UE capability signaling design for one or more functionalities with different application restrictions in different releases of a cellular communication specification

1 . A method of reporting capability signaling of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

determining that the capability signaling of the UE may be reported according to a first telecommunications second standard release and a telecommunications standard release; and

determining that a level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release is greater than or equal to a level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release, and that the second telecommunications standard release is a later telecommunications standard release than the first telecommunications standard release; and

in response to determining that the level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release is greater than or equal to the level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release, and that the second telecommunications standard release is a later telecommunications standard release than the first telecommunications standard release, reporting the capability signaling of the UE according to the second telecommunications standard release instead of the first telecommunications standard release.

2 . The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the capability signaling of the UE is reported to a base station by the UE.

3 . The method of claim 2 ,

wherein a functionality corresponding to the capability signaling of the UE in the first telecommunications standard release is indicated to the base station as the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release when the UE the in reports capability signaling the second telecommunications standard release, and

wherein the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release is different from the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release.

4 . The method of claim 3 ,

wherein a level of controllability of the UE in the second telecommunications standard release is determined by a basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release, and

wherein a level of controllability of the UE in the first telecommunications standard release is determined by the basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release.

5 . The method of claim 4 ,

wherein the basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release and the basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release includes at least one of per UE, per band, per band combination (BC), per feature set (FS), and per feature set per component carrier (FSPC).

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the capability signaling of the UE according to the second telecommunications standard release supports partial cancellation of an uplink signal.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the capability signaling of the UE may be reported according to the first telecommunications standard release and the second telecommunications standard release further comprises providing a portion of the first telecommunications standard release or a portion of the second telecommunications standard release to report the capability signaling.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving an indication, from a base station via higher layer signaling, of whether to provide the portion of the first telecommunications standard release or the portion of the second telecommunications standard release.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second telecommunications standard release supports two or more uplink channel groups belonging to the same timing advance group (TAG).

10 . A user equipment (UE), comprising:

a memory; and

a processor,

wherein the processor is configured to control the UE to report the UE's capability signaling by:

determining that the capability signaling of the UE may be reported according to a first telecommunications standard release and a second telecommunications standard release;

determining that a level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release is greater than or equal to a level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release, and that the second telecommunications standard release is a later telecommunications standard release than the first telecommunications standard release; and

in response to determining that the level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release is greater than or equal to the level of granularity provided by the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release, and that the second telecommunications standard release is a later telecommunications standard release than the first telecommunications standard release, reporting the capability signaling of the UE according to the second telecommunications standard release instead of the first telecommunications standard release.

11 . The UE of claim 10 ,

wherein the capability signaling of the UE is reported to a base station by the UE.

12 . The UE of claim 11 ,

wherein a functionality corresponding to the capability signaling of the UE in the first telecommunications standard release is indicated to the base station as the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release when the UE reports the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release, and

wherein the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release is different from the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release.

13 . The UE of claim 12 ,

wherein a level of controllability of the UE in the second telecommunications standard release is determined by a basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release, and

wherein a level of controllability of the UE in the first telecommunications standard release is determined by the basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release.

14 . The UE of claim 13 ,

wherein the basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the first telecommunications standard release and the basis for the UE to report the capability signaling in the second telecommunications standard release includes at least one of per UE, per band, per band combination (BC), per feature set (FS), and per feature set per component carrier (FSPC).

15 . The UE of claim 10 , wherein the capability signaling of the UE according to the second telecommunications standard release supports partial cancellation of an uplink signal.

16 . The UE of claim 10 , wherein determining that the capability signaling of the UE may be reported according to the first telecommunications standard release and the second telecommunications standard release further comprises providing a portion of the first telecommunications standard release or a portion of the second telecommunications standard release to report the capability signaling.

17 . The UE of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to control the UE by:

controlling the UE to receive an indication, from a base station via higher layer signaling, of whether to provide the portion of the first telecommunications standard release or the portion of the second telecommunications standard release.

18 . The UE of claim 10 , wherein the second telecommunications standard release supports two or more uplink channel groups belonging to the same timing advance group (TAG).