Patent Description:
A Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP, a standardization organization) Technical Specification (TS) Release-<NUM> item (3GPP Release <NUM> item) is under study that relates to enhanced Long Term Evolution (LTE) support for aerial vehicles is based on the preceding study such as a study documented in 3GPP Technical Report (TR) <NUM> v <NUM>. The 3GPP Release <NUM> item aims to specify features that can improve the efficiency and robustness of terrestrial LTE network for providing aerial connectivity services such as for low altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones).

Among other things, in the 3GPP Release <NUM> item, Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling support for obtaining flight path plan or flight path information from the user equipment (UE) was described. For 3GPP Technical Standard (TS) <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM>, the following description has been proposed:
<NUM>. <NUM> Flight path information reporting.

Evolved Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) may request a UE to report flight path information consisting of a number of waypoints defined as three dimensional (3D) locations as defined in 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. A UE reports up to a configured number of waypoints if flight path information is available at the UE. The report can also consist of time stamps per waypoint if configured in the request and if available at the UE.

The availability of flight path plan in 3GPP TS Release <NUM> may likely be added to RRC connection reconfiguration complete message that is described in the following example:.

-- ASNISTART. (omit parameters that are not changed). RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete-v1510-1Es ::= SEQUENCE {
scg-ConfigResponseNR-r15 OCTET STRING OPTIONAL,
flightPathInformationAvailable
ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL
nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE {} OPTIONAL
}
---ASNISTOP.

3GPP TS Release <NUM> may be based on a network requesting the flight path information and based on the availability of flight path plan information possibly being added to the RRCconfigurationComplete message. From existing wireless communication standards such as 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM>, the RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message may already include a variety of information availability indications such as one of more of rlf-InfoAvailable-r10, logMeasAvailable-r10, connEstFaillnfoAvailable-r11, logMeasAvailableMBSFN-r12, etc..

Thus, in 3GPP TS Release <NUM>, the network may receive an indication of the availability of flight path information at the UE only after RRC reconfiguration. This approach can be disadvantageous considering the following: generally, a UE may obtain initial or updated flight path information via application layer. In this case, the network may not know of an updated flight path plan at a UE has become available unless the UE performs an RRC reconfiguration, which is inflexible.

<NPL>, describes that when the aerial vehicle enters RRC_CONNECTED, the aerial vehicle reports simple UE altitude information (e.g. below threshold or above threshold) via the mobility history reporting. The threshold information can be provided by UE Information Request message or the information can be also provided by other RRC (dedicated) signalling messages e.g., RRC Connection Reconfiguration if the network already certificated or identified the UE is the aerial type.

<NPL>, discloses several trigger conditions for flight path information report, such as: Option A: Upon reception of request message for flight path information from serving eNB. Option B: existing measurement event, e.g. event A3. That means when measurement report is triggered by event A3, the flight path information should be included in measurement report. Option C: handover command. A new request IE can be included in handover command, so after a successful handover a UE should report flight path information. Option D: Event of UE's height is above threshold(s) can trigger report of flight path information.

<CIT> discloses that the eNB transmits a RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to the aerial vehicle to reconfigure an established RRC connection. Similar with the IEs in the RRCConnectionSetup message, the measurement configuration IE is included in the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message, for example, to indicate a condition for determining whether the flight path information is changed with a measurement event. In another embodiment, an IE for requesting the measurement report including the flight path information is included in the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message. <CIT> which is after the priority date of the present application and the date of publication.

Furthermore, the embodiments of the invention are those defined by the claims. Moreover, examples and embodiments, which are not covered by the claims are presented not as embodiments of the invention, but as background art or examples useful for understanding the invention.

Some embodiments advantageously provide methods, systems, and apparatuses for providing flight information (e.g., flight path plan, flight path, etc.) in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information.

