PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-12207111-B2
Application Number: US-201917418691-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Method and system for threshold monitoring

Abstract:
The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for carrying out performance measurement monitoring. Specifically, a consumer seeking performance measurement monitoring transmits a request to a management service producer that includes the parameters of the monitoring, such as the type of data to be monitored, a granularity period and one or more threshold values. In response, the management service producer communicates with a network function to carry out the monitoring. In particular, for each granularity period, a monitoring value is initialized. Then, either at the end of the granularity period or at intervals throughout the granularity period, the monitoring value is measured. If, at the time of measurement, the measurement value exceeds any one of the threshold values, a notification is transmitted to the consumer. Otherwise, monitoring continues for the remainder of the granularity period and/or is repeated for subsequent granularity periods.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A management service producer within a network node of a communication network, the management service producer comprising:
 one or more processors configured to:
 receive a request from a consumer for performance measurement monitoring, wherein the request from the consumer includes a monitoring granularity period to be used during the performance measurement monitoring and wherein a cumulative counter is used to accumulate a performance measurement value during the monitoring granularity period; 
 transmit a monitoring request to a network function to monitor performance measurements; 
 receive a response from the network function indicating whether the performance measurement monitoring will be performed for the consumer; and 
 transmit a response to the consumer based on the response from the network function, 
 wherein the performance measurement value in the cumulative counter is initialized during the monitoring granularity period. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The management service producer of  claim 1 , wherein the monitoring request defines threshold information. 
     
     
       3. The management service producer of  claim 2 , wherein the threshold information includes a measurement type and a threshold value. 
     
     
       4. The management service producer of  claim 2 , wherein the performance measurements are monitored according to the threshold information and the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       5. The management service producer of  claim 1 , wherein the request from the consumer includes an identification of an information object class and an information object class instance list. 
     
     
       6. The management service producer of  claim 5 , wherein the response from the network function indicates that the monitoring request was denied, and
 wherein the response from the network function includes a reason for denial including that at least one of the identified information object class or a measurement type is unsupported. 
 
     
     
       7. An apparatus for monitoring performance measurements within a communication network, the apparatus comprising:
 one or more processors configured to:
 receive a performance measurement monitoring request that includes a monitoring granularity period to be used during a performance measurement monitoring, wherein a cumulative counter is used to accumulate a performance measurement value during the monitoring granularity period; 
 initialize the performance measurement value in the cumulative counter during the monitoring granularity period; 
 measure a performance measurement associated with the monitoring granularity period; 
 compare the performance measurement to a threshold value; and 
 conduct a notification process based on the comparison. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein, to perform the notification process, the one or more processors are further configured to:
 determine, based on the comparison, that the performance measurement exceeded the threshold value, and transmit a notification to a consumer that requested the performance measurement monitoring; or 
 determine, based on the comparison, that the performance measurement did not exceed the threshold value, and continue to measure without transmitting the notification. 
 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the performance measurement and comparison are performed at an end of the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the notification process is performed at the end of the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the performance measurement and comparison are performed at multiple intervals throughout the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the notification process is performed at one or more of the multiple intervals within the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the threshold value and the monitoring granularity period are defined by a request received from a consumer. 
     
     
       14. A method for monitoring performance measurements within a communication network, the method comprising:
 receiving a request for performance measurement monitoring that includes a monitoring granularity period to be used during the performance measurement monitoring, wherein a cumulative counter is used to accumulate a performance measurement value during the monitoring granularity period; 
 initializing the performance measurement value in the cumulative counter during the monitoring granularity period; 
 measuring a performance measurement associated with the monitoring granularity period; 
 comparing the performance measurement to a threshold value; and 
 conducting a notification process based on the comparison. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the notification process includes:
 determining, based on the comparison, that the performance measurement exceeded the threshold value, and transmitting a notification to a consumer that requested the performance measurement monitoring; or 
 determining, based on the comparison, that the performance measurement did not exceed the threshold value, and continuing measuring the performance measurement without transmitting the notification. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the measuring and comparing are performed at an end of the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the notification process is performed at the end of the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the measuring and comparing are performed at multiple intervals within the monitoring granularity period. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein the notification process is performed at one or more of the multiple intervals within the monitoring granularity period.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a National Stage entry from PCT/US2019/068754 filed on Dec. 27, 2019, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/785,355, filed Dec. 27, 2018, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The embodiments are generally directed to performance monitoring within a wireless communications network. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The Third-Generation Partnership Project specification defines performance measurements that can be monitored. However, processing the values of all of the measurements requires substantial processing capacity and bandwidth. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for carrying out performance measurement monitoring. Specifically, a consumer seeking performance measurement monitoring transmits a request to a management service producer that includes the parameters to be monitored, such as the type of data to be monitored, a granularity period and one or more threshold values. In response, the management service producer communicates with a network function to carry out the monitoring. In particular, for each granularity period, a monitoring value is initialized. Then, either at the end of the granularity period or at intervals throughout the granularity period, the monitoring value is measured. If, at the time of measurement, the measurement value exceeds any one of the threshold values, a notification is transmitted to the consumer. Otherwise, monitoring continues for the remainder of the granularity period and/or is repeated for subsequent granularity periods. 
     In an embodiment, a management service producer within a network node of a Third-Generation Partnership Project network receives a request from a consumer for performance measurement monitoring. The request includes information regarding data type to be monitored, threshold information and a granularity period. The management service producer transmits a request to a network function with the information received from the consumer. The network function responds with a confirmation, and the management service producer transmits a confirmation notification to the consumer. Termination of performance measurement monitoring occurs in substantially the same manner. 
     In another embodiment, a management service producer for monitoring performance measurements within a Third-Generation Partnership Project network, either alone or in conjunction with a network function, carries out performance measurement monitoring. Specifically, the management service producer receives a request from a consumer that defines monitoring parameters, including a type of data to be monitored, a granularity period, and at least one threshold value. Using this information, the management service producer initializes a performance measurement value for a first granularity period. Either at the end of the granularity period, or at regular intervals throughout the granularity period, a measurement is taken of the performance measurement value. The measured performance measurement value is then compared against the at least one threshold value. If the performance measurement value exceeds any of the threshold values at the time of measuring, then a notification is transmitted to the consumer. Alternatively, if the performance measurement value does not exceed any of the threshold values, then monitoring continues for the remainder of the current granularity period and/or additional granularity periods. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES 
         FIG.  1    illustrates an example system architecture within a network, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  2 A  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a system that includes a first core network, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  2 B  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a system that includes a second core network, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  3 A  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary infrastructure equipment, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  3 B  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary platform, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  4    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary baseband processor that may be implemented within an access node, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  5    illustrates a block diagram of exemplary protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  6    illustrates a block diagram of exemplary core network components, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  7    illustrates a block diagram of system components for supporting network function virtualization, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  8    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system that can be utilized to implement various embodiments; 
         FIG.  9    illustrates a line graph of notifications emitted in response to measurement values exceeding one or more threshold values; 
         FIG.  10    illustrates a line graph of notifications emitted in response to threshold values being exceeded at the end of monitoring periods; 
         FIG.  11    illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for subscribing to and canceling performance measurement monitoring; and 
         FIG.  12    illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for carrying out performance measurement monitoring. 
     
    
    
     The features and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase “A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). 
     There are many performance measurements defined, thus reporting the values for all of the measurements requires enough network bandwidth, and processing the values of all of the measurements needs certain processing capacity. For some measurements, the operator or consumer may not need to see their values all the time, but just needs to see when their values reach some certain thresholds for the granularity period (GP). Therefore, it is desirable to define the threshold monitoring service for performance management of 5G networks including network slicing. 
     The legacy threshold monitoring only supports to send the threshold crossing notifications at the end of the GP (see TS 32.412). For the measurements which are cumulative counters (e.g., number of failed handovers), the measurement value at the end of the GP may be far more than the threshold, and the threshold may be reached already much earlier before the end of the GP. However, the operator or consumer cannot get the notification in real-time when the threshold is reached, and thus operator or consumer has no way to take action in time to solve the performance issues. 
     So, it is desirable for the operator or consumer to receive the threshold crossing notifications for the cumulative counters in real-time without waiting until the end of the GP. 
     For the other kind of measurements (e.g., SI, gauge, DER), they are about the statistics of average or maximum values for the GP and the value for one instant sample within the GP cannot really present the performance, so it is okay to send the threshold crossing notifications at the end of GP. 
     Embodiments herein provide methods and system for performance threshold monitoring. The performance threshold monitoring provides an efficient way for performance monitoring (PM) of the networks. 
     In a first embodiment of the present disclosure, threshold monitoring is established for a consumer. In this embodiment, a 3GPP network function must have been deployed and be in operation. With this framework, a customer transmits a request to the management service producer. The request requests creation of threshold monitoring for network function performance measurements. In an embodiment, the request may include information about at least one of Information Object Class (IOC) name, IOC instance list, threshold information and monitor granularity period. With this information, the management service producer requests the network function to monitor performance measurements according to the threshold information and monitor granularity period. The management service producer then receives a response from the network function confirming enrollment in network performance measurement monitoring, and transmits a response to the consumer confirming the same. Table 1 below summarizes this embodiment. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 &lt;&lt;Uses&gt;&gt; 
               
               
                 Use case stage 
                 Evolution/Specification 
                 Related use 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Goal 
                 To enable the authorized consumer to request creation of threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring for NF performance measurements. 
               
               
                 Actors and 
                 An authorized consumer of NF performance threshold monitoring service. 
               
               
                 Roles 
                   
               
               
                 Telecom 
                 Producer of the NF performance threshold monitoring service. 
               
               
                 resources 
                   
               
               
                 Assumptions 
                 N/A 
               
               
                 Pre-conditions 
                 The 3GPP NF has been deployed. 
               
               
                   
                 The NF performance threshold monitoring service producer is in 
               
               
                   
                 operation. 
               
               
                   
                 The authorized consumer of NF performance threshold monitoring 
               
               
                   
                 service has subscribed to the threshold crossing notifications. 
               
               
                 Begins when 
                 The authorized consumer needs to create performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring for NF performance measurements. 
               
               
                 Step 1 (M) 
                 The authorized consumer requests the NF performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring service producer to create performance threshold monitoring 
               
               
                   
                 for NF performance measurements. The request contains the threshold 
               
               
                   
                 information with the conditions for triggering the threshold crossing 
               
               
                   
                 notifications. 
               
