Method and system for allocating random access channel resource

• US 10,080,242 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2014
• Issued: 09/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corporation Limited
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Liu, Kun, Dai, Bo, Lu, Zhaohua, Xia, Shuqiang, Fang, Huiying, Shi, Jing, Li, Xincai
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Castaneyra, Ricardo
• Application Number:
  US15/032,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20160286580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,579 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and system for allocating random access channel resources, wherein the method includes the following steps: a first node sending random access channel configuration information through a downlink channel, wherein the information includes at least configuration information of a random access channel allocated to a second node. The present document relates to the field of mobile communication. The technical solution according to the embodiment of the present document is applicable to a machine type communication (MTC) system, thereby solving the problem of an MTC user equipment (UE) receiving a random access response message, and achieving a receiving configuration of the random access response message in an improvement design.

Claims

1. A method for allocating random access channel resources, comprising:

a first node sending random access channel configuration information through a downlink channel, wherein the information comprises at least configuration information of a random access channel allocated to a second node;

wherein the method further comprises;

dividing second nodes into one or more sets based on different coverage improvement targets that need to be supported, one second node in each set corresponds to one coverage improvement level;

wherein a value range of a coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is determined by a number of coverage improvement levels and a maximum value of the coverage improvements and in accordance with a predefined rule;

or,

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is determined by the number of coverage improvement levels, the maximum value of the coverage improvements and a minimum value of the coverage improvements and in accordance with the predefined rule;

wherein the predefined rule is any of the following;

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is equal and has no overlapping, and value ranges of all coverage improvement targets which are put together are the same as a range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets;

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is equal and has no overlapping, and value ranges of all coverage improvement targets which are put together are less than the range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets;

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level has no overlapping, and a proportional relationship of a length of a value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is configured by a system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node, the value ranges of all the coverage improvement targets which are put together are the same as the range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets,

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level has no overlapping, the proportional relationship of the length of the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node, and the value ranges of all the coverage improvement targets which are put together are less than the value range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets.

2. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the random access channel configuration information is configured by the system, or configured by the first node in System Information (SI) or downlink control information (DCI).

3. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the method further comprises:

the system configuring or the first node sending a number N of coverage improvement levels through the downlink channel to the second node.

4. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 3, wherein, the coverage improvement level corresponds to the value range of one coverage improvement target.

5. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the maximum value of the coverage improvement target is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node

or,

wherein, the minimum value of the coverage improvement target is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node.

6. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the method further comprises:

configuring each coverage improvement level with a random access sequence, wherein, a proportion of a number of the configured random access sequences comprises one or more proportional relationships, and wherein, the proportional relationship is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node.

7. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the method further comprises:

through a coverage improvement level of the second node, indicating a number of retransmissions or a retransmission level of at least one of the following information;

physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) indicating a random access response message of the second node;

PDCCH indicating a radio resource control (RRC) layer connection request message (RRC Connection Request) of the second node;

PDCCH indicating a content resolution message (Contention Resolution) of the second node;

a random access response message of the second node;

an RRC layer connection request message of the second node;

a contention resolution message of the second node,

and wherein, there exists a mapping relationship between the retransmission level of the information and the number of retransmissions of the information, and the number of retransmissions of the information is determined according to the retransmission level of the information.

8. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, time-frequency resources allocated to the random access channels of the second nodes of different coverage improvement levels are different.

9. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 8, wherein, the first node allocates different time-frequency resources to the random access channels of the second nodes of different coverage improvement levels through time division multiplexing (TDM) and/or frequency division multiplexing (FDM), and wherein, in a same period of time, when a plurality of sets of physical resource block (PRB) groups desired for sending random access sequences are configured in frequency domain resources, the first node can use the FDM to allocate different time-frequency resources to the random access channels of the second nodes of different coverage improvement levels,

wherein, the time-frequency resources are at least one of the following:

a PRB, a PRB set, a subframe, and a subframe set.

10. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, time-frequency resources allocated to the random access channels of the second nodes of a plurality of coverage improvement levels are the same.

11. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 10, wherein, random access sequences allocated to the second nodes of the plurality of coverage improvement levels are different, and wherein, in a same period of time, when a plurality of sets of physical resource block (PRB) groups desired for sending the random access sequences are configured in frequency domain resources, proportions of numbers of random access sequences allocated to the second nodes of each coverage improvement level in the plurality of coverage improvement levels are the same in each set of PRB group resources, or a proportional relationship of the numbers of random access sequences allocated to the second nodes of each coverage improvement level in the plurality of coverage improvement levels is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node,

wherein, the time-frequency resources are at least one of the following:

a PRB, a PRB set, a subframe, and a subframe set.

12. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, a format used by the second node for sending random access sequences is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node, and wherein, the method further comprises:

the second node resending a random access sequence for M times according to the format, wherein a value of M is indicated by the coverage improvement level of the second node, wherein, the time-frequency resources of the random access channels occupied by the second node for resending the random access sequence for M times are determined according to the predefined rule, wherein the predefined rule is at least one of the following;

indexes of PRBs or PRB groups corresponding to the time-frequency resources of the random access channels occupied by the random access sequence of M times are the same,

indexes of PRBs or PRB groups corresponding to the time-frequency resources of the random access channels occupied by the random access sequence of M times are different,

frequency-domain positions corresponding to the time-frequency resources of the random access channels occupied by the random access sequence of M times are the same,

frequency-domain positions corresponding to the time-frequency resources of the random access channels occupied by the random access sequence of M times are different,

when only one set of physical resource block (PRB) groups desired for sending the random access sequence is configured in the frequency domain resources in a same period of time, indexes of the PRBs occupied for sending the random access sequence for two successive times are different,

when only one set of physical resource block (PRB) groups desired for sending the random access sequence is configured in the frequency domain resources in the same period of time, frequency positions of the PRBs occupied for sending the random access sequence for two successive times are different,

when a plurality of sets of physical resource block (PRB) groups desired for sending the random access sequence is configured in the frequency domain resources in the same period of time, different sets of PRB group resources are occupied for sending the random access sequence for two successive times, and rules for selecting PRB resources occupied for sending the random access sequence for two successive times are configured by the system.

13. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the method further comprises:

when initially accessing to the system, the second node selecting the coverage improvement level at a first time in accordance with the following rules;

the second node measuring a reference signal sent by the first node, and determining a coverage improvement level selected by the second node at the first time based on a measurement result and a mapping table of measurement results with the coverage improvement levels configured by the system, and wherein, the measurement result is at least one of the following;

reference signal receive power (RSRP),

reference signal receive quality (RSRQ),

received signal strength indicator (RSSI),

path loss between the second node and the first node,

received signal to noise ratio (SNR) of a downlink reference signal,

or,

wherein, the method further comprises;

when initially accessing to the system, the second node selecting the minimum coverage improvement level configured by the system.

14. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the random access channel information allocated to the second node further comprises starting resource position information for the second node sending a random access sequence in the allocated random access channel, and the starting resource position information is at least one of the following:

information of a subframe where the starting resource is located,

information of a frame where the starting resource is located,

information of a physical resource block (PRB) where the starting resource is located,

information of a physical resource block group (PRB group) where the starting resource is located,

information of a subcarrier where the starting resource is located,

or,

wherein, the system configuring is specifically any one or more of the following;

predefining with a standard;

predefining with a network;

configuring with the standard;

configuring with the network;

configuring with a network high layer,

or,

wherein, the first node is at least one of the following;

Macrocell, Microcell, Picocell, Femtocell, low power node (LPN) and Relay.

15. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein, the second node is at least one of the following:

one or more terminals;

one or more terminal groups,

and wherein, the terminal is a machine type communication (MTC) terminal and/or an MTC coverage improvement terminal.

16. The method for allocating random access channel resources of claim 1, wherein,

a number of repetitions of a random access response message of the second node is indicated in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH),

or,

wherein, a number of repetitions of a radio resource control (RRC) layer connection request message of the second node is indicated in the PDCCH,

or,

wherein, information of the number of repetitions of the RRC layer connection request message of the second node is indicated in the random access response message of the second node,

or,

wherein, a number of repetitions of the contention resolution message of the second node is indicated in the PDCCH,

or,

wherein, information of the number of repetitions of the contention resolution message of the second node is indicated in the random access response message of the second node or indicated in the RRC layer connection request message of the second node,

or,

wherein,

after the second node accesses to the system, a number of initial repetitions of the PDCCH of the second node is indicated by the coverage improvement level of the second node,

or, the number of initial repetitions of the PDCCH of the second node is the same as the number of repetitions of the PDCCH indicating the random access response message of the second node,

or, the number of initial repetitions of the PDCCH of the second node is the same as the number of repetitions of the PDCCH indicating the contention resolution message of the second node.

17. A system for allocating random access channel resources, comprising a first node and a second node;

wherein,

the first node is configured to;

send random access channel configuration information through a downlink channel, and the information comprises at least random access channel information allocated to the second node;

wherein the first node is further configured to divide second nodes into one or more sets based on different coverage improvement targets that need to be supported, one second node in each set corresponds to one coverage improvement level;

wherein a value range of a coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is determined by a number of coverage improvement levels and a maximum value of the coverage improvements and in accordance with a predefined rule;

or,

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is determined by the number of coverage improvement levels, the maximum value of the coverage improvements and a minimum value of the coverage improvements and in accordance with the predefined rule;

wherein the predefined rule is any of the following;

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is equal and has no overlapping, and value ranges of all coverage improvement targets which are put together are the same as a range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets;

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is equal and has no overlapping, and value ranges of all coverage improvement targets which are put together are less than the range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets;

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level has no overlapping, and a proportional relationship of a length of a value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node, the value ranges of all the coverage improvement targets which are put together are the same as the range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets,

the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level has no overlapping, the proportional relationship of the length of the value range of the coverage improvement target corresponding to each coverage improvement level is configured by the system or sent by the first node through the downlink channel to the second node, and the value ranges of all the coverage improvement targets which are put together are less than the value range from the minimum value of coverage improvement targets to the maximum value of coverage improvement targets.