Terminal device and network device for exchanging information on selected beam

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11057863-B2
Application number	US-201916295344-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2019
Priority date	Sep 28, 2016
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

A terminal device that can be connected to one or more base station devices that each form one or more beams is described. The terminal device monitors, when the terminal device is not connected to any of the one or more base station devices, a connection target beam to be used when the terminal device establishes a connection with any of the one or more base station devices; and reports, at least based on a fact that the connection target beam has transitioned, information regarding the connection target beam to a base station device that forms the connection target beam. A base station device among the one or more base station devices to execute paging of the terminal device and a beam to be used in the paging are controlled based on the information regarding the connection target beam.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A terminal device that can be connected to one or more base station devices that each form one or more beams, the terminal device comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to function as:
a monitoring unit for monitoring, in a state, between a connected date and an idle state, in which a resource radio control (RRC) is not established but the terminal device can send a certain signal to any one of the one or more base station devices, a connection target beam to be used when the terminal device establishes a connection with the any of the one or more base station devices;
a reporting unit for reporting information regarding the connection target beam to the any one of the one or more base station devices that forms the connection target beam in response to determining that:
the connection target beam has transitioned from one of the one or more beams to another beam of the one or more beams;
a condition received from at least one of the one or more base station devices is satisfied; and
a number of transitions of the connection target beam in the state reaches a first predetermined value being more than one and a number of beams to which the connection target beam has transitioned in the state reaches a second predetermined value being more than one; and

a receiving unit for receiving, from the at least one of the one or more base station devices, the condition under which the reporting unit reports the information regarding the connection target beam,
wherein which base station device among the one or more base station devices is to execute paging of the terminal device and which a subset of beams that includes the connection target beam from among the one or more beams is to be used in the paging are controlled based on the information regarding the connection target beam, wherein a number of the subset of beams is less than a number of the one or more beams,
and
wherein the condition includes that the terminal device is in the state.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the reporting unit reports the information regarding the connection target beam without transitioning to the connected state.

3. The terminal device according to claim 1 ,
wherein each of the one or more base station devices includes one or more devices each capable of forming the one or more beams by controlling a physical layer, and
the reporting unit reports the information regarding the connection target beam when one device of the one or more devices that forms the connection target beam before the connection target beam has transitioned differs from another device of the one or more devices that forms the connection target beam after the connection target beam has transitioned.

4. A network device in a network that includes one or more base station devices that each form one or more beams, the network device comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to function as:
a receiving unit for receiving, from a terminal device that can be connected to the one or more base station devices and that is in a state, between a connected state and an idle state, in which a resource radio control (RRC) connection is not established but the terminal device can send a certain signal to any one of the one or more base station devices; a report regarding a connection target beam to be used when the terminal device establishes a connection with the any one of the one or more base station devices, wherein the report is generated by the terminal device and transmitted by the terminal device to the network device in response to determining, by the terminal device, that:
the connection target beam has transitioned from one of the one or more beams to another beam of the one or more beams;
a condition received from the network device is satisfied; and
a number of transitions of the connection target beam in the state reaches a first predetermined value being more than one and a number of beams to which the connection target beam has transitioned in the state reaches a second predetermined value being more than one;

a control unit, based on the information regarding the connection target beam received from the terminal device, for determining the network device to execute paging of the terminal device and determining a subset of beams that includes the connection target beam from among the one or more beams that are formed by the one or more base station devices, the subset of beams is to be used in the paging, and a number of the subset of beams is less than a number of the one or more beams; and
a notifying unit for notifying the terminal device of the condition for making the report regarding the connection target beam,
wherein the condition includes that the terminal device is in the state.

5. The network device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the network device is a node of a core network, the node being connected to each of the one or more base station devices.

6. The network device according to claim 4 ,
wherein, out of a first device and a second device that are included in each of the one or more base station devices, the network device is the second device, the first device controlling layers that are lower than a radio resource control (RRC) layer and that include a physical layer, and the second device controlling layers that are higher than the layers controlled by the first device and that include the RRC layer.

7. The network device according to claim 4 ,
wherein, out of a first device and a second device that are included in each of the one or more base station devices, the network device is the first device, the first device controlling layers that are lower than a radio resource control (RRC) layer and that include a physical layer, and the second device controlling layers that are higher than the layers controlled by the first device and that include the RRC layer.

8. A method for controlling a terminal device that can be connected to one or more base station devices that each form one or more beams, the method comprising:
monitoring, in a state, between a connected state and an idle state, in which a resource radio control (RRC) connection is not established but the terminal device can send a certain signal to any one of the one or more base station devices; a connection target beam to be used when the terminal device establishes a connection with the any one of the one or more base station devices;
reporting information regarding the connection target beam to the any one of the one or more base station devices that forms the connection target beam in response to determining that:
the connection target beam has transitioned from one of the one or more beams to another beam of the one or more beams;
a condition received from at least one of the one or more base station devices is satisfied; and
a number of transitions of the connection target beam in the state reaches a first predetermined value being more than one and a number of beams to which the connection target beam has transitioned in the state reaches a second predetermined value being more than one; and

receiving, from the at least one of the one or more base station devices the condition under which the reporting unit reports the information regarding the connection target beam,
wherein which base station device among the one or more base station devices is to execute paging of the terminal device and which a subset of beams that includes the connection target from among the one or more beams is to be used in the p

Assignees

• Kddi Corp

Inventors

• Moriwaki Kazuya
• Peng Hailan
• Hashimoto Noriyuki
• Suegara Yasuhiro

Classifications

• H04W88/023

  with message or information receiving capability · CPC title

• H04W76/27

  Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states · CPC title

• H04W72/046

  the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams · CPC title

• H04W68/02 Primary

  Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel · CPC title

• H04W68/005 Primary

  Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication · CPC title