Patent Grant
12127300
This application is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCT/CN2019/079273, filed Mar. 22, 2019, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes.
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for communicating with a multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) deployment configuration.
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, etc. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access systems include 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Advanced (LTE-A) systems, code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, to name a few.
In some examples, a wireless multiple-access communication system may include a number of base stations (BSs), which are each capable of simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, otherwise known as user equipments (UEs). In an LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more base stations may define an eNodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a next generation, a new radio (NR), or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communication system may include a number of distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), transmission reception points (IRPs), etc.) in communication with a number of central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), where a set of one or more DUs, in communication with a CU, may define an access node (e.g., which may be referred to as a BS, next generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB), TRP, etc.). A BS or DU may communicate with a set of UEs on downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a BS or DU to a UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to a BS or DU).
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. New radio (e.g., 5G NR) is an example of an emerging telecommunication standard. NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL) and on the uplink (UL). To these ends, NR supports beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.
However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in NR and LTE technology, Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.
The systems, methods, and devices of the disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressed by the claims which follow, some features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled “Detailed Description” one will understand how the features of this disclosure provide advantages that include improved communications between access points and stations in a wireless network.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a user-equipment (UE). The method generally includes receiving a first message from a network entity enquiring regarding information associated with a multi-subscriber identify module (SIM) capability of the UE, determining the information associated with the multi-SIM capability of the UE in response to the inquiry from the network entity, and communicating one or more messages to indicate the information regarding the multi-SIM capability to the network entity.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a user-equipment (UR). The method generally includes generating at least one control element (CE) having information indicating at least one tune-away period of a radio-access technology (RAT) associated with a multi-subscriber identify module (SIM) capability of the LTE, and transmitting the at least one CE indicating the at least one tune-away period to a network entity.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a network entity. The method generally includes generating a first message enquiring regarding information associated with a multi-subscriber identify module (SIM) capability of a user-equipment (UE), transmitting the first message to the UE, and communicating one or more messages to obtain the information regarding the multi-SIM capability.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a network entity. The method generally includes receiving at least one control element (CE) having information indicating at least one tune-away period of a radio-access technology (RAT) associated with a multi-subscriber identify module (SIM) capability of the UE, and communicating with the UE in accordance with the indication of the at least one tune-away period.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes generating a first message indicating a preferred discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of a user-equipment (UE) for reception via a radio-access technology (RAT) associated with a subscriber identify module (SIM) of the UE associated with a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, transmitting the first message to a network entity, and receiving a second message indicating another DRX cycle to be applied for reception via the RAT after transmitting the first message.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes generating a radio resource control (RRC) request, the RRC request comprising an indication of whether the RRC request is requesting an RRC release or an RRC suspension with respect to a subscriber identify module (SIM) of a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, transmitting the RRC request to a network entity, and receiving an RRC message from the network entity confirming the RRC request.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes negotiating a prescheduled resource allocation with a network entity prior to a start of periodic tune-away periods, generating a message indicating an update to a periodic tune-away gap configuration associated with the periodic tune-away periods, and transmitting the message via the prescheduled resource allocation.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes detecting that a bandwidth part (BWP) setting at a user-equipment SUE) is out of sync with a network entity, generating a control element (CE) indicating that the BWP setting is out of sync, transmitting the CE to the network entity, and receiving downlink control information (DCI) indicating a new BWP to use for communication with the network entity.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes receiving a first message indicating a preferred discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of a user-equipment (UE) for reception via a radio-access technology (RAT) associated with a subscriber identify module (SIM) of the UE associated with a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, generating a second message indicating another DRX cycle to be applied for the reception via the RAT after receiving the first message, and transmitting the second message.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes receiving a radio resource control (RRC) request from a user-equipment (UE), the RRC request comprising an indication of whether the RRC request is requesting an RRC release or an RRC suspension with respect to a subscriber identify module (SIM) of a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, generating an RRC message confirming the RRC request, and transmitting the RRC message to the UE.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes negotiating a prescheduled resource allocation with a user-equipment (UE) prior to a start of periodic tune-away periods, and receiving a message indicating an update to a periodic tune-away gap configuration associated with the periodic tune-away periods.
Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication. The method generally includes receiving a control element (CE) indicating that a bandwidth part (BWP) setting at a user-equipment (UE) is out of sync with the network entity, generating downlink control information (DCI) indicating a new BWP to use for communication with the network entity, and transmitting the DCI to the UE.
