PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11197230-B2
Application Number: US-201816462339-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Handling of user equipment coverage enhancement mode B radio capability mismatch due to change in user equipment usage setting

Abstract:
Methods, systems, and storage media are provided for user equipment (UE) that supports enhanced coverage and may operate with a voice centric usage setting or a data centric usage setting. When the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to voice centric, the UE may not operate in coverage enhancement (CE) mode B. When the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to data centric, then the UE may operate in CE mode B. The UE may indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting in an Attach or Tracking Area Update (TAU) request message, and a mobility management entity (MME) may indicate to an evolved NodeB that CE mode B is restricted or not restricted based on the usage setting. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims:
The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media (NTCRSM) comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a Mobility Management Entity (MME), cause the MME to:
 receive a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message from a user equipment (UE) that is capable of operating in coverage enhancement (CE) mode B; 
 determine a usage setting of the UE that is indicated by the NAS message, the usage setting set to one of a voice centric usage setting or a data centric usage setting; 
 upon a determination that the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice centric usage setting, set a CE mode B Restricted parameter in a mobility management (MM) context associated with the UE to have a “restricted” value; 
 upon a determination that the usage setting of the UE is set to a data centric usage setting, set the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context associated with the UE to have a “not restricted” value; and 
 control transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter to a base station via S1 signaling to indicate whether the UE is restricted or not restricted for use of CE mode B. 
 
     
     
       2. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 1 , wherein, to control transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter via the S1 signaling, execution of the instructions is to cause the MME to:
 generate an S1 application protocol (S1AP) message to include the CE mode B Restricted parameter. 
 
     
     
       3. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 2 , wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message, a Handover Request message, a Path Switch Request Acknowledge message, a Connection Establishment Indication message, or a Downlink Non-Access Stratum (NAS) Transport message carrying a Tracking Area Update (TAU) Accept message. 
     
     
       4. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 1 , wherein the NAS message is an Attach request or TAU request message. 
     
     
       5. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 4 , wherein the Attach request message or the TAU request message is to include a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, and wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element is to indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     
     
       6. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 1 , wherein, when the CE mode B Restricted parameter stored in the MM context is set to the “not restricted” value, execution of the instructions by the one or more processors is to cause the MME to extend NAS timer settings for the UE. 
     
     
       7. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 1 , wherein controlling transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter to the base station via S1 signaling comprises sending an S1AP message to the base station, wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message during an Attach procedure or a Tracking Area Update (TAU) procedure. 
     
     
       8. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 7 , wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter associated with the UE is identified in response to receipt of an Attach Request message or a Tracking Area Update (TAU) Request message when the UE has initiated a Attach procedure or a TAU procedure in an EPS Mobility Management (EMM)-Idle mode, and
 wherein execution of the instructions by the one or more processors of the MME are to cause the MME to:
 control deletion of any currently stored UE Radio Capability information of the UE; not send any UE Radio Capability information to the base station in the Initial Context Setup Request message or the UE Radio Capability Match Request message such that the base station is to be triggered to request UE Radio Capability information from the UE and to upload the requested UE Radio Capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message; 
 receive an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message from the base station, wherein the S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message is to include the UE Radio Capability information requested by the base station; 
 control storage of the UE Radio Capability information; and 
 generate an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to include the stored UE Radio Capability information in other cases than Attach procedure, Tracking Area Update procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach” and “UE radio capability update” procedure. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The one or more NTCRSM of  claim 1 , wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter associated with the UE is identified in response to receipt of a Tracking Area Update (TAU) Request message when the UE has initiated a TAU procedure in an EMM-Connected mode,
 and wherein execution of the instructions by the one or more processors of the MME are to cause the MME to:
 receive the TAU Request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU Request message is to indicate that a UE radio capability information update is needed or that the UE&#39;s usage setting changed from the data centric usage setting to the voice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; 
 transmit a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to the base station via S1 signaling, wherein the UE Radio Capability Match Request message is to include an update needed indicator, wherein the update needed indicator is to trigger the base station to send a UE Capability Enquiry message to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and 
 receive a UE Capability Info Indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE Capability Info message is to include a UE Radio Capability information element (IE) and wherein the UE Radio Capability IE is to include a CE mode B support indication, and 
 wherein the MME is to control storage of information of the UE Radio Capability IE in association with an identifier of the UE for subsequent network accesses by the UE. 
 
 
     
     
       10. A method performed by a Mobility Management Entity (MME), the method comprising:
 receiving a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message from a user equipment (UE) that is capable of operating in coverage enhancement (CE) mode B; 
 determining a usage setting of the UE that is indicated by the NAS message, the usage setting set to one of a voice centric usage setting or a data centric usage setting; 
 upon a determination that the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice centric usage setting, setting a CE mode B Restricted parameter in a mobility management (MM) context associated with the UE to have a “restricted” value; 
 upon a determination that the usage setting of the UE is set to a data centric usage setting, setting the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context associated with the UE to have a “not restricted” value; and 
 controlling transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter to a base station via S1 signaling to indicate whether the UE is restricted or not restricted for use of CE mode B. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein controlling transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter via the S1 signaling comprises:
 generating an S1 application protocol (S1AP) message to include the CE mode B Restricted parameter. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message, a Handover Request message, a Path Switch Request Acknowledge message, a Connection Establishment Indication message, or a Downlink Non-Access Stratum (NAS) Transport message carrying a Tracking Area Update (TAU) Accept message. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the NAS message is an Attach request or TAU request message. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein the Attach request message or the TAU request message includes a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, and wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element indicates the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 when the CE mode B Restricted parameter stored in the MM context is set to the “not restricted” value, extending NAS timer settings for the UE. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 10 , wherein controlling transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter to the base station via S1 signaling comprises sending an S1AP message to the base station,
 and wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message during an Attach procedure or a Tracking Area Update (TAU) procedure. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter associated with the UE is identified in response to receipt of an Attach Request message or a Tracking Area Update (TAU) Request message when the UE has initiated a Attach procedure or a TAU procedure in an EPS Mobility Management (EMM)-Idle mode, and wherein the method comprises:
 controlling deletion of any currently stored UE Radio Capability information of the UE; 
 not sending any UE Radio Capability information to the base station in the Initial Context Setup Request message or the UE Radio Capability Match Request message such that the base station is to be triggered to request UE Radio Capability information from the UE and to upload the requested UE Radio Capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message; 
 receiving an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message from the base station, wherein the S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message is to include the UE Radio Capability information requested by the base station; 
 controlling storage of the UE Radio Capability information; and 
 generating an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to include the stored UE Radio Capability information in other cases than Attach procedure, Tracking Area Update procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach” and “UE radio capability update” procedure. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter associated with the UE is identified in response to receipt of a Tracking Area Update (TAU) Request message when the UE has initiated a TAU procedure in an EMM-Connected mode, and wherein the method comprises:
 receiving the TAU Request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU Request message is to indicate that a UE radio capability information update is needed or that the UE&#39;s usage setting changed from the data centric usage setting to the voice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; 
 transmitting a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to the base station via S1 signaling, wherein the UE Radio Capability Match Request message is to include an update needed indicator, wherein the update needed indicator is to trigger the base station to send a UE Capability Enquiry message to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and 
 receiving a UE Capability Info Indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE Capability Info message is to include a UE Radio Capability information element (IE) and wherein the UE Radio Capability IE is to include a CE mode B support indication, and 
 wherein the MME is to control storage of information of the UE Radio Capability IE in association with an identifier of the UE for subsequent network accesses by the UE. 
 
     
     
