User equipment and method for cell association and beamforming training with a mmwave capable small cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016249269-A1
Application number	US-201415026803-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 11, 2014
Priority date	Dec 12, 2013
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems, methods, and computer readable media to enable a millimeter wave capable small cell (MCSC) devices to receive a handover of a user equipment from a universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access node B (eNB.) In particular, systems and methods are described for user equipment (UE) association with a MCSC operating as a booster for an eNB, including identification of and communication on preferred cell sector between the UE and the MCSC.

First claim

1 - 23 . (canceled)

24 . A user equipment (UE) comprising circuitry configured to:
transmit UE synchronization signals in a first plurality of sectors; receive, from a millimeter wave capable small cell (MCSC), MCSC synchronization signals in a second plurality of sectors; measure, at the UE in response to a measurement request, a signal quality for at least a first sector of the second plurality of sectors; analyze the signal quality for at least the first sector to select the first sector based on a first signal quality of the first sector; and communicate, from the UE to an evolved universal terrestrial radio access node B (eNB), a cell identifier and a first sector identifier associated with the first sector.

25 . The UE of claim 24 wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
receive, from the eNB, the measurement request prior to receipt of the MCSC synchronization signals in the second plurality of sectors; and
determine, from the MCSC synchronization signals, a cell identifier associated with the MCSC and a sector identifier associated with each sector of the second plurality of sectors.

26 . The UE of claim 25 wherein each MCSC synchronization signal per sector of the second plurality of sectors comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS) comprising two continuous symbols and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) that follows the PSS.

27 . The UE of claim 26 wherein the signal quality for each sector of the second plurality of sectors is based, at least in part, on at least one of a received signal strength indication (RSSI), a reference signal received power (RSRP), and a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value of the first synchronization signal for each sector of the plurality of sectors.

28 . The UE of claim 27 wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
receive, from the eNB, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration communication in response to communication of the cell identifier to the eNB.

29 . The UE of claim 28 wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration communication comprises mobility control information; and
wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration communication is received in response to a handover communication between the eNB and the MCSC.

30 . The UE of claim 28 wherein the circuitry configured to analyze the signal quality for at least the first sector of the plurality of sectors to select the first sector comprises circuitry configured to:
determine a quality value for each sector of the plurality of sectors as a function the RSSI, the RSRP, and the RSRQ;
determine a best quality value from the quality value for each sector of the plurality of sectors; and
select a sector associated with the best quality value as the first sector.

31 . The UE of claim 30 wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration is further received in response to a handover decision made by the eNB based on the first signal quality of the first sector.

32 . The UE of claim 31 wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
receive, from the eNB, the cell identifier, a master information block (MIB), and a set of physical random access channel (PRACH) codes via a physical shared downlink channel (PDSCH).

33 . The UE of claim 32 wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
periodically receive a retransmission of the synchronization signal from the MCSC; and
perform, by the UE, a timing acquisition using the PSS.

34 . The UE of claim 32 wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
perform a reverse direction training at least in part by communicating, from the UE to the eNB, a PRACH code of the set of PRACH codes to each of the first plurality of sectors as part of transmission of the UE synchronization signal in the first plurality of sectors.

35 . The UE of claim 34 wherein the set of PRACH codes comprises number of PRACH codes equal to a random access code base number times a number of sectors.

36 . The UE of claim 34 wherein each PRACH code of the set of PRACH codes comprises a base PRACH code and sector identification information.

37 . The UE of claim 34 wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
receive at the UE, in response to the reverse direction training, a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) and a timing advance (TA) command.

38 . The UE of claim 24 further comprising one or more antennas configured to transmit the cell identifier to the eNB.

39 . A method performed by a user equipment (UE) operating with an evolved node B (eNB) and a millimeter wave capable small cell (MCSC), the method comprising:
receiving, at the UE from the eNB, a measurement request; receiving, at the UE from the MCSC, an MCSC synchronization signal in each sector of a first plurality of sectors; determining, by the UE, a cell identifier associated with the MCSC and a sector identifier associated with each sector; selecting a sector in response to the measurement request; and communicating, from the UE to the eNB, the cell identifier and a first sector identifier associated with the selected sector.

40 . The method of claim 39 wherein selecting the sector in response to the measurement request comprises:
measuring, at the UE in response to the measurement request, a signal quality for each sector of the first plurality of sectors; and
analyzing the signal quality for each sector of the first plurality of sectors to select a first sector based on a first signal quality of the first sector.

41 . The method of claim 40 wherein the signal quality for each sector is a function of a received signal strength indication (RSSI), a reference signal received power (RSRP), and a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value of the first synchronization signal for each sector of the first plurality of sectors.

42 . The method of claim 40 further comprising:
receiving, at the UE from the eNB, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration communication in response to communication of the cell identifier to the eNB;
receiving, at the UE from the eNB, the cell identifier, a master information block (MIB), and a set of physical random access channel (PRACH) codes via a physical shared downlink channel (PDSCH); and
performing a reverse direction training at least in part by communicating, from the UE to the eNB, a PRACH code of the set of PRACH codes for each sector of a second plurality of sectors;
wherein the PRACH code comprises a base PRACH code, sector information for reverse direction training, and eNB sector information for beamforming training acknowledgement.

43 . The method of claim 40 wherein the MCSC synchronization signal is received as part of a millimeter wave communication from the MCSC with a communication frequency between 59.9 GHz and 60.1 GHz.

44 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a user equipment (UE) to:
receive, from an evolved node B (eNB), a measurement request; receive, from a millimeter wave capable small cell (MCSC), a MCSC synchronization signal in a second plurality of sectors; determine, by the UE, a cell identifier associated with the MCSC and a sector identifier associated with each sector of the second plurality of sectors; measure, at the UE in response to the measurement request, a signal quality for each sector of the second plurality of sectors; analyze the signal quality for each sector of the second plurality of sectors to select a first

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Niu Huaning
• Tang Yang
• Li Qian

Classifications

• H04B17/328

  Reference signal received power [RSRP]; Reference signal received quality [RSRQ] · CPC title

• H04W56/0095 Primary

  estimated based on signal strength · CPC title

• H04W56/0045

  compensating for timing error by altering transmission time · CPC title

• H04W56/001

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title

• H04W36/0058

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