Apparatus, method, and computer program

1 . A method performed by a first distributed unit of a first access point configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment, the method comprising:

receiving, from a centralized unit of a second access point, a plurality of power control parameters associated with a target cell and a reconfiguration instruction that configures the user equipment to report uplink measurements with an indication of whether a maximum permissible exposure event has occurred, wherein the plurality of power control parameters comprises a nominal transmission power (P0) and an alpha;

receiving, from the centralized unit, an instruction to abstain from triggering a lower layer mobility event at the user equipment upon detection of a pre-determined event,

wherein the pre-determined event is a receipt of a maximum permissible exposure event report from the user equipment, and

wherein the triggering of the lower layer mobility event is associated with at least one trigger condition;

providing the reconfiguration instruction to the user equipment via Radio Resource Control RRC) signaling;

receiving, using layer two signalling, at least one first uplink measurement report from the user equipment in accordance with the reconfiguration instruction, wherein the at least one first uplink measurement report comprises the indication that the maximum permissible exposure event has occurred;

in response to detecting the pre-determined event based on the at least one first uplink measurement report that is received, abstaining from triggering the lower layer mobility event;

based on the at least one first uplink measurement report and the plurality of power control parameters, determining to trigger an uplink signalling change procedure at the user equipment to cause the user equipment to be served by the target cell, wherein the uplink signalling change procedure is at least one of a handover procedure and an inter-cell assistance procedure;

signalling the user equipment, using a Medium Access Control, (MAC) control element, to trigger the uplink signalling change procedure;

monitoring the pre-determined event to determine that the pre-determined event has ceased; and

in response to determining that the pre-determined event has ceased, enabling the triggering of the lower layer mobility event upon fulfilment of the at least one trigger condition, wherein the determination that the pre-determined event has ceased is based on a receipt of the at least one first uplink measurement report from the user equipment that does not indicate that the maximum permissible exposure event is occurring.

2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , the method comprising, prior to receiving from the centralized unit:

receiving, from the user equipment, at least one second uplink measurement report comprising an indication that the maximum permissible exposure event has occurred; and

forwarding the received at least one second uplink measurement report to the centralized unit.

3 . The method as claimed in claim 2 , the method comprising, prior to receiving the at least one second uplink measurement report:

receiving, from the centralized unit, a configuration for causing the first distributed unit to report any received indication of the maximum permissible exposure event degrading one or more uplink transmissions from the user equipment; and

when one or more measurement reports are received by the first distributed unit indicating that the maximum permissible exposure event has degraded one or more uplink transmissions from the user equipment, signalling the one or more measurement reports to the centralized unit and a plurality of power control parameters associated with the first distributed unit.

4 . An apparatus configured as a first distributed unit of a first access point configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising code that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus to perform:

receiving, from a centralized unit of a second access point, a plurality of power control parameters associated with a target cell and a reconfiguration instruction that configures the user equipment to report uplink measurements with an indication of whether a maximum permissible exposure event has occurred, wherein the plurality of power control parameters comprises a nominal transmission power (P0) and an alpha;

receiving, from the centralized unit, an instruction to abstain from triggering a lower layer mobility event at the user equipment upon detection of a pre-determined event,

wherein the pre-determined event is a receipt of a maximum permissible exposure event report from the user equipment, and

wherein the triggering of the lower layer mobility event is associated with at least one trigger condition;

providing the reconfiguration instruction to the user equipment via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling;

receiving, using layer two signalling, at least one first uplink measurement report from the user equipment in accordance with the reconfiguration instruction, wherein the at least one first uplink measurement report comprises the indication that the maximum permissible exposure event has occurred;

in response to detecting the pre-determined event based on the at least one first uplink measurement report that is received, abstaining from triggering the lower layer mobility event;

based on the at least one first uplink measurement report and the plurality of power control parameters, determining to trigger an uplink signalling change procedure at the user equipment to cause the user equipment to be served by the target cell, wherein the uplink signalling change procedure is at least one of a handover procedure and an inter-cell assistance procedure;

signalling the user equipment, using a Medium Access Control, (MAC) control element, to trigger the uplink signalling change procedure;

monitoring the pre-determined event to determine that the pre-determined event has ceased; and

in response to determining that the pre-determined event has ceased, enabling the triggering of the lower layer mobility event upon fulfilment of the at least one trigger condition, wherein the determination that the pre-determined event has ceased is based on a receipt of the at least one first measurement report from the user equipment that does not indicate that the maximum permissible exposure event is occurring.