Patent Description:
In a typical wireless communication network, user equipment (UE), also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or wireless devices, communicate via a Radio Access Network (RAN) with one or more core networks belonging to different network operators. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into areas or cell areas, with each area or cell area being served by a radio network node, e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a Radio Base Station (RBS), which in some networks may also be called, for example, a NodeB, eNodeB or a gNodeB. The area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the UE within range of the radio network node.

A Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation telecommunication network, which evolved from the second generation (<NUM>) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is essentially a RAN using Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and/or High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for user equipment. In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for third generation networks and UTRAN specifically, and investigate enhanced data rate and radio capacity. In some RANs, e.g. as in UMTS, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g., by landlines or microwave, to a controller node, such as a Radio Network Controller (RNC) or a Base Station Controller (BSC), which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. The RNCs are typically connected to one or more core networks.

Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3GPP and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases. The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN/LTE is a variant of a 3GPP radio access technology wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network rather than to RNCs. In general, in E-UTRAN/LTE the functions of an RNC are distributed between the radio network nodes, e.g. eNodeBs in LTE, and the core network. As such, the RAN of an EPS has an essentially "flat" architecture comprising radio network nodes which can be connected directly to one or more core networks, i.e. they do not need to be connected to the core via RNCs.

With the emerging <NUM> technologies such as New Radio (NR), the use of a large number of transmit- and receive-antenna elements is of great interest as it makes it possible to utilize beamforming, such as transmit-side and receive-side beamforming. Transmit-side beamforming means that the transmitter can amplify the transmitted signals in a selected direction or directions, while suppressing the transmitted signals in other directions. Similarly, on the receive-side, a receiver can amplify signals coming from a selected direction or directions, while suppressing unwanted signals coming from other directions.

In this disclosure, the term "radio degradation" is used to denote a state or situation when radio communication in an area or location is poor in some sense, meaning that the radio communication between UEs and the RAN is basically not working as required. An area or location where radio degradation occurs will be referred to as "location X" for short, while the current location of a wireless device is sometimes referred to as "location L". A radio degradation may result in a failure to fulfil any service requirements, e.g. with respect to data rate, latency and quality, or even lost connection. A radio degradation may be caused by poor signal quality, interference, malfunction of equipment, inadequate settings or configurations in the UE or RAN, insufficient radio resources or capacity, and so forth.

Radio degradation may comprise one or more of: any performance degradation associated with radio environment such as increased Block Error Rate (BLER), increased interference, increased failure probability, e.g., mobility or handover failure, RLF, beam failure, increased dropping rate, radio signal strength or quality dropped by more than a certain amount or below a given threshold. Radio degradation is assumed to be significant, e.g. beyond fading effects, temporary or for which the network cannot be re-planned or re-dimensioned. Furthermore, radio degradation may occur due to some factors internally or externally to the network.

Radio degradation may occur in every wireless network. Once it occurs, Self-Organizing Network (SON) features may be automatically triggered to solve the degradation as soon as possible. However, a more efficient solution to handle radio degradation while enabling saving UE and network resources is lacking in the prior-art.

<CIT> discloses how persistent poor radio signal propagation is managed within a radio-based communication network by identifying a user equipment based on an estimated position thereof within a cell served by a radio base station in the radio-based communication network and based on propagation information defining a geographical area within the cell and where this geographical area experiences persistent poor radio signal propagation.

<CIT> discloses a radio quality degradation prediction system including a wireless terminal and a monitoring server. The wireless terminal includes a positioning unit that determines a position of the wireless terminal and notifies the monitoring server of movement history of the wireless terminal via a wireless network, and a user notification unit that gives a warning to a user upon receiving a radio quality degradation alert at the wireless terminal.

An object of embodiments herein is to provide a mechanism that handles communication in a more efficient manner.

According to an aspect the object is achieved by providing a method performed by a radio network node for handling radio degradation in a wireless communication network. The radio network node detects a radio degradation in an area of degradation, location X, in a radio coverage area served by the radio network node. The radio network node determines whether the location X, of the radio degradation, is within a local residency or not.

The radio network node further identifies at least one target
wireless device to inform about the radio degradation. The radio network node then transmits a notification of the detected radio degradation to the at least one identified target wireless device.