Aspects of the present disclosure provide means for, apparatus, processors, and computer-readable mediums for performing the methods described herein.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the appended drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed.
So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized on other aspects without specific recitation.
Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer readable mediums for communicating information regarding a multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) capability of a UE, such as registering tune-away period configurations and synchronizing configuration states between the UE and the network.
The following description provides examples, and is not limiting of the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to, or other than, the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.
The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication technologies, such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), and other networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often used interchangeably.
A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA, cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as NR (e.g. 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd. Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2).
New Radio (NR) is an emerging wireless communications technology under development in conjunction with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). NR access (e.g., 5G NR) may support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth 80 MHz or beyond), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g., 25 GHz or beyond), massive machine type communications MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques, and/or mission critical targeting ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TI) to meet respective quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may co-exist in the same subframe.
The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in other generation-based communication systems, such as 5G and later, including NR technologies.
As illustrated in
In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a subcarrier, a frequency channel, a tone, a subband, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.
A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in the home, etc.). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in
Wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is a station that receives a transmission of data and/or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and sends a transmission of the data and/or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a LTE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in
Wireless communication network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes BSs of different types, e.g., macro BS, pico BS, femto BS, relays, etc. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impact on interference in the wireless communication network 100. For example, macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 20 Watts) whereas pico BS, femto BS, and relays may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 Watt).
Wireless communication network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the BSs may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operation.
A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs 110 via a backhaul. The BSs 110 may also communicate with one another (e.g., directly or indirectly) via wireless or wireline backhaul.
The UEs 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, an appliance, a medical device or medical equipment, a biometric sensor/device, a wearable device such as a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wrist band, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, a smart bracelet, etc.), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device, a satellite radio, etc.), a vehicular component or sensor, a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., that may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.
Certain wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kHz and the minimum resource allocation (called a “resource block” (RB)) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Consequently, the nominal Fast Fourier Transfer (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (e.g., 6 RBs), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 MHz, respectively. In LTE, the basic transmission time interval (TTI) or packet duration is the 1 ms subframe. In NR, a subframe is still 1 ms, but the basic TTI is referred to as a slot. A subframe contains a variable number of slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . . slots) depending on the subcarrier spacing. The NR RB is 12 consecutive frequency subcarriers. NR may support a base subcarrier spacing of 15 KHz and other subcarrier spacing may be defined with respect to the base subcarrier spacing, for example, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc. The symbol and slot lengths scale with the subcarrier spacing. The CP length also depends on the subcarrier spacing.
NR may utilize OFDM with a CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. Beamforming may be supported and beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding may also be supported. In some examples, MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmissions up to 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE, In some examples, multi-layer transmissions with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported, Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to 8 serving cells.
In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., a BS) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. Base stations are not the only entities that may function as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity and may schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and the other UEs may utilize the resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, and/or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may communicate directly with one another in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity.
In some examples, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) may communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Real-world applications of such sidelink communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relaying, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, Internet of Everything (IoE) communications, IoT communications, mission-critical mesh, and/or various other suitable applications. Generally, a sidelink signal may refer to a signal communicated from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE1) to another subordinate entity (e.g., UE2) without relaying that communication through the scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even though the scheduling entity may be utilized for scheduling and/or control purposes. In some examples, the sidelink signals may be communicated using a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks, which typically use an unlicensed spectrum).
In
At the BS 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller/processor 240. The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and cell-specific reference signal (CRS). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODS) 232a-232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from modulators 232a-232t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a-234t, respectively.
At the UE 120, the antennas 252a-252r may receive the downlink signals from the BS 110 and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 254a-254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller/processor 280.
On the uplink, at UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) from the controller/processor 280. The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal for the sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by the demodulators in transceivers 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 110. At the BS 110, the uplink signals from the UE 120 may be received by the antennas 234, processed by the modulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller/processor 240.
The controllers/processors 240 and 280 may direct the operation at the BS 110 and the UE 120, respectively. The controller/processor 240 and/or other processors and modules at the BS 110 may perform or direct the execution of processes for the techniques described herein. The memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.
Example Signaling Protocol for Multi-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Deployment
New radio (NR) concurrent radio-access technology (RAT) operation generally refers to operating multiple simultaneous active connections with at least one connection being on NR. For example, the two connections may involve LTE and NR connections, or both NR connections. Multi-subscriber identify module (SEM) devices are able to connect to multiple networks independently without network awareness. Different UE behaviors may occur based on different implementations like dual-SIM dual active (DSDA) or dual-SINE dual standby (DSDS). DSDS generally refers to a dual-SIM deployment where the two SIM cards of the UE may be unable to simultaneously generate traffic. DSDA on the other hand refers to a dual-SIM deployment where both SIM cards of the UE may be active at the same time. As used herein, a SIM generally refers to both virtual and hardware implementations of a SIM. In other words, each SIM may be implemented using hardware (e.g., a physical SIM card) on the multi-SIM device, or implemented virtually using a remote database.
For a UE with DSDS deployment, two technologies may share the same set of RE components. Therefore, performance degradation may be experienced on one SIM due to various issues related to UE and network mismatch when the UE engages in activities for another SIM. For example, the receiver (Rx) and transmitter (Tx) chain in multi-SIM (MSIM) UEs may only be able to tune to a single network at a time, and therefore the two or more network interfaces cannot operate simultaneously. Instead, the UE may monitor multiple interfaces in a standby mode by tuning to one network (e.g., corresponding to a first radio access technology (RAT), such as NR) and then to the other network (e.g., corresponding to a second RAT, such as NR or LTE). For example, the radio may connect to a first network and periodically tune-away to other networks on standby to maintain service. In this tune-away procedure, the radio tunes to the standby network for a relatively short time and then tunes back to the first network to continue a voice or data call. This tune-away procedure allows the mobile device to monitor for pages (e.g., pages associated with maintaining connections to a network and indicating incoming calls) received on the standby network(s). If a page is received, a UE may automatically switch networks to answer an incoming telephone call.
The multiple SIMS of the multi-SIM deployment of the UE may belong to different network carriers. For example, for a first SIM and a corresponding NW carrier, the network may be unaware of information regarding a second SIM of the UE (e.g., subscriber identifier (ID)/security key). The first SIM may inform the network when the first SIM is to be deactivated or if the first SIM is requesting a special adjustment/release, as described in more detail herein. From the network perspective, the first and second SIMs of the UE may be operated in an independent manner, allowing the first and second SIMs to belong to different network carriers.
Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a signaling extension for MSIM UEs for communicating information regarding the MSIM configuration to the network. For example, certain aspects provide techniques for UE UE MSIM capability reporting and updating (e.g., whether the UE supports dual receive (DR)-DSDS, single receive (SR)-DSDS, the RAT combination of the SIMs NR/NR, or LTE/NR)), and UE capability update of a state of a second SIM such as deactivation of a second SIM or update to a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, or change of the RAT associated with the second SIM.
Certain aspects also provide techniques for requesting UE configuration adjustment. For example, requesting UE configuration adjustment may involve a UE specific DRX cycle or paging position change, UE radio resource control (RRC) connection suspension request, UE tune-away event reporting, informing the network of the pattern, timing, and duration of periodic or aperiodic tune-away events, and resource allocation prescheduling, as described in more detail herein. Certain aspects also provide a recovery mechanism from abnormal states that may be detected, and in some cases, caused by the tune-away periods described herein. Farr example, the recover mechanism may involve downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) link efficiency recovery, secondary cell (SCELL) state synchronization, UL timing synchronization, or bandwidth part (BWP) synchronization with the network.
Certain aspects provide discovery techniques for an extended signaling protocol which may be used for communicating capability information associated with the MSIM deployment. For example, the UE and network entity may exchange information regarding whether each of the UE and network entity support the extended signaling protocol.
Operations 300 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 280 of FIG. Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the UE in operations 300 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antennas 252 of
The operations 300 begin, at block 302, by the UE receiving a first message from a network entity enquiring regarding information associated with a MSIM capability of the UE, and at block 304, the UE determining the information associated with the MSIM capability of the UE in response to the inquiry from the network entity. At block 306, the UE communicates one or more messages to indicate the information regarding the multi-SIM capability to the network entity.
Operations 400 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 240 of
The operations 400 begin, at block 402, by the network entity generating a first message enquiring regarding information associated with a MSIM capability of a UE, and at block 404, by the network entity transmitting the first message to the UE. At block 406, the network entity communicates one or more messages to obtain the information regarding the MSIM capability.
