such as a UE) , an activation command for a cell such as the second cell 122 or Cell2. In the example embodiments where the cell is a SCell, the activation command may be a SCell activation command to activate the SCell after or when the SCell is added or configured for the first device 110. The activation command may be transmitted via the first cell 121 or Cell1 operating as a PCell.

After the first device 110 receives (210) the activation command for the cell, the first device 110 determines (215) whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for the cell based on available measurements at the time when the activation command is received. There may be various types of measurements that have been performed for the cell before the activation command. For example, during an idle or inactive mode, the first device 110 may perform an idle or inactive mode measurement for potential cells (including Cell2) . After connection setup or setup resume (such as a RRC setup or setup resume) and/or during a connected mode, the first device 110 may perform a validated measurement or validation measurements for potential cells (including Cell2) . Upon a measurement configuration from the second device 120, the first device 110 may perform an inter-frequency measurement for neighboring cells (including Cell2) . After SCell addition (where the SCell may be deactivated) , the first device 110 may perform an intra-frequency measurement for serving cells (including Cell2) .

From the available measurements, the first device 110 may determine a type of measurements which has a valid measurement result. The validity of the measurement results may be determined based on some conditions which will be detailed in the following paragraphs with reference to FIG. 3.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the first device 110 transmits (220) , to the second device 120, the measurement result of the type of measurements based on the determining. For example, the first device 110 may transmit a valid or invalid measurement result depending on the determination of the validity of measurement results of available measurements.

In some example embodiments, invalid measurements are not transmitted. In this case, the measurement report only may contain the measurement and the measurement types that are valid. In some other example embodiments, the first device 110 may include all measurements in the measurement report, but only indicate the type for those measurements that have recently been validated, or “are valid” .

After the second device 120 receives (225) , from the first device 110, the measurement result of the type of measurements, the second device 120 determines (230) whether the received measurement result is valid. Then, the second device 120 may perform subsequent actions based on the determination. For example, if the received measurement result is a valid result for a given cell, the second device 120 may send a TCI activation command immediately after receiving the valid measurement reporting. If the received measurement result is invalid or is a measurement result with a lower accuracy level, the second device 120 may wait for the first device 110 to send another measurement report for example an L1-RSRP report.

Some example detailed implementations will be discussed below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method 300 implemented at a first device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 300 will be described from the perspective of the first device 110 with reference to FIG. 1.

At block 310, the first device 110 receives, from the second device 120, an activation command for a cell. For example, in the example embodiments where the cell is a SCell in a deactivated state, the activation command may be a SCell activation command to activate the deactivated SCell.

At block 320, the first device 110 determines whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for the cell based on available measurements at the time when the activation command is received. The measurement options may be based on capabilities of the first device 110 and the measurements previously performed by the first device 110. Some example embodiments in this regard will be discussed below with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 shows a diagram of various measurement types according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, the first cell 121, or Cell1, operates as a PCell, and the second cell 122, or Cell2, operates as a Scell.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the time duration 405, the first device 110 may perform IDLE and/or INACTIVE mode measurements on Cell2. In the time duration 410 before a connected mode and in the time duration 415 after RRC setup complete, the first device 110 may perform validation measurements on Cell2 to derive a validated or non-validated measurement. In the time duration 420 after the measurement configuration, the first device 110 may perform inter-frequency measurements on Cell2. In the time duration 425 after SCell configuration or addition, the first device 110 may perform intra-frequency measurements on Cell2.

In some example embodiments, the measurement types may comprise measurements during RRC setup/resume. For example, these measurements may comprise idle-mode measurements which do not have DRX enabled. The measurement types may also comprise a validated measurement during and after the RRC setup procedure.

Still with reference to FIG. 3, to determine (at block 320) whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid, the first device 110 may consider the measurement types including at least one of: an intra-frequency measurement on deactivated SCell, an inter-frequency measurement on a neighbor cell, a validated measurement, a non-validated measurement, an idle-mode measurement, an inactive-mode measurement, or a connected-mode measurement. From the available measurements, the first device 110 may determine a valid measurement result of a type of measurements for the cell to be activated.

In some example embodiments, the measurement types may be classified per layer, for example, including L1 measurements and L3 measurements. As an example, the measurement type may comprise a L1 intra-frequency measurement, a L1 inter-frequency measurement, L3 intra-frequency measurement, and/or L inter-frequency measurement.

