In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, a measurement mechanism performed by the user equipments (UEs) is predefined. The network configures the measurement configuration to the UEs, and the UEs perform the measurements and transmit the measurement results according to the measurement configuration. However, the measurement configuration is not necessarily suitable for all UEs. The performances of performing the measurement and transmitting the measurement result may be reduced. For example, a delay in transmitting the measurement result may occur due to the UE with an improper measurement configuration.
It is an objective of the invention to provide a communication apparatus, in order to solve the above problem.
An embodiment of the invention provides a method for handling a measurement configuration comprising: determining a measurement configuration, wherein the measurement configuration comprises a measurement object and a plurality of reporting configurations; performing at least one first measurement for the measurement object, to generate at least one first measurement result; and transmitting the at least one first measurement result to a network device according to a reporting configuration of the plurality of reporting configurations in response to the reporting configuration being satisfied; wherein that the plurality of reporting configurations correspond to the measurement object.
An embodiment of the invention provides a communication apparatus comprising a radio transceiver and a processing circuit. The radio transceiver is configured to transmit or receive wireless signals. The processing circuit is coupled to the radio transceiver and configured to perform operations comprising: determining a measurement configuration, wherein the measurement configuration comprises a measurement object and a plurality of reporting configurations; performing at least one measurement for the measurement object, to generate at least one measurement result; and transmitting the at least one measurement result to a network device according to a reporting configuration of the plurality of reporting configurations in response to the reporting configuration being satisfied; wherein the plurality of reporting configurations correspond to the measurement object.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims, which refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, electronic equipment manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not in function. In the following description and in the claims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but not limited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical connection. Accordingly, if one device is coupled to another device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections.
The transmitter 111 and the receiver 112 of the radio transceiver 110 may comprise a plurality of hardware devices to perform RF conversion and RF signal processing. For example, the transmitter 111 and/or the receiver 112 may comprise a power amplifier for amplifying the RF signals, a filter for filtering unwanted portions of the RF signals and/or a mixer for performing radio frequency conversion. According to an embodiment of the invention, the radio frequency may be, for example, the frequency of any specific frequency band for a long-term evolution (LTE) system, the frequency of any specific frequency band for a 5G next generation (NR) system, the frequency of any specific frequency band for a WiFi system, or the frequency of any specific frequency band for a Bluetooth (BT) system, etc.
The processing device 120 may be configured to handle corresponding communication protocol operations and processing the signals received from or to be transmitted to the radio transceiver 110. The application processing device 130 is configured to run the operating system of the communication apparatus 100 and to run application programs installed in the communication apparatus 100. The processing device 120 and the application processing device 130 can be realized by means of hardware (circuitry), software, firmware (known as a combination of a hardware device and computer instructions and data that reside as read-only software on the hardware device), an electronic system, or combination thereof. In the embodiments of the invention, the processing device 120 and the application processing device 130 may be designed as discrete chips with some buses or hardware interfaces coupled therebetween, or they may be integrated into a combo chip (i.e., a system on chip (SoC)), and the invention should not be limited thereto.
The subscriber identity card 140 may be a subscriber identity module (SIM), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) SIM (USIM), removable user identity module (R-UIM) or code division multiple access (CDMA) SIM (CSIM) card, or the like and may typically contain user account information, an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and a set of SIM application toolkit (SAT) commands and may provide storage space for phone book contacts. The memory device 150 may be coupled to the processing device 120 and the application processing device 130 and may store system data or user data.
It should be noted that, in order to clarify the concept of the invention,
In some embodiments of the invention, the communication apparatus 100 is capable of supporting multiple radio access technologies (RATs) communications via the single-card structure as shown in
In addition, those who are skilled in this technology can still make various alterations and modifications based on the descriptions given above to derive the communication apparatuses comprising multiple radio transceivers and/or multiple antenna modules for supporting multi-RAT wireless communications without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Therefore, in some embodiments of the invention, the communication apparatus 100 may be designed to support a multi-card application, in either a single-standby or a multiple-standby manner, by making some alterations and modifications.