Certain aspects may also involve the UE receiving a system information block (SIB) indicating that the network entity supports a signaling protocol (e.g., referred to herein as an extended NR signaling (ENS) protocol), the one or more messages being communicated in response to the indication that the network entity supports the signaling protocol. In other words, the extended NR signaling discovery may involve the network broadcasting a system information block (e.g., SIB1) having padding (e.g., reserve bits) used to identify the network entity as an ENS capable network. In certain aspects, the UE may also transmit an extended signaling message identifying the UE as an ENS capable UE. After this discovery procedure, the operations 300 and 400 may begin for communicating the one or more messages indicating the MSIM capability of the UE. In certain aspects, the UE may indicate to the network entity a change of capability, such as a tag change of standard capabilities, or tag change of ENS capabilities.
The ENS capability report may indicate the capability of the UE 120 with respect to MSIM, such as whether the UE 120 supports DSDA, SR-RSDS, or DR-DSDS. The UE may also indicate the type of a RAT associated with a second SIM of the UE (e.g., NR, long-term evolution (LTE), universal mobile telecommunications service (UMTS), global system for mobile communications (GSM)) in addition to the RAT (NR) of the first SIM of the UE 120.
Certain aspects also provide techniques for providing a capability update with regards to the second SIM, a RAT change, or deactivation of the second SIM in a similar manner, but with the second SIM information updated or removed. In certain aspects, the capability exchange may include indications of a supported media access control (MAC) control element (MCE) set, a logical channel identifier (LCID), and multiple gap pattern capability, as described in more detail herein.
In certain aspects, the UE 120 may transmit a UE 120 configuration adjustment request to the network entity, which may involve a UE specific DRX cycle or paging position change, and UE RRC connection suspend or RRC connection release with resource block (RB) suspend (e.g., replaced by NR RRC connection resume). For example, the UE configuration adjustment request may request that an adjustment be made to UE specific DRX cycle during an idle mode of operation at the UE. For example, the UE may negotiate a preferred DRX with the network entity to adjust the DRX cycle, as described in more detail with respect to
The operations 650 begin, at block 652, by generating a first message indicating a preferred discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of a user-equipment (UE) for reception via a radio-access technology (RAT) associated with a subscriber identify module (SIM) of a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, at block 654, transmitting the first message to a network entity, and at block 656, receiving a second message indicating another DRX cycle to be applied for reception via the RAT after transmitting the first message.
The operations 660 begin, at block 662, by receiving a first message indicating a preferred discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of a user-equipment (UE) for reception via a radio-access technology (RAT) associated with a subscriber identify module (SIM) of a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, at block 664, generating a second message indicating another DRX cycle to be applied for the reception via the RAT after receiving the first message, and at block 666, transmitting the second message.
The DRX change request may indicate a preferred DRX cycle of the UE 120. The preferred DRX cycle may be indicated using an offset value with reference to a reference DRX cycle. The network entity 110 (e.g., gNB) may then response with a TAU accept message. The TAU accept message may either accept the preferred DRX cycle of the UE 120, or indicate a different DRX cycle to be used. For example, the network entity 110 may indicate an offset value with reference to the preferred DRX cycle indicated by the UE 120. The network entity 110 may then apply the negotiated DRX cycle (e.g., changed DRX cycle and offset) for the UE 120 while the UE 120 is in RRC idle mode. By allowing for the negotiation of the DRX cycle, page collision between the different sub paging occasions (e.g. used for gaming) may be reduced.
Certain aspects of the present disclosure are generally directed to a UE specific connected-mode DRX (CDRX) cycle and offset adjustment request. Certain aspects, provide a protocol to allow the UE to negotiate with the network regarding a preferred CDRX configuration including CDRX length and offset. This protocol for negotiating a CDRX configuration may increase power savings by allowing a UE to request a longer CDRX length (e.g., for both single SIM or multi-SIM configurations), while also allowing for the avoidance of collision between one CDRX subsystem and another CDRX or DRX page occasion (e.g., for DSDS MSIM specific configuration). The protocol also allows for the avoidance of transmit and receive interference between two subsystems (e.g., for DSDA MSIM).
The negotiation of the CDRX cycle and offset value allows for power saving and reduction of CDRX collision with other sub paging occasions for a DSDS system. Negotiating the CDRX cycle and offset value may also reduce CDRX receive interference during transmissions of the other subsystem (e.g., transmission for a RAT of a second SIM) assuming a DSDA system is implemented.
