METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTONOMOUS CLUSTER HEAD SELECTION FOR MACHINE-TYPE-COMMUNICATIONS (MTC)
First Claim
1. A method performed by an enhanced node B (eNodeB) comprising:
- transmitting a polling message from the eNodeB to a plurality of machine-type communications (MTC) devices;
receiving one or more polling responses from the MTC devices, the polling responses including an indication as to whether an associated MTC device is willing to serve as a cluster head for a cluster of MTC devices, and one or more of a signal-to-noise ratio of one or more beacons, a number of MTC devices previously supported, and a collision probability;
selecting one or more of the MTC devices to serve as a cluster head based on the polling responses; and
transmitting cluster head information to the MTC devices to indicate which of the MTC devices are selected to serve as a cluster head.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present disclosure presents embodiments of a system and method for improved uplink transmission management in a network that includes one or more machine-type communication (MTC) devices. For example, in an aspect, the present disclosure presents a method of cluster head selection for a MTC device cluster, the method comprising transmitting a polling message from an eNodeB to one or more MTC devices of the MTC cluster, receiving one or more polling responses at the eNodeB from the one or more MTC devices, and determining the set of cluster heads based on the one or more polling responses; and transmitting cluster head information associated with each cluster head of the set of cluster heads to the one or more MTC devices.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method performed by an enhanced node B (eNodeB) comprising:
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transmitting a polling message from the eNodeB to a plurality of machine-type communications (MTC) devices; receiving one or more polling responses from the MTC devices, the polling responses including an indication as to whether an associated MTC device is willing to serve as a cluster head for a cluster of MTC devices, and one or more of a signal-to-noise ratio of one or more beacons, a number of MTC devices previously supported, and a collision probability; selecting one or more of the MTC devices to serve as a cluster head based on the polling responses; and transmitting cluster head information to the MTC devices to indicate which of the MTC devices are selected to serve as a cluster head. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An enhanced Node B (eNodeB) arranged for servicing a machine-type communications (MTC) device cluster, the eNodeB arranged to:
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transmit a polling message to a plurality of machine-type communications (MTC) devices; receive one or more polling responses from the MTC devices, the polling responses including an indication as to whether an associated MTC device is willing to serve as a cluster head for a cluster of MTC devices, and one or more of a signal-to-noise ratio of one or more beacons, a number of MTC devices previously supported, and a collision probability; select one or more of the MTC devices to serve as a cluster head based on the polling responses; and transmit cluster head information associated with each selected cluster head to the MTC devices to indicate which of the MTC devices are selected to serve as a cluster head. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method performed by an enhanced Node B (eNodeB) for broadcasting machine-type communications (MTC) device cluster head information, comprising:
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determining a set of cluster heads associated with an MTC device cluster, wherein the set of cluster heads comprises one or more MTC devices; ascertaining a service set identifier (SSID) associated with each cluster head; identifying a WiFi Protected Access (WPA) protocol type and a determined share key (PSK) associated with each cluster head; and transmitting the SSID, WPA protocol type, and PSK associated with each cluster head in a System information Block (SIB) message. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. The method of claim wherein each cluster head is an MTC device.
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15. A machine-type communications (MTC) device, comprising:
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a transceiver to receive beacons from a plurality of potential cluster heads during a receiving period; and processing circuitry to; determine a signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) associated with the beacons; set a primary cluster head as a cluster head with a highest determined SINR; and set a secondary cluster head as a cluster head with a second-highest determined SINR. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification