U.S. patent application number 17/833633 was filed with the patent office on 2022-09-29 for framework for supporting custom signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network.
The applicant listed for this patent is Apple Inc.. Invention is credited to Rajesh Ambati, Divyaprakash P. Bhojkumar, Madhusudan Chaudhary, Muthukumaran Dhanapal, Thanigaivelu Elangovan, Lakshmi N. Kavuri, Raghuveer Mallikarjunan, Rohan C. Malthankar, Rafael L. Rivera-Barreto, Ajay Singh, Sreevalsan Vallath.
Application Number | 20220312539 17/833633 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000006406205 |
Filed Date | 2022-09-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220312539 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Dhanapal; Muthukumaran ; et
al. |
September 29, 2022 |
Framework for Supporting Custom Signaling Between a Wireless Device
and a Cellular Network
Abstract
This disclosure relates to techniques for providing a framework
for supporting custom signaling between a wireless device and a
cellular network. A wireless device and a cellular base station may
establish a wireless link. The wireless device and the cellular
base station may perform custom signaling in accordance with the
custom signaling framework.
Inventors: |
Dhanapal; Muthukumaran;
(Dublin, CA) ; Ambati; Rajesh; (Los Altos Hills,
CA) ; Kavuri; Lakshmi N.; (Cupertino, CA) ;
Elangovan; Thanigaivelu; (Santa Clara, CA) ;
Rivera-Barreto; Rafael L.; (Santa Clara, CA) ;
Chaudhary; Madhusudan; (Campbell, CA) ; Bhojkumar;
Divyaprakash P.; (Santa Clara, CA) ; Malthankar;
Rohan C.; (San Jose, CA) ; Singh; Ajay;
(Cupertino, CA) ; Vallath; Sreevalsan; (Dublin,
CA) ; Mallikarjunan; Raghuveer; (Cupertino,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Apple Inc. |
Cupertino |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000006406205 |
Appl. No.: |
17/833633 |
Filed: |
June 6, 2022 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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17533854 |
Nov 23, 2021 |
11357073 |
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17833633 |
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17241720 |
Apr 27, 2021 |
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17533854 |
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63016822 |
Apr 28, 2020 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 76/10 20180201;
H04W 76/27 20180201 |
International
Class: |
H04W 76/27 20060101
H04W076/27; H04W 76/10 20060101 H04W076/10 |
Claims
1. A base station, comprising: an antenna; a radio operably coupled
to the antenna; and a processor operably coupled to the radio;
wherein the base station is configured to: decode signaling
received from a wireless device; and determine that the signaling
received from the wireless device includes a trigger for secondary
cell group (SCG) failure based on the signaling including an
absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) field with a value
of 0, a physical cell identity (PCI) field with a value of 0, and a
measurement results field being empty.
2. The base station of claim 1, wherein the base station is further
configured to: perform a SCG failure procedure for the wireless
device based on the signaling received from the wireless
device.
3. The base station of claim 1, wherein the SCG failure is not
counted toward key performance indicator (KPI) processing for the
network element based on the signaling received from the wireless
device.
4. The base station of claim 1, wherein the ARFCN field with a
value of 0, the PCI field with a value of 0, and the measurement
results field being empty form a custom signature configured to
indicate to initiate SCG failure without counting the SCG failure
towards key performance indicators (KPIs) for the base station.
5. The base station of claim 1, wherein a first entry of a
measResultFreqListNR-r15 information element (IE) received from the
wireless device includes the signaling including the ARFCN field
with a value of 0, the PCI field with a value of 0, and the
measurement results field being empty.
6. A method, comprising: by a base station: decoding signaling
received from a wireless device; and determining that the signaling
received from the wireless device includes a trigger for secondary
cell group (SCG) failure based on the signaling including an
absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) field with a value
of 0, a physical cell identity (PCI) field with a value of 0, and a
measurement results field being empty.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:
performing a SCG failure procedure for the wireless device based on
the signaling received from the wireless device.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the SCG failure is not counted
toward key performance indicator (KPI) processing for the network
element based on the signaling received from the wireless
device.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein the ARFCN field with a value of
0, the PCI field with a value of 0, and the measurement results
field being empty form a custom signature configured to indicate to
initiate SCG failure without counting the SCG failure towards key
performance indicators (KPIs) for the base station.
10. The method of claim 6, wherein a first entry of a
measResultFreqListNR-r15 information element (IE) received from the
wireless device includes the signaling including the ARFCN field
with a value of 0, the PCI field with a value of 0, and the
measurement results field being empty.
11. A network element, comprising: an antenna; a radio operably
coupled to the antenna; and a processor operably coupled to the
radio; wherein the network element is configured to: establish a
wireless link with a wireless device; receive signaling from the
wireless device; and determine that the signaling received from the
wireless device includes custom signaling based on inclusion of one
or more specified values and fields of abstract syntax notation
(ASN1) messages, wherein the one or more specified values and
fields of ASN1 messages include an absolute radio frequency channel
number (ARFCN) field with a value of 0.
12. The network element of claim 11, wherein the custom signaling
includes a request to trigger secondary cell group (SCG) failure
for the wireless device.
13. The network element of claim 12, wherein the network element is
further configured to: perform a SCG failure procedure based on the
signaling received from the wireless device.
