Abstract: A method for mobility enhancement in wireless communication systems is provided. The method is performed by a User Equipment (UE) configured with a first Small Data Transmission (SDT) configuration by a first cell. The method includes receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) release message including a suspend configuration from the first cell; transitioning to an RRC INACTIVE state in response to receiving the RRC release message; receiving, in the RRC INACTIVE state, a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1) including a second SDT configuration from a second cell; camping on the second cell in response to receiving the SIB1 from the second cell; and while the UE is camping on the second cell, refraining from using the first SDT configuration to initiate an SDT procedure associated with the second cell in a case that the UE does not support performing the SDT procedure associated with the second cell.

Abstract: A user equipment (UE) and a method for a power saving operation in one of a radio resource control (RRC)_INACTIVE state and an RRC_IDLE state are provided. The method includes receiving a first configuration from a base station (BS), the first configuration indicating a paging search space; receiving a second configuration from the BS, the second configuration indicating a first search space for monitoring a specific indication; monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in the first search space to detect the specific indication; and determining whether to monitor a paging occasion (PO) based on whether the specific indication is detected in the first search space, the PO being determined according to the paging search space.

Abstract: Methods and devices for Multicast/Broadcast Service (MBS)-related operations are provided. The method includes receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) release message from a Base Station (BS), the RRC release message including a suspending configuration indicating that the UE is allowed to receive, in an RRC_INACTIVE state, data of an MBS Radio Bearer (MRB) associated with a multicast session; transitioning to the RRC_INACITVE state in response to receiving the RRC release message; and receiving the data of the MRB after transitioning to the RRC_INACTIVE state.

Abstract: A method for facilitating a CAG selection in an NPN is provided. The method includes transmitting a first indication to a UE. Upon the UE receiving the first indication, the UE is enabled to: in a case that an AS layer of the UE receives a request from a NAS layer of the UE and the CAG identity is determined by the UE to be included in the allowed CAG list, report, by the AS layer, the first indication and the CAG identity to the NAS layer, in a case that the CAG identity is determined not to be included in the allowed CAG list, report, by the AS layer, the first indication to the NAS layer to allow a manual selection of the CAG identity, and perform a cell selection or reselection procedure according to the CAG identity and the first indication.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for a cell switching in wireless communication systems are provided. The method includes receiving one or more candidate cell configurations via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling from a source cell; receiving a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) from the source cell, the MAC CE indicating the UE to switch to a target cell that corresponds to a particular candidate cell configurations via RRC cell configuration of the one or more candidate cell configurations, the particular candidate cell configuration including an indication that is set to either a first value or a second value; and determining, based on the indication, whether to apply a same Timing Advance (TA) value to the target cell as is used for the source cell.

Abstract: A method of performing a power saving operation for a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method includes receiving, from a base station (BS), a plurality of power saving configurations, while the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) idle state or an RRC inactive state, selecting one of the plurality of power saving configurations according to a rule predefined in the UE or a first indication received from the BS, and applying the selected one of the plurality of power saving configurations for the power saving operation.

Abstract: A method, performed by a UE, includes receiving a current Sidelink (SL) Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) from a Base Station (BS) for scheduling SL resources for at least one Physical SL Shared Channel (PSSCH) transmission from the UE to at least one other UE. A SL Assignment Indicator (SAI) field, which indicates an accumulative number of a set of SL PDCCHs received from the BS up to the current SL PDCCH, is obtained from the current SL PDCCH. A Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) codebook based is constructed based at least in part on the SAI field and indexes of SL resources for PSSCH transmissions scheduled by the set of SL PDCCHs received from the BS. The HARQ codebook includes a plurality of HARQ-ACK bits indicating whether the corresponding PSSCH transmissions are successfully received by at least one other UE. The HARQ codebook is transmitted to the BS.