According to another aspect the object is achieved by providing a radio network node for handling radio degradation in a wireless communication network. The radio network node is configured to detect radio degradation in an area of degradation, location X, in a radio coverage area served by
the radio network node. The radio network node is further configured to determine whether the location X, of the radio degradation, is within a local residency or not.

The radio network node is further configured to identify at least one target wireless device to inform about the radio degradation. The radio network node is further configured to transmit a notification of the detected radio degradation to the at least one identified target wireless device.

It is furthermore provided herein a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method above, as performed by the radio network node. It is additionally provided herein a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the method above, as performed by the radio network node.

Embodiments herein are based on the realisation that as the radio network node identifies at least one target wireless device to inform about the detected radio degradation and then transmits a notification of the detected radio degradation to the at least one identified target wireless device, the radio network node only needs to inform the affected wireless devices in the cell about the radio degradation instead of informing all wireless devices in the cell. Thereby, the communication is handled in a more efficient manner and the power consumption of the one or more wireless devices is decreased.

An efficient reaction by the network to a radio degradation, e.g. performance degradation, may comprise two operations that may be performed simultaneously:.

It would be useful to propose methods to make the second operation more efficient while saving UE and network resources. This may be performed by letting a minimum number of UEs and/or only those UE which are sufficiently close to location X, calculate their actual location and compare their actual location to location X. The methods described herein are provided by examples and some of them are for LTE, however, the embodiments are generic to apply also for any Radio Access Technology (RAT) such as <NUM>, <NUM> or <NUM>.

As part of developing embodiments herein a problem related to radio degradation has been identified and will be discussed below:
In the prior art, there are solutions where the network provides notifications to UEs about a location X of a radio degradation. A downside with the prior art is that every single UE in a cell has to compare its actual location to the location X where the radio degradation has occurred, which unnecessary consumes UE resources. Furthermore, the comparison may be continuous, or periodic, or may need to be done multiple times.

In prior art, when a UE, e.g. UE1, located in a cell, e.g. cell1, experiences a certain radio degradation at a specific location X, it will then report preferably in real time the location X to the network, e.g. via dedicated signaling to a suitable network node. UE1 may be in idle or in connected mode. The reason for that reporting is that on one hand the network is enabled to take an action to solve the issue and on the other hand any UE2 moving into the area of degradation is enabled to avoid such degradation which might be useful depending on which type of UE is passing by that area, e.g. a driverless car. As a consequence, one immediate reaction from the network could be to broadcast the location X to all UEs in cell1 so that all other UEs may take a precaution while being close to the location X of degradation.

For example, it may be assumed that there were <NUM> UEs present in a cell, e.g. cell1, when the network has broadcasted information about the degradation in location X to all UEs. Note that if the network does not broadcast the location X to all UEs in the cell, then there is no other way for the UEs to know about the location X but to learn about the degradation via experiencing this itself and losing in service performance. However, sending the location X to all UEs has currently also a drawback illustrated in the following example:
In another example, the area of degradation, location X, could be located in a very quiet area, even worse, X could be small and located inside a house where at most only a few subscribers with UEs will be present at a time. Suppose that there are <NUM> UEs in cell1 at the time of degradation. A problem with prior art that has been recognized is that once location X is broadcasted then all the <NUM> UEs while performing calls or any other activity, have to compare their actual location to location X even though they may be relatively far from location X though within the same cell. In other words, even if the degradation might occur within a house affecting only a few subscribers, e.g. there may be only three residents with UEs in that house, in prior art every other UE in cell1, in the above example <NUM> - three residents = <NUM> UEs, will have to compare their actual location to the broadcasted location X in order to decide whether a certain action is necessary, e.g. a driverless car might avoid passing by location X or perform a handover or cell reselection.

A problem in prior art is that even though it is very unlikely that the <NUM> subscribers in that cell1 would pass by that specific area of degradation, a house in the above example, all UEs in the cell still have to calculate their actual location, which may be resource consuming, and compare it with location X. In fact, letting all other UEs, <NUM> UEs in the above example, to waste processing and battery consumption while calculating their actual location, e.g. via embedded mobile phone Global Positioning System (GPS), knowing in advance that they will never pass by location X, is an inefficient procedure that needs to be performed when prior art procedures are used. Such disadvantage of prior art becomes even more significant when the degradation remains long until the issue is solved. For example, if a radio degradation in location X is being broadcasted repeatedly for <NUM> hour, the UEs in cell1 have to calculate their actual location more than once especially in case they are moving in order to always be able to compare their actual current location to location X. For example, a moving UE might have to continuously calculate its location, e.g. periodically, so that once it is close to the degradation, it performs a predefined action.