               
                 Step 2 (M) 
                 The NF performance threshold monitoring service producer requests the 
               
               
                   
                 NF(s) to monitor the performance measurements. 
               
               
                 Ends when 
                 All the steps identified above are successfully completed. 
               
               
                 Exceptions 
                 One of the steps identified above fails. 
               
               
                 Post-conditions 
                 The NF performance threshold monitoring has been created. 
               
               
                   
                 The NF monitors the performance measurements, and when the 
               
               
                   
                 condition is met (e.g., a specific threshold is crossed or reached), the NF 
               
               
                   
                 sends the threshold crossing notification to the consumer; or 
               
               
                   
                 reports the threshold crossing event to NF performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring service producer, who then sends the threshold crossing 
               
               
                   
                 notification to the consumer. 
               
               
                 Traceability 
                 REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-1, REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-3 and REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-4 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In another embodiment, threshold monitoring can be terminated for a consumer. Similar to the previous embodiment, this embodiment also requires that the 3GPP network function has been deployed and in operation, and that the consumer is subscribed to the threshold crossing notifications. With this framework, the consumer transmits a request to the management service producer, requesting to terminate performance measurement monitoring. The management service producer receives the request and notifies the network function. The network function responds to the management service producer confirming termination, and the management service producer transmits a notification message to the consumer confirming the same. Table 2, below, summarizes this embodiment. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 &lt;&lt;Uses&gt;&gt; 
               
               
                 Use case stage 
                 Evolution/Specification 
                 Related use 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Goal 
                 To enable the authorized consumer to request termination of threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring for NF performance measurements. 
               
               
                 Actors and 
                 An authorized consumer of NF performance threshold monitoring service. 
               
               
                 Roles 
                   
               
               
                 Telecom 
                 Producer of the NF performance threshold monitoring service. 
               
               
                 resources 
                   
               
               
                 Assumptions 
                 N/A 
               
               
                 Pre-conditions 
                 The 3GPP NF has been deployed. 
               
               
                   
                 The NF performance threshold monitoring service producer is in 
               
               
                   
                 operation. 
               
               
                   
                 The threshold monitoring for NF performance measurements has been 
               
               
                   
                 created for the authorized consumer. 
               
               
                 Begins when 
                 The authorized consumer needs to terminate the performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring for NF performance measurements. 
               
               
                 Step 1 (M) 
                 The authorized consumer requests the NF performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring service producer to terminate the performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                 monitoring for NF performance measurements. 
               
               
                 Step 2 (M) 
                 The NF performance threshold monitoring service producer stops the 
               
               
                   
                 subject threshold monitoring, and requests the NF(s) to stop monitoring 
               
               
                   
                 the performance measurements. 
               
               
                 Ends when 
                 All the steps identified above are successfully completed. 
               
               
                 Exceptions 
                 One of the steps identified above fails. 
               
               
                 Post-conditions 
                 The threshold monitoring for NF performance measurements is stopped. 
               
               
                 Traceability 
                 REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-2 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In another embodiment, the management service producer and the network function operate together to carry out the performance measurement monitoring. There are a number of functions available to support this functionality: 
     REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-1 The management service producer responsible for NF performance threshold monitoring shall have the capability to fulfill the consumer&#39;s request to create a performance threshold monitoring for the performance measurements of NF(s); 
     REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-2 The management service producer responsible for NF performance threshold monitoring shall have the capability to fulfill the request from its authorized consumer to terminate a performance threshold monitoring; 
     REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-3 The management service producer responsible for NF performance threshold monitoring shall have the capability to send the threshold crossing notification to the consumer, in case REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-4 is not supported (see NOTE 1); and 
     REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-4 The NF should have the capability to send the threshold crossing notification to the consumer (see NOTE 1). 
     In embodiments, one out of the REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-3 and REQ-THMS_NF-FUN-4 shall be supported. 
     As discussed above, an embodiment allows a consumer to request performance measurement monitoring. Threshold monitoring can monitor the value of one or multiple measurement types, which are defined in TS 28.552. The threshold monitoring contains threshold information with conditions for triggering the threshold crossing notifications. When the condition is met, the NF or performance threshold monitoring service producer sends the threshold crossing notifications to the consumer in case it has subscribed to these notifications. The following Tables 3-5 list the input parameters, output parameters, and exceptions, respectively, that may be included in the request for monitoring functions. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 3 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Parameter Name 
                 Qualifier 
                 Information type 
                 Comment 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 iOCName 
                 M 
                 The IOC name defined of the NRMs 
                 It specifies one object class name. The 
               
               
                   
                   
                 (e.g., as defined in TS 28.541 [3]), or 
                 consumer requests to create a 
               
               
                   
                   
                 the class name defined locally in the 
                 threshold monitoring for one or more 
               
               
                   
                   
                 performance measurements 
                 measurement type(s) of the instances 
               
               
                   
                   
                 specifications (e.g., TS 28.552 [2]). 
                 of this class. 
               
               
                 iOCInstanceList 
                 M 
                 List of DN 
                 It specifies the list of DNs of object 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 instances whose measurement type(s) 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 are to be monitored by this threshold 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 monitoring. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 An empty list means that for all 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 instances (including the object 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 instances existing at the time of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 threshold monitoring creation and the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 instances added later known by the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 management service producer, the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 measurements will be monitored. 
               
               
                 thresholdInfoList 
                 M 
                 List of 
                 It specifies the threshold information. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 &lt; 
                 The measurementTypeName shall be 
               
               
                   
                   
                 measurementTypeName, 
                 in one of the following form: 
               
               
                   
                   
                 direction, 
                 “family.measurementName.subcounter” 
               
               
                   
                   
                 thresholdPack 
                 for monitoring the 
               
               
                   
                   
                 &gt; 
                 measurement types with 
               
               
                   
                   
                 where thresholdpack is list of 
                 subcounters defined. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 &lt; 
                 “family.measurementName” for 
               
               
                   
                   
                 thresholdLevel, 
                 monitoring the measurement types 
               
               
                   
                   
                 thresholdValue, 
                 without subcounters defined. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 &gt; 
                 The direction can be ‘Increasing’ or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 decreasing’ of the measurement 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 values. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 If it is “Increasing”, the threshold 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 crossing notification is triggered 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 when the measurement value 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 equals or exceeds a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 thresholdValue. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 If it is “Increasing”, the threshold 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 crossing notification is triggered 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 when the measurement value 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 equals or below a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 thresholdValue. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 The thresholdLevel indicates the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 level for the threshold. The value of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 thresholdLevel is an integer and 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 shall not be bigger than 4. 
               
               
                 monitorGranularityPeriod 
                 M 
                 See granularityPeriod in sub- 
                 The monitorGranularityPeriod 
               
               
                   
                   
                 clause 6.1.1.2. 
                 shall not be smaller than the minimum 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 of the supported 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 granularityPeriod for the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 measurement job for performance data 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Streaming (see granularityPeriod 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 in sub-clause 6.1.1.2). 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 4 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Parameter Name 
                 Qualifier 
                 Matching Information 
                 Comment 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 monitoringId 
                 M 
                 It identifies the threshold monitoring 
                 Unique identifier of the threshold 
               
               
                   
                   
                 instance. 
                 monitoring from all the ongoing and 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 stopped threshold monitoring that have 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 been created for the subject consumer. 
               
               
                 unsupportedList 
                 M 
                 List of &lt; 
                 To create a threshold monitoring, best- 
               
               
                   
                   
                 iOCInstance, 
                 effort is required. The parameter of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 measurementTypeName, 
                 ‘unsupportedList’ must be returned if 
               
               
                   
                   
                 reason 
                 status = PartialSuccess. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 &gt; 
                 The reason can be any of: 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Measurement type name is unknown. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Measurement type name is invalid. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Measurement type name is not 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 supported in the specific 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 implementation. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Measurement type name is already 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 monitored for the IOC instance with a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 different 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 monitorGranularityPeriod. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 The related IOC instance is unknown 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (e.g. it does not exist at the time of this 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 operation invocation). 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Insufficient capacity. 
               
               
                 status 
                 M 
                 ENUM (Success, Failure, 
                 An operation may fail because of a 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PartialSuccess) 
                 specified or unspecified reason. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 5 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Exception Name 
                 Definition 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 noValidClassOrInstances 
                 Condition: iOCName is invalid or no iOCInstance is valid. 
               
               
                   
                 Returned Information: Name of the exception; status is set to ‘Failure’. 
               
               
                 invalidMonitorGranularityPeriod 
                 Condition: monitorGranalarityPeriod is invalid. 
               
               
                   
                 Returned Information: Name of the exception; status is set to ‘Failure’. 
               
               
                 noValidMeasurementType 
                 Condition: all measurement type names are invalid (i.e. none of the 
               
               
                   
                 measurement type names are valid). 
               
               
                   
                 Returned information: output parameter status is set to ‘Failure’. 
               
               
                 invalidNumberOfThresholdPackElements 
                 Condition: the number of the thresholdpack 
               
               
                   
                 Elements exceeds the maximum (e.g., 4). 
               
               
                   
                 Returned information: output parameter status is set to ‘Failure’. 
               
               
                 noValidDirection 
                 Condition: no direction is valid. 
               
               
                   
                 Returned information: output parameter status is set to ‘Failure’. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As discussed above, another embodiment allows a consumer to request termination of performance measurement monitoring. Whether the threshold monitoring is removed from the management service producer is vendor specific and out of scope of the present document. The threshold monitoring shall be stopped at the end of the monitorGranularityPeriod. The threshold crossing related notifications, if any, for the last monitorGranularityPeriod shall be emitted by the NF or performance threshold monitoring service producer. The following tables 6-8 show the input parameters, output parameters, and exceptions that may be included in the termination functions. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 6 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Parameter 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 Name 
                 Qualifier 
                 Information type 
                 Comment 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 monitoringId 
                 M 
                 See monitoringId in  
                 It specifies the threshold  
               
               
                   
                   
                 subclause 6.x.1.2.3 
                 monitoring to be stopped. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 7 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Parameter 
                   
                 Matching 
                   
               
               
                 Name 
                 Qualifier 
                 Information 
                 Comment 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 status 
                 M 
                 ENUM (Success,  
                 An operation may fail 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Failure) 
                 because of a specified 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 or unspecified reason. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                 TABLE 8 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Exception Name 
                 Definition 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                 invalidThresholdMonitoring 
                 Condition: monitoringId is invalid. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Returned information: output 
               
               
                   
                   
                 parameter status is set to ‘Failure’. 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As part of the performance measurement monitoring, either the network function or the monitoring service producer will provide notifications to the consumer. This can be triggered in a variety of different ways, which is discussed in further detail below. Regardless of how the notification is triggered, Table 9, below lists and describes the various message fields that may be included within the notification message to the consumer. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 9 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Parameter Name 
                 Qualifier 
                 Information Type 
                 Comment 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 objectClass 
                 M, Y 
                 “ManagedElement” (see TS 
                 It indicates the class, 
               
               
                   
                   
                 28.622 [5]), or “performance 
                 whose instance emitted 
               
               
                   
                   
                 threshold monitoring service” 
                 this notification. The 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 sender could be NF, or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 monitoring service 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 producer. 
               