Abstract: A method of supporting artificial intelligence and machine learning functionality is provided. The method includes receiving an RRC reconfiguration message including an inference configuration associated with a UE-side functionality. The method includes determining an applicability status of the inference configuration of the UE-side functionality. The method includes transmitting a first RRC reconfiguration complete message including the applicability status of the inference configuration of the UE-side functionality. In a case that a report configuration of applicability included in the RRC reconfiguration message is enabled, and a current applicability status of the inference configuration of the UE-side functionality is different from a previous applicability status reported in an RRC message, transmitting the current applicability status of the configuration of the UE-side functionality in a second UE assistance information message.

Abstract: Methods and devices for multicast data reception are provided. A method perform by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving, from a base station (BS), a radio resource control (RRC) release message including a suspend configuration, the suspend configuration allowed to be received by the UE in an RRC inactive state; receiving first data of a first multicast session of the at least one multicast session in the RRC inactive state based on a first configuration that is associated with the first multicast session and that is included in the RRC release message; determining whether a reception quality of the first data of the first multicast session is lower than a first threshold; and triggering an RRC connection resume procedure in case that the reception quality of the first data of the first multicast session is lower than the first threshold.

Abstract: A method and apparatuses for cell switching operations are provided. The method includes receiving one or more Timing Advance Group (TAG) Identities (IDs) from a source serving cell: receiving one or more Time Alignment Timers (TATs) from the source serving cell: receiving a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) from the source serving cell, the MAC CE indicating to the UE to switch to a target serving cell, the target serving cell being a candidate target serving cell of the one or more candidate target serving cells and associated with a TAT of the one or more TATs; switching from the source serving cell to the target serving cell in response to receiving the MAC CE; and keeping the TAT associated with the target serving cell running after receiving the MAC CE.

Abstract: A method for performing an on-demand SIB1 request procedure is provided. The method is implemented by a user equipment (UE) and includes triggering, by an upper layer of the UE, a lower layer of the UE to initiate a random access (RA) procedure for an on-demand system information block type 1 (SIB1) request to a cell. The method includes considering, by the upper layer of the UE, the cell as barred in a case that an RA problem for the on-demand SIB1 request is received from the lower layer of the UE, wherein the RA problem indicates that a maximum number of preamble transmission attempts is reached. The method includes acquiring, by the upper layer of the UE, an on-demand SIB1 in a case that an acknowledgment for the on-demand SIB1 request is received from the lower layer of the UE.

Abstract: A method performed by a user equipment (UE) for transmitting uplink (UL) data in a radio resource control (RRC)_INACTIVE state is provided. The method includes receiving, from a serving cell, a configuration of at least one UL resource associated with a normal UL (NUL) frequency carrier and a supplementary UL (SUL) frequency carrier of a plurality of UL frequency carriers; selecting one of the NUL frequency carrier or the SUL frequency carrier; initiating a small data transmission (SDT) procedure in the RRC_INACTIVE state to transmit, to the serving cell, at least one UL packet on the selected one of the NUL frequency carrier or the SUL frequency carrier via the at least one UL resource; and stopping the SDT procedure in a case that at least one predefined condition is fulfilled.

Abstract: A method performed by a user equipment (UE) is provided. In the method, one or more first resource pool configurations for one or more sidelink transmission resource pools are received. Each first resource pool configuration includes a partial sensing indication of whether to perform partial sensing on a corresponding sidelink transmission resource pool in a Sidelink Discontinuous Reception (SL-DRX) inactive time. The SL-DRX inactive time is determined based on a set of SL-DRX configurations stored in the UE. In the method, the partial sensing is performed, based on the partial sensing indication of each first resource pool configuration, on the corresponding sidelink transmission resource pool while the UE is implementing sidelink packet transmission.

Abstract: A method, performed by a UE, includes receiving a first Sidelink (SL) Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) from a Base Station (BS), wherein the first SL PDCCH provides scheduling information for at least one SL transmission; obtaining a value of a SL Assignment Indicator (SAI) field from the first SL PDCCH, wherein the value of the SAI field indicates an accumulative number of a first received SL PDCCHs up to the first SL PDCCH; and constructing a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) codebook for a first quantity of SL transmission (s) scheduled by a second quantity of a second received SL PDCCHs; wherein the HARQ codebook is transmitted to the BS from the UE, the first quantity of the SL transmission (s) includes the at least one SL transmission, the second received SL PDCCHs include the first received SL PDCCHs, and the first received SL PDCCHs include the first SL PDCCH.

