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WO-2026096977-A1 - MANAGING SATELLITE COMMUNICATION WITH MULTIPLE RADIO ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES

WO2026096977A1WO 2026096977 A1WO2026096977 A1WO 2026096977A1WO-2026096977-A1

Abstract

A method for cell selection or reselection is implemented in a user equipment (UE). The method comprises receiving (504), in a serving cell and in a first system information block (SIB), non-terrestrial (NTN) carrier frequency information for an NTN radio access technology (RAT); receiving (508), in the serving cell and in a second SIB, satellite information for the NTN RAT; and selecting (514) an NTN cell associated with the NTN RAT.

Inventors

  • WU, CHIH-HSIANG
  • TAO, MING-HUNG

Assignees

  • GOOGLE LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251101
Priority Date
20241101

Claims (15)

  1. 1. A method for cell selection or reselection, the method implemented in a user equipment (UE) and comprising: receiving, in a serving cell and in a first system information block (SIB), non-terrestrial (NTN) carrier frequency information for an NTN radio access technology (RAT); receiving, in the serving cell and in a second SIB, satellite information for the NTN RAT; and selecting an NTN cell associated with the NTN RAT.
  2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first SIB includes an indication that the NTN carrier frequency information is associated with the satellite information for the NTN RAT.
  3. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication is a satellite identifier (ID).
  4. 4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein: the serving cell is a terrestrial network (TN) cell.
  5. 5. The method any of the preceding claims, wherein the NTN cell is associated with narrowband (NB) Intemet-of-Things (loT) communication.
  6. 6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the second SIB is a SIB type 33 (SIB33).
  7. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the satellite information includes one or more of: (i) a satellite identifier (ID) identifying a satellite with which the NTN cell is associated, (ii) ephemeris information for the satellite, (iii) one or more timing advance parameters, (iv) an epoch time, (v) a service start time for the PATENT APPLICATION Attorney Docket No.: 31730/308455-00 (vi) a scheduling offset, (vii) an indication of a frequency band of the NTN cell, or (viii) a physical cell identifier (PCI) of the NTN cell.
  8. 8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein: the satellite information is a first neighboring satellite information, and the NTN RAT is a first NTN RAT; the method further comprising: receiving, in the serving cell, second neighboring satellite information related to a second NTN RAT.
  9. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first neighboring satellite information and the second neighboring satellite information are received in the second SIB.
  10. 10. A method implemented in a node of a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising: transmitting, in a first system information block (SIB), non-terrestrial (NTN) carrier frequency information for an NTN radio access technology (RAT); and transmitting, in a second SIB, satellite information for the NTN RAT.
  11. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein: the first SIB includes a satellite identifier (ID) to identify a satellite to which the satellite information pertains; and the second SIB includes the satellite ID.
  12. 12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein: the first SIB and the second SIB are transmitted in a terrestrial network (TN) cell. PATENT APPLICATION Attorney Docket No.: 31730/308455-00
  13. 13. The method of any of claims 10-12, wherein the second SIB is a SIB type 33 (SIB33).
  14. 14. The method of any of claims 10-12, wherein: the satellite information is a first neighboring satellite information; the NTN RAT is a first NTN RAT; and the second SIB further includes second neighboring satellite information related to a second NTN RAT.
  15. 15. A device comprising: a transceiver; and processing hardware; the device configured to implement a method of any of the preceding claims.

Description

PATENT APPLICATION Attorney Docket No.: 31730/308455-00 MANAGING SATELLITE COMMUNICATION WITH MULTIPLE RADIO ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of the filing date of provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 63/715,500, entitled “Managing Satellite Communication with Multiple Radio Access Technologies,” filed on November 1, 2024. The entire content of the provisional application is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE [0002] This disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems, and particularly to managing satellite communication with multiple radio access technologies. BACKGROUND [0003] This background description is provided for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. [0004] The 5G technology relies primarily on legacy terrestrial networks. However, the third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) organization has proposed to extend 5G communications to non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) with 5G new radio (NR) technologies, or with the Long- Term-Evolution (LTE) technologies tailored for the Narrowband Internet-of-Thing (NB-IoT) or the enhanced Machine Type Communication (eMTC) scenarios. In an NTN. an RF transceiver is mounted on a satellite, an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) also referred to as drone, balloon, plane, or another suitable apparatus. For simplicity, the discussion below refers to all such apparatus as satellites. In addition to satellites, an NTN can include the sat-gateways that connect the Non-Terrestrial Network to a public data network, feeder links between sat-gateways and satellites, service links between satellites, and inter- satellite links (ISL) when satellites form constellations. PATENT APPLICATION Attorney Docket No.: 31730/308455-00 [0005] A satellite can belong to one of several types based on altitude, orbit, and beam footprint size. The types include Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite, Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite, UAS platform (including High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS)), and High Elliptical Orbit (HEO) satellite. GEO satellites are also known as the Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO) satellites, and LEO/MEO satellites are also known as non-GSO (NGSO) satellites. [0006] A GSO satellite can communicate with one or more sat-gateways deployed over a satellite targeted coverage area (e.g., a region, country, continent, etc.). A non-GSO satellite at different times can communicate with one or several serving sat-gateways. An NTN is designed to ensure service and feeder link continuity between successive serving sat-gateways, with sufficient time duration to proceed with mobility anchoring and hand-over procedures. [0007] A satellite can support a transparent or a regenerative (with on board processing) payload, and typically generates several beams for a given service area bounded by the field of view. The footprints of the beams typically have an elliptic shape and depend on the on-board antenna configuration and the elevation angle. For a transparent payload implementation, a satellite can apply RF filtering and/or frequency conversion and amplification, and refrain from changing the waveform signal. For a regenerative payload implementation, a satellite can apply RF filtering, frequency conversion and amplification, demodulation and decoding, routing, and/or coding/modulation. This approach is effectively equivalent to implementing most of the functions of a base station, e.g., a gNB or an eNB. [0008] NB-IoT and eMTC technologies are expected to be particularly suitable for loT devices operating in remote areas with limited or no terrestrial connectivity. Such loT devices can be used in a variety of industries including for example transportation (maritime, road, rail, air) and logistics; solar, oil, and gas harvesting; utilities; farming; environmental monitoring; and mining. However, to ensure the required loT connectivity, deployment of these technologies requires satellite connectivity to provide coverage beyond terrestrial deployments. Satellite NB- loT or eMTC is defined in a complementary manner to terrestrial deployments. PATENT APPLICATION Attorney Docket No.: 31730/308455-00 [0009] 3GPP has specified NR NTN, NB-IoT NTN, and eMTC NTN. To access an NR NTN cell, the UE has to acquire a system information block (SIB) 19 (SIB 19) in addition to a master information block (MIB) and a SIB1 from the NT NTN cell, as specified in 3GPP specification 38.331. The acquisition of SIB19 increases additional latency to accessing an NR NTN. To access an NB-IoT NTN cell, the UE has to acquire