PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11711405-B2
Application Number: US-202017430290-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Core network support for delay budget information (DBI) signaling in IMS multimedia sessions

Abstract:
Methods and systems are disclosed for supporting delay budget information in IMS systems. Requests for DBI are received by a first node, contained within a SIP message. This can be achieved by filling a feedback field within the signal with a delay budget indicator. The first node analyzes the received signal in order to determine whether DBI is being requested. Based on this analysis, a request signal is forwarded to a second node, which carries out resource reservation. The request signal can be based on a H.248:Add.req message. In this manner, DBI can be signaled and supported even without dedicated DBI messaging.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for delay budget information (DBI) signaling in an IP multimedia system (IMS) session, the method comprising:
 receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message containing a Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) body; 
 reviewing contents of the SIP invite message; 
 forwarding, based on the contents of the SIP invite message, the SDP body to a network node; 
 receiving an allocation of DBI resources from the network node; and 
 transmitting an answer message based on the received allocation of DBI resources, 
 wherein the SIP invite message includes a feedback field designating a 3GPP delay budget, and 
 wherein the forwarding occurs in response to the feedback field designating the 3GPP delay budget. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network node is an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) access gateway (AGW). 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the forwarded SDP body includes a DBI information element from the received SIP invite message. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the answer message is an H.248:ADD.resp message. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the SDP body is forwarded via an H.248:ADD.req message. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the allocation of DBI resources from the network node is included within a response message. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the response message is an H.248:ADD.resp message. 
     
     
       8. A method for delay budget information (DBI) signaling, comprising:
 receiving a Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) offer containing a SDP body; 
 reviewing contents of the SDP offer; 
 reviewing a local DBI policy; 
 requesting, based on the local DBI policy and the contents of the SDP offer, reservation of resources related to DBI from a network node; and 
 receiving a reservation of DBI resources from the network node, 
 wherein the SDP offer includes a feedback field designating a 3GPP delay budget. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising reviewing DBI negotiation results on other call legs. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the requesting is further based on the DBI negotiation results on other call legs. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the network node is a Media Resource Function Processor (MRFP). 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the reservation of DBI resources is received in an H.248:ADD.resp message. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the reservation of DBI resources is received within a response message. 
     
     
       14. An IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node for delay budget information (DBI) signaling in an IP multimedia system (IMS) session, the IMS network node comprising:
 radio front end circuitry; and 
 one or more processors, coupled to the radio front end circuitry, and configured to:
 receive, via the radio front end circuitry, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message containing an Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) body; 
 review contents of the received SIP invite message; 
 forward, via the radio front end circuitry, based on the contents of the SIP invite message, the SDP body to a network node; 
 receive, via the radio front end circuitry, an allocation of DBI resources from the network node; and 
 transmit, via the radio front end circuitry, an answer message based on the received allocation of DBI resources, 
 wherein the SIP invite message includes a feedback field designating a 3GPP delay budget, and 
 wherein the forwarding occurs in response to the feedback field designating the 3GPP delay budget. 
 
 
     
     
       15. The IMS network node of  claim 14 , wherein the network node is an IMS access gateway. 
     
     
       16. The IMS network node of  claim 14 , wherein the forwarded SDP body includes a DBI information element from the received SIP invite message. 
     
     
       17. The IMS network node of  claim 14 , wherein the answer message is an H.248:ADD.resp message. 
     
     
       18. The IMS network node of  claim 14 , wherein the SDP body is forwarded via an H.248:ADD.req message. 
     
     
       19. The IMS network node of  claim 14 , wherein the allocation of DBI resources is received within a response message. 
     
     
       20. The IMS network node of  claim 19 , wherein the response message is an H.248:ADD.resp message.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a U.S. National Phase of International Application No. PCT/US2020/017958, filed Feb. 12, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/804,592, filed Feb. 12, 2019, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     This disclosure relates to wireless communications, and specifically delay budget information signaling. 
     SUMMARY 
     An embodiment of the present disclosure describes a method for delay budget information (DBI) signaling in an IP multimedia system (IMS) session. The method includes receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message containing a Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) body and reviewing contents of the SIP invite message. Based on the contents of the SIP invite message, the SDP body is forwarded to a network node. An allocation of DBI resources is then received from the network node. Then, an answer message is transmitted based on the received allocation of DBI resources. 
     An embodiment of the present disclosure describes a method for delay budget information (DBI) signalling. The method includes receiving a Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) offer containing an SDP body, and reviewing the contents of the SIP invite message. A local DBI policy is also reviewed. Based on the local policy and the contents of the SDP offer, reservation of resources related to DBI is requested from a network node. Then, a reservation of DBI resources is received from the network node. 
     An embodiment of the present disclosure describes an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node for delay budget information (DBI) signaling in an IP multimedia system (IMS) session. The IMS network node includes a radio front end circuitry and one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to carry out several relevant functions. For example, the processors receive, via the radio front end circuitry, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message containing a Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) body. The processors then review contents of the received SIP invite message. Based on the contents of the SIP invite message, the processors forward the SDP body to a network node via the radio front end circuitry. In response, the processors receive, via the radio front end circuitry, an allocation of DBI resources from the network node. The processors then transmit, via the radio front end circuitry, an answer message based on the received allocation of DBI resources. 
     In embodiments of the present disclosure, the SIP invite message includes a feedback field designating a 3GPP delay budget. 
     In embodiments of the present disclosure, the forwarding occurs in response to the feedback field designating a 3GPP delay budget. 
     In embodiments of the present disclosure, the network node is an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) access gateway (AGW). 
     In embodiments of the present disclosure, the forwarded SDP body includes a DBI information element from the received SIP invite message. 
     In embodiments of the present disclosure, the answer message is an H.248:ADD.resp message. 
     In embodiments of the present disclosure, the SDP body is forwarded via an H.248:ADD.req message. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG.  1    illustrates a process flow diagram illustrating the messaging exchange between an IMS-ALG and an IMS-AGW according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  2    illustrates a process flow diagram illustrating the messaging exchange between an IBCF and a TrGW according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  3    illustrates a process flow diagram illustrating the messaging exchange beteween an MRFC and an MRFP according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  4    depicts an architecture of a system of a network in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  5    depicts an architecture of a system including a first core network in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG.  6    depicts an architecture of a system including a second core network in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG.  7    depicts an example of infrastructure equipment in accordance with various embodiments; 
         FIG.  8    depicts example components of a computer platform in accordance with various embodiments; 
         FIG.  9    depicts example components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry in accordance with various embodiments; 
         FIG.  10    is an illustration of various protocol functions that may be used for various protocol stacks in accordance with various embodiments; 
         FIG.  11    illustrates components of a core network in accordance with various embodiments; 
         FIG.  12    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system to support NFV; and 
         FIG.  13    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase “A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). 
     As part of the E2E_DELAY Rel-16 work item, 3GPP SA4 conducted normative work to specify the media handling aspects of radio access network (RAN) delay budget reporting (specified in TS 36.331 for E-UTRA and TS 38.331 for NR) in the Multimedia Telephony Service over IMS (MTSI). More specifically, this work item specified the following functionality in TS 26.114, as aligned with the conclusions of TR 26.910:
     1. Recommendations on when and how the UEs in an MTSI session should use RAN-based delay adjustment mechanisms in an end-to-end fashion also accounting other factors such as local radio conditions, various RAN capabilities and configurations, jitter buffer considerations, and UE battery constraints   2. Recommendations on when and how the various kinds of end-to-end quality metrics and other relevant information in the MTSI client could be used to trigger RAN delay budget reporting   3. Service Discovery Protocol (SDP)-based exchange of RAN capabilities in regards to delay budget reporting   4. Real time Protocol (RTP)/Real Time transport protocol control protocol (RTCP)-based indication of available additional delay budget and requested delay budget information   

     Toward addressing these objectives, Delay Budget Information (DBI) signaling framework was defined as described in clauses 6.2.8, 7.3.8 and Annex V of TS 26.114 v16.0.0 that relies on a newly defined RTCP feedback (FB) message. More specifically, the Real Time transport protocol control protocol RTCP-based signaling of DBI is composed of a dedicated RTCP FB message type to carry available additional delay budget during the RTP streaming of media, signaled from the MTSI receiver to the MTSI sender. In addition, the defined RTCP feedback message type may also be used to carry requested additional delay budget during the RTP streaming of media, signalled from the MTSI sender to the MTSI receiver. An MTSI client supporting DBI can offer this capability in SDP for all media streams containing speech and/or video by including the a=rtcp-fb attribute with the DBI type under the relevant media line scope as expressed with the parameter 3gpp-delay-budget. 
     On top of the work SA4 completed, it is essential that the IMS core network entities such as media resource function controller (MRFC), media resource function processor (MRFP), transition gateway (TrGW) and IMS access gateway (IMS-AGW) can also support RTCP-FB signaling of DBI such that delay budget information can be exchanged. 
     This disclosure describes mechanisms to provide support for the Delay Budget Information (DBI) signaling, as defined in 3GPP TS 26.114, within the core network IMS nodes. The following related capabilities may be provided:
         Support the end-to-end SDP negotiation of DBI between MTSI terminals through the IMS.   Support the transparent end-to-end exchange of the RTCP-FB siganaling related to DBI in the media plane between MTSI terminals through the IMS.   Interactions between the interconnection border control function (IBCF) and the TrGW, and between the IMS-ALG and IMS application layer gateway (IMS-AGW), to configure the TrGW and IMS-AGW to perform transcoding and transparently pass signaling related to DBI in the media plane triggered by the results of the SDP negotiation of DBI.   Procedures of the IBCF, IMS-ALG, MRFC/MRFP and other IMS nodes to use DBI when performing conferencing and transcoding.       