Embodiments herein relate to wireless communications networks in general. <FIG> is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communications network, such as a wireless communications network <NUM>. The wireless communications network <NUM> comprises one or more Radio Access Networks (RANs) and one or more Core Networks (CNs) and the following examples involve just one RAN associated with one CN for simplicity, although the embodiments herein are not limited in this respect. The wireless communications network <NUM> may use one or a number of different technologies for communication. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a New Radio (NR) context, however, embodiments are also applicable in further development of existing wireless communications systems such as e.g. LTE or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA).

In the wireless communications network <NUM>, a target wireless device <NUM> and a reporting wireless device <NUM>, such as a UE, are present. Each of the target wireless device <NUM> and the reporting wireless device <NUM> may be a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) station (STA), a STA and/or a wireless terminal, communicating via e.g. one or more Access Networks (ANs), e.g. RANs, to one or more CNs. It should be understood by the skilled in the art that "UE" is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communications terminal, user equipment, Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) device, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station capable of communicating using radio communication with a radio network node within an area served by the radio network node.

The wireless communication network <NUM> comprises a radio network node <NUM> providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a service area, e.g. a radio coverage area <NUM> such as a cell, of a RAT, such as NR, LTE or similar. The wireless communication network <NUM> further comprises a neighbour network node <NUM> providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a service area, e.g. a neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM> such as a cell, of a RAT, such as NR, LTE or similar. The radio network node <NUM> may provide a transmission point and a reception point, and may be implemented as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNodeB (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a NodeB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a wireless device within the area served by the radio network node <NUM>, depending e.g. on the RAT and terminology used. The radio network node <NUM> may be referred to as a serving radio network node wherein the service area may be referred to as a serving cell, and the serving network node communicates with the wireless device in form of downlink (DL) transmissions to the wireless device and uplink (UL) transmissions from the wireless device. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

Methods and actions according to embodiments herein may for example be performed by the radio network node <NUM>. As an alternative, a Distributed Node (DN) and functionality, e.g. comprised in a cloud <NUM> as shown in <FIG> may be used for performing or partly performing the methods and actions described herein.

According to embodiments herein the radio network node <NUM> detects radio degradation in the radio coverage area <NUM> served by the radio network node <NUM>, e.g. based on at least one measurement report received from the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM>, and identifies at least one target wireless device <NUM> to inform about the radio degradation. The radio network node then transmits a notification of the detected radio degradation to the at least one identified target wireless device <NUM>.

Some actions that may be performed by the radio network node <NUM> for handling radio degradation in the wireless communication network according to embodiments herein, will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in <FIG>. The actions do not have to be taken in the order stated below, but may be taken in any suitable order. Optional actions that may be performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed boxes. The at least one reporting wireless device <NUM> is a reporting wireless device which sends measurement reports to the radio network node <NUM> and the at least one target wireless device <NUM> is a wireless device that receives the notification of the detected radio degradation.

Action <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM> detects radio degradation in the radio coverage area <NUM> served by the radio network node <NUM>.

The detecting may be based on at least one measurement report received from the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM> present in the radio coverage area <NUM>. In some embodiments, the at least one measurement report comprises radio related measurements that fulfil a predefined radio degradation condition. The predefined radio degradation condition may be based on a threshold value of one or more radio related parameters measured by the reporting wireless device <NUM> and/or the radio network node <NUM>.

Action <NUM>. If the location of the detected radio degradation is close to a border of another cell, e.g. the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, then the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM> may broadcast the location of the degradation to the wireless devices in the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, together with an identity of the radio coverage area. Thereby any wireless device performing a handover towards the radio coverage area <NUM> may take some precaution, e.g. avoid handover execution, into consideration. This will be described more in detail further below. Thus, according to some embodiments, if the location of the detected radio degradation is close to a border of the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, the radio network node <NUM> may optionally initiate in the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, a procedure of warning one or more target wireless devices in the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, which are moving towards the radio coverage area <NUM> served by said radio network node <NUM>. Such movements of the target wireless devices may be detected e.g. by using any conventional procedures related to positioning of wireless devices.

