Non-uniform transmission of synchronization signals

• US 10,548,100 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2017
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Islam, Muhammad Nazmul, Koymen, Ozge, Abedini, Navid, Subramanian, Sundar, Li, Junyi
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhao, Wei
• Application Number:
  US15/462,629
• Publication Number:
  US 20180054276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2662 Arrangements for Wireless System Synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/24 Cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0005 synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal

Abstract

The base station that is configured to transmit in a beamformed manner may set different transmission rates for different directions of the beams. During an initial access stage, the base station may set different transmission rates for different transmission directions, and may transmit initial access signals based on the transmission rates in the different transmission directions The apparatus may be a base station. The base station determines transmission rates for a plurality of transmission directions, where each transmission rate is determined for a respective transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions. The base station transmits at least one initial access signal in each of one or more of the plurality of transmission directions based on a corresponding transmission rate of the transmission rates.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication by a base station, comprising:

determining a plurality of transmission rates, each transmission rate for a respective transmission direction of a plurality of transmission directions; and

transmitting at least one access signal in one or more transmission directions of the plurality of transmission directions based on the transmission rate of each transmission direction of the one or more transmission directions, wherein the at least one access signal is transmitted via a millimeter wave transmission;

wherein each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions corresponds with a respective transmission beam of the base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one access signal includes at least one of a primary synchronization signal, a secondary synchronization signal, an extended synchronization signal, a physical broadcast channel, or a beam reference signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission rate for each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions is determined based on at least one of:

a number of user equipments aligned in the transmission direction,

a number of random access signals received in the transmission direction,

a number of scheduling requests received in the transmission direction, or

at least one of a number of beam training requests or a number of beam recovery requests.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting one or more transmission rates of the plurality of transmission rates for the plurality of transmission directions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the transmitting the one or more transmission rates comprises:

transmitting, in a first transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions, a transmission rate corresponding to the first transmission direction via unicast transmission, wherein a UE is located in the first transmission direction.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more transmission rates are transmitted via at least one of a master information block or a system information block.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a network entity, information about each transmission rate for each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions,

wherein each transmission rate is determined based on the received information.

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

receiving, from a base station, one or more transmission rates of the base station for a plurality of transmission directions, wherein each transmission rate is determined for a respective transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions, wherein each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions corresponds with a respective transmission beam, wherein the one or more transmission rates are received via a millimeter wave transmission;

determining a first transmission rate of the base station corresponding to a first transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions, wherein the UE is located in the first transmission direction; and

configuring at least one communication setting for communicating with the base station based on the first transmission rate of the base station.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one communication setting comprises an activation time of the UE to activate a connection of the UE with the base station.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the activation time of the UE becomes more frequent as the first transmission rate of the base station increases.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving the one or more transmission rates comprises:

receiving, in the first transmission direction, the first transmission rate from the base station.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more transmission rates are received via at least one of a master information block or a system information block.

13. A base station for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

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

determine a plurality of transmission rates, each transmission rate for a respective transmission direction of a plurality of transmission directions; and

transmit at least one access signal in one or more transmission directions of the plurality of transmission directions based on the transmission rate of each transmission direction of the one or more transmission directions, wherein the at least one access signal is transmitted via a millimeter wave transmission;

wherein each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions corresponds with a respective transmission beam of the base station.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the at least one access signal includes at least one of a primary synchronization signal, a secondary synchronization signal, an extended synchronization signal, a physical broadcast channel, or a beam reference signal.

15. The base station of claim 13, wherein the transmission rate for each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions is determined based on at least one of:

a number of user equipments aligned in the transmission direction,

a number of random access signals received in the transmission direction,

a number of scheduling requests received in the transmission direction, or

at least one of a number of beam training requests or a number of beam recovery requests.

16. The base station of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit one or more transmission rates of the plurality of transmission rates for the plurality of transmission directions.

17. The base station of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor configured to transmit the one or more transmission rates is configured to:

transmit, in a first transmission direction of the plurality of the transmission directions, a transmission rate corresponding to the first transmission direction via unicast transmission, wherein a UE is located in the first transmission direction.

18. The base station of claim 16, wherein the one or more transmission rates are transmitted via at least one of a master information block or a system information block.

19. The base station of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, from a network entity, information about each transmission rate for each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions,

wherein each transmission rate is determined based on the received information.

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

a memory; and

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

receive, from a base station, one or more transmission rates of the base station for a plurality of transmission directions, wherein each transmission rate is determined for a respective transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions, wherein each transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions corresponds with a respective transmission beam of the base station, wherein the one or more transmission rates are received via a millimeter wave transmission;

determine a first transmission rate of the base station corresponding to a first transmission direction of the plurality of transmission directions, wherein the UE is located in the first transmission direction; and

configure at least one communication setting for communicating with the base station based on the first transmission rate of the base station.

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the at least one communication setting comprises an activation time of the UE to activate a connection of the UE with the base station.

22. The UE of claim 21, wherein the activation time of the UE becomes more frequent as the first transmission rate of the base station increases.

23. The UE of claim 20, wherein the at least one processor configured to receive the one or more transmission rates is configured to:

receive, in the first transmission direction, the first transmission rate from the base station.

24. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more transmission rates are received via at least one of a master information block or a system information block.