Granted Patent B2

US 12,628,004 · App. 17/969,911 · Granted May 12, 2026

Inventors: Mengjie Zhang (Shenzhen, CN); He Huang (Shenzhen, CN); Jing Liu (Shenzhen, CN); Li Yang (Shenzhen, CN)

Assignee: ZTE Corporation

H04W16/32H04W36/362H04W36/00692

Abstract

Claims (49)

1 . A method, comprising:

sending, by a master node (MN) to a target secondary node (SN), an indication of a maximum number of candidate primary cells in a secondary cell group (PSCells) that can be configured by the target SN, in an SN addition request message;

receiving, by the MN from the target SN, an SN addition request acknowledge message with at least one candidate PSCell configuration, in response to the SN addition request message;

sending, by the MN to a wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) message including the at least one candidate PSCell configuration and one or more associated conditional PSCell addition or change (CPAC) execution conditions, to cause the wireless communication device to perform a CPAC procedure to the target SN when a candidate PSCell satisfies the one or more associated CPAC execution conditions; and

sending, by the MN to a source SN if data forwarding is to take place, a data forwarding message with an indication that the data forwarding is for a CPAC based procedure.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the maximum number of candidate PSCells is included in an information element of the SN addition request message, wherein the indication that the data forwarding is for the CPAC procedure is included in an information element of the data forwarding message.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication device selects a candidate PSCell, to perform a CPAC procedure to the selected candidate PSCell.

4 . The method of claim 3 , comprising:

receiving, by the MN from the wireless communication device, a RRC message indicating execution of the CPAC procedure to the selected candidate PSCell; and

sending, by the MN responsive to the RRC message, a Xn interface or X2 interface message to one or more candidate SNs other than the target SN, to release resources reserved for the CPAC procedure.

5 . The method of claim 4 , comprising:

sending, by the MN to the source SN, an SN release message, to indicate release of resources of the source SN and cause the source SN to stop providing user data to the wireless communication device.

6 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:

sending, by the MN ( 302 A) to the source SN ( 302 B) via a Xn interface or X2 interface message, an indication of a maximum number of cells allowed to be configured as candidate cells for the CPAC procedure, wherein the CPAC procedure is initiated by the source SN.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the indication of a maximum number of cells is included in a RRC message included in the Xn interface or X2 interface message, wherein the RRC message is a CG-ConfigInfo message.

8 . A method, comprising:

receiving, by a target secondary node (SN) from a master node (MN), an indication of a maximum number of candidate primary cells in a secondary cell group (PSCells) that can be configured by the target SN, in an SN addition request message; and

sending, by the target SN to the MN, an SN addition request acknowledge message with at least one candidate PSCell configuration, in response to the SN addition request message,

wherein the MN sends a radio resource control (RRC) message to a wireless communication device, the RRC message including the at least one candidate PSCell configuration and one or more associated conditional PSCell addition or change (CPAC) execution conditions, to cause the wireless communication device to perform a CPAC procedure to the target SN when a candidate PSCell satisfies the one or more associated CPAC execution conditions,

wherein the MN sends, if data forwarding is to take place, a data forwarding message to a source SN with an indication that the data forwarding is for a CPAC based procedure.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the indication of the maximum number of candidate PSCells is included in an information element of the SN addition request message, and

wherein the indication that the data forwarding is for the CPAC procedure is included in an information element of the data forwarding message.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the wireless communication device selects a candidate PSCell, to perform a CPAC procedure to the selected candidate PSCell.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the MN receives a RRC message from the wireless communication device, the RRC message indicating execution of the CPAC procedure to the selected candidate PSCell, and sends, responsive to the RRC message, a Xn interface or X2 interface message to one or more candidate SNs other than the target SN, to release resources reserved for the CPAC procedure.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the MN sends an SN release message to the source SN, to indicate release of resources of the source SN and cause the source SN to stop providing user data to the wireless communication device.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the MN sends to the source SN via a Xn interface or X2 interface message, an indication of a maximum number of cells allowed to be configured as candidate cells for the CPAC procedure, wherein the CPAC procedure is initiated by the source SN.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the indication of a maximum number of cells is included in a RRC message included in the Xn interface or X2 interface message, wherein the RRC message is a CG-ConfigInfo message.

15 . A master node (MN), comprising:

at least one processor configured to:

send, via a transceiver to a target secondary node (SN), an indication of a maximum number of candidate primary cells in a secondary cell group (PSCells) that can be configured by the target SN, in an SN addition request message;

receive, via the transceiver from the target SN, an SN addition request acknowledge message with at least one candidate PSCell configuration, in response to the SN addition request message;

send, via the transceiver to a wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) message including the at least one candidate PSCell configuration and one or more associated conditional PSCell addition or change (CPAC) execution conditions, to cause the wireless communication device to perform a CPAC procedure to the target SN when a candidate PSCell satisfies the one or more associated CPAC execution conditions;

send, to a source SN if data forwarding is to take place, a data forwarding message with an indication that the data forwarding is for a CPAC based procedure.

16 . A target secondary node (SN), comprising:

at least one processor configured to:

receive, via a transceiver from a master node (MN), an indication of a maximum number of candidate primary cells in a secondary cell group (PSCells) that can be configured by the target SN, in an SN addition request message; and

send, via the transceiver to the MN, an SN addition request acknowledge message with at least one candidate PSCell configuration, in response to the SN addition request message,

wherein the MN sends a radio resource control (RRC) message to a wireless communication device, the RRC message including the at least one candidate PSCell configuration and one or more associated conditional PSCell addition or change (CPAC) execution conditions, to cause the wireless communication device to perform the CPAC procedure to the target SN when a candidate PSCell satisfies the one or more associated CPAC execution conditions,

wherein the MN sends, if data forwarding is to take place, a data forwarding message to a source SN with an indication that the data forwarding is for a CPAC based procedure.

17 . The MN of claim 15 , wherein the indication of the maximum number of candidate PSCells is included in an information element of the SN addition request message, and wherein the indication that the data forwarding is for the CPAC procedure is included in an information element of the data forwarding message.

18 . The MN of claim 15 , wherein the wireless communication device selects a candidate PSCell, to perform the CPAC procedure to the selected candidate PSCell,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, via the transceiver from the wireless communication device, a RRC message indicating execution of the CPAC procedure to the selected candidate PSCell; and

send, via the transceiver responsive to the RRC message, a Xn interface or X2 interface message to one or more candidate SNs other than the target SN, to release resources reserved for the CPAC procedure.

19 . The MN of claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

send, via the transceiver to the source SN, an SN release message, to indicate release of resources of the source SN and cause the source SN to stop providing user data to the wireless communication device.

20 . The MN of claim 15 , wherein at the at least one processor is configured to:

send, to the source SN ( 302 B) via a Xn interface or X2 interface message, an indication of a maximum number of cells allowed to be configured as candidate cells for the CPAC procedure, wherein the CPAC procedure is initiated by the source SN,

wherein the indication of a maximum number of cells is included in a RRC message included in the Xn interface or X2 interface message, wherein the RRC message is a CG-ConfigInfo message.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (40)