Abstract: A method for LBT failure detection performed by a UE is provided. The method includes: receiving, by a MAC entity of the UE, an LBT failure indication from a lower layer for all UL transmissions; increasing an LBT failure counter when the MAC entity receives the LBT failure indication; determining an LBT failure event occurs when the LBT failure counter is greater than or equal to a threshold; and resetting the LBT failure counter after the MAC entity has not received the LBT failure indication for a time period.

Abstract: A method for a user equipment for performing a small data transmission (SDT) procedure is provided. The method includes receiving, from a base station, an SDT configuration including a plurality of uplink configured grant (UL-CG) configurations for the SDT procedure, each of the plurality of UL-CG configurations being associated with a downlink reference signal received power (DL-RSRP) threshold; applying one of the plurality of UL-CG configurations for the SDT procedure in a case that a DL-RSRP measurement result of a synchronization signal block (SSB) associated with the one of the plurality of UL-CG configurations is higher than one of a plurality of DL-RSRP thresholds; and initiating, during the SDT procedure, a random access (RA) procedure in a case that none of a plurality of DL-RSRP measurement results of a plurality of SSBs associated with the plurality of UL-CG configurations is higher than any of the plurality of DL-RSRP thresholds.

Abstract: A wireless communication method includes receiving, in an RRC_CONNECTED state, an RRC release message including first information and second information, the first information including at least one LCP restriction, the second information including one or more CG configurations; transitioning from the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_INACTIVE state in response to the RRC release message; determining that data from an LCH corresponding to the at least one LCP restriction becomes available for UL transmission; determining whether to transmit the data in the RRC_INACTIVE state according to whether any of the one or more CG configurations meets the at least one LCP mapping restriction; and in a case that a CG configuration of the one or more CG configurations meets the at least one LCP mapping restriction, transmitting the data through a set of PUSCHs determined by the CG configuration of the one or more CG configurations.

Abstract: A method for a user equipment (UE) connected to a serving Radio Access Network (RAN) through a serving cell is provided. The serving RAN may include a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN). The method receives, from the serving cell, satellite information regarding a coverage area of the serving RAN. After receiving the satellite information, the method determines, based on the satellite information, that the UE will be disconnected from the serving RAN by moving out of the coverage area of the serving RAN after a specific period of time. The method maintains an Access Stratum (AS) layer configuration of the UE without performing any task associated with an Idle mode of the UE while the UE is staying out of the coverage area of the serving RAN.

Abstract: A method and a User Equipment (UE) for performing uplink transmissions and a related base station (BS) are provided. The method includes a UE receiving a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration indicating a plurality of parameters and a first set of PRACH resources from a base station, each of the plurality of parameters corresponding to a respective one of the first set of PRACH resources; initiating a Random Access (RA) procedure; selecting a first PRACH resource from the first set of PRACH resources to transmit an RA preamble for the RA procedure, the first PRACH resource corresponding to a first parameter of the plurality of parameters; and performing Multiple-PRACH (MP) transmissions on the first PRACH resource. The first set of PRACH resources is configured for the MP transmissions and the first number of times is determined by the first parameter.

Abstract: A method by a UE for handling PDSCH reception includes receiving, from a BS, a first PDSCH configuration in a CFR configuration for a multicast PDSCH, a second PDSCH configuration in a BWP configuration for a unicast PDSCH, and first DCI scheduling the multicast PDSCH, the first PDSCH configuration including a first aperiodic resource set configuration, the second PDSCH configuration including a resource configuration and a second aperiodic resource set configuration, the resource configuration for configuring one or more ZP CSI-RS resources, and the first DCI including a first field for triggering a first aperiodic ZP CSI-RS; and determining, based on the first field, a first ZP CSI-RS resource set, which is not available for reception of the multicast PDSCH, from a first list of ZP CSI-RS resource sets configured by the first aperiodic resource set configuration. The resource configuration is absent in the first PDSCH configuration.