CHANNEL QUALITY REPORTING USING RANDOM ACCESS MESSAGES

• US 20200137624A1
• Filed: 10/25/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Dhanda, Mungal Singh, Phuyal, Umesh, Rico Alvarino, Alberto, Kim, Tae Min
• Granted Patent: US 11,395,179 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• 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: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/02 Data link layer protocols

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described that support channel quality reporting using random access messages. A user equipment (UE) may receive a random access message from a base station and respond with an indication of channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE. The indication may be generated by a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) or media access control (MAC) layer). The channel quality information may be included in the RRC message or in a header of the MAC layer from the UE. The UE may transmit, to the base station, an indication of identified channel quality information. Upon receiving the response message from the UE, the base station may determine communication parameter(s) (e.g., coding rate, modulation order, number of repetitions of a channel) for future communications with the UE.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

receiving, from a base station, a first message of a random access procedure;

identifying channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE; and

transmitting, to the base station and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of the identified channel quality information in a portion of the second message generated by a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the single protocol layer comprises one of a radio resource control (RRC) layer or a media access control (MAC) layer of the control plane protocol stack.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first message comprises a random access response message of the random access procedure; and

the second message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) connection request message of the random access procedure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the second message comprises:

transmitting the indication of the identified channel quality information in a header of a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) carrying the second message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 2-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the identified channel quality information is included in the 2-bit channel quality field.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 1-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the identified channel quality information is included in the 1-bit channel quality field.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the header of the MAC PDU comprises a logical channel identifier (LCID) that indicates that the header carries channel quality information.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving signaling that indicates support, by the base station, of the header carrying channel quality information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a communication parameter for the communication link based at least in part on the identified channel quality information, wherein the indication of the identified channel quality information comprises an indication of the identified communication parameter.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identified communication parameter comprises a transmission power, a modulation order, a coding rate, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of repetitions for a control channel or a shared channel, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a number of repetitions for downlink transmissions, the number of repetitions being different than a previous number of repetitions for downlink transmissions; and

transmitting the second message including the identified channel quality information based at least in part on the number of repetitions being different than the previous number of repetitions.

12. A method for wireless communications at a base station, comprising:

transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a first message of a random access procedure; and

receiving, from the UE and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE, the indication in a portion of the second message associated with a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the single protocol layer comprises one of a radio resource control (RRC) layer or a media access control (MAC) layer of the control plane protocol stack.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the first message comprises a random access response message of the random access procedure; and

the second message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) connection request message of the random access procedure.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the second message comprises:

receiving the indication of the identified channel quality information in a header of a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) carrying the second message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 2-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the channel quality information is included in the 2-bit channel quality field.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 1-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the channel quality information is included in the 1-bit channel quality field.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the header of the MAC PDU comprises a logical channel identifier (LCID) that indicates that the header carries channel quality information.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting signaling that indicates support, by the base station, of the header carrying channel quality information.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying a communication parameter for the communication link based at least in part on the channel quality information, wherein the indication of the channel quality information comprises an indication of the identified communication parameter.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the identified communication parameter comprises a transmission power, a modulation order, a coding rate, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of repetitions for a control channel or a shared channel, or a combination thereof.

22. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a number of repetitions for downlink transmissions, the number of repetitions being different than a previous number of repetitions for downlink transmissions; and

receiving the second message including the channel quality information based at least in part on the number of repetitions being different than the previous number of repetitions.

23. An apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

a processor,

memory coupled with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to;

receive, from a base station, a first message of a random access procedure;

identify channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE; and

transmit, to the base station and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of the identified channel quality information in a portion of the second message generated by a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the single protocol layer comprises one of a radio resource control (RRC) layer or a media access control (MAC) layer of the control plane protocol stack.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the first message comprises a random access response message of the random access procedure; and

the second message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) connection request message of the random access procedure.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions to transmit the second message are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

transmit the indication of the identified channel quality information in a header of a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) carrying the second message.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 2-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the identified channel quality information is included in the 2-bit channel quality field.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 1-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the identified channel quality information is included in the 1-bit channel quality field.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the header of the MAC PDU comprises a logical channel identifier (LCID) that indicates that the header carries channel quality information.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

receive signaling that indicates support, by the base station, of the header carrying channel quality information.

31. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

identify a communication parameter for the communication link based at least in part on the identified channel quality information, wherein the indication of the identified channel quality information comprises an indication of the identified communication parameter.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the identified communication parameter comprises a transmission power, a modulation order, a coding rate, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of repetitions for a control channel or a shared channel, or a combination thereof.

33. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determine a number of repetitions for downlink transmissions, the number of repetitions being different than a previous number of repetitions for downlink transmissions; and

transmit the second message including the identified channel quality information based at least in part on the number of repetitions being different than the previous number of repetitions.

34. An apparatus for wireless communications at a base station, comprising:

a processor,

memory coupled with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to;

transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first message of a random access procedure; and

receive, from the UE and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE, the indication in a portion of the second message associated with a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the single protocol layer comprises one of a radio resource control (RRC) layer or a media access control (MAC) layer of the control plane protocol stack.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein:

the first message comprises a random access response message of the random access procedure; and

the second message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) connection request message of the random access procedure.

37. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the instructions to receive the second message are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

receive the indication of the identified channel quality information in a header of a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) carrying the second message.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 2-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the channel quality information is included in the 2-bit channel quality field.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein:

the header of the MAC PDU comprises a 1-bit channel quality field; and

the indication of the channel quality information is included in the 1-bit channel quality field.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the header of the MAC PDU comprises a logical channel identifier (LCID) that indicates that the header carries channel quality information.

41. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

transmit signaling that indicates support, by the base station, of the header carrying channel quality information.

42. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

identify a communication parameter for the communication link based at least in part on the channel quality information, wherein the indication of the channel quality information comprises an indication of the identified communication parameter.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the identified communication parameter comprises a transmission power, a modulation order, a coding rate, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of repetitions for a control channel or a shared channel, or a combination thereof.

44. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determine a number of repetitions for downlink transmissions, the number of repetitions being different than a previous number of repetitions for downlink transmissions; and

receive the second message including the channel quality information based at least in part on the number of repetitions being different than the previous number of repetitions.

45. An apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

means for receiving, from a base station, a first message of a random access procedure;

means for identifying channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE; and

means for transmitting, to the base station and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of the identified channel quality information in a portion of the second message generated by a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.

46. An apparatus for wireless communications at a base station, comprising:

means for transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a first message of a random access procedure; and

means for receiving, from the UE and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE, the indication in a portion of the second message associated with a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.

47. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:

receive, from a base station, a first message of a random access procedure;

identify channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE; and

transmit, to the base station and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of the identified channel quality information in a portion of the second message generated by a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.

48. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications at a base station, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:

transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first message of a random access procedure; and

receive, from the UE and in response to the first message, a second message of the random access procedure, the second message comprising an indication of channel quality information for a communication link between the base station and the UE, the indication in a portion of the second message associated with a single protocol layer of a control plane protocol stack.