Systems, methods, and devices for optimizing radio access technology and resource selection
Techniques described herein may enable a user equipment (UE) to optimize radio access technology (RAT) and radio resources (e.g., bandwidth parts (BWPs)) when communicating with the network. This may be based on one or more factors or conditions, such as whether the UE is currently using 4th generation (4G) RAT or 5th generation (5G) RAT, whether the UE is in an active mode or idle mode, a BWP used by the UE, whether an application or network service requires a certain throughput, a type of application being used by the UE, an amount of network congestion, and so on. RAT optimization may also be based on whether the UE is using a frequency range 1 (FR1) or frequency range 2 (FR2), whether the UE is stationary or moving, whether the UE is experiencing beam failures, uplink (UL) switches, link quality measurements (LQMs), reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements, and so on.
1. A user equipment (UE), comprising:
radio frequency (RF) circuitry; and
one or more processors coupled to the RF circuitry and configured to execute instructions stored in a memory to cause the UE to:
communicate with a base station of a wireless communication network via a 5th generation (5G) frequency range 2 (FR2) connection using the RF circuitry;
buffer data corresponding to a first portion of a data streaming session using the 5G FR2 connection;
switch from the 5G FR2 connection to a 5G frequency range 1 (FR1) a 4th generation (4G) connection in response to detecting one or more conditions;
switch from the 4G connection to the 5G FR2 connection; and
buffer data corresponding to a second portion of the data streaming session after switching from the 4G connection to the 5G FR2 connection.
2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions comprise successive beam failures, corresponding to the 5G FR2 connection, exceeding a pre-defined threshold for beam failures.
3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session; and
an uplink leg switch, corresponding to the 5G FR2 connection, occurring during the VoIP session.
4. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session; and
a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) recorder timer expiring during the VoIP session.
5. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session;
a 5G link quality metric (LQM) being below a pre-defined 5G LQM threshold;
a throughput of the 5G FR2 connection being below a pre-defined throughput threshold; and
a 4G LQM being above a pre-defined 4G LQM threshold.
6. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions comprise:
the UE being stationary;
an amount of uplink (UL) data being greater than a UL data threshold;
a 4G reference signal received power (RSRP) exceeding a pre-determined 4G RSRP threshold;
a 5G RSRP being below a pre-determined 5G RSRP threshold;
a 5G transmission (Tx) power exceeding a pre-defined Tx power threshold; and
a number of retransmissions (ReTX) exceeding a ReTx threshold.
7. The UE of claim 6 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
a level of network congestion corresponding to the 4G connection being below a network congestion threshold.
8. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions comprise:
the UE being stationary;
the 5G FR2 connection being used for video call session without downlink (DL) activity exceeding a DL activity threshold;
a 4G reference signal received power (RSRP) exceeding a pre-determined 4G RSRP threshold;
a 5G RSRP being below a pre-determined 5G RSRP threshold;
a 5G transmission (Tx) power exceeding a pre-defined Tx power threshold; and
a number of retransmissions (ReTx) exceeding a ReTx threshold.
9. The UE of claim 8 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
a level of network congestion corresponding to the 4G connection being below a network congestion threshold.
10. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the UE is in a 4G radio resource control (RRC) connected mode upon switching from the 5G FR2 connection to the 4G connection, and the one or more processors are configured to transition to an idle mode upon expiration of an inactivity timer while in the RRC connected mode.
11. A method for a user equipment (UE), comprising:
communicating with a base station of a wireless communication network via a 5th generation (5G) frequency range 2 (FR2) connection;
switching from the 5G FR2 connection to a 5G frequency range 1 (FR1) connection or a 4th generation (4G) connection in response detecting one or more conditions, wherein the one or more conditions include a number of successive beam failures corresponding to the 5G FR2 connection exceeding a pre-defined threshold for beam failures; and
switching from the 5G FR1 connection or the 4G connection to the 5G FR2 connection, in response to a level of congestion corresponding to the 5G FR1 connection or the 4G connection exceeding a pre-defined congestion threshold.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session; and
the UE being in motion.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session;
the UE being in motion; and
an uplink (UL) leg switch corresponding to the 5G FR2 connection occurring during the VoIP session.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session;
the UE being in motion; and
a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) re order timer expiring during the VoIP session.
15. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium for a user equipment (UE) comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
communicating with a base station of a wireless communication network via a 5th generation (5G) frequency range 2 (FR2) connection;
switching from the 5G FR2 connection to a 5G frequency range 1 (FR1) connection or a 4th generation (4G) connection in response detecting one or more conditions, wherein the one or more conditions include a number of successive beam failures corresponding to the 5G FR2 connection exceeding a pre-defined threshold for beam failures; and
switching from the 5G FR1 connection or the 4G connection to the 5G FR2 connection, in response to a level of congestion corresponding to the 5G FR1 connection or the 4G connection exceeding a pre-defined congestion threshold.
16. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session; and
the user equipment (UE) being in motion.
17. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session;
the user equipment (UE) being in motion; and
an uplink leg switch corresponding to the 5G FR2 connection occurring during the VoIP session.
18. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more conditions further comprise:
the 5G FR2 connection being used for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) session;
the user equipment (UE) being in motion; and
a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) recorder timer expiring during the VoIP session.
19. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors further cause the UE to:
switch from the 4G connection to the 5G FR2 connection in response to detecting a level of congestion corresponding to the 4G connection exceeding a pre-defined congestion threshold.
20. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions include the data corresponding to the first portion of the data streaming session being buffered.