FIELD

[0001] Various example embodiments o relate in general to wireless networks, and more specifically to measurement reporting in wireless networks.

BACKGROUND

[0002] In a modem mobile communication system, such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a wireless access network node, which may be also be referred to as a base station, determines a transmission format, a transmission block size, a modulation and coding scheme, and the like to be used in a downlink (DL) and an uplink (UL). To perform such determination for the DL, the network node needs information about the performance of a current DL channel from a User Equipment (UE), and the information is generally referred to as Channel State Information (CSI). [0003] Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication channel.

[0004] In a system with beamformed transmissions, in order for the transmitter to pick the best beams to transmit in, the network needs feedback from the receiver. In some systems, each beam contains a unique reference signal (RS), which may be referred to as a beam-reference signal (BRS). The UE performs measurements on the BRSs and reports measured quality to the network.

[0005] Various unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also referred to as drones, represent examples of airborne user equipment or user equipment in air (UEA), the number of which is expected to substantially increase. Cellular network connectivity in the air has having some different characteristics than connectivity at ground level. A UE in the air can detect more cells and will thus potentially receive more interference in the downlink and cause more interference in the uplink. As the UE in the air will detect more cells, there are potentially more candidate cells for handover. UEs in the air are more likely to cause widespread interference in the uplink direction. With the increasing number of UEs in the air, there are further challenges for interference management and cell selection/handover management.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] According to some aspects, there is provided the subject-matter of the independent claims. Some embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

[0007] According to a first aspect, there is provided a method, comprising: receiving, by a user equipment from a wireless access network node, an indication on beam measurement reporting mode, receiving a plurality of reference signals, performing measurements on the received reference signals at different reception beams in accordance with the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode, and transmitting to the network node a measurement report comprising quality indicators of measured reference signals in accordance with the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode, wherein the measurement of the reference signals is adapted on the basis of the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode, comprising selecting between at least two of an interference measurement mode, a handover measurement mode, and an interference and handover measurement mode.

[0008] According to a second aspect, there is provided a method, comprising: selecting, by a wireless access network node, a beam measurement reporting mode for a user equipment, comprising selecting between at least two of an interference measurement mode, a handover measurement mode, and an interference and handover measurement mode, transmitting an indication of the beam measurement reporting mode to the user equipment, receiving from the user equipment a measurement report comprising quality indicators based on measurements of reference signals at different reception beams, and processing the received measurement report on the basis of the selected beam measurement reporting mode.

[0009] According to a third aspect, there is provided an apparatus, comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of the first aspect. [0010] According to a fourth aspect, there is provided an apparatus, comprising at least one processor, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of the second aspect. [0011] According to a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, a computer readable medium, or a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform the method according to any one of the above aspects or embodiments thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] FIGURE 1 illustrates a network scenario in accordance with at least some embodiments;

[0013] FIGURE 2 illustrates a first method in accordance with at least some embodiments; [0014] FIGURE 3 illustrates a second method in accordance with at least some embodiments;

[0015] FIGURES 4 to 7 illustrate measurement reporting scenarios in accordance with at least some embodiments;

[0016] FIGURE 8 is a signalling diagram in accordance with at least some embodiments; and

[0017] FIGURE 9 illustrates an example apparatus capable of supporting at least some embodiments.

EMBODIMENTS

[0018] Certain embodiments may allow a network entity, such as an access node of a 3GPP network, to be aware of beam assumptions applied by a multi-antenna user equipment for measurement reporting, i.e. in carrying out the radio measurements that are reported. Embodiments described below provide a measurement reporting management procedure facilitating to configure multi-antenna user equipment measurements for optimized interference and/or handover management. Handover refers herein generally to change of serving wireless access network node, in cellular systems change of serving cell.

