Random Access Procedure in Wireless Device, Radio Base Station and Methods Therein

• US 20160105912A1
• Filed: 05/21/2014
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Bergquist, Gunnar, Cui, Tao, Mildh, Gunnar, Myhre, Elena, Wittberg, Mikael, Stattin, Magnus, Folke, Mats
• Granted Patent: US 10,143,012 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access

Abstract

Embodiments herein relate to a wireless device (10) for handling access to a radio base station (12) in a wireless communication network (1), the wireless device (10) being configured to: initiate a random access procedure in the wireless communication network (1); determine that a problem with the random access procedure has occurred when a certain condition is fulfilled; and perform at least one of the following, when determined that a problem with the random access procedure has occurred: delay a next random access preamble transmission attempt; abort from a higher layer the random access procedure immediately; and stop the random access procedure at a lower layer.

Claims

1-22. -22. (canceled)

23. A method in a wireless device for handling access to a radio base station in a wireless communication network, comprising

initiating a random access procedure in the wireless communication network;

determining that a problem with the random access procedure has occurred when a certain condition is fulfilled; and

responsive to determining that the problem occurred, performing at least one of the following;

delaying a next random access preamble transmission attempt a fixed delay value, which fixed delay value is a signaled or configured value to wait when a counter number of random access attempts has been exceeded before proceeding to the transmission of a next random access preamble to reduce number of random access attempts;

aborting from a higher layer the random access procedure immediately and declaring a radio link failure, at the higher layer, independently of whether or not an associated timer is running; and

stopping the random access procedure at a lower layer, based on requesting, by a higher layer, the lower layer to retry an extended number of times of attempts of transmission of the random access preamble before stopping the random access procedure at the lower layer.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the condition is one or more of the following:

exceeding a number of attempts of transmission of a random access preamble;

receiving an indication of a random access problem from a lower layer;

transmitting indication of a random access problem to a higher layer; and

/or that the random access procedure is unsuccessful.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the performing comprises delaying the next random access preamble transmission attempt, and the method further comprise receiving an indication indicating a trigger for when to begin applying a delay and the fixed delay introduces delay between following transmissions.

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein the declaring the radio link failure is performed immediately or at a different time than the aborting.

27. The method according to claim 23, further comprising

retrying a random access procedure from the higher layer.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the retrying is delayed with a delay value.

29. The method according to claim 23, wherein a delay time is introduced between the attempts of the extended number of attempts.

30. The method according to claim 23, wherein an indication indicating the extended number of times of attempts of transmission of the random access preamble is received from the radio base station.

31. The method according to claim 23, wherein the higher layer is a Radio Resource Control layer and the lower layer is a Medium Access Control layer.

32. A method in a radio base station for handling access to the radio base station in a wireless communication network, comprising

transmitting a value indicating a fixed delay value for the wireless device to wait when a counter number of random access attempts has been exceeded before proceeding to the transmission of a next random access preamble, an indication indicating a trigger for when to begin applying a delay, and/or an indication indicating an extended number of times of attempts of transmission of the random access preamble before stopping the random access procedure at the lower layer.

33. A wireless device for handling access to a radio base station in a wireless communication network, the wireless device being configured to:

initiate a random access procedure in the wireless communication network;

determine that a problem with the random access procedure has occurred when a certain condition is fulfilled; and

perform at least one of the following, when determined that a problem with the random access procedure has occurred;

delay a next random access preamble transmission attempt a fixed delay value, which fixed delay value is a signaled or configured value to wait when a counter number of random access attempts has been exceeded before proceeding to the transmission of a next random access preamble to reduce number of random access attempts;

abort from a higher layer the random access procedure immediately and declaring a radio link failure, at the higher layer, independently of whether or not an associated timer is running; and

stop the random access procedure at a lower layer, based on requesting, by a higher layer, the lower layer to retry an extended number of times of attempts of transmission of the random access preamble before stopping the random access procedure at the lower layer.

34. The wireless device according to claim 33, wherein the condition is one or more of the following:

exceeding a number of attempts of transmission of a random access preamble;

receiving an indication of a random access problem from a lower layer;

transmitting indication of a random access problem to a higher layer; and

/or that the random access procedure is unsuccessful.

35. The wireless device according to claim 33, being configured to perform by delaying the next random access preamble transmission attempt, and also being configured to receive an indication indicating a trigger for when to begin applying a delay and the fixed delay introduces delay between following transmissions.

36. The wireless device according to claim 33, configured to declare the radio link failure immediately or at a different time than the aborting.

37. The wireless device according to claim 33, further being configured to retry a random access procedure from the higher layer.

38. The wireless device according to claim 37, wherein the retried random access procedure is delayed with a delay value.

39. The wireless device according to claim 33, further being configured to introduce a delay time between the attempts of the extended number of attempts.

40. The wireless device according to claim 33, further being configured to receive an indication indicating the extended number of times of attempts of transmission of the random access preamble from the radio base station.

41. The wireless device according to claim 33, wherein the higher layer is a Radio Resource Control layer and the lower layer is a Medium Access Control layer.

42. A radio base station for handling access to the radio base station in a wireless communication network, being configured to transmit a fixed delay value indicating a delay for the wireless device to wait when a counter number of random access attempts have been exceeded before proceeding to the transmission of a next random access preamble, an indication indicating a trigger for when to begin applying a delay, and/or an indication indicating an extended number of times of attempts of transmission of the random access preamble before stopping the random access procedure at the lower layer.

43. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program comprising program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry in a wireless device, configures the wireless device to handle access to a radio base station in a wireless communication network, said computer program comprising program instructions configuring the wireless device to:

initiate a random access procedure in the wireless communication network;

determine that a problem with the random access procedure has occurred when a certain condition is fulfilled; and

responsive to determining that the problem occurred, perform at least one of the following;

delay a next random access preamble transmission attempt a fixed delay value, which fixed delay value is a signaled, or configured value to wait when a counter number of random access attempts has been exceeded before proceeding to the transmission of a next random access preamble to reduce number of random access attempts;

abort from a higher layer the random access procedure immediately and declaring a radio link failure, at the higher layer, independently of whether or not an associated timer is running; and

stop the random access procedure at a lower layer, based on requesting, by a higher layer, the lower layer to retry an extended number of times of attempts of transmission of the random access preamble before stopping the random access procedure at the lower layer.