       19. A method performed by a base station, the method comprising:
 transmitting, to a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message from a user equipment (UE) that is capable of operating in coverage enhancement (CE) mode B, the NAS message indicating a usage setting of the UE being set to one of a voice centric usage setting or a data centric usage setting; 
 in response to transmitting the NAS message, receiving, from the MME, an S1 application protocol (S1AP) message; and 
 determining, from the S1AP message, a value of a CE mode B Restricted parameter in a mobility management (MM) context associated with the UE, 
 wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MINI context associated with the UE is set to have a “restricted” value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice centric usage setting as indicated by the NAS message, and 
 the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context associated with the UE is set to have a “not restricted” value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a data centric usage setting as indicated by the NAS message. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 19 , wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message, a Handover Request message, a Path Switch Request Acknowledge message, a Connection Establishment Indication message, or a Downlink Non-Access Stratum (NAS) Transport message carrying a Tracking Area Update (TAU) Accept message, and
 wherein the NAS message is an Attach request or TAU request message that includes a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, and wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element indicates the UE&#39;s usage setting.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to International Application No. PCT/US2018/015869 filed on Jan. 30, 2018, U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/473,917 filed Mar. 20, 2017 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/505,520 filed on May 12, 2017, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     Various embodiments of the present application generally relate to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to user equipment operating using coverage enhancement. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A user equipment (UE) in enhanced coverage is a UE that requires the use of enhanced coverage functionality to access a cell. Two enhanced coverage modes are supported by current Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, CE mode A and CE mode B (where “CE” refers to “coverage enhancement” or “coverage extension”). A UE that supports CE mode B may be configured to have a usage setting as “data centric” or “voice centric.” A UE&#39;s usage setting of “voice centric” indicates that the UE should be able to use voice services at any time. An Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) radio bearer configured for use in CE mode B is not suitable for voice communication, for example, due to the transmission delay introduced by the specific protocol mechanisms for the support of enhanced coverage. 
     A UE may signal an indication that the UE supports CE mode B during each Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment, as well as in UE Radio Capability information. According to current 3GPP standards, the UE radio capability can only be changed by performing a new attach procedure. When a UE has a usage setting of “data centric” or “voice centric” and attaches to the network, a mobility management entity (MME) stores the UE radio capability information that indicates whether the UE supports CE mode B. When the UE switches its usage setting from voice centric to data centric (or vice versa), the UE will initiate Tracking Area Update (TAU) procedure and send a TAU Request message to indicate that the UE&#39;s usage setting has been changed. During the RRC connection establishment for this TAU procedure or for a subsequent service request procedure, the UE will indicate its CE mode B setting in one of the RRC messages. Additionally, the MME will send an S1-application protocol (AP) Initial Context Setup message including the UE radio capability to the evolved NodeB (eNB), and the UE radio capability will indicate the previous CE mode B setting of the UE. The eNB may assume that the previous CE mode B setting obtained from the MME is correct even if the UE&#39;s usage setting has changed. Therefore, the signaling according to current Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards does not allow to inform the eNB that CE mode B is no longer to be used for the UE if the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from “data centric” or “voice centric”. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an example system architecture of a network, in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates another example system architecture of a network, in accordance with various embodiments 
         FIG. 3  depicts an example of infrastructure equipment in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 4  depicts example components of a computer platform in accordance with various embodiments 
         FIG. 5  depicts example components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  depicts example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 7  depicts example components capable to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to various example embodiments. 
         FIG. 8  is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 9  is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 10  shows an example user equipment (UE) Radio Capability Match Request procedure in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 11  shows an example feature specific UE/Radio Access Network (RAN) Radio information and Compatibility Request procedure in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 12  shows an example mobility management entity procedure for updating a UE&#39;s usage setting in accordance with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 13  shows an example UE procedure for updating a UE&#39;s usage setting in accordance with various embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments discussed herein relate to enhanced coverage for user equipment (UE) that may operate according to a voice centric usage setting or a data centric usage setting. When the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to voice centric, the UE may not operate in coverage enhancement (CE) mode B. When the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to data centric, then the UE may operate in CE mode B. The UE may indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting in an Attach or Tracking Area Update (TAU) request message, which may be sent to a mobility management entity (MME). If the UE supports CE mode B and the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to voice centric in the Attach/TAU request message, then the MME may indicate to an evolved NodeB (eNB) that CE mode B is restricted for the UE. If the UE supports CE mode B and the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to data centric in the Attach/TAU request message, then the MME may indicate to the eNB that CE mode B is not restricted for the UE. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed. 
     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 the claimed invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the invention claimed 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 present invention with unnecessary detail. 
     Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments. 
     Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation. 
     The phrase “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and the like are used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiments; however, it may. The terms “comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). The phrases “A/B” and “A or B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B), similar to the phrase “A and/or B.” For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “at least one of A and B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” “in embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and/or “in various embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous. 
     Example embodiments may be described as a process depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process may be terminated when its operations are completed, but may also have additional steps not included in the figure(s). A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, and the like. 
     When a process corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return of the function to the calling function and/or the main function. 
     Example embodiments may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes, being executed by one or more of the aforementioned circuitry. The program code, software modules, and/or functional processes may include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular data types. The program code, software modules, and/or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented using existing hardware in existing communication networks. For example, program code, software modules, and/or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented using existing hardware at existing network elements or control nodes. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an architecture of a system  100  of a network, in accordance with various embodiments. The following description is provided for an example system  100  that operates in conjunction with the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard as provided by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications (TS). 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 Fifth Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR) systems, and the like. 
     As used herein, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may refer 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. In this example, UEs  101  and  102  are illustrated as smartphones (for example, 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, machine-type communications (MTC) devices, machine-to-machine (M2M), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and/or the like. 
     In some embodiments, any of the UEs  101  and  102  can comprise an IoT UE, which can 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 public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (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 (for example, keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. 
     The UEs  101  and  102  may be configured to connect, for example, communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN)—in this embodiment, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)  110 . The UEs  101  and  102  utilize connections (or channels)  103  and  104 , respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below). As used herein, the term “channel” may refer 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” may refer to a connection between two devices through a Radio Access Technology (RAT) for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. 
     In this example, the connections  103  and  104  are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and/or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs  101  and  102  may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface  105 . The ProSe interface  105  may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink (SL) interface  105  and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH). 
     The UE  102  is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP)  106  (also referred to as also referred to as “WLAN node  106 ”, “WLAN  106 ”, “WLAN Termination  106 ” or “WT  106 ” or the like) via connection  107 . The connection  107  can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP  106  would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP  106  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  102 , RAN  110 , and AP  106  may be configured to utilize LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) operation and/or WLAN LTE/WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel (LWIP) operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE  102  in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node  111 ,  112  to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE  102  using WLAN radio resources (for example, connection  107 ) via Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (for example, internet protocol (IP) packets) sent over the connection  107 . IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating entirety of original IP packets and adding a new packet header thereby protecting the original header of the IP packets. 
     The Radio Access Network (RAN)  110  can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections  103  and  104 . 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 base stations (BS), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, Road Side Units (RSUs), Transmission Reception Points (TRxPs or TRPs), and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (for example, terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (for example, a cell). The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity implemented in or by an gNB/eNB/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.” The RAN  110  may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, for example, macro RAN node  111 , and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (for example, cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), for example, low power (LP) RAN node  112 . 
     Any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs  101  and  102 . In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN  110  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  101  and  102  can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (for example, for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access 
     (SC-FDMA) communication technique (for example, 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  111  and  112  to the UEs  101  and  102 , 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. 
     The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs  101  and  102 . The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs  101  and  102  about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE  102  within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs  101  and  102 . The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (for example, assigned to) each of the UEs  101  and  102 . 
     The PDCCH may use control channel elements (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 resource element groups (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 downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (for example, 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 enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of 
     EREGs in some situations. 
     The RAN  110  is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, Core Network (CN)  120  (for example, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC)) via an S1 interface  113 . In this embodiment the S1 interface  113  is split into two parts, the S1-U interface  114 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  111  and  112  and the serving gateway (S-GW)  122 , and the S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and  112  and MMEs  121 . 
     In this embodiment, the EPC network  120  comprises the MMEs  121 , the S-GW  122 , the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW)  123 , and a home subscriber server (HSS)  124 . The MMEs  121  may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs  121  may perform various mobility management (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  101 ,  102 , provide user identity confidentiality, and/or other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE  101 ,  102  and the MME  121  may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE  101 ,  102  and the MME  121  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  101 ,  102 . 
     The (E)MM sublayer may operate in one of two states, an EMM-REGISTERED state or an EMM-DEREGISTERED state. When the MM/EMM context has been established, the EMM sublayer may enter the EMM-REGISTERED state. In the EMM-REGISTERED state, the UE  101 ,  102  may initiate sending and receiving user data and signaling information, reply to paging, and perform tracking area update procedures. Additionally, the EMM sublayer of the UE  101 ,  102  may operate in an EMM-IDLE mode or an EMM-CONNECTED mode. EMM States and Modes can occur in any combination. For example, initially a UE  101 ,  102  may be in the EMM-DEREGISTERED state and the EMM-IDLE mode and then, by establishing an RRC connection, the UE  101 ,  102  may change to the EMM-CONNECTED mode in the EMM-DEREGISTERED state. Upon successful completion of the attach procedure, the UE  101 ,  102  may change to the EMM-REGISTERED state and the EMM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE  101 ,  102  is attached and the UE  101 ,  102  and network do not have any traffic/signaling to send, the network may release the radio connection and the UE  101 ,  102  may change to EMM-IDLE mode while in the EMM-REGISTERED state. 
     When the UE  101 ,  102  is in EMM-REGISTERED state and in EMM-IDLE mode (also referred to as an “EPS Connection Management (ECM)-IDLE state”), the UE  101 ,  102  location is known to the MME  121  with an accuracy of a list of tracking areas containing a certain number of tracking areas. The UE  101 ,  102  may be in EMM-IDLE mode when no NAS signaling connection between the UE  101 ,  102  and network (for example, MME  121 ) exists. When the UE  101 ,  102  is in EMM-CONNECTED mode (also referred to as “ECM-CONNECTED state”), the UE  101 ,  102  location is known to the MME  121  with an accuracy of a serving E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112 . The UE  101 ,  102  may be in EMM-CONNECTED mode when a NAS signaling connection between UE and network is established. 
     The HSS  124  may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions. The EPC network  120  may comprise one or several HSSs  124 , depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS  124  can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. 
     The S-GW  122  may terminate the S1 interface  113  towards the RAN  110 , and routes data packets between the RAN  110  and the EPC network  120 . In addition, the S-GW  122  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 P-GW  123  may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW  123  may route data packets between the EPC network  123  and e2ernal networks such as a network including the application server  130  (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface  125 . Generally, the application server  130  may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (for example, UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW  123  is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server  130  via an IP communications interface  125 . The application server  130  can also be configured to support one or more communication services (for example, Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs  101  and  102  via the EPC network  120 . 
     The P-GW  123  may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF)  126  is the policy and charging control element of the EPC network  120 . In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with an RE&#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 an RE&#39;s IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF  126  may be communicatively coupled to the application server  130  via the P-GW  123 . The application server  130  may signal the PCRF  126  to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF  126  may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server  130 . 
     According to various embodiments, the UEs  101 ,  102  may operate in an enhanced coverage mode or use enhanced coverage functionality to access cell(s) provided by RAN nodes  111 ,  112 . In some embodiments, the UEs  101 ,  102  that operate with enhanced coverage may be bandwidth reduced low complexity (BL) UEs  101 ,  102 , which are UEs that can operate in any LTE (or NR) system bandwidth but with a limited channel bandwidth of, for example, 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) (corresponding to a maximum channel bandwidth available in an LTE system of 1.4 MHz, for example) in downlink and uplink. 
     Currently, there are two enhanced coverage modes supported by 3GPP standards: coverage enhancement (CE) mode A and CE mode B. CE mode A may be used for relatively modest coverage enhancement and CE mode B may be used for extensive coverage enhancement. UEs  101 ,  102  operating in CE mode B may have a maximum PDSCH/PUSCH bandwidth in connected mode for unicast transmission depending on a UE category of the UEs  101 ,  102 . For example, a category M1 BL UE operating in CE mode B may have a maximum of 6 PRB bandwidth for each of the PDSCH and PUSCH; a category M2 BL UE operating in CE mode B may have a maximum 24 PRB bandwidth for PDSCH and maximum 6 PRB bandwidth for PUSCH; and a non-BL UE operating in CE mode B may have a maximum 96 PRB bandwidth for PDSCH and maximum 6 PRB bandwidth for PUSCH. 
     The UEs  101 ,  102  may also be Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) and/or IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)/Circuitry Switched (CS)-voice capable UEs. CSFB allows UEs to fall back to using GERAN (Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)/Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) Radio Access Network), UTRAN (Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network), or some other legacy system while in E-UTRAN in order to, inter alia, initiate or receive calls via the circuit switched (CS) domain. In such embodiments, the UEs  101 ,  102  may perform an access domain selection procedure for UE originating voice calls for deciding whether a call should be serviced in the CS domain or using IMS. The access domain selection may be based on, inter alia, a state of the UE  101 ,  102  in the CS domain (for example, attached, detached), a state of the UE  101 ,  102  in the IMS (for example, registered or unregistered), a domain used by an existing session/call for the same service, user preferences and/or operator policies, whether the UE  101 ,  102  supports IMS over PS session, and whether the UE  101 ,  102  is expected to behave in a “Voice centric” or “Data Centric” way. 
     The domain selection for originating voice calls may include setting the UEs,  101 ,  102  to behave as “Voice centric” or “Data Centric.” When a UE  101 ,  102  is set to “voice centric,” the UE  101 ,  102  will always try to ensure that voice service is possible. This means that a voice centric UE  101 ,  102  may reselect to a 2G/3G RAN node (for example, by disabling its E-UTRA capabilities) if voice service in E-UTRAN cannot be provided via CSFB or voice over IMS. When a UE  101 ,  102  is set to “data centric,” the UEs  101 ,  102  do not disable the E-UTRAN capability if voice services cannot be obtained. This means that a data centric UE  101 ,  102  will not reselect to a different RAT even if voice service in E-UTRAN cannot be provided via CSFB or voice over IMS. 
     If the UE  101 ,  102  supports CSFB, or the UE  101 ,  102  is configured to support IMS voice, or both, the UE shall include a “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” information element (IE) in an Attach Request, Tracking Area Update (TAU) Request, and Routing Area Update (RAU) Request messages. The UE  101 ,  102  may use the “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE to signal to the network the UE&#39;s usage setting and voice domain preference for E-UTRAN. The UE&#39;s usage setting indicates whether the UE behaves in a voice centric or data centric way. The voice domain preference for E-UTRAN indicates whether the UE is configured as CS Voice only, CS Voice preferred and IMS packet switched (PS) Voice as secondary, IMS PS Voice preferred and CS Voice as secondary, or IMS PS Voice only. In cases, a change of the UE&#39;s usage setting or voice domain preference for E-UTRAN may trigger the UEs  101 ,  102  to perform a TAU procedure. 
     According to various first embodiments, a UE  101 ,  102  supporting CE mode B may detach and then reattach to the network whenever the UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101 ,  102  is changed from “voice centric” to “data centric,” or vice versa, in order to update the UE radio capability information at the MME  121 , changing the CE mode B support indication in the UE radio capability information from a value of “not supported” to a value of “supported”, or vice versa. One drawback of the first embodiments is that such embodiments may be relatively expensive in terms of signaling overhead via the radio interface, including that such embodiments may require retrieval of the full new UE radio capability. In addition the change from “voice centric” to “data centric,” or vice versa, might take place while the UE  101 ,  102  is operating in CE mode B, and therefore, signaling resources may be scarce when compared to operating in a normal or non-enhanced coverage mode. 
     According to various second embodiments, whenever the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from voice centric to data centric, or vice versa, the MME  121  may update the UE radio capability during a TAU procedure for the UE  101 ,  102 . In such embodiments, if the UE  101 ,  102  is performing an Attach procedure or a TAU procedure for a “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach,” for a “UE radio capability update”, or for indicating a change in the UE&#39;s usage setting from voice centric to data centric or vice versa if the UE is supports CE mode B, the MME  121  may delete (or mark as deleted) any UE Radio Capability information that it has stored for the UE  101 ,  102 . Additionally, if the MME  121  sends an S1 interface initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during the Attach/TAU procedure, the MME  121  may not send any UE Radio Capability information to the RAN node  111 ,  112  in that message. This may trigger the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  to request the UE Radio Capability from the UE  101 ,  102  and to upload it to the MME  121  in an S1 interface UE capability info indication message. In such embodiments, the UE Radio Capability may include an indication about the support of CE mode B by the UE  101 ,  102 . Upon receipt of the UE Radio Capability in the UE capability info indication message, the MME  121  may store the UE Radio Capability information, and include it in further INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST messages in cases other than an Attach or TAU procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach” and “UE radio capability update” procedure. 
     The second embodiments may include an update to section 5.11.2 of 3GPP technical specification (TS) 23.401 version (v) 15.2.0 (2017-12) as follows:
         If the UE is performing an Attach procedure or a Tracking Area Update procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach” or for “UE radio capability update” or for the “UE supporting CE Mode B and changing the UE&#39;s usage setting from voice centric to data centric (and vice versa)”, the MME shall delete (or mark as deleted) any UE Radio Capability information that it has stored, and, if the MME sends an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message during that procedure, the MME shall not send any UE Radio Capability information to the E-UTRAN in that message. This triggers the E-UTRAN to request the UE Radio Capability from the UE and to upload it to the MME in the S1 interface UE CAPABILITY INFO INDICATION message. The MME stores the UE Radio Capability information, and include it in further INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST messages in other cases than Attach procedure, Tracking Area Update procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach” and “UE radio capability update” procedure.       