Action <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM> determines whether the location of the radio degradation is within a local residency or not.

In some embodiments, it may be further determined that the location of the radio degradation <NUM> is within the local residency when at least one of the following conditions is verified:.

Action <NUM>. When radio degradation in the radio coverage area <NUM> has been detected in accordance with action <NUM>, the radio network node <NUM> selectively decides whether to notify all wireless devices in the cell or not, e.g. for warning the devices or to trigger a preventive action by the devices. The radio network node <NUM> thus identifies at least one target wireless device <NUM> to inform about the radio degradation. In some embodiments the identifying the at least one target wireless device <NUM> may comprise determining if the at least one target wireless device <NUM> is moving towards the location of the radio degradation, e.g. based on the location of the radio degradation.

Action <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM> then transmits a notification of the detected radio degradation to the at least one identified target wireless device <NUM>. The notification may be transmitted as a broadcast, a multicast or a unicast. In some embodiments, the notification may be transmitted if it was determined in action <NUM> that the location of the radio degradation is not within a local residency.

In some embodiments, the transmitting of the notification may be based on a level of radio degradation impact, meaning basically that the notification may only be transmitted if the level of radio degradation impact is high enough, e.g. exceeds a certain threshold. The level of radio degradation impact may be based on at least one of: the number of measurements reported from the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM>, the location of the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM> or the speed of the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM>. The level of degradation impact may thus be related to the severity of the radio degradation, e.g. the radio degradation, and/or the number of impacted wireless devices.

Some of the embodiments herein, as mentioned above, will now be further described and exemplified. The text below is applicable to and may be combined with any suitable embodiment(s) described above.

The radio network node <NUM> may be e.g. a base station, a device in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) or V2V or a side link communication.

The embodiments herein are not limited to any specific RAT(s) and may apply for LTE, NR or any other RAT.

The embodiments herein are not limited to a specific wireless device activity level, e.g. the embodiments herein may be applicable for a wireless device in RRC_CONNECTED, RRC_IDLE, or RRC_INACTIVE. The notification of the radio degradation may sometimes be referred to as radio degradation information or degradation area information. The location of the radio degradation may sometimes be referred to as degradation area or location X.

In an example, the radio network node <NUM> detects, e.g. determines, a radio degradation, in a degradation area, e.g. upon an indication from one or more wireless devices <NUM>, and informs other wireless devices, such as the above-described at least one target wireless device <NUM>, about the radio degradation. However, the informing may be based on a metric, e.g. maintained by the radio network node or by another controlling node, indicative of the level of degradation impact, e.g. related to the number of wireless devices affected by the degradation.

The level of degradation impact may be divided into different groups depending on the impact level. If the level of degradation impact is in a first group, e.g. if the estimated number of affected wireless devices are above a threshold, then one of three actions may be taken which will be denoted the first, second and third actions in the examples below. Similarly, the examples below may be extended to three or more levels of degradation. An example of the first action can be to broadcast degradation area information, which may comprise location of the degradation, and/or informing a neighbour cell such as the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, e.g. that the location of the degradation is at the border of a cell or in the area of coverage of two or more cells. An example of the second action can be e.g. to determine one or a group (e.g. a multicast group) of target wireless devices <NUM> which need to receive the degradation area information and to send the degradation area information, e.g. the location of the degradation, to these one or more target wireless devices <NUM>. An example of the third action may be to refrain from sending the location of the degradation to the target wireless devices <NUM> at all.

Furthermore, in another example, the degradation area information may also implicitly or explicitly control, in the receiving target wireless device <NUM>, whether to perform (re)calculation of the target wireless device's location or not and whether to compare the target wireless device's <NUM> location, old or recalculated, to the received location of the degradation.

The examples of the first and second actions mentioned above will now be described more in detail.