14. The network element of claim 13, wherein the SCG failure is not
counted toward key performance indicator (KPI) processing for the
network element based on the signaling received from the wireless
device.
15. The network element of claim 11, wherein the one or more
specified values and fields of ASN1 messages include a physical
cell identity (PCI) field with a value of 0.
16. The network element of claim 11, wherein the one or more
specified values and fields of ASN1 messages include a measurement
results field being empty.
17. The network element of claim 11, wherein the network element
includes a cellular base station.
18. A mobile device, comprising: an antenna; a radio operably
coupled to the antenna; and a processor operably coupled to the
radio; wherein the mobile device is configured to: transmit
signaling to a cellular base station, wherein the signaling
transmitted to the cellular base station includes a trigger for
secondary cell group (SCG) failure based on the signaling including
an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) field with a
value of 0, a physical cell identity (PCI) field with a value of 0,
and a measurement results field being empty.
19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the signaling
transmitted to the cellular base station indicates to not count
the. SCG failure toward key performance indicator (KPI) processing
for the cellular base station.
20. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the ARFCN field with a
value of 0, the PCI field with a value of 0, and the measurement
results field being empty form a custom signature configured to
indicate to initiate SCG failure without counting the SCG failure
towards key performance indicators (KPIs) for the cellular base
station.
21. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the mobile device is
further configured to: determine to trigger the SCG failure based
at least in part on one or more reasons internal to the mobile
device.
22. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the one or more reasons
internal to the mobile device include one or more mobile device
thermal constraints.
23. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein the one or more reasons
internal to the mobile device include power saving.
24. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein a first entry of a
measResultFreqListNR-r15 information element (IE) transmitted to
the cellular base station includes the signaling including the
ARFCN field with a value of 0, the PCI field with a value of 0, and
the measurement results field being empty.
Description
PRIORITY INFORMATION
[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 17/533,854, entitled "Framework for Supporting
Custom Signaling Between a Wireless Device and a Cellular Network",
filed Nov. 23, 2021, which claims priority to U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 17/241,720, entitled "Framework for Supporting
Custom Signaling Between a Wireless Device and a Cellular Network",
filed Apr. 27, 2021, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 63/016,822, entitled "Framework for
Supporting Custom Signaling Between a Wireless Device and a
Cellular Network," filed Apr. 28, 2020, all of which are hereby
incorporated by reference in their entirety as though fully and
completely set forth herein.
FIELD
[0002] The present application relates to wireless communications,
and more particularly to systems, apparatuses, and methods for
providing a framework for supporting custom signaling between a
wireless device and a cellular network.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
[0003] Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage.
In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet
computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to
supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices (i.e., user
equipment devices or UEs) now provide access to the internet,
email, text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning
system (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated
applications that utilize these functionalities. Additionally,
there exist numerous different wireless communication technologies
and standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards
include GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA
air interfaces), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), NR, HSPA, 3GPP2
CDMA2000 (e.g., 1.times.RTT, 1.times.EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE
802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH.TM., etc.
[0004] The ever increasing number of features and functionality
introduced in wireless communication devices also creates a
continuous need for improvement in both wireless communications and
in wireless communication devices. In particular, it is important
to ensure the accuracy of transmitted and received signals through
user equipment (UE) devices, e.g., through wireless devices such as
cellular phones, base stations and relay stations used in wireless
cellular communications. In addition, increasing the functionality
of a UE device can place a significant strain on the battery life
of the UE device. Thus it is very important to also reduce power
requirements in UE device designs while allowing the UE device to
maintain good transmit and receive abilities for improved
communications. Accordingly, improvements in the field are
desired.
SUMMARY
[0005] Embodiments are presented herein of apparatuses, systems,
and methods for providing a framework for supporting custom
signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network.
[0006] According to the techniques described herein, certain types
of signaling may be configured for use for custom signaling between
wireless devices and cellular networks, for example according to a
framework that may allow user devices and network equipment to
recognize such signaling as custom signaling.
[0007] Such a custom signaling framework can be used to support
agreements for implementing and performing signaling relating to
custom or proprietary features that can be made between various
parties, such as between a wireless device vendor and a cellular
network operator, among other possibilities.
[0008] For example, a wireless device and a cellular base station
could perform custom signaling according to such a custom signaling
framework to perform a handshake to confirm mutual support for a
custom feature that is implemented by the wireless device and the
cellular base station, and/or for performing signaling related to
such a feature (e.g., enabling or disabling the feature, providing
measurements and/or parameters associated with the feature,
etc.).
[0009] The custom signaling framework could include the use of
certain portions of radio resource control and/or non-access
stratum messages for providing the custom signaling. For example,
specified values and fields of abstract syntax notation messages
could be configured for use for custom signaling, certain spare
bits or fields of radio resource control or non-access stratum
messages could be configured for use for custom signaling, and/or
custom signatures could be configured for use for custom signaling
when appended to radio resource control or non-access stratum
messages, among various possibilities.
[0010] Note that the techniques described herein may be implemented
in and/or used with a number of different types of devices,
including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular
phones, portable media players, tablet computers, wearable devices,
unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned aerial controllers, automobiles
and/or motorized vehicles, and various other computing devices.
