Systems and methods for standalone carrier aggregation handover

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12464425-B2
Application number	US-202217947003-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2022
Priority date	Sep 21, 2021
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

A wireless network may include a PCELL base station, an SCELL base station, and user equipment (UE) that communicate using standalone carrier aggregation. The UE may receive PCELL signals during first measurement periods, may perform first measurements on the PCELL signals, may receive SCELL signals during second measurement periods, and may perform second measurements on the SCELL signals. When a scheduled reporting time approaches, the UE may compare a duration between a most recent of the second measurement periods and the reporting time to a threshold. If the duration is less than the threshold, the UE may include the most recent second measurement in a measurement report transmitted at the scheduled reporting time. When the duration exceeds the threshold, the receiver may perform a third measurement on the SCELL signals during an unscheduled period prior to the reporting time and may include the third measurement in the measurement report.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of operating an electronic device to communicate with a wireless network, the method comprising:
performing first measurements on first signals transmitted by a first base station; performing second measurements on second signals transmitted by a second base station; when a duration between a most recent of the second measurements and a reporting time scheduled by the wireless network exceeds a threshold duration, performing a third measurement on the second signals prior to the reporting time; and when the duration is less than the threshold duration, transmitting, at the scheduled reporting time, a measurement report to the network, the measurement report including at least one of the first measurements and at least one of the second measurements.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the first measurements comprises performing the first measurements during first measurement periods scheduled by the wireless network, the first measurement periods having a first periodicity.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein performing the second measurements comprises performing the second measurements during second measurement periods scheduled by the wireless network, the second measurement periods having a second periodicity that is longer than the first periodicity.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the most recent of the second measurements is performed during a most recent of the second measurement periods, the reporting time scheduled by the network being a first reporting time after the most recent of the second measurement periods.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the second periodicity is at least five times longer than the first periodicity.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first base station comprises a primary cell (PCELL) base station and the second base station comprises a secondary cell (SCELL) base station.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
performing, with the wireless network and based on the transmitted measurement report, a handover away from the PCELL base station.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when the third measurement meets a predetermined criterion, transmitting the third measurement to the wireless network at the scheduled reporting time.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the first base station comprises a primary cell (PCELL) base station, the second base station comprises a secondary cell (SCELL) base station, and the method further comprises:
performing, with the wireless network and based on the transmitted third measurement, a handover away from the PCELL base station.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
when the third measurement does not meet the predetermined criterion, foregoing transmission of the third measurement to the wireless network.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining whether the third measurement meets the predetermined criterion by comparing the third measurement to the at least one of the first measurements.

12 . An electronic device comprising:
one or more antennas configured to
receive, during first measurement periods at a first periodicity, first signals from a first wireless base station of a network,
receive, during second measurement periods at a second periodicity that is longer than the first periodicity, second signals from a second wireless base station of the network, the first measurement periods and the second measurement periods being scheduled by the network, and
receive, during a third measurement period between a most recent of the second measurement periods and a reporting time scheduled by the network, a third signal from the second wireless base station;
a receiver coupled to the one or more antennas and configured to perform a first measurement on the first signals, a second measurement on the second signals, and a third measurements on the third signal; and a transmitter configured to transmit, at the reporting time, a measurement report that includes the first measurement and the third measurement.

13 . The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the reporting time is a first reporting time scheduled by the network following the most recent of the second measurement periods.

14 . The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the first measurement and the third measurement in the measurement report when a duration between the most recent of the second measurement periods and the reporting time exceeds a threshold value.

15 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the first measurement and the second measurement in the measurement report when the duration is less than the threshold value.

16 . The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the first signals comprise primary cell (PCELL) signals and the second signals and the third signal comprise secondary cell (SCELL) signals.

17 . The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the first measurement, the second measurement, and the third measurement comprise a received signal power level value, a reference signal received power (RSRP) value, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value, or an error rate value.

18 . A method of operating an electronic device to perform communications with a wireless network using a standalone (SA) carrier aggregation (CA) scheme, the method comprising:
receiving, during first measurement periods at a first periodicity, primary cell (PCELL) signals transmitted by a PCELL base station; receiving, during second measurement periods at a second periodicity that is longer than the first periodicity, first secondary cell (SCELL) signals transmitted by an SCELL base station, wherein the first measurement periods and the second measurement periods are scheduled by the network; receiving, during an unscheduled measurement period between a most recent of the second measurement periods and a reporting time scheduled by the network, second SCELL signals transmitted by the SCELL base station; performing a first measurement on the PCELL signals, a second measurement on the first SCELL signals, and a third measurement on the second SCELL signals; and transmitting, at the reporting time, a measurement report that includes the first measurement and the third measurement.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
prior to receiving the PCELL signals and the first SCELL signals, transmitting a message to the wireless network that identifies that the electronic device does not require communication resources of the SCELL base station.

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the reporting time is a first reporting time scheduled by the network following the most recent of the second measurement periods, transmitting the measurement report comprises transmitting the first measurement and the third measurement in the measurement report when a duration between the most recent of the second measurement periods and the reporting time exceeds a threshold value, and the method further comprises:
when the duration is less than the threshold value, transmitting the first measurement and the second measurement in the measurement report.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Zhang Kai
• Singh Ajay
• Bhattacharjee Deepankar
• Cui Lele
• Zhang Lijie

Classifications

• H04W36/00692

  using simultaneous multiple data streams, e.g. cooperative multipoint [CoMP], carrier aggregation [CA] or multiple input multiple output [MIMO] (allocation of physical resources in CoMP or in CA H04L5/0035) · CPC title

• H04W36/08

  Reselecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W36/0088 Primary

  Scheduling hand-off measurements · CPC title

• H04W36/0058 Primary

  Transmission of hand-off measurement information, e.g. measurement reports · CPC title