METHODS FOR RADIO LINK FAILURE RECOVERY, AND USER EQUIPMENT

• US 20130051214A1
• Filed: 09/24/2010
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Fong, Mo-Han, Burbidge, Richard Charles, Cai, Zhijun, Suzuki, Takashi, Earnshaw, Andrew Mark, Heo, Youn Hyoung, Xu, Hua, Li, Jun, McBeath, Sean Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,848,641 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/216
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0088 Scheduling hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/18 for allowing seamless reselection, e.g. soft reselection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment

Abstract

A system and method for radio link failure recovery is presented. A set of component carriers is identified. Each one of the set of component carriers includes a control channel monitored by a user equipment (UE). The control channel signals data channel assignment information for the UE. Radio link failure recovery is performed using monitoring of only a subset of the set of component carriers. In some cases, performing radio link failure recovery includes performing radio link failure detection, and detecting radio link failure by detecting an out-of-sync condition on a downlink physical layer, the out-of-sync condition occurring for a predetermined duration. In some cases, a number of component carriers in the subset of the set of component carriers is equal to 1.

Claims

1. A method for radio link failure recovery, comprising:

identifying a set of component carriers, each one of the set of component carriers including a control channel monitored by a user equipment (UE), wherein the control channel signals data channel assignment information for the UE; and

performing radio link failure recovery using monitoring of only a subset of the set of component carriers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing radio link failure recovery includes performing radio link failure detection.

3. The method of claim 2, including, detecting radio link failure by detecting an out-of-sync condition on a downlink physical layer, the out-of-sync condition occurring for a predetermined duration.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of component carriers in the subset of the set of component carriers is equal to 1.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the subset of the set of component carriers includes an anchor carrier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of the set of component carriers includes an anchor carrier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the control channels is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of component carriers is a subset of a set of component carriers assigned to a user equipment (UE).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one component carrier in the set of component carriers comprises a cell.

10. A method for radio link failure recovery, comprising:

identifying a set of component carriers;

performing radio link failure recovery based using monitoring of only a subset of the set of component carriers, wherein performing radio link failure recovery includes performing radio link failure detection by detecting a random access failure on at least one uplink component carrier in the subset of the set of component carriers.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one carrier in the set of component carriers comprises a cell.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the set of component carriers is a set of component carriers assigned to a UE.

13. A method for measurement reporting, comprising:

identifying at least one measurement criterion for at least one of a set of assigned component carriers, the at least one measurement criterion including at least one of;

a comparison of a signal quality of a first assigned component carrier with a first threshold,

a comparison of a signal quality of a neighboring cell with a second threshold, and

a comparison of the signal quality of the first assigned component carrier with the signal quality of the neighboring cell; and

upon detecting that the at least one criterion is satisfied, transmitting a measurement report.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the neighbor cell includes at least one of a non-serving cell, a non-assigned component carrier, and at least one of the component carriers in the set of assigned component carriers that is not the first assigned component carrier.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the signal quality of at least one of the neighbor cell and the first assigned component carrier is determined by at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) and a reference signal received quality (RSRQ).

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one criterion is satisfied when at least one of:

the signal quality of the first assigned component carrier is greater than the first threshold,

the signal quality of the first assigned component carrier is less than the first threshold,

the signal quality of the neighboring cell is better than the signal quality of the first assigned component carrier by a third threshold, and

the signal quality of the first assigned component carrier is less than the first threshold while the signal quality of the neighboring cell is better than the second threshold.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein a frequency of the first assigned component carrier is equal to a carrier frequency corresponding to a measurement object associated with the at least one criterion.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein a frequency of the neighboring cell is equal to a carrier frequency corresponding to a measurement object associated with the at least one criterion.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein a frequency of the neighboring cell is equal to a carrier frequency corresponding to a measurement object associated with the at least one criterion, and a frequency of the first assigned component carrier is equal to the carrier frequency corresponding to the measurement object associated with the at least one criterion.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein a frequency of the neighboring cell is equal to a carrier frequency corresponding to a measurement object associated with the at least one criterion, and the first assigned component carrier is one of a list of assigned component carriers associated with the at least one criterion.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the list of configured component carriers is of size one.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first assigned component carrier is an anchor carrier.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the list of configured component carriers includes an anchor carrier.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one carrier in the set of assigned component carriers comprises a cell.

25. A method for receiving a system information (SI) update for at least one of a first component carrier (CC) and a second CC, the method including:

receiving a paging message using the first CC; and

when the paging message contains a system information change notification;

retrieving CC identification information from the paging message, the CC identification information identifying the second CC,

receiving system information (SI) using the second CC, the SI containing SI scheduling information for the second CC, and

during a subframe following a modification boundary, receiving second SI using the second CC.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the identification information of the second CC includes an index of the second CC.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the paging message identifies a plurality of CCs and includes a change notification for each of the plurality of CCs.

28. The method of claim 27, including receiving a plurality of paging messages, wherein a subset of the plurality of paging messages identifies a plurality of CCs and includes a change notification for each of the plurality of CCs.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one of the first CC and the second CC comprises a cell.

30. A method for transmitting a system information (SI) update for at least one of a first component carrier (CC) and a second CC, the first and second CC being provided by a base station, the method including:

detecting an SI modification for the second CC;

transmitting a paging message using the first CC, the paging message including a change notification and identification information of the second CC;

transmitting a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1) using the second CC, the SIB1 containing SI scheduling information for the second CC,; and

during a subframe following a modification boundary, transmitting a SIB2 using the second CC.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein at least one of the first CC and the second CC comprises a cell.

32. A user equipment, comprising:

a processor, the processor being configured to;

identify a set of component carriers, each one of the set of component carriers including a control channel monitored by a user equipment (UE), wherein the control channel signals data channel assignment information for the UE; and

perform radio link failure recovery using monitoring of only a subset of the set of component carriers.

33. The user equipment of claim 32, wherein the processor is configured to perform radio link failure recovery by performing radio link failure detection.

34. The user equipment of claim 33, wherein the processor is configured to detect radio link failure by detecting an out-of-sync condition on a downlink physical layer, the out-of-sync condition occurring for a predetermined duration.

35. The user equipment of claim 32, wherein a number of component carriers in the subset of the set of component carriers is equal to 1.

36. The user equipment of claim 35, wherein the subset of the set of component carriers includes an anchor carrier.

37. A user equipment, comprising:

a processor, configured to;

identify a set of component carriers;

perform radio link failure recovery based using monitoring of only a subset of the set of component carriers, wherein performing radio link failure recovery includes performing radio link failure detection by detecting a random access failure on at least one uplink component carrier in the subset of the set of component carriers.

38. The user equipment of claim 37, wherein at least one carrier in the set of component carriers comprises a cell.

39. The user equipment of claim 37, wherein the set of component carriers is a set of component carriers assigned to a UE.