Communication device and communication method

• US 10,499,221 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2016
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Guo, Xin, Sun, Chen, Wei, Yuxin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gidado, Rasheed
• Application Number:
  US15/544,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20180270635A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,407 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0473 the resource being transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/23 Manipulation of direct-mode connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a communication device and a communication method. The communication device according to one embodiment comprises an acquisition unit, a determining unit, and a trigger unit. The acquisition unit is configured to acquire distribution information of user devices in a dynamic network, said user devices at least comprising a slave device, the slave device in device-to-device communication acquiring a communication service by means of a master device. The determined unit is configured to determining a re-configuration method of the dynamic network on the basis of the acquired information. The trigger unit is configured to trigger the re-configuration of the dynamic network on the basis of the determined method.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to

acquire information on distribution of user equipments in a dynamic network, wherein the user equipments comprise at least a slave device which obtains a communication service via a master device during a device-to-device communication,

acquire a density of slave devices in a signal coverage of the communication device, wherein the communication device is a master user equipment, the density of slave devices being acquired from a network infrastructure based on one or more of a position and a transmission power of the master user equipment reported to the network infrastructure,

determine an operation parameter of the master user equipment according to a predetermined relation between the density of slave devices and a network performance, the operation parameter comprising one or more of a transmission power of the master user equipment and the maximum number of slave devices served by the master user equipment,

determine a reconfiguration scheme of the dynamic network according to the information, and

trigger a reconfiguration to be performed on the dynamic network according to the determined scheme.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration scheme comprises one or more of a reselection of the master device and a resetting of an operation parameter of the master device.

3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the resetting of the operation parameter of the master device comprises one or more of adjusting a transmission power of the master device and adjusting a slave device served by the master device.

4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

trigger, based on a predetermined event, a user equipment in a signal coverage of the communication device to transmit a distribution measurement signal to determine information on the distribution of the user equipments.

5. The communication device according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined event comprises at least one of:

a change in a mobility characteristic of the communication device satisfying a predetermined condition;

a change in a signal transmission parameter of the communication device exceeding a predetermined threshold;

a timer for triggering a distribution measurement satisfying a timing condition; and

a communication state between the communication device and a slave user equipment served by the communication device satisfying a predetermined condition.

6. The communication device according to claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

trigger a user equipment in the signal coverage of the communication device to transmit the distribution measurement signal by at least one of:

transmitting a first broadcast signal related to a distribution measurement request to the user equipment in the signal coverage of the communication device, wherein the first broadcast signal comprises a reference signal for a device-to-device communication; and

transmitting a distribution measurement request message to a serving base station of the communication device to trigger, by the serving base station, the user equipment in the signal coverage of the communication device to transmit the distribution measurement signal.

7. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

estimate the density by using, as a distribution measurement signal, a second broadcast signal transmitted by a user equipment which does not serve as a slave device served by the communication device, wherein the second broadcast signal comprises a discovery signal for a device-to-device communication or a synchronization signal for the device-to-device communication.

8. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

adjust the transmission power of the communication device according to the determined transmission power;

and/or

transmit a device-to-device communication releasing request to a slave device of the communication device and/or transmit a device-to-device communication establishing request to a user equipment in the signal coverage of the communication device.

9. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device is the network infrastructure.

10. A communication device for user side, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to

receive a transmitting request from a user equipment or a network infrastructure; and

transmit, based on the transmitting request, a reference signal to a master device for determining a distribution of the communication device in a dynamic network in a case where the communication device does not serve as a slave device which obtains a communication service via the master device during a device-to-device communication, the master device being configured to estimate a density of user equipments based on the reference signal transmitted by the communication device, the reference signal being a distribution measurement signal comprising a discovery signal for a device-to-device communication or a synchronization signal for the device-to-device communication,

wherein the master device is configured to determine an operation parameter of the master device according to a predetermined relation between the density of slave devices and a network performance, the operation parameter comprising one or more of a transmission power of the master device and the maximum number of slave devices served by the master device.

11. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

receive the transmitting request via a physical downlink control channel or a media access control element.

12. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein in a case where a time configuration for transmitting the reference signal is indicated in the transmitting request, the processing circuitry is further configured to

transmit the reference signal according to the indicated time configuration.

13. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

receive, from user equipment, a broadcast signal comprising the transmitting request, and

transmit the reference signal only in a case where a strength of the received broadcast signal comprising the transmitting request is higher than a predetermined level.

14. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the reference signal comprises identification information of the communication device.

15. A communication method performed by a communication device, comprising:

receiving a transmitting request from a user equipment or a network infrastructure; and

transmitting, based on the transmitting request, a reference signal to a master device for determining a distribution of the communication device in a dynamic network in a case where the communication device does not serve as a slave device which obtains a communication service via the master device during a device-to-device communication, the master device being configured to estimate a density of user equipments based on the reference signal transmitted by the communication device, the reference signal being a distribution measurement signal comprising a discovery signal for a device-to-device communication or a synchronization signal for the device-to-device communication,

wherein the master device is configured to determine an operation parameter of the master device according to a predetermined relation between the density of slave devices and a network performance, the operation parameter comprising one or more of a transmission power of the master device and the maximum number of slave devices served by the master device.