System and method for hierarchical paging, cell selection and cell reselection

文档序号：991747 发布日期：2020-10-20 浏览：4次中文

阅读说明：本技术 用于分级寻呼、小区选择和小区重选的系统和方法 (System and method for hierarchical paging, cell selection and cell reselection ) 是由爱民·贾斯汀·桑马金·阿里·阿-舍拉施王学龙于 2019-03-01 设计创作，主要内容包括：在一个实施例中,可以定义一种策略,其中,所述策略指定：优先在第一组信道上执行一种操作,然后在不同于所述第一组信道的第二组信道上执行所述操作(1302)。所述第一组信道可以与第一组频率相关联,所述第二组信道可以与第二组频率相关联。一种网络设备(902)可以根据所述定义的策略执行寻呼(1502)。一种用户装备(user equipment,UE)(912和914)可以根据所述策略执行寻呼、寻呼监听、寻呼触发的小区选择或寻呼触发的小区重选。所述策略可以进行硬编码、预先配置或者使用信令消息动态配置。(In one embodiment, a policy may be defined, wherein the policy specifies: an operation is preferentially performed on a first set of channels and then performed on a second set of channels different from the first set of channels (1302). The first set of channels may be associated with a first set of frequencies and the second set of channels may be associated with a second set of frequencies. A network device (902) may perform paging (1502) according to the defined policy. A User Equipment (UE) (912 and 914) may perform paging, paging listening, paging triggered cell selection, or paging triggered cell reselection according to the policy. The policy may be hard coded, pre-configured, or dynamically configured using signaling messages.)

1. A method, characterized in that the method comprises:

a network device pages a User Equipment (UE) using a first frequency in a first set of frequencies according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the paging is preferentially performed at the first set of frequencies and then performed at a second set of frequencies different from the first set of frequencies.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of frequencies is less than the second set of frequencies.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein beamforming is not required for wireless communication using the first set of frequencies and is required for wireless communication using the second set of frequencies.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the beamwidth for the first set of frequencies is greater than the beamwidth for the second set of frequencies.

5. The method of any of the preceding claims 1 to 4, wherein the first set of frequencies is used by a Master Node (MN) and the second set of frequencies is used by one or more Secondary Nodes (SNs) associated with the MN.

6. The method according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein one of the first and second sets of frequencies belongs to an unlicensed frequency band and the other of the first and second sets of frequencies belongs to a licensed frequency band.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the channel quality of the first set of frequencies is better than the channel quality of the second set of frequencies.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 7, wherein the transmission power of the first set of frequency associations is larger than the transmission power of the second set of frequency associations.

9. The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein the coverage for transmission using the first set of frequencies is greater than the coverage for transmission using the second set of frequencies.

10. The method of any of the preceding claims 1 to 9, wherein the channel load for the first set of frequencies is smaller than the channel load for the second set of frequencies.

11. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the network device is a base station.

12. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the network device is a master node.

13. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the network device is a secondary node.

14. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the network device is part of a core network.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising:

the network device determining to configure a plurality of network devices operating at the second set of frequencies;

the network device instructs at least one of the plurality of network devices to page the UE using one of the second set of frequencies according to the policy.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

the network device sends information of the at least one of the plurality of network devices to the UE.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the information comprises location information, beam information, paging opportunity information, or synchronization information of the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

18. The method of any of the preceding claims 15 to 17, further comprising:

the network device sends information of the UE to the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

19. The method of any of the preceding claims 15 to 18, wherein the network device determining the plurality of network devices comprises:

the network device determines the plurality of network devices according to the location of the UE, beam information, channel quality measurement reports, or transmission power information.

20. The method of any of the preceding claims 15 to 19, further comprising:

the network device re-determines one of the plurality of network devices.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices is re-determined based on network load information or measurement reports of the UE.

22. The method of any of the preceding claims 15 to 21, further comprising:

the network node sends a secondary node addition request to the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

23. The method of any of the preceding claims 15 to 22, further comprising:

the network node receives a secondary node addition acknowledgement from the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

24. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 23, further comprising:

the network device receives a paging response from the UE at the first frequency.

25. The method of any one of claims 1 to 24, further comprising:

the network device receives a page response from one of the plurality of network devices operating at a second frequency of the second set of frequencies, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices has received a page response from the UE.

26. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising:

after paging the UE using the first frequency, the network device pages the UE using a second frequency of the second set of frequencies.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

the network device establishes a communication connection with the UE at the first frequency.

28. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 27, further comprising:

the network device receives information of the policy from a core network device.

29. The method of any one of claims 1 to 28, further comprising:

the network device receives update information of the policy.

30. The method of any one of claims 1 to 29, wherein the policy is hard coded at the network device, pre-configured by the network device, or dynamically configured by the network device using signaling messages.

31. A method, characterized in that the method comprises:

a User Equipment (UE) performs operations including paging, paging listening, paging triggered cell selection, or paging triggered cell reselection, etc., at a first set of frequencies according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the operation is preferentially performed at the first set of frequencies and then performed at a second set of frequencies different from the first set of frequencies.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first set of frequencies is less than the second set of frequencies.

33. The method according to claim 31 or 32, wherein the transmission power of the first set of frequency associations is larger than the transmission power of the second set of frequency associations.

34. The method of any of claims 31-33, wherein the coverage for transmission using the first set of frequencies is greater than the coverage for transmission using the second set of frequencies.

35. The method of any of preceding claims 31 to 34, wherein beamforming is not required for wireless communication using the first set of frequencies and beamforming is required for wireless communication using the second set of frequencies.

36. The method of any preceding claim 31 to 35, wherein the beamwidth for the first set of frequencies is greater than the beamwidth for the second set of frequencies.

37. The method of any of the preceding claims 31 to 36, wherein the first set of frequencies is used by a Master Node (MN) and the second set of frequencies is used by one or more Secondary Nodes (SNs) of the MN.

38. The method according to any of the preceding claims 31 to 37, wherein one of the first and second sets of frequencies belongs to an unlicensed frequency band and the other of the first and second sets of frequencies belongs to a licensed frequency band.

39. The method of any of the preceding claims 31 to 38, wherein the channel quality of the first set of frequencies is better than the channel quality of the second set of frequencies.

40. The method according to any of the preceding claims 31 to 39, wherein the channel load for the first set of frequencies is smaller than the channel load for the second set of frequencies.

41. The method of any one of claims 31 to 40, further comprising:

after performing the operation at the first set of frequencies in accordance with the policy, the UE performs the operation at the second set of frequencies.

42. The method of any of claims 31-41, wherein performing the operation at the first set of frequencies comprises:

the UE listens for pages on a first frequency of the first set of frequencies.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

after listening for the page at the first frequency in accordance with the policy, the UE listens for a page at a second frequency in the second set of frequencies.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein listening for the page on the second frequency comprises:

the UE listens for pages from a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating at the second set of frequencies.

45. The method of any of claims 31-41, wherein performing the operation at the first set of frequencies comprises:

the UE scans channels in the first set of frequencies after being paged during a cell selection or cell reselection procedure.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

after scanning for channels in the first set of frequencies, the UE scans for channels in the second set of frequencies in a cell selection procedure or a cell reselection procedure.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein scanning channels in the second set of frequencies comprises:

the UE scans channels extending between the UE and a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating at the second set of frequencies.

48. The method of claim 44 or 47, wherein the plurality of network devices are determined according to the UE's location, beam information, channel quality measurement report, or transmission power information.

49. The method of claim 44 or 47, further comprising:

the UE receives information of the plurality of network devices.

50. The method of any one of claims 46 to 49, further comprising:

the UE establishes a communication connection with a network device at a second frequency of the second set of frequencies.

51. The method of any one of claims 31 to 50, further comprising:

the UE receives the information of the policy.

52. The method of any one of claims 31 to 51, further comprising:

the UE receives update information of the policy.

53. The method according to any of claims 31-52, wherein the UE is in RRC _ Idle state.

54. The method according to any of claims 31-52, wherein the UE is in RRC _ Inactive state.

55. The method according to any of claims 31-54, wherein the policy is hard coded at the UE, pre-configured by the UE, or dynamically configured by the UE using signaling messages.

56. A method, characterized in that the method comprises:

a network device pages a User Equipment (UE) on a first paging channel in a first set of channels according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the paging is preferentially performed on the first set of channels and then performed on a second set of channels different from the first set of channels.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the first set of channels is associated with a primary node, wherein the second set of channels is associated with a secondary node, and wherein the secondary node is associated with the primary node.

58. The method of claim 56 or 57, wherein the frequencies associated with the first set of channels are less than the frequencies associated with the second set of channels.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein beamforming is not required for wireless communication over the first set of channels, and wherein beamforming is required for wireless communication using the second set of channels.

60. The method of claim 56, wherein the first set of channels corresponds to a larger beam width than the second set of channels.

61. The method of claim 56, wherein one of the first set of channels and the second set of channels is associated with frequencies in an unlicensed frequency band, and wherein the other of the first set of channels and the second set of channels is associated with frequencies in a licensed frequency band.

62. The method of claim 56, wherein the channel quality of the first set of channels is better than the channel quality of the second set of channels.

63. The method of claim 56, wherein a transmission power associated with the first set of channels is greater than a transmission power associated with the second set of channels.

64. The method of claim 56, wherein a coverage area for transmitting on the first set of channels is greater than a coverage area for transmitting on the second set of channels.

65. The method of claim 56, wherein the loading of the first set of channels is less than the loading of the second set of channels.

66. The method of any one of claims 56 to 65, further comprising:

the network device determining a plurality of network devices configured to communicate on the second set of channels;

the network device instructs at least one of the plurality of network devices to page the UE on one of the second set of channels according to the policy.

67. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

the network device sends information of the at least one of the plurality of network devices to the UE.

68. The method of claim 67, wherein the information comprises location information, beam information, paging opportunity information, or synchronization information for the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

69. The method of any one of claims 66 to 68, further comprising:

the network device sends information of the UE to the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

70. The method of claim 66, wherein the network device determining the plurality of network devices comprises:

the network device determines the plurality of network devices according to the location of the UE, beam information, channel quality measurement reports, or transmission power information.

71. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

the network device re-determines one of the plurality of network devices.

72. The method of claim 71, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices is re-determined based on network load information or measurement reports of the UE.

73. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

the network node sends a secondary node addition request to the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

74. The method of any one of claims 56 to 73, further comprising:

the network device receives a page response from one of the plurality of network devices operating on a second channel of the second set of channels, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices has received a page response from the UE.

75. The method of any one of claims 56 to 73, further comprising:

after paging the UE on the first channel, the network device pages the UE on a second channel of the second set of channels.

76. The method of any one of claims 56 to 75, further comprising:

the network device receives information of the policy from a core network device.

77. The method of any one of claims 56 to 75, wherein the policy is hard coded at the network device, pre-configured by the network device, or dynamically configured by the network device using signaling messages.

78. A method, characterized in that it comprises:

a User Equipment (UE) performs operations including paging, paging listening, paging triggered cell selection, or paging triggered cell reselection on a first set of channels according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the operation is preferentially performed on the first set of channels and then performed on a second set of channels that is different from the first set of frequencies.

79. The method of claim 78, wherein the frequencies associated with the first set of channels are less than the frequencies associated with the second set of channels.

80. The method of claim 78 or 79, wherein the transmission power associated with the first set of channels is greater than the transmission power associated with the second set of channels.

81. The method of claim 78, wherein the coverage area for transmission over the first set of channels is greater than the coverage area for transmission over the second set of channels.

82. The method of claim 78, wherein beamforming is not required for wireless communication over the first set of channels and wherein beamforming is required for wireless communication using the second set of channels.

83. The method of claim 78, wherein the first set of channels corresponds to a larger beam width than the second set of channels.