[0019] FIGURE 1 illustrates a simplified example system in accordance with at least some embodiments. A user equipment (UE) 10 communicates wirelessly with a wireless radio or access network node, hereafter referred to as AN, 20, 22, such as a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a Next Generation (NG) NodeB (gNB), a base station, an access point, or other suitable wireless/radio access network device or system.

[0020] The UE 10 may be attached to a cell of the AN, 20, 22 for wireless communications. For example, at time instants tl and t2, the AN 20 may be a serving AN or serving cell for the UE 10. The air interface between UE and AN may be configured in accordance with a Radio Access Technology, RAT, which both the UE 10 and AN 20, 22 are configured to support.

[0021] Examples of cellular RATs include Long Term Evolution, LTE, New Radio, NR, which is also known as fifth generation, 5G, and MulteFire. On the other hand, examples of non-cellular RATs include Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN, and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMAX. Principles of the present disclosure are not limited to a specific RAT though. For example, in the context of LTE, AN 20, 22 may be a nodeB or evolved Node B (eNB), while in the context NR, BS 20, 22 may be a gNB.

[0022] The AN 20, 22 may be connected, directly or via at least one intermediate node, with a core network (not shown), such as a Next Generation core network, Evolved Packet Core (EPC), or other network management element. The core network may be, in turn, coupled with another network (not shown), via which connectivity to further networks may be obtained, for example via a worldwide interconnection network. The AN may be connected with at least one other AN as well via an inter-base station interface, particularly for supporting mobility of the UE 10, e.g. by 3 GPP X2 or similar NG interface.

[0023] The UE 10 may be referred to as a user device or wireless terminal in general. Hence, without limiting to Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) User Equipment, the term user equipment is to be understood broadly to cover various mobile/wireless terminal devices, mobile stations and user devices for user communication and/or machine to machine type communication. The UE 10 may be or be comprised by, for example, a smartphone, a cellular phone, a Machine-to-Machine, M2M, node, machine-type communications node, an Internet of Things, IoT, node, a car telemetry unit, a laptop computer, a tablet computer or, indeed, another kind of suitable user device or mobile station, i.e., a terminal.

[0024] In some embodiments, the UE 10 is a UE in air (UEA), such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which comprises various types of drones or part of an unmanned aerial system (UAS). The UEA may see more cells than a ground-based UE. This can lead to frequent handovers if the same settings are being used as for ground based UEs.

[0025] The access network may be provided with an indication that the UE 10 is an UEA. As UEAs are more likely to cause widespread interference in the uplink, in case of need to lower the interference, the network may focus on mitigating interference from the UEAs, which is more efficient than to mitigate the interference from ground based UEs. Interference management can be as simple as lowering the streaming rate or use of more advanced techniques like inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) and/or beamforming mechanisms. As in the downlink at least the Command and Control (C2) link, requiring high reliability, is provided, the network needs to be able to provide interference mitigation also in the downlink or ensure interference maintains under a threshold.

[0026] One effective method to mitigate interference is through beam selection at the UEA. Antenna selection with two or more antenna elements can be equivalent to a simple beam selection when the antennas are placed on the UEA at appropriate spacing and orientations.

[0027] The UE 10 is provided with multiple antennas enabling multiple beams Bl to B6 for transmission from and/or reception to the UE. Even though six beams (Bl to B6) are shown in FIGURE 1, it will be appreciated that a different number of beams is also possible. For example, in some embodiments the UE may be configured to support two or four beams. Moreover, a larger number of beams may be considered as well, e.g., 8, 10 or 12 beams.

[0028] The UE 10 may be configured to select a beam with the best signal quality for reception without adjusting the orientation of the UE. The selection may be based on measured reference signal received power (RSRP) or reference signal received quality (RSRQ). By doing so, the amount of interference received in the downlink may be limited to the beam width of the beam, leading to a reduced overall outage. Furthermore, in case of UEAs, beam steering also provides advantages in the uplink as it gives a gain for the UEA and limits the interference impact on terrestrial users, as the signal originating from the UFA is only spread in a limited angle. This has a positive effect on throughputs of both the terrestrial UEs and the UEAs.

