Granted Patent B2

US 12,225,610 · App. 17/657,334 · Granted Feb 11, 2025

Inventors: Bharat Shrestha (San Diego, CA); Mungal Singh Dhanda (Slough, GB); Umesh Phuyal (San Diego, CA)

Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated

H04W76/16H04W36/0027H04W36/0069H04W36/00835H04W76/19

Abstract

Claims (51)

1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) on a first network associated with one of a terrestrial network (TN) or a non-terrestrial network (NTN), comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and, base at least in part on information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured to:

transmit a radio resource control (RRC) connection request to establish a connection with a second network associated with one of the NTN or the TN, wherein the RRC connection request comprises a network field that indicates that the UE was previously connected to the TN or the NTN, wherein the network field comprises a one-bit field;

receive an RRC reconnection message from a network entity associated with the second network; and

transmit an RRC reconnection complete message to the network entity associated with one of the NTN or the TN of the second network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the RRC connection request comprises at least one of a RRC reestablishment request or a RRC resumption request, wherein the RRC reconnection message comprises at least one of a RRC reestablishment message or a RRC resumption message, a RRC setup message, a RRC reject message, wherein the RRC reconnection complete message comprise at least one of a RRC reestablishment complete message, a RRC resumption complete message, or a RRC setup complete message.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the RRC reconnection message comprises one or more downlink non-access stratum (NAS) packet data units.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit a registration update request to the network entity associated with one of the NTN or the TN of the second network.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the RRC reconnection complete message is configured to acknowledge reception of the RRC reconnection message, the RRC reconnection complete message comprising a registration update request.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

refrain from transmitting a registration update request, wherein the second network configures the UE with a new registration area upon establishment of the connection with one of the TN or the NTN associated with the second network.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

abort an RRC connection procedure; and

select a new cell to establish a new connection, wherein the new cell is associated with the first network or the second network, wherein the first network or the second network are associated with one of the TN or the NTN.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a dedicated or a physical random access channel (PRACH) partition is used for differentiating a rejection message or an RRC connection setup message from the RRC connection request.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the NTN comprises at least one of a low Earth orbit (LEO) NTN, a medium Earth orbit (MEO) NTN, or a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) NTN.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first network and the second network are associated with different radio access technology (RAT) networks.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein timers associated with at least one of packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio link control (RLC), or medium access control (MAC) are adjusted or restarted for unacknowledged data or undelivered data in the first network during a reestablishment procedure in the second network.

13. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) on a first network associated with one of a terrestrial network (TN) or a non-terrestrial network (NTN), comprising:

transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) connection request to establish a connection with a second network associated with one of the NTN or the TN, wherein the RRC connection request comprises a network field that indicates that the UE was previously connected to the TN or the NTN, wherein the network field comprises a one-bit field;

receiving an RRC reconnection message from a network entity associated with the second network; and

transmitting an RRC reconnection complete message to the network entity associated with one of the NTN or the TN of the second network.

14. An apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity on a second network associated with one of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or a terrestrial network (TN), comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured to:

receive, from a user equipment (UE) on a first network associated with one of the TN or the NTN, a radio resource control (RRC) connection request to establish a connection with the second network, wherein the RRC connection request comprises a network field that indicates that the UE was previously connected to the TN or the NTN, wherein the network field comprises a one-bit field;

transmit an RRC reconnection message in response to receiving the RRC connection request; and

receive an RRC reconnection complete message from the UE previously associated with the first network.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the RRC connection request comprises at least one of a RRC reestablishment request or a RRC resumption request, wherein the RRC reconnection message comprises at least one of a RRC reestablishment message, a RRC resumption message, a RRC setup message, or a RRC reject message, wherein the RRC reconnection complete message comprises at least one of a RRC reestablishment complete message, a RRC resumption complete message, or a RRC setup complete message.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the RRC reconnection message comprises one or more downlink non-access stratum (NAS) packet data units.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive a registration update request from the UE to update registration with one of the NTN or the TN associated with the second network.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the RRC reconnection complete message comprises an acknowledgement of the RRC reconnection message, the RRC reconnection complete message comprising a registration update request.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein an RRC setup complete message comprises an acknowledgement of the RRC reconnection message, at least based on the second network failing to communicate with the first network.

21. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

poll one or more network entities associated with one of the NTN or the TN of the first network and one or more network entities associated with one of the NTN or the TN of the second network that has knowledge of a physical (PHY) cell identifier (ID) and a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the UE.

22. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

provide physical (PHY) cell identifiers (IDs) between the first network and the second network, wherein no overlapping of the PHY cell IDs between the first network and the second network occurs.

23. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the RRC connection request comprises a physical (PHY) cell identifier (ID) for one of the NTN or the TN of the first network and a PHY cell ID for one of the NTN or the TN of the second network.

24. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein a dedicated or a physical random access channel (PRACH) partition is used for differentiating a rejection message or an RRC connection setup message from the RRC connection request.

25. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the RRC connection request is received for a set of allowed public land mobile networks (PLMNs) in instances of establishing the connection with the second network from the first network.

26. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the NTN comprises at least one of a low Earth orbit (LEO) NTN, a medium Earth orbit (MEO) NTN, or a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) NTN.

27. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the first network and the second network are associated with different radio access technology (RAT) networks.

28. A method of wireless communication at a network entity on a second network associated with one of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or a terrestrial network (TN), comprising:

receiving, from a user equipment (UE) on a first network associated with one of the TN or the NTN, a radio resource control (RRC) connection request to establish a connection with the second network, wherein the RRC connection request comprises a network field that indicates that the UE was previously connected to the TN or the NTN, wherein the network field comprises a one-bit field;

transmitting an RRC reconnection message in response to receiving the RRC connection request; and

receiving an RRC reconnection complete message from the UE previously associated with the first network.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (16)