Data transmission in inactive state

1. A method for wireless communication by a base station, comprising:

receiving an indication of downlink data for or uplink data from a user equipment (UE) that is in a state with no dedicated resources allocated to the UE in a network;

determining whether or not to transfer context of the UE to another base station based on one or more factors regarding the data or the network; and

processing the data in accordance with the determination, by at least:

performing a UE context transfer to the other base station via a handover procedure if the determination is to transfer context, and

transferring downlink data without a UE context transfer to the other base station if the determination is not to transfer context, by:

at least one of encrypting or performing integrity protection of the downlink data with stored encryption and integrity protection keys for the UE, and

providing the at least one of encrypted or integrity protected downlink data to the other base station.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the state comprises at least one of: a radio resource control (RRC) state, a substate of an RRC state, or a configuration of an RRC state.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context was established when the UE was connected to the base station.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the determination is based on an amount of downlink data to be sent to the UE; and

the determination is to transfer the UE context if the amount of downlink data is equal to or greater than a threshold amount.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the determination is based on an amount of uplink data to be sent from the UE; and

the determination is to transfer the UE context if the amount of uplink data is equal to or greater than a threshold amount.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination is based on at least one: a type of the data, a quality of service (QoS) associated with the data, a slice associated with the data, a network policy, or network load.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the UE context transfer comprises:

deriving one or more keys for the other base station;

transferring the one or more derived key to the other base station for use in deriving one or more new keys; and

forwarding the downlink data to the other base station without encryption and integrity protection.

8. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one interface configured to obtain an indication of downlink data for or uplink data from a user equipment (UE) that is in a state with no dedicated resources allocated to the UE in a network; and

a processing system configured to:

determine whether or not to transfer context of the UE to a base station based on one or more factors regarding the data or the network, and

process the data in accordance with the determination, by at least:

performing a UE context transfer to the base station via a handover procedure if the determination is to transfer context, and

transferring downlink data without a UE context transfer to the base station if the determination is not to transfer context, by:

at least one of encrypting or performing integrity protection of the downlink data with stored encryption and integrity protection keys for the UE, and

providing the at least one of encrypted or integrity protected downlink data to the base station.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the state comprises at least one of: a radio resource control (RRC) state, a substate of an RRC state, or a configuration of an RRC state.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the context was established when the UE was connected to the apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:

the determination is based on an amount of downlink data to be sent to the UE; and

the determination is to transfer the UE context if the amount of downlink data is equal to or greater than a threshold amount.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:

the determination is based on an amount of uplink data to be sent from the UE; and

the determination is to transfer the UE context if the amount of uplink data is equal to or greater than a threshold amount.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the determination is based on at least one: a type of the data, a quality of service (QoS) associated with the data, a slice associated with the data, a network policy, or network load.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:

the processing system is configured to perform the UE context transfer, by at least, deriving one or more keys for the apparatus and forwarding the downlink data to the base station without encryption and integrity protection; and

the at least one interface is configured to output the one or more derived keys to the base station for use in deriving one or more new keys.

15. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for receiving an indication of downlink data for or uplink data from a user equipment (UE) that is in a state with no dedicated resources allocated to the UE in a network;

means for determining whether or not to transfer context of the UE to a base station based on one or more factors regarding the data or the network; and

means for processing the data in accordance with the determination, wherein the means for processing the data comprises:

means for performing a UE context transfer to the base station via a handover procedure if the determination is to transfer context, and

means for transferring downlink data without a UE context transfer to the base station if the determination is not to transfer context, wherein the means for transferring the downlink data comprises:

means for at least one of encrypting or performing integrity protection of the downlink data with stored encryption and integrity protection keys for the UE, and

means for providing the at least one of encrypted or integrity protected downlink data to the base station.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for:

receiving an indication of downlink data for or uplink data from a user equipment (UE) that is in a state with no dedicated resources allocated to the UE in a network;

determining whether or not to transfer context of the UE to a base station based on one or more factors regarding the data or the network; and

processing the data in accordance with the determination, by at least:

performing a UE context transfer to the other base station via a handover procedure if the determination is to transfer context, and

transferring downlink data without a UE context transfer to the other base station if the determination is not to transfer context, by:

at least one of encrypting or performing integrity protection of the downlink data with stored encryption and integrity protection keys for the UE, and

providing the at least one of encrypted or integrity protected downlink data to the other base station.