The operations 850 begin, at block 852, by generating a radio resource control (RRC) request, the RRC request comprising an indication of whether the RRC request is requesting an RRC release or an RRC suspension with respect to a subscriber identify module (SIM) of a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, at block 854, transmitting the RRC request to a network entity, and at block 856, receiving an RRC message from the network entity confirming the RRC request.
The operations 860 begin, at block 862, by receiving a radio resource control (RRC) request from a user-equipment (UE), the RRC request comprising an indication of whether the RRC request is requesting an RRC release or an RRC suspension with respect to a subscriber identify module (SIM) of a multi-SIM deployment of the UE, at block 864, generating an RRC message confirming the RRC request, and at block 866, transmitting the RRC message to the UE.
When a UE decides to respond to a page in a second system corresponding to a second SIM of the UE, or when the UE needs to perform some signaling activity in the second system, the UE may stop the current activity in the first system corresponding to a first SIM of the UE. Without the ability to suspend any ongoing activity for the first system, the UE may autonomously release the RRC connection with the first system, which may be interpreted as an error case by the first system and has the potential to distort the statistics in the first system, and misguide the algorithms that rely on them. Moreover, during the UE's absence, the first system may continue paging the UE which may result in waste of paging resources. Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to RRC suspension techniques that allow a UE to temporarily leave and return to the first system in a network-controlled manner.
The UE 120 may then resume the RRC connected mode by transmitting an RRC connection resume message, which may be followed by an RRC resume message transmitted by the network entity 110, and a transmission of an RRC resume, complete message from the UE 120. In certain aspects, the network entity 110 may optionally send an RRC reconfiguration to reconfigure the ENS setup after RRC resume is complete.
Certain aspects of the present disclosure are generally directed to an ENS protocol implemented using a specific logical channel identifier (LCID), as described in more detail herein. An ENS protocol supported network entity may be able to handle a MAC control element (MCE) with a specified LCID.
Operations 1100 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 280 of
Operations 1200 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 240 of
The operations 1200 begin, at block 1202, by the network entity 110 receiving at least one control element (CE) having information indicating at least one tune-away period of a RAT associated with a multi-SIM capability of the UE, and at block 1204, communicating with the UE in accordance with the indication of the at least one tune-away period.
In certain aspects, the UE may send another periodic gap registration MCE to update the periodic gap information previously registered. The UE may register multiple periodic gap patterns which may be indicated by different pattern indices.
In certain aspects, the MCE 1400 also includes a periodic timing advance (TA) pattern index, as well as indicate a periodic tune-away pattern, DRX cycle length index, DRX index for the periodic tune-away pattern, a typical tune-away duration for the periodic tune-away periods, and Rx/Tx capability during the tune-away periods. The indications of the MCE 1400 may be reported for each of the active carriers at the UE.
In certain aspects, the MCE may indicate a maximum aperiodic tune-away gap duration. When the actual aperiodic tune-away gap duration is longer than the maximum tune-away gap duration reported via the MCE, the network entity 110 may remove the ENS context of the UE 120 and send an RRC release message to the UE 120, assuming that the UE 120 has entered RRC idle mode, as illustrated.
Certain aspects provide techniques for a UE to transmit a UE tune-back indication to a network entity. For example, the UE 120 may send a tune-back indication MCE to inform the network entity that the UE's Tx/Rx capability has been restored when the aperiodic tune-away gap ends.
Certain aspects provide techniques for a UE PUSCH prescheduling. In some cases, the UE periodic gap pattern, including the reference gap start, gap duration, and Tx/Rx capability of a carrier (e.g., LTE carrier), changes frequently. Therefore, it is important for the UE to be able to update the periodic gap registration in time to keep the UE and the network entity in sync. In certain aspects, the network entity 110 may preschedule resources for the UE to transmit the updated tune-away configurations before the periodic tune-away gap begins in order to reduce the potential gap update delay. In other words, without prescheduling resources for the UE, the UE may have to send a scheduling request (SR) to receive a grant of resources to transmit the updated configuration. By receiving a prescheduled resource pattern, which may be indicated in a PUSCH prescheduling MCE, the UE may transmit the updated configuration with reduced overhead after a periodic tune-away gap has ended.
The operations 2250 begin, at block 2252, by negotiating a prescheduled resource allocation with a network entity prior to a start of periodic tune-away periods, at block 2254, generating a message indicating an update to a periodic tune-away gap configuration associated with the periodic tune-away periods, and at block 2256, transmitting the message via the prescheduled resource allocation.
