Narrowband internet of things device channel scanning

• US 10,681,621 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2017
• Issued: 06/09/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Ahmet, Jeff, Gupta, Puja
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Parth
• Application Number:
  US15/842,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20190191363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks

Abstract

A NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) device can find a connection to an NB-IoT cell by searching for an available NB-IoT carrier. An available NB-IoT carrier can be found by scanning through frequencies associated with a plurality of channel numbers on a predefined NB-IoT channel list, the plurality of channel numbers being associated with a plurality of NB-IoT carriers offered by one or more base stations. The NB-IoT carriers are frequency bands within a larger spectrum band associated with a telecommunications provider. The NB-IoT device can camp on a particular NB-IoT carrier when the particular NB-IoT carrier has an available physical resource block (PRB).

Claims

1. A method of finding a connection to a NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) cell, comprising:

searching, by an NB-IoT device, for an NB-IoT carrier having an associated physical resource block (PRB) by scanning through frequencies associated with a plurality of channel numbers on a predefined NB-IoT channel list, the plurality of channel numbers being associated with a plurality of NB-IoT carriers offered by one or more base stations;

finding, by the NB-IoT device as a result of the searching, no NB-IoT carrier associated with a channel number of the plurality of channel numbers on the predefined NB-IoT channel list having the associated PRB;

in response to finding no NB-IoT carrier associated with the channel number of the plurality of channel numbers on the predefined NB-IoT channel list having the associated PRB, allocating, by a base station of the one or more base stations, the associated PRB to an available NB-IoT carrier; and

camping, by the NB-IoT device, on the available NB-IoT carrier of the plurality of NB-IoT carriers upon being allocated the associated PRB,

wherein individual ones of the plurality of NB-IoT carriers are frequency bands within a larger spectrum band associated with a telecommunications provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channel numbers is Evolved Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Numbers (EARFCNS) that indicate center frequencies of the NB-IoT carriers.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the NB-IoT device, the predefined NB-IoT channel list from a telecommunication network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of NB-IoT carriers is 180 kHz wide.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the NB-IoT device searches for the available NB-IoT carrier using the predefined NB-IoT channel list upon the NB-IoT device being turned on.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the NB-IoT device searches for the available NB-IoT carrier using the predefined NB-IoT channel list upon the NB-IoT device being moved to a new location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the NB-IoT device searches for the available NB-IoT carrier using the predefined NB-IoT channel list on a preset schedule.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the NB-IoT device searches for the available NB-IoT carrier using the predefined NB-IoT channel list on the preset schedule after a determination that a previously connected NB-IoT carrier is no longer available.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of NB-IoT carriers comprises standalone NB-IoT carriers repurposed from a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) carrier in the larger spectrum band, guard band NB-IoT carriers positioned between two Long-Term Evolution (LTE) carriers in the larger spectrum band, and/or in-band NB-IoT carriers positioned within LTE carriers in the larger spectrum band.

10. A NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) device, comprising:

one or more processors,

a radio interface configured to communicate with a base station via an available NB-IoT carrier; and

memory storing a predefined NB-IoT channel list and computer-executable instructions;

wherein the predefined NB-IoT channel list includes a plurality of channel numbers associated with a plurality of NB-IoT carriers, the plurality of channel numbers being associated with the plurality of NB-IoT carriers that are frequency bands within a larger spectrum band associated with a telecommunications provider, and

wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

searching for an NB-IoT carrier having an associated physical resource block (PRB) by scanning through frequencies associated with the plurality of channel numbers on the predefined NB-IoT channel list;

finding, as a result of the searching, no NB-IoT carrier associated with a channel number of the plurality of channel numbers on the predefined NB-IoT channel list having the associated PRB;

in response to finding no NB-IoT carrier associated with the channel number of the plurality of channel numbers on the predefined NB-IoT channel list, causing the base station to allocate the associated PRB to an available NB-IoT carrier; and

camping on the available NB-IoT carrier of the plurality of NB-IoT carriers upon being allocated the associated PRB.

11. The NB-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of channel numbers is Evolved Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Numbers (EARFCNS) that indicate center frequencies of the NB-IoT carriers.

12. The NB-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the predefined NB-IoT channel list from a telecommunication network.

13. The NB-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the searching for the available NB-IoT carrier using the predefined NB-IoT channel list is performed upon the NB-IoT device being turned on.

14. The NB-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the searching for the available NB-IoT carrier using the predefined NB-IoT channel list is performed upon the NB-IoT device being moved to a new location.

15. The NB-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the searching for the available NB-IoT carrier using the predefined NB-IoT channel list is performed on a preset schedule.

16. The NB-IoT device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of NB-IoT carriers comprises standalone NB-IoT carriers repurposed from a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) carrier in the larger spectrum band, guard band NB-IoT carriers positioned between two Long-Term Evolution (LTE) carriers in the larger spectrum band, and/or in-band NB-IoT carriers positioned within LTE carriers in the larger spectrum band.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

searching for a NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) carrier having an associated physical resource block (PRB) by scanning through frequencies associated with a plurality of channel numbers on a predefined NB-IoT channel list, the plurality of channel numbers being associated with a plurality of NB-IoT carriers offered by one or more base stations;

finding, by the NB-IoT device as a result of the searching, no NB-IoT carrier associated with a channel number of the plurality of channel numbers on the predefined NB-IoT channel list having the associated PRB;

in response to finding no NB-IoT carrier associated with the channel number of the plurality of channel numbers on the predefined NB-IoT channel list having the associated PRB, allocating, by a base station of the one or more base stations, the associated PRB to an available NB-IoT carrier; and

camping a radio interface on the available NB-IoT carrier of the plurality of NB-IoT carriers upon being allocated the associated PRB,

wherein individual ones of the plurality of NB-IoT carriers are frequency bands within a larger spectrum band associated with a telecommunications provider.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the plurality of channel numbers is Evolved Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Numbers (EARFCNS) that indicate center frequencies of the NB-IoT carriers.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the predefined NB-IoT channel list from a telecommunication network.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the plurality of NB-IoT carriers comprises standalone NB-IoT carriers repurposed from a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) carrier in the larger spectrum band, guard band NB-IoT carriers positioned between two Long-Term Evolution (LTE) carriers in the larger spectrum band, and/or in-band NB-IoT carriers positioned within LTE carriers in the larger spectrum band.