[0011] This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some
of the subject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it
will be appreciated that the above-described features are merely
examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit
of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features,
aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will
become apparent from the following Detailed Description, Figures,
and Claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] A better understanding of the present subject matter can be
obtained when the following detailed description of various
embodiments is considered in conjunction with the following
drawings, in which:
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless
communication system, according to some embodiments;
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in
communication with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE)
device, according to some embodiments;
[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE,
according to some embodiments;
[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base
station, according to some embodiments; and
[0017] FIG. 5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating aspects of an
exemplary possible method for supporting custom signaling between a
wireless device and a cellular network, according to some
embodiments.
[0018] While features described herein are susceptible to various
modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof
are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein
described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the
drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to be
limiting to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the
intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and
alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject
matter as defined by the appended claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Acronyms
[0019] Various acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure.
Definitions of the most prominently used acronyms that may appear
throughout the present disclosure are provided below: [0020] UE:
User Equipment [0021] RF: Radio Frequency [0022] BS: Base Station
[0023] GSM: Global System for Mobile Communication [0024] UMTS:
Universal Mobile Telecommunication System [0025] LTE: Long Term
Evolution [0026] NR: New Radio [0027] TX: Transmission/Transmit
[0028] RX: Reception/Receive [0029] RAT: Radio Access Technology
[0030] TRP: Transmission-Reception-Point
Terms
[0031] The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in the
present disclosure:
[0032] Memory Medium--Any of various types of non-transitory memory
devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to
include an installation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or
tape device; a computer system memory or random access memory such
as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile
memory such as a Flash, magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or
optical storage; registers, or other similar types of memory
elements, etc. The memory medium may comprise other types of
non-transitory memory as well or combinations thereof. In addition,
the memory medium may be located in a first computer system in
which the programs are executed, or may be located in a second
different computer system which connects to the first computer
system over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter
instance, the second computer system may provide program
instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term
"memory medium" may include two or more memory mediums which may
reside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems
that are connected over a network. The memory medium may store
program instructions (e.g., embodied as computer programs) that may
be executed by one or more processors.
[0033] Carrier Medium--a memory medium as described above, as well
as a physical transmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or
other physical transmission medium that conveys signals such as
electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.
[0034] Computer System (or Computer)--any of various types of
computing or processing systems, including a personal computer
system (PC), mainframe computer system, workstation, network
appliance, Internet appliance, personal digital assistant (PDA),
television system, grid computing system, or other device or
combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" may
be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of
devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions
from a memory medium.
[0035] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE Device")--any of various types
of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and that
perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include
mobile telephones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone.TM.,
Android.TM.-based phones), tablet computers (e.g., iPad.TM.,
Samsung Galaxy.TM.), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo
DS.TM., PlayStation Portable.TM., Gameboy Advance.TM., iPhone.TM.),
wearable devices (e.g., smart watch, smart glasses), laptops, PDAs,
portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices,
other handheld devices, automobiles and/or motor vehicles, unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) (e.g., drones), UAV controllers (UACs), etc.
In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to
encompass any electronic, computing, and/or telecommunications
device (or combination of devices) which is easily transported by a
user and capable of wireless communication.
[0036] Wireless Device--any of various types of computer systems or
devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device can
be portable (or mobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain
location. A UE is an example of a wireless device.
[0037] Communication Device--any of various types of computer
systems or devices that perform communications, where the
communications can be wired or wireless. A communication device can
be portable (or mobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain
location. A wireless device is an example of a communication
device. A UE is another example of a communication device.
[0038] Base Station (BS)--The term "Base Station" has the full
breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless
communication station installed at a fixed location and used to
communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio
system.
[0039] Processing Element (or Processor)--refers to various
elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing
a function in a device, e.g., in a user equipment device or in a
cellular network device. Processing elements may include, for
example: processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of
individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor
arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated
Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a field
programmable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations
of the above.
[0040] Wi-Fi--The term "Wi-Fi" has the full breadth of its ordinary
meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication network or
RAT that is serviced by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and which
provides connectivity through these access points to the Internet.
Most modern Wi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on IEEE
802.11 standards and are marketed under the name "Wi-Fi". A Wi-Fi
(WLAN) network is different from a cellular network.
[0041] Automatically--refers to an action or operation performed by
a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system)
or device (e.g., circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs,
etc.), without user input directly specifying or performing the
action or operation. Thus the term "automatically" is in contrast
to an operation being manually performed or specified by the user,
where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An
automatic procedure may be initiated by input provided by the user,
but the subsequent actions that are performed "automatically" are
not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually",
where the user specifies each action to perform. For example, a
user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and
providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing
information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is
filling out the form manually, even though the computer system must
update the form in response to the user actions. The form may be
automatically filled out by the computer system where the computer
system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes
the fields of the form and fills in the form without any user input
specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, the user
may invoke the automatic filling of the form, but is not involved
in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user is not manually
specifying answers to fields but rather they are being
automatically completed). The present specification provides
various examples of operations being automatically performed in
response to actions the user has taken.
[0042] Configured to--Various components may be described as
"configured to" perform a task or tasks. In such contexts,
"configured to" is a broad recitation generally meaning "having
structure that" performs the task or tasks during operation. As
such, the component can be configured to perform the task even when
the component is not currently performing that task (e.g., a set of
electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect a
module to another module, even when the two modules are not
connected). In some contexts, "configured to" may be a broad
recitation of structure generally meaning "having circuitry that"
performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component
can be configured to perform the task even when the component is
not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the
structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware
circuits.
