Reducing RNA update procedures and improving RACH efficiency

1. A method, performed by a User Equipment (UE) configured to initiate a cell selection procedure or a cell reselection procedure, of avoiding selection of a cell identified by a Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) identifier (RNA ID) that is different from that identifying a last or current serving cell so as to avoid an RNA update procedure, the method comprising:

before initiating the cell selection procedure or the cell reselection procedure, determining an RNA ID of the last or current serving cell based on a ran-NotificationAreainfo portion received in a Suspend Config parameter in an RRC Release message;

preferentially selecting a new cell based on the RNA ID of the last or current serving cell, the preferentially selecting comprising:

performing a first Storage List Search (SLS) procedure on a first list of candidates which belong to the same RNA as the last or current serving cell;

in response to the first SLS procedure being unsuccessful, performing a first Derived Band Search (DBS) procedure on the first list of candidates;

in response to the first DBS procedure being unsuccessful, performing a second SLS procedure on a second list of candidates which do not belong to the same RNA as the last or current serving cell; and

in response to the second SLS procedure being unsuccessful, performing a second DBS procedure on at least a portion of the second list of candidates having an RNA ID that does not match that of the last or current serving cell; and

attempting to obtain an RNA ID of the new cell based on an associated system information value tag matching that stored in an acquisition database maintained by the UE; and

in response to determining a match, reusing the RNA ID retrieved from database so as to avoid a decode of System Information from the new cell.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the determining the RNA ID comprises obtaining the RNA ID from information stored in an acquisition database maintained by the UE.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the at least a portion of the second list of candidates excludes candidates previously searched in the second SLS procedure.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the preferentially selecting further comprises determining a priority as a function of RNA ID and an absolute priority indicated in System Information or dedicated signaling priority.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising triggering a unified Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure for a mobile originated data transfer and an RNA update.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising reducing a System Information Block (SIB) priority of a coverage cell in RRC_Inactive state before transitioning to an RRC_Connected state in a capacity cell.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving from a gNB a System Information Block (SIB) reselection priority for neighbor cells indicating reselection priority for RRC idle and reselection priority for RRC inactive.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the machine-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a processor of a User Equipment (UE), cause the UE to avoid selecting a cell identified by a Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) identifier (RNA ID) that is different from that identifying a last or current serving cell so as to avoid an RNA update procedure in a cell selection procedure or a cell reselection procedure by configuring the UE to:

before initiation of the cell selection procedure or the cell reselection procedure, determine an RNA ID of the last or current serving cell based on a ran-NotificationAreainfo portion received in a Suspend Config parameter in an RRC Release message;

preferentially select a new cell based on the RNA ID of the last or current serving cell, the preferentially selecting comprising:

performing a first Storage List Search (SLS) procedure on a first list of candidates which belong to the same RNA as the last or current serving cell;

in response to the first SLS procedure being unsuccessful, performing a first Derived Band Search (DBS) procedure on the first list of candidates;

in response to the first DBS procedure being unsuccessful, performing a second SLS procedure on a second list of candidates which do not belong to the same RNA as the last or current serving cell; and

in response to the second SLS procedure being unsuccessful, performing a second DBS procedure on at least a portion of the second list of candidates having an RNA ID that does not match that of the last or current serving cell;

attempt to obtain an RNA ID of the new cell based on an associated system information value tag matching that stored in an acquisition database maintained by the UE; and

in response to determining a match, reuse the RNA ID retrieved from database so as to avoid a decode of System Information from the new cell.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 in which the determining the RNA ID comprises obtain the RNA ID from information stored in an acquisition database maintained by the UE.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 in which the at least a portion of the second list of candidates excludes candidates previously searched in the second SLS procedure.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 in which the preferentially selecting further comprises determining a priority as a function of RNA ID and an absolute priority indicated in System Information or dedicated signaling priority.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 in which the instructions further configure the processor to trigger a unified Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure for a mobile originated data transfer and an RNA update.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 in which the instructions further configure the processor to reduce a System Information Block (SIB) priority of a coverage cell in RRC_Inactive state before transitioning to an RRC_Connected state in a capacity cell.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 , in which the instructions further configure the processor to receive from a gNB a System Information Block (SIB) reselection priority for neighbor cells indicating reselection priority for RRC idle and reselection priority for RRC inactive.