Terminal Mobility State Detection

• US 20130005381A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Renesas Mobile Corporation (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Inventors: Turkka, Jussi Taneli, Puttonen, Jani
• Granted Patent: US 8,989,789 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/517
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/06 using intensity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/324 by mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

There are provided measures for terminal mobility state detection. Such measures may exemplarily include acquiring a statistical metric of measurements of a signal strength of a terminal with unknown speed over a predetermined time period, comparing the acquired statistical metric with mobility patterns stored in a database, each of said mobility patterns exhibiting a relationship between previously acquired statistical metrics of signal strength measurements of terminals with a specific terminal speed class, and determining a terminal speed class of the terminal according to a best match between the acquired statistical metric and the mobility patterns on the basis of the comparison. The database may exemplarily be prepared including acquiring a statistical metric of measurements of a signal strength of a terminal with known speed, and applying the acquired statistical metric for creating or updating the mobility pattern with respect to the specific terminal speed class corresponding to the known speed of the terminal.

Claims

1. A method comprising

acquiring a statistical metric of measurements of a terminal'"'"'s signal strength of a terminal with unknown terminal speed over a predetermined time period,

comparing the acquired statistical metric with mobility patterns stored in a database, each of said mobility patterns exhibiting a relationship between previously acquired statistical metrics of signal strength measurements of terminals with a specific terminal speed class, and

determining a terminal speed class of the terminal according to a best match between the acquired statistical metric and the mobility patterns on the basis of the comparison.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

acquiring a statistical metric of measurements of a terminal'"'"'s signal strength of a terminal with known terminal speed over a predetermined time period,

applying the acquired statistical metric for creating or updating the mobility pattern with respect to the specific terminal speed class corresponding to the known speed of the terminal, and

storing the created or updated mobility pattern in the database.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said acquiring comprises one of:

performing periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, and deriving the statistical metric from a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period on the basis of the performed measurements,

receiving, from the terminal, a report of periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, and deriving the statistical metric from a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period on the basis of the reported measurements, and

receiving, from the terminal, a report of the statistical metric of a behavior of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength over the predetermined time period.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

assigning a mobility state for the terminal based on the determined terminal speed class or based on the determined terminal speed class in connection with a result of a mobility estimation scheme, and/or

setting at least one handover parameter for the terminal according to the determined terminal speed class or the assigned mobility state.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the following applies:

the measurements are based on at least one of standardized MDT reports, power headroom reports and reference signal received power,

the statistical metric is based on a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period and comprises at least one of an average, a standard deviation, a minimum-maximum value and a correlation property of the signal strength measurements,

said comparing is based on a classification technique, and

the relationship exhibited by each of said mobility patterns comprises at least one of a distribution and a low-dimensional representation of the statistical metrics with respect to the specific terminal speed class.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the following applies:

the method is operable at or by an access node or base station of a cellular communication system,

the method is operable at or by an evolved Node B of a cellular communication system in accordance with LTE specifications, and

the database is located at one of a an access node, a base station, an evolved Node B, a radio network controller and any network control entity of a cellular communication system.

7. A method comprising

obtaining a result of measurements of a terminal'"'"'s signal strength over a predetermined time period, and

reporting the obtained result of measurements to a network entity of a cellular communication system.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said obtaining comprises one of:

performing periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, wherein the measurement data is obtained as the result of measurements, and

performing periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, and deriving a statistical metric from a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period on the basis of the performed measurements, wherein the derived statistical data is obtained as the result of measurements.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein

the measurements are based on at least one of standardized MDT reports, power headroom reports and reference signal received power, and/or

the statistical metric is based on a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period and comprises at least one of an average, a standard deviation, a minimum-maximum value and a correlation property of the signal strength measurements.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the method is operable at or by the terminal, and/or

the method is operable at or by a user equipment a cellular communication system in accordance with LTE specifications.

11. An apparatus comprising

an interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus, and

a processor configured to

acquire a statistical metric of measurements of a terminal'"'"'s signal strength of a terminal with unknown terminal speed over a predetermined time period,

compare the acquired statistical metric with mobility patterns stored in a database, each of said mobility patterns exhibiting a relationship between previously acquired statistical metrics of signal strength measurements of terminals with a specific terminal speed class, and

determine a terminal speed class of the terminal according to a best match between the acquired statistical metric and the mobility patterns on the basis of the comparison.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to

acquire a statistical metric of measurements of a terminal'"'"'s signal strength of a terminal with known terminal speed over a predetermined time period,

apply the acquired statistical metric for creating or updating the mobility pattern with respect to the specific terminal speed class corresponding to the known speed of the terminal, and

store the created or updated mobility pattern in the database.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, for acquiring, the processor is configured to:

perform periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, and derive the statistical metric from a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period on the basis of the performed measurements, or

receive, from the terminal via the interface, a report of periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, and derive the statistical metric from a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period on the basis of the reported measurements, or

receive, from the terminal via the interface, a report of the statistical metric of a behavior of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength over the predetermined time period.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to

assign a mobility state for the terminal based on the determined terminal speed class or based on the determined terminal speed class in connection with a result of a mobility estimation scheme, and/or

set at least one handover parameter for the terminal according to the determined terminal speed class or the assigned mobility state.

15. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein at least one of the following applies:

the measurements are based on at least one of standardized MDT reports, power headroom reports and reference signal received power,

the statistical metric is based on a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period and comprises at least one of an average, a standard deviation, a minimum-maximum value and a correlation property of the signal strength measurements,

the processor, for comparing, is configured to perform a classification data mining technique, and

the relationship exhibited by each of said mobility patterns comprises at least one of a distribution and a low-dimensional representation of the statistical metrics with respect to the specific terminal speed class.

16. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein at least one of the following applies:

the apparatus is operable as or at an access node or base station of a cellular communication system,

the apparatus is operable as or at an evolved Node B of a cellular communication system in accordance with LTE specifications, and

the database is located at the apparatus or any network control entity of a cellular communication system.

17. An apparatus comprising

an interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus, and

a processor configured to

obtain a result of measurements of a terminal'"'"'s signal strength over a predetermined time period, and

report, via the interface, the obtained result of measurements to a network entity of a cellular communication system.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein, for obtaining, the processor is configured to:

perform periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, wherein the measurement data is obtained as the result of measurements, or

perform periodical measurements of the terminal'"'"'s signal strength, and derive a statistical metric from a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period on the basis of the performed measurements, wherein the derived statistical data is obtained as the result of measurements.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein

the measurements are based on at least one of standardized MDT reports, power headroom reports and reference signal received power, and/or

the statistical metric is based on a behavior of the signal strength over the predetermined time period and comprises at least one of an average, a standard deviation, a minimum-maximum value and a correlation property of the signal strength measurements.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein

the apparatus is operable as or at the terminal, and/or

the apparatus is operable as or at a user equipment a cellular communication system in accordance with LTE specifications.