     The second embodiments may be better as compared to the first embodiments in terms of radio signaling overhead; however, the second embodiments may only be applicable for a UE  101 ,  102  that is in EPS Mobility Management (EMM)-Idle mode at the moment when the UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101 ,  102  is changed. If the UE  101 ,  102  is already in EMM-Connected mode, and the UE radio capability information element (IE) has already been provided by the MME  121  to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  with an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message, then it will not be updated as long as the UE  101 ,  102  remains in EMM-Connected mode. If the UE radio capability IE has not yet been provided by the MME  121  to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112 , then the MME  121  may send an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message without including the UE radio capability IE. In response to receipt of such an S1 message, the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  may retrieve the UE radio capability from the UE  101 ,  102 . In order to allow the UE&#39;s usage setting to be updated while the UE  101 ,  102  is in EMM-Connected mode, a new indicator/flag/parameter called “CE mode B restriction parameter” may be added to the S1-AP message to be sent by MME  121  to the RAN node  111 ,  112 . The new indicator/flag/parameter may indicate whether the UE  101 ,  102  is “restricted” or “not restricted” for CE mode B. The S1-AP message may be an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, a HANDOVER REQUEST message, a PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, a CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, a DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying a TAU accept message, or some other like message. 
     A variant of the second embodiments may be used for UE  101 ,  102  that is in EMM-Connected mode when the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from data centric to voice centric, or vice versa, and the UE radio capability IE has already been provided by the MME  121  to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112 . In such embodiments, the MME  121  may receive a TAU request message from the UE  101 ,  102 , where the TAU Request includes “UE radio capability information update needed” indicator. In response to receipt of a TAU Request message including this indicator or indicating a change of the UE&#39;s usage setting from data centric to voice centric, or vice versa, the MME  121  may send an S1 interface message, such as a UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message without a UE radio capability IE, and instead include an “update needed” indicator. 
     When the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  receives the S1 interface UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message with the “update needed” indicator, the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  may initiate an RRC UE Capability Enquiry procedure to retrieve the UE radio capability from the UE  101 ,  102 , even if the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  has already received a UE radio capability IE from the MME  121  with an earlier S1 interface message (for example, in an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message) or from the UE  101 ,  102  during an earlier RRC UE Capability Enquiry procedure. The UE  101 ,  102  may provide updated UE Capability information to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  including the updated CE mode B support indication indicating a value of “not supported” if the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from data centric to voice centric, or a value of “supported”, if the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from voice centric to data centric. After the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  obtains the UE Capability information in an RRC UE Capability Enquiry response message, the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  may provide an updated UE radio capability IE to the MME  121  in an S1-AP UE Capability information Indication message. The MME  121  may then store the UE radio capability, including the CE mode B support indication, for subsequent accesses by the UE  101 ,  102 . 
     In addition to updating the UE&#39;s usage setting and/or support of CE mode B, the enhanced TAU procedure with “UE radio capability information update needed” indicator discussed with respect to the variation of the second embodiments may be used to update any radio capability parameters. For example, a supported UE category, supported bands or band combinations, support of FDD or TDD modes, and the like may be updated using the variant of the second embodiments. 
     Furthermore, for cases where the UE  101 ,  102  determines that a new UE radio capability should be signaled to the network when the UE  101 ,  102  is already in EMM-Connected mode, the UE  101 ,  102  may need to keep using the previously or currently enabled UE radio capability until the UE  101 ,  102  has signaled the new UE radio capability to the E-UTRAN node  111 , 112 . If the UE  101 ,  102  immediately switches to using the new UE radio capability and configures its radiofrequency circuitry and physical layer accordingly, and the E-UTRAN node  111 , 112  initiates an RRC procedure based on the old UE radio capability that RRC procedure may fail. 
     According to various third embodiments, the MME  121  may use the UE&#39;s usage setting as indicated by the Attach/TAU request to determine if CE mode B should be restricted, and may inform the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  about the determined restriction whenever the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from voice centric to data centric, or vice versa. In such embodiments, the UE  101 ,  102  may send a “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE in an Attach Request, TAU request, and/or RAU request message to the MME  121  to indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting and voice domain preference for E-UTRAN. The voice domain preference for E-UTRAN may indicate whether the UE  101 ,  102  is configured as CS voice only, CS voice preferred and IMS packet switched (PS) voice as secondary, IMS PS voice preferred and CS voice as secondary, or IMS PS voice only. 
     In the third embodiments, if the UE  101 ,  102  supports CE mode B, then the UE  101 ,  102  may send a CE mode B capability to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  and/or the MME  121  irrespective of its current UE&#39;s usage setting (“Voice Centric” or “Data Centric”). If the UE  101 ,  102  supports “CE mode B” and the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to voice centric, then the UE  101 ,  102  may not operate in CE mode B, may locally disable CE mode B, and the UE  101 ,  102  may not extend NAS timers and/or may or may not initiate any dedicated bearer establishment (for example, voice over LTE (VoLTE), etc.). 
     One difference between the third embodiments and the second embodiments is that, if the UE  101 ,  102  supports CE mode B and UE&#39;s usage setting is set to voice centric, in the second embodiments the UE  101 ,  102  does not send a CE mode support capability indicating “CE mode B supported” to the MME  121  during an Attach/TAU/RAU procedure. 
     By contrast, in the third embodiments, the UE  101 ,  102  always reports its correct capabilities. Another difference is that the second embodiments may require updating the UE radio capability stored at the MME  121  when the UE  101 ,  102  switches from “Voice Centric” to “Data Centric,” and vice versa, whereas the third embodiments may not require updating the UE radio capability stored at the MME  121  when the UE  101 ,  102  switches from “Voice Centric” to “Data Centric,” and vice versa. 
     According to various fourth embodiments, the UE  101 ,  102  may provide two versions of the UE radio capability to the MME  121  during an Attach/TAU/RAU procedure. One version of the UE Radio Capability may be used for the voice centric UE&#39;s usage setting and a second version of the UE Radio Capability information may be used for the data centric usage setting. This may force the MME  121  to select the correct UE Radio Capability during the TAU/RAU procedure whenever the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from voice centric to data centric, or vice versa. In such embodiments, the MME  121  may store the two versions of the UE Radio Capability information, and the MME  121  may send the UE Radio Capability corresponding to UE&#39;s usage setting to the E-UTRAN  111 ,  112 . Additionally, if the UE  101 ,  102  supports CE mode B, the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed, and the UE  101 ,  102  is already in the EMM-Connected mode, the MME  121  may send the UE Radio Capability to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  in a Connection Establishment Indication message, Downlink NAS Transport message, or some other suitable message. 
     One difference between the fourth embodiments and the second embodiments may include the use of the two versions of the UE radio capability sent by the UE  101 ,  102  and stored by the MME  121 . Communicating and storing two versions of the UE Radio Capability may require more signaling and storage overhead at the UE  101 ,  102  and the MME  121 . However, the fourth embodiments can be simplified so the second version contain only the changes in the radio capability instead of sending complete radio capability. Additionally, the fourth embodiments may be more generic and can be used if more changes are proposed in future, such as implementing new CE modes, new CE mechanisms, or the like. 
     According to various fifth embodiments, the MME  121  may analyze the UE Radio Capability information and may modify and provide updated UE Radio Capability to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  whenever the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from voice centric to data centric, or vice versa. Additionally, if the UE  101 ,  102  supports CE mode B, the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed, and the UE  101 ,  102  is already in the EMM-Connected mode, the MME  121  may send the UE Radio Capability to the E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  in a Connection Establishment Indication message, Downlink NAS Transport message, or some other suitable message. One drawback of the fifth embodiments is that it may require updates to the implementation/operation of the MME  121  to analyze and/or modify the UE radio capability information. 
     In the various embodiments discussed herein, a new indicator, flag, parameter called “CE mode B restriction parameter” may be added to an S1-AP message that is sent from MME  121  to E-UTRAN node  111 ,  112  (e.g. INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, HANDOVER REQUEST message, PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, and DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying the TAU ACCEPT message including when the UE initiates a TAU in EMM-Connected mode after PS handover) when the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed while the UE  101 ,  102  is in EMM-Connected mode or EMM-Idle mode. This new indicator may indicate whether CE mode B is “restricted” or “not restricted” for the UE  101 ,  102 . For example, if the UE&#39;s usage setting of UE  101 ,  102  is set to voice centric, then the UE  101 ,  102  may not operate in CE mode B (or CE mode B is “restricted”). By contrast, if the UE&#39;s usage setting of UE  101 ,  102  is set to data centric, then the UE  101 ,  102  may operate in CE mode B (or CE mode B is “not restricted”). In some of the various embodiments discussed herein, the CE mode B restriction parameter may be included in a non-access stratum (NAS) message (e.g. Attach Accept, TAU Accept, etc.) to be sent by the MME  121  to the UE  101 ,  102 . 
     In some of the embodiments discussed herein, the “CE mode B restriction parameter” may be set by the MME  121  based on the UE&#39;s usage setting. If the UE  101 ,  102  supports CE mode B and the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to “Voice Centric,” then the MME  121  may set the CE mode B restriction parameter to a first value to indicate that the UE  101 ,  102  is “restricted” for CE mode B. In an example, the first value may be an integer, such as “1,” or a string, such as “restricted,” or a flag which is set to “1”. If the UE  101 ,  102  supports CE mode B and the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to “Data Centric,” the MME  121  may set the CE mode B restriction parameter to a second value to indicate that the UE  101 ,  102  is “not restricted” for CE mode B. In an example, the second value may be an integer, such as “0,” or a string, such as “not restricted,” or a flag which is set to “0.” 
     In the various embodiments discussed herein, when the UE&#39;s usage setting changes from “data centric” to “voice centric,” then the CE mode B restriction parameter in an S1-AP message (e.g. INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, HANDOVER REQUEST message, PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, and DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying the TAU ACCEPT message) may be set to the first value (for example, “1”, “restricted”, etc.) indicating that the UE  101 ,  102  is “restricted” for CE mode B. If the UE&#39;s usage setting changes from “voice centric” to “data centric” then CE mode B restriction parameter in an S1-AP message (e.g. INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, HANDOVER REQUEST message, PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, and DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying the TAU ACCEPT message) may be set to the second value (e.g. “0”, “not restricted”, etc.) indicating that the UE  101 ,  102  is “not restricted” for CE mode B. In some embodiments, the “CE mode B restriction parameter” may be included in the various S1-AP messages mentioned previously to indicate whether UE  101 ,  102  is by subscription “restricted” or “not restricted” for CE mode B. 
     In some embodiments, values for the CE mode B restriction parameter different than those discussed previously may be used to indicate whether the UE  101 ,  102  is “restricted” or “not restricted” for CE mode B. In some embodiments, the “CE mode B restriction parameter” may be a variable of type “enumerated,” for example, the “CE mode B restriction parameter” may be another code point value of the existing “Enhanced Coverage Restricted parameter” included in the S1-AP messages mentioned previously. 
     In the various embodiments discussed herein, the MME  121  may store the “CE mode B restriction parameter” parameter in an MM context of the UE  101 ,  102  or the MME  121  may derive its value, when needed, from the UE&#39;s usage setting parameter {possible values: “Data Centric”, “Voice Centric”} already stored in the UE context (and/or MM Context). 
     In the various embodiments discussed herein, if “CE mode B restriction parameter” is set to the “restricted” value, then the UE  101 ,  102  and/or the MME  121  may not start or extend extended NAS timer(s). In such embodiments, the MME  121  may reject any request for dedicated bearer establishment for the UE  101 ,  102  if the CE mode B restriction parameter of the UE  101 ,  102  is set to the “not restricted” value. 
     In the various embodiments discussed herein, a NAS entity at the UE  101 ,  102  may disable the usage of CE mode B (for example, due to change from “data centric” to “voice centric,” or vice versa), and the NAS entity may inform an access stratum (AS) entity at the UE  101 ,  102  not to enable procedures applicable to CE mode B in idle or connected mode, such as for cell reselection, random access, measurement gaps, etc. When the NAS entity enables usage of CE mode B, the NAS entity may inform the AS entity to enable applicable CE mode B procedures in idle or connected mode. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an architecture of a system  200  of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system  200  is shown to include a UE  201 , which may be the same or similar to UEs  101  and  102  discussed previously; a RAN node  211 , which may be the same or similar to RAN nodes  111  and  112  discussed previously; a Data network (DN)  203 , which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5G Core Network (5GC or CN)  220 . 
     Similar to UEs  101 ,  102 , the 5GC-capable UE  201  may also perform an access domain selection procedure for UE originating voice calls. The access domain selection may be based on, inter alia, a state of the UE  201  in the IMS (for example, registered or unregistered), whether the UE  201  supports IMS over PS session, the UE  201  capability for operating in dual-registration mode with selective PDU Session transfer, and whether the UE  201  is expected to behave in a “Voice centric” or “Data Centric” way. For domain selection for originating voice calls, the UEs,  101 ,  102  may be set to behave as “Voice centric” or “Data Centric.” 
     When the 5GC-capable UE  201  is set to “voice centric” for SGS, the UE  201  will always try to ensure that voice service is possible. This means that a voice centric UE  201  may select a cell that is not only connected to the 5GC  220 . The UE  201  may also disable its 5GS capabilities and reselect to an E-UTRAN node  111 , 112  first (if available) and may perform voice domain selection as discussed previously with regard to  FIG. 1 . When UE  201  is set to “data centric,” the UE  201  does not disable 5GS capabilities (or perform any reselection) if voice services cannot be obtained. This means that a data centric UE  201  will not reselect to another RAT even if voice service in 5GC cannot be provided. Additionally, if the UE  201  is configured to support IMS voice, the UE  201  may include a “UE&#39;s usage setting” IE in Registration Update Request messages (discussed infra). The UE&#39;s usage setting indicates whether the UE behaves in a “voice centric” or “data centric” way. 
     The CN  220  may include an Authentication Server Function (AUSF)  222 ; an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)  221 ; a Session Management Function (SMF)  224 ; a Network Exposure Function (NEF)  223 ; a Policy Control function (PCF)  226 ; a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF)  225 ; a Unified Data Management (UDM)  227 ; an Application Function (AF)  228 ; a User Plane Function (UPF)  202 ; and a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)  229 . 
     The UPF  202  may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN  203 , and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF  202  may also perform packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, enforce user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection); traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for user plane (e.g. packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (for example, SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF  202  may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN  203  may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services. NY  203  may include, or be similar to application server  130  discussed previously. The UPF  202  may interact with the SMF  224  via an N4 reference point between the SMF  224  and the UPF  202 . 
     The AUSF  222  may store data for authentication of UE  201  and handle authentication related functionality. The AUSF  222  may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF  222  may communicate with the AMF  221  via an N12 reference point between the AMF  221  and the AUSF  222 ; and may communicate with the UDM  227  via an N13 reference point between the UDM  227  and the AUSF  222 . Additionally, the AUSF  222  may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. 
     The AMF  221  may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE  201 , etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF  221  may be a termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF  221  and the SMF  224 . The AMF  221  may provide transport for Session Management (SM) messages between the UE  201  and the SMF  224 , and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF  221  may also provide transport for short message service (SMS) messages between UE  201  and an SMS function (SMSF) (not shown by  FIG. 2 ). AMF  221  may act as Security Anchor Function (SEA), which may include interaction with the AUSF  222  and the UE  201 , receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE  201  authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used, the AMF  221  may retrieve the security material from the AUSF  222 . AMF  221  may also include a Security Context Management (SCM) function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF  221  may be a termination point of RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN  211  and the AMF  221 ; and the AMF  221  may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signalling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. 
     AMF  221  may also support NAS signalling with a UE  201  over an N3 interworking-function (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  211  and the AMF  221  for the control plane, and may be a termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN  211  and the UPF  202  for the user plane. As such, the AMF  221  may handle N2 signalling from the SMF  224  and the AMF  221  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 to such marking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS signalling between the UE  201  and AMF  221  via an N1 reference point between the UE  201  and the AMF  221 , and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE  201  and UPF  202 . The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE  201 . The AMF  221  may exhibit an Namf service-based interface, and may be a termination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs  221  and an N17 reference point between the AMF  221  and a 5G-Equipment Identity Register (5G-EIR) (not shown by  FIG. 2 ). 
