Enhanced paging schemes and connected-state DRX

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11039417-B2
Application number	US-201916665069-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2019
Priority date	Jul 11, 2014
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

For paging user devices that are link budget limited (LBL), a base station transmits a special ID that is used by said devices to identify a paging frame and/or a paging occasion. When transmitting a paging message for an LBL device, the base station may use: (a) larger aggregation and larger CFI (than conventionally allowed) and (b) a larger number of resource blocks (than conventionally allowed) for paging payload. If paging messages for LBL devices saturate the paging frame capacity, the base station may allocate a plurality of special IDs. If paging messages for LBL devices and/or other data transfers saturate network capacity, at least a subset of the LBL devices may be directed to enter a connected-state discontinuous reception (DRX) mode, wherein those devices will remain in connected mode and periodically check for resource allocations. Paging payload information may be repeatedly transmitted in successive subframes, to support soft combining.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A user equipment device (UE), comprising:
at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured to perform orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) cellular communication using at least one radio access technology (RAT); and
a processor coupled to the at least one radio, and configured to:
determine that the UE is link budget limited based on signal strength;
in response to determining that the UE is link budget limited:
inform a network via a base station that the UE is link budget limited;
determine a UE identifier based on a subscriber identity of the UE;
determine a paging frame based on the UE identifier; and
determine a paging occasion using a first value for a numerical parameter Ns used by UEs that are link budget limited, wherein Ns defines a number of available paging occasion identifier values;
wherein the first value for the numerical parameter Ns is determined independently of a second value for the numerical parameter Ns, wherein the second value for the numerical parameter Ns is usable for computing a paging occasion for a non-link budget limited UE in a cell based on system information broadcast by the base station; and

in a discontinuous reception mode of operation:
wake from sleep at a particular subframe of a particular downlink frame transmitted by the base station, wherein the particular downlink frame and particular subframe within a frame are identified respectively by the paging frame and the paging occasion;
determine if the particular subframe of the particular downlink frame transmitted by the base station includes a control channel comprising paging control information; and
in response to determining that the particular subframe includes the control channel comprising paging control information:
determine the location of the paging payload data in a paging data channel based on the paging control information;
receive repetitions of paging payload data in a plurality of transmission time intervals; and
in response to a determination that the paging payload data contains information identifying the UE device, perform a random access procedure to connect to the network through the base station.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processor further configured to:
receive a system information block type 2 (SIB2) from the base station, wherein the SIB2 includes at least a DRX cycle for link budget limited UEs.

3. The UE of claim 2 , wherein an idle mode DRX cycle for link budget limited UEs is longer than a DRX cycle for non-link budget UEs.

4. The UE of claim 1 , wherein link budget limited UEs of the cell are grouped into a single paging occasion.

5. The UE of claim 1 , wherein to determine that the UE is a link budget limited UE, the processor is further configured to determine that the UE is in an area of poor coverage.

6. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the control channel is configured with an aggregation level of greater than eight (8), wherein the aggregation level is a number of control channel elements used to send the control channel.

7. The UE of claim 1 , wherein a connected mode DRX configured for the link budget limited UE is longer than a connected mode DRX cycle for non-link budget UEs.

8. A base station, comprising:
at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured to perform orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) cellular communication using at least one radio access technology (RAT); and
a processor coupled to the at least one radio, and configured to:
receive information that a user equipment device (UE) is link budget limited;
receive information intended for the UE;
determine a UE identifier, wherein the UE identifier is based on a subscriber identity of the UE;
determine a paging frame based on the UE identifier;
determine a paging occasion using a first numerical parameter for UEs that are link budget limited in a cell, wherein the first numerical parameter defines a number of available paging occasion identifier values;
broadcast paging parameters within system information in the cell, wherein a second numerical parameter usable for computing a second paging occasion for a non-link budget limited UE in the cell is based on the paging parameters within system information, wherein the first numerical parameter is determined differently than the second numerical parameter;
transmit paging control information to the UE in a paging control channel at a particular subframe of a particular downlink frame, wherein the particular downlink frame and the particular subframe are identified respectively by the paging frame and the paging occasion;
transmit repetitions of paging payload information in a plurality of transmission time intervals, wherein the paging control information specifies the location of paging payload information in a paging data channel; and
perform a random access procedure to connect the UE to a network.

9. The base station of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit a system information block type 2 (SIB2), wherein the SIB2 includes at least a DRX cycle for link budget limited UEs.

10. The base station of claim 9 , wherein an idle mode DRX cycle for link budget limited UEs is longer than a DRX cycle for non-link budget limited UEs.

11. The base station of claim 9 , wherein the link budget limited UEs are grouped into a single paging occasion.

12. The base station of claim 8 , wherein to determine that the UE is a link budget limited UE, the processor is further configured to determine the UE is in an area of poor coverage.

13. The base station of claim 8 , wherein the control channel is configured with an aggregation level of greater than eight (8), wherein the aggregation level is a number of control channel elements used to send the control channel.

14. The base station of claim 8 , wherein a connected mode DRX configured for the link budget limited UE is longer than a connected mode DRX cycle for non-link budget limited UEs.

15. An apparatus comprising:
a processor configured to cause a user equipment device (UE) to:
determine that the UE is link budget limited based on signal strength;
in response to determining that the UE is link budget limited:
inform a network via a base station that the UE is link budget limited;
determine a UE identifier based on a subscriber identity of the UE;
determine a paging frame based on the UE identifier; and
determine a paging occasion using a first value for a numerical parameter Ns used by UEs that are link budget limited, wherein Ns defines a number of available paging occasion identifier values;
wherein the first value for the numerical parameter Ns is determined differently than a second value for the numerical parameter Ns, wherein the second value for the numerical parameter Ns is usable for computing a paging occasion for a non-link budget limited UE in a cell based on system information broadcast by the base station; and

in a discontinuous reception mode of operation:
wake from sleep for a particular subframe of a particular downlink frame transmitted by the base station, wherein the particular downlink frame and particular subframe within a frame are identified respectively by the paging frame and the paging occasion; and
determine if the particular subframe of the particular downlink frame transmitted by the base station includes a control channel comprising paging control information; and
in response to determining that the particular subframe includes the control channel comprising paging control information:
determine the location of the paging payload data in a

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Tabet Tarik
• Mujtaba Syed Aon
• Elsayed Moustafa M

Classifications

• H04W72/51

  based on terminal or device properties · CPC title

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W68/025

  Indirect paging · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04W76/28

  Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX] · CPC title