It should be further noted that the subscriber identity card 140 may be dedicated hardware cards as described above, or in some embodiments of the invention, there may be virtual cards, such as individual identifiers, numbers, addresses, or the like which are burned in the internal memory device of the corresponding modem and are capable of identifying the communication apparatus 100. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to what is shown in
It should be further noted that in some embodiments of the invention, the communication apparatus 100 may further support multiple IMSIs.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the baseband processing device 221 may be designed to have the capability of handling the baseband signal processing operations for different RATs and processing the corresponding IF or baseband signals in compliance with the corresponding communications protocols, so as to support the multi-RAT wireless communications. According to another embodiment of the invention, the baseband processing device 221 may comprise a plurality of sub-units, each being designed to have the capability of handling the baseband signal processing operations of one or more specific RATs and processing the corresponding IF or baseband signals in compliance with the corresponding communications protocols, so as to support the multi-RAT wireless communications. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to any specific way of implementation.
The processing circuit 222 may control the operations of the processing device 220. According to an embodiment of the invention, the processing circuit 222 may be a processor arranged to execute the program codes of the processing device 220. For example, the processing circuit 222 may maintain and execute the individual tasks, threads, and/or protocol stacks for different software modules. A protocol stack may be implemented so as to respectively handle the radio activities of one RAT. However, it is also possible to implement more than one protocol stack to handle the radio activities of one RAT at the same time, or implement only one protocol stack to handle the radio activities of more than one RAT at the same time, and the invention should not be limited thereto.
In some embodiments of the invention, the processing circuit 222 may be pure hardware dedicated to dealing with the proposed method for handling a measurement configuration. This alternative design also falls within the scope of the present invention.
The processing circuit 222 may also read data from the subscriber identity card coupled to the processing device (e.g., the subscriber identity card 140 in
The network card 224 provides Internet access services for the communication apparatus 100. It should be noted that, although the network card 224 shown in
It should be noted that, in order to clarify the concept of the invention,
It should be further noted that in some embodiments of the invention, the processing device 220 may also comprise more than one processing circuit and/or more than one baseband processing device. For example, the processing device 220 may comprise multiple processing circuits and/or multiple baseband processing devices for supporting multi-RAT operations. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to what is shown in
It should be further noted that in some embodiments of the invention, the baseband processing device 221 and the processing circuit 222 may be integrated into one processing unit, and the processing device may comprise one or multiple such processing units, for supporting multi-RAT operations. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to what is shown in
According to an embodiment of the invention, the processing circuit 222 and the application processing device 130 may comprise a plurality of logics designed for handling one or more functionalities. The logics may be configured to execute the program codes of one or more software and/or firmware modules, thereby performing the corresponding operations. When performing the corresponding operations by executing the corresponding programs, the logics may be regarded as dedicated hardware devices or circuits, such as dedicated processor sub-units. Generally, the processing circuit 222 may be configured to perform operations of relative lower protocol layers while the application processing device 130 may be configured to perform operations of relative higher protocol layers. Therefore, in some embodiments of the invention, the application processing device 130 may be regarded as the upper layer entity or upper layer processing circuit with respect to the processing circuit 222 and the processing circuit 222 may be regarded as the lower layer entity or lower layer processing circuit with respect to the application processing device 130.
Step S300: Start.
Step S302: Determine a first measurement configuration, wherein the first measurement configuration comprises a first measurement object and a plurality of first reporting configurations.
Step S304: Perform at least one first measurement for the first measurement object, to generate at least one first measurement result.
Step S306: Transmit the at least one first measurement result to a network device according to a first reporting configuration of the plurality of first reporting configurations in response to the first reporting configuration being satisfied.
Step S308: End.
The processing circuit 222 is configured to perform steps of the process 30. According to the process 30, the first communication apparatus determines (e.g., sets or is configured with) a first measurement configuration. The first measurement configuration comprises a first measurement object and a plurality of first reporting configurations. The plurality of first reporting configurations correspond to (e.g., are linked to) the first measurement object. Then, the first communication apparatus performs at least one first measurement for the first measurement object, to generate at least one first measurement result. The first communication apparatus transmits (e.g., reports) the at least one first measurement result to a network device according to a first reporting configuration of the plurality of first reporting configurations in response to the first reporting configuration being satisfied. Thus, the plurality of first reporting configurations are applied flexibly, and the performances of performing the at least one first measurement and transmitting the at least one first measurement result can be improved.
Realization of the process 30 is not limited to the above description. The following embodiments of the invention may be applied to realize the process 30.
There are various ways to determine the first measurement configuration. In an embodiment of the invention, the first communication apparatus may receive the first measurement configuration from the network device. That is, the first communication apparatus is configured with the first measurement configuration by the network device. In this case, the first measurement configuration comprising the plurality of the reporting configurations is configured by the network device. Each of the plurality of reporting configurations is configured to at least one particular communication apparatus with a specific condition. In an embodiment of the invention, the first communication apparatus may set the first measurement configuration according to a design algorithm. That is, the first communication apparatus configures the first measurement configuration by itself.
In an embodiment of the invention, a second communication apparatus determines a second measurement configuration. The second measurement configuration comprises a second measurement object and a plurality of second reporting configuration. The plurality of second reporting configurations correspond to (e.g., are linked to) the second measurement object. Then, the second communication apparatus performs at least one second measurement for the second measurement object, to generate at least one second measurement result. The second communication apparatus transmits the at least one second measurement result to the network device according to a second reporting configuration of the plurality of second reporting configurations in response to the second reporting configuration being satisfied. That is, the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus under different conditions (e.g., in different environments) may perform the measurements and transmit the measurement results according to different reporting configurations with different parameters. It should be noted that, there are two communication apparatuses (e.g., the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus) in the present embodiment, but not limited herein. The number of communication apparatuses may be two or more than two.
By way of example, but not limitation, each of the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus may be implemented using the same hardware architecture such as that of the communication apparatus 100 shown in
There are various ways to determine the second measurement configuration of the plurality of measurement configurations. In an embodiment of the invention, the second communication apparatus may receive the second measurement configuration from the network device. In this case, the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration are the same measurement configuration. That is, the network device configures the same measurement configuration to all communication apparatuses. In an embodiment of the invention, the second communication apparatus may set the second measurement configuration according to the design algorithm. In this case, the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration are the same measurement configuration or different measurement configurations. The detail of determining the second measurement configuration may be referred to the above embodiments of determining the first measurement configuration, and is not narrated herein for brevity.
In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of first reporting configurations comprise a plurality of first time durations (e.g., time-to-trigger (TTT)) and a plurality of first measurement thresholds, respectively. A time duration (e.g., one of the plurality of first time durations) guarantees that a ping-pong effect can be eliminated by specifying a time window in which an entering condition for a measurement event occurs to transmit the measurement result to the network device. A measurement threshold (e.g., one of the plurality of first measurement thresholds) is a threshold parameter for a measurement event. In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of first time durations have (e.g, are) different values. In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of first measurement thresholds have (e.g, are) different values.
In an embodiment of the invention, one of the plurality of first reporting configurations comprises a time duration with the greatest value among the plurality of first time durations, and comprises a measurement threshold with the smallest value among the plurality of first measurement thresholds. In an embodiment of the invention, one of the plurality of first reporting configurations comprises a time duration with the smallest value among the plurality of first time durations, and comprises a measurement threshold with the greatest value among the plurality of first measurement thresholds. In an embodiment of the invention, one of the plurality of first reporting configurations comprises a time duration with the second greatest value among the plurality of first time durations, and comprises a measurement threshold with the second smallest value among the plurality of first measurement thresholds. The relationship between the time duration and the measurement threshold in one of the plurality of first reporting configurations is analogous, and is not narrated herein for brevity.
In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of first reporting configurations comprise a plurality of first measurement hystereses, respectively. A measurement hysteresis (e.g., one of the plurality of first measurement hystereses) is a hysteresis parameter for a measurement event.
In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of second reporting configurations comprise a plurality of second time durations (e.g., time-to-trigger (TTT)) and a plurality of second measurement thresholds, respectively. In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of second reporting configurations comprise a plurality of second measurement hystereses, respectively. The plurality of second time durations, the plurality of second measurement thresholds, the plurality of second measurement hystereses and a relationship between a time duration and a measurement threshold in one of the plurality of second reporting configurations may be referred to the above embodiments of the plurality of first time durations, the plurality of first measurement thresholds, the plurality of first measurement hystereses and the relationship between the time duration and the measurement threshold in one of the plurality of first reporting configurations, and are not narrated herein for brevity.
In an embodiment of the invention, an entering condition and a leaving condition for a measurement event are predefined by, for example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard. The measurement event may be one of the measurement events A1-A6 and B1-B2, but not limited herein. Taking the measurement event A1 as an example, the entering condition is Ms−Hys>Thresh, and the leaving condition is Ms+Hys<Thresh. Ms is the measurement result of a serving cell without taking any offsets into account. Hys is a measurement hysteresis (e.g., one of the plurality of first measurement hystereses or one of the plurality of second measurement hystereses) for the measurement event A1. Thresh is a measurement threshold (e.g., one of the plurality of first measurement thresholds or one of the plurality of second measurement thresholds) for the measurement event A1.
In an embodiment of the invention, the first reporting configuration is satisfied (in Step S306) means (e.g., represents) that the entering condition applied according to a hysteresis and a measurement threshold in the first reporting configuration is satisfied and that the leaving condition applied according to the hysteresis and the measurement threshold in the first reporting configuration is not satisfied. In an embodiment of the invention, the second reporting configuration is satisfied means that the entering condition applied according to a hysteresis and a measurement threshold in the second reporting configuration is satisfied and that the leaving condition applied according to the hysteresis and the measurement threshold in the second reporting configuration is not satisfied. That is, the first/second communication apparatus determines that the first/second reporting configuration is satisfied in response to the satisfied entering condition and the unsatisfied leaving condition.
In an embodiment of the invention, a measurement object (e.g., the first measurement object or the second measurement object) indicates (e.g., specifies) a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) to be measured, and further comprises (e.g., specifies) related auxiliary information for the measurement. The first measurement object and the second measurement object may be the same measurement object or different measurement objects.
In an embodiment of the invention, the first measurement configuration comprises a plurality of first measurement identities, and the second measurement configuration comprises a plurality of second measurement identities. In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of first measurement identities indicate that the plurality of first reporting configurations correspond to the first measurement object, respectively. In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of second measurement identities indicate that the plurality of second reporting configurations correspond to the second measurement object, respectively. That is, one reporting configuration may correspond to one measurement object, while one measurement object may correspond to one or more reporting configurations.
In
In other embodiment of the invention, the communication apparatuses CA1-CA3 set the reporting configurations RpConfig1-RpConfig3 by themselves, instead of receiving the reporting configurations RpConfig1-RpConfig3 from the gNB 400 that configures the reporting configurations RpConfig1-RpConfig3 to the communication apparatuses CA1-CA3.
To sum up, the present invention provides a communication apparatus and a method for handling a measurement configuration. The communication apparatuses under different conditions perform measurements and transmit measurement results according to different reporting configurations with different parameters. Therefore, the communication apparatus with a proper reporting configuration may improve the performances of performing the measurement and transmitting the measurement result.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/279,210, filed on Nov. 15, 2021. Further, this application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/332,743, filed on Apr. 20, 2022. The contents of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63279210 | Nov 2021 | US | |
63332743 | Apr 2022 | US |