METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STATE/MODE TRANSITIONING

• US 20110182193A1
• Filed: 10/05/2010
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Dwyer, Johanna Lisa, Carpenter, Paul Marcus
• Granted Patent: US 9,467,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A user equipment implements a method of processing indication messages, such as SCRI (signalling connection release indication) messages. For at least one RRC (radio resource control) state, if the current RRC state of the UE is a result of a previously sent indication, the UE inhibits itself from sending a further indication message.

Claims

1. A method of processing indication messages in a user equipment, the method comprising:

for at least one RRC state, if the current RRC state of the UE is a result of a previously sent indication message, the UE inhibiting itself from sending a further indication message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the user equipment, if the upper layers indicate that there is no more PS data for a prolonged period;

in the user equipment, sending an indication message with a cause set unless the UE is inhibiting itself from sending a further indication message.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inhibiting the sending of an indication message with the cause set while an inhibit timer is running.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one RRC state consists of CELL_PCH state and URA_PCH state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE inhibiting itself from sending a further indication message comprises:

maintaining a flag, bit token, or other indicator that indicates whether or not the current state of the UE is a result of a previously sent indication message;

if the upper layers indicated that there is no more PS data for a prolonged period of time, transmitting an indication message with the cause set unless the flag, bit token, or other indicator indicates that the current RRC state of the UE is a result of a previously sent indication message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein maintaining a flag, bit token or other indicator comprises:

setting the flag, bit token or other indicator to a first value when the current RRC state is the results of a previously sent indication message;

otherwise setting the flag, bit token or other indicator to a second value.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

setting the flag, bit token or other indicator to the first value comprises setting a “

triggered”

value in a variable TRIGGERED_SCRI_IN_PCH_STATE to FALSE.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

if the upper layers indicate that there is no more PS data for a prolonged period of time;

if the UE is in CELL_PCH or URA_PCH state and the “

triggered”

value is FALSE;

setting the “

triggered”

value to TRUE;

sending the indication message with the cause set.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

after sending the indication message with the cause set, if PS data becomes available for transmission, setting the variable to FALSE.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the current state is a result of a previously sent indication message by determining if the network reconfigures the RRC state to a less battery intensive state of the UE within a predetermined time interval following the sending of an indication message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication message comprises a signalling connection release indication message.

16. The user equipment of claim 1, wherein the UE inhibiting itself from sending a further indication message comprises the UE further configured to:

maintain a flag, bit token, or other indicator that indicates whether or not the current state of the UE is a result of a previously sent indication message;

if the upper layers indicated that there is no more PS data for a prolonged period of time, transmit an indication message with the cause set unless the flag, bit token, or other indicator indicates that the current RRC state of the UE is a result of a previously sent indication message.

17. The user equipment of claim 16, wherein maintaining a flag, bit token or other indicator comprises the UE further configured to:

set the flag, bit token or other indicator to a first value when the current RRC state is the results of a previously sent indication message; and

otherwise set the flag, bit token or other indicator to a second value.

18. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein the UE is further configured to:

set the flag, bit token or other indicator to the first value comprises setting a “

triggered”

value in a variable TRIGGERED SCRI IN PCH STATE to FALSE.

19. The user equipment of claim 18, further configured to:

if the upper layers indicate that there is no more PS data for a prolonged period of time;

if the UE is in CELL_PCH or URA_PCH state and the “

triggered”

value is FALSE;

set the “

triggered”

value to TRUE;

send the indication message with the cause set.

20. The user equipment of claim 19, further configured to:

after sending the indication message with the cause set, if PS data becomes available for transmission, set the variable to FALSE.

21. The user equipment of claim 1, further configured to:

determine if the current state is a result of a previously sent indication message by determining if the network reconfigures the RRC state to a less battery intensive state of the UE within a predetermined time interval following the sending of an indication message.

22. The user equipment of claim 1, wherein the indication message comprises a signalling connection release indication message.

12. A user equipment configured to process indication messages, the user equipment configured to:

for at least one RRC state, if the current RRC state of the UE is a result of a previously sent indication message, inhibit itself from sending a further indication message.

13. The user equipment of claim 12, further configured to:

if the upper layers indicate that there is no more PS data for a prolonged period;

send an indication message with a cause set unless the UE is inhibiting itself from sending a further indication message.

14. The user equipment of claim 12, further configured to:

inhibit the sending of an indication message with the cause set while an inhibit timer is running.

15. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the at least one RRC state consists of CELL_PCH state and URA_PCH state.