The validity of the measurement results may be determined based on one or more conditions being met. In some example embodiments, the conditions may be related to a measurement period requirement and/or an accuracy requirement. For example, for a certain measurement type, if the measurement period requirement and accuracy requirement defined in the 3GPP standards is fulfilled, the corresponding measurement result may be considered as valid.

Alternatively, or in addition, the measurement period requirement may be specific to the measurement reporting for the cell activation. In some example embodiments, the measurement period requirement may be associated with a DRX cycle, a SMTC window, a gap or no gap for an inter-frequency measurement, and/or the number of received signal samples. For example, the first device 110 may need to obtain the required number of received signal samples within predetermined SMTC windows in predetermined DRX cycles with or without a consideration of a gap. The accuracy requirement may also be specific to the scenario of the measurement reporting for the cell activation. In some example embodiments, the measurement period requirement and/or the accuracy requirement may be configured by the network or pre-defined for the measurement reporting for cell activation.

Alternatively, or in addition, the conditions may be related to the detectability of a reference signal for a type of measurements. For example, if the reference signal used for the measurement is detectable at the time when the activation command is received, the corresponding measurement result may be considered as valid. The reference signal may be considered as detectable if the latest measurement before the activation command is above a threshold. The threshold may be pre-set to be below ±6dB or ±2dB which depends on the specific implementations.

In some example embodiments, the measurement period requirement, the accuracy requirement, and the detectability of a reference signal may be used in combination as a default condition to determine the valid measurement reporting.

Alternatively, or in addition, the conditions may require a certain type of measurements to be used for activation of the cell. The type may be configured by the network via the second device 120 or predefined. The measurement type may be configured or predefined per UE and/or per carrier. For example, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device 120, a configuration of at least one type of measurements to be used for activation of the cell. Based on the received configuration, the first device 110 may determine that the measurement result of one of the type of measurements is valid only if the type is configured by the network. For a configured measurement type for a specific carrier, the first device 110 may determine whether the measurement result of the configured measurement type on the specific carrier is valid.

In another example, the certain type of measurements can be predefined. Accordingly, the first device 110 may determine the type of measurements based on a pre-defined type of measurement. For instance, if the type is predefined as an intra-frequency measurement on the cell in a deactivated state (for example, a deactivated SCell) , the L3 measurement reporting is valid only if it fulfills the measurement period and/or the accuracy requirements of the intra-frequency measurement on deactivated SCell.

This configuration may be carried in any suitable message or signaling. In some example embodiments, the configuration may be carried in a measurement configuration for a type of measurement. The measurement configuration may indicate whether this type of measurement is to be used for the activation of the cell. Alternatively, or in addition, the configuration may be included in a SCell addition message, a SCell activation command or any RRC or MAC messages.

In some example embodiments, at least one of the above conditions for determining the validity of the measurement results may be configured by the second device 120. Accordingly, the first device 110 may receive such a configuration from the second device 120.

As an example, the network may configure, for example, via the second device 120, the "valid" condition for the measurement reporting such as L3 measurement reporting after a SCell activation command. In one example, the network may configure an RSRP threshold above which the measurement result is considered as valid and to be reported to the network. In another example, the network may configure one or more measurement types for the L3 measurement reporting after SCell activation command. Accordingly, the L3 measurement result of the specific type may be allowed to be reported to the network. The condition may also include the DRX cycle or the number of received signal samples used for the type of measurement which may be related to the measurement period. In another example, the network may indicate in a measurement configuration if the measurement on the target cell can be used for SCell activation.

Upon the determining (at block 320) , at block 330, the first device 110 transmits, to the second device 120, a measurement result of the type of measurements based on the determining. Depending on the determining result at block 320, the transmitted measurement result may be valid or invalid. In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit, to the second device 120, an indication whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid or not. As such, the second device 120 may be aware of the validity of the received measurement result.

The indication may be explicit or implicit. For example, the first device 110 may send an explicit indication in any message or signaling to explicitly indicate whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid or not. As another example, the first device 110 may use a special value in a measurement report as an implicit indication to implicitly indicate that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid. In this way, the signaling overhead may be reduced.

Some other rules for the validity indication may be predefined. For example, it may be predefined that if a measurement type is configured to be measured, the first device 110 may only report a valid measurement result of the configured measurement type. In this case, there may be no need for a validity indication as well as a measure type indication, so as to further reduce the system overhead.