     The impacted CT specifications include TS 24.229, TS 23.333, TS 29.333, TS 23.334, TS 29.334, TS 29.162 and TS 29.238 can now support for DBI siganaling based on the framework introduced in this disclosure. 
     MS-ALG and IMS-AGW 
     The IMS-ALG and IMS-AGW may support the “DBI” signaling as specified in 3GPP TS 26.114. If the IMS-ALG receives an SDP body containing an “a=rtcp-fb” line with the “DBI” type expressed by the parameter “3gpp-delay-budget”, as described in 3GPP TS 26.114, the IMS-ALG shall:
         forward within session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling the SDP body received from the preceding node with unmodified SDP “a=rtcp-fb” lines related to the “3gpp-delay-budget” parameter to the succeeding node; and   include the “DBI” information element when seizing resources in the IMS-AGW to request the IMS-AGW to assign the resources for the corresponding RTCP control flow to convey DBI information.       

     The IMS-AGW shall then assign resources for the requested RTCP control flow and forward transparently the RTCP “FB DBI” packets between the incoming and outgoing network. 
       FIG.  1    shows the message sequence chart example for indicating DBI. Specifically,  FIG.  1    illustrates a process flow diagram illustrating the messaging exchange between the IP multimedia system (IMS) Application Gateway (ALG)  110  and the IMS Access Gateway (AGW)  120  according to an embodiment. As shown in  FIG.  1   , the IMS-ALG  110  receives a SIP INVITE message  152  containing an SDP offer. In an embodiment, the SIP INVITE message  152  includes an SDP body. The IMS-ALG  110  reviews the contents of the SIP INVITE message  152 , and based on the contents, transmits a request message  154  to the IMS-AGW  120 . In an embodiment, the request message  154  includes the SDP body received with the SIP INVITE message  152 . In an embodiment, the request message is an H.248:ADD.req message. The IMS-AGW  110  reserves an AGW connection point and then responds to the request message  154  with a response message  156 . In an embodiment, the response message is an H.248:ADD.resp message. In an embodiment, the response message  156  includes an allocation of DBI resources. 
     In an embodiment, the IMS-ALG  110  further transmits a SIP invite message  158  to the IMS-AGW  120  containing the SDP offer. In this embodiment, the IMS-AGW  120  responds with an SDP answer message  160 . 
     The IMS-ALG  110  further transmits a second request message  162  to the IMS-AGW  120 . In an embodiment, the second request message  162  includes the SDP body received with the SIP INVITE message  152 . In an embodiment, the second request message  162  is an H.248:ADD.req message. The IMS-AGW  120  reserves and configures the AGW connection point, in response to the request, and then transmits a response message  164  to the IMS-ALG  110 . In an embodiment, the response message  164  is an H.248:ADD.resp signal. The IMS-ALG  110  receives the response message  164 , which includes an allocation of DBI resources in an embodiment. The IMS-ALG  110  then transmits an SDP answer  166  to the source of the original SIP Invite message  152 . 
     IMS-ALG optionally requests the IMS-AGW to support the RTCP feedback message capability for “DBI” type expressed by the parameter “3gpp-delay-budget”, as described in 3GPP TS 26.114. 
     TrGW 
     Similar relationship exists between IBCF and TrGW. Accordingly, the IBCF sends to the TrGW the information element on the RTCP feedback message capability for “DBI” type expressed by the parameter “3gpp-delay-budget” as described in 3GPP TS 26.114. 
       FIG.  2    shows the message sequence chart example for indicating DBI. 
     Specifically,  FIG.  2    illustrates a process flow diagram illustrating the messaging exchange beteween the IBCF  210  and the TrGW  220  according to an embodiment. As shown in  FIG.  2   , the IBCF  210  receives a SIP INVITE message  252  containing an SDP offer. In an embodiment, the SIP INVITE message  252  includes an SDP body. The IBCF  210  reviews the contents of the SIP INVITE message  252  and, based on the contents, transmits a request message  254  to the TrGW  220 . In an embodiment, the request message includes the SDP body received with the SIP INVITE message  252 . In an embodiment, the request message is an H.248:ADD.req message. The IBCF  210  reserves a TrGW connection point and then responds to the request message  254  with a response message  256 . In an embodiment, the response message  256  is an H.248:ADD.resp message. In an embodiment, the response message  256  includes an allocation of DBI resources. 
     In an embodiment, the IBCF  210  further transmits a SIP invite message  258  to the TrGW  220  containing the SDP offer. In this embodiment, the TrGW  220  responds with an SDP answer message  260 . 
     The IBCF  210  further transmits a second request message  262  to the TrGW  220 . In an embodiment, the second request message  262  includes the SDP body received with the SIP INVITE message  252 . In an embodiment, the second request message  262  is an H.248:ADD.req message. The IBCF  220  reserves and configures the TrGW connection point, in response to the request, and then transmits a response message  264  to the IBCF  210 . In an embodiment, the response message  264  is an H.248:ADD.resp signal. The IBCF  210  receives the response message, which includes an allocation of DBI resources in an embodiment, and transmits an SDP answer  266  to the source of the original SIP Invite message  252 . 
     DBI information element forwarded by IBCF requests the TrGW to support the RTCP feedback message capability for “DBI” type expressed by the parameter “3gpp-delay-budget”, as described in 3GPP TS 26.114. 
     MRFC and MRFP 
     The MRFC and the MRFP may support the Delay Budget Information (DBI) Signaling as defined in 3GPP TS 26.114. 
     Upon receipt of an SDP offer containing an “a=rtcp-fb” line with the “DBI” type expressed by the parameter “3gpp-delay-budget”, as described in 3GPP TS 26.114, the MRFC shall determine based on the local policy and the DBI negotiation results on other call legs whether to accept this “DBI” offer. If the “DBI” offer is accepted, the MRFC shall:
         at the termination towards the DBI-sending client, include the “DBI Sent” information element when seizing resources in the MRFP to indicate to the MRFP that it shall signal RTCP “FB DBI” feedback message(s) related to DBI on that termination and request the MRFP to assign the related resources for the corresponding RTCP control flow to convey DBI information;   at a termination towards an DBI-receiving client, include the “DBI Received” information element when seizing resources in the MRFP to indicate to the MRFP that it shall accept RTCP “FB DBI” feedback message(s) related to DBI on that termination and request the MRFP to assign the related resources for the corresponding RTCP control flow to convey DBI information; and   include “a=rtcp-fb” lines related to the “3gpp-delay-budget” parameter in the SDP answer that will be sent within the SIP siganaling.       

     If the MRFP does not support the DBI feature or the MRFC determines that the “DBI” offer should not be accepted based on the local policy and the DBI negotiation results on other call legs, the MRFC shall send the SDP answer without any “a=rtcp-fb” lines related to the “3gpp-delay-budget” parameter within the SIP siganaling. 
     If the MRFC and MRFP support the DBI feature then before sending an SDP offer, the MRFC shall:
     a) determine based on the local policy and the DBI negotiation results on other call legs if, and with what configurations to offer DBI; and   b) if the MRFC determines to offer DBI:
       at the termination towards the DBI-sending client, the MRFC shall include the “DBI Sent” information element when seizing resources in the MRFP to indicate to the MRFP that it shall signal RTCP “FB DBI” feedback message(s) related to DBI on that termination and request the MRFP to assign the related resources for the corresponding RTCP control flow to convey DBI information;   at a termination towards an DBI-receiving client, the MRFC shall include the “DBI Received” information element when seizing resources in the MRFP to indicate to the MRFP that it shall accept RTCP “FB DBI” feedback message(s) related to DBI on that termination and request the MRFP to assign the related resources for the corresponding RTCP control flow to convey DBI information;   the MRFC shall include “a=rtcp-fb” lines related to the “3gpp-delay-budget” parameter in the SDP offer it sends within the SIP siganaling;   
       