Some embodiments of the disclosure relate to adding updated flight path information to the 'DE Assistance information' information element (IE) described in a wireless communication standard such as in 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM> standard where the UE can indicate to the network or base station any updates to its flight path plan. In other words, in one or more embodiments, an existing IE such as a UE assistance information IE ("UEAssistanceInformation") that may be used to provide listed information from the UE to the network node is modified to include updated flight path information and/or other information described herein. In one or more embodiments, the modified UE assistance information IE may provide information associated with its original configuration and may also include flight path information associated with its modified configuration such that functionality is being added to the IE. The one or more embodiments on what information may be added to 'DE assistance information' IE are summarized below:.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a user equipment comprising processing circuitry configured to: determine whether to transmit an indication indicating that flight path information at least one of is available and has changed, and transmit, in connected mode, the indication based at least in part on the determination.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is included in an information element (IE) configured to provide assistance information where the assistance information is associated with at least one of power preference indications, bandwidth preference information, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) information, radio link monitoring (RLM) events, delay budget report and overheating assistance information. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication indicates waypoint information associated with the flight plan information. The determination whether to transmit the indication is based at least in part on whether an update to the flight path information is received from an application layer.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the waypoint information indicates at least one of: if new waypoints are available; which previously indicated waypoints are valid; an updated number of waypoints; if an updated number of waypoints is more than the previously indicated number of waypoints; a quantity of new waypoints; if time stamps of some waypoints have changed; if an updated waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated waypoint by a predefined threshold; and an update to a time stamp of a waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated time stamp of the waypoint by a predefined threshold. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, connected mode corresponds to radio resource control (RRC) connected mode.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a base station comprising processing circuitry configured to receive an indication from a user equipment in connected mode, the indication indicating that flight path information at least one of is available and has changed.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is included in an information element (IE) configured to provide assistance information where the assistance information being associated with at least one of power preference indications, bandwidth preference information, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) information, radio link monitoring (RLM) events, delay budget report and overheating assistance information. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication indicates waypoint information associated with a flight plan. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the waypoint information indicates at least one of: if new waypoints are available; which previously indicated waypoints are valid; an updated number of waypoints; if an updated number of waypoints is more than the previously indicated number of waypoints; a quantity of new waypoints; if time stamps of some waypoints have changed; if an updated waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated waypoint by a predefined threshold; and an update to a time stamp of a waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated time stamp of the waypoint by a predefined threshold. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, connected mode corresponds to radio resource control (RRC) connected mode.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a method implemented in a user equipment is provided. A determination is performed whether to transmit an indication indicating that flight path information at least one of is available and has changed. The indication is transmitted in connected mode based at least in part on the determination.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is included in an information element (IE) configured to provide assistance information where the assistance information is associated with at least one of power preference indications, bandwidth preference information, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) information, radio link monitoring (RLM) events, delay budget report and overheating assistance information. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication indicates waypoint information associated with the flight plan information.

The determination whether to transmit the indication is based at least in part on whether an update to the flight path information is received from an application layer. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the waypoint information indicates at least one of: if new waypoints are available; which previously indicated waypoints are valid; an updated number of waypoints; if an updated number of waypoints is more than the previously indicated number of waypoints; a quantity of new waypoints; if time stamps of some waypoints have changed; if an updated waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated waypoint by a predefined threshold; and an update to a time stamp of a waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated time stamp of the waypoint by a predefined threshold. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, connected mode corresponds to radio resource control (RRC) connected mode.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a method implemented in a base station is provided. An indication is received from a user equipment in connected mode where the indication indicates that flight path information at least one of is available and has changed.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is included in an information element (IE) configured to provide assistance information where the assistance information is associated with at least one of power preference indications, bandwidth preference information, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) information, radio link monitoring (RLM) events, delay budget report and overheating assistance information. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication indicates waypoint information associated with a flight plan. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the waypoint information indicates at least one of: if new waypoints are available; which previously indicated waypoints are valid; an updated number of waypoints; if an updated number of waypoints is more than the previously indicated number of waypoints; a quantity of new waypoints; if time stamps of some waypoints have changed; if an updated waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated waypoint by a predefined threshold; and an update to a time stamp of a waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated time stamp of the waypoint by a predefined threshold. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, connected mode corresponds to radio resource control (RRC) connected mode.

In the following, the invention is best understood in view of <FIG> and <FIG>. The remaining embodiments, aspects and examples disclosed below are included for illustrative purposes and for facilitating the understanding of the invention.

Some embodiments described herein provide for efficient flight path fetching or retrieval from a UE such that that base station/network receives an indication when or in response to the UE receiving updates for the flight path information of the UE. Some embodiments described herein may also enable the base station/network to retrieve information on what kind of updates the UE has received to the flight path information of the UE. Further, since the UE may not send flight path waypoints autonomously, when new flight path information is available, the base station is able to control when the UE sends updates to its flight path information. Furthermore, some embodiments may provide more flexibility for the base station for determining if a UE has updated flight path information at the UE when compared to wireless communication standards such as 3GPP TS Release <NUM> that rely on RRC reconfiguration signaling for providing such updated flight path information.

Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to providing flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information. Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

An indication generally may explicitly and/or implicitly indicate the information it represents and/or indicates. Implicit indication may for example be based on position and/or resource used for transmission. Explicit indication may for example be based on a parametrization with one or more parameters, and/or one or more index or indices, and/or one or more bit patterns representing the information. It may in particular be considered that control signaling as described herein, based on the utilized resource sequence, implicitly indicates the control signaling type.

It may be considered for cellular communication there is provided at least one uplink (UL) connection and/or channel and/or carrier and at least one downlink (DL) connection and/or channel and/or carrier, e.g., via and/or defining a cell, which may be provided by a network node, in particular a base station, gNB, or eNodeB. An uplink direction may refer to a data transfer direction from a terminal to a network node, e.g., base station and/or relay station. A downlink direction may refer to a data transfer direction from a network node, e.g., base station and/or relay node, to a terminal. UL and DL may be associated to different frequency resources, e.g., carriers and/or spectral bands. A cell may comprise at least one uplink carrier and at least one downlink carrier, which may have different frequency bands. A network node, e.g., a base station gNB, or eNodeB, may be adapted to provide and/or define and/or control one or more cells, e.g., a PCell and/or a LA cell.

Configuring a terminal or user equipment or node may involve instructing and/or causing the wireless device or node to change its configuration, e.g., at least one setting and/or register entry and/or operational mode. A terminal or wireless device or node may be adapted to configure itself, e.g., according to information or data in a memory of the terminal or user equipment. Configuring a node or terminal or user equipment by another device or node or a network may refer to and/or comprise transmitting information and/or data and/or instructions to the user equipment or node by the other device or node or the network, e.g., allocation data (which may also be and/or comprise configuration data) and/or scheduling data and/or scheduling grants. Configuring a terminal may include sending allocation/configuration data to the terminal indicating which modulation and/or encoding to use. A terminal may be configured with and/or for scheduling data and/or to use, e.g., for transmission, scheduled and/or allocated uplink resources, and/or, e.g., for reception, scheduled and/or allocated downlink resources. Uplink resources and/or downlink resources may be scheduled and/or provided with allocation or configuration data.

Generally, configuring may include determining configuration data representing the configuration and providing, e.g. transmitting, it to one or more other nodes (parallel and/or sequentially), which may transmit it further to the radio node (or another node, which may be repeated until it reaches the user equipment). Alternatively, or additionally, configuring a radio node, e.g., by a base station <NUM> or other device, may include receiving configuration data and/or data pertaining to configuration data, e.g., from another node like a base station, which may be a higher-level node of the network, and/or transmitting received configuration data to the radio node. Accordingly, determining a configuration and transmitting the configuration data to the radio node may be performed by different network nodes/base stations or entities, which may be able to communicate via a suitable interface, e.g., an X2 interface in the case of LTE or a corresponding interface for NR. Configuring a terminal (e.g. user equipment) may comprise scheduling downlink and/or uplink transmissions for the terminal, e.g. downlink data and/or downlink control signaling and/or DCI and/or uplink control or data or communication signaling, in particular acknowledgement signaling, and/or configuring resources and/or a resource pool therefor. In particular, configuring a terminal (e.g. user equipment) may comprise configuring the user equipment to perform certain measurements on certain subframes or radio resources and reporting such measurements according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

The term "base station" used herein can be any kind of base station comprised in a radio network which may further comprise any of network node, radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) base station such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), relay node, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The base station may also comprise test equipment. The term "base station" used herein may be used to also denote a user equipment such as a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.

The UE herein can be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a base station or another UE over radio signals, such as wireless device (UE). The UE may also be a radio communication device, target device, device to device (D2D) UE, machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity UE, a sensor equipped with UE, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a Narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) device etc..

It can be any kind of a radio network node which may comprise any of base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, RNC, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNB, Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entity (MCE), relay node, IAB node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH).

Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by a wireless device or a base station may be distributed over a plurality of wireless devices and/or base stations. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the base station and wireless device described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

The disclosure is described within the context of LTE, i.e., E-UTRAN. However, it should be understood that the problems and solutions described herein are equally applicable to wireless access networks and user equipments (UEs) implementing other access technologies and standards. LTE is used as an example technology where the invention is suitable, and using LTE in the description therefore is particularly useful for understanding the problem and solutions solving the problem.

Embodiments allow for providing flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information such that flight information may be provided one or more instances associate with messages such as RRC Reconfiguration Complete message, RRC setup complete message, RRC reestablishment complete message and RRC resume compete message, among possibly other RRC messages.

Returning to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in <FIG> a schematic diagram of a communication system <NUM>, according to an embodiment, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network that may support standards such as LTE and/or NR (<NUM>), which comprises an access network <NUM>, such as a radio access network, and a core network <NUM>. The access network <NUM> comprises a plurality of base stations 16a, 16b, 16c (referred to collectively as base stations <NUM>), such as network nodes, NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 18a, 18b, 18c (referred to collectively as coverage areas <NUM>). Each base station 16a, 16b, 16c is connectable to the core network <NUM> over a wired or wireless connection <NUM>. A user equipment (UE) 22a located in coverage area 18a is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 16c. A second UE 22b in coverage area 18b is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 16a. While a plurality of UEs 22a, 22b (collectively referred to as user equipments <NUM>) are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station <NUM>. Note that although only two UEs <NUM> and three base station <NUM> are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more UEs <NUM> and base station <NUM>.

Also, it is contemplated that a UE <NUM> can be in simultaneous communication and/or configured to separately communicate with more than one base station <NUM> and more than one type of base station <NUM>. For example, a UE <NUM> can have dual connectivity with a base station <NUM> that supports LTE and the same or a different base station <NUM> that supports NR. As an example, UE <NUM> can be in communication with an eNB for LTE/E-UTRAN and a gNB for NR/NG-RAN.

The communication system of <FIG> as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected UEs 22a, 22b and the host computer <NUM>. The host computer <NUM> and the connected UEs 22a, 22b are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection, using the access network <NUM>, the core network <NUM>, any intermediate network <NUM> and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. For example, a base station <NUM> may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer <NUM> to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 22a. Similarly, the base station <NUM> need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 22a towards the host computer <NUM>.

A base station <NUM> includes an information configuration unit <NUM> which is configured to configure the UE <NUM> to transmit an indicator associated with flight information such as flight path plan or flight path information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information, and receive the predefined message, the predefined message including the indicator associated with the flight information. A user equipment <NUM> is configured to include a flight information unit <NUM> which is configured to receive at least one update to flight information associated with the UE <NUM>, and determine whether to transmit an indicator associated with the at least one update to the flight information in a predefined message associated with UE <NUM> assistance information.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE <NUM>, base station <NUM> and host computer <NUM> discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to <FIG>.

The "user data" may be data and information described herein as implementing the described functionality. In one embodiment, the host computer <NUM> may be configured for providing control and functionality to a service provider and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The processing circuitry <NUM> of the host computer <NUM> may enable the host computer <NUM> to observe, monitor, control, transmit to and/or receive from the base station <NUM> and or the user equipment <NUM>. The processing circuitry <NUM> of the host computer <NUM> may include an information unit <NUM> configured to enable the service provider to provide flight information to/from one or more of UE <NUM> and base station <NUM>. In one or more embodiments, information unit <NUM> may be configured to perform one or more functions of base station <NUM> as described herein.

The communication system <NUM> further includes a base station <NUM> provided in a communication system <NUM> and comprising hardware <NUM> enabling it to communicate with the host computer <NUM> and with the UE <NUM>. The hardware <NUM> may include a communication interface <NUM> for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system <NUM>, as well as a radio interface <NUM> for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection <NUM> with a UE <NUM> located in a coverage area <NUM> served by the base station <NUM>. The radio interface <NUM> may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers.

In the embodiment shown, the hardware <NUM> of the base station <NUM> further includes processing circuitry <NUM>.

Thus, the base station <NUM> further has software <NUM> stored internally in, for example, memory <NUM>, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the base station <NUM> via an external connection. The processing circuitry <NUM> may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by base station <NUM>. Processor <NUM> corresponds to one or more processors <NUM> for performing base station <NUM> functions described herein. The memory <NUM> is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software <NUM> may include instructions that, when executed by the processor <NUM> and/or processing circuitry <NUM>, causes the processor <NUM> and/or processing circuitry <NUM> to perform the processes described herein with respect to base station <NUM>. For example, processing circuitry <NUM> of the base station <NUM> may include information configuration unit <NUM> configured to configure the UE to transmit an indicator associated with flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information, and receive the predefined message, the predefined message including the indicator associated with the flight information, as described herein.