[0043] Various components may be described as performing a task or
tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions should
be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to." Reciting a
component that is configured to perform one or more tasks is
expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 112, paragraph
six, interpretation for that component.
FIGS. 1 and 2--Exemplary Communication System
[0044] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless
communication system in which aspects of this disclosure may be
implemented, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the
system of FIG. 1 is merely one example of a possible system, and
embodiments may be implemented in any of various systems, as
desired.
[0045] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system
includes a base station 102 which communicates over a transmission
medium with one or more (e.g., an arbitrary number of) user devices
106A, 106B, etc. through 106N. Each of the user devices may be
referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE) or UE device. Thus,
the user devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices.
[0046] The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS)
or cell site, and may include hardware and/or software that enables
wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106N. If the base
station 102 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may
alternately be referred to as an `eNodeB` or `eNB`. If the base
station 102 is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may
alternately be referred to as a `gNodeB` or `gNB`. The base station
102 may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a
core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunication
network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and/or
the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, the base station
102 may facilitate communication among the user devices and/or
between the user devices and the network 100. The communication
area (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a
"cell." As also used herein, from the perspective of UEs, a base
station may sometimes be considered as representing the network
insofar as uplink and downlink communications of the UE are
concerned. Thus, a UE communicating with one or more base stations
in the network may also be interpreted as the UE communicating with
the network.
[0047] The base station 102 and the user devices may be configured
to communicate over the transmission medium using any of various
radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless
communication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as
GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA/LTE-U, 5G NR,
3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1.times.RTT, 1.times.EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD),
Wi-Fi, etc.
[0048] Base station 102 and other similar base stations operating
according to the same or a different cellular communication
standard may thus be provided as one or more networks of cells,
which may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping
service to UE 106 and similar devices over a geographic area via
one or more cellular communication standards.
[0049] Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using
multiple wireless communication standards. For example, a UE 106
might be configured to communicate using either or both of a 3GPP
cellular communication standard or a 3GPP2 cellular communication
standard. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to
perform custom signaling according to a framework for performing
custom signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network,
such as according to the various methods described herein. The UE
106 might also or alternatively be configured to communicate using
WLAN, BLUETOOTH.TM., one or more global navigational satellite
systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one and/or more mobile
television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), etc. Other
combinations of wireless communication standards (including more
than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.
[0050] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g.,
one of the devices 106A through 106N) in communication with the
base station 102, according to some embodiments. The UE 106 may be
a device with wireless network connectivity such as a mobile phone,
a hand-held device, a wearable device, a computer or a tablet, an
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an unmanned aerial controller (UAC),
an automobile, or virtually any type of wireless device. The UE 106
may include a processor (processing element) that is configured to
execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may
perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executing
such stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106
may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA
(field-programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and/or any
of various other possible hardware components that are configured
to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the method
embodiments described herein, or any portion of any of the method
embodiments described herein. The UE 106 may be configured to
communicate using any of multiple wireless communication protocols.
For example, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two
or more of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other
combinations of wireless communication standards are also
possible.
[0051] The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for
communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols
according to one or more RAT standards. In some embodiments, the UE
106 may share one or more parts of a receive chain and/or transmit
chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared
radio may include a single antenna, or may include multiple
antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications.
In general, a radio may include any combination of a baseband
processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including
filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital
processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as other
digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more
receive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware.
[0052] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate
transmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas
and other radio components) for each wireless communication
protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As a further
possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radios that are
shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one
or more radios that are used exclusively by a single wireless
communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include a
shared radio for communicating using either of LTE or CDMA2000
1.times.RTT (or LTE or NR, or LTE or GSM), and separate radios for
communicating using each of Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH.TM.. Other
configurations are also possible.
FIG. 3--Block Diagram of an Exemplary UE Device
[0053] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UE 106,
according to some embodiments. As shown, the UE 106 may include a
system on chip (SOC) 300, which may include portions for various
purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include
processor(s) 302 which may execute program instructions for the UE
106 and display circuitry 304 which may perform graphics processing
and provide display signals to the display 360. The SOC 300 may
also include sensor circuitry 370, which may include components for
sensing or measuring any of a variety of possible characteristics
or parameters of the UE 106. For example, the sensor circuitry 370
may include motion sensing circuitry configured to detect motion of
the UE 106, for example using a gyroscope, accelerometer, and/or
any of various other motion sensing components. As another
possibility, the sensor circuitry 370 may include one or more
temperature sensing components, for example for measuring the
temperature of each of one or more antenna panels and/or other
components of the UE 106. Any of various other possible types of
sensor circuitry may also or alternatively be included in UE 106,
as desired. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled to memory
management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive
addresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses
to locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM)
350, NAND flash memory 310) and/or to other circuits or devices,
such as the display circuitry 304, radio 330, connector I/F 320,
and/or display 360. The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory
protection and page table translation or set up. In some
embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as a portion of the
processor(s) 302.
