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EP-4736528-A1 - UE CONTEXT TRANSFER UPON SENSING FUNCTION SWITCH

EP4736528A1EP 4736528 A1EP4736528 A1EP 4736528A1EP-4736528-A1

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to apparatuses and methods for UE context transfer upon sensing function (SF) switch. A first apparatus comprises at least one memory and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the apparatus to: receive a first message comprising a first identity (ID) of a UE; determine, based at least on the first message, whether the UE or a serving radio access node (RAN) node of the UE is within a serving area of a first SF; based on determining that the UE or the serving RAN node of the UE is outside the serving area, determine a second SF for serving the UE; and cause a first context of the UE to be transmitted from the first SF to the second SF, the first context being created at the first SF.

Inventors

  • LUO, HAIYAN
  • DAI, MINGZENG
  • VELEV, GENADI
  • TAGHIZADEH MOTLAGH, Seyedomid

Assignees

  • Lenovo (Beijing) Limited

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230630

Claims (20)

  1. A first apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the apparatus to: receive a first message comprising a first identity (ID) of a user equipment (UE) ; determine, based at least on the first message, whether the UE or a serving radio access node (RAN) node of the UE is within a serving area of a first sensing function (SF) ; based on determining that the UE or the serving RAN node of the UE is outside the serving area, determine a second SF for serving the UE; and cause a first context of the UE to be transmitted from the first SF to the second SF, the first context being created at the first SF.
  2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to receive the first message by: receiving an initial UE message from the serving RAN node.
  3. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to receive the first message by: receiving a tracking area update (TAU) request message from the UE.
  4. The first apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to: transmit, based on the TAU request message, a request for a second context of the UE to a first access and mobility management function (AMF) , the second context being created at the first AMF; and receive a response message from the first AMF, the response message comprising the second context and first information about the first SF.
  5. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to receive the first message by: receiving a path switch request from the serving RAN node.
  6. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to receive the first message by: receiving a handover required message from a source RAN node of the UE, the handover required message comprising the first ID of the UE and a target ID of the serving RAN node.
  7. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to receive the first message by: receiving a request for creating a second context of the UE from a first access and mobility management function (AMF) , the request comprising the first ID of the UE, first information about the first SF and a target ID of the serving RAN node.
  8. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus causes the first context of the UE to be transmitted from the first SF to the second SF by: transmitting a second message to the first SF, the second message indicating the first SF to transmit the first context to the second SF, and the second message comprising a second ID of the UE and second information about the second SF.
  9. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus causes the first context of the UE to be transmitted from the first SF to the second SF by: transmitting a third message to the second SF, the third message indicating the second SF to obtain the first context from the first SF, and the third message comprising a third ID of the UE and first information about the first SF.
  10. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus causes the first context of the UE to be transmitted from the first SF to the second SF by: based on determining that the UE or the serving RAN node of the UE is outside the serving area, transmitting an indication to the UE, the indication indicating the UE to transmit a sensing registration request; receiving the sensing registration request from the UE; and transmitting, to the second SF, the sensing registration request and first information about the first SF.
  11. A third apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the third apparatus to: receive a second identity (ID) of a user equipment (UE) and second information about a second SF; and transmit, based at least on the second ID of the UE, a first context of the UE to a second SF, the first context being created at the third apparatus.
  12. The third apparatus of claim 11, wherein the third apparatus is caused to receive the second ID of the UE by: receiving a second message from a first access and mobility management function (AMF) , the second message indicating the third apparatus to transmit the first context to the second SF, the second message comprising the second ID of the UE and second information about the second SF.
  13. The third apparatus of claim 11, wherein the third apparatus is caused to receive the second ID of the UE by: receiving a request for the first context from the second SF, the request comprising the second ID of the UE.
  14. The third apparatus of claim 11, wherein the third apparatus is further caused to: transmit, to the second SF, a data forwarding indicator indicating data forwarding from the third apparatus to the second SF is to be performed; and receive, from the second SF, the second ID and transport network layer (TNL) information for the data forwarding.
  15. A fourth apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the third apparatus to: obtain, from a first sensing function (SF) , a first context of a user equipment (UE) , the first context being created at the first SF; and determine, based on the first context, the UE to perform a sensing procedure.
  16. The fourth apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fourth apparatus is caused to obtain the first context by: receiving a second identity (ID) of the UE and first information about the first SF from a second access and mobility management function (AMF) ; transmitting a request for the first context to the first SF, the request comprising the second ID; and receiving, from the first SF, a response message comprising the first context.
  17. The fourth apparatus of claim 16, wherein the fourth apparatus is caused to receive the second ID of the UE by: receiving, from the first AMF, a sensing registration request and the second ID.
  18. The fourth apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fourth apparatus is further caused to: receive, from the first SF, a data forwarding indicator indicating data forwarding from the first SF to the fourth apparatus is to be performed; and transmit, to the first SF, a second identity (ID) of the UE and transport network layer (TNL) information for the data forwarding.
  19. The fourth apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fourth apparatus is further caused to: based on determining that the first context comprises Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session information, transmit, to the first SF, a second identity (ID) of the UE and transport network layer (TNL) information for data forwarding from the first SF to the fourth apparatus.
  20. The fourth apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fourth apparatus is further caused to: transmit, to the UE, an indication indicating that sensing measurement data is to be transmitted to the fourth apparatus via a control signaling.