               
                 objectInstance 
                 M, Y 
                 DN of the instance of the 
                 It identifies the instance of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 “ManagedElement”, or the 
                 the sender of this 
               
               
                   
                   
                 identifier of the performance 
                 notification. The sender 
               
               
                   
                   
                 threshold monitoring service 
                 could be NF, or the 
               
               
                   
                   
                 producer 
                 performance threshold 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 monitoring service 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 producer. 
               
               
                 notificationId 
                 M, N 
                 This is an identifier of the 
                 The unique identifier of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 notification, which may be 
                 the notification across all 
               
               
                   
                   
                 used to correlate notifications. 
                 notifications sent by a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 particular management 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 service producer 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 throughout the time that 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 correlation is significant. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 How identifiers of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 notifications are re-used 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 to correlate notifications is 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 outside of the scope of the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 present document. 
               
               
                 eventTime 
                 M, Y 
                 It indicates the event 
                 The semantics of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 occurrence time. 
                 Generalised Time 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 specified by ITU-T shall 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 be used here. 
               
               
                 notificationType 
                 M, Y 
                 “notifyThresholdCrossing” 
                 The type of notification, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 and it shall be assigned to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 “notifyThresholdCrossing” 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 for this notification. 
               
               
                 monitoringId 
                 O, Y 
                 See monitoringId 
                 The monitoringId of the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 threshold monitoring 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 where the threshold is set 
               
               
                 startOfMonitoringGP 
                 M, Y 
                 It indicates the start of the 
                 The semantics of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 monitoring granularity period. 
                 Generalised Time 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 specified by ITU-T shall 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 be used here. 
               
               
                 endOfMonitoringGP 
                 M, Y 
                 It indicates the end of the 
                 The semantics of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 monitoring granularity period. 
                 Generalised Time 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 specified by ITU-T shall 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 be used here. 
               
               
                 monitoredObjectInstance 
                 M, Y 
                 DN of the monitored object 
                 The DN of the object 
               
               
                   
                   
                 instance 
                 instance for which the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 measurementTypeName 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 reported by this 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 notification is monitored. 
               
               
                 thresholdLevel 
                 M, Y 
                 It indicates the level of the 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 threshold which is crossed or 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 reached. 
                   
               
               
                 measurementTypeName 
                 M, Y 
                 See measurementTypeName 
                 It indicates the name of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the measurement type 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 whose value has reached 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 or crossed the threshold. 
               
               
                 measurementValue 
                 M, Y 
                 The type of the 
                 It indicates the value of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 measurementValue for the 
                 the measurement type 
               
               
                   
                   
                 measurement type is specified 
                 which has reached or 
               
               
                   
                   
                 in the performance 
                 crossed the threshold. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 measurement definition in TS 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 28.552 [2], 
                   
               
               
                 additionalText 
                 O, N 
                 It provides additional 
                 It carries vendor-specific 
               
               
                   
