Initiation of inter-device communication in wireless communication systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9591679-B2
Application number	US-201213621703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2012
Priority date	Sep 17, 2012
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for initiation of inter-device communication in wireless communication systems are provided. Both a user equipment (UE) and a network entity may initiate a direct inter-device communication link between UEs located in proximity. The UE may simultaneously maintain an active communication link with its serving base station while communicating with other UEs over the inter-device communication link. Long term evolution (LTE) downlink or uplink radio resources may be used for communications over the inter-device communication link.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method at a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:
sending, at the UE, a non-access stratum (NAS) request message to a network entity that initiates an inter-device communication link, wherein the network entity is a mobility management entity (MME);
receiving, at the UE and from the MME, a NAS response message associated with inter-device communication between two or more UEs, wherein the NAS response message includes at least one of an acceptance or a rejection of the NAS request message;
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) inter-device connection setup message from a base station, wherein the RRC inter-device connection setup message indicates at least two cell radio network temporary identities (C-RNTIs), and each of the at least two C-RNTIs correspond to a different UE of the two or more UEs; and
sending a RRC inter-device connection setup response message to the base station.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RRC inter-device connection setup message includes at least one of:
temporary transmit point identifications for the two or more UEs;
minimum and maximum transmit power levels for the two or more UEs communicating over the inter-device communication link;
a device-to-device radio network temporary identity (DD-RNTI);
a transmit power incremental value for the two or more UEs communicating over the inter-device communication link; or
a guard time.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing a device handshake procedure; and
sending a NAS message to the network entity for acknowledging an establishment of the inter-device communication link.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the NAS request message includes at least one of:
identifications of at least one of the two or more UEs;
a bandwidth requirement for the inter-device communication link;
data rate information for the inter-device communication link;
quality of service information for the inter-device communication link; or
a time duration of the inter-device communication link.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the inter-device communication link is higher than at least one of SINRs of links between the two or more UEs and their respective serving base stations.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two or more UEs communicate over the inter-device communication link using long term evolution (LTE) downlink resources.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two or more UEs communicate over the inter-device communication link using long term evolution (LTE) uplink resources.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two or more UEs maintain communication links with their respective serving base stations while communicating over the inter-device communication link.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, at the UE, a NAS update request message to the network entity for modifying or extending a time duration of the inter-device communication link; and
receiving, at the UE, a NAS update response message associated with the inter-device communication from the network entity.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the UE sends the NAS update request message to the network entity upon an occurrence of one or more of the following:
extension of the time duration of the inter-device communication;
modification to quality of service; or
addition of one or more UEs to the inter-device communication.

11. A method at a base station, comprising:
receiving an initialization request message from a network entity for enabling at least one inter-device communication link for at least two user equipments (UEs), wherein the network entity is a mobility management entity (MME);
determining that the at least one inter-device communication link can be enabled;
sending, an initialization request acknowledgement message to the network entity, indicating that the at least one inter-device communication link can be enabled;
sending, in response to the initialization request message and the determination that the at least one inter-device communication link can be enabled, a radio resource control (RRC) inter-device connection setup message to one of the at least two UEs, wherein the RRC inter-device connection setup message indicates at least two cell radio network temporary identities (C-RNTIs), and each of the at least two C-RNTIs correspond to a different UE of the at least two UEs; and
receiving, in response to the radio resource control (RRC) inter-device connection setup message, a RRC connection setup response message from the one of the at least two UEs.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the RRC inter-device connection setup message includes at least one of:
temporary transmit point identifications for the at least two UEs;
minimum and maximum transmit power levels for the at least two UEs;
a device-to-device radio network temporary identity (DD-RNTI);
a transmit power incremental value for the at least two UEs communicating over the at least one inter-device communication link; or
a guard time.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
initiating a device handshake procedure with the at least two UEs; and
sending an initialization response message to the network entity for acknowledging an establishment of the at least one inter-device communication link for the at least two UEs.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the at least one inter-device communication link is higher than one or more SINRs of links between the at least two UEs and the base station.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one inter-device communication link uses long term evolution (LTE) downlink resources.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one inter-device communication link uses long term evolution (LTE) uplink resources.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
sending a radio resource control (RRC) inter-device connection setup message to one of the at least two UEs;
determining that a RRC inter-device connection setup response message from the one of the at least two UEs is not received during a predetermined time period; and
resending the radio resource control (RRC) inter-device connection setup message to the one of the at least two UEs.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the base station determines whether the at least one inter-device communication link can be enabled based on available radio resources at the base station when receiving the initialization request message.

19. A user equipment (UE), comprising:
a transmitter that sends, at the UE, a non-access stratum (NAS) request message to a network entity that initiates an inter-device communication link, wherein the network entity is a mobility management entity (MME); and
a receiver that receives, at the UE and from the MME, a NAS response message associated with inter-device communication between two or more UEs, wherein the NAS response message includes at least one of an acceptance or a rejection of the NAS request message that initiates the inter-device communication link,
wherein the receiver receives a radio resource control (RRC) inter-device connection setup message from a base station, the RRC inter-device connection setup message indicates at least two cell radio network temporary identities (C-RNTIs), and each of the at least two C-RNTIs correspond to a different UE of the two or more UEs, and
the transmitter sends a RRC inter-device connection setup respon

Assignees

• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Bontu Chandra Sekhar
• Song Yu
• Cai Zhijun

Classifications

• H04W76/043

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W76/023 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W92/12

  between access points and access point controllers · CPC title

• H04W76/23

  Manipulation of direct-mode connections · CPC title

• H04W76/14 Primary

  Direct-mode setup · CPC title