Description

UE CONTEXT TRANSFER UPON SENSING FUNCTION SWITCH TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and more specifically to an apparatus and a method for user equipment (UE) context transfer upon sensing function (SF) switch. BACKGROUND A wireless communications system may include one or multiple network communication devices, such as base stations, which may be otherwise known as an eNodeB (eNB) , a next-generation NodeB (gNB) , or other suitable terminology. Each network communication devices, such as a base station may support wireless communications for one or multiple user communication devices, which may be otherwise known as UE, or other suitable terminology. The wireless communications system may support wireless communications with one or multiple user communication devices by utilizing resources of the wireless communication system (e.g., time resources (e.g., symbols, slots, subframes, frames, or the like) or frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers) . Additionally, the wireless communications system may support wireless communications across various radio access technologies including third generation (3G) radio access technology, fourth generation (4G) radio access technology, fifth generation (5G) radio access technology, among other suitable radio access technologies beyond 5G (B5G) (e.g., sixth generation (6G) ) . For many emerging applications, such as smart industry, next-generation vehicular networks, remote health-caring, high-quality wireless connectivity and high-accuracy sensing capability are required. It is foreseeable that future wireless networks (e.g., B5G and 6G) will surpass traditional communication and provide sensing functions, especially location and environment-aware functions. Therefore, research on integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) is increasing rapidly. In the research on ISAC, a sensing function (SF) is introduced to enable sensing in the 5G network. SF can be a standalone 5G core (5GC) Network Function (NF) or co-located with the existing 5GC NG, e.g., Location Management Function (LMF) . An application server or 5GC NF or UE may trigger sensing procedure. It is  assumed that sensing UE will perform sensing registration towards SF with its sensing capability. In this way, SF may select the appropriate sensing UE in its serving area based on the sensing registration request. SUMMARY The present disclosure relates to apparatuses and methods that support UE context transfer upon SF switch. With the apparatuses and methods, a target SF may obtain the UE context which was created at a source SF. In turn, the target SF may select the UE to perform a sensing procedure. Some implementations of the apparatuses and methods described herein may include: receiving a first message comprising a first identity (ID) of a terminal device; determining, based at least on the first message, whether the terminal device or a serving radio access node (RAN) node of the terminal device is within a serving area of a first sensing function (SF) ; based on determining that the terminal device or the serving RAN node of the terminal device is outside the serving area, determining a second SF for serving the terminal device; and causing a first context of the terminal device to be transmitted from the first SF to the second SF, the first context being created at the first SF. Some implementations of the apparatuses and methods described herein may include: receiving a second ID of a UE and second information about a second SF; and transmitting, based at least on the second ID of the UE, a first context of the UE to a second SF, the first context being created at the third apparatus. Some implementations of the apparatuses and methods described herein may include: obtaining, from a first SF, a first context of a UE, the first context being created at the first SF; and determining, based on the first context, the UE to perform a sensing procedure. It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figs. 1A, 1B and 1C illustrate an example of a wireless communications system that supports UE context transfer upon SF switch in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, respectively; Fig. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method that supports UE context transfer upon SF switch in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; Figs. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D and 3E illustrate a signaling chart illustrating an example process that supports UE context transfer upon SF switch in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, respectively; Figs. 4A and 4B illustrate a signaling chart illustrating an example process that supports UE context trans