The UE <NUM> may have hardware <NUM> that may include a radio interface <NUM> configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection <NUM> with a base station <NUM> serving a coverage area <NUM> in which the UE <NUM> is currently located.

The hardware <NUM> of the UE <NUM> further includes processing circuitry <NUM>.

Thus, the UE <NUM> may further comprise software <NUM>, which is stored in, for example, memory <NUM> at the UE <NUM>, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the UE <NUM>.

The processing circuitry <NUM> may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by UE <NUM>. The processor <NUM> corresponds to one or more processors <NUM> for performing UE <NUM> functions described herein. The UE <NUM> includes memory <NUM> that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software <NUM> and/or the client application <NUM> may include instructions that, when executed by the processor <NUM> and/or processing circuitry <NUM>, causes the processor <NUM> and/or processing circuitry <NUM> to perform the processes described herein with respect to UE <NUM>. For example, the processing circuitry <NUM> of the user equipment <NUM> may include a flight information unit <NUM> configured to receive at least one update to flight information associated with the UE, and determine whether to transmit an indicator associated with the at least one update to the flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information, as described herein.

In some embodiments, the inner workings of the base station <NUM>, UE <NUM>, and host computer <NUM> may be as shown in <FIG> and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of <FIG>.

The wireless connection <NUM> between the UE <NUM> and the base station <NUM> is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE <NUM> using the OTT connection <NUM>, in which the wireless connection <NUM> may form the last segment.

Thus, in some embodiments, the host computer <NUM> includes processing circuitry <NUM> configured to provide user data and a communication interface <NUM> that is configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to the UE <NUM>. In some embodiments, the cellular network also includes the base station <NUM> with a radio interface <NUM>. In some embodiments, the base station <NUM> is configured to, and/or the base station's <NUM> processing circuitry <NUM> is configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the UE <NUM>, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the UE <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the host computer <NUM> includes processing circuitry <NUM> and a communication interface <NUM> that is configured to a communication interface <NUM> configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE <NUM> to a base station <NUM>. In some embodiments, the UE <NUM> is configured to, and/or comprises a radio interface <NUM> and/or processing circuitry <NUM> configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the base station <NUM>, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the base station <NUM>.

Although <FIG> and <FIG> show various "units" such as information configuration unit <NUM>, and flight information unit <NUM> as being within a respective processor, it is contemplated that these units may be implemented such that a portion of the unit is stored in a corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, the units may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of <FIG> and <FIG>, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer <NUM>, a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>, which may be those described with reference to <FIG>. In a first step of the method, the host computer <NUM> provides user data (block S <NUM>). In an optional substep of the first step, the host computer <NUM> provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application <NUM> (block S102). In a second step, the host computer <NUM> initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE <NUM> (block S <NUM>). In an optional third step, the base station <NUM> transmits to the UE <NUM> the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer <NUM> initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (block S <NUM>). In an optional fourth step, the UE <NUM> executes a client application, such as, for example, the client application <NUM>, associated with the host application <NUM> executed by the host computer <NUM> (block S108).

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of <FIG>, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer <NUM>, a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>, which may be those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. In a first step of the method, the host computer <NUM> provides user data (block S110). In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer <NUM> provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application <NUM>. In a second step, the host computer <NUM> initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE <NUM> (block S112). The transmission may pass via the base station <NUM>, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional third step, the UE <NUM> receives the user data carried in the transmission (block S114).

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of <FIG>, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer <NUM>, a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>, which may be those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. In an optional first step of the method, the UE <NUM> receives input data provided by the host computer <NUM> (block S116). In an optional substep of the first step, the UE <NUM> executes the client application <NUM>, which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer <NUM> (block S118). Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step, the UE <NUM> provides user data (block S120). In an optional substep of the second step, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application, such as, for example, client application <NUM> (block S122). In providing the user data, the executed client application <NUM> may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE <NUM> may initiate, in an optional third substep, transmission of the user data to the host computer <NUM> (block S124). In a fourth step of the method, the host computer <NUM> receives the user data transmitted from the UE <NUM>, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (block S126).

