Methods and arrangements for supporting mobility of a communication device in a wireless communication network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10517023-B2
Application number	US-201615533884-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2016
Priority date	Sep 29, 2016
Publication date	Dec 24, 2019
Grant date	Dec 24, 2019

Abstract

Support of mobility for a communication device ( 120 ) being served in a serving beam ( 115 a ) transmitted by a first network node ( 110 ) comprised in a wireless communication network ( 100 ). The first network node ( 110 ) and the communication device ( 120 ) obtains ( 301 a, 302; 701, 901 ) a first information set comprising predetermined identifiers identifying reference signals, respectively. The first network node ( 110 ) maintains ( 310; 904 ) a third information set that associates one or more candidate beams ( 115 b, 116 a - c ), other than the serving beam ( 115 a ), with one or more predetermined identifiers of the first information set, which one or more predetermined identifiers identify reference signals that are being transmitted in said one or more candidate beams ( 115, 116 a - c ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operation by a communication device configured for operation in a wireless communication network, wherein the method comprises:
detecting a Mobility Reference Signal (MRS) conveyed in a non-serving radio beam having a neighboring relationship with a serving radio beam used by a serving radio network node of the wireless communication network for serving the communication device;
mapping the detected MRS to an index value, according to mapping information that maps individual ones in a set of index values to respective MRSs in a corresponding set of MRSs representing a set of non-serving radio beams having a neighboring relationship with the serving radio beam;
generating a measurement report for reporting the detected MRS to the serving radio network node, the measurement report using the mapped index value to identify the detected MRS; and
sending the measurement report to the serving radio network node, thereby enabling the serving radio network node to identify the non-serving radio beam that conveyed the detected MRS, based on further mapping information that maps individual ones in the set of index values to respective non-serving radio beams in a set of non-serving radio beams that are possible candidates for serving the communication device.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein detecting the MRS conveyed in the non-serving radio beam includes searching for the MRS on time or frequency resources indicated in the mapping information.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving further information that indicates a subset of MRSs in the corresponding set of MRSs, and wherein detecting the MRS conveyed in the non-serving radio beam comprises detecting the MRS as one of the one or more MRSs included in the subset of MRSs.

4. A method performed by a first network node in a wireless communication network, wherein the method comprises:
receiving a measurement report from a communication device being served by a serving radio network node of the wireless communication network, the measurement report indicating an index value corresponding to a Mobility Reference Signal (MRS) detected by the communication device, the MRS conveyed in a non-serving radio beam having a neighboring relationship with a serving radio beam used by the serving radio network node for serving the communication device;
identifying the non-serving radio beam that conveyed the MRS detected by the communication device, based on mapping information that maps individual ones in a set of index values to respective non-serving radio beams in a set of non-serving radio beams that are possible candidates for serving the communication device; and
initiating a mobility action for the communication device, where the identified non-serving radio beam is evaluated as a candidate for use as a new serving beam for serving the communication device.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising initiating a non-persistent transmission of the MRS via the non-serving radio beam, based on communicating with a radio network node responsible for transmitting the non-serving radio beam, the initiating being done to support the mobility action.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising providing further mapping information to the communication device, the further mapping information mapping individual ones in the set of index values to corresponding ones in a set of MRSs, thereby enabling the communication device to use the corresponding index value to identify to the network node any given MRS in the set of MRSs that is detected by the communication device.

7. The method as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising receiving information regarding at least one of activation and deactivation of MRSs used in the set of non-serving radio beams that are possible candidates for serving the communication device.

8. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the mapping information maps each index value to a node identifier and a beam identifier.

9. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises determining a measurement list for the communication device, the measurement list comprising a subset of index values in a set of index values corresponding to the set of non-serving radio beams that are possible candidates for serving the communication device, and sending the measurement list to the communication device, thereby identifying which MRS s the communication device should attempt to detect.

10. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the network node is the serving radio network node.

11. A communication device configured for operating in a wireless communication network, wherein the communication device comprises:
communication circuitry configured for communicating with radio network nodes of the wireless communication network; and
processing circuitry operatively associated with the communication circuitry and configured to:
detect a Mobility Reference Signal (MRS) conveyed in a non-serving radio beam having a neighboring relationship with a serving radio beam used by a serving radio network node of the wireless communication network for serving the communication device;
map the detected MRS to an index value, according to mapping information that maps individual ones in a set of index values to respective MRSs in corresponding set of MRSs representing a set of non-serving radio beams having a neighboring relationship with the serving radio beam;
generate a measurement report for reporting the detected MRS to the serving radio network node, the measurement report using the mapped index value to identify the detected MRS; and
send the measurement report to the serving radio network node, thereby enabling the serving radio network node to identify the non-serving radio beam that conveyed the detected MRS, based on further mapping information that maps individual ones in the set of index values to respective non-serving radio beams in a set of non-serving radio beams that are possible candidates for serving the communication device.

12. The communication device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect the MRS conveyed in the non-serving radio beam, based on searching for the MRS on time or frequency resources indicated in the mapping information.

13. The communication device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive further information that indicates a subset of MRSs in the corresponding set of MRSs to be detected, and detect the MRS conveyed in the non-serving radio beam as one of the one or more MRSs included in the subset of MRSs.

14. A first network node configured for operation in a wireless communication network, wherein the network node comprises:
communication circuitry configured for communicating directly or indirectly with a communication device operating in the wireless communication network; and
processing circuitry operatively associated with the communication circuitry and configured to:
receive a measurement report from the communication device, the measurement report indicating an index value corresponding to a Mobility Reference Signal (MRS) detected by the communication device, the MRS conveyed in a non-serving radio beam having a neighboring relationship with a serving radio beam used by a serving radio network node for serving the communication device, the serving radio network node being the network node or being communicatively coupled to the network node;
identify the non-serving radio beam that conveyed the MRS detected by the communication device,

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Axelsson Håkan
• Amirijoo Mehdi
• Axén Rasmus
• Karlsson Patrik
• Müller Walter
• Östberg Christer
• Ronkainen Henrik
• Walldeen Thomas

Classifications

• H04W72/51

  based on terminal or device properties · CPC title

• H04L5/0051

  of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal · CPC title

• H04L5/0094

  Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated · CPC title

• H04L5/0023 Primary

  Time-frequency-space · CPC title

• H04W72/048

  Electricity · mapped topic