84. The method of claim 78, wherein the first set of channels is associated with a primary node, wherein the second set of channels is associated with a secondary node, and wherein the secondary node is associated with the primary node.

85. The method of claim 78, wherein one of the first set of channels and the second set of channels is associated with frequencies in an unlicensed frequency band, and wherein the other of the first set of channels and the second set of channels is associated with frequencies in a licensed frequency band.

86. The method of claim 78, wherein the channel quality of the first set of channels is better than the channel quality of the second set of channels.

87. The method of claim 78, wherein the first set of channels is loaded less than the second set of channels.

88. The method of any one of claims 78 to 87, further comprising:

after performing the operation on the first set of channels in accordance with the policy, the UE performs the operation on the second set of channels.

89. The method of any of claims 78-88, wherein performing the operation on the first set of channels comprises:

the UE listens for pages on one or more first frequencies associated with the first set of channels.

90. The method of claim 89, further comprising:

after listening for a page at the one or more first frequencies in accordance with the policy, the UE listens for the page at one or more second frequencies associated with the second set of channels.

91. The method of claim 90, wherein listening for the page at the one or more second frequencies comprises:

the UE listens for pages from a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating at the one or more second frequencies associated with the second set of channels.

92. The method of any of claims 78-88, wherein performing the operation on the first set of channels comprises:

the UE scans a first channel of the first set of channels during a cell selection or cell reselection procedure after being paged.

93. The method of claim 92, further comprising:

after scanning the first channel of the first set of channels, the UE scans a second channel of the second set of channels in a cell selection procedure or a cell reselection procedure.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein scanning a second channel of the second set of channels comprises:

the UE scans the second channel extending between the UE and a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating on the second channel.

95. The method of claim 91 or 94, wherein the plurality of network devices are determined according to the UE's location, beam information, channel quality measurement reports or transmission power information.

96. The method of claim 91 or 94, further comprising:

the UE receives information of the plurality of network devices.

97. The method of any one of claims 93 to 96, further comprising:

the UE establishes a communication connection with a network device on one of the second set of channels.

98. The method of any one of claims 78 to 97, further comprising:

the UE receives the information of the policy.

99. The method of any one of claims 78 to 98, further comprising:

the UE receives update information of the policy.

100. The method according to any of the claims 78-99, wherein the UE is in RRC Idle state.

101. The method according to any of claims 78-99, wherein the UE is in RRC _ Inactive state.

102. The method of any of claims 78 to 101, wherein the policy is hard-coded at the UE, pre-configured by the UE, or dynamically configured by the UE using signaling messages.

103. The method according to any of claims 1 to 30, wherein paging is performed using said second set of frequencies only if a specified condition exists or does not exist.

104. The method of any of claims 31 to 55, wherein the operation is performed using the second set of frequencies only if a specified condition exists or does not exist.

105. The method according to any of claims 56 to 77, wherein paging is performed using said second set of channels only if a specified condition exists or does not exist.

106. The method of any of claims 78 to 102, wherein the operation is performed using the second set of channels only if a specified condition exists or does not exist.

107. An apparatus, characterized in that the apparatus comprises:

a non-transitory memory containing instructions;

one or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to:

performing the method of any of claims 1-106.

108. A communication system, the communication system comprising:

a network device;

a User Equipment (UE),

wherein the network device is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 30, 56 to 77, 103 and 105 and the UE is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 31 to 55, 78 to 102, 104 and 106.

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a system and method for wireless communication, and in particular embodiments, to a system and method for hierarchical paging, cell selection, and cell reselection.

Background

New generation wireless communication systems have introduced high carrier frequencies, e.g., frequencies of 6GHz and above, to achieve higher data rates to accommodate the increasing wireless traffic. Such wireless communication systems may suffer from high path loss, and thus utilize beamforming to compensate for the high path loss and meet performance requirements. Due to the use of narrow beams in high frequency wireless communications based on beamforming, the communication device faces various problems including high overhead, low mobility robustness and high power consumption resulting from various operations such as paging, paging listening, cell selection and reselection, and mobility.

Disclosure of Invention

According to an aspect of the invention, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: a network device pages a User Equipment (UE) using a first frequency in a first set of frequencies according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the paging is preferentially performed at the first set of frequencies and then performed at a second set of frequencies different from the first set of frequencies.

The policy facilitates the network device to page the UE in a hierarchical order of the first set of frequencies and the second set of frequencies. This also helps to reduce the overhead, delay and power consumption incurred in instructing the ranking order when performing the paging.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of frequencies is less than the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, beamforming is not required for wireless communication using the first set of frequencies, and beamforming is required for wireless communication using the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the beamwidth for the first set of frequencies is greater than the beamwidth for the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of frequencies is used by a Master Node (MN) and the second set of frequencies is used by one or more Secondary Nodes (SNs) associated with the MN.

Optionally, in any one of the above aspects, one of the first set of frequencies and the second set of frequencies belongs to an unlicensed frequency band, and the other of the first set of frequencies and the second set of frequencies belongs to a licensed frequency band.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the channel quality of the first set of frequencies is better than the channel quality of the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of frequency associations has a transmission power greater than the second set of frequency associations.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the coverage for transmission using the first set of frequencies is greater than the coverage for transmission using the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, a channel load corresponding to the first set of frequencies is less than a channel load corresponding to the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the network device is a base station.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the network device is a master node.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the network device is a secondary node.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the network device is part of a core network.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device determining to configure a plurality of network devices operating at the second set of frequencies; the network device instructs at least one of the plurality of network devices to page the UE using one of the second set of frequencies according to the policy. This reduces the number of network devices involved in paging the UE at the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device sends information of the at least one of the plurality of network devices to the UE. Transmitting the information to the UE facilitates the UE to listen, detect, and respond to pages from the at least one of the plurality of network devices and to establish connections with the at least one of the plurality of network devices. This also reduces paging delay and paging omission, power consumption and signaling overhead.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the information includes location information, beam information, paging opportunity information, or synchronization information of the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device sends information of the UE to the at least one of the plurality of network devices. Transmitting the information of the UE facilitates the at least one of the plurality of network devices in paging the UE and establishing a connection with the UE.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the network device determining the plurality of network devices comprises: the network device determines the plurality of network devices according to the location of the UE, beam information, channel quality measurement reports, or transmission power information.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device re-determines one of the plurality of network devices.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the one of the plurality of network devices is re-determined according to network load information or a measurement report of the UE.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network node sends a secondary node addition request to the at least one of the plurality of network devices. The request facilitates paging of the UE by the at least one of the plurality of network devices at the second set of frequencies in accordance with the policy.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network node receives a secondary node addition acknowledgement from the at least one of the plurality of network devices.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device receives a paging response from the UE at the first frequency.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device receives a page response from one of the plurality of network devices operating at a second frequency of the second set of frequencies, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices has received a page response from the UE.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after paging the UE using the first frequency, the network device pages the UE using a second frequency of the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device establishes a communication connection with the UE at the first frequency.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device receives information of the policy from a core network device.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device receives update information of the policy.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the policy is hard-coded at the network device, pre-configured by the network device, or dynamically configured by the network device using a signaling message.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: a User Equipment (UE) performs operations including paging, paging listening, paging triggered cell selection, or paging triggered cell reselection, etc., at a first set of frequencies according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the operation is preferentially performed at the first set of frequencies and then performed at a second set of frequencies different from the first set of frequencies.

The policy facilitates the UE to perform the operations in a hierarchical order of the first set of frequencies and the second set of frequencies. This also helps to reduce the overhead of instructing the UE to perform the hierarchical order of the operations, and reduces the delay and power consumption of performing the operations.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of frequencies is less than the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of frequency associations has a transmission power greater than the second set of frequency associations.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the coverage for transmission using the first set of frequencies is greater than the coverage for transmission using the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the beamwidth for the first set of frequencies is greater than the beamwidth for the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of frequencies is used by a Master Node (MN) and the second set of frequencies is used by one or more Secondary Nodes (SNs) of the MN.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the channel quality of the first set of frequencies is better than the channel quality of the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, a channel load corresponding to the first set of frequencies is less than a channel load corresponding to the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after performing the operation at the first set of frequencies in accordance with the policy, the UE performs the operation at the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, performing the operation at the first set of frequencies comprises: the UE listens for pages on a first frequency of the first set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after listening for the page at the first frequency in accordance with the policy, the UE listens for a page at a second frequency in the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, listening for the page at the second frequency comprises: the UE listens for pages from a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating at the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, performing the operation at the first set of frequencies comprises: the UE scans channels in the first set of frequencies after being paged during a cell selection or cell reselection procedure.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after scanning for channels in the first set of frequencies, the UE scans for channels in the second set of frequencies in a cell selection procedure or a cell reselection procedure.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, scanning channels in the second set of frequencies comprises: the UE scans channels extending between the UE and a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating at the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the plurality of network devices are determined according to a location of the UE, beam information, a channel quality measurement report, or transmission power information.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the UE receives information of the plurality of network devices. Receiving the information facilitates the UE to listen, detect, and respond to pages from one of the plurality of network devices and to establish connections with the network device. This also reduces paging delay and paging omission, power consumption and signaling overhead.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the UE establishes a communication connection with a network device at a second frequency of the second set of frequencies.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the UE receives the information of the policy.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the UE receives update information of the policy.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the UE is in an RRC _ Idle state.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the UE is in an RRC _ Inactive state.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the policy is hard-coded at the UE, pre-configured by the UE, or dynamically configured by the UE using a signaling message.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: a network device pages a User Equipment (UE) on a first paging channel in a first set of channels according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the paging is preferentially performed on the first set of channels and then performed on a second set of channels different from the first set of channels.

The policy facilitates the network device to page the UE in a hierarchical order of the first set of channels and the second set of channels. This also helps to reduce the overhead, delay and power consumption incurred in instructing the ranking order when performing the paging.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels is associated with a primary node, the second set of channels is associated with a secondary node, and the secondary node is associated with the primary node.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels is associated with a frequency that is less than a frequency associated with the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, beamforming is not required for wireless communication on the first set of channels, and beamforming is required for wireless communication using the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels corresponds to a larger beam width than the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any one of the above aspects, one of the first and second sets of channels is associated with a frequency in an unlicensed frequency band, and the other of the first and second sets of channels is associated with a frequency in a licensed frequency band.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the channel quality of the first set of channels is better than the channel quality of the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels is associated with a transmission power that is greater than a transmission power associated with the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, a coverage area for transmitting on the first set of channels is greater than a coverage area for transmitting on the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels is less loaded than the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device determining a plurality of network devices configured to communicate on the second set of channels; the network device instructs at least one of the plurality of network devices to page the UE on one of the second set of channels according to the policy. This reduces the number of network devices involved in paging the UE on the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device re-determines one of the plurality of network devices.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the one of the plurality of network devices is re-determined according to network load information or a measurement report of the UE.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network node sends a secondary node addition request to the at least one of the plurality of network devices. The request facilitates the at least one of the plurality of network devices to page the UE on the second set of channels in accordance with the policy.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device receives a page response from one of the plurality of network devices operating on a second channel of the second set of channels, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices has received a page response from the UE.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after paging the UE on the first channel, the network device pages the UE on a second channel of the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the network device receives information of the policy from a core network device.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: a User Equipment (UE) performs operations including paging, paging listening, paging triggered cell selection, or paging triggered cell reselection on a first set of channels according to a policy, wherein the policy requires: the operation is preferentially performed on the first set of channels and then performed on a second set of channels that is different from the first set of frequencies.