                   
                 information for this notification. 
                 semantics not defined in 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the present document. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
       FIG.  9    illustrates a line graph of notifications emitted in response to measurement values exceeding one or more threshold values. Threshold crossing notifications triggering for cumulative counters. For the threshold monitoring of performance measurements that are cumulative counters, the notification notifyThresholdCrossing is emitted immediately when the cumulative counter of measured events reached the threshold, without waiting to the end of the monitoring granularity period (GP). 
     In other words, as illustrated in  FIG.  9   , performance measurements are tracked in real-time. Over the course of the monitoring, there will occur multiple monitoring granularity periods (labeled “Monitoring GP”). In addition, there may be several thresholds (e.g., “Thresholds 1-4”). During monitoring for cumulative counters, as shown in  FIG.  9   , notification messages are transmitted to the consumer whenever a performance measurement exceeds a threshold, regardless of the boundaries of the monitoring granularity period. Thus, as shown in  FIG.  9   , none of the first three measurements  906  (represented by circles on the line graph) in monitoring GP  902  exceed the first threshold, and thus no reporting is carried out. However, the fourth measurement  908  exceeds the threshold #1, and thus triggers a notification  910  (represented by the circle and arrow) to the consumer even though the monitoring GP has not yet concluded. This is repeated for the other measurements that exceed thresholds 2-4 prior to conclusion of the first monitoring GP  902 . The next monitoring GP  904  resets the measurement, and the process begins again. 
       FIG.  10    illustrates a line graph of notifications emitted in response to threshold values being exceeded at the end of monitoring periods. For the threshold monitoring of performance measurement that are not cumulative counters, the notification notifyThresholdCrossing is emitted at the end of the monitoring granularity period (GP) if the measurement value reached or crossed the threshold. 
     In other words, as illustrated in  FIG.  10   , performance measurements are tracked throughout the granularity period. However, measurements are only taken for purposes of notification at the edges of the granularity period. In particular, as shown in  FIG.  10   , even though the measurements cross thresholds 1 and 2 during the first granularity period  1002 , no notifications are transmitted until the GP edge  1006 . At the edge, a determination of the measurement value is determined. Because the measurement value at the first GP edge  1006  exceeds a threshold value, a notification  1004  is transmitted to the consumer (illustrated as the yellow circle and arrow). 
     Similar processing occurs throughout the remaining GPs. For example, at the end of the second GP, the measurement value is once again determined (illustrated as empty circle). Because it is not above any of the threshold values, no notification is transmitted. However, at the edge of the third GP, another measurement value is taken. This measurement value once again exceeds a threshold value (thresholds 1-3), and thus causes a notification  1008  to be transmitted to the consumer. 
       FIG.  11    illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method  1100  for subscribing to and canceling performance measurement monitoring. As shown in  FIG.  11   , a management service producer receives a request from a consumer for performance measurement monitoring ( 1110 ). The management service producer transmits a monitoring request to a network function ( 1120 ) detailing the requested monitoring. The network function receives the request and determines whether it is capable of carrying out the requested monitoring ( 1125 ). If the requested monitoring is viable ( 1125 -Y), then the network function transmits a response to the management service producer accepting the monitoring. Alternatively, if the network function is not capable of performing the requested monitoring ( 1125 -N), then the network function transmits an exception to the management service producer explaining the reason for denial of the request. The management service producer receives the response from the network function ( 1130 ) and then transmits a notification to the consumer ( 1140 ) indicating whether the monitoring request has been accepted or not. 
       FIG.  12    illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method  1200  for carrying out performance measurement monitoring. As shown in  FIG.  12   , a request is received from a consumer ( 1210 ). The request includes the parameters for monitoring, including a data type to be monitored, a granularity period, and at least one threshold value. Performance measurement monitoring is then carried out based on this information. Specifically, for a given granularity period, a measurement value is initialized ( 1220 ) to a predetermined value. Then the measurement value is measured ( 1230 ) for the granularity period. 
     In an embodiment, the measurement value is measured only at a trailing edge of the granularity period. In an alternative embodiment, the measurement value is measured at regular intervals throughout the granularity period. Each time the measurement value is measured, a determination is made as to whether the measurement value exceeds a threshold ( 1232 ). 
     If the measurement value does not exceed the threshold ( 1232 -N), then monitoring continues. Specifically, if there are additional measurements for the current granularity period ( 1234 -Y), then the method returned to step  1230 . Alternatively, if there are no additional measurements for the current granularity period, then the method returns to step  1220 . If, on the other hand, the measurement is determined to exceed the threshold ( 1232 -Y), then the consumer is notified ( 1240 ). 
     Systems and Implementations 
       FIG.  1    illustrates an example 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 LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like. 
     As shown by  FIG.  1   , the system  100  includes UE  101   a  and UE  101   b  (collectively referred to as “UEs  101 ” or “UE  101 ”). In this example, UEs  101  are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as consumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS), electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like. 
     In some embodiments, any of the UEs  101  may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. 
     The UEs  101  may be configured to connect, for example, communicatively couple, with an or RAN  110 . In embodiments, the RAN  110  may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  110  that operates in an NR or 5G system  100 , and the term “E-UTRAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  110  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  100 . The UEs  101  utilize connections (or channels)  103  and  104 , respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below). 
     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 GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs  101  may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface  105 . The ProSe interface  105  may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface  105  and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH. 
     The UE  101   b  is shown to be configured to access an AP  106  (also referred to as “WLAN node  106 ,” “WLAN 106,” “WLAN Termination  106 ,” “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 (Wi-Fi®) 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  101   b , RAN  110 , and AP  106  may be configured to utilize LWA operation and/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE  101   b  in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node  111   a - b  to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE  101   b  using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection  107 ) via IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection  107 . IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entirety of original IP packets and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packets. 
     The RAN  110  can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes  111   a  and  111   b  (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes  111 ” or “RAN node  111 ”) 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 BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  111  that operates in an NR or 5G system  100  (for example, a gNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  111  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  100  (e.g., an eNB). According to various embodiments, the RAN nodes  111  may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells. 
     In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes  111  may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split wherein RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes  111 ; a MAC/PHY split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes  111 ; or a “lower PHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes  111 . This virtualized framework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes  111  to perform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, an individual RAN node  111  may represent individual gNB-DUs that are connected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by  FIG.  1   ). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g.,  FIG.  3 B ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server that is located in the RAN  110  (not shown) or by a server pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes  111  may be next generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UEs  101 , and are connected to a 5GC (e.g., CN  220  of  FIG.  2 A ) via an NG interface (discussed infra). 
     In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes  111  may be or act as RSUs. The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs  101  (vUEs  101 ). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications, as well as other cellular communications services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and/or a backhaul network. 
     Any of the RAN nodes  111  can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs  101 . In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes  111  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  can be configured to communicate using OFDM communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes  111  over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMA communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMA communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. 
     In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes  111  to the UEs  101 , while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. 
     According to various embodiments, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111  communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over a licensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the “licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as the “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensed spectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band. 
     To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111  may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111  may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. 
     LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs  101 , RAN nodes  111 , etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determine if a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allows cellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in the unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold. 
     Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE  101 , AP  106 , or the like) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomly within the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or UL transmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions, respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable in length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximum values for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based on governmental regulatory requirements. 
     The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advanced systems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of five CCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs can have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the same for DL and UL. 
     CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. A primary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC for both UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, while changing the PCC may require the UE  101  to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed spectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positions within a same subframe. 
     The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs  101 . The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs  101  about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE  101   b  within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes  111  based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs  101 . The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs  101 . 
     The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the DCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8). 
     Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an EREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations. 
     The RAN nodes  111  may be configured to communicate with one another via interface  112 . In embodiments where the system  100  is an LTE system (e.g., when CN  120  is an EPC  220  as in  FIG.  2 A ), the interface  112  may be an X2 interface  112 . The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes  111  (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect to EPC  120 , and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC  120 . In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2 interface, and may be used to communicate information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to an SeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs to a UE  101  from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE  101 ; information about a current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and the like. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user plane transport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well as inter-cell interference coordination functionality. 
     In embodiments where the system  100  is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN  120  is an 5GC  220  as in  FIG.  2 A ), the interface  112  may be an Xn interface  112 . The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes  111  (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC  120 , between a RAN node  111  (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC  120  and an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC  120 . 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  101  in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes  111 . The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node  111  to new (target) serving RAN node  111 ; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node  111  to new (target) serving RAN node  111 . A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may provide the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein. 
     The RAN  110  is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, core network (CN)  120 . The CN  120  may comprise a plurality of network elements  122 , which are configured to offer various data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of UEs  101 ) who are connected to the CN  120  via the RAN  110 . The components of the CN  120  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  120  may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  120  may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions. 
     Generally, the application server  130  may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server  130  can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs  101  via the EPC  120 . 
     In embodiments, the CN  120  may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC  120 ” or the like), and the RAN  110  may be connected with the CN  120  via an NG interface  113 . In embodiments, the NG interface  113  may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface  114 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  111  and a UPF, and the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN  120  is a 5GC  120  are discussed in more detail with regard to  FIG.  2 A . 
     In embodiments, the CN  120  may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC  120 ” or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN  120  may be an EPC). Where CN  120  is an EPC (referred to as “EPC  120 ” or the like), the RAN  110  may be connected with the CN  120  via an S1 interface  113 . In embodiments, the S1 interface  113  may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface  114 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  111  and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and MMEs. An example architecture wherein the CN  120  is an EPC  120  is shown by  FIG.  2 B . 
       FIG.  2 A  illustrates an example architecture of a system  200  including a first CN  220 , in accordance with various embodiments. In this example, system  200  may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN  220  is an EPC  220  that corresponds with CN  120  of  FIG.  1   . Additionally, the UE  201  may be the same or similar as the UEs  101  of  FIG.  1   , and the E-UTRAN  210 A may be a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN  110  of  FIG.  1   , and which may include RAN nodes  111  discussed previously. The CN  220  may comprise MMEs  211 , an S-GW  217 , a P-GW  218 , a HSS  219 , and a SGSN  209 . 
     The MMEs  211  may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of a UE  201 . The MMEs  211  may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a present location of the UE  201 , provide user identity confidentiality, and/or perform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE  201  and the MME  211  may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE  201  and the MME  211  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  201 . The MMEs  211  may be coupled with the HSS  219  via an S6a reference point, coupled with the SGSN  209  via an S3 reference point, and coupled with the S-GW  217  via an S11 reference point. 
     The SGSN  209  may be a node that serves the UE  201  by tracking the location of an individual UE  201  and performing security functions. In addition, the SGSN  209  may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MMEs  211 ; handling of UE  201  time zone functions as specified by the MMEs  211 ; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MMEs  211  and the SGSN  209  may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and/or active states. 
     The HSS  219  may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions. The EPC  220  may comprise one or several HSSs  219 , depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS  219  can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS  219  and the MMEs  211  may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC  220  between HSS  219  and the MMEs  211 . 
     The S-GW  217  may terminate the S1 interface  113  (“S1-U” in  FIG.  2 A ) toward the RAN  210 A, and routes data packets between the RAN  210 A and the EPC  220 . In addition, the S-GW  217  may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S11 reference point between the S-GW  217  and the MMEs  211  may provide a control plane between the MMEs  211  and the S-GW  217 . The S-GW  217  may be coupled with the P-GW  218  via an S5 reference point. 
     The P-GW  218  may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN  230 . The P-GW  218  may route data packets between the EPC  220  and external networks such as a network including the application server  130  (alternatively referred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface  125  (see e.g.,  FIG.  1   ). In embodiments, the P-GW  218  may be communicatively coupled to an application server (application server  130  of  FIG.  1    or PDN  230  in  FIG.  2 A ) via an IP communications interface  125  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  1   ). The S5 reference point between the P-GW  218  and the S-GW  217  may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW  218  and the S-GW  217 . The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW  217  relocation due to UE  201  mobility and if the S-GW  217  needs to connect to a non-collocated P-GW  218  for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW  218  may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the P-GW  218  and the packet data network (PDN)  230  may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The P-GW  218  may be coupled with a PCRF  236  via a Gx reference point. 
     PCRF  236  is the policy and charging control element of the EPC  220 . In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF  236  in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE  201 &#39;s Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE  201 &#39;s IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF  236  may be communicatively coupled to the application server  230  via the P-GW  218 . The application server  230  may signal the PCRF  236  to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF  236  may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server  230 . The Gx reference point between the PCRF  236  and the P-GW  218  may allow for the transfer of QoS policy and charging rules from the PCRF  236  to PCEF in the P-GW  218 . An Rx reference point may reside between the PDN  230  (or “AF  230 ”) and the PCRF  236 . 
       FIG.  2 B  illustrates an architecture of a system  201  including a second CN  240  in accordance with various embodiments. The system  201  is shown to include a UE  201 , which may be the same or similar to the UEs  101  and UE  201  discussed previously; a (R)AN  210 B, which may be the same or similar to the RAN  110  and RAN  210 B discussed previously, and which may include RAN nodes  111  discussed previously; and a DN  203 , which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5GC  240 . The 5GC  240  may include an AUSF  222 ; an AMF  221 ; a SMF  224 ; a NEF  223 ; a PCF  226 ; a NRF  225 ; a UDM  227 ; an AF  228 ; a UPF  202 ; and a 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, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF  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. DN  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 (e.g., 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 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 SMS messages between UE  201  and an SMSF (not shown by  FIG.  2 A ). AMF  221  may act as SEAF, 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 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 a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN  210 B 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 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  210 B and the AMF  221  for the control plane, and may be a termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN  210 B 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 with 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-EIR (not shown by  FIG.  2 B ). 
     The UE  201  may need to register with the AMF  221  in order to receive network services. RM is used to register or deregister the UE  201  with the network (e.g., AMF  221 ), and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., 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 procedures triggered by expiration of the periodic update timer (e.g., 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 already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RM context). 
     CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE  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  240 , and comprises both the signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and the N2 connection for the UE  201  between the AN (e.g., RAN  210 B) 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  210 B signaling connection (e.g., 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  210 B signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  201 . Establishment of an N2 connection between the (R)AN  210 B 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  210 B and the AMF  221  is released. 
     The SMF  224  may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE  201  and a data network (DN)  203  identified by a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be established upon UE  201  request, modified upon UE  201  and 5GC  240  request, and released upon UE  201  and 5GC  240  request using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between the UE  201  and the SMF  224 . Upon request from an application server, the 5GC  240  may trigger a specific application in the UE  201 . In response to receipt of the trigger message, the UE  201  may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts/information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE  201 . The identified application(s) in the UE  201  may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF  224  may check whether the UE  201  requests are compliant with user subscription information associated with the UE  201 . In this regard, the SMF  224  may retrieve and/or request to receive update notifications on SMF  224  level subscription data from the UDM  227 . 
     The SMF  224  may include the following roaming functionality: handling local enforcement to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI system); and support for interaction with external DN for transport of signalling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference point between two SMFs  224  may be included in the system  201 , 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 (e.g., 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 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 an 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  201  and/or CN  240  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. The UDM  227  may include two parts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by  FIG.  2 B ). 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 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 (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF  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, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC  240  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 NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed 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 B ). Additionally, the NSSF  229  may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface. 
     As discussed previously, the CN  240  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 a notification procedure that the UE  201  is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM  227  when UE  201  is available for SMS). 
     The CN  120  may also include other elements that are not shown by  FIG.  2 B , such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, and the like. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/or the like. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF (e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF (not shown by  FIG.  2 B ). 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 B ). The 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determining whether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control plane interfaces. 
     Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from  FIG.  2 B  for clarity. In one example, the CN  240  may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME  211 ) and the AMF  221  in order to enable interworking between CN  240  and CN  220 . Other example interfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-based interface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRF in the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31 reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF in the home network. 
       FIG.  3 A  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 such as the RAN nodes  111  and/or AP  106  shown and described previously, application server(s)  130 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. In other examples, the system  300  could be implemented in or by a UE. 
     The system  300  includes application circuitry  305 , baseband circuitry  310 , one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs)  315 , memory circuitry  320 , power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  325 , power tee circuitry  331 , network controller circuitry  335 , network interface connector  340 , satellite positioning circuitry  345 , and user interface  350 . In some embodiments, the device  300  may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations. 
     Application circuitry  305  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO), memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  305  may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  300 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     The processor(s) of application circuitry  305  may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry  305  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  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; ARM-based processor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-A family of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior P-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system  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 5GC, for example. 
     In some implementations, the application circuitry  305  may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. As examples, the programmable processing devices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of application circuitry  305  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  305  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  310  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  310  are discussed infra with regard to  FIG.  4   . 
     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 (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers or other audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc. 
     The radio front end modules (RFEMs)  315  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array  411  of  FIG.  4    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  315 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     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  331  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 protocols. 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  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States&#39; Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia&#39;s Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan&#39;s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France&#39;s Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry  345  comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry  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 positioning circuitry  345  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  310  and/or RFEMs  315  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  345  may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry  305 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes  111 , etc.), or the like. 
     The components shown by  FIG.  3 A  may communicate with one another using interface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/or interconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  3 B  illustrates an example of a platform  301  (or “device  301 ”) in accordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the platform  301  may be suitable for use as UEs  101 , application servers  130 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. The platform  301  may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. The components of platform  301  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  301 , or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of  FIG.  3 B  is intended to show a high level view of components of the computer platform  301 . However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in other implementations. 
     Application circuitry  305  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory card controllers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  305  may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  301 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     The processor(s) of application circuitry  305  may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry  305  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein. 
     As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  305  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, CA. The processors of the application circuitry  305  may also be one or more of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or Accelerated Processing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc., Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™ processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. In some implementations, the application circuitry  305  may be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry  305  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  305  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  305  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  305  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  310  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  310  are discussed infra with regard to  FIG.  4   . 
     The RFEMs  315  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array  411  of  FIG.  4    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  315 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     The memory circuitry  320  may include any number and type of memory devices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. As examples, the memory circuitry  320  may include one or more of volatile memory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry  320  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 (Q7P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memory circuitry  320  may be on-die memory or registers associated with the application circuitry  305 . To provide for persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth, memory circuitry  320  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  301  may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. 
     Removable memory circuitry  323  may include devices, circuitry, enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portable data storage devices with the platform  301 . These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, and the like. 
     The platform  301  may also include interface circuitry (not shown) that is used to connect external devices with the platform  301 . The external devices connected to the platform  301  via the interface circuitry include sensor circuitry  321  and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)  322 , as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory circuitry  323 . 
     The sensor circuitry  321  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information (sensor data) about the detected events to some other a device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement units (IMUs) comprising accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axis accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonic transceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc. 