[0029] FIGURE 1 illustrates an example for beam steering of the UE 10 at different time instants tl to t3, where tl : B4 is active beam and cell# 1 20 is the serving cell

t2: B5 is active beam and cell# 1 20 is the serving cell

t3 : B5 is active beam and cell#2 22 is the serving cell

[0030] The active beam is the beam for transmission and/or reception at the UE side and may be changed dynamically based on the channel condition corresponding to its serving cell. During tl to t2, the UE 10 uses different beams with the same serving cell. Between t2 and t3, the serving cell is switched. As illustrated, not all beams are necessarily active for transmission and/or reception.

[0031] FIGURE 2 is a flow graph of a first method in accordance with at least some embodiments. The phases of the illustrated first method may be performed by a user equipment with multiple antennas, such as the UE 10, an UAV or a terminal in general, or by a control device configured to control the functioning thereof, possibly when installed therein. It is to be noted that an action, such as transmitting, in a given block may refer to controlling or causing such action in another apparatus or unit.

[0032] The first method may comprise, at block 200, receiving an indication on beam measurement reporting mode. The indication may be received by a user equipment from a wireless access network node, such as by the UE 10 from the AN 10.

[0033] A plurality of reference signals is received 210. Each of the reference signals may be transmitted on a different beam and/or at least some of the reference signals may originate from a different transmission point, different AN, or different cell. Thus, at least some of the received reference signals may originate from different transmitting apparatuses.

[0034] Measurements are performed 220 on the received reference signals at different (UE) reception beams in accordance with the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode. The measurement of the reference signals is adapted on the basis of the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode, comprising selecting between at least two of an interference measurement mode, a handover measurement mode, and an interference and handover measurement mode. Thus, the UE 10 may be configured to support at least two of these three beam measurement reporting modes, select one the modes in accordance with the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode, and perform the measurements 220 in accordance with the selected mode.

[0035] A measurement report comprising quality indicators of measured reference signals is transmitted 230 to the network node in accordance with the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode. Thus, the report may comprise at least one quality indicator for each of the measured reception beams in accordance with the selected reporting mode. In some embodiments, the quality indicator is an RSRP or RSRQ indicator.

[0036] The report thus at least comprises information on measurements performed in accordance with the indicated reporting mode. The report may be specific to the indicated mode. The report may indicate the applied measurement reporting mode. The report may comprise further information on the applied measurement mode and/or the beam selection assumptions applied during the measurements.

[0037] FIGURE 3 is a flow graph of a first method in accordance with at least some embodiments. The phases of the illustrated first method may be performed by a wireless access network node, such as the AN 20, 22, or by a control device configured to control the functioning thereof, possibly when installed therein. It is to be noted that the action, such as transmitting, in a given block may refer to controlling or causing such action in another apparatus or unit.

[0038] A wireless access network node selects 300 a beam measurement reporting mode for a user equipment. Block 300 comprises selecting between at least two of an interference measurement mode, a handover measurement mode, and an interference and handover measurement mode.

[0039] An indication of the beam measurement reporting mode is transmitted 310 to the user equipment. Reference signals may be transmitted 320 after block 310. It is to be noted that in some embodiments the apparatus performing the method does not (itself) carry out block 320, but may instead move from 310 to 330. [0040] A measurement report comprising quality indicators based on measurements of reference signals at different reception beams is received 330 from the user equipment. The received measurement report is processed 340 in accordance with the selected beam measurement reporting mode. Thus, the processing may be adapted on the basis of the selected beam measurement reporting mode, for interference management, for handover management, or both.

