Transmitting pilot signals from a UE to multiple base stations

• US 10,028,240 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2017
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Ji, Tingfang, Horn, Gavin Bernard, Smee, John Edward, Soriaga, Joseph Binamira, Bhushan, Naga, Jiang, Jing, Azarian Yazdi, Kambiz, Ang, Peter Pui Lok, Gaal, Peter, Mukkavilli, Krishna Kiran, Gorokhov, Alexei Yurievitch
• Primary Examiner(s): Ghowrwal, Omar J
• Application Number:
  US15/445,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20170171829A1
• Time in Patent Office: 504 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0051 of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0058 Allocation criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/00 Synchronisation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for wireless communication. In one method, a method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) includes receiving a synchronization signal. The synchronization signal may be common to a plurality of cells within a network. The method further includes acquiring a timing of the network based on the synchronization signal, and transmitting a pilot signal in response to acquiring the timing of the network. The pilot signal may identify the UE and be concurrently receivable by the plurality of cells within the network. Other aspects, features, and embodiments are also claimed and described.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

transmitting a pilot signal to a plurality of base stations of a wireless network;

receiving from the wireless network, in response to transmitting the pilot signal, a keep alive signal from a previously non-serving base station of the plurality of base stations; and

undergoing, based at least in part on the pilot signal, a handover of the UE from a previously serving base station of the plurality of base stations to the previously non-serving base station of the plurality of base stations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a pilot signal comprises transmitting a first instance of the pilot signal and transmitting a second instance of the pilot signal, and wherein receiving a keep alive signal comprises receiving a first keep alive signal from the previously serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the first instance of the pilot signal, and receiving a second keep alive signal from the previously non-serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the second instance of the pilot signal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the UE transmits the first instance of the pilot signal and the second instance of the pilot signal from different locations within the wireless network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted using resources allocated for the UE.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pilot signal comprises at least one of:

a spatial signature, a sounding reference signal (SRS), a pre-determined random sequence, a random sequence generated by the UE, or a sequence hashed from a unique identifier of the UE.

6. A device for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:

transmit a pilot signal to a plurality of base stations of a wireless network;

receive from the wireless network, in response to transmitting the pilot signal, a keep alive signal from a previously non-serving base station of the plurality of base stations; and

undergoing a handover of the UE from a previously serving base station of the plurality of base stations to the previously non-serving base station of the plurality of base stations based at least in part on the pilot signal.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein:

the instructions executable by the processor to transmit the pilot signal comprise instructions to transmit a first instance of the pilot signal and transmit a second instance of the pilot signal, and

the instructions executable by the processor to receive a keep alive signal comprise instructions to receive a first keep alive signal from the previously serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the first instance of the pilot signal, and receive a second keep alive signal from the previously non-serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the second instance of the pilot signal.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the UE transmits the first instance of the pilot signal and the second instance of the pilot signal from different locations within the wireless network.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted using resources allocated for the UE.

10. The device of claim 6, wherein the pilot signal comprises at least one of:

a spatial signature, a sounding reference signal (SRS), a pre-determined random sequence, a random sequence generated by the UE, or a sequence hashed from a unique identifier of the UE.

11. A device for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

means for transmitting a pilot signal to a plurality of base stations of a wireless network;

means for receiving from the wireless network, in response to transmitting the pilot signal, a keep alive signal from a previously non-serving base station of the plurality of base stations; and

means for undergoing a handover of the UE from a previously serving cell of the plurality of base stations to the previously non-serving second serving cell of the plurality of base stations based at least in part on the pilot signal.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted using resources allocated for the UE.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the pilot signal comprises at least one of:

a spatial signature, a sounding reference signal (SRS), a pre-determined random sequence, a random sequence generated by the UE, or a sequence hashed from a unique identifier of the UE.

12. The device of 11, wherein the means for transmitting a pilot signal comprises means for transmitting a first instance of the pilot signal and means for transmitting a second instance of the pilot signal, and wherein the means for receiving a keep alive signal comprises means for receiving a first keep alive signal from the previously serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the first instance of the pilot signal, and means for receiving a second keep alive signal from the previously non-serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the second instance of the pilot signal.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the UE transmits the first instance of the pilot signal and the second instance of the pilot signal from different locations within the wireless network.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the code executable by a processor to:

transmit a pilot signal to a plurality of base stations of a wireless network;

receive from the wireless network, in response to transmitting the pilot signal, a keep alive signal from a previously non-serving base station of the plurality of base stations; and

undergo a handover of the UE from a previously serving cell of the plurality of base stations to the previously non-serving cell of the plurality of base stations based at least in part on the pilot signal.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein:

the code executable by the processor to transmit a pilot signal comprises code executable by the processor to transmit a first instance of the pilot signal and transmit a second instance of the pilot signal; and

the code executable by the processor to receive a keep alive signal comprises code executable by the processor to receive a first keep alive signal from the previously serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the first instance of the pilot signal, and receive a second keep alive signal from the previously non-serving base station based at least in part on transmitting the second instance of the pilot signal.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the UE transmits the first instance of the pilot signal and the second instance of the pilot signal from different locations within the wireless network.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the pilot signal is transmitted using resources allocated for the UE.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the pilot signal comprises at least one of:

a spatial signature, a sounding reference signal (SRS), a pre-determined random sequence, a random sequence generated by the UE, or a sequence hashed from a unique identifier of the UE.