First action: Selectively deciding in the radio network node <NUM> whether or not to broadcast, multicast or unicast the location X, e.g. the location of the radio degradation, to all wireless devices <NUM> in a cell, e.g. for warning the devices or to trigger a preventive action in the devices, and providing the radio degradation information, e.g. the detected radio degradation, accordingly. The radio degradation information may comprise location X and in some examples may further comprise an indication of the level of degradation impact related to the severity of the radio degradation and/or the number of impacted wireless devices. The radio degradation information may be provided to some or all wireless devices in the cell if location X is comprised in the cell or in a neighbour cell. The subset of wireless devices may be determined based on location X and/or based criticality of the radio degradation. Determining criticality of the degradation might be based on setting and/or defining different threshold for the same type of degradation. if a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) is < -<NUM> dbm then it is degraded, e.g. critical, but if RSRP is < -<NUM> dbm then it is very degraded, e.g. very critical. Furthermore, if the radio degradation information is determined to be delivered to a subset of wireless devices in the cell, this may be achieved by broadcasting or multicasting in one or more portions of the cell comprising or being close to location X, e.g., via transmission points (TRP) or narrow coverage directional antennas, and/or by encoding the radio degradation information so that it may be read only by the determined intended subset of wireless devices, and/or by transforming the location X, and its proximity, into a set S of radio characteristics and indicating to the wireless devices that only wireless devices having radio characteristics comprised in the set S shall receive the information. The radio characteristics may be e.g., signal strength or quality of the serving cell within a first range and signal strength or quality of a neighbour cell within a second range.

Second action: Controlling in the target wireless device <NUM> the triggering of the calculation of the target wireless device's <NUM> current location L and comparing it to the location X. This may be controlled by means of a rule based on the set S, e.g. do not calculate if the target wireless device's radio characteristics are beyond set S. This may further be controlled by means of selective broadcast, multicast or unicast over one or more portions of the cell described above so that all target wireless devices <NUM> that are able to receive and read the information shall compare their current location to location X, while avoiding this action in other wireless devices <NUM> of the same cell.

Furthermore, the degradation information may also implicitly or explicitly control, in the target wireless device <NUM>, whether to perform the (re)calculation of the target wireless device's location L or not and whether to compare location L, old or recalculated, to the received location X. This may be an explicit indicator, e.g. binary, or a pre-defined rule or a rule signalled together with the degradation information.

The pre-defined rule may comprise to always recalculate if received location X or recalculate upon certain conditions, e.g. battery level of the target wireless device <NUM> and/or the target wireless device's radio conditions such as a weak signal or speed or displacement of the target wireless device <NUM> is above a threshold.

The level of degradation impact may be specific to the type of degradation. some types of degradation may depend not only on the location but also on the capabilities of the target wireless device <NUM>, receiver techniques, cell size, etc. For example, for a first type of radio degradation ten affected wireless devices may be already too high while for a second type of degradation one hundred affected wireless devices may be medium criticality and may be determined, e.g., based on any one or more of:.

An entity or function denoted 'estimate number affected UEs', may be created at the Operating Support System (OSS) of the network or at a remote server connected to the OSS. That entity or function has the role to estimate the number of UEs that might be affected each time the radio degradation occurs. This could be done by taking its input from Google map (first input) or from Key Performance Indicator (KPI) at OSS (second input) or others. When a UE reports a location X of degradation in one cell, cell1, then the above-mentioned entity or function estimates the number of affected UEs. In V2X/V2V/side link this may be the number of neighbours. If it is low, e.g. if the radio degradation is affecting a small house, then the radio network node <NUM> does not broadcast location X to the UEs in cell1. Otherwise the radio network node <NUM> should broadcast location X to the UEs in cell1 and then the first or second actions mentioned above could be applied.

An advantage of embodiments herein is that there is a possibility to save resources of the wireless devices by preventing unnecessary (re)calculation of their location when there is an area of radio degradation nearby, which is especially critical in emergency situations.

The first, second and third actions mentioned above are further described by some examples below, denoted examples <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM>.

Example <NUM>: The network decides to broadcast the location X of the degradation or not depending on an external map and number of degradation reports coming from UEs, e.g. wireless devices <NUM>. it may be possible to broadcast if the number of UEs in the cell is small and the degradation area is large.

Example <NUM>: The network decides to broadcast the location X of the degradation or not only depending on the number of reported degradations coming from UEs.

Example <NUM>: The degradation is occurring close to the border of the serving cell, e.g. the radio coverage area <NUM>.

Example <NUM> will now be described in accordance with <FIG> and <FIG>. <FIG> and <FIG> illustrate a flowchart according to some embodiments herein for handling the communication in the communication network, where <FIG> is a continuation of <FIG> and <FIG> comprise the steps <NUM>-<NUM> where the order of the steps may vary in different implementations.

