NAS-BASED SIGNALING PROTOCOL FOR OVERLOAD PROTECTION OF RANDOM ACCESS IN MASSIVE MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATION

• US 20110292893A1
• Filed: 05/24/2011
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Sanggook, LEE, Kidong
• Granted Patent: US 8,929,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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 scheme of minimizing the random access load on the network to support MTC or M2M devices is provided. In particular, the concept of grouping (e.g., collecting, combining, aggregating, etc.) MTC or M2M devices based on non-access stratus (NAS) signaling is performed. Doing so results in reduced the random access load on the network such that a large number of MTC or M2M devices can be accommodated.

Claims

1. A method for machine type communication (MTC) performed by a machine type communication (MTC) device, the method comprising:

receiving, from an evolved Node-B (eNB), a radio resource control (RRC) user equipment (UE) capability enquiry message that contains information comprising a system information block (SIB) and information related to a machine type communication (MTC) group timer; and

performing a first procedure for grouping machine type communication (MTC) devices, comprising;

sending, to the eNB, UE capability information and interval period information in response to receiving the RRC UE capability enquiry message; and

receiving, from an MME via the eNB, a group configuration message after the eNB receives, from the MME, scheduling information for grouping of MTC devices;

or

performing a second procedure for grouping machine type communication (MTC) devices, comprising;

receiving, from the eNB, a contention resolution message during a random access procedure;

sending, via the eNB, a radio resource control (RRC) connection setup complete message to allow the MME to schedule grouping of MTC devices; and

receiving, via the eNB, a group configuration message that contains information related to grouping of MTC devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first procedure for grouping MTC devices is MME based grouping, and the second procedure for grouping MTC devices is random access based grouping.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein for the first procedure, the group configuration message is transparent to the eNB and is received via a downlink shared channel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein for the second procedure, the contention resolution message includes interval period information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the group configuration message is determined by the eNB and received from the eNB.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein for the second procedure, the group configuration message is received after the eNB receives such from an MME that performs scheduling for grouping of MTC devices.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the RRC connection setup complete message is sent to the MME via the eNB.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the group configuration message is determined by the MME and received from the MME via the eNB.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein for the second procedure, the MTC device is in RRC_CONNECTED MODE before the random access procedure when a serving cell and a best cell are different, wherein the best cell is a cell to which the MTC device is to be connected to or handed over to.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein after the random access procedure is performed to the best cell, the group configuration message is received after the eNB receives from an MME that performs scheduling for grouping of MTC devices.

11. A method for machine type communication (MTC) performed by an evolved Node-B (eNB), the method comprising:

sending, to a machine type communication (MTC) device, a radio resource control (RRC) user equipment (UE) capability enquiry message that contains information comprising a system information block (SIB) and information related to a machine type communication (MTC) group timer; and

performing a first procedure for grouping machine type communication (MTC) devices, comprising;

receiving, from the MTC device, UE capability information and interval period information in response to sending the RRC UE capability enquiry message; and

sending, to the MTC device, a group configuration message after receiving, from a mobility management entity (MME), scheduling information for grouping of MTC devices;

or

performing a second procedure for grouping machine type communication (MTC) devices, comprising;

sending, to the MTC device, a contention resolution message during a random access procedure;

receiving, from the MTC device, a radio resource control (RRC) connection setup complete message to allow the mobility management entity (MME) to schedule grouping of MTC devices; and

sending, to the MTC device, a group configuration message that contains information related to grouping of MTC devices.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first procedure for grouping MTC devices is MME based grouping, and the second procedure for grouping MTC devices is random access based grouping.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein for the second procedure, the contention resolution message includes interval period information and the group configuration message is determined by the eNB.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein for the second procedure, the group configuration message is sent to the MTC device after the eNB receives such from an MME that performs scheduling for grouping of MTC devices, wherein the RRC connection setup complete message is sent to the MME via the eNB, and wherein the group configuration message is determined by the MME and received from the MME.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein for the second procedure, the MTC device is in RRC_CONNECTED MODE before the random access procedure when a serving cell and a best cell are different, wherein the best cell is a cell to which the MTC device is to be connected to or handed over to, and wherein after the random access procedure is performed to the best cell, the group configuration message is sent to the MTC device after the eNB receives from an MME that performs scheduling for grouping of MTC devices.

16. A method for machine type communication (MTC) performed by a mobility management entity (MME), the method comprising:

performing a first procedure for grouping machine type communication (MTC) devices, comprising;

sending, to an evolved Node-B (eNB), an initial context setup request message;

receiving, from the eNB, an initial context setup response message in response to the sent initial context setup request message;

receiving, from the eNB that cooperates with a plurality of machine type communication (MTC) devices, UE capability information and periodicity information related to the MTC devices;

maintaining the UE capability information received from the eNB until the MTC devices detach from or attach with the eNB;

performing MME scheduling for grouping of the MTC devices based on the UE capability information received from the eNB; and

sending, to the MTC devices via the eNB, a group configuration message that contains information related to the grouping of the MTC devices;

or

performing a second procedure for grouping machine type communication (MTC) devices, comprising;

receiving, from the eNB, in-sequence delivery of NAS based on contention resolution performed between the eNB and at least one MTC device during a random access procedure;

performing MME scheduling for grouping of MTC devices based on the in-sequence delivery of NAS received from the eNB; and

sending, to the at least one MTC device via the eNB, a group configuration message that contains information related to the grouping of MTC devices.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein in the first procedure, all steps are performed without performing a random access procedure.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein all steps are performed for MTC devices that are newly activated or newly attached to the eNB.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein in the second procedure, the step of performing MME scheduling involves making a decision about which slave or secondary nodes belong to which master or principal nodes based on RRC connection setup complete messages that the eNB received from the MTC devices.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the decision is based on an event-driven method or a periodic method.