     If the MRFP does not support the DBI feature, the MRFC shall send the SDP offer without any DBI related SDP attributes within the SIP siganaling. 
       FIG.  3    shows the message sequence chart example for indicating DBI. Specifically,  FIG.  3    illustrates a process flow diagram illustrating the messaging exchange beteween the MRFC  310  and the MRFP  320  according to an embodiment. As shown in  FIG.  3   , the MRFC  210  receives a SIP message  352  containing an SDP offer. In an embodiment, the SIP message  352  includes an SDP body. The MRFC  310  reviews the contents of the SIP message  352  and a local DBI policy and, based on the contents and the local DBI policy, transmits a request message  354  to the MRFP  320 . In an embodiment, the request message  354  includes the SDP body received with the SIP message  352 . In an embodiment, the request message is an H.248:ADD.req message. The MRFP  310  receives the request to reserve resources to pass DBI information, and then responds to the request message  354  with a response message  356 . In an embodiment, the response message  256  is an H.248:ADD.resp message. The MRFC  310  receives the response message  356 , which includes a reservation of DBI resources, and transmits a SIP message  358  with an SDP answer to the source of the original SIP message  352 . 
     When the MRFC requests the IMS resources from the MRFP, the MRFC may optionally request the MRFP to support the RTCP feedback message capability for “DBI” type expressed by the parameter “3gpp-delay-budget”, as described in 3GPP TS 26.114. 
     Systems and Implementations 
       FIG.  4    illustrates an example architecture of a system  400  of a network, in accordance with various embodiments. The following description is provided for an example system  400  that operates in conjunction with the LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like. 
     As shown by  FIG.  4   , the system  400  includes UE  401   a  and UE  401   b  (collectively referred to as “UEs  401 ” or “UE  401 ”). In this example, UEs  401  are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as consumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS), electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like. 
     In some embodiments, any of the UEs  401  may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. 
     The UEs  401  may be configured to connect, for example, communicatively couple, with an or RAN  410 . In embodiments, the RAN  410  may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  410  that operates in an NR or 5G system  400 , and the term “E-UTRAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  410  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  400 . The UEs  401  utilize connections (or channels)  403  and  404 , respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below). 
     In this example, the connections  403  and  404  are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs  401  may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface  405 . The ProSe interface  405  may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface  405  and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH. 
     The UE  401   b  is shown to be configured to access an AP  406  (also referred to as “WLAN node  406 ,” “WLAN  406 ,” “WLAN Termination  406 ,” “WT  406 ” or the like) via connection  407 . The connection  407  can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP  406  would comprise a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP  406  is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, the UE  401   b , RAN  410 , and AP  406  may be configured to utilize LWA operation and/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE  401   b  in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node  411   a - b  to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE  401   b  using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection  407 ) via IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection  407 . IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entirety of original IP packets and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packets. 
     The RAN  410  can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes  411   a  and  411   b  (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes  411 ” or “RAN node  411 ”) that enable the connections  403  and  404 . As used herein, the terms “access node,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that provides the radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity between a network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred to as BS, gNB s, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  411  that operates in an NR or 5G system  400  (for example, a gNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  411  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  400  (e.g., an eNB). According to various embodiments, the RAN nodes  411  may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells. 
     In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes  411  may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split wherein RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes  411 ; a MAC/PHY split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes  411 ; or a “lower PHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes  411 . This virtualized framework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes  411  to perform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, an individual RAN node  411  may represent individual gNB-DUs that are connected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by  FIG.  4   ). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g.,  FIG.  7   ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server that is located in the RAN  410  (not shown) or by a server pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes  411  may be next generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UEs  401 , and are connected to a 5GC (e.g., CN  620  of  FIG.  6   ) via an NG interface (discussed infra). 
     In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes  411  may be or act as RSUs. The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs  401  (vUEs  401 ). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications, as well as other cellular communications services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and/or a backhaul network. 
     Any of the RAN nodes  411  can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs  401 . In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes  411  can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN  410  including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. 
     In embodiments, the UEs  401  can be configured to communicate using OFDM communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes  411  over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMA communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMA communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. 
     In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes  411  to the UEs  401 , while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. 
     According to various embodiments, the UEs  401 ,  402  and the RAN nodes  411 ,  412  communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over a licensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the “licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as the “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensed spectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band. 
     To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs  401 ,  402  and the RAN nodes  411 ,  412  may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UEs  401 ,  402  and the RAN nodes  411 ,  412  may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. 
     LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs  401 ,  402 , RAN nodes  411 ,  412 , etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determine if a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allows cellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in the unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold. 
     Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE  401  or  402 , AP  406 , or the like) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomly within the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or UL transmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions, respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable in length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximum values for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based on governmental regulatory requirements. 
     The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advanced systems. 
     In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of five CCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs can have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the same for DL and UL. 
     CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. A primary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC for both UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, while changing the PCC may require the UE  401 ,  402  to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed spectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positions within a same subframe. 
     The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs  401 . The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs  401  about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE  401   b  within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes  411  based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs  401 . The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs  401 . 
     The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the DCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8). 
     Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an EREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations. 
     The RAN nodes  411  may be configured to communicate with one another via interface  412 . In embodiments where the system  400  is an LTE system (e.g., when CN  420  is an EPC  5   520  as in  FIG.  5   ), the interface  412  may be an X2 interface  412 . The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes  411  (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect to EPC  420 , and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC  420 . In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2 interface, and may be used to communicate information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to an SeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs to a UE  401  from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE  401 ; information about a current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and the like. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user plane transport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well as inter-cell interference coordination functionality. 
     In embodiments where the system  400  is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN  420  is an 5GC  6   620  as in  FIG.  6   ), the interface  412  may be an Xn interface  412 . The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes  411  (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC  420 , between a RAN node  411  (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC  420  and an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC  420 . In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE  401  in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes  411 . The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node  411  to new (target) serving RAN node  411 ; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node  411  to new (target) serving RAN node  411 . A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may provide the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein. 
     The RAN  410  is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, core network (CN)  420 . The CN  420  may comprise a plurality of network elements  422 , which are configured to offer various data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of UEs  401 ) who are connected to the CN  420  via the RAN  410 . The components of the CN  420  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  420  may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  420  may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions. 
     Generally, the application server  430  may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server  430  can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs  401  via the EPC  420 . 
     In embodiments, the CN  420  may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC  420 ” or the like), and the RAN  410  may be connected with the CN  420  via an NG interface  413 . In embodiments, the NG interface  413  may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface  414 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  411  and a UPF, and the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface  415 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  411  and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN  420  is a 5GC  420  are discussed in more detail with regard to  FIG.  6   . 
     In embodiments, the CN  420  may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC  420 ” or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN  420  may be an EPC). Where CN  420  is an EPC (referred to as “EPC  420 ” or the like), the RAN  410  may be connected with the CN  420  via an S1 interface  413 . In embodiments, the S1 interface  413  may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface  414 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  411  and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface  415 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  411  and MMEs. An example architecture wherein the CN  420  is an EPC  420  is shown by  FIG.  5   . 
       FIG.  5    illustrates an example architecture of a system  500  including a first CN  520 , in accordance with various embodiments. In this example, system  500  may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN  520  is an EPC  520  that corresponds with CN  420  of  FIG.  4   . Additionally, the UE  501  may be the same or similar as the UEs  401  of  FIG.  4   , and the E-UTRAN  510  may be a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN  410  of  FIG.  4   , and which may include RAN nodes  411  discussed previously. The CN  520  may comprise MMEs  521 , an S-GW  522 , a P-GW  523 , a HSS  524 , and a SGSN  525 . 
     The MMEs  521  may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of a UE  501 . The MMEs  521  may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a present location of the UE  501 , provide user identity confidentiality, and/or perform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE  501  and the MME  521  may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE  501  and the MME  521  when an attach procedure is successfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE  501 . The MMEs  521  may be coupled with the HSS  524  via an Sha reference point, coupled with the SGSN  525  via an S3 reference point, and coupled with the S-GW  522  via an S11 reference point. 
     The SGSN  525  may be a node that serves the UE  501  by tracking the location of an individual UE  501  and performing security functions. In addition, the SGSN  525  may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MMEs  521 ; handling of UE  501  time zone functions as specified by the MMEs  521 ; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MMEs  521  and the SGSN  525  may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and/or active states. 
     The HSS  524  may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions. The EPC  520  may comprise one or several HSSs  524 , depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS  524  can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An Sha reference point between the HSS  524  and the MMEs  521  may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC  520  between HSS  524  and the MMEs  521 . 
     The S-GW  522  may terminate the S1 interface  413  (“S1-U” in  FIG.  5   ) toward the RAN  510 , and routes data packets between the RAN  510  and the EPC  520 . In addition, the S-GW  522  may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S11 reference point between the S-GW  522  and the MMEs  521  may provide a control plane between the MMEs  521  and the S-GW  522 . The S-GW  522  may be coupled with the P-GW  523  via an S5 reference point. 
     The P-GW  523  may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN  530 . The P-GW  523  may route data packets between the EPC  520  and external networks such as a network including the application server  430  (alternatively referred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface  425  (see e.g.,  FIG.  4   ). In embodiments, the P-GW  523  may be communicatively coupled to an application server (application server  430  of  FIG.  4    or PDN  530  in  FIG.  5   ) via an IP communications interface  425  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  4   ). The S5 reference point between the P-GW  523  and the S-GW  522  may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW  523  and the S-GW  522 . The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW  522  relocation due to UE  501  mobility and if the S-GW  522  needs to connect to a non-collocated P-GW  523  for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW  523  may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the P-GW  523  and the packet data network (PDN)  530  may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The P-GW  523  may be coupled with a PCRF  526  via a Gx reference point. 