The main objective of example <NUM> is letting the network decide whether to broadcast the location X where the degradation has occurred to all UEs in the cell or not. the radio network node <NUM> decides whether to broadcast the location of the radio degradation to all wireless devices <NUM> in the radio coverage area <NUM> or not. The decision may be based on at least three inputs:.

Additional inputs or other information, not described here, might also be used for the same objective of example <NUM>.

Step <NUM>: The reporting wireless device <NUM>, referred to as UE1 in <FIG>, in idle or in connected mode, reports the location of radio degradation, e.g. location X, to the radio network node <NUM>, e.g. eNB. The location may be reported via an RRC MeasurementReport message.

Step <NUM>: In this next step the velocity and/or speed of the reporting wireless device <NUM> is taken into consideration. The velocity and/or speed may be reported by the reporting wireless device <NUM>. The velocity and/or speed of the reporting wireless device <NUM> may also be obtained by using any conventional method by the network. Based on this information, the following actions may be taken:.

Step <NUM> The radio network node <NUM> forwards the reported location X of degradation to the OSS where the entity, e.g. denoted 'estimate number affected UEs', will estimate the number of wireless devices that usually pass by the area of location X. The estimation may be with different levels of accuracy based on different input or combinations of inputs. Additionally, any of the inputs time, part of the day, day of the week or month/season etc. may also be used to make the estimation even more accurate.

Step <NUM>: The purpose of this step is to determine whether the reported location X is inside a residency or not and the result may be illustrated with a parameter, denoted flag_residency as follows: if flag_residency = <NUM> it means that the reporting wireless device <NUM> has experienced the radio degradation from inside the building. Otherwise if flag_residency = <NUM> it means that the reporting wireless device <NUM> has experienced the radio degradation from outside the building.

Step <NUM>: In case the result of the map for the reported location X is a non-residency, i.e. flag_residency = <NUM>, e.g. a road, then the radio network node <NUM> assumes that there may be new subscribers passing by the reported location X at any time and hence the radio network node <NUM> may send the location X of the radio degradation to all wireless devices in the cell so that the wireless devices heading to that location can take necessary precaution.

Step <NUM>: The result of the map might not be accurate enough in some situations. For example, when the result of the map shows that location X is a building, i.e. flag_residency = <NUM>. In such scenario the OSS could not estimate exactly the number of wireless devices <NUM> being affected. The reasons for that are that the affected location in that building might be a flat where very few residents are located or it might be a mall inside that building where hundreds or thousands of subscribers might be passing during busy hours of the day. For this reason the third input take into consideration the number of UEs that report the same degradation within a predefined period of time.

If the number of wireless devices <NUM> reporting the radio degradation, within a predefined period of time T, are very few, e.g. typically less than <NUM> or <NUM>, then the OSS entity may consider that it is most likely a flat and hence the radio network node <NUM> may take one of the following two actions:.

Step <NUM>: Otherwise if the number of wireless devices <NUM> reporting the radio degradation within a predefined period of time T are high, it may mean that the radio degradation is most likely occurring in a crowded public area inside the building, e.g. a mall or supermarket, and hence the radio network node <NUM> may send back the location of the radio degradation so that the wireless devices <NUM> nearby the location of the radio degradation will take the necessary precaution.

Example <NUM> will now be described in accordance with <FIG> illustrates a flowchart according to some embodiments herein for handling the communication in the communication network.

In example <NUM> described above, an external geographical map was used as an input to determine whether the reporting wireless device <NUM> is moving inside or outside the building. As an alternative where the geographical map is not required, example <NUM> may be used. Example <NUM> comprises introducing a new parameter called UE_flag_residency. This parameter takes into consideration velocity or speed information of the reporting wireless device <NUM> and the maximum range and/or distance the wireless device is making in its surroundings.

When the reporting wireless device <NUM> encounters a radio degradation, it triggers its accelerometer and gyroscope. The result is shown in a parameter, e.g. UE_flag_residency, which may be coded with two bits. Depending on the four possible outcomes of flag_residency the following steps <NUM>-<NUM> may be performed, where the order of the steps may vary in different implementations:
Step <NUM>: If the reporting wireless device <NUM>, e.g. UE1, is moving with a high speed/velocity then UE_flag_residency is = <NUM>. In such case, the network, e.g. radio network node <NUM>, may send the location X of the radio degradation to all wireless devices in the cell.

