Device and method for modifying cell measurements based on device mobility

• US 10,080,153 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2015
• Issued: 09/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Yiu, Candy, Tang, Yang, Huang, Rui, Zhang, Yujian
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Mong-Thuy
• Application Number:
  US15/119,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20160360438A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455457
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

User Equipment (UE), computer readable media, and methods to modify communication channel measurement timing based on a mobility of the UE are disclosed. The UE may include circuitry configured to determine a plurality of signals from one or more cells, determine a first value for a first performance metric associated with a first cell of the one or more cells, wherein the first value is determined from a first measurement, select the first cell for a first communication based on the first value, determine first location information associated with the UE, determine, following the first measurement and using the first location information, that the UE is stationary, and delay, in response to the determination that the UE is stationary, a second measurement of the first performance metric. In various alternate embodiments, different measurement types may be used for mobility and channel quality determinations. In further embodiments, only measurements for unused channels may be delayed.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

an interface configured to receive a plurality of signals from one or more cells, with each cell associated with an evolved node B (eNB); and

circuitry configured to;

determine the plurality of signals from one or more cells;

determine a first value for a first performance metric associated with a first cell of the one or more cells, wherein the first value is determined from a first measurement;

select the first cell for a first communication based on the first value;

determine first location information associated with the UE;

determine, following the first measurement and using the first location information, whether the UE is stationary;

delay, in response to a determination that the UE is stationary, a second measurement of the first performance metric;

based on the selection of the first cell, periodically determine a value for the first performance metric associated with the first cell following the determination that the UE is stationary;

wherein the delay, in response to the determination that the UE is stationary, of the second measurement comprises delaying a determination of a second value for the first performance metric associated with a second cell of the one or more cells that is different than the first cell.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more cells comprises the first cell and the second cell;

wherein the first cell comprises a macro cell operating using a first frequency layer; and

wherein the second cell comprises a picocell operating using a second frequency layer different than the first frequency layer.

3. The UE of claim 2 wherein the plurality of signals comprises a first signal from the first cell to the UE in the first frequency layer and a second signal from the second cell using the second frequency layer.

4. The UE of claim 3 wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine the second value for the first performance metric associated with the second cell as part of the first measurement; and

wherein the first cell is further selected based on a comparison between the first value and the second value.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the plurality of signals comprises circuitry configured to:

determine the plurality of signals from the first cell, wherein the plurality of signals is at least one from the following group;

a reference signal receive power (RSRPs), a reference signal receive quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), a signal-to-interference-ratio (SIR), a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and a channel quality indication (CQI).

6. The UE of claim 5 wherein the circuitry configured to determine that the UE is stationary comprises circuitry configured to determine one or more measures of a window size for each of the plurality of the signals, wherein the one or more measures is at least one from the following group:

a variance of one or more signal values, a standard deviation of the one or more signal values, a percent confidence interval (CI) of a mean of the one or more measures, and a linear combination of two or more other of the one or more measures.

7. The UE of claim 1 wherein the first performance metric is a Doppler threshold associated with at least one of the plurality of signals.

8. The UE of claim 1 wherein the circuitry configured to determine that the UE is stationary comprises circuitry configured to:

transmit the first location information to an evolved node B (eNB); and

receive, in response to transmission of the first location information, a measurement delay indicator.

9. The UE of claim 8 wherein the circuitry configured to delay, in response to the determination that the UE is stationary, the second measurement of the first performance metric comprises circuitry configured to process the measurement delay indicator as an indicator that the UE is stationary.

10. The UE of claim 9 wherein the first location information is transmitted to a mobility management entity (MME) via the eNB;

wherein the MME determines, based on the first location information, that the UE is stationary; and

wherein the MME initiates the measurement delay indicator in response to the determination by the MME that the UE is stationary.

11. The UE of claim 1 wherein the circuitry configured to determine, following the first measurement and using the first location information, that the UE is stationary comprises circuitry configured to:

determine a mobility value for the UE using the first location information;

identify a stationary threshold; and

determine that the mobility value is below the stationary threshold.

12. The UE of claim 11 further comprising circuitry configured to:

determine second location information associated with the UE, wherein the first location information is determined during a first time period, and wherein the second location information is determined during a second time period that is after the first time period;

determine, following the second measurement and using the second location information, that the UE is not stationary; and

initiating, in response to the determination that the UE is stationary and following the delay, the second measurement of the first performance metric.

13. The UE of claim 12 wherein the circuitry configured to determine, following the second measurement and using the second location information, that the UE is not stationary comprises circuitry configured to:

determine a second mobility value for the UE using the second location information; and

determine that the mobility value is above the stationary threshold.

14. The UE of claim 11 further comprising circuitry configured to:

communicate a stationary determination message based on the determination that the mobility value is below the stationary threshold; and

receive a measurement delay communication in response to communication of the stationary determination message.

15. The UE of claim 11 further comprising an antenna, wherein the stationary determination message is transmitted via an air interface to an evolved node B (eNB) using the antenna, and wherein the measurement delay communication is received via the air interface from the eNB using the antenna.

16. The UE of claim 1 further comprising one or more antennas coupled to the interface and configured to transmit and receive data from the one or more cells.

17. The UE of claim 16 further comprising a memory configured to store instructions for execution by one or more processors coupled to the memory, the circuitry, and the one or more antennas.

18. The UE of claim 17 further comprising a display device coupled to the one or more processors and configured to display data received from at least a first cell of the one or more cells via the one or more antennas.

19. A method for selecting a first cell comprising:

determining, by a user equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry and wireless communication circuitry, a plurality of wireless signals from a plurality of cells;

determining a first signal quality for a first cell of the plurality of cells, wherein the first signal quality is determined from a first measurement of a first wireless signal;

determining a second signal quality for a second cell of the plurality of cells, wherein the second signal quality is determined from a second measurement of a second wireless signal;

selecting the first cell for a first communication based on a comparison of the second signal quality to the first signal quality;

determining first location information associated with the UE; and

delaying, based on the first location information a third measurement for a third signal quality determination;

determining a plurality of signals from the first cell, wherein each signal of the plurality of signals is at least one from the following group;

a reference signal receive power (RSRP), a reference signal receive quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), a signal-to-interference-ratio (SIR), a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and a channel quality indication (CQI);

determining a second plurality of signals from the second cell, wherein each signal of the second plurality of signals is at least one from the following group;

a reference signal receive power (RSRP), a reference signal receive quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), a signal-to-interference-ratio (SIR), a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and a channel quality indication (CQI);

determining a plurality of offsets between each signal of the plurality of signals from the first cell and the corresponding signal of the second plurality of signals from the second cell;

determining one or more measures for each of a window size of the plurality of offsets, wherein each measure of the one or more measures is at least one from the following group;

a variance of the plurality of offsets, a standard deviation of the plurality of offsets, a percent confidence interval (CI) of a mean of the plurality of offsets, and a linear combination of two or more of the one or more measures; and

determining whether the UE is stationary based on the one or more measures.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

following determination of the first location information, communicating a first mobility communication from the UE to a mobility management entity (MME); and

prior to delaying the third measurement, receiving, from the MME, a measurement delay communication in response to the first mobility communication.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining that the UE is stationary if the one or more measures is the variance of the plurality of signals and the variance of the plurality of signals is lower than a threshold variance.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining whether the UE is at an edge of the serving cell; and

using a first number for the window size if the UE is at the edge of the serving cell and using a second number for the window size if the UE is not at the edge of the serving cell.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining that the UE is stationary if the one or more measures is the standard deviation of the plurality of signals and the standard deviation of the plurality of signals is below a threshold standard deviation.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes a user equipment (UE) to:

measure a first signal quality for a first connection from the UE to a first cell;

measure a second signal quality for a second connection from the UE to a second cell;

measure a mobility of the UE;

adjust, based on the mobility of the UE, a subsequent signal quality measurement based on the mobility of the UE; and

measure a third signal quality for a third connection to a third cell, wherein the third cell is different from the first cell and the second cell;

wherein adjusting the subsequent signal quality measurement comprises delaying a fourth signal quality for the first connection, a fifth signal quality for the second connection, and a sixth signal quality for the third connection.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24 wherein the instructions further cause the UE to:

communicate the mobility of the UE to a mobility management entity (MME); and

receive from the MME a measurement control communication;

wherein the subsequent signal quality is adjusted in response to the measurement control communication from the MME.