METHODS UTILIZED IN MOBILE DEVICES AND BASE STATIONS, AND THE MOBILE DEVICES AND BASE STATIONS THEREOF

• US 20100124188A1
• Filed: 11/20/2008
• Published: 05/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Chih-Hsiang
• Application Number:
  US12/275,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20100124188A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access

Abstract

A method utilized in a mobile device includes: transmitting a broadcasted random access (RA) preamble to a base station for initiating a first RA procedure; receiving a dedicated RA preamble from the base station after the first RA procedure is initiated; and transmitting the dedicated RA preamble to the base station for initiating a second RA procedure.

Claims

1. A method utilized in a mobile device, the method comprising:

transmitting a broadcasted random access (RA) preamble to a base station for initiating a first RA procedure;

receiving a dedicated RA preamble from the base station after the first RA procedure is initiated; and

transmitting the dedicated RA preamble to the base station for initiating a second RA procedure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dedicated RA preamble is transmitted when the first RA procedure is failed or ongoing.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

setting a period after the broadcasted RA preamble is transmitted,

wherein the first RA procedure is failed when the period expires.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

resetting a counter used to count a number of times of the transmission of RA preamble when the dedicated RA preamble is received.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

resetting a counter used to count a number of times of the transmission of RA preamble when the dedicated RA preamble is received;

wherein the counter is reset before a failure of the first RA procedure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second RA procedure is used when a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the base station is established and the mobile device is not synchronized with the base station.

7. A method utilized in a base station, the method comprising:

receiving a broadcasted random access (RA) preamble used to initiate an RA procedure from a mobile device;

assigning a dedicated RA preamble to the mobile device;

transmitting an RA response corresponding to the broadcasted RA preamble to the mobile device and then receiving a scheduled transmission including a cell radio network temporary identity (C_RNTI) from the mobile device; and

releasing the dedicated RA preamble when the C_RNTI or a media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) from the mobile device is received.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the MAC PDU is received later than the receipt of the C_RNTI.

9. A method utilized in a mobile device, the method comprising:

transmitting a random access (RA) preamble to a base station;

receiving a control message including downlink (DL) data arrival from the base station;

transmitting a scheduled transmission message to the base station when an RA response from the base station is received and then starting a contention resolution timer; and

before the contention resolution timer expires, transmitting a scheduling request message to the base station.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the scheduling request message is used to notify that the RA preamble is used for uplink (UL) data transmission.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of transmitting the scheduling request message comprises:

transmitting the scheduling request message to the base station with an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted to the base station.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the scheduling request message is transmitted with the ACK or the NACK when the contention resolution timer does not expire.

13. A method utilized in a base station, the method comprising:

determining whether an random access (RA) preamble is used for uplink (UL) data transmission; and

sending a control message including a UL grant to the mobile device when the RA preamble is considered to be used for UL data transmission.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein when the RA preamble is received within a number of subframes after the control message including the DL data arrival is sent, the RA preamble is used for UL data transmission.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the number is determined according to a DL transmission time via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a processing time of the mobile device, a delay time due to a physical random access channel (PRACH) allocation, and a UL transmission time via a random access channel (RACH).

16. A mobile device, comprising:

a communication unit, for communicating with a base station; and

a control unit, for controlling the communication unit;

wherein the control unit controls the communication unit to transmit a broadcasted random access (RA) preamble to a base station for initiating a first RA procedure;

the communication unit receives a dedicated RA preamble from the base station after the first RA procedure is initiated; and

the control unit controls the communication unit to transmit the dedicated RA preamble to the base station for initiating a second RA procedure.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the communication unit transmits the dedicated RA preamble when the first RA procedure is failed or ongoing.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control unit further sets a period after the broadcasted RA preamble is transmitted;

and the first RA procedure is failed when the period expires.

19. The mobile device of claim 16, further comprising:

a counter, for counting a number of times of the transmission of RA preamble;

wherein the control unit resets the counter when the dedicated RA preamble is received.

20. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising:

a counter, for counting a number of times of the transmission of RA preamble;

wherein the control unit resets the counter before a failure of the first RA procedure when the dedicated RA preamble is received by the communication unit.

21. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the second RA procedure is used when a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the base station is established and the communication unit is not synchronized with the base station.

22. A base station, comprising:

a communication module, for communicating with a mobile device; and

a control module, for controlling the communication module;

wherein the communication module receives a broadcasted random access (RA) preamble used to initiate an RA procedure from the mobile device;

the control module controls the communication module to assign a dedicated RA preamble to the mobile device;

the communication module transmits an RA response corresponding to the broadcasted RA preamble to the mobile device and then receives a scheduled transmission including a cell radio network temporary identity (C_RNTI) from the mobile device; and

the control module releases the dedicated RA preamble when the C_RNTI or a media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) from the mobile device is received by the communication module.

23. The base station of claim 22, wherein the MAC PDU is received later than the receipt of the C_RNTI.

24. A mobile device, comprising:

a communication unit, for communicating with a base station; and

a control unit, for controlling the communication unit;

wherein the control unit controls the communication unit to transmit an random access (RA) preamble to the base station;

the communication unit receives a control message including downlink (DL) data arrival from the base station;

the control unit controls the communication unit to transmit a scheduled transmission message to the base station when an RA response from the base station is received and then starts a contention resolution timer; and

the control unit controls the communication unit to transmit a scheduling request message to the base station before the contention resolution timer expires.

25. The mobile device of claim 24, wherein the scheduling request message is used to notify that the RA preamble is used for uplink (UL) data transmission.

26. The mobile device of claim 24, wherein the communication unit transmits the scheduling request message to the base station with an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted to the base station.

27. The mobile device of claim 26, wherein the scheduling request message is transmitted with the ACK or the NACK when the contention resolution timer does not expire.

28. A base station, comprising:

a communication module, for communicating with a mobile device; and

a control module, for controlling the communication module;

wherein the control module determines whether a random access (RA) preamble is used for uplink (UL) data transmission; and

the control unit controls the communication unit to send a control message including a UL grant to the mobile device when the RA preamble is considered to be used for UL data transmission.

29. The base station of claim 28, wherein the RA preamble is used for UL data transmission when the RA preamble is received within a number of subframes after the control message including the DL data arrival is sent.

30. The base station of claim 29, wherein the number is determined according to a DL transmission time via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a processing time of the mobile device, a delay time due to a physical random access channel (PRACH) allocation, and a UL transmission time via a random access channel (RACH).