The policy facilitates the UE to perform the operations in a hierarchical order of the first set of channels and the second set of channels. This also helps to reduce the overhead of instructing the UE to perform the hierarchical order of the operations, and reduces the delay and power consumption of performing the operations.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels is associated with a frequency that is less than a frequency associated with the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels is associated with a transmission power that is greater than a transmission power associated with the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, a coverage area for transmitting on the first set of channels is greater than a coverage area for transmitting on the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels corresponds to a larger beam width than the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the channel quality of the first set of channels is better than the channel quality of the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the first set of channels is less loaded than the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after performing the operation on the first set of channels in accordance with the policy, the UE performs the operation on the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, performing the operation on the first set of channels comprises: the UE listens for pages on one or more first frequencies associated with the first set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after listening for a page at the one or more first frequencies in accordance with the policy, the UE listens for the page at one or more second frequencies associated with the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, listening for the page at the one or more second frequencies comprises: the UE listens for pages from a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating at the one or more second frequencies associated with the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, performing the operation on the first set of channels comprises: the UE scans a first channel of the first set of channels during a cell selection or cell reselection procedure after being paged.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: after scanning the first channel of the first set of channels, the UE scans a second channel of the second set of channels in a cell selection procedure or a cell reselection procedure.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, scanning a second channel of the second set of channels comprises: the UE scans the second channel extending between the UE and a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are capable of operating on the second channel.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the UE establishes a communication connection with a network device on one of the second set of channels.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the UE receives the information of the policy.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the method further comprises: the UE receives update information of the policy.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the UE is in an RRC _ Idle state.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the UE is in an RRC _ Inactive state.

Optionally, in any of the above aspects, the policy is hard-coded at the UE, pre-configured by the UE, or dynamically configured by the UE using a signaling message.

According to another aspect of the invention, an apparatus is provided. The device comprises: a non-transitory memory containing instructions; one or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to: performing a method according to any of the above aspects.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a communication system is provided. The communication system comprises a network device configured to perform the method according to any of the above aspects in combination with the network device, and a User Equipment (UE) configured to perform the method according to any of the above aspects in combination with the UE.

Drawings

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary wireless network;

fig. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication system highlighting downlink paging and uplink Area Update (AU) of a User Equipment (UE) in an idle or inactive state mobility;

fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of an independent New Radio (NR) paging Discrete Reception (DRX) cycle including multiplexed beam scanning occasions and paging occasions in TDM and FDM;

fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of multiplexed paging occasions in TDM and FDM;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a response-based group paging procedure;

fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system highlighting Low Frequency (LF) assisted downlink paging and Data Radio Bearer (DRB) establishment in a High Frequency (HF) cell;

fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of LF paging and HF (beam scanning) paging methods in a communication system based on LF and HF DC;

fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of an LF-assisted HF paging method in an LF and HF DC based communication system;

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication system highlighting configuration and enforcement of a "MN or LF first, hierarchical SN or HF second" policy;

fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary method for LF-assisted HF paging according to the policy MN or LF-first, hierarchical SN or HF-second;

fig. 11 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary method for LF-assisted paging according to the "MN or LF precedence, ranking SN or HF second" policy;

FIG. 12 illustrates a schematic diagram of another exemplary method of layering SN or HF-second policies according to "MN or LF precedence;

fig. 13 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary method for wireless communication;

fig. 14 shows a schematic diagram of another exemplary method for wireless communication;

fig. 15 shows a schematic diagram of another exemplary method for wireless communication;

fig. 16 shows a schematic diagram of another exemplary method for wireless communication;

FIG. 17 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary processing system;

fig. 18 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary transceiver.

Detailed Description

The construction, manufacture, and use of the presently preferred embodiments are discussed in detail below. It should be appreciated that many of the applicable novel concepts of the present invention can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the embodiments, and do not limit the scope of the invention.

Conventional New Radio (NR) paging schemes based on beam scanning typically incur a large amount of overhead in terms of beam scanning, signaling, and power consumption. The LF-assisted HF paging method may help to improve paging efficiency, but lacks a triggering mechanism to trigger HF paging with LF assistance.

The embodiment of the invention provides a strategy. The strategies are configured and executed to perform various operations in a hierarchical manner, such as paging, paging listening, paging triggered cell selection, or paging triggered cell reselection. In one embodiment, a policy specifies or requires: one set of frequencies is absolutely higher priority than the other set of frequencies, so that in operation it will be preferred to use that set of frequencies before the other set of frequencies. In another embodiment, a policy specifies or requires: one set of channels is absolutely higher priority than the other set of channels, so that in operation, the set of channels is preferentially used, and then the other set of channels is used. Various criteria may be used to determine which set of frequencies or channels has an absolutely high priority. For example, when the cost of one set of frequencies is low, the corresponding beam width or the resulting overhead is small, the priority assigned to that set of frequencies may be absolutely higher than the priority of another set of frequencies.

The above strategy may be applied to a Dual Connection (DC), Multi Connection (MC), or Carrier Aggregation (CA) based communication system. The above policies may be predetermined (e.g., hard coded), pre-configured, or dynamically configured and reconfigured (e.g., via signaling) for network devices such as base stations and user equipment such as UEs. Policy configuration and enforcement facilitates a network device to page a UE in a hierarchical order of different frequencies or channels, and facilitates the UE to perform operations in a hierarchical order of different frequencies or channels. This also helps to reduce signaling overhead, operational delays and power consumption in operation. Details are provided below.

For purposes of this application, the following list of abbreviations is provided to assist in understanding the present invention. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, various abbreviations may have a variety of meanings and thus the meaning of any abbreviation shall be interpreted in conjunction with the appropriate context of the present invention.

BM: beam Management (Beam Management) refers to any Beam specific operation, in particular Beam alignment, Beam optimization, Beam tracking and Beam switching for the same serving node, node family (TRPs and their parent cells/gnbs) or strictly synchronized nodes (multiple TRPs that the UE cannot distinguish from the Beam operation perspective).

MM: mobility Management (Mobility Management), which means that a serving node is handed over due to the movement of a UE, often generates Layer 2(Layer 2, L2) or Layer 3(Layer 3, L3) signaling, and even there is data transmission/offloading generated by the handover between the UE and different nodes.

And SA: independent networking (Standalone) (NR)

NSA: dependent networking (Non-Standalone) (NR)

RRM: radio Resource Management (Radio Resource Management)

BLER: block Error Rate (Block Error Rate)

CH: channel with a plurality of channels

RLM: wireless Link Monitoring (Radio Link Monitoring)

RLF: radio Link Failure (Radio Link Failure)

KPI: key Performance Index (Key Performance Index)

BFR: beam (link) Failure Recovery (Beam (link)

BRF: failure of Beam (Failure) Recovery (Beam (Failure)

TRP: transmission and Reception Point (i.e., a unit in a serving node at the edge of the network inside, that talks to the UE over the air interface), typically refers to a RRH with or without a PHY or MAC

NR: new wireless (New Radio) (5G access)

5G: fifth Generation (Fifth Generation)

And (3) NGC: next Generation Core (5G Core)

RAN: radio Access Network (Radio Access Network) (for LTE Access)

MN: master Node (Master Node) (e.g., MgNB or MeNB in DC)

SN: secondary Node (Secondary Node) (e.g., SgNB or SeNB in DC)

CN: core Network (Core Network)

EPC: evolved Packet Core (Evolved Packet Core), i.e. 4G Core network

HF: high Frequency (High Frequency)

LF: low Frequency (Low Frequency)

MO/MT: mobile originated/terminated (mobile originated/mobile terminated)

And g NB: a next generation (5G) base station (compared to an LTE base station, eNB) may comprise one Central Unit (CU) and one or more Distributed Units (DU)

CU: central unit (central unit), usually management (hosting) L3 RRC protocol layer, PDCP protocol layer

DU: a distributed unit (distributed unit) typically manages protocol layers such as RLC and/or MAC and/or PHY.

UE: user Equipment (User Equipment) or User Equipment

DCI in PDCCH: downlink control information in a physical downlink control channel

DL/UL: Downlink/Uplink (Downlink/Uplink)

UCI in PUCCH/PUSCH: uplink control information in physical uplink control/shared channel

And RS: reference signal on L1 (which may be UL uplink or DL downlink)

CE: control unit (control element)

SR: scheduling Request (Scheduling Request)

CRS: cell specific RS of L1 up edge DL (from network to UE)

PDCCH: physical Downlink Control Channel (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

NextGen: next generation (CN)

L1/L3: layer 1 or layer 3 (generally referred to as the physical layer or RRC layer, respectively)

L2: layer 2

E-UTRAN: mainly refers to a 4G LTE radio access network or RAN

CA: carrier Aggregation (Carrier Aggregation)

MCG/SCG: master Cell Group/Secondary Cell Group (Master Cell Group/Secondary Cell Group)

HetNet: heterogeneous Network (Heterogeneous Network)

Pcell/Pscell/Scell: primary cell/auxiliary Primary cell/Secondary cell (Primary/Primary Secondary/Secondary cell)

CSI-RS/DM-RS/SS block/PSS/SSS: abbreviations for Reference Signals (RSs) or Primary/Secondary Synchronization signals (PSS/SSS), commonly referred to as xSS/xRS

DC: dual connection (Dual Connectivity)

MC: multi-connection (Multi-connectivity)

SRS: sounding Reference Signal (Sounding Reference Signal)

CRS: cell reference signal (cell-specific RS)

HO: handover

HOF: switching Failure (Handover Failure)

EN-DC：EUTRAN-NR DC

TOS: dwell Time (Time of settling)

NG-C: next generation (core network) control plane in 5G

TTT: trigger Time (Time To Trigger)

NG-U: next generation (core network) user plane in 5G

MAC: media Access Control (Medium Access Control)

RNC: radio Network Controller in 3G (Radio Network Controller)

FDM: frequency Division Multiplexing (Frequency Division Multiplexing)

UDN: ultra Dense Network (Ultra-Dense Network)

TDM: time Division Multiplexing (Time Division Multiplexing)

An RAR: random Access Response (Random Access Response)

AU: region Update (Area Update)

TA: tracking area (Tracking area)

RNA: RAN Notification Area (RAN Notification Area)

CDM: code Division Multiplexing (Code Division Multiplexing)

SIB: system message Block (System Information Block)

DRX: discrete Reception (Discrete Reception)

PF/PO: paging Frame/Paging Occasion (Paging Frame/Paging occupancy)

TAU: tracking Area Update (Tracking Area Update)

RNAU/RLAU: RAN Notification Area Update/RAN Location Area Update (RAN Notification Area Update/RAN Location Area Update)

Fig. 1 shows a network 100 for transmitting data. Network 100 includes a base station 110 having a coverage area 101, a plurality of mobile devices 120, and a backhaul network 130. As shown, base station 110 establishes an uplink connection (dashed line) and/or a downlink connection (dotted line) with mobile device 120, which are used to carry data from mobile device 120 to base station 110 or from base station 110 to mobile device 120. The data carried over the uplink/downlink connections may include data communicated between the mobile devices 120, as well as data to and from remote terminals (not shown) via the backhaul network 130. The term "base station" as used herein refers to any component (or collection of components) for providing wireless access to a network, such as an enhanced base station (eNB), a next generation base station (gNB), a transmit/receive point (TRP), a DU in a base station, a macrocell, a femtocell, a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP), or other wireless-enabled device. The base station may provide wireless Access according to one or more wireless communication protocols, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), LTE-advanced (LTE-advanced pro), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/ad/ay, and so on. The term "mobile device" as used herein refers to any component (or collection of components) capable of establishing a wireless connection with a base station, such as User Equipment (UE), mobile Stations (STAs), and other wireless-enabled devices. In some embodiments, network 100 may include various other wireless devices, e.g., repeaters, low power nodes, and the like.

Taking the NR/NGC system as an example, a User Equipment (UE) or other receiver may receive a transmission that has been sent using beamforming and beam scanning. In beamforming, if a transmitter cannot achieve the desired range when transmitting omni-directionally, the transmitter may aim the transmission in one or more particular directions. However, the transmitter is typically unable to beamform in all directions at once, so the transmitter may scan multiple beamformed transmissions of a certain beamwidth in multiple directions over time. For example, at a first time, the transmitter may transmit a first beam in a first direction. At a second time, the transmitter may transmit a second beam in a second direction, where the second direction is offset from the first direction by a defined offset. Such transmission may continue such that the transmitter transmits beams within its coverage area. Thus, the transmitter effectively transmits omni-directionally over time, but at any one time the transmitter transmits in only one direction. In general, a transmitter transmits a plurality of beamformed beams in a scanning pattern such that at least one beam is transmitted in each portion of the coverage area of the transmitter. The transmitter may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a transmit/receive point (TRP), or the like. Alternatively, the transmitter may be a UE or similar component.

The UE may enter a low power idle state when no data is communicated with the network. For example, when the network wishes to communicate with an idle UE, the network may send a page to the UE. Paging is typically transmitted only in paging occasions, which occur within a periodic interval known to both the UE and the network. When a paging occasion occurs, the UE wakes up temporarily to determine whether the network has sent a page. The UE may return to the idle state if no page is sent. If a page has been sent, the UE may listen to the paging message corresponding to the page and follow instructions contained in the paging message, e.g., instructions to receive data or initiate a connection network procedure.

Fig. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication system 200 highlighting downlink paging and uplink Area Update (AU) with idle or inactive state movement. Fig. 2 illustrates a paging action when a UE moves through a cell or a set of High Frequency (HF) or narrow beam forming cells in an idle or inactive state. The communication system 200 includes a Tracking Area (TA) or generally a smaller Radio Access Network (RAN) notification area (RA) 205. A plurality of TRPs, e.g., TRPs 210, 212, 214, 216 and 218, are contained within the tracking area or RAN notification area 205. Communication system 200 also includes a UE 220 moving through a TA or RA 205. Initially, UE 220 is located within the cell served by TRPs 210 and 212.

When the UE 220 moves, the UE 220 enters the coverage area of the TRP210, in order to avoid confusion, the UE 220 is now shown as UE 222. TRP210 transmits downlink pages using a set of beams in TRP210 and UE222 may be paged through these downlink pages. As the UE222 continues to move, the UE222 enters the coverage area of the TRP 212, and to avoid confusion, the UE222 is now shown as UE 224. TRP 212 sends downlink pages using a set of beams in TRP 212 and UE 224 may be paged through these downlink pages.

As the UE 224 continues to move, the UE 224 leaves the coverage area of the cells served by the TRPs 210 and 212 and enters a coverage area comprising a set of cells, the UE 224 is now shown as UE 226 to avoid confusion. The one or more cells closest to the UE 226 or having the highest quality channel page (or group page) the UE 226 within the set of cells, including the cells served by the TRPs 214 and 216. As the UE 226 continues to move forward, the UE 226 leaves the coverage area of the set of cells, and to avoid confusion, the UE 226 is now shown as UE 228. The UE 228 may be paged in a cell served by a TRP, such as TRP 218, within the TA or RA 205. When the UE 228 moves further, the UE 228 leaves the TA or RA 205 (to avoid confusion, the UE 228 is now shown as UE 220). When the UE 220 leaves the TA or RA 205, the UE 220 performs a Tracking Area Update (TAU) or a RAN Notification Area Update (RNAU).

When a page can be transmitted through at least DL beam scanning and the scheduled UE wakes up into DRX ON state, the UE in RRC _ Idle state or RRC _ Inactive state listens for paging/notification in overlapping Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle and paging cycle (and paging opportunity). The content of the page may be a page indicator or a page message. In addition, for Paging in multi-beam operation, in conventional designs, beam scanning is performed in a Paging Occasion (PO) of a Paging Frame (PF), the PO corresponding to the DRX ON state of one or more UEs being paged. Each PO may consist of multiple contiguous or non-contiguous paging slots. Each paging slot may correspond to one or more subframes or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and each paging slot may be composed of a set of one or more directional beams (e.g., Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks or SSBs), each of which contains paging information. Different time slots may carry different sets of DL transmission beams for scanning, but the same set of transmission beams may recur in different time slots to help the UE synchronize to the DL transmission beams.

In LTE, the eNB and the UE calculate PF/PO numbers for paging and wake-up, respectively, and then transmit or receive messages on the PDCCH or PDSCH, respectively, on the calculated PF/PO numbers. Similar to any downlink data, LTE paging is delivered using PDCCH and PDSCH, where the paging message sent on PDSCH is a transmission resource allocated by a scheduling assignment on PDCCH addressed to P-RNTI (shared by all UEs). Since both the secondary Reference Signal (Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS)) and the scrambling are derived from the Physical Cell Identity (PCI), the transport channel is Cell-specific.

The PF/PO is given by the following equation:

PF: SFN mod T ═ T/N (UE _ ID mod N),

PO: i _ s is floor (UE _ ID/N) modulo Ns,

wherein:

the index i _ s points to PO from the subframe pattern, the parameter Ns indicates the subframe pattern and is defined as a function of i _ s in TS36.304 for FDD and TDD, T is the DRX cycle of the UE,

nB is one of the set 4T, 2T, T, T/2, T/4, T/8, T/16, T/32,

N＝min(T，nB)，Ns＝max(1，nB/T)，

the UE _ ID is taken from imsi (USIM) or 0 (if there is no USIM card for emergency calls): UE _ ID is IMSI mod 1024,

the IMSI is a 10 digit sequence of the Integer (0 … … 9) type,

the length of the UE _ ID is 10 bits, meaning that there are 1024 groups of mobile terminals.

In LTE paging, AU, or DRW flows, the UE takes 4 actions within a DRX wake-up (ON) period (e.g., overlapping a PO). One action is cell search (PSS/SSS) detection. The network may send the synchronization signal just before sending the DL paging message in the same PO in the DRX ON occasion of the UE (if paging of the UE occurs). Another action is dl (crs) measurement. In another action, if the network provides a PO for the UE and a paging message is transmitted within a DRX wake-up (ON) period of the UE, a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH)/Master Information Block (MIB) and PDCCH/SIB are decoded, and the PDCCH and paging (in PDSCH) messages are received and decoded by the UE. Alternatively, in another action, the UE performs cell search if the PSS/SSS measurements meet the cell search criteria (during consecutive PSS/SSS measurements by the UE between two paging occasions).

It should be noted that in a similar procedure in NR, if the PO consists of a plurality of "slots" (or SS blocks), where each slot corresponds to a different beam direction, the above 4 steps may need to be repeated at the slot level. Therefore, the complexity of employing the above method in NR is much higher than that in LTE.

RAN Working Group 2(RAN Working Group 2, RAN2) has reached several agreements regarding paging. According to the RAN2, a connection with a UE in an inactive state may be established through RAN-initiated notification and CN-initiated paging. The RAN paging occasion and the CN paging occasion overlap and the same paging mechanism or notification mechanism is adopted. The RAN node may configure the UE in RRC _ Inactive state to include a RAN configured paging DRX cycle, which may be referred to as a UE specific configuration. The UE in RRC _ Idle state or RRC _ Inactive state listens for pages or notifications during one scheduled DRX cycle. The UE monitors a paging occasion in the DRX cycle. The paging occasion is the time interval in which the gNB transmits the paging message. The length of the DRX cycle is configurable. The default DRX cycle length is provided in the system information. In addition, the UE-specific DRX cycle length may also be provided to the UE through dedicated signaling. The number of paging occasions within a DRX cycle is configurable and provided in the system information. If the network configures multiple paging occasions within the DRX cycle, the UE may be assigned to the paging occasions according to the UE ID. The page may be sent at least by beam scanning. The content of the page may be a page indicator or a page message. The paging occasion may be composed of a plurality of slots (e.g., subframes or OFDM symbols). Using multiple slots may enable paging to be sent in each slot using different sets of DL transmission beams, or may enable repetition. The number of slots in the paging occasion is provided in the system information.

RAN2 also agrees on RAN-initiated paging, i.e., paging in the RRC _ Inactive state using DRX (excluding extended DRX if supported). The UE in the inactive state and the UE in the idle state use the same paging occasion calculation mechanism. For RAN-initiated paging and CN-initiated paging, the same input is obtained from the Core Network (CN) UE ID and the same calculation equation is used to calculate the paging occasion. The gNB needs to know the input to be used in the calculation, obtained from the CN UE ID, and needs to know the CN UE specific DRX cycle in the next generation core network. A UE in an inactive state may be configured with a UE-specific RAN DRX cycle through dedicated signaling. The UE uses the shortest one of the CN UE specific DRX cycle, the cell broadcast DRX cycle, and the RAN DRX cycle. All DRX cycle values must be multiplied between. When the UE enters the idle state, the UE-specific RAN DRX cycle is released. The UE-specific RAN DRX cycle remains unchanged when the UE in an inactive state moves to a new cell within the RAN area.

In the prior art paging technique, 4 options for NR paging operation have been determined, any of which may be selected in a given scenario. In option 1, the paging DCI precedes the paging message, but does not necessarily occur consecutively. In option 2, the paging group indicator triggers UE feedback, with the paging DCI preceding the paging message. In option 3, the paging group indicator and the paging DCI precede the paging message. In option 4, the paging DCI indicates whether option 1 or option 2 is used. None of these options provide the exemplary technique of group-based HF paging base stations in combination with LF macro assistance, particularly as an embodiment of the paging strategy. These options refer to a group of UEs rather than grouping or selecting HF sites (sgnbs) as in the exemplary hierarchical paging technique.

Option 1 provides direct paging based on DL narrowbeam scanning. In option 1, the network scans the DL beams in all directions, each beam containing the same DL paging information and signals. PF/PO structures (e.g., a definition of a slot or a pattern of slots, or a PO/PF structure for beam scanning) and paging (e.g., determined by scheduling or blind decoding) using a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) are still under discussion. In option 1, Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) and Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) of paging SSB, PBCH/MSI and PSCH may be used.

In option 2 and option 3, group or response driven paging may be performed. This may involve two-step paging. In one example, the network may explicitly broadcast a group paging indicator and then receive a UE paging response (containing a preamble pre-associated with a group ID). Alternatively, the group paging indicator may be configured and broadcast as a group identity (e.g., P-RNTI) bitmap from which each UE may hash its own SAE temporary mobile subscriber identity (S-TMSI) without responding through implicit or explicit UE beam reporting, etc. The network may then send a UE-specific page according to the response.

Fig. 3 shows a diagram of an example of an independent NR paging DRX cycle 300 defined according to a beam scanning period at option 1. Fig. 3 shows TDM and FDM of beam scanning (for PDCCH SSB/PBCH broadcast) and SA HF paging (in PDSCH). The NR paging DRX cycle 300 includes multiplexed beam scanning occasions and paging occasions in TDM and FDM. In this example, the paging occasion occurs within the kth beam scanning period.

It is known that beam scanning based paging can generate significant overhead due to loading effects caused by beam scanning, and therefore it is difficult and complicated to define an efficient scheme to properly align transmission opportunities of paging reference signals (e.g., SS blocks), POs, PFs, radio frames, slot structures in each PO, and associated beam scanning patterns.

In order to at least partially improve the efficiency of direct paging, some optimizations have been made as shown in fig. 4, where FDM and corresponding configuration of paging occasions (PDCCH containing paging DCI), paging and RMSI messages (in PDSCH), and beam scanning of SSB/PBCH (containing MIB) can be supported. Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a multiplexed paging occasion 400 in TDM and FDM. Direct paging under option 1 is optimized with frequency reuse of paging occasions.

As shown in fig. 4, one optimization method is to frequency multiplex multiple POs (each PO may have multiple slots and carry paging DCI) within the same duration of the PO to share the same spatial direction (i.e., the same transmission beam). Another approach is to frequency multiplex the POs and process the resulting SS/PBCH blocks through quasi-co-location (QCL) techniques. It is noted that it has been agreed that the UE may assume a QCL relationship between the SS block, the paging DCI, and the paging message.

In one case, different beam parties are time division multiplexed within one paging frame to transmit frequency division multiplexed PO and SS/PBCH blocks. A properly configured time/frequency reuse mechanism enables more frequent transmission of quasi co-located SS/PBCH blocks and POs over the paging control resource set (CORESET), i.e., paging DCI. While these optimizations may greatly improve efficiency, they may require higher UE-side capabilities or complexity.

Even with optimization, when the CN pages an idle UE to acquire Mobile Terminated (MT) data or voice connections, the CN may still need to inform (e.g., through S1 or NG-C backhaul messages) a potentially large number of (HF) gnbs to page the UE through beam scanning, and repeat the NR-SS/PBCH or paging reference signal and paging message in all directions, then blindly wait for the UE' S response to beam alignment, and so on. In this process, the power consumption of the UE and the signaling cost on the network side may be high.

Therefore, it should be noted that the beam scanning based NR paging scheme may be limited to NR SA scenarios, where the beam scanning overhead and signaling overhead may be found to be large, and may not include NSA (e.g., EN-DC) or SA (NR-NR) scenarios, where a wide beam or LF paging in the primary cell may assist in the narrow beam or HF paging design in the secondary cell.

Option 2 may require a UE response using group paging, where some form of short group paging indicator may be sent on all beams and a UE matching this indicator may send a response to the network requesting delivery of the actual paging message.

As shown in the messaging diagram 500 in fig. 5, which illustrates a response-based group paging procedure, multiple UEs in a region or PO may be assigned a common group ID and a short paging group indicator may be used to page the common group. If a common group ID is prompted, all UEs assigned to the group may need to send random access requests. Different random access preambles may be associated to different group IDs. The paging message delivered to the UE may contain only the UE IDs of the paging group corresponding to the reception preamble in each beam, as shown in fig. 5. In this way, paging message content may be reduced.

In response-based group paging, the UE trades off UL response messages against DL paging granularity, as in option 2, and may consume more power than direct paging when the cost of UL responses is higher than the cost of reduced DL paging wake-up or false alarms. On the other hand, group paging saves power at least for UEs outside the paged group compared to direct paging. In practice, the gain or loss depends on the specific NR paging zone density (in TA or RNA) of the UE to be paged, the efficiency of DL and UL beam alignment, and the RRC state of the UE. Regardless of whether option 2 or option 3 is selected, both of these options may suffer from the same problem of frequent beam scanning or tracking, i.e., a costly spatial beam alignment procedure, each time the UE must wake up from a scheduled paging opportunity or slot to receive a paging reference signal or transmit a paging response or RACH. This situation may still exist whether the UE is in RRC Idle state or RRC Inactive state, and the problem may be further exacerbated as the UE moves or wakes up more frequently.

Therefore, it should be noted that the beam scanning based NR paging scheme, whether using direct paging or group paging, may not avoid the high overhead generated by beam scanning or beam alignment when the paged UE may need to receive a paging signal or may need to transmit a UL response or RACH.

Compared to the mainstream beamforming based NR paging for SA NR systems, it may be preferable to interconnect LF and HF systems through a DC framework and to utilize wide LF coverage for efficient paging and beamforming data connection establishment at HF for fast data transmission. In an NR DC based communication system, an LF-assisted HF paging mechanism is provided for paging UEs. The mechanism replaces or assists with inefficient beam-scanning based paging, particularly for HF deployments, with highly efficient (quasi-) omni-directional LF broadcast paging. This idea can be applied in intra-NR (NR-LF + NR-HF) and inter-system Technology (RAT) (LTE-LF + NR-HF) DC scenarios, e.g. using LF cells as primary cells and paging entities/RRC entities, and known HF cells within the coverage of the primary cell as secondary cells. For example, it may be assumed that the UE has both LF and HF capabilities. For non-independent HF cells, it may be that the primary cell of the LF layer may be less concerned with broadcasting the system information and paging information of the cell more efficiently, in light of the above discussion and observations.

In general, for a wide beam (LF) paging assisted narrow beam (HF) system, e.g., for UE-TRP discovery or narrow beam connection establishment, the following procedure may be helpful: LF signaling tells the UE when (e.g., frame boundary) or in which direction (geographical, numerical, or coordinate) to listen to the HF DL, or roughly when or in which direction or RACH which preamble to use. By doing so, the HF SgNB or TRP and UE can synchronize under HF, much faster than the SA HF system in both space and time and frequency, and can avoid triggering a DL page based on SA beam scanning involving all or multiple HF SgNB/TRPs in RNA.

Fig. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system 600 highlighting LF-assisted DL paging and Data Radio Bearer (DRB) establishment in an HF cell. The communication system 600 includes a primary channel served by a gNB (i.e., MN) and a secondary channel served by a TRP (i.e., SN) such as TRP a and TRP B in HF. The TRP is located within the coverage area of the gNB or under the control of the gNB. The UE is served by the gNB and one or more of the TRPs TRP a and TRP B. When the UE moves, the UE may move out of the coverage of one or more TRPs and into the coverage of one or more other TRPs.

At step 1 in fig. 6, the gNB performs LF paging to page the UE. The gNB may send HF assistance information to the UE. The LF layer may help to broadcast the SI required by the HF layer, etc. By doing so, if the HF system or paging information or the neighboring HF cell list (carrying geographical assistance information) is broadcasted by means of LF system information or paging messages without the need for LF RRC connection establishment, or is sent over pre-existing UE specific LF RRC connections, the HF paging overhead for idle/inactive UEs can be significantly reduced. For example, HF Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI) may be broadcast to UEs or transmitted in LF through a unique RRC signal, while on-demand SI or high speed data may be transmitted through a designated beam pair (i.e., DRB) in HF. This saves UE power that might be consumed in blind scanning and beam scanning of nearby HF SNs (if any).

At step 2 in fig. 6, the gNB and the UE may exchange signaling for LF connection establishment, as well as HF assistance information. Step 2 may be optional. If the only purpose is to bring the UE out of the inactive or idle state and to establish a high speed HF data connection, the LF connection can be avoided. However, the LF RRC connection may help to better coordinate the UE and the HF cell to find each other and to synchronize with each other. With LF RRC connections, the LF layer can better help coordination between the UE and its neighboring HF cells to achieve HF synchronization (in terms of time, frequency, code or spatial beam direction) during its (HF) paging procedure.

At step 3 in fig. 6, the gNB may exchange signaling with TRP a and TRP B and the UE to coordinate UE-TRP HF paging, measurements and synchronization. The LF MN can inform the UE of the beam direction or (geographical) location of one or more specific HF SNs in a paging message over the Uu interface, HF paging occasions and RACH opportunities for HF SN idle/inactive UEs over the Xn interface. The UE can then determine the distance of the HF nodes, reduce the target HFSgNB or TRP, HF spatial beam direction, and time or code or frequency opportunity for RACH, according to its own direction or location and the received LF paging message, while a specific target HF SgNB or TRP can be prepared for the UE's RACH or UL paging response. This may avoid triggering a large number of HF SNs to repeatedly broadcast the same paging information to the UE.

At step 4 in fig. 6, the UE sends an HF RACH or paging response to the TRP B. The UE can quickly perform RACH or send back an HF paging response or establish an HF beamformed high speed data connection by time/frequency/space/code space alignment based on HF layer beamforming. Any HF RRC state transition (if a separate Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) is to be supported in the DC) or HF data connection setup can be done quickly and with power saving.

The MgNB may prioritize LF paging over any HF operation. That is, the LF may schedule HF NR-SS/PBCH blocks, associated PF/PO/slots, and coordinated HF alignment, synchronization, or paging information, as described above. This enables a faster and more energy efficient HF wake-up of the UE, e.g. by skipping DL HF synchronization to many unknown HF sgnbs and directly jumping to UL HF RACH for a specific SgNB at a specific time instant or in a specific direction.

At step 5 in fig. 6, the TRP B sends a paging response to the gNB. DL LF paging and HF paging (or UL response or RACH) may be mixed together either in time or in sequence. This may be a mixed lf (dl) paging and hf (ul) paging response, including steps 4 and 5. The paged UE may respond to the LF DL paging on the UL through the HF SgNB or TRP, so that the necessity of HF layer DL beam scanning is reduced or DL/UL beam alignment is expedited throughout the LF cell coverage. The sn (trpb) may then forward (relay) the HF page response to the MN (e.g., the gNB) so that the LF page may be acknowledged or any required LF connection establishment may be assisted.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional paging method 700 performed in a communication system based on LF and HF DC. The method 700 is an independent LF paging and HF (beam scanning) method. The method 700 illustrates communication between a UE702, a SN704 capable of operating in HF, and a MN706 capable of operating in LF. Specifically, fig. 7 shows a communication flow for paging a UE702, a communication flow for a UE702 reselecting a cell as described in 3GPP TS 38.304 and 3GPP TS36.304, and a communication flow for adding a DC secondary node (e.g., SgNB) as described in 3GPP TS36.300 and 37.340. The UE702 may camp on to the LF (i.e., MN706), as shown in fig. 7, or to the HF (i.e., SN 704) according to instructions in the broadcast System Information (SI), RRC message, or pre-stored system information.

As shown, at step 712, the MN706 may send a "release to RRC _ Inactive" message to the UE702 to transition the UE702 to the RRC _ Inactive state. The UE702 may listen to the LF or HF. At step 714, the UE702 enters RRC _ Inactive state. In this example, the UE702 is already camped to the MN (i.e., LF). At step 716, when paging UE702 is needed, MN706 performs LF paging on UE702 and sends LF Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), System Information (SI), paging message to UE702 in LF PF or PO. At step 718, LF paging is performed for UE 702. When the UE702 detects the paging message, the UE702 sends an LF paging response or RACH message to the MN706 at step 720. At step 722, the UE702 and MN706 perform LF RRC connection establishment and RRC connection reconfiguration (e.g., for HF measurements). At step 724, the SN704 may send the NR-PSS or SSS, among other information, to the UE702 by performing HF DL beam scanning, etc. At step 726, the UE702 may perform inter-frequency measurements or HF beam alignment according to information from the SN 704. At step 728, the UE702 may perform HF cell reselection and generate a measurement report for the measured SN704 or other HF cell. At step 730, the UE702 sends a measurement report of the measured HF cells to the MN706 under LF. At step 732, the MN706 can send a SgNB add request to the SN 704. MN706 may also send a UE context migration request to SN 704. At step 734, SN704 sends an SgNB add request acknowledgement to MN 706. At step 736, the MN706 may send a LF RRC connection reconfiguration to the UE702, and at step 738, the MN706 receives a LF RRC connection reconfiguration complete message from the UE 702. At step 740, the MN706 sends a SgNB reconfiguration complete message to the SN 704. At step 742, UE702 may recover or reestablish a connection with an HF node, such as SN 704. At step 744, the UE may send an HF BF RACH message or other information to the SN704 to establish an HF connection with the SN 704. The UE702 may communicate with the SN704 using a remembered beam or scan pattern. At step 746, the SN704 establishes an HF DRB bearer with the UE 702. In the example of fig. 7, the HF beam or cell selected by UE702 at steps 724-728 may be outdated when performing steps 738-744, since it takes a considerable time for UE702 to establish a connection with the HF SN. This may result in increased paging delay or paging omission.

Fig. 8 shows a diagram of a conventional LF-assisted HF paging method 800 performed in an LF and HF DC based communication system. Method 800 illustrates communication between a UE802, a SN804 capable of operating in HF, and a MN806 capable of operating in LF. In this example, the UE802 may camp on a cell and perform cell reselection, similar to the scenario illustrated in fig. 7. However, the method 800 utilizes a LF-assisted HF paging mechanism that conveys and uses HF assistance information in paging. This helps to reduce paging delay and signaling overhead, requires reduced power consumption and enables faster HF alignment.