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of <FIG>, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer <NUM>, a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>, which may be those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. In an optional first step of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station <NUM> receives user data from the UE <NUM> (block S128). In an optional second step, the base station <NUM> initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer <NUM> (block S <NUM>). In a third step, the host computer <NUM> receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station <NUM> (block S132).

<FIG> is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a base station <NUM> for communicating and/or indicating flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information. One or more Blocks and/or functions performed by base station <NUM> may be performed by one or more elements of base station <NUM> such as by information configuration unit <NUM> in processing circuitry <NUM>, processor <NUM>, radio interface <NUM>, etc. Processing circuitry <NUM> is configured to configure (block S <NUM>), e.g., by instructing, the UE <NUM> to transmit an indicator associated with flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information. Processing circuitry <NUM> is configured to receive (block S <NUM>) the predefined message, the predefined message including the indicator associated with the flight information.

According to some embodiments, the indicator is one of: a boolean value indicating whether the flight information is available, a boolean value indicating the flight information has been updated, a priority bit indicating whether an immediate rout of the UE <NUM> has changed significantly, and a bit indicating previous flight information. According to some embodiments, the indicator indicates at least one of: if the flight information has changed, if new waypoints are available and which previously indicated waypoints are valid, an updated number of waypoints available at the UE <NUM> and/or if the updated number of waypoints is more than the previously indicated number of waypoints, an amount of new waypoints and if some old waypoints are not valid anymore, if time stamps of some waypoints have changed, if an updated waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated waypoint by a predefined threshold, and an update to a time stamp of a waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated time stamp of the waypoint by a predefined threshold. According to one or more embodiments, an existing IE such as a UE assistance information IE is modified to include updated flight path information and/or other information described herein. As used herein, flight information includes flight path information and/or flight path plan information, among other information associated with UE flight, travel and/or movement, as described herein.

<FIG> is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a base station <NUM> according to the principles of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions performed by base station <NUM> may be performed by one or more elements of base station <NUM> such as by information configuration unit <NUM> in processing circuitry <NUM>, processor <NUM>, radio interface <NUM>, etc. In one or more embodiments, base station <NUM> such as via one or more of processing circuitry <NUM>, processor <NUM>, communication interface <NUM> and radio interface <NUM> is configured to receive (block S <NUM>) an indication from a UE <NUM> in connected mode where the indication indicating that flight path information at least one of is available and has changed.

According to one or more embodiments, the indication is included in an information element (IE) configured to provide assistance information, the assistance information being associated with at least one of power preference indications, bandwidth preference information, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) information, radio link monitoring (RLM) events, delay budget report and overheating assistance information. According to one or more embodiments, the indication indicates waypoint information associated with a flight plan.

According to one or more embodiments, the waypoint information indicates at least one of: if new waypoints are available; which previously indicated waypoints are valid; an updated number of waypoints; if an updated number of waypoints is more than the previously indicated number of waypoints; a quantity of new waypoints; if time stamps of some waypoints have changed; if an updated waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated waypoint by a predefined threshold; and an update to a time stamp of a waypoint is available which deviates from a corresponding previously indicated time stamp of the waypoint by a predefined threshold. According to one or more embodiments, connected mode corresponds to radio resource control (RRC) connected mode.

<FIG> is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a user equipment <NUM> for communicating and/or indicating flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information. Processing circuitry <NUM> is configured to receive (block S140) at least one update to flight information associated with the UE <NUM>. Processing circuitry <NUM> is configured to determine (block S142) whether to transmit an indicator associated with the at least one update to the flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information.

<FIG> is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a user equipment <NUM> according to the principles of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions performed by UE <NUM> may be performed by one or more elements of UE <NUM> such as by flight information unit <NUM> in processing circuitry <NUM>, processor <NUM>, radio interface <NUM>, etc. In one or more embodiments, UE <NUM> such as via one or more of processing circuitry <NUM>, processor <NUM> and radio interface <NUM> is configured to determine (block S144) whether to transmit an indication indicating that flight path information at least one of is available and has changed. In one or more embodiments, UE <NUM> such as via one or more of processing circuitry <NUM>, processor <NUM> and radio interface <NUM> is configured to transmit (block S <NUM>), in connected mode, the indication based at least in part on the determination.

