Conditional parallel execution of access stratum (AS) and non-access stratum (NAS) signaling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9253711-B2
Application number	US-44394407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2007
Priority date	Oct 2, 2006
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods and arrangements for facilitating an efficient connection setup. The present invention specifies rules for defining the signaling of connection setup messages from user equipments such as to apply one single transmission if an assigned uplink transmission grant for transmitting the connection setup messages is sufficiently large while applying separate transmissions if the size indicated in said uplink transmission grant is not sufficient. Thus, a sufficiently large grant allows a parallel execution of the connection setup messages.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method in a user equipment when setting up a communication connection in a radio access network, including the steps of:
ascertaining, in a received initial uplink transmission grant with respect to a radio base station node, a size of the uplink transmission indicated therein;
determining whether the size of the uplink transmission indicated by the received initial uplink transmission grant allows transmission of a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Request message and an initial Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message;
in response to a negative determination, transmitting the RRC Connection Request message and no initial NAS message to the radio base station node; and
in response to a positive determination, transmitting in parallel the RRC Connection Request message and the initial NAS message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transmitting in parallel comprises transmitting the RRC Connection Request message and the initial NAS message as two separate signals in one single transmission.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transmitting in parallel comprises transmitting the RRC Connection Request message and the initial NAS message in commensurate formats.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transmitting in parallel comprises transmitting the RRC Connection Request message and the initial NAS message in hierarchically unordered formats.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising in response to the negative determination, transmitting an indication to transmit further data.

6. The method of claim 5 , whereby said indication to transmit further data is transmitted via a scheduling request.

7. The method of claim 5 , whereby said indication to transmit further data is transmitted in the same transmission as the RRC Connection Request.

8. The method in a network node of a radio access network, said network node responsible for providing a connection setup possibility to the user equipment of claim 1 , the method comprising:
autonomously determining in said network node a size of a grant for uplink transmission of said user equipment based on cell-specific or load specific parameters;
assigning in a random access response said grant to said user equipment; and
receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Request message and an indication to transmit further data.

9. The method of claim 8 , whereby the network node determines the size of said grant in relation to cell size.

10. The method of claim 8 , whereby the network node determines the size of said grant in relation to system load.

11. The method of claim 8 , whereby the network node determines the size of said grant in relation to estimated channel quality.

12. A user equipment in a radio access network, said user equipment comprising:
a first electrical circuitry configured to ascertain, from a received initial uplink transmission grant with respect to a radio base station node, a size of the uplink transmission indicated therein;
the first electrical circuitry configured to determine whether the size of the uplink transmission indicated by the received initial uplink transmission grant allows transmission of a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Request message and an initial Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message;
a transmitter part configured to, in response to a negative determination, send the RRC Connection Request message and no initial NAS message to the radio base station node, and
a second electrical circuitry configured to, in response to a positive determination, to initiate a parallel transmission of the RRC Connection Request message and the initial NAS message.

13. The user equipment of claim 12 , wherein the transmitter part is further configured to, in response to the negative determination, send an indication to transmit further data.

14. The user equipment of claim 13 , whereby said indication to transmit further data is transmitted via a scheduling request.

15. The user equipment of claim 13 , whereby said indication to transmit further data is transmitted in the same transmission as the RRC Connection Request.

16. The node in a radio access network, said node responsible for providing a connection setup possibility to the user equipment of claim 12 , the node comprising:
a first electrical circuitry adapted to autonomously determine in said network node a size of a grant for uplink transmission of said user equipment based on cell-specific or load-specific parameters;
a second electrical circuitry adapted to assign in a random access response said grant to said user equipment; and
the node to receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Request message and an indication to transmit further data.

17. The node of claim 16 , whereby said node is a radio base station.

18. The node of claim 16 , the node further to receive both a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Request message and a Non-Access Stratum message in parallel.

Assignees

• Lindström Magnus
• Peisa Janne
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Lindström Magnus
• Peisa Janne

Classifications

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W76/18

  Management of setup rejection or failure · CPC title

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04W72/23 Primary

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W28/06

  Optimizing {the usage of the radio link}, e.g. header compression, information sizing {, discarding information (system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365)} · CPC title