Systems and methods for initiating device-to-device communication in wireless networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9629191-B2
Application number	US-201314078404-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2013
Priority date	Nov 12, 2013
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for initiating device-to-device (D2D) communication in wireless communication networks are provided. Based on received downlink or uplink signal qualities, a two-stage process, that is, a first stage of information request and a second stage of actual information transfer, may be used to initiate the D2D communication. Multiple thresholds, timers, and/or counters may be used in connection with the two-stage process. The two-stage process reduces unnecessary signaling overhead for initiating the D2D communication.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of a user equipment (UE), comprising:
sending to a base station a first message requesting information of device-to-device communication when a quality associated with a received signal from the base station is below or equal to a first threshold; and
sending to the base station a second message when a quality associated with another received signal from the base station is below or equal to a second threshold, wherein the second message includes device-to-device information of the UE and the second threshold is lower than the first threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the quality associated with the received signal from the base station is below or equal to the first threshold.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising starting a timer after determining that the quality associated with the received signal from the base station is below or equal to the first threshold.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining whether the quality associated with the other received signal from the base station is below or equal to the second threshold after the timer expires.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to sending the second message, refraining from sending to the base station the second message when the quality associated with the other received signal from the base station is above the second threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the quality associated with the other received signal from the base station is below or equal to the second threshold.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising starting a timer after determining the quality associated with the other received signal from the base station is below or equal to the second threshold.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining whether a quality associated with a third received signal from the base station is below or equal to the second threshold after the timer expires.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising starting a timer after determining that the quality associated with the other received signal from the base station is above the second threshold.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining whether a quality associated with a third received signal from the base station is below or equal to the second threshold after the timer expires.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein indications corresponding to the first threshold and the second threshold are received in a System Information Block (SIB) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, or a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element.

12. A method of a base station, comprising:
sending to a user equipment (UE) a first message requesting information of device-to-device communication when a quality associated with a received signal from the UE is below or equal to a first threshold; and
sending a second message to the UE enabling the device-to-device communication when a quality associated with another received signal from the UE is below or equal to a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is lower than the first threshold.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining whether the quality associated with the received signal from the UE is below or equal to the first threshold.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising starting a timer after determining that the quality associated with the received signal from the UE is below or equal to the first threshold.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining whether the quality associated with the other received signal from the UE is below or equal to the second threshold after the timer expires.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, prior to sending the second message, refraining from sending the second message to the UE enabling the device-to-device communication when the quality associated with the other received signal from the UE is above the second threshold.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining whether the quality associated with the other received signal from the UE is below or equal to the second threshold.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising starting a timer after determining the quality associated with the other received signal from the UE is below or equal to the second threshold.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising determining whether a quality associated with a third received signal from the base station is below or equal to the second threshold after the timer expires.

20. The method of claim 17 , further comprising starting a timer after determining that the quality associated with the other received signal from the UE is not below or equal to the second threshold.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising determining whether a quality associated with a third received signal from the UE is below or equal to the second threshold after the timer expires.

22. The method of claim 12 , further comprising sending indications corresponding to the first threshold and the second threshold to the UE in a System Information Block (SIB) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, or a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element.

23. A user equipment, comprising:
a memory; and
at least one hardware processor communicatively coupled with the memory and configured to:
send to a base station a first message requesting information of device-to-device communication when a quality associated with a received signal from the base station is below or equal to a first threshold; and
send to the base station a second message when a quality associated with another received signal from the base station is below or equal to a second threshold, wherein the second message includes device-to-device information of the UE and the second threshold is lower than the first threshold.

24. A base station, comprising:
a memory; and
at least one hardware processor communicatively coupled with the memory and configured to:
send to a user equipment (UE) a first message requesting information of device-to-device communication when a quality associated with a received signal from the UE is below or equal to a first threshold; and
send to the UE a second message enabling the device-to-device communication when a quality associated with another received signal from the UE is below or equal to a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is lower than the first threshold.

Assignees

• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Koo Changhoi
• Kim Joon Beom
• Cai Zhijun

Classifications

• H04W76/14 Primary

  Direct-mode setup · CPC title

• H04W4/70

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title

• H04W72/54

  based on quality criteria · CPC title

• H04W76/23

  Manipulation of direct-mode connections · CPC title

• H04W76/023 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic