Low-power and low-latency non-standalone initial access to new radio carrier

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11337140-B2
Application number	US-202016985285-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2020
Priority date	Apr 29, 2019
Publication date	May 17, 2022
Grant date	May 17, 2022

Abstract

A communication device that establishes a short-range wireless communication link with a fixed wireless access (FWA) user equipment (UE) or a mobile UE that is in a specified proximal range of the communication device. The FWA UE or the mobile UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state over LTE network, is determined. The communication device detects whether a first new radio (NR) carrier is assigned to the FWA UE or the mobile UE without using the communication device. A carrier measurement is determined for NR is established at the FWA UE (or mobile UE) by an LTE-enabled base station in the RRC connected state. The communication device controls assignment of a second NR carrier to the FWA UE or the mobile UE for non-standalone initial access to a beam of RF data signals in the second NR carrier at the FWA UE or the mobile UE.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication device, comprising:
a digital signal processor configured to:
determine that at least one user equipment (UE) is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state over a long-term evolution (LTE) network, based on a short-range wireless communication link,
wherein the short-range wireless communication link is between the communication device and the at least one UE that is in a specified proximal range of the communication device;
detect a first new radio (NR) carrier is assigned to the at least one UE for the NR carrier assignment, based on the short-range wireless communication link;
determine that a carrier measurement for NR is established at the at least one UE by a LTE-enabled base station in the RRC connected state, based on the short-range wireless communication link or a signal characteristic associated with the assigned first NR carrier is less than a signal quality threshold; and
control assignment of a second NR carrier, having the signal characteristic greater than the signal quality threshold, to the at least one UE for non-standalone initial access to a beam of RF data signals in the second NR carrier at the at least one UE,
wherein the beam of RF data signals in the second NR carrier is communicated, by the communication device, from a NR-enabled base station to the at least one UE for the assignment of the second NR carrier at the at least one UE.

2. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the communication device is at least one of an evolved-universal terrestrial radio access-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) device, a NR-enabled relay node, or a NR-enabled repeater device, and wherein the at least one UE is an EN-DC device.

3. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the carrier measurement for NR is for inter radio access technology (IRAT) when the at least one UE is active in one radio access technology that corresponds to the LTE network, wherein the carrier measurement for NR is scheduled by the LTE-enabled base station when the at least one UE is in the RRC connected state over the LTE network, and wherein the at least one UE is configured to report the carrier measurement for NR to the LTE-enabled base station.

4. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the carrier measurement for NR is a B1 NR measurement that indicates at least a reference signal received power (RSRP) at the at least one UE in the RRC connected state over the LTE network, and the RSRP measured at the at least one UE is greater than the signal quality threshold to potentially establish a fifth generation (5G) NR connection.

5. The communication device of claim 1 , further comprising a front-end radio frequency (RF) circuitry,
wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to:
initiate beam acquisition, by use of the front-end RF circuitry, in a receive-only mode, wherein in the receive-only mode, a further relay of input RF signals to the at least one UE is deactivated; and
acquire information of one or more signal synchronization blocks (SSBs) from the at least one UE over the short-range wireless communication link,
wherein the control information of one or more SSBs indicates a set of potential carrier frequencies shared via the LTE network.

6. The communication device of claim 5 , wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to detect a primary signal synchronization (PSS) for at least one SSB location of a plurality of SSB locations based on the control information of one or more SSBs over the short-range wireless communication link.

7. The communication device of claim 6 , wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to align a timing offset of a beam reception to a frame structure of a fifth generation (5G) NR radio frame based on the PSS for the at least one SSB location, wherein the PSS indicates a timing boundary of the 5G NR radio frame.

8. The communication device of claim 6 , wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to execute a beam measurement and ranking operation for a plurality of different beams of RF signals that are received at the communication device,
wherein in the beam measurement and ranking operation, the plurality of different beams of RF signals are sorted in terms of received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement associated with each beam of the plurality of different beams of RF signals.

9. The communication device of claim 8 , wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to execute a beam lock for a first beam of RF signals of the plurality of different beams of RF signals that has the highest RSSI for beam reception at the communication device in a NR carrier frequency and further for beam transmission to the at least one UE from the communication device, wherein the non-standalone access to the beam of RF data signals in the second NR carrier at the at least one UE corresponds to the first beam of RF signals in the beam lock.

10. The communication device of claim 9 , wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to acquire a physical cell identity (PCI) of the NR-enabled base station and additional carrier information from the at least one UE, wherein the PCI of the NR-enabled base station and the additional carrier information is retrieved over the short-range wireless communication link, and wherein the PCI of the NR-enabled base station and additional carrier information from the at least one UE indicates the assignment of the second NR carrier and a successful initial access to the second NR carrier at the at least one UE.

11. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the digital signal processor is further configured to determine that the LTE-enabled base station established the carrier measurement for NR for a new carrier that is the second NR carrier that has a highest received signal strength indicator (RSSI) at the at least one UE from among a plurality of RSSIs associated with a plurality of different beams of RF signals received at the communication device, based on the short-range wireless communication link, wherein the second NR carrier is assigned to the at least one UE based on the carrier measurement for NR for the second NR carrier.

12. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one UE comprises at least one of a fixed wireless access (FWA) user equipment (UE) or a mobile UE.

13. The communication device of claim 12 , wherein the mobile UE comprises a subscriber identity module (SIM).

14. A communication device, comprising:
a digital signal processor configured to:
acquire control information that includes one or more signal synchronization blocks (SSBs) directly from a first base station over a Long-term Evolution (LTE) control plane link or from at least one user equipment (UE) over a short-range wireless communication link,
wherein the short-range wireless communication link is between the communication device and the at least one UE that is in a specified proximal range of the communication device;
determine that the at least one UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state over a LTE network, based on the acquired control information;
detect a first new radio (NR) carrier is assigned to the at least one UE for the NR carrier assignment, based on the acquired control information;
determine that a carrier measurement for NR is established at the at least one UE by a LTE-enabled base station in the RRC connected state, based on the acquired control information or a signal characteristic associated with the assigned first NR carrier is less than a signal quality threshold; and
control assignment of a second NR

Assignees

• Movandi Corp
• Silicon Valley Bank

Inventors

• Rofougaran Ahmadreza
• Gharavi Sam
• Rofougaran Maryam

Classifications

• H04W72/542

  using measured or perceived quality · CPC title

• H04W72/51

  based on terminal or device properties · CPC title

• H04W48/08 Primary

  Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery (signalling during connection H04W76/00) · CPC title

• H04W88/04

  adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user · CPC title

• H04B7/15528

  Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium · CPC title