[0054] As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other
circuits of the UE 106. For example, the UE 106 may include various
types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash 310), a connector
interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, dock,
charging station, etc.), the display 360, and wireless
communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000,
BLUETOOTH.TM., Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may include at
least one antenna (e.g. 335a), and possibly multiple antennas (e.g.
illustrated by antennas 335a and 335b), for performing wireless
communication with base stations and/or other devices. Antennas
335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and UE device 106 may
include fewer or more antennas. Overall, the one or more antennas
are collectively referred to as antenna 335. For example, the UE
device 106 may use antenna 335 to perform the wireless
communication with the aid of radio circuitry 330. As noted above,
the UE may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple
wireless communication standards in some embodiments.
[0055] The UE 106 may include hardware and software components for
implementing methods for the UE 106 to perform techniques for
performing custom signaling according to a framework for performing
custom signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network,
such as described further subsequently herein. The processor(s) 302
of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of
the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program
instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory
computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments,
processor(s) 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware
element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an
ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Furthermore,
processor(s) 302 may be coupled to and/or may interoperate with
other components as shown in FIG. 3, to perform custom signaling
according to a framework for performing custom signaling between a
wireless device and a cellular network according to various
embodiments disclosed herein. Processor(s) 302 may also implement
various other applications and/or end-user applications running on
UE 106.
[0056] In some embodiments, radio 330 may include separate
controllers dedicated to controlling communications for various
respective RAT standards. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, radio
330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 352, a cellular controller (e.g.
LTE and/or LTE-A controller) 354, and BLUETOOTH.TM. controller 356,
and in at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these
controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits
(ICs or chips, for short) in communication with each other and with
SOC 300 (and more specifically with processor(s) 302). For example,
Wi-Fi controller 352 may communicate with cellular controller 354
over a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and/or BLUETOOTH.TM.
controller 356 may communicate with cellular controller 354 over a
cell-ISM link, etc. While three separate controllers are
illustrated within radio 330, other embodiments have fewer or more
similar controllers for various different RATs that may be
implemented in UE device 106.
[0057] Further, embodiments in which controllers may implement
functionality associated with multiple radio access technologies
are also envisioned. For example, according to some embodiments,
the cellular controller 354 may, in addition to hardware and/or
software components for performing cellular communication, include
hardware and/or software components for performing one or more
activities associated with Wi-Fi, such as Wi-Fi preamble detection,
and/or generation and transmission of Wi-Fi physical layer preamble
signals.
FIG. 4--Block Diagram of an Exemplary Base Station
[0058] FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary base
station 102, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the
base station of FIG. 4 is merely one example of a possible base
station. As shown, the base station 102 may include processor(s)
404 which may execute program instructions for the base station
102. The processor(s) 404 may also be coupled to memory management
unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured to receive addresses from
the processor(s) 404 and translate those addresses to locations in
memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory (ROM) 450) or to
other circuits or devices.
[0059] The base station 102 may include at least one network port
470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a
telephone network and provide a plurality of devices, such as UE
devices 106, access to the telephone network as described above in
FIGS. 1 and 2. The network port 470 (or an additional network port)
may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular
network, e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider. The
core network may provide mobility related services and/or other
services to a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106. In some
cases, the network port 470 may couple to a telephone network via
the core network, and/or the core network may provide a telephone
network (e.g., among other UE devices serviced by the cellular
service provider).
[0060] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434,
and possibly multiple antennas. The antenna(s) 434 may be
configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further
configured to communicate with UE devices 106 via radio 430. The
antenna(s) 434 communicates with the radio 430 via communication
chain 432. Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a
transmit chain or both. The radio 430 may be designed to
communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards,
including, but not limited to, NR, LTE, LTE-A WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc.
The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to
implement and/or support implementation of part or all of the
methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions
stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable
memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured
as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field
Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific
Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. In the case of
certain RATs, for example Wi-Fi, base station 102 may be designed
as an access point (AP), in which case network port 470 may be
implemented to provide access to a wide area network and/or local
area network (s), e.g., it may include at least one Ethernet port,
and radio 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi
standard.
FIG. 5--Framework for Custom Signaling Between a Wireless Device
and a Cellular Network
[0061] FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for
performing custom signaling according to a framework for performing
custom signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network,
at least according to some embodiments.
[0062] Aspects of the method of FIG. 5 may be implemented by a
wireless device and/or a cellular base station, such as a UE 106
and a BS 102 illustrated in and described with respect to various
of the Figures herein, or more generally in conjunction with any of
the computer circuitry, systems, devices, elements, or components
shown in the above Figures, among others, as desired. For example,
a processor (and/or other hardware) of such a device may be
configured to cause the device to perform any combination of the
illustrated method elements and/or other method elements.
[0063] Note that while at least some elements of the method of FIG.
5 are described in a manner relating to the use of communication
techniques and/or features associated with 3GPP and/or NR
specification documents, such description is not intended to be
limiting to the disclosure, and aspects of the method of FIG. 5 may
be used in any suitable wireless communication system, as desired.
In various embodiments, some of the elements of the methods shown
may be performed concurrently, in a different order than shown, may
be substituted for by other method elements, or may be omitted.
Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As
shown, the method of FIG. 5 may operate as follows.