[0041] It is to be appreciated that various modifications and additions may be made to the methods of FIGURES 2 and 3. For example, there may be further blocks, such as further filtering and/or processing block(s) between 220, 230. In some alternative embodiments, the blocks 200, 300 and 310 are omitted and the UE selects in 220 the mode (between the at least two of the interference measurement mode, the handover measurement mode, and the interference and handover measurement mode) without the specific preceding indication. In these embodiments, the UE may indicate the applied mode in or with the measurement report 230. The network node may then select the mode after block 330 on the basis of the received indication and thus process the measurement report in accordance with the mode indication from the UE. Some further example embodiments are illustrated below.

[0042] The interference measurement mode may comprise selecting a best reception beam for one of the reference signals and measuring the quality of other reference signals using the selected best reception beam. In the present examples, the wording“best beam” refers to a beam associated with the highest evaluated quality indicator parameter for a reference signal among the beams under estimation, such as highest received power value.

[0043] Further, the best reception beam of a serving cell for the UE may be selected. The currently active beam used for reception from the serving cell may be selected. Thus, a signal strength or quality indicator report may be generated for each cell, corresponding to the selected best beam(s) for the serving cell. This informs the network about the interference impact of a given serving cell on other cells, assuming that the best beam is used for the serving cell, and is hence optimized for interference management. Such reporting may also be referred to as best serving beam based measurement reporting.

[0044] A simple example of application of the interference measurement mode is illustrated in FIGURE 4. The best beam for cell #1 serving the UE 10 is reception beam B5, and the UE also reports B5 measurement for cell #4. The number of cells for which measurements are reported may be limited to the number of cells for which the measured signal strength/quality value using the best beam for the serving cell is above a threshold for reporting. For example, the signal strength for B5 of cells #2 and #3 may be under the set threshold.

[0045] The handover measurement mode may comprise selecting a best reception beam for each of the reference signals and measuring the quality of each of the reference signals using the selected best reception beam for the respective reference signal. Such reporting may also be referred to as cell with best beam based measurement reporting. Thus, the report for each cell corresponds to the UE’s selected best beam for that cell. This mode is beneficial for handover, since it enables the best serving cell to be selected, under the assumption that the UE will optimally select its beam for the selected serving cell. The number of cells for which measurements are reported may be limited to the number of cells for which the measured signal strength or quality value is above a threshold for reporting.

[0046] A simple example of application of the handover measurement mode is illustrated in FIGURE 5. The UE 10 may perform and report quality indicator measurements on different reception beams for different cells.

[0047] The interference and handover measurement mode may comprise selecting a best reception beam for each of the reference signals and measuring the quality of each of the reference signals using the each of the best reception beams in turn. A simple example of application of the interference and handover measurement mode is illustrated in FIGURE 6. In this example, the UE 10 defines best reception beams for each of the cells, and measures each of the reference signals, corresponding to the each of the cells, by using each of the best reception beams. The measurement report may comprise or be generated on the basis of measurements at different reception beams exceeding a reporting threshold, so some measurements at some beams may be omitted or filtered out (such as B3 for cell #1 and B5 for cell #3).

[0048] Same limitations on number of reported cells can be applied (for the interference and handover measurement mode) as for the handover measurement mode and for the interference measurement mode. This may mean that the number of cells for which a measurement report is made under the hypothesis that a first cell is the serving cell may be different from the number of cells for which a measurement report is made under the hypothesis that a second cell is the serving cell (since the number of cells satisfying the interference measurement reporting threshold may be different in the two hypotheses). This mode can support handover taking into account not only the best serving cell but also the potential interference impact on other cells. For example, if two potential serving cells are similar in terms of signal strength/quality with a UE’s respective best beams, the network may choose to configure the serving cell for that UE to be the cell for which the UE’s best beam causes least interference to other cells.