     PCRF  526  is the policy and charging control element of the EPC  520 . In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF  526  in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE  501 &#39;s Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE  501 &#39;s IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF  526  may be communicatively coupled to the application server  530  via the P-GW  523 . The application server  530  may signal the PCRF  526  to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF  526  may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server  530 . The Gx reference point between the PCRF  526  and the P-GW  523  may allow for the transfer of QoS policy and charging rules from the PCRF  526  to PCEF in the P-GW  523 . An Rx reference point may reside between the PDN  530  (or “AF  530 ”) and the PCRF  526 . 
       FIG.  6    illustrates an architecture of a system  600  including a second CN  620  in accordance with various embodiments. The system  600  is shown to include a UE  601 , which may be the same or similar to the UEs  401  and UE  501  discussed previously; a (R)AN  610 , which may be the same or similar to the RAN  410  and RAN  510  discussed previously, and which may include RAN nodes  411  discussed previously; and a DN  603 , which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5GC  620 . The 5GC  620  may include an AUSF  622 ; an AMF  621 ; a SMF  624 ; a NEF  623 ; a PCF  626 ; a NRF  625 ; a UDM  627 ; an AF  628 ; a UPF  602 ; and a NSSF  629 . 
     The UPF  602  may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN  603 , and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF  602  may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF  602  may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN  603  may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN  603  may include, or be similar to, application server  430  discussed previously. The UPF  602  may interact with the SMF  624  via an N4 reference point between the SMF  624  and the UPF  602 . 
     The AUSF  622  may store data for authentication of UE  601  and handle authentication-related functionality. The AUSF  622  may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF  622  may communicate with the AMF  621  via an N12 reference point between the AMF  621  and the AUSF  622 ; and may communicate with the UDM  627  via an N13 reference point between the UDM  627  and the AUSF  622 . Additionally, the AUSF  622  may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. 
     The AMF  621  may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE  601 , etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF  621  may be a termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF  621  and the SMF  624 . The AMF  621  may provide transport for SM messages between the UE  601  and the SMF  624 , and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF  621  may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE  601  and an SMSF (not shown by  FIG.  6   ). AMF  621  may act as SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF  622  and the UE  601 , receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE  601  authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used, the AMF  621  may retrieve the security material from the AUSF  622 . AMF  621  may also include a SCM function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF  621  may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN  610  and the AMF  621 ; and the AMF  621  may be a termination point of NAS (N1) siganaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. 
     AMF  621  may also support NAS siganaling with a UE  601  over an N3 IWF interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface between the (R)AN  610  and the AMF  621  for the control plane, and may be a termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN  610  and the UPF  602  for the user plane. As such, the AMF  621  may handle N2 siganaling from the SMF  624  and the AMF  621  for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnelling, mark N3 user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated with such marking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS siganaling between the UE  601  and AMF  621  via an N1 reference point between the UE  601  and the AMF  621 , and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE  601  and UPF  602 . The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE  601 . The AMF  621  may exhibit an Namf service-based interface, and may be a termination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs  621  and an N17 reference point between the AMF  621  and a 5G-EIR (not shown by  FIG.  6   ). 
     The UE  601  may need to register with the AMF  621  in order to receive network services. RM is used to register or deregister the UE  601  with the network (e.g., AMF  621 ), and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF  621 ). The UE  601  may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state or an RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the UE  601  is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  621  holds no valid location or routing information for the UE  601  so the UE  601  is not reachable by the AMF  621 . In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE  601  is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  621  may hold a valid location or routing information for the UE  601  so the UE  601  is reachable by the AMF  621 . In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE  601  may perform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodic Registration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE  601  is still active), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UE capability information or to re-negotiate protocol parameters with the network, among others. 
     The AMF  621  may store one or more RM contexts for the UE  601 , where each RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, database object, etc. that indicates or stores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and the periodic update timer. The AMF  621  may also store a 5GC MM context that may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF  621  may store a CE mode B Restriction parameter of the UE  601  in an associated MM context or RM context. The AMF  621  may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE&#39;s usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RM context). 
     CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE  601  and the AMF  621  over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE  601  and the CN  620 , and comprises both the signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and the N2 connection for the UE  601  between the AN (e.g., RAN  610 ) and the AMF  621 . The UE  601  may operate in one of two CM states, CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE  601  is operating in the CM-IDLE state/mode, the UE  601  may have no NAS signaling connection established with the AMF  621  over the N1 interface, and there may be (R)AN  610  signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  601 . When the UE  601  is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode, the UE  601  may have an established NAS signaling connection with the AMF  621  over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN  610  signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  601 . Establishment of an N2 connection between the (R)AN  610  and the AMF  621  may cause the UE  601  to transition from CM-IDLE mode to CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE  601  may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2 signaling between the (R)AN  610  and the AMF  621  is released. 
     The SMF  624  may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE  601  and a data network (DN)  603  identified by a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be established upon UE  601  request, modified upon UE  601  and 5GC  620  request, and released upon UE  601  and 5GC  620  request using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between the UE  601  and the SMF  624 . Upon request from an application server, the 5GC  620  may trigger a specific application in the UE  601 . In response to receipt of the trigger message, the UE  601  may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts/information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE  601 . The identified application(s) in the UE  601  may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF  624  may check whether the UE  601  requests are compliant with user subscription information associated with the UE  601 . In this regard, the SMF  624  may retrieve and/or request to receive update notifications on SMF  624  level subscription data from the UDM  627 . 
     The SMF  624  may include the following roaming functionality: handling local enforcement to apply QoS SLAB (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI system); and support for interaction with external DN for transport of siganaling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference point between two SMFs  624  may be included in the system  600 , which may be between another SMF  624  in a visited network and the SMF  624  in the home network in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF  624  may exhibit the Nsmf service-based interface. 
     The NEF  623  may provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF  628 ), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF  623  may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF  623  may also translate information exchanged with the AF  628  and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF  623  may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF  623  may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at the NEF  623  as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF  623  to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF  623  may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface. 
     The NRF  625  may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF  625  also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF  625  may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface. 
     The PCF  626  may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behaviour. The PCF  626  may also implement an FE to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM  627 . The PCF  626  may communicate with the AMF  621  via an N15 reference point between the PCF  626  and the AMF  621 , which may include a PCF  626  in a visited network and the AMF  621  in case of roaming scenarios. The PCF  626  may communicate with the AF  628  via an N5 reference point between the PCF  626  and the AF  628 ; and with the SMF  624  via an N7 reference point between the PCF  626  and the SMF  624 . The system  600  and/or CN  620  may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF  626  (in the home network) and a PCF  626  in a visited network. Additionally, the PCF  626  may exhibit an Npcf service-based interface. 
     The UDM  627  may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE  601 . For example, subscription data may be communicated between the UDM  627  and the AMF  621  via an N8 reference point between the UDM  627  and the AMF. The UDM  627  may include two parts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by  FIG.  6   ). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM  627  and the PCF  626 , and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs  601 ) for the NEF  623 . The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR  221  to allow the UDM  627 , PCF  626 , and NEF  623  to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF  624  via an N10 reference point between the UDM  627  and the SMF  624 . UDM  627  may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logic as discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM  627  may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface. 
     The AF  628  may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC  620  and AF  628  to provide information to each other via NEF  623 , which may be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE  601  access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF  602  close to the UE  601  and execute traffic steering from the UPF  602  to DN  603  via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF  628 . In this way, the AF  628  may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF  628  is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF  628  to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF  628  may exhibit an Naf service-based interface. 
     The NSSF  629  may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE  601 . 
     The NSSF  629  may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF  629  may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE  601 , or a list of candidate AMF(s)  621  based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF  625 . The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE  601  may be triggered by the AMF  621  with which the UE  601  is registered by interacting with the NSSF  629 , which may lead to a change of AMF  621 . The NSSF  629  may interact with the AMF  621  via an N22 reference point between AMF  621  and NSSF  629 ; and may communicate with another NSSF  629  in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by  FIG.  6   ). Additionally, the NSSF  629  may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface. 
     As discussed previously, the CN  620  may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to/from the UE  601  to/from other entities, such as an SMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF  621  and UDM  627  for a notification procedure that the UE  601  is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM  627  when UE  601  is available for SMS). 
     The CN  120  may also include other elements that are not shown by  FIG.  6   , such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, and the like. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/or the like. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF (e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF (not shown by  FIG.  6   ). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSF may exhibit an Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by  FIG.  6   ). The 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determining whether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control plane interfaces. 
     Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from  FIG.  6    for clarity. In one example, the CN  620  may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME  521 ) and the AMF  621  in order to enable interworking between CN  620  and CN  520 . Other example interfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-based interface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRF in the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31 reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF in the home network. 
       FIG.  7     7  illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment  700  in accordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment  700  (or “system  700 ”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RAN node such as the RAN nodes  411  and/or AP  406  shown and described previously, application server(s)  430 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. In other examples, the system  700  could be implemented in or by a UE. 
     The system  700  includes application circuitry  705 , baseband circuitry  710 , one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs)  715 , memory circuitry  720 , power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  725 , power tee circuitry  730 , network controller circuitry  735 , network interface connector  740 , satellite positioning circuitry  745 , and user interface  750 . In some embodiments, the device  700  may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations. 
     Application circuitry  705  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO), memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  705  may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  700 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     The processor(s) of application circuitry  705  may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry  705  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  705  may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon® processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s), Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-based processor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-A family of processors and the ThunderX2 ® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior P-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system  700  may not utilize application circuitry  705 , and instead may include a special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC or 5GC, for example. 
     In some implementations, the application circuitry  705  may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. As examples, the programmable processing devices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of application circuitry  705  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  705  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  710  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  710  are discussed infra with regard to  FIG.  7   . 
     User interface circuitry  750  may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system  700  or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system  700 . User interfaces may include, but are not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers or other audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc. 
     The radio front end modules (RFEMs)  715  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array  911  of  FIG.  9    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  715 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     The memory circuitry  720  may include one or more of volatile memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. Memory circuitry  720  may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards. 