[0064] In 502, the wireless device may establish a wireless link
with the cellular base station. According to some embodiments, the
wireless link may include a cellular link according to 5G NR. For
example, the wireless device may establish a session with an AMF
entity of the cellular network by way of one or more gNBs that
provide radio access to the cellular network. As another
possibility, the wireless link may include a cellular link
according to LTE. For example, the wireless device may establish a
session with a mobility management entity of the cellular network
by way of an eNB that provides radio access to the cellular
network. Other types of cellular links are also possible, and the
cellular network may also or alternatively operate according to
another cellular communication technology (e.g., UMTS, CDMA2000,
GSM, etc.), according to various embodiments.
[0065] Establishing the wireless link may include establishing a
RRC connection with a serving cellular base station, at least
according to some embodiments. Establishing the first RRC
connection may include configuring various parameters for
communication between the wireless device and the cellular base
station, establishing context information for the wireless device,
and/or any of various other possible features, e.g., relating to
establishing an air interface for the wireless device to perform
cellular communication with a cellular network associated with the
cellular base station. After establishing the RRC connection, the
wireless device may operate in a RRC connected state. In some
instances, the RRC connection may also be released (e.g., after a
certain period of inactivity with respect to data communication),
in which case the wireless device may operate in a RRC idle state
or a RRC inactive state. In some instances, the wireless device may
perform handover (e.g., while in RRC connected mode) or cell
re-selection (e.g., while in RRC idle or RRC inactive mode) to a
new serving cell, e.g., due to wireless device mobility, changing
wireless medium conditions, and/or for any of various other
possible reasons.
[0066] At least in some instances, establishing the wireless
link(s) may include the wireless device providing capability
information for the wireless device. Such capability information
may include information relating to any of a variety of types of
wireless device capabilities. Such information could include
information indicative of a wireless device type of the wireless
device and/or a 3GPP release version of the wireless device,
information indicating whether the wireless device supports one or
more custom signaling features, and/or any of various other
possible types of capability information, according to various
embodiments.
[0067] In 504, the wireless device and the cellular network may
perform custom signaling according to a custom signaling framework.
The custom signaling may include signaling provided from the
wireless device to the cellular network and/or signaling provided
from the cellular network to the wireless device. The custom
signaling may be provided using one or more of RRC or non-access
stratum (NAS) messages, at least according to some embodiments.
[0068] The custom signaling may include signaling that is custom to
any or all of the cellular network, the wireless device type, the
3GPP release version of either or both of the wireless device and
the cellular base station, and/or to any of various other possible
parameters or sets of parameters. For example, in some instances,
the custom signaling may include signaling support for a feature
that is agreed to be supported between a cellular network operator
and wireless devices of a specific type (e.g., those sold by a
specific wireless device vendor, those of a specific wireless
device model, etc.) and/or of at least a certain 3GPP release
version when agreed upon signaling is used in accordance with the
custom signaling framework. As another possibility, the custom
signaling could include signaling to enable or disable a custom
feature, or to provide information (e.g., one or more measurement
or parameter values) in conjunction with a custom feature. Numerous
other use cases are also possible.
[0069] The custom signaling framework may provide support for one
or more custom signaling mechanisms. As one such possible
mechanism, specified values and/or fields of abstract syntax
notation (ASN1) messages may be configured for use for custom
signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network. Thus,
according to some embodiments, it may be possible that the wireless
device transmits custom signaling to the cellular base station
using one or more values and fields of ASN1 messages that are
configured for use for custom signaling, and/or that the cellular
base station transmits custom signaling to the wireless device
using one or more values and fields of ASN1 messages that are
configured for use for custom signaling.
[0070] As another possible mechanism, spare bits and/or fields of
one or more of radio resource control (RRC) or non-access stratum
(NAS) messages may be configured for use for custom signaling
between a wireless device and a cellular network. Thus, according
to some embodiments, it may be possible that the wireless device
transmits custom signaling to the cellular base station using one
or more spare bits and/or fields of one or more RRC or NAS messages
that are configured for use for custom signaling, and/or that the
cellular base station transmits custom signaling to the wireless
device using one or more spare bits and/or fields of one or more
RRC or NAS messages that are configured for use for custom
signaling.
[0071] Note that in such a scenario, the use of spare bits and/or
fields of RRC and/or NAS messages for custom signaling may be
supported further based at least in part on a 3GPP release version
of the wireless device, at least according to some embodiments. For
example, it may be possible that one or more bits and/or fields of
RRC and/or NAS messages that are specified as spare for some (e.g.,
earlier) 3GPP release versions are not specified as spare for other
(e.g., later) 3GPP release versions. In such a scenario, whether
those fields are determined to be used for custom signaling
according to the custom signaling framework or for a 3GPP specified
purpose may depend on the 3GPP release version of the device
transmitting the signaling, at least according to some
embodiments.
[0072] As a still further possible mechanism, it may be the case
that a custom signature can be appended to one or more of a RRC
message or a NAS message between a wireless device and a cellular
network to perform the custom signaling. Thus, according to some
embodiments, it may be possible that the wireless device transmits
custom signaling to the cellular base station by appending a custom
signature that is configured for use for custom signaling to one or
more RRC or NAS messages, and/or that the cellular base station
transmits custom signaling to the wireless device by appending a
custom signature that is configured for use for custom signaling to
one or more RRC or NAS messages.