According to one or more embodiments, the indication is included in an information element (IE) configured to provide assistance information, the assistance information being associated with at least one of power preference indications, bandwidth preference information, semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) information, radio link monitoring (RLM) events, delay budget report and overheating assistance information. According to one or more embodiments, the indication indicates waypoint information associated with the flight plan information. The determination whether to transmit the indication is based at least in part on whether an update to the flight path information is received from an application layer.

Having generally described arrangements for communicating and/or indicating flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information, details for these arrangements, functions and processes are provided as follows, and which may be implemented by the base station <NUM>, user equipment <NUM> and/or host computer <NUM>. Further, as described below, embodiments allow for providing flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information such that flight information may be provided one or more instances associated with messages such as RRC Reconfiguration Complete message, RRC setup complete message, RRC reestablishment complete message and RRC resume compete message, among possibly other RRC messages, thereby not relying on one specific instance or message such as a RRC connection reconfiguration complete message for communicating or indicating flight information. As used herein, flight information includes flight path information and/or flight path plan information, among other information associated with UE flight, travel and/or movement, as described herein.

In some wireless communication standards such as 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM> standard there is described an information element (IE) called UE assistance info (IE UEAssistanceInformation) with which a UE <NUM> can indicate to the base station, in a semi-controlled way, different aspects like an overheating problem of the UE <NUM> as may be specified in some wireless communication standards such as 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM> - Section <NUM>. <NUM> UE Assistance Information.

Some embodiments described herein advantageously include flight information such as flight path information and/or flight path plan information of the UE <NUM> in this UE assistance info IE (i.e., an existing IE such as the UE assistance information IE is modified as described herein). Different embodiments for the various types of indication (indicators) and/or flight path information that may be included, i.e., embodiments on what to include in a new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" within IE UEAssistanceInformation, are as follows:.

In this embodiment, a Boolean value indicating that flight path information is either available or has been updated can be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate", i.e., modified IE. In case the Boolean value is for availability, the values mean available/not available. In case the Boolean value is for update, the values may correspond to updated/not updated. The IE may include both Boolean values or have two bits for this indication.

In this embodiment, an indicator for indicating if the whole flight path plan has changed can be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate", i.e., modified IE.

Furthermore, another indicator can be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" for indicating if new waypoints are available and which previously indicated waypoints are valid. Alternatively, this indicator can indicate which previously indicated waypoints are not valid anymore and additionally indicate that the new waypoints that are available.

Furthermore, an indicator may be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" that can indicate the updated number of waypoints available at the UE <NUM> (i.e., as part of the updated flight path information) and/or an indicator indicating if the updated number of waypoints is more than the previously indicated number of waypoints.

An indicator may be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" that can indicate if time stamps of some waypoints have changed can also be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate".

In one variant of this embodiment, an indicator may be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" that can indicate if only the time stamps of some or all of the waypoints have changed while the waypoints themselves have not changed. This may be useful in a scenario where a drone or moving UE <NUM> travels along a planned path but the flight of the drone may be delayed due to unexpected circumstances.

In this embodiment, an indicator can be included in the new/modified IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" to indicate if an updated waypoint is available that deviates from the corresponding previously indicated waypoint by a predefined threshold. The predefined threshold can be configured to the UE <NUM> by the base station or network. This indicator may be useful in case the flight path of the UE <NUM> is changed where the base station can control how much of a deviation in flight path (i.e., deviation in updated waypoint with respect to the already indicated waypoint) is significant enough for the UE <NUM> to indicate the updated waypoint(s). In some embodiments, the predefined threshold can be defined in terms of <NUM>-dimensional distance.

In this embodiment, an indicator can be included in the new IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" to indicate if an update to a time stamp of a waypoint is available that deviates from the corresponding previously indicated time stamp of the waypoint by a predefined threshold. The predefined threshold can be configured to the UE <NUM> by the base station. This indicator may be useful in case the flight of the UE <NUM> is delayed where the base station can control how much of a delay in flight (i.e., deviation in updated time stamp of a waypoint with respect to the already indicated time stamp of the waypoint) is significant enough for the UE <NUM> to indicate the updated time stamp of the waypoint.

In this embodiment, a priority bit can be included in the new/modified IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" that can indicate if the immediate route of the UE <NUM> has changed significantly.

In this embodiment, one bit is added to the new/modified IE "flightPathInformationUpdate" that can indicate invalidation of the previous flight path information.

