Technique for performing cell measurement on at least two cells

• US 20130308481A1
• Filed: 05/03/2013
• Published: 11/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Kazmi, Muhammad, Axmon, Joakim
• Granted Patent: US 9,848,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

A technique for performing at least one measurement on at least a first cell and a second cell is disclosed. The first cell employs i) a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), different from a second RAT of the second cell, and ii) a first carrier substantially the same as a second carrier of the second cell. In a method aspect, the method is performed in a by a User Equipment (UE), and comprises the step of configuring the UE to perform the at least one measurement on the first and second cells substantially simultaneously with UE operations different from the at least one measurement.

Claims

1. A method of performing at least one measurement on at least a first cell and a second cell, the first cell employing i) a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), different from a second RAT of the second cell, and ii) a first carrier substantially the same as a second carrier of the second cell, the method being performed in a User Equipment (UE) and comprising the step of:

configuring the UE to perform the at least one measurement on the first and second cells substantially simultaneously.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first carrier being substantially the same as the second carrier involves the first and second carriers having substantially the same center frequency and the same or a different bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein substantially the same center frequency involves a tolerance between the two center frequencies in the range of parts per billion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first RAT is selected from a group consisting of Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Evolution UTRAN (E-UTRAN), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and the second RAT is selected from the same group not comprising the first RAT.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second carriers coincide, at least in a center frequency, with a serving carrier of the UE.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

low-pass filtering a received data stream over a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth so as to differentiate the serving carrier from the first and second carriers to be measured, if the bandwidth of the first carrier is different from the bandwidth of the second carrier.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

low-pass filtering a received data stream over a first bandwidth and a second bandwidth so as to perform signal-shaping on the serving carrier as wells as the first and second carriers to be measured, if the bandwidth of the first carrier is substantially the same as the bandwidth of the second carrier.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

signaling from the UE to a network node, the UE'"'"'s capability for performing measurements on the first and second cells being intra-frequency inter-RAT neighboring cells.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

signaling from the UE to a network node, the UE'"'"'s capability for performing measurements on the first and second cells being intra-frequency inter-RAT neighboring cells without measurement gaps.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the signaling from the UE to the network node comprises signaling the UE'"'"'s capability for performing measurements on the first and second cells being intra-frequency inter-RAT provided that a tolerance between center frequencies of the first and second cells is not worse than a threshold.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the UE is in a position to receive signals from a plurality of cells and a corresponding plurality of RATs, and the report comprises at least one of:

an ability to perform intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements on all supported RATs,

an ability to perform intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements on a specific combination of RATs,

an ability to perform intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements on all RATs or a subset of RATs having the same carrier as the serving carrier,

an ability to perform intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements on all RATs or a subset of RATs having substantially the same center frequency,

an ability to perform intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements per frequency band, and

an ability to perform intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements depending on the bandwidth of the serving carrier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the report further comprises at least one of:

types of intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements,

if the UE is multi-carrier capable, a number or the entirety of carriers that support intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements,

an ability to perform intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements on carriers having a certain tolerance with respect to the serving carrier, and

an ability to acquire system information of a cell using autonomous gaps.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the signaling of the report is performed proactively.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the signaling from the UE to the network node is performed responsive to receiving a request from the network node.

15. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a measurement configuration message from a network node, the message including one or more new inter-RAT carriers on which the UE is requested to perform a measurement.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the message comprises at least one of:

information related to the relative frequency error or frequency error between a set of the one or more intra-frequency inter-RAT carriers,

an indication or information regarding the set of RATs whose carriers are aligned, and

an indication to perform the measurement in at least one of a low activity state and in a connected state of the UE.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

mapping both a first channel number contained in the measurement configuration message and a second channel number for the serving carrier to a physical frequency,

comparing the first and second channel number, and

determining based on the comparing, a degree of similarity between the first and second channel numbers.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second carriers are different, at least in a center frequency, from a serving carrier of the UE.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

signaling from the UE to a network node, the UE'"'"'s capability for performing measurements on the first and second cells being inter-frequency inter-RAT neighboring cells.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the UE is in a position to receive signals from a plurality of cells and a corresponding plurality of RATs, and a report is involved in the signaling, which report comprises at least one of:

a number of carriers which the UE can support for monitoring those carriers in parallel, and

if the UE has indicated that it is capable of performing intra-frequency inter-RAT measurements, an ability to perform inter-frequency inter-RAT measurements.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the signaling of the report is performed proactively.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the signaling is performed during at least one of:

an initial setup,

a cell setup, and

a cell change.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the signaling of the report is performed responsive to receiving a request.

24. The method of claims 19, wherein:

the first and second carriers coincide, at least in a center frequency, with a serving carrier of the UE; and

the method further comprises;

receiving a measurement configuration message from a network node, the message including one or more new inter-RAT carriers on which the UE is requested to perform a measurement;

determining whether an inter-frequency carrier overlaps a new inter-RAT carrier, and

if the determining is affirmative, performing the measurement simultaneously.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

autonomously detecting one or more cells of different RATs having an overlapping frequency range.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

reporting from the UE to a network node, the result of detection.

27. A user equipment (UE) for performing at least one measurement on at least a first cell and a second cell, the first cell employing i) a first Radio Access Technology (RAT) different from a second RAT of the second cell, and ii) a first carrier substantially the same as a second carrier of the second cell, the UE comprising:

a configurator configured to configure the UE to perform the at least one measurement on the first and second cells substantially simultaneously with UE operations different from the at least one measurement.

28. A method of causing a User Equipment (UE) to perform at least one measurement on at least a first cell and a second cell, the first cell employing i) a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), different from a second RAT of the second cell, and ii) a first carrier substantially the same as a second carrier of the second cell, the method being performed in a network node that is remote from the UE and in communication with the UE, the method comprising the steps of:

ascertaining cell measurement capabilities of the UE;

using the ascertained cell measurement capabilities of the UE to produce configuration data comprising cell measurement parameters to be used by the UE in order to perform the at least one measurement on the first and second cells substantially simultaneously; and

communicating the configuration data to the UE.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein ascertaining the cell measurement capabilities of the UE comprises receiving cell measurement capability information from the UE.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the configuration data comprises at least one of:

information related to a relative frequency error or a frequency error between a set of one or more intra-frequency inter-RAT carriers,

an indication or information regarding a set of RATs whose carriers are aligned, and

an indication to perform the measurement in at least one of a low activity state and in a connected state of the UE.

31. An apparatus in a network node that causes a User Equipment (UE) to perform at least one measurement on at least a first cell and a second cell, the first cell employing i) a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), different from a second RAT of the second cell, and ii) a first carrier substantially the same as a second carrier of the second cell, the method being performed in a network node that is remote from the UE and in communication with the UE, the apparatus comprising:

ascertaining circuitry configured to ascertain cell measurement capabilities of the UE;

configuration data producing circuitry configured to use the ascertained cell measurement capabilities of the UE to produce configuration data comprising cell measurement parameters to be used by the UE in order to perform the at least one measurement on the first and second cells substantially simultaneously; and

communication circuitry configured to communicate the configuration data to the UE.