Method and system of providing small cell information to user equipments in a heterogeneous network environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10045283-B2
Application number	US-201214001412-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2012
Priority date	Feb 25, 2011
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

A method and a system for providing small cell information to a user equipment in a heterogeneous network environment are provided. A user equipment sends a request to a network entity for providing availability of one or more small cells in its proximity. The network entity obtains location information associated with the user equipment and retrieves a small cell map displaying the one or more small cells from a map database. Then, the network entity determines whether the one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment using the small cell map. Accordingly, the network entity provides a notification indicating availability of the one or more small cells to the user equipment. Moreover, the user equipment initiates a scan for the one or more small cells based on the received notification.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing information by a core network entity in a communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment, a request requesting a notification of small cells in proximity of the user equipment;
obtaining location information associated with the user equipment;
obtaining a small cell map from a map database;
determining whether one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment based on the location information associated with the user equipment and the small cell map; and
if one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment, providing, by the core network entity through a base station, to the user equipment a notification indicating availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment,
wherein scanning of the one or more small cells is initiated based on the notification by the user equipment receiving the notification, and
wherein the providing of the notification indicating the availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment comprises, if one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment, transmitting, by the core network entity through the base station, a tracking area update (TAU) response including the small cell map, overlapped with cell identifier information, and cell access parameters to the user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
if no small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment, providing a notification to the user equipment indicating that no small cells are available in the proximity of the user equipment to prompt the user equipment to terminate any ongoing scan for the one or more small cells.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the location information associated with the user equipment comprises:
tracking a location of the user equipment based on one or more of a cell identifier, an evolved node b (eNB) identifier, and a tracking area identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the location information associated with the user equipment comprises:
periodically receiving geographical coordinate information from the user equipment,
wherein the geographical coordinate information indicates a current location of the user equipment.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of whether the one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment comprises:
mapping a location of the user equipment to a location of the one or more small cells in the small cell map.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the small cell map overlapped with the cell identifier information is transmitted to the user equipment using one of a non-access stratum message, a layer 2/layer 3 message, and a system information message.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the small cell map overlapped with cell identifier information is transmitted to the user equipment on one of a radio channel and multi-media broadcast multicast system (MBMS) channel.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing of the notification indicating availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment comprises:
transmitting location information associated with the one or more small cells to the user equipment.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing of the notification indicating availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment comprises:
broadcasting the notification indicating the availability of the one or more small cells in proximity to the user equipment.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing of the notification indicating the availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment comprises:
transmitting a push notification indicating the availability of small cells in proximity to the user equipment.

11. A core network entity comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive, from a user equipment, a request requesting a notification of small cells in proximity of the user equipment; and
a processor configured to:
obtain location information associated with the user equipment,
obtain a small cell map from a map database,
determine whether one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment based on the location information associated with the user equipment and the small cell map, and
control the transceiver to, if one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment, provide, through a base station, to the user equipment a notification indicating availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment,

wherein scanning of the one or more small cells is initiated based on the notification by the user equipment receiving the notification, and
wherein, when providing the notification indicating the availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment, the processor is further configured to control the transceiver to, if one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment, transmit, from the core network entity through the base station, a tracking area update (TAU) response including the small cell map, overlapped with cell identifier information, and cell access parameters to the user equipment.

12. The core network entity of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to control the transceiver to:
if no small cells are available in proximity to the user equipment, provide a notification to the user equipment indicating that no small cells are available in the proximity of the user equipment to prompt the user equipment to terminate any ongoing scan for the one or more small cells.

13. The core network entity of claim 11 , wherein, when determining whether the one or more small cells are in the proximity of the user equipment, the processor is further configured to:
map a location of the user equipment to a location of the one or more small cells in the small cell map.

14. The core network entity of claim 11 , wherein, when providing the notification indicating availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment, the processor is further configured to control the transceiver to transmit the location information associated with the one or more small cells to the user equipment.

15. The core network entity of claim 11 , wherein, when providing the notification indicating availability of the one or more small cells in the proximity of the user equipment, the processor is further configured to control the transceiver to transmit a geographical coordinate map and cell access parameters to the user equipment.

Assignees

• Jamadagni Satish Nanjunda Swamy
• Rajadurai Rajavelsamy
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jamadagni Satish Nanjunda Swamy
• Rajadurai Rajavelsamy

Classifications

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• H04W16/32

  Hierarchical cell structures · CPC title

• H04W48/16 Primary

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W68/04 Primary

  multi-step notification using statistical or historical mobility data · CPC title

• H04W52/02

  Power saving arrangements · CPC title