     EMCs  322  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable platform  301  to change its state, position, and/or orientation, or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs  322  may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to other components of the platform  301  to indicate a current state of the EMCs  322 . Examples of the EMCs  322  include one or more power switches, relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments, platform  301  is configured to operate one or more EMCs  322  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  301  with positioning circuitry  345 . The positioning circuitry  345  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States&#39; GPS, Russia&#39;s GLONASS, the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan&#39;s QZSS, France&#39;s DORIS, etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry  345  comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry  345  may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  345  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  310  and/or RFEMs  315  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  345  may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry  305 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like 
     In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  301  with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry  344 . NFC circuitry  344  is configured to provide contactless, short-range communications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between NFC circuitry  344  and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform  301  (e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry  344  comprises an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFC functionalities to the NFC circuitry  344  by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to emit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFC circuitry  344 , or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuitry  344  and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform  301 . 
     The driver circuitry  346  may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform  301 , attached to the platform  301 , or otherwise communicatively coupled with the platform  301 . The driver circuitry  346  may include individual drivers allowing other components of the platform  301  to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform  301 . For example, driver circuitry  346  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  301 , sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry  321  and control and allow access to sensor circuitry  321 , EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of the EMCs  322  and/or control and allow access to the EMCs  322 , 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)  325  (also referred to as “power management circuitry  325 ”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform  301 . In particular, with respect to the baseband circuitry  310 , the PMIC  325  may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC  325  may often be included when the platform  301  is capable of being powered by a battery  330 , for example, when the device is included in a UE  101 ,  201 . 
     In some embodiments, the PMIC  325  may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform  301 . For example, if the platform  301  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  301  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  301  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  301  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  301  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  330  may power the platform  301 , although in some examples the platform  301  may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery  330  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  330  may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery. 
     In some implementations, the battery  330  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  301  to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery  330 . The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery  330  to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery  330 . The BMS may communicate the information of the battery  330  to the application circuitry  305  or other components of the platform  301 . The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry  305  to directly monitor the voltage of the battery  330  or the current flow from the battery  330 . The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform  301  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  330 . In some examples, the power block  330 A may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform  301 . 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  330 , and thus, the current required. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others. 
     User interface circuitry  350  includes various input/output (I/O) devices present within, or connected to, the platform  301 , and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform  301  and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the platform  301 . The user interface circuitry  350  includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or other like information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/or combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation of the platform  301 . The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry  321  may be used as the input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or the like) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In another example, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device may be included to read electronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc. 
     Although not shown, the components of platform  301  may communicate with one another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates example components of baseband circuitry  410  and radio front end modules (RFEM)  415  in accordance with various embodiments. The baseband circuitry  410  corresponds to the baseband circuitry  310  of  FIG.  3   . The RFEM  415  corresponds to the RFEM  315  of  FIG.  3   . As shown, the RFEMs  415  may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry  406 , front-end module (FEM) circuitry  408 , antenna array  411  coupled together at least as shown. 
     The baseband circuitry  410  includes circuitry and/or control logic configured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry  406 . 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  410  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  410  may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry  410  is configured to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry  406  and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  406 . The baseband circuitry  410  is configured to interface with application circuitry  305  (see  FIG.  3   ) for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry  406 . The baseband circuitry  410  may handle various radio control functions. 
     The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the baseband circuitry  410  may include one or more single or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor  404 A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor  404 B, a 5G/NR baseband processor  404 C, or some other baseband processor(s)  404 D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  404 A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory  404 G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  404 E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  404 A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In various embodiments, the memory  404 G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU  404 E (or other baseband processor), is to cause the CPU  404 E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry  410 , schedule tasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®, Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry  410  includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)  404 F. The audio DSP(s)  404 F include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. 
     In some embodiments, each of the processors  404 A- 404 E include respective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory  404 G. The baseband circuitry  410  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry  410 ; an application circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry  305  of  FIG.  3   ; an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry  406  of  FIG.  4   ; a wireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a power management interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC  325 . 
     In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above described embodiments), baseband circuitry  410  comprises one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnect subsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC) structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In an aspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry  410  may include protocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radio front end modules  415 ). 
     Although not shown by  FIG.  4   , in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  410  includes individual processing device(s) to operate one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocol baseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry  410  and/or RF circuitry  406  are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry  410  and/or RF circuitry  406  are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the second example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g.,  404 G) to store program code and data for operating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processing cores to execute the program code and perform various operations using the data. The baseband circuitry  410  may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol. 
     The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry  410  discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged IC soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry  410  may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  410  and RF circuitry  406  may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  410  may be implemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry  406  (or multiple instances of RF circuitry  406 ). In yet another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  410  and the application circuitry  305  may be implemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board (e.g., a “multi-chip package”). 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  410  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  410  may support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry  410  is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. 
     RF circuitry  406  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry  406  may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry  406  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  408  and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry  410 . RF circuitry  406  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  410  and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry  4108  for transmission. 
     In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry  406  may include mixer circuitry  406   a , amplifier circuitry  406   b  and filter circuitry  406   c . In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  406  may include filter circuitry  406   c  and mixer circuitry  406   a . RF circuitry  406  may also include synthesizer circuitry  406   d  for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  408  based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry  406   d . The amplifier circuitry  406   b  may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry  406   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  410  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  406   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  406   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  406   d  to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry  408 . The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry  410  and may be filtered by filter circuitry  406   c.    
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  406   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  406   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  406   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  406  may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry  410  may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry  406 . 
     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  406   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  406   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  406   d  may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  406   a  of the RF circuitry  406  based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  406   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  410  or the application circuitry  305  depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry  305 . 
     Synthesizer circuitry  406   d  of the RF circuitry  406  may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. 
     In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry  406   d  may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry  406  may include an IQ/polar converter. 
     FEM circuitry  408  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array  411 , amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry  406  for further processing. FEM circuitry  408  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry  406  for transmission by one or more of antenna elements of antenna array  411 . In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry  406 , solely in the FEM circuitry  408 , or in both the RF circuitry  406  and the FEM circuitry  408 . 
     In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry  408  may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry  408  may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry  408  may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry  406 ). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry  408  may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry  406 ), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array  411 . 
     The antenna array  411  comprises one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  410  is converted into analog RF signals (e.g., modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array  411  including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. The antenna array  411  may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennas that are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array  411  may be formed in as a patch of metal foil (e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled with the RF circuitry  406  and/or FEM circuitry  408  using metal transmission lines or the like. 
     Processors of the application circuitry  305  and processors of the baseband circuitry  410  may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry  410 , alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry  305  may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHY layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. In particular,  FIG.  5    includes an arrangement  500  showing interconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The following description of  FIG.  5    is provided for various protocol layers/entities that operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTE system standards, but some or all of the aspects of  FIG.  5    may be applicable to other wireless communication network systems as well. 
     The protocol layers of arrangement  500  may include one or more of PHY  510 , MAC  520 , RLC  530 , PDCP  540 , SDAP  547 , RRC  555 , and NAS layer  557 , in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. The protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., items  559 ,  556 ,  550 ,  549 ,  545 ,  535 ,  525 , and  515  in  FIG.  5   ) that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers. 
     The PHY  510  may transmit and receive physical layer signals  505  that may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals  505  may comprise one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY  510  may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC  555 . The PHY  510  may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance of PHY  510  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of MAC  520  via one or more PHY-SAP  515 . According to some embodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP  515  may comprise one or more transport channels. 
     Instance(s) of MAC  520  may process requests from, and provide indications to, an instance of RLC  530  via one or more MAC-SAPs  525 . These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP  525  may comprise one or more logical channels. The MAC  520  may perform mapping between the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY  510  via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY  510  via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization. 
     Instance(s) of RLC  530  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP  540  via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAP)  535 . These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP  535  may comprise one or more RLC channels. The RLC  530  may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode™, Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC  530  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  530  may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment. 
     Instance(s) of PDCP  540  may process requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of RRC  555  and/or instance(s) of SDAP  547  via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP)  545 . These requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP  545  may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP  540  may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.). 
     Instance(s) of SDAP  547  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP  549 . These requests and indications communicated via SDAP-SAP  549  may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP  547  may map QoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity  547  may be configured for an individual PDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN  110  may control the mapping of QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP  547  of a UE  101  may monitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the same mapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP  547  of the UE  101  may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s) corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DL packets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN  210 B may mark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC  555  configuring the SDAP  547  with an explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP  547 . In embodiments, the SDAP  547  may only be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations. 
     The RRC  555  may configure, via one or more management service access points (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY  510 , MAC  520 , RLC  530 , PDCP  540  and SDAP  547 . In embodiments, an instance of RRC  555  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities  557  via one or more RRC-SAPs  556 . The main services and functions of the RRC  555  may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in MIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE  101  and RAN  110  (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures. 
     The NAS  557  may form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE  101  and the AMF  221 . The NAS  557  may support the mobility of the UEs  101  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  101  and a P-GW in LTE systems. 
     According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement  500  may be implemented in UEs  101 , RAN nodes  111 , AMF  221  in NR implementations or MME  211  in LTE implementations, UPF  202  in NR implementations or S-GW  217  and P-GW  218  in LTE implementations, or the like to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocol stack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE  101 , gNB  111 , AMF  221 , etc. may communicate with a respective peer protocol entity that may be implemented in or on another device using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB  111  may host the RRC  555 , SDAP  547 , and PDCP  540  of the gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB  111  may each host the RLC  530 , MAC  520 , and PHY  510  of the gNB  111 . 
     In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS  557 , RRC  555 , PDCP  540 , RLC  530 , MAC  520 , and PHY  510 . In this example, upper layers  560  may be built on top of the NAS  557 , which includes an IP layer  561 , an SCTP  562 , and an application layer signaling protocol (AP)  563 . 
     In NR implementations, the AP  563  may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP)  563  for the NG interface  113  defined between the NG-RAN node  111  and the AMF  221 , or the AP  563  may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP)  563  for the Xn interface  112  that is defined between two or more RAN nodes  111 . 
     The NG-AP  563  may support the functions of the NG interface  113  and may comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the NG-RAN node  111  and the AMF  221 . The NG-AP  563  services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to a UE  101 ) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node  111  and AMF  221 ). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests to NG-RAN nodes  111  involved in a particular paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF  221  to establish, modify, and/or release a UE context in the AMF  221  and the NG-RAN node  111 ; a mobility function for UEs  101  in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOs to support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to support mobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function for transporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE  101  and AMF  221 ; a NAS node selection function for determining an association between the AMF  221  and the UE  101 ; NG interface management function(s) for setting up the NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; a warning message transmission function for providing means to transfer warning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warning messages; a Configuration Transfer function for requesting and transferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes  111  via CN  120 ; and/or other like functions. 
     The XnAP  563  may support the functions of the Xn interface  112  and may comprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the NG RAN  111  (or E-UTRAN  210 A), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The XnAP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  101 , such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     In LTE implementations, the AP  563  may be an S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  563  for the S1 interface  113  defined between an E-UTRAN node  111  and an MME, or the AP  563  may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP)  563  for the X2 interface  112  that is defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes  111 . 
     The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  563  may support the functions of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node  111  and an MME  211  within an LTE CN  120 . The S1-AP  563  services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer. 
     The X2AP  563  may support the functions of the X2 interface  112  and may comprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the E-UTRAN  120 , such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The X2AP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  101 , such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer)  562  may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP  562  may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node  111  and the AMF  221 /MME  211  based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP  561 . The Internet Protocol layer (IP)  561  may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IP layer  561  may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and convey PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node  111  may comprise L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF to exchange information. 
     In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP  547 , PDCP  540 , RLC  530 , MAC  520 , and PHY  510 . The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE  101 , the RAN node  111 , and UPF  202  in NR implementations or an S-GW  217  and P-GW  218  in LTE implementations. In this example, upper layers  551  may be built on top of the SDAP  547 , and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP/IP)  552 , a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane layer (GTP-U)  553 , and a User Plane PDU layer (UP PDU)  563 . 
     The transport network layer  554  (also referred to as a “transport layer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U  553  may be used on top of the UDP/IP layer  552  (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the “Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. 
     The GTP-U  553  may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP/IP  552  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  217  may utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer (e.g., PHY  510 ), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC  520 , RLC  530 , PDCP  540 , and/or SDAP  547 ), the UDP/IP layer  552 , and the GTP-U  553 . The S-GW  217  and the P-GW  218  may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer  552 , and the GTP-U  553 . As discussed previously, NAS protocols may 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  218 . 
     Moreover, although not shown by  FIG.  5   , an application layer may be present above the AP  563  and/or the transport network layer  554 . The application layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE  101 , RAN node  111 , or other network element interacts with software applications being executed, for example, by application circuitry  305  or application circuitry  305 , respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for software applications to interact with communications systems of the UE  101  or RAN node  111 , such as the baseband circuitry  410 . In some implementations the IP layer and/or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—the presentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer). 
       FIG.  6    illustrates components of a core network in accordance with various embodiments. The components of the CN  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 (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In embodiments, the components of CN  240  may be implemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regard to the components of CN  220 . In some embodiments, NFV is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  220  may be referred to as a network slice  601 , and individual logical instantiations of the CN  220  may provide specific network capabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  220  may be referred to as a network sub-slice  602  (e.g., the network sub-slice  602  is shown to include the P-GW  218  and the PCRF  226 ). 
     As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs) instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy the network slice. 
     With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g.,  FIG.  2 B ), a network slice always comprises a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicing relies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can realize the different network slices by scheduling and also by providing different L1/L2 configurations. The UE  201  provides assistance information for network slice selection in an appropriate RRC message, if it has been provided by NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UE need not support more than 8 slices simultaneously. 
     A network slice may include the CN  240  control plane and user plane NFs, NG-RANs  210 B in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in the serving PLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAI and/or may have different SSTs. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slices may differ for supported features and network functions optimizations, and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service/features but for different groups of UEs  201  (e.g., enterprise users). For example, individual network slices may deliver different committed service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have different S-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators. Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network slice instances simultaneously via a 5G AN and associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF  221  instance serving an individual UE  201  may belong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE. 
     Network Slicing in the NG-RAN  210 B involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices, which have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in the NG-RAN  210 B is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signaling that includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN  210 B supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the set of network functions that comprise each slice) is implementation dependent. The NG-RAN  210 B selects the RAN part of the network slice using assistance information provided by the UE  201  or the 5GC  240 , which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN  210 B also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN node may support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN  210 B may also apply an appropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. The NG-RAN  210 B may also support QoS differentiation within a slice. 
     The NG-RAN  210 B may also use the UE assistance information for the selection of an AMF  221  during an initial attach, if available. The NG-RAN  210 B uses the assistance information for routing the initial NAS to an AMF  221 . If the NG-RAN  210 B is unable to select an AMF  221  using the assistance information, or the UE  201  does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN  210 B sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF  221 , which may be among a pool of AMFs  221 . For subsequent accesses, the UE  201  provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE  201  by the 5GC  240 , to enable the NG-RAN  210 B to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF  221  as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN  210 B is aware of, and can reach, the AMF  221  that is associated with the temp ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies. 
     The NG-RAN  210 B supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN  210 B resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies and protection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of shared resources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for another slice. In some implementations, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN  210 B resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN  210 B supports resource isolation is implementation dependent. 
     Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness in the NG-RAN  210 B of the slices supported in the cells of its neighbors may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. The slice availability may not change within the UE&#39;s registration area. The NG-RAN  210 B and the 5GC  240  are responsible to handle a service request for a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admission or rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, support of the requested service by NG-RAN  210 B. 
     The UE  201  may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In case the UE  201  is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and for intra-frequency cell reselection, the UE  201  tries to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can be used to control the frequency on which the UE  201  camps. The 5GC  240  is to validate that the UE  201  has the rights to access a network slice. Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN  210 B may be allowed to apply some provisional/local policies, based on awareness of a particular slice that the UE  201  is requesting to access. During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN  210 B is informed of the slice for which resources are being requested. 
     NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions. 
       FIG.  7    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system  700  to support NFV. The system  700  is illustrated as including a VIM  702 , an NFVI  704 , an VNFM  706 , VNFs  708 , an EM  710 , an NFVO  712 , and a NM  714 . 
     The VIM  702  manages the resources of the NFVI  704 . The NFVI  704  can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system  700 . The VIM  702  may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI  704  (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems. 
     The VNFM  706  may manage the VNFs  708 . The VNFs  708  may be used to execute EPC components/functions. The VNFM  706  may manage the life cycle of the VNFs  708  and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNFs  708 . The EM  710  may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs  708 . The tracking data from the VNFM  706  and the EM  710  may comprise, for example, PM data used by the VIM  702  or the NFVI  704 . Both the VNFM  706  and the EM  710  can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system  700 . 
     The NFVO  712  may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI  704  in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM  714  may provide a package of end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM  710 ). 
       FIG.  8    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically,  FIG.  8    shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources  800  including one or more processors (or processor cores)  810 , one or more memory/storage devices  820 , and one or more communication resources  830 , each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus  840 . For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor  802  may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources  800 . 
     The processors  810  may include, for example, a processor  812  and a processor  814 . The processor(s)  810  may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof. 
     The memory/storage devices  820  may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices  820  may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc. 
     The communication resources  830  may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  804  or one or more databases  806  via a network  808 . For example, the communication resources  830  may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. 
     Instructions  850  may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors  810  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions  850  may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors  810  (e.g., within the processor&#39;s cache memory), the memory/storage devices  820 , or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions  850  may be transferred to the hardware resources  800  from any combination of the peripheral devices  804  or the databases  806 . Accordingly, the memory of processors  810 , the memory/storage devices  820 , the peripheral devices  804 , and the databases  806  are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. 
     For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section. 
     Examples 
     Example 1 may include the service producer supported by one or more processors, is configured to
         receive a request to create a threshold monitoring;   request the NF(s) to monitor the performance measurements;   receive the responses from NF(s) about the performance measurements monitoring request;   respond to the consumer with the result of the threshold monitoring creation request.       