To further reduce the system overhead, in some example embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit to the second device 120 the measurement result of the type of measurements if it is determined that the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid. If the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid or no measurement result of a type of measurements is valid, the first device 110 may not send the measurement reporting or send the measurement reporting with the indication of invalidity.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit, to the second device 120, an indication of the type of measurements along with the measurement result of the type of measurements. Thus, the second device 120 may know which type of measurements the first device 110 may have performed when receiving the Cell activation command. As different types of measurements may have different measurement periods and accuracy requirement, the network may know how many samples have been used and hence whether the measurement accuracy is sufficient for shorten the cell activation.

In one example, the type of measurements and the validity of the measurement result may be indicated together. For example, if the measurement result of a type of measurements is determined valid, the first device 110 may indicate to the second device 120 that the measurement reporting is valid as well as the measurement type after receiving the activation command for the cell.

The measurement type may be indicated in the measurement report via a single type flag per measurement type or a combination of type flags per measurement type. Table 1 shows example flags to indicate the measurement type.

Table 1

In some example embodiments, if a single type of measurements is allowed for the measurement reporting, the measurement type may not be indicated by the first device 110 to the second device 120 so as to further reduce the signaling overhead.

An example process of determining the valid L3 measurement reporting and the measurement type based on available measurements will be discussed below with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram of an example communication process 500 between a UE (as an example of the first device 110) and the network according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, the UE 505 may communicate with the network via a PCell 510 and a SCell 515 where the SCell 515 operates as the target cell to be measured.

As shown in FIG. 5, at 520, the UE 505 may be in an IDLE or INACTIVE mode. At 522, RRC Setup resume may be performed between the UE 505 and the network via the PCell 510. At 524, RRC Setup complete may be performed between the UE 505 and the network via the PCell 510. At 526, the UE 505 may be in a CONNECTED mode. At 528, the measurement option 1 may comprise idle and inactive measurements acquired before a RRC setup procedure. It may also comprise the validated measurement during and after the RRC setup procedure. These measurements may be performed during IDLE and INACTIVE modes and validated during RRC setup or setup resume and/or during the CONNECTED mode.

At 530, the UE 505 may receive a measurement configuration including the SCell 515. At 532, the measurement option 2 may comprise inter-frequency measurements on the SCell 515. The UE 505 may perform inter-frequency measurements based on received measurement configuration. At 534, the UE 505 may receive a SCell addition message where the SCell 515 is deactivated. At 536, the measurement option 3 may comprise intra-frequency measurements after SCell addition. The UE 505 may perform intra-frequency measurements on serving cells (including the PCell 510 and the SCell 515) after receiving the SCell addition message.

At 538, the UE 505 may receive a SCell activation command. At 540, the UE 505 may determine valid L3 measurement reporting and a measurement type based on available measurements. At 542, the UE 505 may send L3 measurement reporting including the measurement type.

After the network receives the measurement type, it may be able to understand the measurement period and accuracy, and hence may determine the activation steps based on at least the measurement type. Some example embodiments at the network side will be discussed below with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a second device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the second device 120 with reference to FIG. 1.

At block 610, the second device 120 transmits, to the first device 110, an activation command for a cell such as the second cell 122 which may be a PScell or a SCell. At block 620, the second device 120 receives, from the first device 110, a measurement result of a type of measurements for the cell. At block 630, second device 120 determines whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may receive, from the first device 110, an indication whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid. Based on the indication, the second device 120 may determine the validity of the received measurement result. The indication may be explicit or implicit. In some example embodiments, a special value in a measurement report may be used as an implicit indication that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may not send the measurement report if the measurement result is invalid. In these example embodiments, after receiving the measurement result from the first device 110, the second device 120 may determine that the received measurement result is valid since the first device 110 may not report an invalid measurement result.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may receive, from the first device 110, an indication of the type of measurements. In some example embodiments, the type of measurements may comprise at least one of: an idle-mode, inactive-mode or connected-mode measurement, an inter-frequency or intra-frequency measurement, or a validated or non-validated measurement.

Based on the type of measurements, the second device 120 may perform subsequent actions. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device 110, a TCI activation command for the cell upon the determination that the received measurement result of the measurement is valid.

By way of example, in the example embodiments where the measurement result and the measurement type are transmitted in the L3 measurement reporting, if the received L3 measurement reporting is based on intra-frequency measurement on a deactivated SCell, the network may send, via the second device 120, a TCI activation command immediately after receiving the valid L3 measurement reporting. Otherwise, the network may wait for the first device 110 to send the L1-RSRP reporting according to legacy activation behaviors.