[0073] When the wireless device or the cellular base station
supports the custom signaling framework and receives the custom
signaling from the other, it may be able to determine that the
custom signaling is custom signaling based at least in part on the
custom signaling being received in accordance with the custom
signaling framework. Thus, for example, the wireless device or the
cellular base station may determine that signaling received is
custom signaling in accordance with the custom signaling framework
based at least in part on the signaling including one or more
values and/or fields of ASN1 messages configured for use for custom
signaling, using one or more spare RRC and/or NAS bits and/or
fields configured for use for custom signaling, and/or including
one or more custom signatures configured for use for custom
signaling appended to one or more RRC and/or NAS messages, among
various possibilities. The device receiving the custom signaling
may then further attempt to determine (e.g., by parsing or decoding
the custom signaling) what is being indicated by the custom
signaling, e.g., in accordance with any custom signaling agreement
or agreements that have been established for use between the
devices.
[0074] Note that at least in some instances, it may be the case
that if one or the other of the wireless device or the cellular
network does not support the specific custom signaling used by the
other party, that party may be able to ignore the custom signaling
and perform their protocol procedures as otherwise specified.
[0075] Thus, at least according to some embodiments, the method of
FIG. 5 may be used to provide a framework for supporting custom
signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network. Such a
framework may help facilitate easier introductions of new custom
features, e.g., as the availability of an existing framework for
custom signaling may reduce barriers for introducing those new
custom features, at least in some instances.
Additional Information
[0076] The following information includes further aspects that
might be used in conjunction with the method of FIG. 5 if desired.
It should be noted, however, that these exemplary details are not
intended to be limiting to the disclosure as a whole: numerous
variations and alternatives to the details provided herein below
are possible and should be considered within the scope of the
disclosure.
[0077] 3GPP ASN1 doesn't currently provide the flexibility of
customized RRC/NAS signaling between a UE and NW. Accordingly, it
may be the case that in order for a UE and NW to perform a
handshake procedure for a specific (e.g., custom) feature, a 3GPP
specification change may be made. Obtaining 3GPP specification
changes and (e.g., subsequently) implementing the relevant software
changes on the UE and NW side may take a relatively long time,
which may (at least in some instances) lead to longer times to
launch specific/custom features.
[0078] Accordingly, it may be useful to provide a generalized
principle for creating custom signaling to facilitate handshaking
between a UE and a NW without the need for a 3GPP specification
change. Such a framework may be useful for RRC signaling and/or any
other messages being provided from the UE to the network, and vice
versa.
[0079] Custom signaling according to such a framework may be
useful, as one example, in case a UE supports a (e.g., custom)
feature and if the feature needs some sort of assistance from or
has some sort of impact on the network such that the custom
signaling may be useful to share the intent from the UE to the
network, and vice versa.
[0080] As one general approach, custom signaling messages can be
created and a set of rules can be associated to these custom
signaling messages, which may be known to the specific UE and NW
implementation. The UEs and NWs that don't understand this custom
signaling may be able to ignore these messages and continue their
regular protocol procedures. The custom signaling and rules may be
defined in such a way that it is forward compatible, and also that
it doesn't break any existing protocol procedures.
[0081] As one possible example use case, consider a feature in
which a UE can trigger a secondary cell group (SCG) failure
procedure for internal reasons (e.g., thermal constraints, power
saving considerations, etc.), e.g., that may be unrelated to the
actual performance of the secondary cell group. In such a scenario,
the UE may be able to indicate this to the network via custom
signaling, e.g., so that the network can perform the SCG failure
procedure but can choose to not count the SCG failure towards their
key performance indicator (KPI) processing.
[0082] As a first example of how such custom signaling could be
supported, specific values and fields in ASN1 messages, e.g., such
that they are still within ASN1 range but will not be used in
practical or commercial deployments, can be used for custom
signaling. For example, considering again the preceding example use
case, the following ASN1 message could be provided by a UE to
indicate to a NW to initiate SCG failure but to not count this SCG
failure towards their KPIs.
TABLE-US-00001 value UL-DCCH-Message ::= { message
messageClassExtension : c2 : scgFailureInformationNR-r15 : {
criticalExtensions c1 : scgFailureInformationNR-r15 : {
failureReportSCG-NR-r15 { failureType-r15 t310-Expiry
measResultFreqListNR-r15 { ARFCN-ValueNR-r15 0 MeasResultCellNR-r15
{ pci-r15 0, measResultCell-r15 { } } } } } } }
[0083] In this example, ARFCN is set as 0 (which is currently not
valid in commercial deployment) along with PCI being 0 and
measResults being empty, which together can be defined as a unique
signature indicating to initiate SCG failure but to not count these
SCG failures towards their KPIs.
[0084] Note that while in this example the measurement results are
empty, in some instances, it may be the case that a UE also has
measurement results to report. In such a scenario, it may be the
case that the first entry of measResultFreqListNR-r15 may include
the custom signature, and any further entries may be used to
provide those (e.g., actual) measurement results, as one
possibility. Other configurations are also possible.