     Example 2 may include the service producer of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein is further configured to:
         receive a request to terminate a threshold monitoring;   request the NF(s) to stop monitoring the performance measurements;   receive the responses from NF(s) about the result of stopping performance measurements monitoring;   respond to the consumer with the result of threshold monitoring termination request.       

     Example 3 may include the method according to example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the received threshold monitoring request includes the information about at least one of IOC name, IOC instance list, threshold information and monitor granularity period. 
     Example 4 may include the method according to example 3 or some other example herein, wherein the threshold information includes measurement type name, direction and a list of threshold pack that contains thresholdLevel and thresholdValue. 
     Example 5 may include the method according to example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the response indicating the threshold monitoring creation includes id of the monitoring and/or the information about the unsupported iOC instance(s), unsupported measurement type name(s) and reason(s). 
     Example 6 may include the method according to example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the request of the threshold monitoring termination includes id of the monitoring. 
     Example 7 may include an entity, supported by one or more processors, that is configured to send a notification to the consumer when the threshold of the threshold monitoring is reached or crossed. 
     Example 8 may include the entity of the method of example 7 or some other example herein, wherein is the service producer as said in claim  1 , or a NF. 
     Example 9 may include the method according to example 7 or some other example herein, wherein the notification includes one or more of the following information:
         the object class and instance of the entity that sends the notification;   the monitored object instance;   id of the notification;   time stamp of the notification being sent;   id of the monitoring;   time stamp of the start of the monitoring granularity period;   time stamp of the end of the monitoring granularity period;   threshold level has been reached or crossed;   the monitored measurement type name that has reached or crossed the threshold;   the value of the measurement.       