     The PMIC  725  may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, power alarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detect one or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions. The power tee circuitry  730  may provide for electrical power drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the infrastructure equipment  700  using a single cable. 
     The network controller circuitry  735  may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to/from the infrastructure equipment  700  via network interface connector  740  using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless. The network controller circuitry  735  may include one or more dedicated processors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuitry  735  may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols. 
     The positioning circuitry  745  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States&#39; Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia&#39;s Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan&#39;s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France&#39;s Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry  745  comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry  745  may include a Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  745  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  710  and/or RFEMs  715  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  745  may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry  705 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes  411 , etc.), or the like. 
     The components shown by  FIG.  7    may communicate with one another using interface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/or interconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  8     8  illustrates an example of a platform  800  (or “device  800 ”) in accordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computer platform  800  may be suitable for use as UEs  401 ,  402 ,  501 , application servers  430 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. The platform  800  may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. The components of platform  800  may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform  800 , or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of  FIG.  8    is intended to show a high level view of components of the computer platform  800 . However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in other implementations. 
     Application circuitry  805  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory card controllers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  805  may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  800 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     The processor(s) of application circuitry  705  may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry  705  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein. 
     As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  805  may include an Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, an Atom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another such processor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. The processors of the application circuitry  805  may also be one or more of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or Accelerated Processing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc., Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™ processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. In some implementations, the application circuitry  805  may be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry  805  and other components are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a single package, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel® Corporation. 
     Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry  805  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  805  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  805  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  810  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  810  are discussed infra with regard to  FIG.  9   . 
     The RFEMs  815  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array  911  of  FIG.  9    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  815 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     The memory circuitry  820  may include any number and type of memory devices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. As examples, the memory circuitry  820  may include one or more of volatile memory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry  820  may be developed in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry  820  may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memory circuitry  820  may be on-die memory or registers associated with the application circuitry  805 . To provide for persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth, memory circuitry  820  may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase change memories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. For example, the computer platform  800  may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. 
     Removable memory circuitry  823  may include devices, circuitry, enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portable data storage devices with the platform  800 . These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, and the like. 
     The platform  800  may also include interface circuitry (not shown) that is used to connect external devices with the platform  800 . The external devices connected to the platform  800  via the interface circuitry include sensor circuitry  821  and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)  822 , as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory circuitry  823 . 
     The sensor circuitry  821  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information (sensor data) about the detected events to some other a device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement units (IMUS) comprising accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axis accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonic transceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc. 
     EMCs  822  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable platform  800  to change its state, position, and/or orientation, or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs  822  may be configured to generate and send messages/siganaling to other components of the platform  800  to indicate a current state of the EMCs  822 . Examples of the EMCs  822  include one or more power switches, relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments, platform  800  is configured to operate one or more EMCs  822  based on one or more captured events and/or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and/or various clients. 
     In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  800  with positioning circuitry  845 . The positioning circuitry  845  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States&#39; GPS, Russia&#39;s GLONASS, the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan&#39;s QZSS, France&#39;s DORIS, etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry  845  comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry  845  may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  845  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  710  and/or RFEMs  815  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  845  may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry  805 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like. 
     In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  800  with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry  840 . NFC circuitry  840  is configured to provide contactless, short-range communications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between NFC circuitry  840  and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform  800  (e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry  840  comprises an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFC functionalities to the NFC circuitry  840  by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to emit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFC circuitry  840 , or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuitry  840  and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform  800 . 
     The driver circuitry  846  may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform  800 , attached to the platform  800 , or otherwise communicatively coupled with the platform  800 . The driver circuitry  846  may include individual drivers allowing other components of the platform  800  to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform  800 . For example, driver circuitry  846  may include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform  800 , sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry  821  and control and allow access to sensor circuitry  821 , EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of the EMCs  822  and/or control and allow access to the EMCs  822 , a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices. 
     The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  825  (also referred to as “power management circuitry  825 ”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform  800 . In particular, with respect to the baseband circuitry  810 , the PMIC  825  may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC  825  may often be included when the platform  800  is capable of being powered by a battery  830 , for example, when the device is included in a UE  401 ,  402 ,  501 . 
     In some embodiments, the PMIC  825  may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform  800 . For example, if the platform  800  is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the platform  800  may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform  800  may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The platform  800  goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The platform  800  may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable. 
     A battery  830  may power the platform  800 , although in some examples the platform  800  may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery  830  may be a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery  830  may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery. 
     In some implementations, the battery  830  may be a “smart battery,” which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) or battery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in the platform  800  to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery  830 . The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery  830  to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery  830 . The BMS may communicate the information of the battery  830  to the application circuitry  805  or other components of the platform  800 . The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry  805  to directly monitor the voltage of the battery  830  or the current flow from the battery  830 . The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform  800  may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and the like. 
     A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid may be coupled with the BMS to charge the battery  830 . In some examples, the power block  825  may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform  800 . In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuits chosen may depend on the size of the battery  830 , and thus, the current required. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others. 
     User interface circuitry  850  includes various input/output (I/O) devices present within, or connected to, the platform  800 , and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform  800  and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the platform  800 . The user interface circuitry  850  includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or other like information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/or combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation of the platform  800 . The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry  821  may be used as the input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or the like) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In another example, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device may be included to read electronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc. 
     Although not shown, the components of platform  800  may communicate with one another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  9    illustrates example components of baseband circuitry  9   910  and radio front end modules (RFEM)  915  in accordance with various embodiments. The baseband circuitry  910  corresponds to the baseband circuitry  710  and  810  of  FIGS.  7  and  8   , respectively. The RFEM  915  corresponds to the RFEM  715  and  815  of  FIGS.  7  and  8   , respectively. As shown, the RFEMs  915  may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry  906 , front-end module (FEM) circuitry  908 , antenna array  911  coupled together at least as shown. 
     The baseband circuitry  910  includes circuitry and/or control logic configured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry  906 . The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry  910  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  910  may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry  910  is configured to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry  906  and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  906 . The baseband circuitry  910  is configured to interface with application circuitry  705 /XS 205  (see  FIGS.  7  and  8   ) for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry  906 . The baseband circuitry  910  may handle various radio control functions. 
     The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the baseband circuitry  910  may include one or more single or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor  904 A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor  904 B, a 5G/NR baseband processor  904 C, or some other baseband processor(s)  904 D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  904 A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory  904 G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  904 E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  904 A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In various embodiments, the memory  904 G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU  904 E (or other baseband processor), is to cause the CPU  904 E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry  910 , schedule tasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®, Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry  910  includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)  904 F. The audio DSP(s)  904 F include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. 
     In some embodiments, each of the processors  904 A- 904 E include respective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory  904 G. The baseband circuitry  910  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry  910 ; an application circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry  705 / 805  of  FIGS.  7 - 9   ); an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry  906  of  FIG.  9   ; a wireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a power management interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC  825 . 
     In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above described embodiments), baseband circuitry  910  comprises one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnect subsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC) structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In an aspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry  910  may include protocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radio front end modules  915 ). 
     Although not shown by  FIG.  9   , in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  910  includes individual processing device(s) to operate one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocol baseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry  910  and/or RF circuitry  906  are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry  910  and/or RF circuitry  906  are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the second example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g.,  904 G) to store program code and data for operating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processing cores to execute the program code and perform various operations using the data. The baseband circuitry  910  may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol. 
     The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry  910  discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged IC soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry  910  may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  910  and RF circuitry  906  may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  910  may be implemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry  906  (or multiple instances of RF circuitry  906 ). In yet another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  910  and the application circuitry  705 /XS 205  may be implemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board (e.g., a “multi-chip package”). 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  910  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  910  may support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry  910  is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. 