[0085] As a second example of how such custom signaling could be
supported, spare bits and/or fields in RRC and/or NAS messages
could be used for custom signaling. UEs that support such custom
messages can include the spare bits in RRC and NAS signaling
messages. Note that it may be the case that NWs that support such
custom messages may consider these spare bits as custom signaling
information elements (IEs) only if the UE's release version belongs
to a particular category/type associated with use of those spare
bits as custom signaling IEs. For example, in R15 3GPP may define
Spare 1 as one of the fields in FailureType. In R16 Spare 1 can be
changed to t312-Expiry. Hence, to maintain forward compatibility,
it may be the case that the NW considers the value of FailureType=8
as Spare 1 for a R15 UE and consider it as custom signaling,
whereas it should consider FailureType=8 as t312-expiry for a R16
UE. As an example, the following message could be used to provide
custom signaling (e.g., again for the preceding example use case)
in such a manner:
TABLE-US-00002 FailureReportSCG ::= SEQUENCE { failureType
ENUMERATED { t310-Expiry, randomAccessProblem, rlc-MaxNumRetx,
synchReconfigFailureSCG, scg-ReconfigFailure,
srb3-IntegrityFailure, spare2, spare1}, measResultFreqList
MeasResultFreqList OPTIONAL, measResultSCG-Failure OCTETSTRING
(CONTAINING MeasResultSCG-Failure) OPTIONAL, ... }
[0086] As a third example of how such custom signaling could be
supported, it may be possible to append a custom signature after an
RRC/NAS message. For example, consider an example in which the
encoded ASN1 message of RRC Security Mode complete is 0x01 0x0A
0x0E. To perform custom signaling, a UE may be able to append a
special signature (e.g., 0xDE 0xAD 0xBE 0xEF, as an arbitrary
example) after the RRC Security mode ASN1 encoded message. At the
NW side, the ASN1 decoder would decode and understand the message
through the 0x01 0x0A 0x0E byte stream, and would ignore the
appended signature 0xDE 0xAD 0xBE 0xEF. If the NW does support such
a mechanism of custom signaling, the NW may be configured to (e.g,
may include software configured to) note the point at which the
ASN1 decoder skipped the remaining byte stream and determine it to
be a custom signature from the UE, and may treat the UE in
accordance with the custom signaling.
[0087] In the following further exemplary embodiments are
provided.
[0088] One set of embodiments may include a method, comprising: by
a wireless device: performing custom signaling with a cellular
network according to a custom signaling framework
[0089] Another set of embodiments may include a method, comprising:
by a cellular network element: performing custom signaling with a
wireless device according to a custom signaling framework.
[0090] According to some embodiments, according to the custom
signaling framework, specified values and fields of abstract syntax
notation (ASN1) messages are configured for use for custom
signaling between a wireless device and a cellular network.
[0091] According to some embodiments, according to the custom
signaling framework, spare bits and/or fields of one or more of
radio resource control (RRC) or non-access stratum (NAS) messages
are configured for use for custom signaling between a wireless
device and a cellular network.
[0092] According to some embodiments, according to the custom
signaling framework, use of spare bits and/or fields of one or more
of RRC or NAS messages for custom signaling is supported further
based at least in part on a third generation partnership program
(3GPP) release version of the wireless device.
[0093] According to some embodiments, according to the custom
signaling framework, a custom signature can be appended to one or
more of a radio resource control (RRC) message or a non-access
stratum (NAS) message between a wireless device and a cellular
network.
[0094] A further exemplary embodiment may include a method,
comprising: performing, by a device, any or all parts of the
preceding examples.
[0095] Another exemplary embodiment may include a device,
comprising: an antenna; a radio coupled to the antenna; and a
processing element operably coupled to the radio, wherein the
device is configured to implement any or all parts of the preceding
examples.
[0096] A further exemplary set of embodiments may include a
non-transitory computer accessible memory medium comprising program
instructions which, when executed at a device, cause the device to
implement any or all parts of any of the preceding examples.
[0097] A still further exemplary set of embodiments may include a
computer program comprising instructions for performing any or all
parts of any of the preceding examples.
[0098] Yet another exemplary set of embodiments may include an
apparatus comprising means for performing any or all of the
elements of any of the preceding examples.
[0099] Still another exemplary set of embodiments may include an
apparatus comprising a processing element configured to cause a
device to perform any or all of the elements of any of the
preceding examples.
[0100] It is well understood that the use of personally
identifiable information should follow privacy policies and
practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding
industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy
of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data
should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of
unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of
authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.
[0101] Any of the methods described herein for operating a user
equipment (UE) may be the basis of a corresponding method for
operating a base station, by interpreting each message/signal X
received by the UE in the downlink as message/signal X transmitted
by the base station, and each message/signal Y transmitted in the
uplink by the UE as a message/signal Y received by the base
station.
[0102] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any
of various forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present
subject matter may be realized as a computer-implemented method, a
computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. In other
embodiments, the present subject matter may be realized using one
or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other
embodiments, the present subject matter may be realized using one
or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.
[0103] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable
memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be
configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,
where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system,
cause the computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a
method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of the
method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the
method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such
subsets.
[0104] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured
to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium
(or memory element), where the memory medium stores program
instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute
the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program
instructions are executable to implement any of the various method
embodiments described herein (or, any combination of the method
embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method
embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets).
The device may be realized in any of various forms.
[0105] Although the embodiments above have been described in
considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will
become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above
disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following
claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and
modifications.
* * * * *