Inter-frequency cell reselection in new radio unlicensed

A method comprising:

• camping on a selected cell by a user equipment (UE) in a new radio unlicensed (NR-U) mobile communication network and staying in an idle mode;
• determining an inter-frequency measurement triggering condition based at least on an estimated channel load metric for each unlicensed candidate cell;
• performing inter-frequency measurements for cell reselection upon satisfying the inter-frequency measurement triggering condition;
• and
• performing cell reselection using a cell ranking method that is based on reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement results as well as the estimated channel load metric for each unlicensed candidate cell.

A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

• a cell selection handling circuit that camps on a selected cell in a new radio unlicensed (NR-U) mobile communication network, wherein the UE is in an idle mode;
• a control circuit that determines an inter-frequency measurement triggering condition based at least on an estimated channel load metric for each candidate cell;
• a measurement circuit that performs inter-frequency measurements for cell reselection upon satisfying the inter-frequency measurement triggering condition;
• and
• a cell reselection handling circuit that performs cell reselection using a cell ranking method that is based on reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement results as well as the estimated channel load metric for each unlicensed candidate cell.