[0049] In some embodiments, at least one selection criterion for measurement reporting is selected by the UE 10 on the basis of the received indication on beam measurement reporting mode. Thus, reference signals with e.g. signal strength and/or quality meeting the at least one selected criterion are selected for the measurement report. The criterion may involve or comprise at least one (selection) threshold value. Depending on the applied implementation and measured parameter, reference signals above or below the threshold value(s) are selected to the measurement reporting. In some cases, to qualify for reporting, a first threshold value of a reference signal may need to be below a first selection threshold value and a second threshold value of the reference signal may need to be above a second selection threshold value, for example. The reporting threshold value(s) may thus be optimized for each of the modes.

[0050] For example, the handover measurement mode may comprise selecting a best reception beam for each reference signal corresponding to the each of the cells and measuring the quality of each reference signal using the best reception beam for the respective reference signal. Thus, the number of measured reference signals may be determined on the basis of a first threshold associated with the mode.

[0051] If the selected and indicated mode is the interference measurement mode, comprising selecting a best reception beam for a first one of the reference signals and measuring the quality of each reference signal using the best reception beam for the first one of the reference signals, the UE 10 may be configured to determine the number of measured reference signals and the corresponding number of cells on the basis of a second threshold, associated with the interference measurement mode. The threshold(s) may be configured by signalling from the network. Thus, the second threshold value may be optimized for the interference measurement mode to provide information about interference levels at cells which are not sufficiently strong to be handover candidates (for the handover measurement mode).

[0052] The UE 10 may control further features on the basis of the beam measurement reporting mode indication. For example, the beam measurement reporting periodicity, timing of the measurement report, and/or interleaving of the measurement report may be controlled on the basis of the mode indication. However, these are only some examples of mode-specific parameters.

[0053] In some other embodiments, the network node AN may explicitly control and indicate a control parameter associated with the measurement reporting for the selected mode, such as a reporting threshold or the reporting periodicity. The control parameter(s) may be transmitted together with the measurement reporting mode indication. The UE then controls the reporting of the associated reporting mode according to the received control parameter from the network node. This provides further flexibility and granularity for the network node to affect the reporting.

[0054] In some embodiments, the mode is selected 220, 300 between the interference measurement mode and the handover measurement mode. In some alternative embodiments, the mode is selected 220, 300 between all of the modes (i.e. the interference measurement mode, the handover measurement mode, and the interference and handover measurement mode. However, it is to be appreciated that also other modes and mode combinations may be applied.

[0055] It is also to be noted that the above provides examples of the applicable measurement reporting modes, and various modifications and/or additions may be applied to one or more of the modes. Furthermore, there may be further modes in addition to the interference measurement reporting mode, the handover measurement mode, and the interference and handover measurement mode.

[0056] The measurement results obtained in block 220 may be processed by applying one or more processing methods or steps, and the report is generated on the basis of the processed results. The processing may comprise filtering or averaging, for example.

[0057] Multiple measurements of each of the reference signals may be processed together before block 230. The measurements can be of different types, such as for different quality indicators. For example, the UE 10 may be configured to process combinations of two or more of RSRP, RSRQ, and channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) measurements.

[0058] In some embodiments, measurements of the reference signals are carried out over multiple time instants and processed prior to transmitting the report. Thus, multiple instances of a quality indicator of each reference signal may be processed over multiple time instants. The processing of a reference signal’s measured quality over multiple time instants may comprise processing measurements on more than one reception beam.

[0059] It should be noted that the best beam at the UE side for a given reference signal may change over time. Thus, the processing of a reference signal’s measured quality over multiple time instants may involve processing measurements made on more than one reception beam. For example, as illustrated in FIGURE 5, the best beam for receiving from cell #2 may be B3 at time instant 1 (the reference signals illustrated with broken lines) but change to B4 by time instant 2. B5 measurement may be filtered out (from being included in the measurement report) for cell #1 at time instant 1, but may be included for cell #1 at time instant 2.

[0060] Depending on UE capabilities, in any of the above illustrated measurement reporting modes, the selected best beam for a cell may comprise a (e.g. linear) combination of its available UE beams. For example: for cell #1 the measurement report could include the average over the B4, B5 and B6, which have been measured as being the best (highest quality indicator) among all the available beams. One example is illustrated in FIGURE 7. Beams B5 and B4 may be combined for cell #1, B4 and B3 for cell #2, and B3 and B4 for cell #3.

