Method of Handling Network Entry in a Cell Cluster and Related Communication Device

• US 20140211758A1
• Filed: 01/28/2014
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acer, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Lee, Chien-Min
• Granted Patent: US 10,542,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/247 by using coverage extension
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/325 Power control of control or pilot channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/50 at the moment of starting communication in a multiple access environment

Abstract

A method of handling handovers in a cell cluster comprises transmitting, by an anchor cell in the cell cluster, first control information with a first power level to a communication device of the wireless communication system, for the communication device to perform a network entry according to the first control information; and transmitting, by the anchor cell, second control information with a second power level lower than the first power level to the communication device, for the communication device to obtain channel information according to the second control information.

Claims

1. A method of handling a network entry in a cell cluster of a wireless communication system comprising:

transmitting, by an anchor cell in the cell cluster, first control information with a first power level to a communication device of the wireless communication system, for the communication device to perform a network entry according to the first control information; and

transmitting, by the anchor cell, second control information with a second power level lower than the first power level to the communication device, for the communication device to obtain channel information according to the second control information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first control information comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and/or a common reference signal (CRS).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second control information comprises a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) and downlink control information (DCI).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first power level is large enough such that the communication device does not perform a handover in a coverage area of the cell cluster.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the anchor cell, third control information with either one of the second power level and the first power level to the communication device;

wherein the third control information comprises system information (SI) and paging information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the anchor cell, a cell in the cell cluster after receiving the channel information, for the communication device to perform a communication operation with the cell.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the communication operation comprises a non-contention based random access procedure, a reception of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and/or a transmission of a physical uplink control channel (PUSCH).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the network entry comprises a contention based random access procedure and/or a cell search procedure.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication system further comprises a macro cell operating at a first carrier frequency, the cell cluster operating at a second carrier frequency is in a coverage area of the macro cell, and the communication device communicates with the cell cluster and the macro cell according to a carrier aggregation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the cell cluster comprises a non-anchor cell, and the method further comprises:

transmitting, by the non-anchor cell, the second control information with a third power level lower than the first power level to the communication device.

11. A method of handling a network entry for a communication device in a wireless communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving system information transmitted by a cell in a cell cluster of the wireless communication system, after camping on the cell;

determining whether the cell is an anchor cell in the cell cluster according to information of the anchor cell comprised in the system information;

continue to camp on the cell, if the cell is the anchor cell; and

camping on the anchor cell according to the information of the anchor cell, if the cell is not the anchor cell.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving control information transmitted by at least one cell in the cell cluster when performing a network entry, to camp on the cell according to the control information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the control information comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and a common reference signal (CRS).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the control information is transmitted by the anchor cell and/or a non-anchor cell in the cell cluster.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the information of the anchor cell comprises an identification of the anchor cell.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless communication system further comprises a macro cell operating at a first carrier frequency, the cell cluster operating at a second carrier frequency is in a coverage area of the macro cell, and the communication device communicates with the cell cluster and the macro cell according to a carrier aggregation.

17. A method of handling a handover for a communication device in a wireless communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

camping on a first cell in a first cell cluster;

stopping performing a handover, when moving from a coverage area of the first cell to a coverage area of a second cell in the first cell cluster; and

performing the handover, when moving from the coverage area of the first cell to a coverage area of a third cell in a second cell cluster.