METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION ASSOCIATED WITH PERFORMING RESELECTION IN A MULTI-RAT SYSTEM

• US 20120250548A1
• Filed: 03/27/2012
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Swaminathan, Arvind, Balasubramanian, Srinivasan, Mahajan, Amit
• Application Number:
  US13/431,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20120250548A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0061 of neighbour cell information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00835 Determination of neighbour cell lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure propose methods and apparatuses for reducing power consumption associated with performing reselection between radio access technologies (RATs). For example, a network that supports first and second RATs may obtain a list of neighbor base stations of a third RAT and determine whether to transmit the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both. In another aspect, a user equipment (UE) may combine information from the neighbor lists received from the first and the second RATs, and decide whether to take measurements in the third RAT based on the combined information. The UE may also maintain a central entity with measurements taken in the third RAT based on the neighbor lists received from the first and the second RATs and decide whether to perform cell reselection based on measurements in the central entity.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

obtaining, in a network that supports first and second radio access technologies (RATs), a neighbor list of base stations of a third RAT; and

determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to transmit the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second RATs comprises a code division multiple access (CDMA) RAT.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first and second RATs comprises a Data Optimized (DO) RAT.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the third RAT comprises a long term evolution (LTE) RAT.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria comprises relative robustness of coverage of the first and second RATs.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria comprises relative comprehensiveness of coverage of the first and second RATs for a desired territory of mobility.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria comprises relative size of coverage areas of the first and second RATs.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria comprises relative paging cycle duration of the first and second RATs.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs based on the determination.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the neighbor list comprises:

in an area with no coverage from the third RAT, setting number of neighbors in the neighbor list to zero; and

transmitting the neighbor list.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the neighbor list on one of the first RAT or the second RAT based on the determination; and

causing measurements to be performed in the third RAT based on the transmitted neighbor list.

12. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

obtaining, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT;

obtaining, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT; and

combining information from the first and second neighbor lists.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

taking measurements in the third RAT based on the combined information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

deciding whether to perform cell reselection to the third RAT based at least on the measurements taken in the third RAT.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the first and second RATs comprises a code division multiple access (CDMA) RAT.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the first and second RATs comprises a Data Optimized (DO) RAT.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the third RAT comprises a long term evolution (LTE) RAT.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the combining comprises:

updating a centralized list with information from the first and second neighbor lists.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining at least one of a priority or a threshold associated with the first neighbor list and second neighbor list are not different;

wherein combining includes;

creating a null list if the first neighbor list or second neighbor list includes no frequencies; and

creating a list including frequencies from the first neighbor list and second neighbor list if each of the first neighbor list and the second neighbor list include at least one frequency.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein updating the centralized list comprises:

updating the centralized list such that probability of reselection to the third RAT increases.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining at least one of a priority or a threshold associated with the first neighbor list and second neighbor list are different;

wherein updating the centralized list such that probability of reselection to the third RAT increases if at least one of a priority or a threshold associated with the first neighbor list and second neighbor list are different.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein updating the centralized list comprises:

selecting a first threshold to correspond to a frequency which is common in the first neighbor list and the second neighbor list to include in the centralized list if the first threshold increases the probability of reselection to the third RAT, otherwise, selecting a second threshold, wherein the first threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the first neighbor list and the second threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the second neighbor list.

23. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

selecting the first RAT or the second RAT for taking measurements in the third RAT; and

taking measurements in the third RAT using the selected RAT based on the combined information.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein selecting the first RAT or the second RAT is based at least on a paging cycle of the first RAT.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

sharing the measurements taken using the selected RAT with the other non-selected RAT.

26. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

obtaining, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT;

obtaining, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT; and

maintaining a central entity with at least one of measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the first neighbor list or measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the second neighbor list.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

deciding whether to perform cell reselection to the third RAT based at least on the measurements in the central entity.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the measurements taken did not result in cell reselection to the third RAT.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the first RAT takes the measurements in the third RAT based on information in the first neighbor list and the second RAT takes the measurements in the third RAT based on information in the second neighbor list.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein at least one of the first and second RATs comprises a code division multiple access (CDMA) RAT.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein at least one of the first and second RATs comprises a Data Optimized (DO) RAT.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the third RAT comprises a long term evolution (LTE) RAT.

33. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

taking a new measurement for a frequency of the third RAT, based on information obtained in at least one of the first and second neighbor lists, if a valid measurement for that frequency does not exist in the central entity.

34. The method of claim 26, wherein the maintaining comprises considering measurements for a given frequency as valid for a predetermined amount of time.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the predetermined amount of time depends on mobility speed of a user equipment.

36. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for obtaining, in a network that supports first and second radio access technologies (RATs), a neighbor list of base stations of a third RAT; and

means for determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to transmit the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising:

means for transmitting the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs based on the determination.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising:

means for transmitting the neighbor list on one of the first RAT or the second RAT based on the determination; and

means for causing measurements to be performed in the third RAT based on the transmitted neighbor list.

39. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for obtaining, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT;

means for obtaining, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT; and

means for combining information from the first and second neighbor lists.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising:

means for taking measurements in the third RAT based on the combined information.

41. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising:

means for maintaining the combined information in a centralized list; and

means for updating the centralized list by selecting a first threshold to correspond to a frequency which is common in the first neighbor list and the second neighbor list to include in the centralized list if the first threshold increases the probability of reselection to the third RAT, otherwise, selecting a second threshold, wherein the first threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the first neighbor list and the second threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the second neighbor list.

42. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for obtaining, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT;

means for obtaining, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT; and

means for maintaining a central entity with at least one of measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the first neighbor list or measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the second neighbor list.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising:

means for deciding whether to perform cell reselection to the third RAT based at least on the measurements in the central entity.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising:

means for taking a new measurement for a frequency of the third RAT, based on information obtained in at least one of the first and second neighbor lists, if a valid measurement for that frequency does not exist in the central entity.

45. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

at least one processor configured to obtain, in a network that supports first and second radio access technologies (RATs), a neighbor list of base stations of a third RAT and to determine, based on one or more criteria, whether to transmit the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs; and

a memory coupled with the at least one processor.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs based on the determination.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit the neighbor list on one of the first RAT or the second RAT based on the determination; and

cause measurements to be performed in the third RAT based on the transmitted neighbor list.

48. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

at least one processor configured to obtain, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT, obtain, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT, and combine information from the first and second neighbor lists; and

a memory coupled with the at least one memory.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

take measurements in the third RAT based on the combined information.

50. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

maintain the combined information in a centralized list; and

update the centralized list by selecting a first threshold to correspond to a frequency which is common in the first neighbor list and the second neighbor list to include in the centralized list if the first threshold increases the probability of reselection to the third RAT, otherwise, selecting a second threshold, wherein the first threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the first neighbor list and the second threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the second neighbor list.

51. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

at least one processor configured to obtain, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT, obtain, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT, and maintain a central entity with at least one of measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the first neighbor list or measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the second neighbor list; and

a memory coupled with the at least one processor.

52. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

decide whether to perform cell reselection to the third RAT based at least on the measurements in the central entity.

53. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

take a new measurement for a frequency of the third RAT, based on information obtained in at least one of the first and second neighbor lists, if a valid measurement for that frequency does not exist in the central entity.

54. A program product comprising a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by one or more processors for:

obtaining, in a network that supports first and second radio access technologies (RATs), a neighbor list of base stations of a third RAT; and

determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to transmit the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs.

55. The program product of claim 54, wherein the instructions are further executable by one or more processors for:

transmitting the neighbor list on the first RAT, the second RAT, or both the first and second RATs based on the determination.

56. The program product of claim 54, wherein the instructions are further executable by one or more processors for:

transmitting the neighbor list on one of the first RAT or the second RAT based on the determination; and

causing measurements to be performed in the third RAT based on the transmitted neighbor list.

57. A program product comprising a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by one or more processors for:

obtaining, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT;

obtaining, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT; and

combining information from the first and second neighbor lists.

58. The program product of claim 57, wherein the instructions are further executable by one or more processors for:

taking measurements in the third RAT based on the combined information.

59. The program product of claim 57, wherein the instructions are further executable by one or more processors for:

maintaining the combined information in a centralized list; and

updating the centralized list by selecting a first threshold to correspond to a frequency which is common in the first neighbor list and the second neighbor list to include in the centralized list if the first threshold increases the probability of reselection to the third RAT, otherwise, selecting a second threshold, wherein the first threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the first neighbor list and the second threshold corresponds to the common frequency in the second neighbor list.

60. A program product comprising a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by one or more processors for:

obtaining, via a first radio access technology (RAT), a first neighbor list with information for base stations of a third RAT;

obtaining, via a second RAT, a second neighbor list with information for base stations of the third RAT; and

maintaining a central entity with at least one of measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the first neighbor list or measurements taken in the third RAT based on information in the second neighbor list.

61. The program product of claim 60, wherein the instructions are further executable by one or more processors for:

deciding whether to perform cell reselection to the third RAT based at least on the measurements in the central entity.

62. The program product of claim 60, wherein the instructions are further executable by one or more processors for:

taking a new measurement for a frequency of the third RAT, based on information obtained in at least one of the first and second neighbor lists, if a valid measurement for that frequency does not exist in the central entity.