[0061] The UE 10 may be configured to process the measured quality of at least some of the reference signals using multiple or all reception beams over multiple time instants prior to transmitting 230 the report to the network node. A best reception beam may be selected only for the measurement of a selected sub-set of quality indicators indicated by the network node.

[0062] An advantage of the above-illustrated features is that the network is better aware what it gets reported and can thus use the measurement report in most optimal way, consistently for both handover and interference management. The network may carry out handover management taking into account not only the best serving cell but also the potential interference impact on other cells. For example, if two potential serving cells are similar in terms of signal strength or quality with a UE’s respective best beams, the network might choose to configure the serving cell for that UE to be the cell for which the UE’s best beam causes least interference to other cells.

[0063] Thus, unnecessary interference mitigation steps may be avoided and/or more optimal handover may be avoided, since the network has better understanding of how the UE side measurements are performed and has a consistent set of measurements performed using the different reception beams. For example, if the network would use only RSRP measurements based on UE’s selected best beam for each cell to perform interference management, it may reduce the transmit power of the UE unnecessarily. This is based on the false premise that the UE is causing high interference in other neighbouring cells, whereas in fact the measurements of those other cells were made using the best reception beam for the those respective cells, and the actual interference to the other cells when using the best reception beam for the serving cell would be much lower. This would result in an unnecessary reduction in the transmittable data rate from the UE.

[0064] The network node may thus influence the beam measurement reporting scheme, in some embodiments reception beam selection scheme for measurement reporting, applied by the UE. The network node may send the same reference signals over different cells and/or beams, irrespective of the measurement mode. The UE may use the same measurement and reporting framework, with adapted measurements depending on whether handover or interference measurements are needed.

[0065] With reference to FIGURE 8, in some embodiments, the UE 10 is configured to send to the network node AN an indication 810 on beam measurement reporting modes supported by the UE. The network node 20, 22 may be configured to request 800 the UE 10 to indicate its beam reporting mode capability. The UE may send the indication 810 on beam measurement reporting modes supported by the UE in response to receiving the request from the network node.

[0066] The network node 20, 22 may be configured to select (300) the beam measurement reporting mode on the basis of the indication on beam measurement reporting modes supported by the user equipment. The network node 20, 22 may then transmit a message with the indication of selected beam measurement reporting mode 820 to the UE. The UE then performs (220) the measurements according to the received measurement reporting mode indication and transmits the measurement report 830 to the network node.

[0067] Above illustrated new information, such as the indication of the beam measurement reporting mode, may be included in an existing or new signalling message and field thereof For example, in case of 3GPP LTE system, the indication of the selected beam measurement reporting mode may be sent in an existing or new field of a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message to initiate measurements according to the selected mode, for example. When the reporting criteria according to the indicated mode are fulfilled, the UE responds with a measurement report message.

[0068] As UEAs have line of sight (LOS) to more cells than ground-based UEs, they have more candidates to choose from. Handover management and optimization may be configured specifically for UEAs, for which the present features enable particular advantage. To avoid too frequent handovers and mobility events the handover settings for UEAs may be set differently from terrestrial UEs.

[0069] For detection of UEAs a new measurement trigger may be applied. A UAV can be configured to report not when one cell fulfils the A4, A5, or A6 measurement trigger event, but first when N cells fulfil the event. This lowers the number of measurements in case of UEAs, which otherwise potentially would get very large.

[0070] It is to be noted that, for simplicity, the above examples were provided with one beam per cell. However, the present features may be applied with various beamforming techniques, such as beamforming applied in 5G gNBs. Thus, there are multiple reference signals originating from a cell, one for each beam. The reference signals may be referred to as beam reference signals (BRS) and the above features may be applied for each BRS (in above examples“network beam” may thus be read instead of“cell”). The unique BRS may provide means for the receiving side to identify each beam. For example, the unique BRS may be used to identify beams when performing measurements on the beams.

