Conveying RACH information through PBCH

• US 10,531,492 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2017
• Issued: 01/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Islam, Muhammad Nazmul, Luo, Tao, Cezanne, Juergen, Subramanian, Sundar, Li, Junyi, Hampel, Karl Georg, Sadiq, Bilal
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): Steiner, Stephen N
• Application Number:
  US15/421,213
• Publication Number:
  US 20180054837A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

In millimeter wave systems, user equipment may not be able to receive RACH parameters through a PDCCH when the information is transmitted with an omni-directional beam. In an aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus, such as a base station, may determine the RACH parameters and transmit a subset of the RACH parameters via a PBCH. The user equipment may receive the RACH parameter subset and initiate a RACH procedure.

Claims

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

receiving a message that includes random access channel (RACH) information associated with a base station via a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) or an extended PBCH (ePBCH), wherein the RACH information comprises a subset of RACH parameters including at least one of a beam sweep periodicity, a base station transmit power, a RACH configuration, a RACH frequency, or a RACH power ramping step;

receiving via the PBCH an indication of whether the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH; and

transmitting a RACH message to the base station during a RACH procedure based on the received RACH information without waiting for remaining RACH parameters of the subset of RACH parameters to be received via the ePBCH, wherein the remaining RACH parameters are not in the RACH information received via the PBCH.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the RACH information is received in the PBCH or the ePBCH based on whether the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the RACH message is transmitted during the RACH procedure based on the RACH information if the subset of RACH parameters will not be received via the ePBCH.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving via the PBCH an indication of a periodicity with which the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the RACH message is transmitted during the RACH procedure based on the periodicity with which the subset of RACH parameters are to be received in the ePBCH.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least the subset of RACH parameters via a system information block (SIB).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the SIB is received via the ePBCH.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the SIB is received via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least the subset of RACH parameters during the RACH procedure.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the RACH message is transmitted to the base station before the UE receives a system information block (SIB) from the base station via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), or the ePBCH.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the message that includes RACH information is beamformed.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the RACH message is transmitted based on the indication received via the PBCH of whether the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH.

12. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

means for receiving a message that includes random access channel (RACH) information associated with a base station via a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) or an extended PBCH (ePBCH), wherein the RACH information comprises a subset of RACH parameters including at least one of a beam sweep periodicity, a base station transmit power, a RACH configuration, a RACH frequency, or a RACH power ramping step;

wherein the means for receiving is configured to receive via the PBCH an indication of whether the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH; and

means for transmitting a RACH message to the base station during a RACH procedure based on the received RACH information without waiting for remaining RACH parameters of the subset of RACH parameters to be received via the ePBCH, wherein the remaining RACH parameters are not in the RACH information received via the PBCH.

13. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

receive a message that includes random access channel (RACH) information associated with a base station via a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) or an extended PBCH (ePBCH), wherein the RACH information comprises a subset of RACH parameters including at least one of a beam sweep periodicity, a base station transmit power, a RACH configuration, a RACH frequency, or a RACH power ramping step;

receive via the PBCH an indication of whether the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH; and

transmit a RACH message to the base station during a RACH procedure based on the received RACH information without waiting for remaining RACH parameters of the subset of RACH parameters to be received via the ePBCH, wherein the remaining RACH parameters are not in the RACH information received via the PBCH.

14. The UE of claim 13, wherein the RACH information is received based on whether the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH.

15. The UE of claim 13, wherein the RACH message is transmitted during the RACH procedure based on the RACH information if the subset of RACH parameters will not be received via the ePBCH.

16. The UE of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive via the PBCH an indication of a periodicity with which the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH.

17. The UE of claim 16, wherein the RACH message is transmitted during the RACH procedure based on the periodicity with which the subset of RACH parameters are to be received in the ePBCH.

18. The UE of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive at least the subset of RACH parameters via a system information block (SIB).

19. The UE of claim 18, wherein the SIB is received via the ePBCH.

20. The UE of claim 18, wherein the SIB is received via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

21. The UE of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive at least the subset of RACH parameters during the RACH procedure.

22. The UE of claim 13, wherein the RACH message is transmitted to the base station before the UE receives a system information block (SIB) from the base station via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), or the ePBCH.

23. The UE of claim 13, wherein the message that includes RACH information is beamformed.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium of a user equipment (UE) storing computer executable code, comprising code to:

receive a message that includes random access channel (RACH) information associated with a base station via a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) or an extended PBCH (ePBCH), wherein the RACH information comprises a subset of RACH parameters including at least one of a beam sweep periodicity, a base station transmit power, a RACH configuration, a RACH frequency, or a RACH power ramping step;

receive via the PBCH an indication of whether the subset of RACH parameters are to be received via the ePBCH; and

transmit a RACH message to the base station during a RACH procedure based on the received RACH information without waiting for remaining RACH parameters of the subset of RACH parameters to be received via the ePBCH, wherein the remaining RACH parameters are not in the RACH information received via the PBCH.