The operations 2260 begin, at block 2262, by negotiating a prescheduled resource allocation with a user-equipment (UE) prior to a start of periodic tune-away periods, and at block 2264, receiving a message indicating an update to a periodic tune-away gap configuration associated with the periodic tune-away periods.
The network entity may send an activation/deactivation MCE to the UE if the network finds that a certain SCELL state is out of sync with the UE, as described herein. The UE may then follow the activation/deactivation MCE with the synchronized SCELL state. The MCE for the SCELL synchronization may include an MCE type indication and SCELL state indication where a ‘0’ (e.g., logic low state of a bit) indicates that the SCELL with SCell index i is in deactivated state and where a ‘1’ (e.g., logic high state of a bit) indicates that the SCELL is activated.
The operations 2850 begin, at block 2852, by detecting that a bandwidth part (BWP) setting at a user-equipment (UE) is out of sync with a network entity, at block 2854, generating a control element (CE) indicating that the BWP setting is out of sync, the CE indicating a preferred BWP of the UE, at block 2856, transmitting the CE to the network entity, and at block 2858, receiving downlink control information (DCI) indicating a new BWP to use for communication with the network entity.
The operations 2860 begin, at block 2862, by receiving a control element (CE) indicating that a bandwidth part (BWP) setting at a user-equipment (UE) is out of sync with the network entity, the CE indicating a preferred BWP of the UE, at block 2864, generating downlink control information (DCI) indicating a new BWP to use for communication with the network ty based on the CE, and at block 2866, transmitting the DCI to the UE.
The processing system 3002 includes a processor 3004 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 3012 via a bus 3006. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 3012 is configured to store instructions computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor 3004, cause the processor 3004 to perform the operations described herein, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein In certain aspects, computer-readable medium/memory 3012 stores code 3014 for receiving a message (e.g., one of various MCEs described herein, or message enquiring about UE capability), code 3016 for generating (e.g., for transmission via bus 3006) a message (e.g., one of various MCEs described herein, or message enquiring about UE capability), and code 3018 for determining capability information. In certain aspects, the processor 3004 has circuitry configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 3012. The processor 3004 includes circuitry 3020 for receiving a message (e.g., MCE), code 3024 for generating a message (e.g., MCE), and code 3026 for determining capability information.
The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the methods. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.
As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, h, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-h, a-a-c a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c).
As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” may include receiving receiving information accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and the like.
The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended, to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 § 112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “step for.”
The various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and/or software component(s) and/or module(s), including, but not limited to a circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or processor. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in figures, those operations may have corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components with similar numbering.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may comprise a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented with a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, machine-readable media, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, among other things, to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of a user terminal 120 (see
If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer readable medium. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including the execution of software modules stored on the machine-readable storage media. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. By way of example, the machine-readable media may include a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data, and/or a computer readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon separate from the wireless node, all of which may be accessed by the processor through the bus interface. Alternatively, or in addition, the machine-readable media, or any portion thereof, may be integrated into the processor, such as the case may be with cache and/or general register files. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, by way of example, RAM (Random Access Memory), flash memory, ROM (Read Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable media may be embodied in a computer-program product.
A software module may comprise a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media. The computer-readable media may comprise a number of software modules. The software modules include instructions that, when executed by an apparatus such as a processor, cause the processing system to perform various functions. The software modules may include a transmission module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices, By way of example, a software module may be loaded into RAM from a hard drive when a triggering event occurs, During execution of the software module, the processor may load some of the instructions into cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general register file for execution by the processor. When referring to the functionality of a software module below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when executing instructions from that software module.
Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray® disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects computer-readable media may comprise non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). In addition, for other aspects computer-readable media may comprise transitory computer-readable media (e.g., a signal). Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
Thus, certain aspects may comprise a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For example, instructions for performing the operations described herein.
Further, it should be appreciated that modules and/or other appropriate means for performing the methods and techniques described herein can be downloaded and/or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and/or base station as applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, various methods described herein can be provided via storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or floppy disk, etc.), such that a user terminal and/or base station can obtain the various methods upon coupling or providing the storage means to the device. Moreover, any other suitable technique for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device can be utilized.
It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.
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| WO2020/191524 | 10/1/2020 | WO | A |
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