In some example embodiments, some types of measurements may be allowed for cell activation. These types of measurements may be configured by the network. The measurement type may be configured per UE and/or per carrier. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device 110, a configuration of at least one type of measurements to be used for activation of the cell. Such a configuration may comprise a measurement configuration for a type of measurement, which may indicate whether the type of measurement is to be used for the activation of the cell.

In the example embodiments where only one measurement type is allowed for the cell activation, the first device 110 may not send an indication of the type of measurements. Accordingly, the second device 120 may not receive such an indication as the UE will transmit the L3 measurement reporting only if the type of measurement configured is fulfilled.

In some example embodiments, a L1 measurement and a L3 measurement are two measurement types for the cell activation. In this example, the second device 120 may configure such two measurement types to the first device 110, but the first device 110 may not need to send an indication of the type of measurements, such as an indication whether the measurement type is a L1 or L3 measurement. Same may apply for the cases that a L1 intra-frequency measurement and a L1 inter-frequency measurement are configured as two measurement types, or a L3 intra-frequency measurement and a L3 inter-frequency measurement are configured as two measurement types.

In some example embodiments, at block 640, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device 110, a configuration of at least one condition for determining that a measurement result of the type of measurements is valid. Based on the condition, both the first device 110 and the second device 120 may determine whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid.

The at least one condition may comprise at least one of: a condition that a measurement period requirement is fulfilled, a condition that an accuracy requirement is fulfilled, a condition that a reference signal for the measurement is detectable, a condition that the measurement is performed on a specific reference signal predefined or configured by a network, or a condition that the type of measurements is a predetermined type of measurements. In some example embodiments, the measurement period requirement is associated with at least one of a DRX cycle, a SMTC window, a gap or no gap for an inter-frequency measurement, or the number of received signal samples.

All operations and features related to the second device 120 as described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 are likewise applicable to the method 600 and have similar effects. For the purpose of simplification, the details will be omitted.

FIG. 7 shows an example process 700 of determining the valid L3 measurement reporting for the SCell activation according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, the PCell 510 operates as Cell1 (i.e., the first cell 121 in FIG. 1) , and the SCell 515 operates as Cell2 (i.e., the second cell 122 in FIG. 1) .

As shown in FIG. 7, at 702, the UE 505 may perform idle mode measurements on both Cell1 and Cell2. At some time point, the UE 505 may set up a RRC connection to Cell1. At 704, the UE 505 is in a connected mode. The UE 505 may be configured with inter-frequency measurements on a carrier including Cell2. At 706, the UE 505 may perform inter-frequency measurements. After some time, at 708, the network may configure or add Cell2 as a secondary cell. Hence, the UE 505 may be required to measure the SCell although it is in deactivated state. At 710, the UE 505 may perform the intra-frequency measurements on the deactivated SCell. It is possible the UE 505 may not send any L3 measurement reporting for the SCell before SCell activation. At 712, a measurement report has not been triggered.

In some example embodiments, in Case 1, at 714, the UE 505 may receive the SCell activation command to activate the deactivated SCell. At 716, the UE 505 may determine if there is any valid L3 measurement reporting to be sent to the network, where the measurement reporting is determined as valid if it fulfills the requirement for the type of measurement. At 718, the UE 505 may send the L3 measurement reporting with the measurement type. For instance, if the SCell is activated immediately after SCell addition, the UE 505 does not have sufficient intra-frequency measurement on the deactivated SCell. The UE 505 may send the latest inter-frequency measurement reporting if available, and indicate this measurement reporting is an inter-f measurement on cell2 (i.e. measurement type) .

In some other example embodiments, in Case 2, at 720, the network may configure the “valid” condition before activating the SCell. This can be included in SCell addition, a SCell activation command or any RRC or MAC messages. In one example, the network may configure the measurement type used for the L3 measurement reporting. The network may also indicate the RSRP threshold, the index of a reference signal or the number of samples or DRX cycle based on which the L3 measurement result is derived. At 722, the UE 505 may determine if any L3 measurement is valid based on the conditions. For example, the UE 505 may consider the L3 measurement reporting as valid only if these conditions are fulfilled.

In some example embodiments, the UE 505 may or may not send the measurement type if the measurement type is implicitly predefined or a single type of measurements is allowed for the L3 measurement reporting.

In the example embodiments where a L1 measurement and a L3 measurement are configured as two measurement types for the cell activation, the UE 505 may not send an indication of the type of measurements, such as an indication whether the measurement type is a L1 or L3 measurement. Alternatively, or in addition, in the example embodiments where a L1 intra-frequency measurement and a L1 inter-frequency measurement, or a L3 intra-frequency measurement and a L3 inter-frequency measurement are configured for the cell activation, the UE 505 also may not send an indication of the type of measurements.

After the network receives the valid L3 measurement reporting, at 724, the network may determine the following activation steps based on at least the measurement type. In one example, at 726, the network may send a TCI activation command when the received measurement type is intra-frequency measurement in a deactivated state.

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 300 (for example, the first device 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 300. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first device 110 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second device, an activation command for a cell; means for determining whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for the cell based on available measurements at the time when the activation command is received; and means for transmitting, to the second device, the measurement result of the type of measurements based on the determining.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second device, an indication of the type of measurements.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second device, an indication whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.

In some example embodiments, the means for transmitting the indication whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises: means for based on a determination that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid, transmitting, to the second device, in a measurement report, a special value indicating that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid.

In some example embodiments, the means for transmitting the measurement result of the type of measurements comprises: means for based on a determination that the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, transmitting the measurement result of the type of measurements.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second device, a configuration of at least one type of measurements to be used for activation of the cell, wherein the means for determining whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises: means for determining the type of measurements based on the received configuration.

In some example embodiments, the configuration of the at least one type of measurements comprises a measurement configuration for a type of measurement, the measurement configuration indicating whether the type of measurement i s to be used for the activation of the cell.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises: means for determining the type of measurements based on a pre-defined type of measurement.

In some example embodiments, the type of measurements comprises at least one of:an idle-mode, inactive-mode or connected-mode measurement, an inter-frequency or intra-frequency measurement, or a validated or non-validated measurement.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in response to the transmitted measurement result being valid, receiving, from the second device, a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command for the cell.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises: means for determining, based on at least one condition being met, that a measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, the at least one condition comprising at least one of: a condition that a measurement period requirement is fulfilled, a condition that an accuracy requirement is fulfilled, a condition that a reference signal for the type of measurements is detectable, or a condition that the type of measurements is a predetermined type of measurements.

In some example embodiments, the measurement period requirement is associated with at least one of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) -based radio resource management (RRM) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) window, a gap for an inter-frequency measurement, or the number of received signal samples.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second device, a configuration of at least one of the at least one condition.

In some example embodiments, the cell is a primary secondary cell or a secondary cell.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 300 or the first device 110. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the second device 120 in FIG. 1 may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second device 120 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first device, an activation command for a cell; means for receiving, from the first device, a measurement result of a type of measurements for the cell; and means for determining whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first device, an indication of the type of measurements.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first device, an indication whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.

In some example embodiments, the means for receiving the indication whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises: means for receiving, from the first device, in a measurement report, a special value indicating that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid.

In some example embodiments, the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first device, a configuration of at least one type of measurements to be used for activation of the cell.

In some example embodiments, the configuration of the at least one type of measurements comprises a measurement configuration for a type of measurement, the measurement configuration indicating whether the type of measurement is to be used for the activation of the cell.

In some example embodiments, the type of measurements comprises at least one of: an idle-mode, inactive-mode or connected-mode measurement, an inter-frequency or intra-frequency measurement, or a validated or non-validated measurement.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, transmitting, to the first device, a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command for the cell.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first device, a configuration of at least one condition for determining that a measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, the at least one condition comprising at least one of: a condition that a measurement period requirement is fulfilled, a condition that an accuracy requirement is fulfilled, a condition that a reference signal for the measurement is detectable, or a condition that the type of measurements is a predetermined type of measurements.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 600 or the second device 120. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 800 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first device 110 or the second device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processor 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processor 810.