     RF circuitry  906  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry  906  may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry  906  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  908  and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry  910 . RF circuitry  906  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  910  and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry  908  for transmission. 
     In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry  906  may include mixer circuitry  906   a , amplifier circuitry  906   b  and filter circuitry  906   c . In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  906  may include filter circuitry  906   c  and mixer circuitry  906   a . RF circuitry  906  may also include synthesizer circuitry  906   d  for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  908  based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry  906   d . The amplifier circuitry  906   b  may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry  906   c  may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry  910  for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry  906   a  of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry  906   d  to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry  908 . The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry  910  and may be filtered by filter circuitry  906   c.    
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation. 
     In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry  906  may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry  910  may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry  906 . 
     In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  906   d  may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry  906   d  may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. 
     The synthesizer circuitry  906   d  may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  906   a  of the RF circuitry  906  based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  906   d  may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer. 
     In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry  910  or the application circuitry  705 /XS 205  depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry  705 /XS 205 . 
     Synthesizer circuitry  906   d  of the RF circuitry  906  may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. 
     In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry  906   d  may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry  906  may include an IQ/polar converter. 
     FEM circuitry  908  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array  911 , amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry  906  for further processing. FEM circuitry  908  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry  906  for transmission by one or more of antenna elements of antenna array  911 . In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry  906 , solely in the FEM circuitry  908 , or in both the RF circuitry  906  and the FEM circuitry  908 . 
     In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry  908  may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry  908  may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry  908  may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry  906 ). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry  908  may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry  906 ), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array  911 . 
     The antenna array  911  comprises one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  910  is converted into analog RF signals (e.g., modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array  911  including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. The antenna array  911  may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennas that are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array  911  may be formed in as a patch of metal foil (e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled with the RF circuitry  906  and/or FEM circuitry  908  using metal transmission lines or the like. 
     Processors of the application circuitry  705 /XS 205  and processors of the baseband circuitry  910  may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry  910 , alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry  705 /XS 205  may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHY layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below. 
       FIG.  10     10  illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. In particular,  FIG.  10     10  includes an arrangement  1000  showing interconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The following description of  FIG.  10    is provided for various protocol layers/entities that operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTE system standards, but some or all of the aspects of  FIG.  10    may be applicable to other wireless communication network systems as well. 
     The protocol layers of arrangement  1000  may include one or more of PHY  1010 , MAC  1020 , RLC  1030 , PDCP  1040 , SDAP  1047 , RRC  1055 , and NAS layer  1057 , in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. The protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., items  1059 ,  1056 ,  1050 ,  1049 ,  1045 ,  1035 ,  1025 , and  1015  in  FIG.  10   ) that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers. 
     The PHY  1010  may transmit and receive physical layer signals  1005  that may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals  1005  may comprise one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY  1010  may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC  1055 . The PHY  1010  may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance of PHY  1010  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of MAC  1020  via one or more PHY-SAP  1015 . According to some embodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP  1015  may comprise one or more transport channels. 
     Instance(s) of MAC  1020  may process requests from, and provide indications to, an instance of RLC  1030  via one or more MAC-SAPs  1025 . These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP  1025  may comprise one or more logical channels. The MAC  1020  may perform mapping between the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY  1010  via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY  1010  via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization. 
     Instance(s) of RLC  1030  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP  1040  via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAP)  1035 . These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP  1035  may comprise one or more RLC channels. The RLC  1030  may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC  1030  may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC  1030  may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment. 
     Instance(s) of PDCP  1040  may process requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of RRC  1055  and/or instance(s) of SDAP  1047  via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP)  1045 . These requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP  1045  may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP  1040  may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.). 
     Instance(s) of SDAP  1047  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP  1049 . These requests and indications communicated via SDAP-SAP  1049  may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP  1047  may map QoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity  1047  may be configured for an individual PDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN  410  may control the mapping of QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP  1047  of a UE  401  may monitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the same mapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP  1047  of the UE  401  may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s) corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DL packets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN  610  may mark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC  1055  configuring the SDAP  1047  with an explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP  1047 . In embodiments, the SDAP  1047  may only be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations. 
     The RRC  1055  may configure, via one or more management service access points (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY  1010 , MAC  1020 , RLC  1030 , PDCP  1040  and SDAP  1047 . In embodiments, an instance of RRC  1055  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities  1057  via one or more RRC-SAPs  1056 . The main services and functions of the RRC  1055  may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in MIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE  401  and RAN  410  (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures. 
     The NAS  1057  may form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE  401  and the AMF  621 . The NAS  1057  may support the mobility of the UEs  401  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  401  and a P-GW in LTE systems. 
     According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement  1000  may be implemented in UEs  401 , RAN nodes  411 , AMF  621  in NR implementations or MME  521  in LTE implementations, UPF  602  in NR implementations or S-GW  522  and P-GW  523  in LTE implementations, or the like to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocol stack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE  401 , gNB  411 , AMF  621 , etc. may communicate with a respective peer protocol entity that may be implemented in or on another device using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB  411  may host the RRC  1055 , SDAP  1047 , and PDCP  1040  of the gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB  411  may each host the RLC  1030 , MAC  1020 , and PHY  1010  of the gNB  411 . 
     In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS  1057 , RRC  1055 , PDCP  1040 , RLC  1030 , MAC  1020 , and PHY  1010 . In this example, upper layers  1060  may be built on top of the NAS  1057 , which includes an IP layer  1061 , an SCTP  1062 , and an application layer signaling protocol (AP)  1063 . 
     In NR implementations, the AP  1063  may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP)  1063  for the NG interface  413  defined between the NG-RAN node  411  and the AMF  621 , or the AP  1063  may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP)  1063  for the Xn interface  412  that is defined between two or more RAN nodes  411 . 
     The NG-AP  1063  may support the functions of the NG interface  413  and may comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the NG-RAN node  411  and the AMF  621 . The NG-AP  1063  services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to a UE  401 ,  402 ) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node  411  and AMF  621 ). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests to NG-RAN nodes  411  involved in a particular paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF  621  to establish, modify, and/or release a UE context in the AMF  621  and the NG-RAN node  411 ; a mobility function for UEs  401  in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOs to support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to support mobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function for transporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE  401  and AMF  621 ; a NAS node selection function for determining an association between the AMF  621  and the UE  401 ; NG interface management function(s) for setting up the NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; a warning message transmission function for providing means to transfer warning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warning messages; a Configuration Transfer function for requesting and transferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes  411  via CN  420 ; and/or other like functions. 
     The XnAP  1063  may support the functions of the Xn interface  412  and may comprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the NG RAN  411  (or E-UTRAN  510 ), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The XnAP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  401 , such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     In LTE implementations, the AP  1063  may be an S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  1063  for the S1 interface  413  defined between an E-UTRAN node  411  and an MME, or the AP  1063  may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP)  1063  for the X2 interface  412  that is defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes  411 . 
     The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  1063  may support the functions of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node  411  and an MME  521  within an LTE CN  420 . The S1-AP  1063  services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer. 
     The X2AP  1063  may support the functions of the X2 interface  412  and may comprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the E-UTRAN  420 , such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The X2AP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  401 , such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer)  1062  may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP  1062  may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node  411  and the AMF  621 /MME  521  based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP  1061 . The Internet Protocol layer (IP)  1061  may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IP layer  1061  may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and convey PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node  411  may comprise L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF to exchange information. 
     In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP  1047 , PDCP  1040 , RLC  1030 , MAC  1020 , and PHY  1010 . The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE  401 , the RAN node  411 , and UPF  602  in NR implementations or an S-GW  522  and P-GW  523  in LTE implementations. In this example, upper layers  1051  may be built on top of the SDAP  1047 , and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP/IP)  1052 , a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane layer (GTP-U)  1053 , and a User Plane PDU layer (UP PDU)  1063 . 
     The transport network layer  1054  (also referred to as a “transport layer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U  1053  may be used on top of the UDP/IP layer  1052  (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the “Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. 
     The GTP-U  1053  may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP/IP  1052  may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node  411  and the S-GW  522  may utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer (e.g., PHY  1010 ), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC  1020 , RLC  1030 , PDCP  1040 , and/or SDAP  1047 ), the UDP/IP layer  1052 , and the GTP-U  1053 . The S-GW  522  and the P-GW  523  may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer  1052 , and the GTP-U  1053 . As discussed previously, NAS protocols may support the mobility of the UE  401  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  401  and the P-GW  523 . 
     Moreover, although not shown by  FIG.  10   , an application layer may be present above the AP  1063  and/or the transport network layer  1054 . The application layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE  401 , RAN node  411 , or other network element interacts with software applications being executed, for example, by application circuitry  705  or application circuitry  805 , respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for software applications to interact with communications systems of the UE  401  or RAN node  411 , such as the baseband circuitry  910 . In some implementations the IP layer and/or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—the presentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer). 
       FIG.  11     11  illustrates components of a core network in accordance with various embodiments. The components of the CN  520  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In embodiments, the components of CN  620  may be implemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regard to the components of CN  520 . In some embodiments, NFV is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  520  may be referred to as a network slice  1101 , and individual logical instantiations of the CN  520  may provide specific network capabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  520  may be referred to as a network sub-slice  1102  (e.g., the network sub-slice  1102  is shown to include the P-GW  523  and the PCRF  526 ). 
     As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs) instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy the network slice. 
     With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g.,  FIG.  6   ), a network slice always comprises a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicing relies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can realize the different network slices by scheduling and also by providing different L1/L2 configurations. The UE  601  provides assistance information for network slice selection in an appropriate RRC message, if it has been provided by NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UE need not support more than  8  slices simultaneously. 
