METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING PAGING MECHANISMS AND PUBLICATION OF DYNAMIC PAGING MECHANISMS

• US 20100240400A1
• Filed: 03/23/2009
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Choi, Hyung-Nam
• Granted Patent: US 9,839,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/458
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods and apparatus enabling a wireless network to dynamically change or implement paging mode operation, such as optimization based on one or more network parameters. In one embodiment, the wireless network is a cellular network (e.g., 3G UMTS or LTE), and both base stations and cellular user devices dynamically configure the paging mode operation based on various desired operational attributes relating to the network parameters. Such flexible paging mechanisms may be published to the network users via several methods, and users with appropriately enabled user devices may improve their power and applications performance. Base stations may also advantageously reclaim freed-up cellular resources to support other services. Legacy subscribers are also not affected.

Claims

1. A method of providing paging channel access for a cellular network, the paging channel access being optimized for one or more network parameters, comprising:

allocating one or more resources for paging channel access based at least in part on the one or more network parameters;

providing a schedule for paging channel access to a plurality of user devices, the schedule identifying the allocated one or more resources; and

transmitting the schedule, the transmission enabling at least one of the user devices to configure its modem to receive the allocated one or more resources.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the schedule comprises broadcasting the schedule via a common control channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the schedule is particularly addressed to only a subset of the plurality of user devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the schedule comprises broadcasting the schedule via a dedicated control channel.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of allocating one or more resources comprises limiting paging channel access to only one of:

(i) a transmission time, (ii) a frequency band, or (iii) a spreading code.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating one or more resources comprises limiting paging channel access to at least one of:

(i) a transmission time, (ii) a frequency band, or (iii) a spreading code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network parameters comprise at least one of:

(i) total cell bandwidth, (ii) level of bandwidth fragmentation, and (iii) one or more characteristics of the plurality of user devices.

8. A method of receiving one or more paging channel configurations by a user of a cellular network via at least a first message provided by the cellular network, the method comprising:

receiving the first message at a user device;

extracting a paging schedule from the first message;

configuring a modem interface of the user device to receive one or more paging channel notifications based at least in part on the schedule; and

responsive to receiving a paging channel notification, determining if the received paging channel notification is for the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the paging schedule is received over a common control channel.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the schedule is particularly addressed to only a subset of user devices in the network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the paging schedule is received over a dedicated control channel.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the method is optimized for at least one of:

(i) total cell bandwidth, (ii) level of bandwidth fragmentation, and (iii) one or more characteristics of the plurality of user devices.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the configuring of the modem interface comprises updating an internal schedule identifying one or more times and one or more frequency bands available for discontinuous reception (DRY).

14. Wireless base station apparatus, comprising:

a digital processor;

a wireless interface in data communication with the processor; and

a storage device in data communication with the processor, the storage device comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the digital processor;

determine a mode for paging channel transmissions based at least in part on one or more wireless network parameters;

transmit information relating to the mode via the wireless interface; and

transmit the paging channel transmission via the wireless interface based on the mode.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the wireless network comprises a cellular network, and the one or more wireless network parameters comprise at least one of:

(i) total cellular cell bandwidth, (ii) level of bandwidth fragmentation, and (iii) one or more characteristics of a plurality of user devices associated with the network.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the transmission of the information relating to the mode comprises transmission of the information addressed to only a subset of the plurality of user devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the transmission of the information relating to the mode comprises transmission of the information addressed to the plurality of user devices via a cellular common control channel.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the wireless network comprises a cellular network, and the one or more wireless network parameters comprise at least Radio Resource Connection (RRC) state.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus comprises an LTE-compliant macrocell base station.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information relating to the mode comprises:

information regarding a carrier frequency on which the paging transmission is to be transmitted;

timing data according to which a paging identifier and a paging message are to be transmitted; and

information relating to a bandwidth size of one or more channels on which a user device of the network may receive the paging identifier and paging message.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the information relating to the mode further comprises Radio Resource Connection (RRC) state information.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more channels comprise a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), and the paging identifier and paging message are to be transmitted on the PDCCH and the PDSCH, respectively.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the determination of a mode for paging channel transmissions based at least in part on one or more wireless network parameters comprises selecting one of a plurality of different modes, the plurality of modes being substantially non-overlapping in time and frequency with respect to one another.

24. Wireless receiver apparatus, comprising:

a digital processor;

a wireless interface in data communication with the digital processor; and

a storage device in data communication with the processor, the storage device comprising at least one computer program which, when run on the processor;

receives a schedule for paging channel transmissions;

configures the wireless interface to receive one or more paging channel notifications based at least in part on the received schedule; and

responsive to receiving a paging channel notification, determines if the first paging channel notification is addressed to the receiver apparatus.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the schedule is received via an interface different than the wireless interface.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the interface different than the wireless interface comprises a transceiver within the apparatus adapted to receive wireless signals according to a protocol different than that associated with the wireless interface.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the wireless receiver apparatus comprises a substantially mobile cellular smartphone.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the cellular smartphone comprises a multi-touch screen user interface.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the configuration of the wireless interface comprises updating an internal schedule identifying one or more times and one or more frequency bands available for discontinuous reception (DRX).

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the schedule comprises:

a first information identifying a carrier frequency on which the paging channel notification is to be transmitted;

a first timing data according to which a paging identifier and a paging message are to be transmitted; and

a second information relating to a bandwidth size of one or more channels on which the receiver apparatus may receive the paging identifier and paging message.

31. Computer readable apparatus having a storage medium comprising a plurality of computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a digital processor:

determine a schedule for paging channel transmissions based at least in part on one or more wireless network parameters;

cause transmission of the schedule via a wireless interface associated with a host device on which the instructions are executed; and

cause transmission of the paging channel via the wireless interface based on the schedule.

32. A method of doing business with respect to a cellular network, the method comprising:

distributing a base station adapted for ad hoc deployment within the network to a user of the network; and

causing the base station to configure one or more paging mechanisms so as to minimally disrupt existing paging mechanisms associated with at least one other base station within the network.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the configuration of one or more paging mechanisms so as to minimally disrupt existing paging mechanisms associated with at least one other base station comprises configuring the distributed base station to operate substantially within unused or underutilized portions of frequency spectrum allocated to the network and used by the at least one other base station.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the distributed base station comprises a femtocell, and the at least one other base station comprises a fixed macrocell base station.