The communication module 840 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 840 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The commun ication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 840 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 810 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 800 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 824, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 830 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 810. The instructions of the program 830 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 830 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 824. The processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 830 into the RAM 822.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 830 so that the device 800 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 7. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 830 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 800 (such as in the memory 820) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 800. The device 800 may load the program 830 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 822 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 9 shows an example of the computer readable medium 900 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 900 has the program 830 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A method comprising:

at a first device,

receiving, from a second device, an activation command for a cell;

determining whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for the cell based on available measurements at the time when the activation command is received; and

transmitting, to the second device, the measurement result of the type of measurements based on the determining.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the second device, an indication of the type of measurements.
The method of any of claims 1-2, further comprising:

transmitting, to the second device, an indication whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.
The method of claim 3, wherein transmitting the indication whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises:

based on a determination that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid, transmitting, to the second device, in a measurement report, a special value indicating that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid.
The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein transmitting the measurement result of the type of measurements comprises:

based on a determination that the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, transmitting the measurement result of the type of measurements.
The method of any of claims 1-5, further comprising:

receiving, from the second device, a configuration of at least one type of measurements to be used for activation of the cell,

wherein determining whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises:

determining the type of measurements based on the received configuration.
The method of claim 6, wherein the configuration of the at least one type of measurements comprises a measurement configuration for a type of measurement, the measurement configuration indicating whether the type of measurement is to be used for the activation of the cell.
The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein determining whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises:

determining the type of measurements based on a pre-defined type of measurement.
The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein the type of measurements comprises at least one of:

an idle-mode, inactive-mode or connected-mode measurement,

an inter-frequency or intra-frequency measurement,

a validated or non-validated measurement, or

a validated measurement during and after a radio resource control (RRC) setup procedure.
The method of claim 1-9, further comprising:

in response to the transmitted measurement result being valid, receiving, from the second device, a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command for the cell.
The method of any of claims 1-10, wherein determining whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises:

determining, based on at least one condition being met, that a measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, the at least one condition comprising at least one of:

a condition that a measurement period requirement is fulfilled,

a condition that an accuracy requirement is fulfilled,

a condition that a reference signal for the type of measurements is detectable, or

a condition that the type of measurements is a predetermined type of measurements.
The method of claim 11, wherein the measurement period requirement is associated with at least one of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) -based radio resource management (RRM) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) window, a gap for an inter-frequency measurement, or the number of received signal samples.
The method of claim 11 or 12, further comprising:

receiving, from the second device, a configuration of at least one of the at least one condition.
The method of any of claims 1-13, wherein the cell is a primary secondary cell or a secondary cell.
A method comprising:

at a second device,

transmitting, to a first device, an activation command for a cell;

receiving, from the first device, a measurement result of a type of measurements for the cell; and

determining whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.
The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, an indication of the type of measurements.
The method of any of claims 15-16, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, an indication whether the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.
The method of claim 17, wherein receiving the indication whether the measurement result of the type of measurements is valid comprises:

receiving, from the first device, in a measurement report, a special value indicating that the measurement result of the type of measurements is invalid.
The method of any of claims 15-17, wherein the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid.
The method of any of claims 15-19, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first device, a configuration of at least one type of measurements to be used for activation of the cell.
The method of claim 20, wherein the configuration of the at least one type of measurements comprises a measurement configuration for a type of measurement, the measurement configuration indicating whether the type of measurement is to be used for the activation of the cell.
The method of any of claims 15-21, wherein the type of measurements comprises at least one of:

an idle-mode, inactive-mode or connected-mode measurement,

an inter-frequency or intra-frequency measurement, or

a validated or non-validated measurement.
The method of claim 22, further comprising:

based on a determination that the received measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, transmitting, to the first device, a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command for the cell.
The method of any of claims 15-23, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first device, a configuration of at least one condition for determining that a measurement result of the type of measurements is valid, the at least one condition comprising at least one of:

a condition that a measurement period requirement is fulfilled,

a condition that an accuracy requirement is fulfilled,

a condition that a reference signal for the measurement is detectable, or

a condition that the type of measurements is a predetermined type of measurements.
The method of claim 24, wherein the measurement period requirement is associated with at least one of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) -based radio resource management (RRM) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) window, a gap for an inter-frequency measurement, or the number of received signal samples.
The method of any of claims 15-25, wherein the cell is a primary secondary cell or a secondary cell.
A first device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to perform the method of any of claims 1-14.
A second device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to perform the method of any of claims 15-26.
A first apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving, from a second device, an activation command for a cell;

means for determining whether a measurement result of a type of measurements is valid for the cell based on available measurements at the time when the activation command is received; and

means for transmitting, to the second device, a measurement result of the type of measurements based on the determining.
A second apparatus, comprising:

means for transmitting, to a first device, an activation command for a cell;

means for receiving, from the first device, a measurement result of a type of measurements for the cell; and

means for performing an action based on the type.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claims 1-14 or the method of any of claims 15-26.