If the reporting wireless device <NUM> is moving slowly then two scenarios are studied which are described in step <NUM> and step <NUM> below.

Step <NUM>: When the reporting wireless device <NUM> is moving within a larger range, then the location X of the radio degradation is most probably a mall, and hence the UE_flag_residency is equal to another value, e.g. to <NUM>. In such case, the radio network node <NUM> may send the location X of the radio degradation to all wireless devices in the cell.

Step <NUM>: When the reporting wireless device <NUM> is moving within a certain range such as a ray or beam, e.g. extending <NUM> or <NUM> meters, it may mean that the location X of the radio degradation is considered as being a flat and once the reporting wireless device <NUM>, e.g. UE1, reports the encountered radio degradation it sends UE_flag_residency = <NUM>. Here the information that the reporting wireless device <NUM> is moving slowly within a small ray does not tell by itself whether the reporting wireless device <NUM> is in a flat or whether it is in a hall, e.g. a shop in a mall or a wedding gathering hall. In fact suppose that at a location Y is inside a house when the reporting wireless device <NUM> reports a degradation to the network. And at another location Z, another wireless device, e.g. UE2, is inside a shop or a pharmacy when reporting the degradation to the network. Because both UE1 and UE2 are moving at very low speed, there is no way for the network to know from such information whether locations Y and Z are a residency or not. This is in contrast to step <NUM> above, where the reporting wireless device <NUM> is moving at high velocity, as the reporting wireless device <NUM> is e.g. is inside a car, is riding a bicycle or is running, which may indicate that the reporting wireless device <NUM> is not inside a residency. That is why a second factor, that is the number of degradation reports coming from the same area, from different wireless devices, may be involved in order for the radio network node <NUM> to take a more accurate decision and two scenarios are then considered. The idea is to check how many different wireless devices have experienced and reported the degradation from the same location. During each call some temporary as well as a permanent UE identity, e.g. International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), are reported to the network. Thanks to such information, the network may determine whether the number of reported degradations is coming from the same wireless device or from different wireless devices. For example, if the degradation occurs in a residency then very few different UEs may be affected and report the degradation, whereas if a degradation occurs in a shop or mall or wedding gathering then many different UEs may be affected and report the degradation. In other words, according to an example it may not be the number of degradation reports by itself that is counted. It may be the number of degradation reports coming from different UEs that is counted. In the first scenario, if, during a predefined period of time T, the number of reports coming from other wireless devices, e.g. UE2, that are reporting the same area of UE1 is very low, then the radio network node <NUM> may not send the location X of the radio degradation to all wireless devices in the cell.

Step <NUM>: In the second scenario, if, during a predefined period of time T, the number of reports coming from other wireless devices, e.g. UE2, that are reporting the same area of UE1 is high, then the radio network node <NUM> may send the location X of the radio degradation to all wireless devices in the cell so that any wireless device moving to that area could take precaution.

Example <NUM> will now be described in accordance with <FIG> illustrates a flowchart according to some embodiments herein for handling the communication in the communication network. The reported location X of degradation is compared to the border of the serving cell.

Initial step: Every cell has built its own radio coverage map including the serving cell, e.g. cell1. In <FIG> the following steps <NUM>-<NUM> may be performed, where the order of the steps may vary in different implementations:.

<FIG> is a block diagram depicting the radio network node <NUM> for handling radio degradation in the wireless communication network, according to embodiments herein.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise processing circuitry <NUM>, e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise a detecting unit <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the detecting unit <NUM> is configured to detect radio degradation in the radio coverage area <NUM> served by the radio network node <NUM>. The detecting may be based on at least one measurement report received from the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM> present in the radio coverage area <NUM>. The at least one measurement report may be adapted to comprise radio related measurements that fulfil the predefined radio degradation condition.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise an initiating unit <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the initiating unit <NUM> may be configured to, if the location <NUM> of the detected radio degradation is close to the border of the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, initiate in the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, the procedure of warning one or more target wireless devices in the neighbouring radio coverage area <NUM>, which are moving towards the radio coverage area <NUM> served by said radio network node <NUM>.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise a determining unit <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the determining unit <NUM> may be configured to determine whether the location <NUM> of the radio degradation is within the local residency or not. It may be determined that the location <NUM> of the radio degradation <NUM> is within the local residency when at least one of the following conditions is verified:.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise an identifying unit <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the identifying unit <NUM> is configured to identify at least one target wireless device <NUM> to inform about the radio degradation. The identifying the at least one target wireless device <NUM> may further comprise determining if the at least one target wireless device is moving towards the location <NUM> of the radio degradation.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise a transmitting unit <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> is configured to transmit a notification of the detected radio degradation to the at least one identified target wireless device <NUM>. The notification may be adapted to be transmitted as a broadcast, a multicast or a unicast. The notification may be adapted to be transmitted if the location <NUM> of the radio degradation is not within the local residency. The transmitting may be adapted to be based on the level of radio degradation impact. The level of radio degradation impact may be based on at least one of: the number of measurements reported from the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM>, the location of the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM> or the speed of the at least one reporting wireless device <NUM>.