Steps 812-818 are generally similar to steps 712-718 of fig. 7 and therefore are not repeated here. However, the difference is that the MN806 may also send HF assistance information to the UE802 when paging the UE802 in step 816. The HF assistance information may include direction, location or positioning information of one or more HF SNs, such as the SN804, SI, time, code and frequency resource information, scheduling information of one or more HF SNs, and the like. Acquiring HF assistance information may help speed up HF synchronization procedures, paging procedures, or connection establishment procedures. At step 818, the UE802 may optionally respond to the MN806 with an LF paging response or RACH message to initiate a RACH procedure. The UE802 may also establish an LF connection with the MN 806. The UE802 may also send some HF assistance information, e.g., the geographical location of the UE802, to the MN 806. Optionally, at step 822, the UE802 and MN806 may perform a LF RRC connection during which the UE802 and MN806 may exchange HF assistance information with each other. Steps 820 and 822 may be performed simultaneously or in a different order. Optionally, MN806 can send a SgNB add request to SN804 at step 824. The MN806 can send HF assistance information, e.g., location information of the UE802, to the SN 804. At step 826, the UE802 may scan for a particular HF cell according to the HF assistance information and the location of the UE. During scanning for the UE802, the SN804 may page the UE802 and send HF NR-PSS and SSS, along with SI, other information to the UE802 on the downlink at step 828. At step 830, the UE802 performs HF cell selection (reselection) and recovers or reestablishes HF connections. At step 832, the UE802 may initiate a RACH procedure with a selected HF cell, such as the SN804, and send an HFBF RACH message and a paging response to the SN 804. At step 834, the SN804 sends a page response to the MN 806. SN804 may also send a SgNB add request ACK message in response to the received SgNB add request. At step 836, the SN804 establishes an HF DRB (and SRB) bearer with the UE 802. The advantages of this example compared to the method in fig. 7 have the following advantages: less paging delay, faster HF beam alignment speed, and less signaling overhead. As the mobility of the UE increases, paging omission may also increase.

In the method 800, the MN806 may send location information of the HF SN to the UE802 at step 816 or step 822 under frequency. The UE802 may use this information to find HF SNs located near the UE 802. At step 820 or step 822, the UE802 may report its own Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) or any assisted-GPS (assisted-GPS) location (e.g., a triangulation location) to the MN806 via LF. The MN806 may also track the location and Time information of the UE802 (as the UE802 moves) through Time-Assistance (Fine-Time-Assistance) or the like based on PRACH preamble or positioning RS of the UE802 or any other signal.

In different embodiments, the content and/or format of various messages sent by the UE802, SN804, and MN806, as well as the ordering of various messages and various steps, may be changed (e.g., exchanged, removed, reordered, enhanced, combined, configured, etc.) without changing the exemplary embodiments presented herein.

It should be noted that the connection establishment procedure can be obtained from the initial DL or UL synchronization and system information to a random access (e.g., RACH) procedure for establishing a connection, followed by RRC signaling (e.g., connection request message, setup, reconfiguration and completion message, etc.), which is generally more comprehensive than the paging procedure. However, due to the assistance of the primary channel, the connection establishment procedure may be limited to minimum synchronization (e.g., on DL) and long term dedicated data bearers or data connection establishment on the secondary channel, since the secondary system information (frequency, beam, etc.) and secondary system synchronization and data connection requirements between the UE and the TRP can already be transmitted on the primary channel (e.g., the primary control channel in DC) in the form of primary channel assistance or during primary channel paging. In contrast, paging a UE in RRC Idle state or newly introduced NR RRC Inactive state without primary channel assistance must employ costly procedures, including: synchronizing to a beam scanning TRP in accordance with a pre-scheduled space-time pattern (e.g., SS blocks, SSBs), paging opportunities, or slots) measured for DL, performing PDCCH decoding (of a P-RNTI whether paging is in progress) and paging message decoding including a PDSCH, and then acquiring system information, performing a random access (e.g., RACH) procedure by an auxiliary system to establish a connection before establishing or recovering an RRC connection using RRC signaling. For purposes of discussion, it is assumed that the primary channel (main/master) is the LF, the secondary channel is the HF, and the primary channel facilitates downstream paging on the secondary channel for future data communications on the secondary channel.

In the existing cell selection procedure in NR or LTE idle mode or NR inactive mode, cell selection is performed through one of two procedures according to 3GPP TS36.304 or 3GPP TS 38.304. The first procedure is initial cell selection (it is not known a priori which RF channels are NR carriers). In the first procedure, the UE will scan all RF channels in the NR band according to its own capabilities to find a suitable cell. On each carrier frequency, the UE only needs to search for the strongest cell. Once a suitable cell is found, this cell will be selected. The second procedure is cell selection using stored information. The second procedure requires stored information of the carrier frequency and optionally also information of cell parameters from previously received measurement control cells or from previously detected cells. Once the UE finds a suitable cell, the UE will select the cell. If no suitable cell is found, the initial cell selection procedure will be started. It should be noted that the priority between different frequencies or RATs provided to the UE through system information or dedicated signaling is not used in the cell selection process.

For LTE (3GPP TS36.304) or NR (3GPP TS 36.308), the cell selection criterion "S" defines that only cells can be selected that satisfy the following condition:

srxlev >0 and Squal >0

Wherein:

RSRP Srxlev＝Qrxlevmeas-(Qrxlevmin+Qrxlevminoffset)-Pcompensation

(Pcomp nsate is to avoid UE selecting too far away cells based on its transmit power capability)

RSRQ Squal＝Qqualmeas–(Qqualmin+Qqualminoffset)，

Wherein, Qrxlevmin and Qqualmin are used for cell selection in SIB1, Qrxlevmin and Qqualmin are used for co-frequency candidate cell selection in SIB3 or for LTE/UMTS/GSM/CDMA1200 inter-frequency candidate cell selection in SIB 5/6/7/8.

It should be further noted that cell selection occurs when the UE leaves RRC _ Connected mode (and enters RRC _ Idle mode); by including the redirected carrier information in the RRC connection release message, the eNB may direct the UE to a specific RF carrier. The UE then performs cell selection/reselection, camps on the selected (reselected) cell, and starts neighbor cell measurement, monitoring, and system information acquisition. If the UE does not receive the "redirected carrier information," the UE is free to search for any RF carrier.

Thus, for cell selection at initial access, the UE will scan all RF channels in the NR frequency band according to its own capabilities to find a suitable cell. For state transition through pre-stored information (e.g. according to RRC _ Connection _ Release indication or memory of previously connected cells), the cell chooses to scan the stored carrier frequencies (optionally also information of cell parameters) if there are any, or to scan any RF frequencies. However, absolute priorities between different frequencies or RATs provided to the UE through system information or dedicated signaling are not used in the cell selection process, especially when there is no distinction between LF and HF. Ue camps on a suitable or acceptable cell, either LF or HF.

In the cell reselection procedure in the existing NR/LTE idle mode or inactive mode, the absolute priority of providing different NR frequencies or different system frequencies to the UE may be inherited in system information, in an RRC connection release message, or from another RAT in the different system cell selection (reselection) with respect to reselection priority handling according to 3GPP TS36.304 or 3GPP TS 38.304. In case of system information, NR frequencies or inter-system frequencies may be listed without providing a priority (i.e., the frequency lacks a cellreselection priority field). If priority is provided in the dedicated signaling, the UE will ignore all priority provided in the system information. The frequency prioritization for which the UE considers the highest priority frequency depends on the UE implementation. The UE performs cell reselection evaluation only on the NR frequency and the inter-system frequency which are given in the system information and the UE has the provided priority. Priority equality between RATs is not supported. The UE will inherit the priority provided by dedicated signaling in inter-system cell selection (reselection). The network may assign dedicated cell reselection priorities for frequencies that are not configured by SI.

For LTE (36.304) or NR (38.304) cell reselection, a cell chosen according to the "R" criterion must meet the cell selection capability ("S" criterion) as a precondition. The cell reselection criteria "R" defines a set of rules including mobility state parameter scaling. For inter-frequency or inter-system, the priority of the LTE frequency or inter-system frequency may be higher or lower than the priority of the current serving frequency and "R" will be performed in a different way, while SIB3 defines the absolute priority of the current LTE RF carrier, and similarly SIB5 to SIB8 define the absolute priority of the other RAT carriers. For the same frequency, the (RSRP) cell ranking criterion R of the serving cell and Rn of the neighbor cell are defined as follows:

a serving cell: Rs-Qmeas, s + Q _ hyst-Q _ offset _ SCPTM,

adjacent cell: rn is Qmeas, n-Q _ offset _ SCPTM.

Thus, for cell reselection, absolute priorities of different inter-carrier or inter-system frequencies may be provided to the UE in an SI or RRC connection release message or inherited by the UE from a previously connected RAT in inter-system cell selection (reselection). The frequency prioritization for which the UE considers the highest priority frequency depends on the UE implementation. There is no absolute priority for the LF and HF for the UE, and the UE considers only RAT-based frequencies, or listed carrier frequencies.

The conventional paging schemes discussed above focus more on beam-scanning based paging in SA HF systems than DC-based systems. However, beam scanning based paging schemes for inactive or idle UEs generate a lot of overhead (and therefore inefficiency) in terms of beam scanning, signaling and power consumption. The previous paging methods discussed above, e.g., the LF-assisted HF paging (e.g., LF MN + HF SN) mechanism, improve efficiency. However, LF-assisted HF paging lacks a triggering mechanism, e.g., using a policy or configuration to trigger HF paging using LF assistance. The LF-assisted HF paging mechanism is also limited to logic-assisted procedures and does not specify strategies that can be applied not only to paging, but also to various other scenarios such as scanning, cell selection or reselection.

In fact, since the wide coverage of the LF MN compensates well for high speed beamformed HF connections in DC or MC, it is reasonable to use similar compensation mechanisms in other operations besides paging for cell selection and cell reselection. As described in 3GPP TS36.304 or 3GPP TS 38.304, the same problems exist with UE initial access, Idle state or inactive state mobility, transition from RRC _ Idle mode or inactive state mode to RRC _ Connected mode, cell selection or reselection procedures, namely beam scanning inefficiency, especially when HF cells are deployed and need to be scanned. However, as described above, in the cell selection (reselection) procedure described in 3GPP TS36.304 and 38.304, the prioritization between different frequencies or RATs is provided to the UE through system information (e.g., SIB3, and SIB5 to SIB8 in LTE) or dedicated signaling, but is not used in the cell selection procedure. For cell selection, the RSRP and RSRQ are compared to a threshold to determine if the cell is "selectable. For cell reselection, the absolute priority of the inter-frequency or inter-system carrier is defined in SI, in RRC, or by inheritance.

The beam scanning based NR paging schemes (e.g., option 1 to option 4 and their enhancements) are limited to NR SA scenarios, resulting in a large amount of beam scanning and signaling overhead, and do not include NSA (e.g., EN-DC) or SA (e.g., NR-NR DC) scenarios where the (broad beam or LF) paging of the primary cell can replicate the (narrow beam or HF) paging design of the secondary cell. The NR paging scheme based on beam scanning, whether direct paging or group paging, cannot avoid the overhead of high beam scanning or beam alignment when the UE being paged must receive a paging signal or must transmit a UL response or RACH message. The wide beam (or LF) paging and connection establishment may replace blind beam scanning and DL synchronization associated with independent (HF) paging and data connection establishment paths in DC-enabled systems. DL paging and UL paging responses may be paired and carried opportunistically over different (LF or HF) channels and carriers or over asymmetric (DL versus UL) paths in DC-enabled systems. In LF + HF DC and multi-connection (MC) based systems, LF paging, camping and HF cell selection (reselection) can be coordinated, but there is currently no strategy or scheme to do so.

