User equipment and base station participating in radio access network update procedure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11533667-B2
Application number	US-201816486957-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2018
Priority date	Mar 24, 2017
Publication date	Dec 20, 2022
Grant date	Dec 20, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a user equipment in a mobile communication system. The UE comprises processing circuitry, which determines whether the UE, being located in a first radio access network notification area, first RNA, is moving to a second radio access network notification area, second RNA, different from the first RNA. The UE is in an inactive state out of an idle state, a connected state and the inactive state the user equipment can be in. The UE further comprises a transmitter, which transmits identification information on the first RNA to a second radio base station of the second RNA, when determining that the UE is moving to the second RNA. The UE further comprises a receiver which receives from the second radio base station UE related context information usable by the UE to exchange uplink and downlink data with the second radio base station.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A user equipment (UE) in a mobile communication system, the user equipment comprising:
processing circuitry, which in operation, determines whether the user equipment, being located in a first radio access network notification area (first RNA) is moving to a second radio access network notification area (second RNA) different from the first RNA, the user equipment being in an inactive state out of an idle state, a connected state and the inactive state the user equipment can be in;
a transmitter, which in operation, transmits identification information on the first RNA to a second radio base station of the second RNA, when determining that the user equipment is moving to the second RNA, wherein the identification information on the first RNA comprises an identifier of the user equipment allocated by a first radio base station of the first RNA; and
a receiver, which in operation, receives from the second radio base station user equipment related context information usable by the user equipment to exchange uplink and downlink data with the second radio base station, new UE identification allocated by the second radio base station, an acknowledgement (ACK), and grant of uplink radio resources,
wherein, to update the user equipment related context information in a core network entity that is responsible for the user equipment, the transmitter, when in operation, transmits a path switch request message including the user equipment related context information directly to the core network entity.

2. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitter, when transmitting the identification information on the first RNA to the second radio base station, transmits the identification information on the first RNA with a third message of a random access channel procedure.

3. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitter, when transmitting the identification information on the first RNA to the second radio base station, transmits the identification information on the first RNA with a first message of a random access channel procedure.

4. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitter, when transmitting the identification information on the first RNA to the second radio base station, transmits the identification information on the first RNA in a Medium Access Protocol (MAC) control element.

5. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitter, when transmitting the identification information on the first RNA to the second radio base station, transmits the identification information on the first RNA in a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Control Packet Data Unit (PDU).

6. The user equipment according to claim 2 , wherein the receiver, when receiving the user equipment related context information from the second radio base station, receives the user equipment related context information with a fourth message of the random access channel procedure.

7. The user equipment according to claim 3 , wherein the receiver, when receiving the user equipment related context information from the second radio base station, receives the user equipment related context information with a second message of the random access channel procedure.

8. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives from the second radio base station identification information of the second RNA, and
wherein the processing circuitry, when determining whether the user equipment moves to the second RNA, determines that the user equipment moves to the second RNA in case the identification information of the first RNA is different from the identification information of the second RNA.

9. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry, when determining that the user equipment is moving to the second RNA, transitions the user equipment from the inactive state to the connected state.

10. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the user equipment related context information comprises at least one of the following:
security information usable between the second radio base station and the user equipment, including one or both of a ciphering key to cipher data before transmission and a deciphering key to decipher data after reception; and
information on data connections at least between the second radio base station and the user equipment.

11. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitter, when transmitting the identification information on the first RNA to the second radio base station, also transmits to the second radio base station identification information of user equipment related first context information used by the user equipment to exchange data with the first radio base station of the first RNA, the identification information of user equipment related first context information is usable by the second radio base station to obtain the user equipment related first context information for the first RNA, and/or
wherein the identifier of the user equipment is usable by the second radio base station to contact the core network entity to update the user equipment related context information in the core network entity.

12. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the receiver, when in operation, receives from the second radio base station a new user identification valid for the second RNA.

13. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the user equipment and the second radio base station support the new radio (NR) technology of the 5 th Generation (5G) of the 3GPP (3 rd Generation Partnership Project).

14. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitter, when in operation, transmits user data to the second radio base station using the received user equipment related context information, and/or
the receiver, when in operation, receives user data from the second radio base station based on the received user equipment related context information.

15. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the identifier of the user equipment is a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) allocated by the first radio base station of the first RNA.

16. The user equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the core network entity comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME).

17. A method executed by a user equipment (UE) in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:
determining whether the user equipment, being located in a first radio access network notification area (first RNA) is moving to a second radio access network notification area (second RNA) different from the first RNA, the user equipment being in an inactive state out of an idle state, a connected state and the inactive state the user equipment can be in;
transmitting identification information on the first RNA to a second radio base station of the second RNA, when determining that the user equipment is moving to the second RNA, wherein the identification information on the first RNA comprises an identifier of the user equipment allocated by a first radio base station of the first RNA;
receiving from the second radio base station user equipment related context information usable by the user equipment to exchange uplink and downlink data with the second radio base station, new UE identification allocated by the second radio base station, an acknowledgement (ACK), and grant of uplink radio resources; and
to update the user equipment related context information in a core network entity that is responsible for the user equipment, transmitting a path switc

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Corp America

Inventors

• SHAH Rikin
• Suzuki Hidetoshi

Classifications

• H04W76/11

  Allocation or use of connection identifiers · CPC title

• H04W60/04 Primary

  using triggered events · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04W36/0033

  with transfer of context information · CPC title

• H04W36/0038

  of security context information · CPC title