     Example 10 may include the method according to examples 7-9 or some other example herein, wherein the notification is emitted immediately when the cumulative counter of measured events reached or crossed the threshold, without waiting to the end of the monitoring granularity period. 
     Example 11 may include the method according to examples 7-9 or some other example herein, wherein the notification is emitted at the end of the monitoring granularity period for the non-cumulative counters if the measurement value reached or crossed the threshold. 
     Example 12 is a method comprising:
         receiving a monitoring request to monitor a performance measurement over a granularity period;   determining that a counter that corresponds to the first performance measurement has exceeded a threshold prior to the end of the granularity period; and   transmitting or causing to transmit, prior to the end of the granularity period, a report to indicate that the counter has exceeded the threshold.       

     Example 13 is the method of Example 12, wherein the performance measurement is a first performance measurement, the threshold is a first threshold, and the report is a first report, and wherein the method further comprises:
         monitoring a second performance measurement; and   transmitting or causing to transmit, after the end of the granularity period, a second report to indicate that the second performance measurement crossed a second threshold during the granularity period.       

     Example 14 is the method of Example 12-13 or another example herein, wherein the counter is a cumulative counter. 
     Example 15 is the method of Example 14 or another example herein, wherein the report is transmitted prior to the end of the granularity period based on the counter being the cumulative counter. 
     Example 16 is the method of Example 13-15 or another example herein, wherein the second performance measurement is a non-cumulative value. 
     Example 17 is the method of Example 16 or another example herein, wherein the second report is transmitted after the end of the granularity period based on the second performance measurement being the non-cumulative value. 
     Example 18 is the method of Examples 12-17 or another example herein, wherein the first performance measurement is a number of failed handovers for a user equipment (UE). 
     Example 19 is the method of Examples 13-18 or another example herein, wherein the second performance measurement corresponds to an average or maximum value over the granularity period. 
     Example 20 is the method of Examples 12-19 or another example herein, wherein the monitoring request includes one or more of an IOC name, an IOC instance list, threshold information, or an indication of the granularity period. 
     Example 21 is the method of Examples 12-20 or another example herein, wherein the report includes one or more of:
         the object class and instance of the entity that sends the report;   the monitored object instance;   id of the report;   time stamp of the report being sent;   id of the monitoring;   time stamp of the start of the granularity period;   time stamp of the end of the granularity period;   threshold level that has been reached or crossed;   the monitored measurement type name that has reached or crossed the threshold; or   the value of the measurement.       

     Example 22 is the method of Examples 12-21 or another example herein, wherein all or certain aspects of the method is performed by a network function or a portion thereof. 
     Example 23 is the method of Examples 12-21 or another example herein, wherein all or certain aspects of the method is performed by a UE. 
     Example 23 is the method of Examples 12-23 or another example herein, wherein the report is transmitted to a UE. 
     Example 24 is a method comprising:
         transmitting or causing to transmit a monitoring request to monitor a performance measurement over a granularity period; and   receiving, prior to the end of the granularity period, a notification to indicate that a counter corresponding to the performance measurement has exceeded a threshold.       

     Example 25 is the method of Example 24 or another example herein, wherein the performance measurement is a first performance measurement, the threshold is a first threshold, and the notification is a first notification, and wherein the method further comprises:
         receiving, after the end of the granularity period, a second notification to indicate that a second performance measurement crossed a second threshold during the granularity period.       

     Example 26 is the method of Example 24-25 or another example herein, wherein the counter is a cumulative counter. 
     Example 27 is the method of Example 26 or another example herein, wherein the notification is received prior to the end of the granularity period based on the counter being the cumulative counter. 
     Example 28 is the method of Example 25-27 or another example herein, wherein the second performance measurement is a non-cumulative value. 
     Example 29 is the method of Example 28 or another example herein, wherein the second notification is received after the end of the granularity period based on the second performance measurement being the non-cumulative value. 
     Example 30 is the method of Examples 24-29 or another example herein, wherein the first performance measurement is a number of failed handovers for a user equipment (UE). 
     Example 31 is the method of Examples 25-30 or another example herein, wherein the second performance measurement corresponds to an average or maximum value over the granularity period. 
     Example 32 is the method of Examples 24-31 or another example herein, wherein the monitoring request includes one or more of an IOC name, an IOC instance list, threshold information, or an indication of the granularity period. 
     Example 33 is the method of Examples 24-32 or another example herein, wherein the notification includes one or more of:
         the object class and instance of the entity that sends the notification;   the monitored object instance;   id of the notification;   time stamp of the notification being sent;   id of the monitoring;   time stamp of the start of the granularity period;   time stamp of the end of the granularity period;   threshold level that has been reached or crossed;   the monitored measurement type name that has reached or crossed the threshold; or   the value of the measurement.       