In particular, none of the above discussed methods or mechanisms present a unified strategy for coordinating paging and other operations such as cell selection and reselection across the various layers of an MN-SN cell coverage or LF-HF deployment. There is no policy or configuration between the LF and the HF or between the MN and the SN to specify absolute priority for performing paging or other operations.

The embodiments presented below provide a unified strategy for performing various operations of paging, paging listening, channel scanning, cell selection (reselection), and policy enforcement in a hierarchical manner. The policy may also be referred to as a rule, configuration, or standard. Hereinafter, the operation may be a network side operation, for example, downlink paging, downlink synchronization or Data Radio Bearer (DRB) or Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) establishment, and the like; it may also be UE-side operations such as paging listening, paging (e.g., uplink paging), paging triggered cell selection (e.g., when the UE needs to make a cell selection associated with idle mode mobility, or when the UE needs to scan a frequency carrier or channel in a paging opportunity), paging triggered cell reselection (examples are similar to cell selection), etc. The above-described policy may specify absolute priority levels for two sets of frequencies or two sets of transmission channels (e.g., paging channels). In the following description, the term "group" refers to a set of frequencies or a set of transmission channels. Differentiation is made as needed. The "transport channel" may also be referred to as a "channel". The transmission channel may be associated with a set of parameters, such as time resources, frequency resources, carrier frequencies, beams, codes, transmission power, or a particular node (e.g., MN or SN). The priority of one group is always higher than that of the other group, and the operation is performed with priority using the group with the higher priority and then using the other group (if necessary). That is, the priority of one group is absolutely higher than the priority of another group. Each group may include one or more frequencies, or one or more channels. The two groups are also referred to hereinafter as the first group and the second group for ease of description only. The use of "first" and "second" should not be construed as limiting the order in which the two sets of frequencies or channels are used, nor should they be construed as limiting the values associated with the two sets of frequencies or channels.

The above policies may be defined by a service provider or standardized and applied to a DC, MC or CA based communication system. The policies may be predetermined (e.g., hard-coded), pre-configured, or dynamically configured and reconfigured (e.g., via signaling). The above policies may also be defined by the core network device and sent to the base station and the UE. The above policies may also be defined by a primary node (e.g., a macro base station) and sent to secondary nodes (e.g., small cell base stations or TRPs) and UEs. In particular, the priorities assigned to the two groups may be predetermined or dynamically configured. Various policies may be defined according to the frequency or channel that can be used and the criteria for preferentially using the frequency or channel. The priorities assigned to the first and second groups may be determined according to various criteria based on various factors, such as bandwidth, beam width, beam scanning pattern, scanning delay, channel quality (e.g., penetration, transmission power, etc.), coverage, power level, load, unlicensed band (carrier or BWP) or licensed band, cost (e.g., carrier versus BWP), MN or SN, and so forth. In one embodiment, frequencies or channels available in the communication system may be divided into a first group and a second group, the first group and the second group being assigned different priorities according to a standard.

The following description takes as an illustrative example a policy that specifies absolute priority levels for two sets of frequencies, and is also applicable to the case of two sets of channels where each channel is associated with one or more frequencies. In some embodiments, if using one set in performing an operation incurs less overhead in performing the operation than using another set, e.g., less signaling overhead, latency, power consumption, cost, the criteria (or target) assigns a high priority to the set. For example, frequencies that do not require beamforming (e.g., omni-directional frequencies or quasi-omni frequencies or non-beamformed frequencies) are assigned a higher priority than frequencies that require beamforming (e.g., beamformed frequencies). In this case, if the communication system is capable of operating at multiple frequencies, the non-beamformed frequencies may be divided into a first group (or second group) and assigned a high priority, while the beamformed frequencies may be divided into a second group (or first group) and assigned a low priority. In the case of channels, channels associated with non-beamformed frequencies may be grouped into a first group (or second group) and assigned a high priority, while channels associated with beamformed frequencies may be grouped into a second group (or first group) and assigned a low priority. In another example, the priority assigned to frequencies in frequency range 1 below 6GHz may be higher than the priority assigned to frequencies in frequency range 2 (e.g., mmWave frequencies), frequency range 1 being LF, frequency range 2 being HF or higher. At this time, frequencies in frequency range 1 are preferentially used according to the above strategy. In yet another example, if the first and second groups are (or are associated with) beamforming frequencies but the beamforming frequencies have different beam scanning patterns or different beam widths, then the group with a low scanning delay has a higher priority or the group with a large beam width has a higher priority. In this case, since the two groups have different beam scanning patterns or different beam widths, the use of the two groups for communication may result in different overhead for paging, signaling, or scanning. According to the standard, a group with less overhead is preferentially used, and then another group is used, and thus a high priority is assigned.

In one embodiment, the frequencies allocated for use by the MN may be prioritized over the frequencies allocated for use by SNs of (or associated with) the MN. In the case of channels, the priority assigned to the channel associated with the MN may be higher than the priority assigned to the channel associated with the SN associated with the MN. In another embodiment, the frequency of SN usage assigned to a MN may be prioritized over the frequency of SN usage assigned to the MN. In another embodiment, the priority assigned to the frequency with a small load may be higher than the priority assigned to the crowded frequency. In yet another embodiment, frequencies with low costs (e.g., royalties) may be assigned a higher priority than frequencies with high costs. In yet another embodiment, the priority assigned to the frequency belonging to the unlicensed band may be higher than the priority assigned to the frequency belonging to the licensed band. In yet another embodiment, frequencies with good quality (e.g., channel quality, penetration, transmission power, interference level, etc.) may be assigned a higher priority than frequencies with poor quality. Any other criteria may also be applied to assign different priorities to the two sets of frequencies.

According to the above strategy, a frequency with a high priority (e.g., f1) is preferentially used, and then a frequency with a low priority (e.g., f2) is used. When f2 should be used can be determined based on whether a defined criterion is met, such as the occurrence of an event or the satisfaction of a threshold. For example, if the UE is paged using f1 before using f2 and a paging response is received before the timer times out (does not meet the criteria), then the UE need not be paged using f 2. Otherwise, if no paging response is received before the timer times out, the UE may be paged using f 2. In yet another example, if the UE is paged using F1 before using F2, then according to the information carried in the F1 page, a page response may be sent back using F2, and subsequent pages may also be made using F2. Various criteria can be formulated according to application scenarios and the like. Similarly, a channel with a high priority (e.g., c1) is preferentially used, and then a channel with a low priority (e.g., c2) is used. When c2 should be used may be determined based on whether an event has occurred or a threshold has been met, etc., that meets defined criteria.

The policy in the exemplary embodiment below is specifically referred to as "MN or LF first, hierarchical SN or HF second (MN or LF-first, and hierarchical SN or HF-second)" policy, for illustrative purposes only. The above-described policy may also be referred to as a "LF-first-then-HF (LF-first-then-HF)" policy or a "MN-first-then-SN (MN-first-then-SN)" policy. In the "LF before HF" strategy, one set of frequencies is LF and the other set of frequencies is HF, or one set of frequencies includes frequencies used by mn (LF) and the other set of frequencies includes frequencies used by SNs of mn (HF). The terms "LF" and "HF" are used only to indicate that LF is lower than HF and are not used to limit the frequencies involved to any particular frequency band. For example, one group includes LTE LF and the other group includes NR HF. In another example, one group includes NR LF and the other group includes NR HF. The following exemplary embodiments are presented in a communication system comprising a MN and a plurality of SNs for the MN, wherein the MN is associated with a LF and, conversely, the SNs are associated with a HF.

The "MN first then SN" policy specifies that the priority of the first set of channels is absolutely higher than the priority of the second set of channels. The first set of channels includes one or more primary channels associated with a MN, and the second set of channels includes one or more secondary channels associated with a SN associated with the MN. The first set of channels is preferentially used for paging the UE and then the second set of channels is used. The UE preferentially scans, cell selects, or reselects using a first set of channels and then uses a second set of channels.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the exemplary embodiments can also be applied to communication systems that do not include MNs and/or SNs. For example, the exemplary embodiments may be applied to a base station supporting LF and HF carrier aggregation. The following embodiments may also be applied to other strategies as described above, which require that one of the two sets of frequencies be used preferentially and then the other of the two sets of frequencies be used in stages.

In the following exemplary embodiments, the MN or its core network operator may act as both a policy controller and a policy enforcer, with each SN of the MN and the UE acting as policy enforcers. The policy controller may instruct the policy executor to execute the configured policy, i.e., to execute operations preferentially using one set of frequencies with high priority and, if necessary, to execute operations using another set of frequencies. The policy controller may dynamically adjust the policy (frequency in each group and/or priority of two groups) according to various factors such as load status, multiplexing factor, bandwidth of the involved frequency band or authorized sharing status, and instruct the policy executor to execute the adjusted policy.

Fig. 9 shows a diagram of an exemplary communication system 900. Fig. 9 highlights the configuration and implementation of "MN or LF precedence, hierarchical SN or HF second" unified policy to hierarchically perform downlink paging, downlink scanning, UE side cell selection (reselection) and uplink TAU or RAU. Communication system 900 includes a primary channel served by a gNB902 and a secondary channel served by a TRP, such as TRPs 904, 906, 908, and 910. The gNB902 is a MN capable of operating in LF and the TRP is a SN capable of operating in HF. Communication system 900 also includes UE912 served by gNB 902. UE912 is a mobile handset that moves within the coverage area of the gNB902 and can move into the coverage area of different TRPs. UE912 may be served by TRPs 904 and 906 at a certain point in time, with UE912 being served by TRP a and B (TRPs 908 and 910) after moving around. To avoid confusion, UE912 is now referred to as UE 914. The UE912 is shown in an inactive state, moving around. UE912 may also be in an idle state.

The gNB902 may perform policy configuration on the network side and the UE side (steps 1 and 2). gNB902 may exchange signaling with UE912 to configure the UE with the policies described above. In one example, gNB902 may send information of the above policies to UE912 and instruct UE912 to perform the above policies. The UE912 receives the information and instructions of the policy, and performs policy configuration on the UE side. If UE912 already has the above policies (e.g., hard coded), then gNB902 may send an instruction to instruct UE912 to perform the above policies. The gNB902 may receive the information of the policy from the core network device, and perform policy configuration on the base station side. Alternatively, the operator may configure the gNB902 through the policies described above. In addition, gNB902 may predict (or determine) a set of SNs (i.e., HF TRPs) from SNs within coverage of gNB902 to page UE912 according to the above-described strategy, where LF is preferentially used and then HF is used.

The UE912 may then perform the configured policy when performing one or more of paging listening, cell selection (reselection), uplink paging, uplink TAU, or RAU (step 3). For example, the UE912 may preferentially listen for LF pages and then for HF pages while in the RRC _ Inactive state or RRC-Idle state. According to the above strategy, the hierarchical paging procedure on the network side may include: the gNB902 pages the UE914 using an LF paging first (or MN paging first) strategy, (MN) predicts or determines the SN at which HF paging is to be conducted (i.e., predicts the SN for HF paging), and the predicted SN pages the UE914 using HF paging (step 4). As used herein, LF paging is referred to as paging using an LF channel and HF paging is referred to as paging using an HF channel. The gNB902 may instruct TRP a and TRP B, etc. to page the UE914 under HF, with TRP a and TRP B paging the UE914 respectively.