     The UE  201  may need to register with the AMF  221  in order to receive network services. Registration Management (RM) is used to register or deregister the UE  221  with the network (for example, AMF  221 ), and establish a UE context in the network (for example, AMF  221 ). The UE  201  may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state or an RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the UE  201  is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  221  holds no valid location or routing information for the UE  201  so the UE  201  is not reachable by the AMF  221 . In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE  201  is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  221  may hold a valid location or routing information for the UE  201  so the UE  201  is reachable by the AMF  221 . In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE  201  may perform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodic Registration Update procedure triggered by expiration of the periodic update timer (for example, to notify the network that the UE  201  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  221  may store one or more RM contexts for the UE  201 , 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  221  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  221  may store a CE mode B Restriction parameter of the UE  201  in an associated MM context or RM context. The AMF  221  may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE&#39;s usage setting parameter {possible values: “Data Centric”, “Voice Centric”} already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RM Context). 
     Connection Management (CM) may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE  201  and the AMF  221  over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE  201  and the CN  220 , and comprises both the AN signaling connection between the UE and the Access Network (AN) (for example, RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for Non-3GPP access) and the N2 connection for the UE  201  between the AN (for example, RAN  211 ) and the AMF  221 . The UE  201  may operate in one of two CM states, CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE  201  is operating in the CM-IDLE state/mode, the UE  201  may have no NAS signaling connection established with the AMF  221  over the N1 interface, and there may be (R)AN  211  signaling connection (for example, N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  201 . When the UE  201  is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode, the UE  201  may have an established NAS signaling connection with the AMF  221  over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN  211  signaling connection (for example, N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  201 . Establishment of an N2 connection between the (R)AN  211  and the AMF  221  may cause the UE  201  to transition from CM-IDLE mode to CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE  201  may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2 signaling between the (R)AN  211  and the AMF  221  is released. 
     The SMF  224  may be responsible for session management (for example, session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation &amp; management (including optional Authorization); Selection and control of UP function; Configures traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces towards Policy control functions; control 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; initiator of AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; determine SSC mode of a session. The SMF  224  may include the following roaming functionality: handle 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); support for interaction with external DN for transport of signalling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference point between two SMFs  224  may be included in the system  200 , which may be between another SMF  224  in a visited network and the SMF  224  in the home network in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF  224  may exhibit the Nsmf service-based interface. 
     The NEF  223  may provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (for example, AF  228 ), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF  223  may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF  223  may also translate information exchanged with the AF  228  and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF  223  may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF  223  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  223  as structured data, or at a data storage NF using a standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF  223  to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF  223  may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface. 
     The NRF  225  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  225  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  225  may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface. 
     The PCF  226  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  226  may also implement a front end (FE) to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM  227 . The PCF  226  may communicate with the AMF  221  via an N15 reference point between the PCF  226  and the AMF  221 , which may include a PCF  226  in a visited network and the AMF  221  in case of roaming scenarios. The PCF  226  may communicate with the AF  228  via an N5 reference point between the PCF  226  and the AF  228 ; and with the SMF  224  via an N7 reference point between the PCF  226  and the SMF  224 . The system  200  and/or CN  220  may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF  226  (in the home network) and a PCF  226  in a visited network. Additionally, the PCF  226  may exhibit an Npcf service-based interface. 
     The UDM  227  may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE  201 . For example, subscription data may be communicated between the UDM  227  and the AMF  221  via an N8 reference point between the UDM  227  and the AMF  221  (not shown by  FIG. 2 ). The UDM  227  may include two parts, an application FE and a User Data Repository (UDR) (the FE and UDR are not shown by  FIG. 2 ). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM  227  and the PCF  226 , and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including Packet Flow Descriptions (PFDs) for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs  201 ) for the NEF  223 . The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR  221  to allow the UDM  227 , PCF  226 , and NEF  223  to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (for example, 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 of 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  224  via an N10 reference point between the UDM  227  and the SMF  224 . UDM  227  may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logic as discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM  227  may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface. 
     The AF  228  may provide application influence on traffic routing, access to the Network Capability Exposure (NCE), and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC and AF  228  to provide information to each other via NEF  223 , 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  201  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  202  close to the UE  201  and execute traffic steering from the UPF  202  to DN  203  via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF  228 . In this way, the AF  228  may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF  228  is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF  228  to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF  228  may exhibit an Naf service-based interface. 
     The NSSF  229  may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE  201 . The NSSF  229  may also determine allowed Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (NSSAI) and the mapping to the Subscribed Single-NSSAIs (S-NSSAIs), if needed. The NSSF  229  may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE  201 , or a list of candidate AMF(s)  221  based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF  225 . The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE  201  may be triggered by the AMF  221  with which the UE  201  is registered by interacting with the NSSF  229 , which may lead to a change of AMF  221 . The NSSF  229  may interact with the AMF  221  via an N22 reference point between AMF  221  and NSSF  229 ; and may communicate with another NSSF  229  in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by  FIG. 2 ). Additionally, the NSSF  229  may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface. 
     As discussed previously, the CN  220  may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to/from the UE  201  to/from other entities, such as an SMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF  221  and UDM  227  for notification procedure that the UE  201  is available for SMS transfer (for example, set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM  227  when UE  201  is available for SMS). 
     The CN  220  may also include other elements that are not shown by  FIG. 2 , such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-Equipment Identity Register (5G-EIR), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), and the like. The Data Storage system may include a Structured Data Storage network function (SDSF), an Unstructured Data Storage network function (UDSF), and/or the like. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF (for example, UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF (not shown by  FIG. 2 ). 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. 2 ). The 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of Permanent Equipment Identifiers (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. 2  for clarity. In one example, the CN  220  may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (for example, MME  121 ) and the AMF  221  in order to enable interworking between CN  220  and CN  120 . Other example interfaces/reference points may include an N5g-eir service-based interface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between 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. 
     In yet another example, system  200  may include multiple RAN nodes  211  wherein an Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes  211  (for example, gNBs and the like) that connecting to 5GC  220 , between a RAN node  211  (for example, gNB) connecting to 5GC  220  and an eNB (for example, a RAN node  111  of  FIG. 1 ), and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC  220 . 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  201  in a connected mode (for example, CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes  211 . The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node  211  to new (target) serving RAN node  211 ; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node  211  to new (target) serving RAN node  211 . 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 an SCTP layer. The SCTP layer may be on top of an IP layer. The SCTP layer provides 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 various components of the core network  120  and  220  may be referred to as “network elements.” The term “network element” may describe a physical or virtualized equipment 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, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, radio access network device, gateway, server, virtualized network function (VNF), network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI), and/or the like. The components of the CNs  120 ,  220  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 (for example, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, Network Functions Virtualization (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 CNs  120 ,  220  may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CNs  120 ,  220  may be referred to as a network sub-slice (for example, a network sub-slice may include the PGW  123  and the PCRF  126 ). 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. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment  300  in accordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment  300  (or “system  300 ”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RAN node, etc., such as the RAN nodes  111  and  112 , and/or AP  106  shown and described previously. In other examples, the system  300  could be implemented in or by a UE or a core network node/entity. The system  300  may include one or more of application circuitry  305 , baseband circuitry  304 , one or more radio front end modules  315 , memory  320 , power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  325 , power tee circuitry  330 , network controller  335 , network interface connector  340 , satellite positioning circuitry  345 , and user interface  350 . In some embodiments, the device  400  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 Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations). 
     As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer 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), (for example, 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 System on Chip (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. In addition, 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 terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as “processor circuitry.” As used herein, the term “processor circuitry” may refer to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations; 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. 
     Application circuitry  305  may include one or more central processing unit (CPU) cores and one or more of cache memory, 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. As examples, the application circuitry  305  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; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system  300  may not utilize application circuitry  305 , and instead may include a special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC or SGC, for example. 
     Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry  305  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, 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 embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  305  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric including 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  305  may include memory cells (for example, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (for example, static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in lookup-tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  304  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. Although not shown, baseband circuitry  304  may comprise one or more digital baseband systems, which may be coupled via an interconnect subsystem 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 sub-system 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 sub-system may include digital signal processing 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  304  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 (for example, the radio front end modules  315 ). 
     User interface circuitry  350  may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system  300  or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system  300 . User interfaces may include, but are not limited to one or more physical or virtual buttons (for example, a reset button), one or more indicators (for example, 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 non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc. 
     The radio front end modules (RFEMs)  315  may comprise a millimeter wave RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter wave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module  315 . The RFEMs  315  may incorporate both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave antennas. 
     The memory circuitry  320  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  320  may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards. 
     The PMIC  325  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  330  may provide for electrical power drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the infrastructure equipment  300  using a single cable. 
     The network controller circuitry  335  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  300  via network interface connector  340  using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless. The network controller circuitry  335  may include one or more dedicated processors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocol. In some implementations, the network controller circuitry  335  may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols. 
     The positioning circuitry  345 , which may include circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted by one or more navigation satellite constellations of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may 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 (for example, 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  345  may comprise various hardware elements (for example, including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate the communications over-the-air (OTA) communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. 
     Nodes or satellites of the navigation satellite constellation(s) (“GNSS nodes”) may provide positioning services by continuously transmitting or broadcasting GNSS signals along a line of sight, which may be used by GNSS receivers (for example, positioning circuitry  345  and/or positioning circuitry implemented by UEs  101 ,  102 , or the like) to determine their GNSS position. The GNSS signals may include a pseudorandom code (for example, a sequence of ones and zeros) that is known to the GNSS receiver and a message that includes a time of transmission (ToT) of a code epoch (for example, a defined point in the pseudorandom code sequence) and the GNSS node position at the ToT. The GNSS receivers may monitor/measure the GNSS signals transmitted/broadcasted by a plurality of GNSS nodes (for example, four or more satellites) and solve various equations to determine a corresponding GNSS position (for example, a spatial coordinate). The GNSS receivers also implement clocks that are typically less stable and less precise than the atomic clocks of the GNSS nodes, and the GNSS receivers may use the measured GNSS signals to determine the GNSS receivers&#39; deviation from true time (for example, an offset of the GNSS receiver clock relative to the GNSS node time). In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry  345  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 GNSS receivers may measure the time of arrivals (ToAs) of the GNSS signals from the plurality of GNSS nodes according to its own clock. The GNSS receivers may determine ToF values for each received GNSS signal from the ToAs and the ToTs, and then may determine, from the ToFs, a three-dimensional (3D) position and clock deviation. The 3D position may then be converted into a latitude, longitude and altitude. The positioning circuitry  345  may provide data to application circuitry  305  which may include one or more of position data or time data. Application circuitry  305  may use the time data to synchronize operations with other radio base stations (for example, RAN nodes  111 ,  112 ,  211  or the like). 
     The components shown by  FIG. 3  may communicate with one another using interface circuitry. As used herein, the term “interface circuitry” may refer to, is part of, or includes circuitry providing for 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, input/output (I/O) interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like. Any suitable bus technology may be used in various implementations, which may include any number of technologies, including 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 may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus 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. 4  illustrates an example of a platform  400  (or “device  400 ”) in accordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computer platform  400  may be suitable for use as UEs  101 ,  102 ,  201 , application servers  130 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. The platform  400  may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. The components of platform  400  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  400 , or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of  FIG. 4  is intended to show a high level view of components of the computer platform  400 . 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. 
     The application circuitry  405  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to single-core or multi-core processors and one or more of cache memory, low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as serial peripheral interface (SPI), inter-integrated circuit (I 2 C) or universal programmable serial interface circuit, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input-output (IO), memory card controllers such as secure digital/multi-media card (SD/MMC) or similar, universal serial bus (USB) interfaces, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and/or dedicated processors (for example, graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors (or cores) may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the platform  400 . In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry  305 / 405  may process IP data packets received from an EPC or SGC. 
     Application circuitry  405  be or include a microprocessor, a multi-core processor, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, or other known processing element. In one example, the application circuitry  405  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  405  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; an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd.; or the like. In some implementations, the application circuitry  405  may be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry  405  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  405  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  405  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric including 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  405  may include memory cells (for example, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (for example, static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in lookup-tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  404  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. Although not shown, baseband circuitry  404  may comprise one or more digital baseband systems, which may be coupled via an interconnect subsystem 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 sub-system 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 sub-system may include digital signal processing 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  404  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 (for example, the radio front end modules  415 ). 
     The radio front end modules (RFEMs)  415  may comprise a millimeter wave RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter wave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module  415 . The RFEMs  415  may incorporate both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave antennas. 
     The memory circuitry  420  may include any number and type of memory devices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. As examples, the memory circuitry  420  may include one or more of volatile memory including be 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  420  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  320  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 microDlMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memory circuitry  420  s storage  108  may be on-die memory or registers associated with the application circuitry  405 . To provide for persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth, memory circuitry  420  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  400  may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. 
     Removable memory circuitry  423  may include devices, circuitry, enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to coupled portable data storage devices with the platform  400 . These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (for example, 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  400  may also include interface circuitry (not shown) that is used to connect external devices with the platform  400 . The external devices connected to the platform  400  via the interface circuitry may include sensors  421 , such as accelerometers, level sensors, flow sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, barometric pressure sensors, and the like. The interface circuitry may be used to connect the platform  400  to electro-mechanical components (EMCs)  422 , which may allow platform  400  to change its state, position, and/or orientation, or move or control a mechanism or system. The EMCs  422  may include one or more power switches, relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (for example, valve actuators, etc.), an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, motors (for example, DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments, platform  400  may be configured to operate one or more EMCs  422  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  400  with positioning circuitry  445 , which may be the same or similar as the positioning circuitry  445  discussed with regard to  FIG. 3 . 
     In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  400  with near-field communication (NFC) circuitry  440 , which may include an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device. The NFC circuitry  440  may be configured to read electronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device. 
     The driver circuitry  446  may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform  400 , attached to the platform  400 , or otherwise communicatively coupled with the platform  400 . The driver circuitry  446  may include individual drivers allowing other components of the platform  400  to interact or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform  400 . For example, driver circuitry  446  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  400 , sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensors  421  and control and allow access to sensors  421 , EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of the EMCs  422  and/or control and allow access to the EMCs  422 , 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)  425  (also referred to as “power management circuitry  425 ” or the like) may manage power provided to various components of the platform  400 . In particular, with respect to the baseband circuitry  404 , the PMIC  425  may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC  425  may often be included when the platform  400  is capable of being powered by a battery  430 , for example, when the device is included in a UE  101 ,  102 ,  201 . 
     In some embodiments, the PMIC  425  may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform  400 . For example, if the platform  400  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  400  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  400  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  400  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  400  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  430  may power the platform  400 , although in some examples the platform  400  may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery  430  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  430  may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery. 
     In some implementations, the battery  430  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  400  to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery  430 . The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery  430  to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery  430 . The BMS may communicate the information of the battery  430  to the application circuitry  405  or other components of the platform  400 . The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry  405  to directly monitor the voltage of the battery  430  or the current flow from the battery  430 . The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform  400  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  430 . In some examples, the power block  128  may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform  400 . 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  430 , 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. 
     Although not shown, the components of platform  400  may communicate with one another using a suitable bus technology, which may include any number of technologies, including industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, or a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus 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. 5  illustrates example components of baseband circuitry  304 / 404  and radio front end modules (RFEM)  315 / 415  in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, the 
     RFEM  315 / 415  may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry  506 , front-end module (FEM) circuitry  508 , one or more antennas  510  coupled together at least as shown. 
     The baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry  506  and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  506 . Baseband processing circuity  304 / 404  may interface with the application circuitry  305 / 405  for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry  506 . For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor  504 A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor  504 B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor  504 C, or other baseband processor(s)  504 D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (for example, second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry  304 / 404  (for example, one or more of baseband processors  504 A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry  506 . In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  504 A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory  504 G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  504 E. 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  304 / 404  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  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. 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)  504 F. The audio DSP(s)  504 F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  and the application circuitry  305 / 405  may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC). 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. 
     RF circuitry  506  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry  506  may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry  506  may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  508  and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry  304 / 404 . RF circuitry  506  may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry  508  for transmission. 
     In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry  506  may include mixer circuitry  506   a , amplifier circuitry  506   b  and filter circuitry  506   c . In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  506  may include filter circuitry  506   c  and mixer circuitry  506   a . RF circuitry  506  may also include synthesizer circuitry  506   d  for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  506   a  of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  506   a  of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  508  based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry  506   d . The amplifier circuitry  506   b  may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry  506   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  304 / 404  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  506   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  506   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  506   d  to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry  508 . The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  and may be filtered by filter circuitry  506   c.    
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  506   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  506   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  506   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  506   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (for example, Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  506   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  506   a  may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  506   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  506   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  506  may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry  506 . 
     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  506   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  506   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  506   d  may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  506   a  of the RF circuitry  506  based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  506   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  304 / 404  or the applications processor  305 / 405  depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (for example, N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor  305 / 405 . 
     Synthesizer circuitry  506   d  of the RF circuitry  506  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 (for example, 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  506   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 (for example, 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  506  may include an IQ/polar converter. 
     FEM circuitry  508  may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas  510 , amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry  506  for further processing. FEM circuitry  508  may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry  506  for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas  510 . In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry  506 , solely in the FEM  508 , or in both the RF circuitry  506  and the FEM  508 . 
     In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry  508  may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (for example, to the RF circuitry  506 ). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry  508  may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (for example, provided by RF circuitry  506 ), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (for example, by one or more of the one or more antennas  510 ). 
     Processors of the application circuitry  305 / 405  and processors of the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry  304 / 404 , alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may utilize data (for example, packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (for example, transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry  304 / 404  of  FIGS. 3-4  may comprise processors  504 A- 504 E and a memory  504 G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors  504 A- 504 E may include a memory interface,  604 A- 604 E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory  504 G. 
     The baseband circuitry  304 / 404  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface  612  (for example, an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry  304 / 404 ), an application circuitry interface  614  (for example, an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry  305 / 405  of  FIGS. 3-4 ), an RF circuitry interface  616  (for example, an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry  506  of  FIG. 5 ), a wireless hardware connectivity interface  618  (for example, an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (for example, Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface  620  (for example, an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC  425 . 
       FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (for example, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically,  FIG. 7  shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources  700  including one or more processors (or processor cores)  710 , one or more memory/storage devices  720 , and one or more communication resources  730 , each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus  740 . As used herein, the term “computing resource”, “hardware resource”, etc., may refer to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time and/or 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, and/or the like. For embodiments where node virtualization (for example, NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor  702  may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources  700 . A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. 
     The processors  710  (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 digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor  712  and a processor  714 . 
     The memory/storage devices  720  may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices  720  may include, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatile 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  730  may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  704  or one or more databases  706  via a network  708 . For example, the communication resources  730  may include wired communication components (for example, for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (for example, Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. As used herein, the term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to computing resources that are accessible by computer devices 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. 
     Instructions  750  may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors  710  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions  750  may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors  710  (for example, within the processor&#39;s cache memory), the memory/storage devices  720 , or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions  750  may be transferred to the hardware resources  700  from any combination of the peripheral devices  704  or the databases  706 . Accordingly, the memory of processors  710 , the memory/storage devices  720 , the peripheral devices  704 , and the databases  706  are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. 
       FIG. 8  is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane  800  is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE  101  (or alternatively, the UE  102 ), the RAN node  111  (or alternatively, the RAN node  112 ), and the MME  121 . 
     The PHY layer  801  may transmit or receive information used by the MAC layer  802  over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer  801  may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (for example, for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC layer  805 . The PHY layer  801  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 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing. 
     The MAC layer  802  may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization. 
     The RLC layer  803  may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer  803  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 layer  803  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. 
     The PDCP layer  804  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 (for example, ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.). 
     The main services and functions of the RRC layer  805  may include broadcast of system information (for example, included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to the non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (for example, 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 radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures. 
     The UE  101  and the RAN node  111  may utilize a Uu interface (for example, an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer  801 , the MAC layer  802 , the RLC layer  803 , the PDCP layer  804 , and the RRC layer  805 . 
     The non-access stratum (NAS) protocols  806  form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE  101  and the MME  121 . The NAS protocols  806  support the mobility of the UEs  101 ,  102  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  101  and the P-GW  123 . 
     The S1 Application Protocol (S1-AP) layer  815  may support the functions of the S1 interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node  111  and the CN  120 . The S1-AP layer 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 Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer)  814  may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node  111  and the MME  121  based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP layer  813 . The L2 layer  812  and the L1 layer  811  may refer to communication links (for example, wired or wireless) used by the RAN node  111 ,  112  and the MME  121  to exchange information. 
     The RAN node  111  and the MME  121  may utilize an S1-MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer  811 , the L2 layer  812 , the IP layer  813 , the SCTP layer  814 , and the S1-AP layer  815 . 
       FIG. 9  is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane  900  is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE  101  (or alternatively, the UE  102 ), the RAN node  111  (or alternatively, the RAN node  112 ), the S-GW  122 , and the P-GW  123 . The user plane  900  may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane  800 . For example, the UE  101  and the RAN node  111  may utilize a Uu interface (for example, an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer  801 , the MAC layer  802 , the RLC layer  803 , the PDCP layer  804 . 
     The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) layer  904  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 and IP security (UDP/IP) layer  903  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  111  and the S-GW  122  may utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer  811 , the L2 layer  812 , the UDP/IP layer  903 , and the GTP-U layer  904 . The S-GW  122  and the P-GW  123  may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer  811 , the L2 layer  812 , the UDP/IP layer  903 , and the GTP-U layer  904 . As discussed above with respect to  FIG. 8 , NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE  101  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  101  and the P-GW  123 . 
