METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENHANCING COVERAGE OF MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATION (MTC) DEVICES

• US 20140098761A1
• Filed: 10/04/2013
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Moon-il, Stern-Berkowitz, Janet A., Tamaki, Nobuyuki, Haim, John W., Sadeghi, Pouriya, Rudolf, Marian, Nazar, Shahrokh Nayeb
• Granted Patent: US 10,142,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1819 with retransmission of additional or different redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/189 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of a message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and apparatus are described for a low cost machine-type-communication (LC-MTC) wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) to enhance coverage. An example method for physical broadcast channel (PBCH) enhancement includes receiving system information on an enhanced PBCH (ePBCH). The ePBCH is located in a set of radio frames which is a subset of available radio frames, where the subset includes fewer than all the available radio frames. The ePBCH is received in at least one radio frame of the set of radio frames. An example method for physical random access channel (PRACH) enhancement includes receiving configuration of legacy PRACH resources and enhanced PRACH (ePRACH) resources. The WTRU selects one of legacy PRACH resources or ePRACH resources based on a coverage capability. Another example method for PRACH enhancement includes receiving configuration of ePRACH resources. The ePRACH resources include multiple ePRACH resource types, each ePRACH resource type being associated with a coverage capability.

Claims

1. A method for physical broadcast channel (PBCH) enhancement, the method comprising:

receiving system information at a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) on an enhanced PBCH (ePBCH) from a base station,

wherein the ePBCH is located in a set of radio frames which is a subset of available radio frames, the subset including fewer than all the available radio frames;

and receiving the ePBCH in at least one radio frame of the set of radio frames.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the available radio frames in a system frame number (SFN) cycle include all radio frames in the SFN cycle.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the ePBCH on failing to receive a legacy PBCH.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the ePBCH on determining a measurement is below a threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a system frame number (SFN) based on at least the at least one radio frame in which the ePBCH was received.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a SFN based on at least the at least one radio frame in which the ePBCH was received and a physical cell ID.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a SFN from at least an offset value in the ePBCH.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein ePBCH is located in a center six physical resource blocks.

9. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a configuration of legacy PRACH resources by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU);

the receiver configured to receive configuration of enhanced PRACH (ePRACH) resources by the WTRU; and

a processor in communication with the receiver, the processor configured to select one of legacy PRACH resources or ePRACH resources based on a coverage capability.

10. The WTRU of claim 9, wherein multiple ePBCH transmissions are received in a radio frame.

11. The WTRU of claim 10, further comprising:

the receiver configured to receive at least two ePBCH transmissions in at least one radio frame;

the processor configured to combine the received ePBCH; and

the processor configured to decode the system information from the combined ePBCH.

12. A method for physical random access channel (PRACH) enhancement, the method comprising:

receiving, at a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), configuration of enhanced PRACH (ePRACH) resources,

wherein the ePRACH resources comprise multiple ePRACH resource types, each ePRACH resource type being associated with a coverage capability.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a ePRACH resource type may be distinguished from another ePRACH resource type by at least one of preamble format, preamble repetitions, time resource, and frequency resource.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

selecting, at the WTRU, an ePRACH resource type based on the WTRU'"'"'s coverage capability; and

transmitting an enhanced preamble using the selected ePRACH resource type.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein an enhanced preamble is at least a repetition of at least a portion of a legacy preamble.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the WTRU determines the coverage capability based on a measurement.

17. The method of claim 12, where an enhanced preamble is transmitted using ePRACH resources.

18. A method for physical random access channel (PRACH) enhancement, the method comprising:

receiving, at a WTRU, configuration of enhanced PRACH (ePRACH) resources;

wherein the ePRACH resources comprise multiple ePRACH resource groups where each group is associated with a coverage capability.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

selecting, at the WTRU, an ePRACH resource group based on the WTRU'"'"'s coverage capability; and

transmitting an enhanced preamble using a resource from the selected ePRACH resource group.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the enhanced preamble is at least a repetition of at least a portion of a legacy preamble.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the WTRU determines the coverage capability based on a measurement.

22. The method of claim 18, where an enhanced preamble is transmitted using ePRACH resources.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the enhanced preamble is at least a repetition of at least a portion of a legacy preamble.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the enhanced preamble comprises multiple enhanced preamble types where each type is associated with a coverage capability.