The radio network node <NUM> further comprises a memory <NUM>. The memory <NUM> comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as radio degradation information, measurement reports, input/output data, metadata, etc. and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. The radio network node <NUM> may further comprise a communication interface comprising e.g. one or more antenna or antenna elements.

The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the radio network node <NUM> are respectively implemented by means of e.g. a computer program product <NUM> or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the radio network node <NUM>. The computer program product <NUM> may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium <NUM>, e.g. a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium <NUM>, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the radio network node <NUM>. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

In some embodiments a more general term "network node" is used and it can correspond to any type of radio-network node or any network node, which communicates with a wireless device and/or with another network node. Examples of network nodes are gNodeB, eNodeB, NodeB, MeNB, SeNB, a network node belonging to Master cell group (MCG) or Secondary cell group (SCG), base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, network controller, radio-network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), etc..

In some embodiments the non-limiting term wireless device or user equipment (UE) is used and it refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another wireless device in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, proximity capable UE (aka ProSe UE), machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc..

Embodiments are applicable to any radio access technology (RAT) or multi-RAT systems, where the devices receives and/or transmit signals, e.g. data, such as New Radio (NR), Wi-Fi, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications/enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM/EDGE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations.

As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, that functions means or circuits may be implemented using digital logic and/or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and/or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a UE or network node, for example.

Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing units discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term "processor" or "controller" as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware and/or program or application data. Designers of communications devices will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings represent non-limiting examples of the methods and apparatus taught herein. As such, the apparatus and techniques taught herein are not limited by the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Instead, the embodiments herein are limited only by the following claims and their legal equivalents.

<FIG> shows a Telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments. Access network <NUM> comprises a plurality of base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points being examples of the radio network node <NUM> above, each defining a corresponding coverage area 3213a, 3213b, 3213c. Each base station 3212a, 3212b, 3212c is connectable to core network <NUM> over a wired or wireless connection <NUM>. A first UE <NUM> located in coverage area 3213c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 3212c. A second UE <NUM> in coverage area 3213a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 3212a. While a plurality of UEs <NUM>, <NUM> are illustrated in this example being examples of the wireless device <NUM> above, 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>.

<FIG> shows a host computer communicating via a base station and with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments
Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to <FIG>.

It is noted that host computer <NUM>, base station <NUM> and UE <NUM> illustrated in <FIG> may be similar or identical to host computer <NUM>, one of base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c and one of UEs <NUM>, <NUM> of <FIG>, respectively.

Wireless connection <NUM> between UE <NUM> and 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 UE <NUM> using OTT connection <NUM>, in which wireless connection <NUM> forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may increase the performance of the UE as only the affected wireless devices in the cell are informed about the radio degradation instead of informing all wireless devices in the cell. This improves the UE battery life time and the overall network signalling overhead.

<FIG> shows methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

<FIG> show methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

Claim 1:
A method performed by a radio network node (<NUM>) for handling a radio degradation in a wireless communication network, wherein the method comprises:
detecting (<NUM>) the radio degradation, in an area of degradation, location X, in a radio coverage area (<NUM>) served by the radio network node (<NUM>);
identifying (<NUM>) at least one target wireless device (<NUM>) to inform about the radio degradation; and
transmitting (<NUM>) a notification of the detected radio degradation to the at least one identified target wireless device (<NUM>); characterized in that the method further comprises:
determining (<NUM>) whether the location X, of the radio degradation, is within a local residency or not.