In another embodiment, a prohibit timer is started at UE <NUM> after "flightPathInformationUpdate" is sent. When the timer is running, the UE <NUM> may be prohibited from sending "flightPathInformationUpdate". The value of the prohibit timer may be configured by the base station. In another example, the timer can also be configured when UE <NUM> is allowed (by configuration) to send the flight path autonomously.

In addition, the FlightPathInformationUpdate may be included in another complete message than the RRCReconfigurationComplete message. It may be added to an RRCSetupcomplete message, RRCReestablishementComplete message and/or RRCResumeComplete message.

Example changes to the 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM> standard for an embodiment which previously reported waypoints are valid and if the new waypoints timers are available may be as follows:.

The UE <NUM> may set the contents of the UEAssistanceInformation message for power preference indications:.

The UE <NUM> may set the contents of the UEAssistanceInformation message for SPS assistance information:.

The UE <NUM> may set the contents of the UEAssistanceInformation message for bandwidth preference indications:.

The UE <NUM> may set the contents of the UEAssistanceInformation message for delay budget report:.

The UE <NUM> may set the contents of the UEAssistanceInformation message for the RLM report:.

The UE <NUM> may set the contents of the UEAssistanceInformation message for overheating assistance indication:.

The UE <NUM> may set the contents of the UEAssistanceInformation message for flight path information assistance indication:.

The UE <NUM> may submit the UEAssistanceInformation message to lower layers for transmission.

NOTE <NUM>: It is up to UE <NUM> implementation when and how to trigger SPS assistance information.

NOTE <NUM>: It is up to UE <NUM> implementation to set the content of trafficPatternlnfoListSL and trafficPatternInfoListUL.

NOTE <NUM>: Traffic patterns for different Destination Layer <NUM> IDs are provided in different entries in trafficPatternInfoListSL.

The UEAssistanceInformation message may be used for the indication of UE assistance information to the base station, i.e., the existing UE assistance information IE may be modified to include an indication and/or other information described herein.

A user equipment <NUM> that "prefers" to perform an action may correspond to a UE <NUM> being preconfigured to perform the action or the UE <NUM> making a determination to perform the action based on some criterion. <IMG>
<IMG>
<IMG>.

Example specification changes in a wireless communications standard such as in 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM> standard for an embodiment including prohibit timer, discussed above, are indicated in bold below:.

A UE <NUM> capable of, i.e., configured to, providing power preference indications in RRC_CONNECTED may initiate the procedure in several cases including upon being configured to provide power preference indications and upon change of power preference. A UE <NUM> capable of providing SPS assistance information in RRC_CONNECTED may initiate the procedure in several cases including upon being configured to provide SPS assistance information and upon change of SPS assistance information.

A UE <NUM> capable of providing delay budget report in RRC_CONNECTED may initiate the procedure in several cases, including upon being configured to provide delay budget report and upon change of delay budget preference.

A UE <NUM> capable of CE mode and providing maximum PDSCH/PUSCH bandwidth preference in RRC_CONNECTED may initiate the procedure upon being configured to provide maximum PDSCH/PUSCH bandwidth preference and/or upon change of maximum PDSCH/PUSCH bandwidth preference.

A UE <NUM> capable of providing overheating assistance information in RRC_CONNECTED may initiate the procedure if it was configured to do so, upon detecting internal overheating, or upon detecting that it is no longer experiencing an overheating condition.

Upon initiating the procedure, the UE <NUM> may:.

NOTE <NUM>: It is up to UE <NUM> implementation to set the content of trafficPatternInfoListSL and trafficPatternInfoListUL.

The UEAssistanceInformation message may be used for the indication of UE assistance information to the base station.

Signalling radio bearer: SRB <NUM>
RLC-SAP: AM
Logical channel: DCCH
Direction: UE <NUM> to E-UTRAN
<IMG>
<IMG>
<IMG>.

The IE OtherConfig contains configuration related to other configuration
<IMG>
<IMG>
<IMG>.

Claim 1:
A user equipment (<NUM>) comprising processing circuitry (<NUM>) configured to:
determine whether to transmit an indication indicating that flight path information is available and has changed; and
transmit, in radio resource control, RRC, connected mode, the indication to a base station based at least in part on the determination, wherein the determination whether to transmit the indication is based at least in part on whether an update to the flight path information is received from an application layer.