     A network slice may include the CN  620  control plane and user plane NFs, NG-RANs  610  in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in the serving PLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAI and/or may have different SSTs. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slices may differ for supported features and network functions optimizations, and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service/features but for different groups of UEs  601  (e.g., enterprise users). For example, individual network slices may deliver different committed service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have different S-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators. Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network slice instances simultaneously via a 5G AN and associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF  621  instance serving an individual UE  601  may belong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE. 
     Network Slicing in the NG-RAN  610  involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices, which have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in the NG-RAN  610  is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signaling that includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN  610  supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the set of network functions that comprise each slice) is implementation dependent. The NG-RAN  610  selects the RAN part of the network slice using assistance information provided by the UE  601  or the 5GC  620 , which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN  610  also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN node may support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN  610  may also apply an appropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. The NG-RAN  610  may also support QoS differentiation within a slice. 
     The NG-RAN  610  may also use the UE assistance information for the selection of an AMF  621  during an initial attach, if available. The NG-RAN  610  uses the assistance information for routing the initial NAS to an AMF  621 . If the NG-RAN  610  is unable to select an AMF  621  using the assistance information, or the UE  601  does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN  610  sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF  621 , which may be among a pool of AMFs  621 . For subsequent accesses, the UE  601  provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE  601  by the 5GC  620 , to enable the NG-RAN  610  to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF  621  as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN  610  is aware of, and can reach, the AMF  621  that is associated with the temp ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies. 
     The NG-RAN  610  supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN  610  resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies and protection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of shared resources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for another slice. In some implementations, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN  610  resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN  610  supports resource isolation is implementation dependent. 
     Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness in the NG-RAN  610  of the slices supported in the cells of its neighbors may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. The slice availability may not change within the UE&#39;s registration area. The NG-RAN  610  and the 5GC  620  are responsible to handle a service request for a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admission or rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, support of the requested service by NG-RAN  610 . 
     The UE  601  may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In case the UE  601  is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and for intra-frequency cell reselection, the UE  601  tries to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can be used to control the frequency on which the UE  601  camps. The 5GC  620  is to validate that the UE  601  has the rights to access a network slice. Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN  610  may be allowed to apply some provisional/local policies, based on awareness of a particular slice that the UE  601  is requesting to access. During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN  610  is informed of the slice for which resources are being requested. 
     NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions. 
       FIG.  12     12  is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system  1200  to support NFV. The system  1200  is illustrated as including a VIM  1202 , an NFVI  1204 , an VNFM  1206 , VNFs  1208 , an EM  1210 , an NFVO  1212 , and a NM  1214 . 
     The VIM  1202  manages the resources of the NFVI  1204 . The NFVI  1204  can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system  1200 . The VIM  1202  may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI  1204  (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems. 
     The VNFM  1206  may manage the VNFs  1208 . The VNFs  1208  may be used to execute EPC components/functions. The VNFM  1206  may manage the life cycle of the VNFs  1208  and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNFs  1208 . The EM  1210  may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs  1208 . The tracking data from the VNFM  1206  and the EM  1210  may comprise, for example, PM data used by the VIM  1202  or the NFVI  1204 . Both the VNFM  1206  and the EM  1210  can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system  1200 . 
     The NFVO  1212  may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI  1204  in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM  1214  may provide a package of end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM  1210 ). 
       FIG.  13     13  is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically,  FIG.  13     13  shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources  1300  including one or more processors (or processor cores)  1310 , one or more memory/storage devices  1320 , and one or more communication resources  1330 , each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus  1340 . For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor  1302  may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources  1300 . 
     The processors  1310  may include, for example, a processor  1312  and a processor  1314 . The processor(s)  1310  may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof. 
     The memory/storage devices  1320  may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices  1320  may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc. 
     The communication resources  1330  may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  1304  or one or more databases  1306  via a network  1308 . For example, the communication resources  1330  may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. 
     Instructions  1350  may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors  1310  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions  1350  may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors  1310  (e.g., within the processor&#39;s cache memory), the memory/storage devices  1320 , or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions  1350  may be transferred to the hardware resources  1300  from any combination of the peripheral devices  1304  or the databases  1306 . Accordingly, the memory of processors  1310 , the memory/storage devices  1320 , the peripheral devices  1304 , and the databases  1306  are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. 
     For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section. 
     EXAMPLES 
     Example 1 may include an apparatus of a core network node, comprising: 
     one or more processors to receive, store and forward real-time transport protocol (RTCP) feedback messages carrying delay budget information pertaining to end-to-end delivery of a real-time transport protocol (RTP) stream sent from one UE to another UE. 
     Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the forwarding behavior of the core network node is instructed by a guiding core network node which detects in the SDP the RTCP feedback message type pertaining to delay budget information signaling expressed by the parameter “3gpp-delay-budget” 
     Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the delay budget information enables the UE sending the RTP stream to request, from a cellular base station servicing the UE, additional air interface delay based on the delay budget information. 
     Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 3 or some other example herein, wherein the delay budget information is configured to indicate a relative additional delay value, a sign of the relative additional delay value, and a Boolean query parameter, which, if set to positive, allows requesting delay for an RTP stream sent from one UE to another UE, the sign of the relative additional delay value indicating whether the relative additional delay value should be added to the delay budget or whether the delay budget should be reduced by the relative additional delay value. 
     Example 5 may include the apparatus of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the core network node is an IMS-AGW, TrGW or MRFP. 
     Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the core network node is IMS-AGW and guiding core network node is IMS-ALG. 
     Example 7 may include the apparatus of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the core network node is TrGW and guiding core network node is IBCF. 
     Example 8 may include the apparatus of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the core network node is MRFP and guiding core network node is MRFC. 
     Example 9 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-8, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 10 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-8, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 11 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-8, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 12 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-8, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 13 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-8, or portions thereof. 
     Example 14 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-8, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 15 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 16 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 17 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     Example 18 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. 
     Abbreviations 
     For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein, but are not meant to be limiting.
         3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project   4G Fourth Generation   5G Fifth Generation   5GC 5G Core network   ACK Acknowledgement   AF Application Function   AM Acknowledged Mode   AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function   AN Access Network   ANR Automatic Neighbour Relation   AP Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point   API Application Programming Interface   APN Access Point Name   ARP Allocation and Retention Priority   ARQ Automatic Repeat Request   AS Access Stratum   ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One   AUSF Authentication Server Function   AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise   BCH Broadcast Channel   BER Bit Error Ratio   BFD Beam Failure Detection   BLER Block Error Rate   BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying   BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server   BSS Business Support System   BS Base Station   BSR Buffer Status Report   BW Bandwidth   BWP Bandwidth Part   C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity   CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority   CAPEX CAPital EXpenditure   CBRA Contention Based Random Access   CC Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum   CCA Clear Channel Assessment   CCE Control Channel Element   CCCH Common Control Channel   CE Coverage Enhancement   CDM Content Delivery Network   CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access   CFRA Contention Free Random Access   CG Cell Group   CI Cell Identity   CID Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method)   CIM Common Information Model   CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio   CK Cipher Key   CM Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory   CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service   CMD Command   CMS Cloud Management System   CO Conditional Optional   CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point   CORESET Control Resource Set   COTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf   CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point   CPD Connection Point Descriptor   CPE Customer Premise Equipment   CPICH Common Pilot Channel   CQI Channel Quality Indicator   CPU CSI processing unit, Central Processing Unit   C/R Command/Response field bit   CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN   CRB Common Resource Block   CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check   CRI Channel-State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator   C-RNTI Cell RNTI   CS Circuit Switched   CSAR Cloud Service Archive   CSI Channel-State Information   CSI-IM CSI Interference Measurement   CSI-RS CSI Reference Signal   CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power   CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal received quality   CSI-SINR CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio   CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access   CSMA/CA CSMA with collision avoidance   CSS Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space   CTS Clear-to-Send   CW Codeword   CWS Contention Window Size   D2D Device-to-Device   DC Dual Connectivity, Direct Current   DCI Downlink Control Information   DF Deployment Flavour   DL Downlink   DMTF Distributed Management Task Force   DPDK Data Plane Development Kit   DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal   DN Data network   DRB Data Radio Bearer   DRS Discovery Reference Signal   DRX Discontinuous Reception   DSL Domain Specific Language. Digital Subscriber Line   DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer   DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot   E-LAN Ethernet Local Area Network   E2E End-to-End   ECCA extended clear channel assessment, extended CCA   ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE   ED Energy Detection   EDGE Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)   EGMF Exposure Governance Management Function   EGPRS Enhanced GPRS   EIR Equipment Identity Register   eLAA enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, enhanced LAA   EM Element Manager   eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband   EMS Element Management System   eNB evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Node B   EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity   EPC Evolved Packet Core   EPDCCH enhanced PDCCH, enhanced Physical Downlink Control Cannel   EPRE Energy per resource element   EPS Evolved Packet System   EREG enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups   ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute   ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System   eUICC embedded UICC, embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card   E-UTRA Evolved UTRA   E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN   EV2X Enhanced V2X   F1AP F1 Application Protocol   F1-C F1 Control plane interface   F1-U F1 User plane interface   FACCH Fast Associated Control CHannel   FACCH/F Fast Associated Control Channel/Full rate   FACCH/H Fast Associated Control Channel/Half rate   FACH Forward Access Channel   FAUSCH Fast Uplink Siganaling Channel   FB Functional Block   FBI Feedback Information   FCC Federal Communications Commission   FCCH Frequency Correction CHannel   FDD Frequency Division Duplex   FDM Frequency Division Multiplex   FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access   FE Front End   FEC Forward Error Correction   FFS For Further Study   FFT Fast Fourier Transformation   feLAA further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, further enhanced LAA   FN Frame Number   FPGA Field-Programmable Gate Array   FR Frequency Range   G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity   GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network   GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node   GLONASS GLObal&#39;naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Engl.: Global Navigation Satellite System)   gNB Next Generation NodeB   gNB-CU gNB-centralized unit, Next Generation NodeB centralized unit   gNB-DU gNB-distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB distributed unit   GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System   GPRS General Packet Radio Service   GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Groupe Special Mobile   GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol   GTP-U GPRS Tunnelling Protocol for User Plane   GTS Go To Sleep Signal (related to WUS)   GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier   GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity   HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request   HANDO, HO Handover   HFN HyperFrame Number   HHO Hard Handover   HLR Home Location Register   HN Home Network   HO Handover   HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network   HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access   HSN Hopping Sequence Number   HSPA High Speed Packet Access   HSS Home Subscriber Server   HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access   HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol   HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http/1.1 over