In different embodiments, the content of the various messages sent by the gNB902, TRP, and UE912 and UE914, as well as the ordering of the various messages, may be changed (e.g., exchanged, removed, combined, reordered, enhanced, configured, etc.) without changing the exemplary embodiments presented herein. The TRP and the gNB may be physically collocated as a single network device. In different embodiments, some of the steps 1-4 may be skipped or combined, or performed in a different order than that shown in fig. 9. As an illustrative example, the gNB902 may predict or determine (including selecting or configuring) the SN prior to LF paging UE 914.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary method 1000 for LF-assisted HF paging according to the "MN or LF precedence, ranking SN or HF second-most" policy, highlighting the behavior of the participant communication devices. The above strategies may be used for paging, scanning and cell selection (reselection). Fig. 10 illustrates the behavior and interaction of the first network node 1010, the second network node 1030 and the UE 1050. The first network node 1010 may be an LF MN such as an LF MgNB, or may be a core network node. The second network node 1030 may be an HF SN such as SgNB. The UE 1010 supports NR LF DC and NR HF DC, in RRC _ Inactive state. The first network node 1010 pages the UE1050 (in an inactive state) in a RAN-based paging procedure, the first network node 1010(MN) being aware of the topology of SNs under its control.

In this example, an LF-assisted HF paging scheme is used to page the UE1050, and a conventional DC SgNB addition scheme is used to inform the second network node 1030 to page the UE1050 in HF. The first network node 1010 preferentially performs a first coarse-grained LF layer paging during paging of the UE1050, and then uses a second fine-grained HF layer with the assistance of LF to refine or accelerate the paging process, or to establish an HF connection with the UE 1050.

The first network node 1010 may configure and send a "LF-first then HF" policy or a "MN-first then SN" policy before the UE1050 enters an inactive (or idle) state (step 1012). The first network node 1010 may send the above-described policies to other SNs, such as the UE1050 and/or the second network node 1030, and instruct the UE1050 and the SNs to perform the above-described policies. The first network node 1010 may perform the above-described policies by LF-paging the UE1050 (step 1014). After LF paging the UE1050, the first network node 1010 may instruct HF paging of the UE1050 according to the above-described strategy. When LF paging the UE1050, the first network node 1010 may inform the UE1050 of HF assistance information over LF. The HF assistance information may include approximate location or beam direction information for one or more SNs located within the TA or RA or within the coverage area of the MN; synchronization information of one or more SNs, e.g., time, frequency or code resources, or the approximate HF beam direction in which the downlink synchronization signal of the SN is sent to the UE or the HF beam direction in which the uplink synchronization signal of the UE is sent to the SN; or HF paging information for one or more SNs, e.g., paging TRP information (e.g., ID, scrambling code, etc.), paging plan, beam ID, or beam direction. The HF assistance information may provide useful information for the UE1050 to listen to HF pages. The first network node 1010 may send HF assistance information to the UE1050 over an LF Uu interface or the like.

The first network node 1010 may predict and add a set of SNs, e.g., the second network node 1030, located in the vicinity of the UE1050 and inform the UE1050 of HF paging time, code, frequency, beam and other scheduling information about the predicted SNs (step 1016). The first network node 1010 may provide the UE1050 with information of paging configuration, scheduling, content, space, time, frequency and code resources for the set of SNs 1030 to HF page. For example, paging configuration information (e.g., paging cycle carried in minimum or additional system information or UE specific RRC dedicated configuration, etc.), scheduling information (e.g., PF time, PO time, SS burst time, block time, DRX ON time, predicted beam direction, RACH resources, AU resources, paging response resources, etc.), content information (e.g., paging ID, reason code for downlink data availability for traffic ON secondary channel, etc.), etc. are transmitted by the first network node 1010 ON the LF channel to page the UE1050, wherein the paging is performed by the group SN 1030.

The first network node 1010 may refine the set of predicted or determined or selected SNs based on the reporting (or feedback) of the UE1050 or based on an expected time for the network node 1010 to receive a paging response from one SN in the set of SNs (step 1018), where the paging response may be generated by the UE1050 but forwarded by the SN 1030. These reports may be received from the UE1050 over the LF Uu interface. The first network node 1010 can update the set of predicted SNs (at step 1016) and notify the updated set of SNs. In case the second network node 1030 is one of the predicted SNs, the first network node 1010 may inform the second network node 1030, via an Xn interface or the like, that the second network node 1030 is the predicted or selected or "to add" SN that can be used for HF paging of the UE 1050. In this case, the first network node 1010 may send a request (e.g., a secondary node addition request), e.g., a SgNB addition request, to the second network node 1030 requesting allocation of resources for HF paging for the SgNB/SN 1030.

The first network node 1010 may wish to receive a paging response directly from the UE in LF, a paging response forwarded from one SN in the set of SNs over an Xn interface or HF channel, or a SN addition acknowledgement message from one SN in the set of SNs when sending a SN addition request to the SN (step 1020). The first network node 1010 may refine and update the set of predicted SNs based on receiving a paging response, etc.

The second network node 1030 may receive signaling from the first network node 1010 informing the second network node 1030 of the predicted or "to-be-added" SN that may be used for HF paging of the UE1050 (step 1032). When an HF page needs to be made to the UE1050, or an HF connection needs to be established with the UE1050, the second network node 1030 may start HF synchronization or downlink page the UE1050 using auxiliary information such as HF plan information in terms of power, time, frequency, space, or code for synchronization or paging (step 1034). When the UE1050 selects the second network node 1030, e.g., in a cell selection (reselection) process, and the second network node 1030 is beam-aligned with the UE1050, the second network node 1050 may wish to receive an HF paging response from the UE1050 or establish an HF DRB with the UE1050 (step 1036). The second network node 1050 may exchange signaling with the UE1050 over the HF Uu interface. The second network node 1050 may forward the received HF page response to the first network node 1010 or acknowledge the SN addition over the Xn interface between the MN and the SN (step 1038). At this step, the second network node 1050 may also exchange signaling with the UE1050 over the HF Uu interface, e.g., receive an HF page response.

In accordance with the above strategies, the UE1050 may initially camp to the LF with the first network node 1010 and prioritize the remaining strategies (step 1052) by performing LF scanning (e.g., listening to LF paging) and/or LF cell selection (reselection). When the UE1050 enters an idle or inactive state, the UE1050 may preferentially listen for LF pages according to the above-described strategy and then listen for HF pages when the timer expires without detection of an LF page, or the like. When cell selection or reselection is required, the UE1050 may scan for LF cells according to the above-described strategy and then scan for HF cells when a timer timeout criteria is met. The UE1050 may receive the LF paging message and assistance information of the HF channel (e.g., information sent by the first network node 1010 at step 1014) from the first network node 1010 and perform HF scanning (i.e., HF synchronization or paging listening) and/or cell selection (reselection) according to the UE's location or assistance information (step 1054). For example, the UE may listen for HF pages from the selected one or more SNs and/or perform cell selection or reselection to the selected one or more SNs. The UE1050 may determine whether the HF channel of the SN scanned in the cell selection (reselection) process has a good enough signal quality (step 1056), and when the quality of the HF channel of the SN is good, the UE1050 may select the HF SN as a potential service node and send a paging response (or AU) to the SN, or establish an HF connection with the SN (step 1058). The UE1050 may exchange signaling with the second network node 1030 over the HF Uu interface, e.g., a paging response occurs to the second network node 1030 under HF, and an HF DRB is established with the second network node 1030.

In different embodiments, the order of various actions performed by the first network node 1010, the second network node 1030, and the UE1050, paging or scanning, cell selection (selection), LF or HF paging response, and SgNB addition acknowledgement, may be changed (e.g., exchanged, reordered, combined, or enhanced). For example, the second network node 1030 may respond to the MN 1010 with a SN addition acknowledgement before HF paging the UE 1050.

In different embodiments, the content of the various steps and the order of the various steps performed by the first network node 1010, the second network node 1030, and the UE1050 may be changed (e.g., exchanged, removed, reordered, combined, enhanced, configured, etc.) without changing the exemplary embodiments presented herein. In different embodiments, some steps of policy configuration, SN prediction, etc. may be revised, skipped, or combined or performed in a different order than shown in FIG. 10. As an illustrative example, the first network node may not configure the policy described above (step 1012), or may not predict the set of SNs (step 1016).

Although the method 1000 is described with the UE1050 in an inactive state (for RAN-based paging), the method 1000 may also be applied to CN-based paging, where the UE1050 is in an RRC _ Idle state. In this case, the UE1050 is in RRC Idle state and CN-based paging will be employed to page the UE 1050. A first network node (i.e., CN) may first predict or select a group of MNs and forward a paging message to the group of MNs. The CN is at least aware of the topology of the MN. One of the MNs may then be selected to perform the above-described policy, as shown in steps 1012-1020. In this case, the CN may not directly notify the SN to page the UE, but only notify the SN through the selected MN. Alternatively, the CN may page the UE through the selected MN via the Uu interface (as on the NAS layer in LTE). The above strategy may in this case be referred to as "MN first then SN".

In some embodiments, each LF MN within the TA or RNA may employ a network-side policy in paging that specifies LF-HF prioritization, where LF is (absolutely) higher priority than HF, and the LF is used to page the UE before HF is used. Each MN, whether or not configured to operate in dual band (e.g., in the LF and HF bands), may always attempt to preferentially page UEs using LF before using HF. The MN can perform HF paging as needed, for example, when the HF cell provides coverage extension to the LF cell of the MN, or when an HF connection needs to be established. The MN may first operate in the LF layer, i.e., perform LF paging, and then operate in the HF layer. In the LF layer, the MN may page the UE according to the above strategy, either directly or via a small group of HF SNs under the MN's master control or in the LF coverage area. At the HF layer, the HF SN may then continue paging or connection establishment with the assistance of LF, as described above.

In the case of CN-based paging, the CN may be in signal or geographical proximity to the first list LF MN of UEs to be paged within the TA. The first column of LF MNs may include one LF MN or a small group of MNs within the tracking area. Therefore, fewer LF MNs may be involved in paging the UE. In this case, it may only be necessary that a LF paging response or AU of the UE has been received and a second column MN, possibly different from the first column LFMN, is required to trigger one or more SNs under control (as described in the DC case or in fig. 10), where the (second column) MN 1010 may perform HF paging or establish a connection with the UE either directly (if the LF and HF channels are collocated with the MN) or by associating SNs, as required. The CN or each MN in the second list of MNs may send the UE' S information (e.g., over S1 or NG-C interface) back to only one list of SNs (i.e., predicted or determined SNs). This avoids all SNs participating in paging or establishing HF connections and reduces signaling overhead. In CN or RAN based paging, only the listed MNs need to predict the respective columns of SNs that are under their control and in the vicinity of the UE. The list of MNs may send information of the predicted SN to the UE in LF, instead of all SNs within the TA/RNA. This further facilitates LF-assisted HF paging of the UE by the predicted SN or establishment of an HF connection between the UE and one of the predicted SNs.

An inactive or idle UE may employ a UE-side policy that specifies LF-HF absolute prioritization in various operations of camping, scanning, cell selection (reselection), or paging listening. According to the UE-side policy, in UE-side operations such as paging listening, it is possible to always preferentially use LF and then use HF. The UE may always preferentially scan for LF to acquire synchronization sequences and paging messages and then try (scan) for HF. The UE may then scan a reduced number of the list of HF SNs, e.g., as predicted by the MN, for HF synchronization and paging listening. The HF RACH may be performed with the assistance of LF, depending on UE side policy.

When the UE detects a paging message, the UE may respond to the paging with a paging response, or perform RACH on potential paging MNs (a small number of all possible MNs for CN-based paging) or potential paging SNs (a small number of all possible SNs). When the UE's movement makes fast or accurate HF beam alignment to any particular SN difficult, these potential paging MNs or SNs page the UE as instructed by the MN, use reserved HF RACH resources, etc.

The network-side policy or the UE-side policy may be used or managed in different embodiments. For example, the above policies may be implemented within a particular Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), within a Radio Access Technology (RAT) or frequency carrier, or across multiple PLMNs or RATs or frequency carriers. The above-described policy may be applied to the CN to predict a list of MNs, or to the MN to predict a list of SN lists. The above policies may be hard coded at the UE and the network device or coordinated between the UE and the network device through configuration signaling. The above strategies may be implemented in any combination as discussed herein.

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