[0071] An electronic device comprising electronic circuitries may be an apparatus for realizing at least some embodiments of the present invention. The apparatus may be or may be comprised in a computer, a laptop, a tablet computer, a cellular phone, a machine to machine (M2M) device (e.g. an IoT sensor device), a wearable device, a base station, access point device or any other apparatus provided with radio communication capability. In another embodiment, the apparatus carrying out the above-described functionalities is comprised in such a device, e.g. the apparatus may comprise a circuitry, such as a chip, a chipset, a microcontroller, or a combination of such circuitries in any one of the above- described devices.

[0072] FIGURE 9 illustrates an example apparatus capable of supporting at least some embodiments of the present invention. Illustrated is a device 900, which may comprise a communications device arranged to operate as the AN 20, 22, or the UE 10, for example. The device may include one or more controllers configured to carry out operations in accordance with at least some of the embodiments illustrated above, such as some or more of the features illustrated above in connection with FIGURES 2 to 8. The device may be configured to operate as the apparatus configured to carry out the method of FIGURE 2 or 3, for example.

[0073] Comprised in the device 900 is a processor 902, which may comprise, for example, a single- or multi-core processor wherein a single-core processor comprises one processing core and a multi-core processor comprises more than one processing core. The processor 902 may comprise more than one processor. The processor may comprise at least one application- specific integrated circuit, ASIC. The processor may comprise at least one field-programmable gate array, FPGA. The processor may be means for performing method steps in the device. The processor may be configured, at least in part by computer instructions, to perform actions.

[0074] A processor may comprise circuitry, or be constituted as circuitry or circuitries, the circuitry or circuitries being configured to perform phases of methods in accordance with embodiments described herein. As used in this application, the term“circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations, such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry, and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as, as applicable: (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with software/firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0075] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0076] The device 900 may comprise memory 904. The memory may comprise random-access memory and/or permanent memory. The memory may comprise at least one RAM chip. The memory may comprise solid-state, magnetic, optical and/or holographic memory, for example. The memory may be at least in part accessible to the processor 902. The memory may be at least in part comprised in the processor 902. The memory 904 may be means for storing information. The memory may comprise computer instructions that the processor is configured to execute. When computer instructions configured to cause the processor to perform certain actions are stored in the memory, and the device in overall is configured to run under the direction of the processor using computer instructions from the memory, the processor and/or its at least one processing core may be considered to be configured to perform said certain actions. The memory may be at least in part comprised in the processor. The memory may be at least in part external to the device 900 but accessible to the device. For example, control parameters affecting operations related to the selection, indication, and/or application of the beam measurement reporting mode may be stored in one or more portions of the memory and used to control operation of the apparatus. Further, the memory may comprise other control parameters and device-specific cryptographic information.

[0077] The device 900 may comprise a transmitter 906. The device may comprise a receiver 908. The transmitter and the receiver may be configured to transmit and receive, respectively, information in accordance with at least one wired or wireless, cellular or non- cellular standard. The transmitter may comprise more than one transmitter. The receiver may comprise more than one receiver. The transmitter and/or receiver may be configured to operate in accordance with global system for mobile communication, GSM, wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA, long term evolution, LTE, 5G or other cellular communications systems, WLAN, and/or Ethernet standards, for example. The device 900 may comprise a near- field communication, NFC, transceiver 910. The NFC transceiver may support at least one NFC technology, such as NFC, Bluetooth, Wibree or similar technologies.

[0078] The device 900 may comprise user interface, UI, 912. The UI may comprise at least one of a display, a keyboard, a touchscreen, a vibrator arranged to signal to a user by causing the device to vibrate, a speaker and a microphone. A user may be able to operate the device via the UI, for example to accept incoming telephone calls, to originate telephone calls or video calls, to browse the Internet, to manage digital files stored in the memory 904 or on a cloud accessible via the transmitter 906 and the receiver 908, or via the NFC transceiver 910, and/or to play games.