     Example 34 is the method of Examples 24-33 or another example herein, wherein all or certain aspects of the method is performed by a network function or a portion thereof. 
     Example 35 is the method of Examples 24-33 or another example herein, wherein all or certain aspects of the method is performed by a UE. 
     Example 36 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-35, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 37 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 1-35, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 38 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 1-35, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 39 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-35, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 40 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 1-35, or portions thereof. 
     Example 41 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-35, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 42 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 43 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 44 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     Example 45 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. 
     Abbreviations 
     For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein, but are not meant to be limiting.
         3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project   4G Fourth Generation   5G Fifth Generation   5GC 5G Core network   ACK Acknowledgement   AF Application Function   AM Acknowledged Mode   AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function   AN Access Network   ANR Automatic Neighbour Relation   AP Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point   API Application Programming Interface   APN Access Point Name   ARP Allocation and Retention Priority   ARQ Automatic Repeat Request   AS Access Stratum   ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One   AUSF Authentication Server Function   AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise   BCH Broadcast Channel   BER Bit Error Ratio   BFD Beam Failure Detection   BLER Block Error Rate   BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying   BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server   BSS Business Support System   BS Base Station   BSR Buffer Status Report   BW Bandwidth   BWP Bandwidth Part   C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity   CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority   CAPEX CAPital EXpenditure   CBRA Contention Based Random Access   CC Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum   CCA Clear Channel Assessment   CCE Control Channel Element   CCCH Common Control Channel   CE Coverage Enhancement   CDM Content Delivery Network   CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access   CFRA Contention Free Random Access   CG Cell Group   CI Cell Identity   CID Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method)   CIM Common Information Model   CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio   CK Cipher Key   CM Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory   CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service   CMD Command   CMS Cloud Management System   CO Conditional Optional   CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point   CORESET Control Resource Set   COTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf   CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point   CPD Connection Point Descriptor   CPE Customer Premise Equipment   CPICH Common Pilot Channel   CQI Channel Quality Indicator   CPU CSI processing unit, Central Processing Unit   C/R Command/Response field bit   CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN   CRB Common Resource Block   CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check   CRI Channel-State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator   C-RNTI Cell RNTI   CS Circuit Switched   CSAR Cloud Service Archive   CSI Channel-State Information   CSI-IM CSI Interference Measurement   CSI-RS CSI Reference Signal   CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power   CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal received quality   CSI-SINR CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio   CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access   CSMA/CA CSMA with collision avoidance   CSS Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space   CTS Clear-to-Send   CW Codeword   CWS Contention Window Size   D2D Device-to-Device   DC Dual Connectivity, Direct Current   DCI Downlink Control Information   DF Deployment Flavour   DL Downlink   DMTF Distributed Management Task Force   DPDK Data Plane Development Kit   DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal   DN Data network   DRB Data Radio Bearer   DRS Discovery Reference Signal   DRX Discontinuous Reception   DSL Domain Specific Language. Digital Subscriber Line   DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer   DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot   E-LAN Ethernet Local Area Network   E2E End-to-End   ECCA extended clear channel assessment, extended CCA   ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE   ED Energy Detection   EDGE Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)   EGMF Exposure Governance Management Function   EGPRS Enhanced GPRS   EIR Equipment Identity Register   eLAA enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, enhanced LAA   EM Element Manager   eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband   EMS Element Management System   eNB evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Node B   EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity   EPC Evolved Packet Core   EPDCCH enhanced PDCCH, enhanced Physical Downlink Control Cannel   EPRE Energy per resource element   EPS Evolved Packet System   EREG enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups   ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute   ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System   eUICC embedded UICC, embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card   E-UTRA Evolved UTRA   E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN   EV2X Enhanced V2X   F1AP F1 Application Protocol   F1-C F1 Control plane interface   F1-U F1 User plane interface   FACCH Fast Associated Control CHannel   FACCH/F Fast Associated Control Channel/Full rate   FACCH/H Fast Associated Control Channel/Half rate   FACH Forward Access Channel   FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel   FB Functional Block   FBI Feedback Information   FCC Federal Communications Commission   FCCH Frequency Correction CHannel   FDD Frequency Division Duplex   FDM Frequency Division Multiplex   FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access   FE Front End   FEC Forward Error Correction   FFS For Further Study   FFT Fast Fourier Transformation   feLAA further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, further enhanced LAA   FN Frame Number   FPGA Field-Programmable Gate Array   FR Frequency Range   G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity   GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network   GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node   GLONASS GLObal&#39;naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Engl.: Global Navigation Satellite System)   gNB Next Generation NodeB   gNB-CU gNB-centralized unit, Next Generation NodeB centralized unit   gNB-DU gNB-distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB distributed unit   GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System   GPRS General Packet Radio Service   GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Groupe Spécial Mobile   GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol   GTP-U GPRS Tunnelling Protocol for User Plane   GTS Go To Sleep Signal (related to WUS)   GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier   GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity   HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request   HANDO, HO Handover   HFN HyperFrame Number   HHO Hard Handover   HLR Home Location Register   HN Home Network   HO Handover   HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network   HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access   HSN Hopping Sequence Number   HSPA High Speed Packet Access   HSS Home Subscriber Server   HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access   HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol   HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http/1.1 over SSL, i.e. port 443)   I-Block Information Block   ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identification   ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination   ID Identity, identifier   IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform   IE Information element   IBE In-Band Emission   IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers   IEI Information Element Identifier   IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length   IETF Internet Engineering Task Force   IF Infrastructure   IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia   IMC IMS Credentials   IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity   IMGI International mobile group identity   IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity   IMPU IP Multimedia PUblic identity   IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem   IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity   IoT Internet of Things   IP Internet Protocol   Ipsec IP Security, Internet Protocol Security   IP-CAN IP-Connectivity Access Network   IP-M IP Multicast   IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4   IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6   IR Infrared   IS In Sync   IRP Integration Reference Point   ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network   ISIM IM Services Identity Module   ISO International Organisation for Standardisation   ISP Internet Service Provider   IWF Interworking-Function   I-WLAN Interworking WLAN   K Constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM Individual key   kB Kilobyte (1000 bytes)   kbps kilo-bits per second   Kc Ciphering key   Ki Individual subscriber authentication key   KPI Key Performance Indicator   KQI Key Quality Indicator   KSI Key Set Identifier   ksps kilo-symbols per second   KVM Kernel Virtual Machine   L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)   L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power   L2 Layer 2 (data link layer)   L3 Layer 3 (network layer)   LAA Licensed Assisted Access   LAN Local Area Network   LBT Listen Before Talk   LCM LifeCycle Management   LCR Low Chip Rate   LCS Location Services   LCID Logical Channel ID   LI Layer Indicator   LLC Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility   LPLMN Local PLMN   LPP LTE Positioning Protocol   LSB Least Significant Bit   LTE Long Term Evolution   LWA LTE-WLAN aggregation   LWIP LTE/WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel   LTE Long Term Evolution   M2M Machine-to-Machine   MAC Medium Access Control (protocol layering context)   MAC Message authentication code (security/encryption context)   MAC-A MAC used for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)   MAC-I MAC used for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T WG3 context)   MANO Management and Orchestration   MBMS Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service   MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network   MCC Mobile Country Code   MCG Master Cell Group   MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time   MCS Modulation and coding scheme   MDAF Management Data Analytics Function   MDAS Management Data Analytics Service   MDT Minimization of Drive Tests   ME Mobile Equipment   MeNB master eNB   MER Message Error Ratio   MGL Measurement Gap Length   MGRP Measurement Gap Repetition Period   MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base   MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output   MLC Mobile Location Centre   MM Mobility Management   MME Mobility Management Entity   MN Master Node   MO Measurement Object, Mobile Originated   MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast CHannel   MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control CHannel   MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared CHannel   MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access CHannel   MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel   MPLS MultiProtocol Label Switching   MS Mobile Station   MSB Most Significant Bit   MSC Mobile Switching Centre   MSI Minimum System Information, MCH Scheduling Information   MSID Mobile Station Identifier   MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number   MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number   MT Mobile Terminated, Mobile Termination   MTC Machine-Type Communications   mMTC massive MTC, massive Machine-Type Communications   MU-MIMO Multi User MIMO   MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS   NACK Negative Acknowledgement   NAI Network Access Identifier   NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum layer   NCT Network Connectivity Topology   NEC Network Capability Exposure   NE-DC NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity   NEF Network Exposure Function   NF Network Function   NFP Network Forwarding Path   NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor   NFV Network Functions Virtualization   NFVI NFV Infrastructure   NFVO NFV Orchestrator   NG Next Generation, Next Gen   NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity   NM Network Manager   NMS Network Management System   N-PoP Network Point of Presence   NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB   NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast CHannel   NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control CHannel   NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared CHannel   NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access CHannel   NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared CHannel   NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal   NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal   NR New Radio, Neighbour Relation   NRF NF Repository Function   NRS Narrowband Reference Signal   NS Network Service   NSA Non-Standalone operation mode   NSD Network Service Descriptor   NSR Network Service Record   NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information   S-NNSAI Single-NSSAI   NSSF Network Slice Selection Function   NW Network   NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS   NZP Non-Zero Power   O&amp;M Operation and Maintenance   ODU2 Optical channel Data Unit—type 2   OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing   OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access   OOB Out-of-band   OOS Out of Sync   OPEX OPerating EXpense   OSI Other System Information   OSS Operations Support System   OTA over-the-air   PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio   PAR Peak to Average Ratio   PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel   PC Power Control, Personal Computer   PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC   PCell Primary Cell   PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity   PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function   PCF Policy Control Function   PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer   PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol   PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network   PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel   PDU Protocol Data Unit   PEI Permanent Equipment Identifiers   PFD Packet Flow Description   P-GW PDN Gateway   PHICH Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel   PHY Physical layer   PLMN Public Land Mobile Network   PIN Personal Identification Number   PM Performance Measurement   PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator   PNF Physical Network Function   PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor   PNFR Physical Network Function Record   POC PTT over Cellular   PP, PTP Point-to-Point   PPP Point-to-Point Protocol   PRACH Physical RACH   PRB Physical resource block   PRG Physical resource block group   ProSe Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service   PRS Positioning Reference Signal   PRR Packet Reception Radio   PS Packet Services   PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel   PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel   PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel   PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel   PSCell Primary SCell   PSS Primary Synchronization Signal   PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network   PT-RS Phase-tracking reference signal   PTT Push-to-Talk   PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel   PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel   QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation   QCI QoS class of identifier   QCL Quasi co-location   QFI QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier   QoS Quality of Service   QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying   QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System   RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI   RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst   RACH Random Access Channel   RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service   RAN Radio Access Network   RAND RANDom number (used for authentication)   RAR Random Access Response   RAT Radio Access Technology   RAU Routing Area Update   RB Resource block, Radio Bearer   RBG Resource block group   REG Resource Element Group   Rel Release   REQ REQuest   RF Radio Frequency   RI Rank Indicator   RIV Resource indicator value   RL Radio Link   RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer   RLC AM RLC Acknowledged Mode   RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode   RLF Radio Link Failure   RLM Radio Link Monitoring   RLM-RS Reference Signal for RLM   RM Registration Management   RMC Reference Measurement Channel   RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information   RN Relay Node   RNC Radio Network Controller   RNL Radio Network Layer   RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier   ROHC RObust Header Compression   RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control layer   RRM Radio Resource Management   RS Reference Signal   RSRP Reference Signal Received Power   RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality   RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator   RSU Road Side Unit   RSTD Reference Signal Time difference   RTP Real Time Protocol   RTS Ready-To-Send   RTT Round Trip Time   Rx Reception, Receiving, Receiver   S1AP S1 Application Protocol   S1-MME S1 for the control plane   S1-U S1 for the user plane   S-GW Serving Gateway   S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identity   S-TMSI SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier   SA Standalone operation mode   SAE System Architecture Evolution   SAP Service Access Point   SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor   SAPI Service Access Point Identifier   SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC   SCell Secondary Cell   SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access   SCG Secondary Cell Group   SCM Security Context Management   SCS Subcarrier Spacing   SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol   SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol layer   SDL Supplementary Downlink   SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function   SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)   SDSF Structured Data Storage Function   SDU Service Data Unit   SEAF Security Anchor Function   SeNB secondary eNB   SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy   SFI Slot format indication   SFTD Space-Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and frame timing difference   SFN System Frame Number   SgNB Secondary gNB   SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node   S-GW Serving Gateway   SI System Information   SI-RNTI System Information RNTI   SIB System Information Block   SIM Subscriber Identity Module   SIP Session Initiated Protocol   SiP System in Package   SL Sidelink   SLA Service Level Agreement   SM Session Management   SMF Session Management Function   SMS Short Message Service   SMSF SMS Function   SMTC SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration   SN Secondary Node, Sequence Number   SoC System on Chip   SON Self-Organizing Network   SpCell Special Cell   SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI   SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling   SQN Sequence number   SR Scheduling Request   SRB Signalling Radio Bearer   SRS Sounding Reference Signal   SS Synchronization Signal   SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS/PBCH Block   SSBRI SS/PBCH Block Resource Indicator, Synchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator   SSC Session and Service Continuity   SS-RSRP Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Power   SS-RSRQ Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Quality   SS-SINR Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and Interference Ratio   SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal   SSSG Search Space Set Group   SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator   SST Slice/Service Types   SU-MIMO Single User MIMO   SUL Supplementary Uplink   TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area   TAC Tracking Area Code   TAG Timing Advance Group   TAU Tracking Area Update   TB Transport Block   TBS Transport Block Size   TBD To Be Defined   TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator   TCP Transmission Communication Protocol   TDD Time Division Duplex   TDM Time Division Multiplexing   TDMA Time Division Multiple Access   TE Terminal Equipment   TEID Tunnel End Point Identifier   TFT Traffic Flow Template   TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity   TNL Transport Network Layer   TPC Transmit Power Control   TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator   TR Technical Report   TRP, TRxP Transmission Reception Point   TRS Tracking Reference Signal   TRx Transceiver   TS Technical Specifications, Technical Standard   TTI Transmission Time Interval   Tx Transmission, Transmitting, Transmitter   U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity   UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter   UCI Uplink Control Information   UE User Equipment   UDM Unified Data Management   UDP User Datagram Protocol   UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function   UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card   UL Uplink   UM Unacknowledged Mode   UML Unified Modelling Language   UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System   UP User Plane   UPF User Plane Function   URI Uniform Resource Identifier   URL Uniform Resource Locator   URLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency   USB Universal Serial Bus   USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module   USS UE-specific search space   UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access   UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network   UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot   V2I Vehicle-to-Infrastruction   V2P Vehicle-to-Pedestrian   V2V Vehicle-to-Vehicle   V2X Vehicle-to-everything   VIM Virtualized Infrastructure Manager   VL Virtual Link,   VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network   VM Virtual Machine   VNF Virtualized Network Function   VNFFG VNF Forwarding Graph   VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor   VNFM VNF Manager   VoIP Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Internet Protocol   VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network   VPN Virtual Private Network   VRB Virtual Resource Block   WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access   WLAN Wireless Local Area Network   WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network   WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network   X2-C X2-Control plane   X2-U X2-User plane   XML eXtensible Markup Language   ES EXpected user RESponse   XOR eXclusive OR   ZC Zadoff-Chu   ZP Zero Power       

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

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20191227
Publication Date: 20250121
Grant Date: 20250121
Priority Date: 20181227
Inventors: Yao, Yizhi
CHOU, JOEY
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04L41/5041", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L43/16", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L43/20", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L41/40", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L43/0876", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L43/16", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W24/08", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L43/0876", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L41/5041", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W24/08", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 69467686