SSL, i.e. port 443)   I-Block Information Block   ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identification   ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination   ID Identity, identifier   IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform   IE Information element   IBE In-Band Emission   IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers   IEI Information Element Identifier   IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length   IETF Internet Engineering Task Force   IF Infrastructure   IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia   IMC IMS Credentials   IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity   IMGI International mobile group identity   IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity   IMPU IP Multimedia PUblic identity   IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem   IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity   IoT Internet of Things   IP Internet Protocol   Ipsec IP Security, Internet Protocol Security   IP-CAN IP-Connectivity Access Network   IP-M IP Multicast   IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4   IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6   IR Infrared   IS In Sync   IRP Integration Reference Point   ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network   ISIM IM Services Identity Module   ISO International Organisation for Standardisation   ISP Internet Service Provider   IWF Interworking-Function   I-WLAN Interworking WLAN   K Constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM Individual key   kB Kilobyte (1000 bytes)   kbps kilo-bits per second   Kc Ciphering key   Ki Individual subscriber authentication key   KPI Key Performance Indicator   KQI Key Quality Indicator   KSI Key Set Identifier   ksps kilo-symbols per second   KVM Kernel Virtual Machine   L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)   L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power   L2 Layer 2 (data link layer)   L3 Layer 3 (network layer)   LAA Licensed Assisted Access   LAN Local Area Network   LBT Listen Before Talk   LCM LifeCycle Management   LCR Low Chip Rate   LCS Location Services   LCID Logical Channel ID   LI Layer Indicator   LLC Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility   LPLMN Local PLMN   LPP LTE Positioning Protocol   LSB Least Significant Bit   LTE Long Term Evolution   LWA LTE-WLAN aggregation   LWIP LTE/WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel   LTE Long Term Evolution   M2M Machine-to-Machine   MAC Medium Access Control (protocol layering context)   MAC Message authentication code (security/encryption context)   MAC-A MAC used for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)   MAC-I MAC used for data integrity of siganaling messages (TSG T WG3 context)   MANO Management and Orchestration   MBMS Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service   MB SFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network   MCC Mobile Country Code   MCG Master Cell Group   MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time   MCS Modulation and coding scheme   MDAF Management Data Analytics Function   MDAS Management Data Analytics Service   MDT Minimization of Drive Tests   ME Mobile Equipment   MeNB master eNB   MER Message Error Ratio   MGL Measurement Gap Length   MGRP Measurement Gap Repetition Period   MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base   MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output   MLC Mobile Location Centre   MM Mobility Management   MME Mobility Management Entity   MN Master Node   MO Measurement Object, Mobile Originated   MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast CHannel   MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control CHannel   MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared CHannel   MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access CHannel   MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel   MPLS MultiProtocol Label Switching   MS Mobile Station   MSB Most Significant Bit   MSC Mobile Switching Centre   MSI Minimum System Information, MCH Scheduling Information   MSID Mobile Station Identifier   MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number   MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number   MT Mobile Terminated, Mobile Termination   MTC Machine-Type Communications   mMTC massive MTC, massive Machine-Type Communications   MU-MIMO Multi User MIMO   MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS   NACK Negative Acknowledgement   NAI Network Access Identifier   NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum layer   NCT Network Connectivity Topology   NEC Network Capability Exposure   NE-DC NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity   NEF Network Exposure Function   NF Network Function   NFP Network Forwarding Path   NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor   NFV Network Functions Virtualization   NFVI NFV Infrastructure   NFVO NFV Orchestrator   NG Next Generation, Next Gen   NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity   NM Network Manager   NMS Network Management System   N-PoP Network Point of Presence   NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB   NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast CHannel   NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control CHannel   NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared CHannel   NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access CHannel   NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared CHannel   NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal   NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal   NR New Radio, Neighbour Relation   NRF NF Repository Function   NRS Narrowband Reference Signal   NS Network Service   NSA Non-Standalone operation mode   NSD Network Service Descriptor   NSR Network Service Record   NSSAI ‘Network Slice Selection Assistance Information   S-NNSAI Single-NSSAI   NS SF Network Slice Selection Function   NW Network   NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS   NZP Non-Zero Power   O&amp;M Operation and Maintenance   ODU2 Optical channel Data Unit-type 2   OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing   OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access   OOB Out-of-band   OOS Out of Sync   OPEX OPerating EXpense   OSI Other System Information   OSS Operations Support System   OTA over-the-air   PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio   PAR Peak to Average Ratio   PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel   PC Power Control, Personal Computer   PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC   PCell Primary Cell   PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity   PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function   PCF Policy Control Function   PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer   PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol   PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network   PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel   PDU Protocol Data Unit   PEI Permanent Equipment Identifiers   PFD Packet Flow Description   P-GW PDN Gateway   PHICH Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel   PHY Physical layer   PLMN Public Land Mobile Network   PIN Personal Identification Number   PM Performance Measurement   PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator   PNF Physical Network Function   PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor   PNFR Physical Network Function Record   POC PTT over Cellular   PP, PTP Point-to-Point   PPP Point-to-Point Protocol   PRACH Physical RACH   PRB Physical resource block   PRG Physical resource block group   ProSe Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service   PRS Positioning Reference Signal   PRR Packet Reception Radio   PS Packet Services   PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel   PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel   PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel   PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel   PSCell Primary SCell   PSS Primary Synchronization Signal   PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network   PT-RS Phase-tracking reference signal   PTT Push-to-Talk   PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel   PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel   QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation   QCI QoS class of identifier   QCL Quasi co-location   QFI QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier   QoS Quality of Service   QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying   QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System   RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI   RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst   RACH Random Access Channel   RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service   RAN Radio Access Network   RAND RANDom number (used for authentication)   RAR Random Access Response   RAT Radio Access Technology   RAU Routing Area Update   RB Resource block, Radio Bearer   RBG Resource block group   REG Resource Element Group   Rel Release   REQ REQuest   RF Radio Frequency   RI Rank Indicator   MV Resource indicator value   RL Radio Link   RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer   RLC AM RLC Acknowledged Mode   RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode   RLF Radio Link Failure   RLM Radio Link Monitoring   RLM-RS Reference Signal for RLM   RM Registration Management   RMC Reference Measurement Channel   RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information   RN Relay Node   RNC Radio Network Controller   RNL Radio Network Layer   RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier   ROHC RObust Header Compression   RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control layer   RRM Radio Resource Management   RS Reference Signal   RSRP Reference Signal Received Power   RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality   RS SI Received Signal Strength Indicator   RSU Road Side Unit   RSTD Reference Signal Time difference   RTP Real Time Protocol   RTS Ready-To-Send   RTT Round Trip Time   Rx Reception, Receiving, Receiver   S1AP S1 Application Protocol   S1-MME S1 for the control plane   S1-U S1 for the user plane   S-GW Serving Gateway   S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identity   S-TMSI SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier   SA Standalone operation mode   SAE System Architecture Evolution   SAP Service Access Point   SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor   SAPI Service Access Point Identifier   SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC   SCell Secondary Cell   SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access   SCG Secondary Cell Group   SCM Security Context Management   SCS Subcarrier Spacing   SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol   SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol layer   SDL Supplementary Downlink   SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function   SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)   SDSF Structured Data Storage Function   SDU Service Data Unit   SEAF Security Anchor Function   SeNB secondary eNB   SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy   SFI Slot format indication   SFTD Space-Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and frame timing difference   SFN System Frame Number   SgNB Secondary gNB   SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node   S-GW Serving Gateway   SI System Information   SI-RNTI System Information RNTI   SIB System Information Block   SIM Subscriber Identity Module   SIP Session Initiated Protocol   SiP System in Package   SL Sidelink   SLA Service Level Agreement   SM Session Management   SMF Session Management Function   SMS Short Message Service   SMSF SMS Function   SMTC SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration   SN Secondary Node, Sequence Number   SoC System on Chip   SON Self-Organizing Network   SpCell Special Cell   SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI   SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling   SQN Sequence number   SR Scheduling Request   SRB Siganaling Radio Bearer   SRS Sounding Reference Signal   SS Synchronization Signal   SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS/PBCH Block   SSBRI SS/PBCH Block Resource Indicator, Synchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator   SSC Session and Service Continuity   SS-RSRP Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Power   SS-RSRQ Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Quality   SS-SINR Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and Interference Ratio   SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal   SSSG Search Space Set Group   SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator   SST Slice/Service Types   SU-MIMO Single User MIMO   SUL Supplementary Uplink   TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area   TAC Tracking Area Code   TAG Timing Advance Group   TAU Tracking Area Update   TB Transport Block   TBS Transport Block Size   TBD To Be Defined   TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator   TCP Transmission Communication Protocol   TDD Time Division Duplex   TDM Time Division Multiplexing   TDMA Time Division Multiple Access   TE Terminal Equipment   TEID Tunnel End Point Identifier   TFT Traffic Flow Template   TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity   TNL Transport Network Layer   TPC Transmit Power Control   TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator   TR Technical Report   TRP, TRxP Transmission Reception Point   TRS Tracking Reference Signal   TRx Transceiver   TS Technical Specifications, Technical Standard   TTI Transmission Time Interval   Tx Transmission, Transmitting, Transmitter   U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity   UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter   UCI Uplink Control Information   UE User Equipment   UDM Unified Data Management   UDP User Datagram Protocol   UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function   UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card   UL Uplink   UM Unacknowledged Mode   UML Unified Modelling Language   UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System   UP User Plane   UPF User Plane Function   URI Uniform Resource Identifier   URL Uniform Resource Locator   URLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency   USB Universal Serial Bus   USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module   USS UE-specific search space   UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access   UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network   UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot   V2I Vehicle-to-Infrastruction   V2P Vehicle-to-Pedestrian   V2V Vehicle-to-Vehicle   V2X Vehicle-to-everything   VIM Virtualized Infrastructure Manager   VL Virtual Link,   VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network   VM Virtual Machine   VNF Virtualized Network Function   VNFFG VNF Forwarding Graph   VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor   VNFM VNF Manager   VoIP Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Internet Protocol   VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network   VPN Virtual Private Network   VRB Virtual Resource Block   WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access   WLAN Wireless Local Area Network   WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network   WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network   X2-C X2-Control plane   X2-U X2-User plane   XML eXtensible Markup Language   XRES EXpected user RESponse   XOR eXclusive OR   ZC Zadoff-Chu   ZP Zero Power
 
Terminology
       

     For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein, but are not meant to be limiting. 
     The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry. 
     The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. The terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.” 
     The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like. 
     The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface. 
     The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like. 
     The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources. 
     The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource. 
     The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. 
     The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. 
     The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. 
     The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or ink, and/or the like. 
     The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content. 
     The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration. 
     The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block. 
     The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. 
     The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation. 
     The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA. 
     The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC. 
     The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell. 
     The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/. 
     The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20200212
Publication Date: 20230725
Grant Date: 20230725
Priority Date: 20190212
Inventors: OYMAN, OZGUR
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04L65/1104", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/1016", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/65", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/1016", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/1104", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/1104", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/65", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/65", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L65/1016", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 69804987