[0079] The device 900 may comprise or be arranged to accept a user identity module or other type of memory module 914. The user identity module may comprise, for example, a subscriber identity module, SIM, and/or a personal identification IC card installable in the device 900. The user identity module 914 may comprise information identifying a subscription of a user of device 900. The user identity module 914 may comprise cryptographic information usable to verify the identity of a user of device 900 and/or to facilitate encryption and decryption of communication effected via the device 900.

[0080] The processor 902 may be furnished with a transmitter arranged to output information from the processor, via electrical leads internal to the device 900, to other devices comprised in the device. Such a transmitter may comprise a serial bus transmitter arranged to, for example, output information via at least one electrical lead to memory 904 for storage therein. Alternatively to a serial bus, the transmitter may comprise a parallel bus transmitter. Likewise the processor may comprise a receiver arranged to receive information in the processor, via electrical leads internal to the device 900, from other devices comprised in the device 900. Such a receiver may comprise a serial bus receiver arranged to, for example, receive information via at least one electrical lead from the receiver 908 for processing in the processor. Alternatively to a serial bus, the receiver may comprise a parallel bus receiver. [0081] The device 900 may comprise further devices not illustrated in FIGURE 9. For example, the device may comprise at least one digital camera. Some devices may comprise a back-facing camera and a front-facing camera. The device may comprise a fingerprint sensor arranged to authenticate, at least in part, a user of the device. In some embodiments, the device lacks at least one device described above. For example, some devices may lack the NFC transceiver 910 and/or the user identity module 914.

[0082] The processor 902, the memory 904, the transmitter 906, the receiver 908, the NFC transceiver 910, the UI 912 and/or the user identity module 914 may be interconnected by electrical leads internal to the device 900 in a multitude of different ways. For example, each of the aforementioned devices may be separately connected to a master bus internal to the device, to allow for the devices to exchange information. However, as the skilled person will appreciate, this is only one example and depending on the embodiment various ways of interconnecting at least two of the aforementioned devices may be selected without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0083] It is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention disclosed are not limited to the particular structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but are extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0084] Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or an embodiment means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment” or“in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Where reference is made to a numerical value using a term such as, for example, about or substantially, the exact numerical value is also disclosed.

[0085] As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present invention may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as de facto equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the present invention.

[0086] In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus, such as, for example, a user equipment or terminal or a network node, may comprise means for carrying out the embodiments described above and any combination thereof.

[0087] In an exemplary embodiment, a computer program may be configured to cause a method in accordance with the embodiments described above and any combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, a computer program product, embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, may be configured to control a processor to perform a process comprising the embodiments described above and any combination thereof.

[0088] In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus, such as, for example, a terminal or a network node, may comprise at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the embodiments described above and any combination thereof.

[0089] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the preceding description, numerous specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

[0090] While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of the present invention in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as by the claims set forth below. [0091] The verbs“to comprise” and“to include” are used in this document as open limitations that neither exclude nor require the existence of also un-recited features. The features recited in depending claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the use of "a" or "an", that is, a singular form, throughout this document does not exclude a plurality.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0092] At least some embodiments of the present invention find industrial application in communication networks.

ACRONYMS LIST

3 GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

BS Base Station CSI Channel State Information CSI-RS Channel State Information-Reference Signal EPC Evolved Packet Core GSM Global System for Mobile communication ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination IoT Internet of Things LTE Long-Term Evolution MIMO Multiple-Input Multiple-Output NFC Near-Field Communication NR New Radio RAT Radio Access Technology RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

SIM Subscriber Identity Module

UE User Equipment

UI User Interface

WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

WLAN Wireless Local Area Network