       FIGS. 10-13  illustrate processes  1000 - 1300 , respectively, for providing an updated UE Radio Capability or indicating a UE&#39;s usage setting according to various embodiments. For illustrative purposes, the operations of processes  1000 - 1300  are described as being performed by the various devices discussed with regard to  FIGS. 1-7 . Some of the processes  1000 - 1300  may include communications between various devices, and it should be understood that such communications may be facilitated by the various circuitry as described with regard to  FIGS. 1-7  using the various messages/frames, protocols, entities, layers, etc. discussed with regard to  FIGS. 8-9 . Moreover, while particular examples and orders of operations are illustrated in  FIGS. 10-13 , the depicted orders of operations should not be construed to limit the scope of the embodiments in any way. Rather, the depicted operations may be re-ordered, broken into additional operations, combined, and/or omitted altogether while remaining within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 10  shows an example UE Radio Capability Match Request procedure  1000  in accordance with various embodiments. Procedure  1000  may be performed in LTE and/or EPS systems (see for example,  FIG. 1 ) when the MME  121  requires more information on the UE radio capabilities support to be able to set IMS voice over PS Session Supported Indication. Procedure  1000  may be used during an Initial Attach procedure, during a TAU procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach,” for “UE radio capability update,” or when the MME  121  has not received the Voice Support Match Indicator (as part of the MM Context). 
     Procedure  1000  may begin at operation  1002  where the UE  101 ,  102  transmits an a NAS TAU Request message to the MME  121 , where the TAU Request message includes a “UE radio capability information update needed” indication/indicator. 
     At operation  1004 , the MME  121  may send an S1-AP UE Radio Capability Match Request message to the RAN node  111 ,  112 . Typically, the MME  121  may indicate whether the MME  121  wants to receive a Voice support match indicator, and the MME  121  may include the UE Radio Capability information (IE) that it has previously received from the RAN node  111 ,  112  via a S1-AP UE CAPABILITY INFO INDICATION. According to various embodiments, the MME  121  may send the S1-AP UE Radio Capability Match Request message without the UE Radio Capability information (IE) that it has previously received from the RAN node  111 ,  112  via a S1-AP UE CAPABILITY INFO INDICATION, and instead the MME  121  may include an “update needed” indication/indicator in the S1-AP UE Radio Capability Match Request message. 
     Upon receiving the UE Radio Capability Match Request from the MME  121  at operation  1004 , and if the RAN node  111 ,  112  has not already received the UE radio capabilities from the UE  101 ,  102  or from MME  121  in operation  1004 , at operation  1006  the RAN node  111 ,  112  sends an RRC UE Capability Enquiry message to the UE  101 ,  102  to request the UE  101 ,  102  to upload the UE radio capability information. In various embodiments, when receiving the S1 interface UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message at operation  1004  with the “update needed” indicator, the RAN node  111 ,  112  may initiate the RRC UE Capability Enquiry procedure to retrieve the UE radio capability from the UE  101 ,  102  (operations  1006  and  1008 ), even when the RAN node  111 ,  112  has already received a UE radio capability IE from the MME  121  with an earlier S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message, or when the RAN node  111 ,  112  has already received the UE radio capability information from the UE  101 ,  102  with an earlier RRC UE Capability Enquiry procedure. 
     At operation  1008 , the UE  101 ,  102  may provide the RAN node  111 ,  112  with its UE radio capabilities by generating and transmitting an RRC message with the UE Radio Capabilities Information to the RAN node  111 ,  112 . In embodiments, the UE radio capabilities may include an indication about a current value of a CE mode B support indication (“Data Centric” or “Voice Centric”) and/or a change in the UE&#39;s usage setting implemented by the UE  101 ,  102 . For example, if the current value of the UE&#39;s usage setting is “voice centric” the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indication indicating a value of “not supported”, or if the current value of the UE&#39;s usage setting is “data centric” the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indication indicating a value of “supported”. The value of the CE mode B support indication may be based on the current UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101 ,  102 . 
     At operation  1010 , the RAN node  111 ,  112  may send an S1-AP UE Radio Capability Match Response to the MME  121 . Typically, at operation  1010  the RAN node  111 ,  112  checks whether the UE radio capabilities are compatible with the network configuration for ensuring voice service continuity of voice calls initiated in IMS. For determining the appropriate UE Radio Capability Match Response, the RAN node  111 ,  112  is configured by the operator to check whether the UE supports certain capabilities required for Voice continuity of voice calls using IMS PS. In a shared network, the RAN node  111 ,  112  keeps a configuration separately per PLMN. The network configuration may indicate particular checks to perform, and may include checking, inter alia, the Radio capabilities for UTRAN/E-UTRAN FDD and/or TDD and/or the support of UTRAN/E-UTRAN frequency bands. The RAN node  111 ,  112  provides a Voice Support Match Indicator to the MME  121  to indicate whether the UE capabilities and networks configuration are compatible for ensuring voice service continuity of voice calls initiated in IMS. Additionally, the MME  121  may store the received Voice Support Match Indicator in the MM Context and may use it as an input for setting the IMS voice over PS Session Supported Indication. In some embodiments, operation  1010  may be not relevant for updating the UE&#39;s usage setting, and thus, the MME  121  may perform operation  1010  per current specifications. 
     At operation  1012 , if the RAN node  111 ,  112  requested radio capabilities from the UE  101 ,  102  at operations  1006  and  1008 , the RAN node  111 ,  112  may also send the UE radio capabilities to the MME  121  using the S1-AP UE CAPABILITY INFO INDICATION. The MME  121  may store the UE radio capabilities for subsequent accesses by the UE  101 ,  102 . The MME  121  may store the UE radio capabilities without interpreting them for further provision to the RAN node  111 ,  112 . In embodiments, the UE radio capabilities may include the CE mode B support indication, which specifies whether the UE  101 ,  102  is supporting operation in CE mode B or not; the value of the CE mode B support indication may be based on the current UE&#39;s usage setting. Operations  1010  and  1012  may be received by the MME  121  in any order. 
       FIG. 11  shows an example feature specific UE/RAN Radio information and Compatibility Request procedure  1100  in accordance with various embodiments. Process  1100  may be performed in NR systems (see for example,  FIG. 2 ) when the AMF  221  requires specific information on the UE radio capabilities support, and/or support for a specific feature or compatibility with the next generation (NG)-RAN or RAN node  211 . Procedure  1100  is typically used during a registration procedure, and in various embodiments procedure  1100  may be performed during a registration with AMF re-allocation procedure, a UE-triggered or network-triggered service request procedure, a handover procedure, or some other suitable procedure. In embodiments where 5GS to EPS interworking takes place, procedure  1100  may be performed during a registration procedure for the “first mobility registration update following GERAN/UTRAN Attach,” for the “first TAU following EPS Attach,” for a “UE radio capability update” or “UE 5GC Capability update,” or when the AMF  221  has not received the Voice Support Match Indicator (as part of the MM Context) from the NG-RAN node  211 . Such embodiments may be based on an LTE-NR interworking 
     Process  1100  may begin at operation  1102  where the UE  201  may send an Initial message over the N1 interface. The Initial NAS message may include a “UE capability information update needed” indication/indicator, which may be a “UE radio capability information update needed” indicator or a “UE 5GC capability information update needed” indicator. In some embodiments, the UE  201  may send a Registration request message with the UE radio capability information update needed indicator. 
     At operation  1104 , the AMF  221  may send an N2 Feature Specific UE/RAN Radio information and Compatibility Request message to the NG-RAN node  211 . The AMF  221  generates the Feature Specific UE/RAN Radio information and Compatibility Request message to indicate whether the AMF  221  requires RAN related information for specific feature(s). Typically, the AMF  221  may include the UE (radio/5GC) capability information that is already stored and which was not already been provided to the RAN node  221 . According to various embodiments, the AMF  221  may send the Feature Specific UE/RAN Radio information and Compatibility Request message without the UE Radio Capability information (IE) that it has previously received from the RAN node  211  via an N2 UE Capability Info Indication message. Instead, at operation  1104  the AMF  221  may include an “update needed” indication/indicator in the Feature Specific UE/RAN Radio information and Compatibility Request message to request the current UE&#39;s usage setting from the UE  201  or RAN  211 , or request the CE mode B Restriction parameter from the UE  201  or RAN  211 . 
     Upon receiving the Feature Specific UE/RAN information and compatibility request message at operation  1104 , and if the RAN node  211  has not already received the UE radio capabilities from the UE  201  or from AMF  221  at operation  1104 , at operation  1106  the RAN node  211  may send a request to the UE  201  to upload the UE radio capability information. In various embodiments, when receiving the N2 Feature Specific UE/RAN Radio information and Compatibility Request message at operation  1104  with the “update needed” indicator, the RAN node  211  may initiate the RRC UE Capability Enquiry procedure to retrieve the UE radio capability from the UE  201  (operations  1106  and  1108 ), even when the RAN node  211  has already received a UE radio capability IE from the AMF  221  with an earlier N2 interface message (for example, an N2 Initial Context Setup message), or when the RAN node  211  has already received the UE radio capability information from the UE  201  with an earlier RRC UE Capability Enquiry procedure. 
     At operation  1108 , the UE  201  may provide the RAN node  211  with its UE radio capabilities by generating and transmitting an RRC message with the UE Radio Capabilities Information to the RAN node  211 . In embodiments, the UE radio capabilities may include an indication about a current value of a CE mode B support indication. For example, if the current value of the UE&#39;s usage setting is “voice centric” the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indication indicating a value of “not supported”, or if the current value of the UE&#39;s usage setting is “data centric” the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indication indicating a value of “supported”. The value of the CE mode B support indication may be based on the current UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     At operation  1110 , the RAN node  211  may send an N2 Feature Specific UE/RAN Information and Compatibility Response message to the AMF  221 . Typically, the RAN node  211  may check whether the UE radio capabilities are compatible with the network configuration for the requested feature(s) and determines if additional parameter(s) need to be provided to the AMF  211 . Additionally, the RAN node  211  may generate the Feature Specific UE/RAN information and compatibility request message to include a list of compatible feature(s) and/or the list of needed additional parameter(s). Moreover, the AMF  221  may store the information included in the Feature Specific UE/RAN Information and Compatibility Response (for example, in the MM context and/or RM context of the UE  201 ), and may use this information as an input for enabling specific features and/or for subsequent accesses by the UE  201 . In some embodiments, operation  1110  may be not relevant for updating the UE&#39;s usage setting, and thus, the AMF  221  may perform operation  1110  per current specifications. 
     At operation  1112 , If the RAN node  211  had requested radio capabilities from the UE  201  at operations  1106  and  1108 , the RAN node  211  may send an N2 UE Capability Info Indication message including the UE radio capabilities to the AMF  221 . The AMF  221  may store the UE radio capabilities without interpreting them for further provision to the RAN node  211 . In embodiments, the UE radio capabilities may include the CE mode B support indication, which specifies whether the UE  201  is supporting operation in CE mode B or not; the value of the CE mode B support indication may be based on the current UE&#39;s usage setting. Operations  1110  and  1112  may be received by the AMF  221  in any order. 
       FIG. 12  shows process  1200  for updating a UE&#39;s usage setting and CE mode B Restricted parameter in accordance with various embodiments. By way of example, process  1200  is discussed as being performed by an MME  121 , and with respect to UE  101  and RAN node  111 ; however, other similar devices/entities may also perform process  1200 . Process  1200  may begin at operation  1205  where network controller circuitry of the MME  121  may receive a NAS message from a UE  101 . In various embodiments, the NAS message may be an Attach Request message, a TAU Request message, or a RAU Request message. For NR embodiments, an N1 version of any of the aforementioned messages may be used, for example, a Registration Request message for initial registration, mobility registration update or periodic registration update, a UE configuration update complete message, or NAS service request message, may be used. 
     At operation  1210 , processor circuitry of the MME  121  may identify a UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101  indicated by the NAS message obtained at operation  1205 . At operation  1215 , the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may control storage of a CE mode B Restricted parameter with a “restricted” value or a “not restricted” value. In embodiments, the MME  121  may store the CE mode B Restriction parameter in a MM Context of the UE  101  or the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may derive its value, when needed, from the UE&#39;s usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context. 
     At operation  1220 , the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may identify a CE mode B Restricted parameter associated with a UE  101 . In some embodiments, operation  1220  may be performed in response to receipt of a NAS message, such as an Attach Request message, a TAU Request message, or the like obtained at operation  1205 , or another NAS message obtain after operation  1205 . At operation  1225 , the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may generate an S1-AP message to include a stored CE mode B Restricted parameter. In embodiments, the S1-AP message may be any one of an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, a HANDOVER REQUEST message, a PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, a CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message, and a DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying a TAU ACCEPT message. For NR embodiments, an N2 version of any of the aforementioned messages may be used, and/or NR-specific messages may be used, such as an N2 Registration Accept message, N2 AMF Mobility Request message, an N2 path switch request acknowledgement message, a Response to Namf_Communication_UEContextTransfer message, and/or the like. At operation  1230 , the network controller circuitry of the MME  121  may transmit the S1-AP message to the RAN node  111 . 
     In first embodiments, the NAS message obtained at operation  1205  may be an Attach Request message that is sent after the UE  101  has detached from the network, where the UE  101  has changed the UE&#39;s usage setting from “voice centric” to “data centric” or vice versa. In these embodiments, the NAS message may include an indication of the UE&#39;s usage setting. In some embodiments, the RRC signaling sent by the UE during the attach procedure may include a UE radio capability of the UE  101 , and the UE radio capability may include a CE mode B support indicator to indicate whether the UE is supporting operation in CE mode B or not. The MME  121  may obtain the UE radio capability including this parameter from the RAN node  111  any time during or after process  1200  and store it. In other embodiments, the NAS message at operation UE radio capability may only indicate the applicable UE&#39;s usage setting (for example, “voice centric” or “data centric”), which may be identified by the processor circuitry of the MME  121  at operation  1210 ; the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may then set the CE mode B Restricted parameter accordingly at operation  1215 . In the first embodiments, the S1-AP message generated and transmitted at operations  1225  and  1230 , respectively, may be an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message. 
     In second embodiments, the NAS message obtained at operation  1205  may be an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message that is sent during an Attach procedure or a TAU procedure for a “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach,” for a “UE radio capability update,” or for indicating a change in the UE&#39;s usage setting from voice centric to data centric (and vice versa) if the UE supports CE Mode B. If the UE  101  changes its UE&#39;s usage setting while in EMM-Idle mode, then the NAS message obtained at operation  1205  may include the current UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101 , and operations  1210  and  1215  may be performed in the order shown by  FIG. 12 . 
     If the UE  101  is in EMM-Connected when the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed, then the NAS message may or may not include a current UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101 . In this case, at operation  1225  the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may generate an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or a UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message without including the UE radio capability IE, and at operation  1230  the network controller circuitry of the MME  121  may send such an S1-AP message to the RAN node  111  to trigger the RAN node  111  to retrieve the UE radio capability from the UE  101 . The MME  121  may then obtain the updated UE radio capability from the RAN node  111 . 
     In NR implementations of the second embodiments, the NAS message obtained at operation  1205  may be a Registration Request message for an initial registration (for example, when the UE  201  is in the RM-DEREGISTERED state) or for a mobility registration update (for example, the UE  201  is in RM-REGISTERED state and initiates a Registration procedure due to mobility), a periodic registration update (for example, the UE  201  is in RM-REGISTERED state and initiates a Registration procedure due to the Periodic Registration Update timer expiry) or for an emergency registration update (for example, the UE  201  is in a limited service state and needs to establish an emergency communication). In this case, at operation  1225  the processor circuitry of the AMF  221  may generate an N2 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or an N2 Feature Specific UE/RAN Radio information and Compatibility Request message without including the UE radio capability IE, and at operation  1230  the network controller circuitry of the AMF  221  may send such an N2 message to the RAN node  211  to trigger the RAN node  211  to retrieve the UE radio capability from the UE  201 . The AMF  221  may then obtain the updated UE radio capability from the RAN node  211 . 
     In a variant of the second embodiments, the NAS message may be a TAU Request message including a “UE radio capability information update needed” indicator. In this case, at operation  1225  the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may generate an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or a UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message without including the UE radio capability IE, but instead includes an “update needed” indicator. At operation  1230  the network controller circuitry of the MME  121  may send such an S1-AP message to the RAN node  111  to trigger the RAN node  111  to perform a UE Capability Enquiry procedure with the UE  101  to obtain the UE radio capability from the UE  101 . The MME  121  may then obtain the updated UE radio capability from the RAN node  111 . In NR implementations of the second embodiments variation, the NAS message may be a Registration Request message, for example, for a mobility registration update, that includes the “UE radio capability information update needed” indicator. 
     In third embodiments, the NAS message may be an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message that includes a “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE. The purpose of the “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE is to signal to the network the UE&#39;s usage setting and voice domain preference for E-UTRAN. The UE&#39;s usage setting indicates whether the UE behaves in a voice centric or data centric way. The “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE may be in a format as shown by table 1. 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 format for Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting IE 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 8 
                 7 
                 6 
                 5 
                 4 
                 3 
                 2 
                 1 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting IEI 
                 octet 1 
               
               
                 Length of Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting contents 
                 octet 2 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 0 
                 0 
                 0 
                 0 
                 0 
                 UE&#39;s 
                 Voice domain 
                 octet 3 
               
               
                 Spare 
                 Spare 
                 Spare 
                 Spare 
                 Spare 
                 usage setting 
                 preference for E-UTRAN 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     The voice domain preference may be located at octet 3, bits 1 to 2 and the UE&#39;s usage setting may be located at octet 3, bit 3 in the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting IE of table 1. The voice domain preference field (bits 1 and 2) may include a value of “00” to indicate a “CS Voice only” voice domain preference, a value of “01” to indicate a “IMS PS Voice only” voice domain preference, a value of “10” to indicate a “CS voice preferred, IMS voice as secondary” voice domain preference, or a value of “11” to indicate a “IMS PS voice preferred, CS Voice as secondary” voice domain preference. The UE&#39;s usage setting field (bit 3) may have a value of “0” to indicate a “voice centric” usage setting or a value of “1” to indicate a “data centric” usage setting. For NR implementations, a “UE&#39;s usage setting” IE may be used, which may include the same or similar values to indicate the voice centric or data centric usage setting. 
     In the third embodiments, the CE mode B capability may be included or indicated in the RRC signaling during the attach or TAU procedure regardless of the currently enabled UE&#39;s usage setting (for example, “Voice Centric” or “Data Centric”). For example, if the UE  101  has a CE mode B capability indicating a value of “CE mode B supported”, then the UE&#39;s usage setting indicator (bit 3 of the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting IE or a bit of the UE&#39;s usage setting IE) may be set to “0” to indicate that the UE  101  is “voice centric,” or it may be set to “1” to indicate that the UE  101  is “data centric.” 
     In the third embodiments, if the UE  101  supports “CE mode B” and the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to “Voice Centric,” then at operation  1215  the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may set the CE mode B Restriction parameter of the UE  101  to a “restricted” value (for example, “1”). If the UE  101  supports “CE mode B” and the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to “Data Centric,” then at operation  1215  the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may set the CE mode B Restriction parameter of the UE  101  to a “not restricted” value (for example, “0”). In various embodiments, the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may store the CE mode B Restriction parameter in the MM Context associated with the UE  101 . In other embodiments, the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may derive the value for the CE mode B Restriction parameter, when needed, from the UE&#39;s usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context. In NR implementations of the third embodiments, the processor circuity of the AMF  221  may set the CE mode B Restriction parameter associated with the UE  201  (or derive its value) in a same or similar manner as discussed previously. 
     In fourth embodiments, the NAS message obtained at operation  1205  may be an Attach/TAU Request message, and during the attach or TAU procedure the RRC signaling sent by the UE may include two versions of the UE radio capability, a first version for the voice centric usage setting and a second version for the data centric usage setting. Both versions may be stored by the MME  121  at operation  1215 , and at operation  1225  the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may select the correct version to be included in the S1-AP message based on the current UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101 . If the UE  101  is in EMM-CONNECTED mode and supports CE mode B, and if the UE&#39;s usage setting has changed, the MME  121  may send the appropriate version of the UE Radio Capability to the E-UTRAN  111 ,  112  in a Connection Establishment Indication message, Downlink NAS Transport message, or the like at operation  1230 . NR implementations of the fourth embodiments may operate in a similar manner using NR-specific messages. 
     In fifth embodiments, the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may identify the UE&#39;s usage setting at operation  1210  and/or may identify the UE radio capability information at operation  1220 . Whenever the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from “Voice Centric” to “Data Centric” (and vice versa), the processor circuitry of the MME  121  may modify the UE radio capability information at operation  1220  or  1225  to obtain updated UE radio capability, which may be sent to the RAN node  111 ,  112  at operation  1230 . 
       FIG. 13  shows an example process  1300  for updating a UE&#39;s usage setting in accordance with various embodiments. By way of example, process  1300  is discussed as being performed by an UE  101 , and with respect to MME  121  and RAN node  111 ; however, other similar devices/entities may also perform process  1300 . Process  1300  may begin at operation  1305  where the processor circuitry of the UE  101  may detect a change in a usage setting. 
     At operation  1310 , the processor circuitry of the UE  101  may determine whether the change of the UE&#39;s usage setting is from a data centric usage setting to a voice centric usage setting. If at operation  1310  the processor circuitry determines that the UE&#39;s usage setting has been changed from a data centric usage setting to a voice centric usage setting, then the processor circuitry may proceed to operation  1320  to operate a NAS entity and an AS entity to disable CE mode B capabilities, to not extend any NAS timers, initiate any dedicated bearer establishment procedures, initiate reselection procedures (if voice services are not available), etc. If at operation  1310  the processor circuitry determines that the UE&#39;s usage setting has not been changed from the data centric usage setting to the voice centric usage setting (for example, the change was from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting), then the processor circuitry may proceed to operation  1315  to operate a NAS entity and an AS entity to enable CE mode B capabilities, extend NAS timers (if necessary), initiate dedicated bearer establishment procedures (if necessary), maintain a current connection, etc. At operation  1325 , the processor circuitry of the UE  101  may generate a first message to indicate the new UE&#39;s usage setting, and operate the radio control circuitry (for example, RF circuitry  506  of the RFEM  415 ) to transmit the message. At operation  1330 , the processor circuitry of the UE  101  may generate a second message to indicate the new UE radio capability of the UE  101 , and operate the radio control circuitry (for example, RF circuitry  506  of the RFEM  415 ) to transmit the message. Operation  1330  may be omitted in some embodiments. For example, the second message may be generated and sent when the UE  101  performs an attach procedure, but the UE  101  may not generate the second message during a TAU procedure. 
     In first embodiments, the first message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be an Attach Request message that is sent after the UE  101  has detached from the network, which may include the applicable UE&#39;s usage setting (for example, “voice centric” or “data centric”). The second message generated and sent at operation  1330  may be a message that includes a UE radio capability of the UE  101 , and the UE radio capability of the UE  101  may indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting. In some embodiments, the RRC signaling sent by the UE during the attach procedure may include a UE radio capability of the UE  101 , and the UE radio capability may include a CE mode B support indicator to indicate whether the UE is supporting operation in CE mode B or not. 
     In second embodiments, the message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message that is sent during an Attach procedure or a TAU procedure for a “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach,” for a “UE radio capability update,” or for indicating a change in the UE&#39;s usage setting from voice centric to data centric (and vice versa) if the UE supports CE Mode B. If the UE  101  changes its usage setting at operation  1305  while in EMM-IDLE mode, then the NAS message may include the current UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE. If the UE  101  is in EMM-CONNECTED mode when the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed, then the NAS message at operation  1325  may or may not include a current UE&#39;s usage setting of the UE  101 , and a second message that is generated and sent at operation  1330  may be an RRC UE Capability Information message that is sent in response to receipt of an RRC UE Capability Enquiry message from the RAN node  111 . In NR implementations of the second embodiments, the message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be a Registration Request message for an initial registration (for example, when the UE  201  is in the RM-DEREGISTERED state) or for a mobility registration update (for example, the UE  201  is in RM-REGISTERED state and initiates a Registration procedure due to mobility), a periodic registration update (for example, the UE  201  is in RM-REGISTERED state and initiates a Registration procedure due to the Periodic Registration Update timer expiry) or for an emergency registration update (for example, the UE  201  is in a limited service state and needs to establish an emergency communication). 
     In a variant of the second embodiments, the message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be a TAU Request message that includes a “UE radio capability information update needed” indicator. In NR implementations of the second embodiments variation, the message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be a Registration Request message (for example, for a mobility registration update), that includes the “UE radio capability information update needed” indicator. 
     In third embodiments, the message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message that includes a “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE, where a UE&#39;s usage setting field (bit 3) of the “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE may have a value of “0” to indicate a “voice centric” usage setting or a value of “1” to indicate a “data centric” usage setting. For NR implementations, a “UE&#39;s usage setting” IE may be used, which may include the same or similar values to indicate the voice centric or data centric usage setting. In the third embodiments, operation  1330  may be omitted. 
     In fourth embodiments, the first message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be an Attach/TAU Request message and the second message generated and sent at operation  1330  may be an RRC UE Capability Information message that is sent in response to receipt of an RRC UE Capability Enquiry message from the RAN node  111  and includes two versions of the UE radio capability, a first version for the voice centric usage setting and a second version for the data centric usage setting. In the fourth embodiments, operation  1330  may be omitted. 
     In fifth embodiments, the message generated and sent at operation  1325  may be an Attach/TAU Request message that indicates the UE&#39;s usage setting (for example, in the “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” IE or “UE&#39;s usage setting” IE), where the MME  121 /AMF  221  modifies the UE radio capability information based on whether the UE&#39;s usage setting is changed from “Voice Centric” to “Data Centric” (and vice versa). In the fifth embodiments, operation  1330  may be omitted. 
     Some non-limiting examples are provided infra. The following examples pertain to further embodiments. Specifics in the examples may be used anywhere in one or more embodiments discussed previously. All optional features of devices described herein may also be implemented with respect to one or more methods or processes, and vice versa. 
     Example 1 may include one or more computer-readable storage media, “CRSM”, having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a Mobility Management Entity, “MME”, are to cause the MME to: identify, from a mobility management, “MM”, context, a coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B Restricted parameter associated with a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in CE mode B, wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter is set to one of a “restricted” value or a “non-restricted” value; and control transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter to an evolved NodeB, “eNB”, via S1 signaling to indicate whether the UE is restricted or not restricted for use of CE mode B. 
     Example 2 may include the one or more CRSM of example 1 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, to control transmission of the CE mode B Restricted parameter via the S1 signaling, execution of the instructions is to cause the MME to: generate an S1 application protocol, “S1AP”, message to include the CE mode B Restricted parameter. 
     Example 3 may include the one or more CRSM of example 2 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message, a Handover Request message, a Path Switch Request Acknowledge message, a Connection Establishment Indication message, or a Downlink Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, Transport message carrying a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, Accept message. 
     Example 4 may include the one or more CRSM of examples 1-3 and/or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions by the one or more processors is to cause the MME to: control receipt of a NAS message from the UE; identify a UE&#39;s usage setting indicated by the NAS message; and control storage of the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a voice centric usage setting, or control storage of the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “not restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a data centric usage setting. 
     Example 5 may include the one or more CRSM of example 4 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach request or TAU request message. 
     Example 6 may include the one or more CRSM of example 5 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the Attach request message or the TAU request message is to include a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, and wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element is to indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     Example 7 may include the one or more CRSM of examples 1-6 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the CE mode B Restricted parameter stored in the MM context is set to the “not restricted” value, execution of the instructions by the one or more processors is to cause the MME to extend NAS timer settings for the UE. 
     Example 8. An apparatus to be employed as a Mobility Management Entity, “MME”, the apparatus comprising: processor circuitry to: identify, from a mobility management, “MM”, context, a UE&#39;s usage setting and UE Radio Capability information associated with a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B, wherein the UE Radio Capability information includes a of CE mode B support indication set to one of a “supported” value or a “not supported” value, and detect, from the UE&#39;s usage setting in Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, message, a change of the UE&#39;s usage setting from a data centric usage setting to a voice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; and network controller circuitry communicatively coupled with the processor circuitry, the network controller circuitry to: receive the NAS message from the UE; and transmit an S1AP message to an evolved NodeB, “eNB”, such that the eNB is triggered to request UE Radio Capability information from the UE. 
     Example 9 may include the apparatus of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message during an Attach procedure or a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, procedure. 
     Example 10 may include the apparatus of example 9 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE has initiated the Attach procedure or the TAU procedure in an EPS Mobility Management, “EMM”,-Idle mode, the processor circuitry is to: control deletion of any currently stored UE Radio Capability information of the UE; not send any UE Radio Capability information to the eNB in the Initial Context Setup Request message or the UE Radio Capability Match Request message such that the eNB is to be triggered to request UE Radio Capability information from the UE and to upload the requested UE Radio Capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message; control the network controller circuitry to receive an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message from the eNB, wherein the S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message is to include the UE Radio Capability information requested by the eNB; control storage of the UE Radio Capability information; and generate an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to include the stored UE Radio Capability information in other cases than Attach procedure, Tracking Area Update procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach” and “UE radio capability update” procedure. 
     Example 11 may include the apparatus of example 8 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE has initiated the TAU procedure in an EMM-Connected mode, the network controller circuitry is to: receive a TAU Request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU Request message is to indicate that a UE radio capability information update is needed or that the UE&#39;s usage setting changed from the data centric usage setting to thevoice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; transmit a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to the eNB via S1 signaling, wherein the UE Radio Capability Match Request message is to include an update needed indicator, wherein the update needed indicator is to trigger the eNB to send a UE Capability Enquiry message to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and receive a UE Capability Info Indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE Capability Info message is to include a UE Radio Capability information element, “IE”, and wherein the UE Radio Capability IE is to include a CE mode B support indication, and wherein the processor circuitry is to control storage of information of the UE Radio Capability IE in association with an identifier of the UE for subsequent network accesses by the UE. 
     Example 12 may include one or more computer-readable storage media, “CRSM”, having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B, is to cause the UE to: detect a change of a usage setting of the UE from a data centric usage setting to a voice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; generate a Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, message to indicate the change of the usage setting; and control transmission of the NAS message to a mobility management entity. 
     Example 13 may include the one or more CRSM of example 12 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach Request message or a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, Request message. 
     Example 14 may include the one or more CRSM of example 13 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, to generate the NAS message, execution of the instructions by the one or more processors is to cause the UE to: generate the Attach Request message or the TAU message to include a “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” information element, wherein the “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” information element is to indicate whether the UE is to behave according to the voice centric usage setting or according to the data centric usage setting. 
     Example 15 may include the one or more CRSM of example 14 and/or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions is to cause the UE to: control receipt of a Radio Resource Control, “RRC”, UE Capability Enquiry message from a Radio Access Network, “RAN”, node; and generate, in response to receipt of the RRC UE Capability Enquiry message, an RRC UE Capability information message to include the UE Capability information. 
     Example 16 may include the one or more CRSM of examples 12-15 and/or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions is to cause the UE to: control the setting of the CE mode B support indication in the UE Capability information to have a “not supported” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a voice centric usage setting, or control the setting of the CE mode B support indication in the UE Capability information to have a “supported” value when the usage setting is set to a data centric usage setting. 
     Example 17 may include the one or more CRSM of example 13 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is to include a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element is to indicate the change of the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     Example 18 may include the one or more CRSM of examples 12-17 and/or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions is to cause the UE to: not operate in the CE mode B when the usage setting of the UE is set to the voice centric usage setting. 
     Example 19 may include an apparatus to be employed as a Mobility Management Entity, “MME”, the apparatus comprising: processing means for: identifying, from a mobility management, “MM”, context, a coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B Restricted parameter associated with a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in CE mode B, wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter is set to one of a “restricted” value or a “non-restricted” value, and generating an S1 application protocol, “S1AP”, message to include the CE mode B Restricted parameter; and communication means for transmitting the S1-AP message to an evolved NodeB, “eNB”, via S1 signaling to indicate whether the UE is restricted or not restricted for use of CE mode B. 
     Example 20 may include the apparatus of example 19 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message, a Handover Request message, a Path Switch Request Acknowledge message, a Connection Establishment Indication message, or a Downlink Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, Transport message carrying a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, Accept message. 
     Example 21 may include the apparatus of example 19 or 20 and/or some other examples herein, wherein: the communication means is for receiving a NAS message from the UE; and the processing means is for: identifying a UE&#39;s usage setting indicated by the NAS message; and controlling storage of the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a voice centric usage setting, or controlling storage of the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “not restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a data centric usage setting. 
     Example 22 may include the apparatus of example 21 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach request or TAU request message. 
     Example 23 may include the apparatus of example 22 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the Attach request message or the TAU request message is to include a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, and wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element is to indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     Example 24 may include the apparatus of example 19 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message during an Attach procedure or a TAU procedure. 
     Example 25 may include the apparatus of examples 19-24 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the CE mode B Restricted parameter stored in the MM context is set to “not restricted” value, the processing means is for extending NAS timer settings for the UE. 
     Example 26 may include a method to be performed by a Mobility Management Entity, “MME”, the method comprising: identifying or causing to identify, from a mobility management, “MM”, context, a coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B Restricted parameter associated with a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in CE mode B, wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter is set to one of a “restricted” value or a “non-restricted” value; and transmitting or causing to transmit the CE mode B Restricted parameter to an evolved NodeB, “eNB”, via S1 signaling to indicate whether the UE is restricted or not restricted for use of CE mode B. 
     Example 27 may include the method of example 26 and/or some other examples herein, wherein transmitting the CE mode B Restricted parameter via the S1 signaling comprises: generating or causing to generate an S1 application protocol, “S1AP”, message to include the CE mode B Restricted parameter. 
     Example 28 may include the method of example 27 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message, a Handover Request message, a Path Switch Request Acknowledge message, a Connection Establishment Indication message, or a Downlink Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, Transport message carrying a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, Accept message. 
     Example 29 may include the method of examples 26-28 and/or some other examples herein, further comprising: receiving or causing to receive a NAS message from the UE; identifying or causing to identify a UE&#39;s usage setting indicated by the NAS message; and storing or causing to store the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a voice centric usage setting, or storing or causing to store the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “not restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a data centric usage setting. 
     Example 30 may include the method of example 29 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach request or TAU request message. 
     Example 31 may include the method of example 30 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the Attach request message or the TAU request message is to include a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, and wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element is to indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     Example 32 may include the method of examples 26-31 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the CE mode B Restricted parameter stored in the MM context is set to the “not restricted” value, the method comprises extending or causing to extend NAS timer settings for the UE. 
     Example 33 may include a method to be performed by a Mobility Management Entity, “MME”, the method comprising: identifying or causing to identify, from a mobility management, “MM”, context, a UE&#39;s usage setting and UE Radio Capability information associated with a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B, wherein the UE Radio Capability information includes a of CE mode B support indication set to one of a “supported” value or a “not supported” value, and receiving or causing to receive a Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, message from the UE; detect, from the UE&#39;s usage setting in the NAS message, a change of the UE&#39;s usage setting from a data centric usage setting to a voice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; and transmitting or causing to transmit an S1AP message to an evolved NodeB, “eNB”, such that the eNB is triggered to request UE Radio Capability information from the UE. 
     Example 34 may include the method of example 33 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message during an Attach procedure or a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, procedure. 
     Example 35 may include the method of example 34 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE has initiated the Attach procedure or the TAU procedure in an EPS Mobility Management, “EMM”,-Idle mode, the method comprises: deleting or causing to delete any currently stored UE Radio Capability information of the UE; not sending or causing to not send any UE Radio Capability information to the eNB in the Initial Context Setup Request message or the UE Radio Capability Match Request message such that the eNB is to be triggered to request UE Radio Capability information from the UE and to upload the requested UE Radio Capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message; receiving or causing to recieve an S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message from the eNB, wherein the S1 interface UE Capability Info Indication message is to include the UE Radio Capability information requested by the eNB; storing or causing to store the UE Radio Capability information; and generating or causing to generate an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to include the stored UE Radio Capability information in other cases than Attach procedure, Tracking Area Update procedure for the “first TAU following GERAN/UTRAN Attach” and “UE radio capability update” procedure. 
     Example 36 may include the method of example 33 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE has initiated the TAU procedure in an EMM-Connected mode, the method comprises: receiving or causing to receive a TAU Request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU Request message is to indicate that a UE radio capability information update is needed or that the UE&#39;s usage setting changed from the data centric usage setting to thevoice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; transmitting or causing to transmit a UE Radio Capability Match Request message to the eNB via S1 signaling, wherein the UE Radio Capability Match Request message is to include an update needed indicator, wherein the update needed indicator is to trigger the eNB to send a UE Capability Enquiry message to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; receiving or causing to receive a UE Capability Info Indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE Capability Info message is to include a UE Radio Capability information element, “IE”, and wherein the UE Radio Capability IE is to include a CE mode B support indication; and storing or causing to store information of the UE Radio Capability IE in association with an identifier of the UE for subsequent network accesses by the UE. 
     Example 37 may include a method to be performed by a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B, the method comprising: detecting or causing to detect a change of a usage setting of the UE from a data centric usage setting to a voice centric usage setting or from the voice centric usage setting to the data centric usage setting; generating or causing to generate a Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, message to indicate the change of the usage setting; and transmitting or causing to transmit the NAS message to a mobility management entity. 
     Example 38 may include the method of example 37 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach Request message or a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, Request message. 
     Example 39 may include the method of example 38 and/or some other examples herein, wherein generating the NAS message comprises: generating or causing to generate the Attach Request message or the TAU message to include a “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” information element, wherein the “Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting” information element is to indicate whether the UE is to behave according to the voice centric usage setting or according to the data centric usage setting. 
     Example 40 may include the method of example 39 and/or some other examples herein, further comprising: receiving or causing to receive a Radio Resource Control, “RRC”, UE Capability Enquiry message from a Radio Access Network, “RAN”, node; and generating or causing to generate, in response to receipt of the RRC UE Capability Enquiry message, an RRC UE Capability information message to include the UE Capability information. 
     Example 41 may include the method of examples 37-40 and/or some other examples herein, further comprising: setting or causing to set the CE mode B support indication in the UE Capability information to have a “not supported” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a voice centric usage setting, or setting or causing to set the CE mode B support indication in the UE Capability information to have a “supported” value when the usage setting is set to a data centric usage setting. 
     Example 42 may include the method of example 38 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is to include a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element is to indicate the change of the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     Example 43 may include the method of examples 37-42 and/or some other examples herein, further comprising: not operating or causing to not operate in the CE mode B when the usage setting of the UE is set to the voice centric usage setting. 
     Example 44 may include a method to be performed by a Mobility Management Entity, “MME”, the method comprising: identifying or causing to identify, from a mobility management, “MM”, context, a coverage enhancement, “CE”, mode B Restricted parameter associated with a user equipment, “UE”, that is capable of operating in CE mode B, wherein the CE mode B Restricted parameter is set to one of a “restricted” value or a “non-restricted” value; generating or causing to generate an S1 application protocol, “S1AP”, message to include the CE mode B Restricted parameter; and transmitting or causing to transmit the S1-AP message to an evolved NodeB, “eNB”, via S1 signaling to indicate whether the UE is restricted or not restricted for use of CE mode B. 
     Example 45 may include the method of example 44 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of an Initial Context Setup Request message, a Handover Request message, a Path Switch Request Acknowledge message, a Connection Establishment Indication message, or a Downlink Non-Access Stratum, “NAS”, Transport message carrying a Tracking Area Update, “TAU”, Accept message. 
     Example 46 may include the method of example 44 or 45 and/or some other examples herein, further comprising: receiving or causing to receive a NAS message from the UE; identifying or causing to identify a UE&#39;s usage setting indicated by the NAS message; and storing or causing to store the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a voice centric usage setting, or storing or causing to store the CE mode B Restricted parameter in the MM context to have a “not restricted” value when the UE&#39;s usage setting is set to a data centric usage setting. 
     Example 47 may include the method of example 46 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach request or TAU request message. 
     Example 48 may include the method of example 47 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the Attach request message or the TAU request message is to include a Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element, and wherein the Voice domain preference and UE&#39;s usage setting information element is to indicate the UE&#39;s usage setting. 
     Example 49 may include the method of example 44 and/or some other examples herein, wherein the SLAP message is an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Match Request message during an Attach procedure or a TAU procedure. 
     Example 50 may include the method of examples 44-49 and/or some other examples herein, wherein, when the CE mode B Restricted parameter stored in the MM context is set to “not restricted” value, the method comprises extending NAS timer settings for the UE. 
     Example 51 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-50, or any other method or process described herein. Example 52 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 1-50, or any other method or process described herein. Example 53 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 1-50, or any other method or process described herein. Example 54 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-50, or portions or parts thereof. Example 55 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 1-50, or portions thereof. Example 56 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-50, or portions or parts thereof. Example 57 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example 58 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example 59 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Example 60 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     The foregoing description of the above examples provides illustration and description for the example embodiments disclosed herein, but the above Examples are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings and/or may be acquired from practice of various implementations of the embodiments discussed herein.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20180130
Publication Date: 20211207
Grant Date: 20211207
Priority Date: 20170320
Inventors: JAIN, PUNEET
ZAUS, ROBERT
SOLIMAN, AHMED
MARTINEZ TARRADELL, Marta
SESIA, STEFANIA
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04W8/20", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/16", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/04", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/18", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/18", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/04", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/16", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/22", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W88/06", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/16", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/18", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/04", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/22", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W88/06", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 61258595