COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND METHOD

• US 20130329654A1
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: SCA IPLA Holdings Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Zakrzewski, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 9,232,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A communications system includes a mobile radio network including plural base stations to communicate data to/from mobile communications devices via a wireless access interface, and plural associated communications devices transmitting and receiving data with the base stations. Each associated communication device includes a same common identifier to establish communication sessions communicating data via the mobile radio network. The group of communications devices may communicate machine type communications for a particular application, for example in a vehicle, to report parameters that can be served by a separate communications device that reports periodically on the parameters detected by an associated sensor. With spatial proximity of the communications devices, each can receive control plane signalling data and accordingly communication of signalling data is as if broadcast to a local environment in which the group of communications devices are disposed, to save communications bandwidth proportional to a number of devices in the group.

Claims

1. A communications system, comprising

a mobile radio network comprising a plurality of base stations arranged to communicate data to and from mobile communications devices via a wireless access interface, and

a plurality of associated communications devices forming a group, each of the associated communications devices being capable of transmitting and receiving data from one or more of the base stations, wherein each of the associated communications devices of the group includes a common identifier, with respect to which communications sessions can be established to communicate data via the mobile radio network, to or from any of the associated communications devices of the group.

2. A communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the communications devices includes a subscriber identity module and the common identifier, which is used to establish a communications session is provided using the subscriber identifier module, which includes the same common identifier for each of the communications devices of the group.

3. A communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identifier is a network temporary identifier or is used to generate a unique resource location or unique resource identifier.

4. A communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the devices is provided with an equipment identification number, the equipment identification number being used by a radio link layer to identify each of the communications devices within the group of communications devices.

5. A communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a first of the plurality of associated communications devices is arranged to be a master communications device and in operation to establish a communication session by transmitting signalling information including the identifier to the mobile network via the one or more base stations, and

each of the associated communications devices in the group is arranged to enter a listening mode in which signalling information communicated from the mobile radio network can be received in response to the signalling information transmitted by the first communications device, with the effect that each of the associated communications devices can transmit data to the mobile radio network and receive data from the mobile radio network using the communications bearer established by the first communications device using the common identifier for all of the associated communications devices of the group.

6. A communications system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the signalling information received from the mobile radio network in response to the first communications device includes information required for mobility management and connection.

7. A communications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mobile radio network provides a wireless access interface which includes a random access communications channel for uplink transmission of a burst of signals, and each of the communications devices from the group of associated communications devices is arranged to transmit a random access burst in the random access communications channel in accordance with a predetermined arrangement.

8. A communications system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the predetermined arrangement includes allocating a time to each of the communications devices of the group, when one or more of the communication of devices can transmit the random access burst in the random access communications channel.

9. A communications system as claimed in claim 7, wherein each of the communications devices within the group of associated communications devices is provided with one of a set of predefined sequences of data for use in forming the random access burst for transmission in the random access channel of the wireless access interface, the group of predefined sequences being uniquely associated with the group, wherein the mobile radio network is arranged to transmit a signalling message in response to the random access burst, using the unique data sequence which was used to form the random access burst transmitted by a communications device.

10. A communications system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the random access burst of signals includes data representing a request for uplink resources and in response to the transmitted burst the mobile radio network communicates a grant of uplink resources to the communications devices, which is identified using the same predefined sequence allocated to the communications device.

11. A communications system as claimed in claim 10, wherein, in response to a transmission of a random access burst in the uplink random access channel by one of the communications devices of the group, the other communications devices of the group are arranged to enter a listening state for detecting data transmitted to the group of devices via a packet data communications channel of the radio access interface, and the other communications devices of the group wait a predetermined time after not detecting data transmitted via the packet data communications channel before attempting to transmit a random access burst on the uplink random access channel.

12. A method of communicating data via a mobile radio network comprising

providing a mobile radio network comprising a plurality of base stations arranged to communicate data to and from mobile communications devices via a wireless access interface,

arranging for a plurality of the mobile communications devices to be associated together as a group, each of the associated communications devices being capable of transmitting and receiving data from one or more of the base stations, wherein each of the associated communications devices of the group includes a common identifier, and

establishing a communications sessions for communicating data via the mobile radio network, using the common identifier.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, comprising

providing the common identifier, which is used to establish a communications session, using a subscriber identifier module or universal subscriber identity module, which includes the common identifier to each of the mobile communications devices.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the identifier is a network temporary identifier or is used to generate a unique resource location or unique resource identifier.

15. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the establishing a communications sessions for communicating data via the mobile radio network, using the common identifier includes

arranging for a first of the plurality of associated communications devices to be a master communications device,

establishing the communication session by transmitting signalling information including the identifier to the mobile radio network via the one or more base stations, and

arranging for each of the associated communications devices in the group to enter a listening mode in which signalling information communicated from the mobile radio network can be received in response to the signalling information transmitted by the first communications device, with the effect that each of the associated communications devices can transmit data to the mobile radio network and receive data from the mobile radio network using the communications bearer established by the first communications device using the identifier which is common for all of the associated communications devices of the group.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the signalling information received from the mobile radio network in response to the first communications device includes information required for mobility management and connection.

17. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the mobile radio network provides a wireless access interface which includes a random access communications channel for uplink transmission of a burst of signals, and the method includes

arranging for each of the communications devices from the group of associated communications devices to be allocated a time for transmitting a random access burst in the random access communications channel in accordance with a predetermined arrangement.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the predetermined arrangement includes allocating a time to each of the communications devices of the group, when one or more of the communication of devices can transmit the random access burst in the random access communications channel.

19. A method as claimed in claim 17, the method comprising

providing each of the communications devices within the group of associated communications devices with one of a set of predefined sequences of data, the group of predefined sequences being uniquely associated with the group,

forming the random access burst for transmission in the random access channel of the wireless access interface using one of the predefined sequences allocated to one of the communications devices,

transmitting the random access burst from one of the communications devices to the mobile radio network, and

transmitting a signalling message in response to the random access burst, using the unique data sequence which was used to form the random access burst transmitted by the communications device.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the random access burst of signals includes data representing a request for uplink resources and the method includes

in response to the transmitted burst, communicating from the mobile radio network to the group of communications devices a grant of uplink resources, which is identified using the same predefined sequence allocated to the communications device.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20, the method comprising

in response to a transmission of a random access burst the uplink random access channel by one of the communications devices of the group, arranging for the other communications devices of the group to enter a listening state for detecting data transmitted to the group of devices via a packet data communications channel of the radio access interface, and

arranging for the other communications devices of the group to wait a predetermined time after not detecting data transmitted via the packet data communications channel before attempting to transmit a random access burst on the uplink random access channel.

22-23. -23. (canceled)