Wake up procedure for a base station in a communications network

• US 8,787,843 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2009
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Dttling, Martin, Michel, Jrgen
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai V
• Application Number:
  US13/380,618
• Publication Number:
  US 20120178383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,852 Days
• Field of Search: 455/73
• US Class Current: 455/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0235 where the received signal is a power saving command
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A mobile apparatus transmits a message for waking up an apparatus of a communications network in order to achieve access to the communications network. An apparatus of the communications network receives the message, determines whether the apparatus is in a standby mode in which the transmitter is deactivated, and shifts to a wake up mode, in which the transmitter is kept deactivated, for at most an apparatus-specific offset time in response to receipt of the message in case the apparatus is in the standby mode. The apparatus detects whether an acknowledgment message acknowledging that a successful access to the communications network has been achieved based on the message is received in the wake up mode of the apparatus, and the apparatus shifts to an active mode in which the transmitter is activated and provides access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message using the transmitter in case no acknowledgment message has been received in the wake up mode when the apparatus-specific offset time elapses. Otherwise, the apparatus shifts to the standby mode when the acknowledgement message is received in the wake up mode. The acknowledgment message may be received from the mobile apparatus or from an apparatus of the communications network.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

memory storing a program of instructions;

wherein the memory storing the program of instructions is configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least;

cause a transmitter of a mobile communication device to transmit an access request message for waking up an apparatus of a communications network in order to achieve access to the communications network, determine successful access to the communications network based on the message, and

cause the transmitter to transmit an acknowledgment message for acknowledging the successful access, wherein the acknowledgement message is linked to the access request message such that the access request message can be identified based on the acknowledgement message.

2. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to cause the transmitter to transmit the access request message using a power setting resulting from a relatively aggressive power setting procedure.

3. An apparatus of a communications network, the apparatus comprising:

a transmitter;

a receiver configured to receive, from a mobile apparatus, a message for waking up the apparatus in order to achieve access to the communications network; and

a processor configured to

determine whether the apparatus is in a standby mode in which the transmitter is deactivated, shift the apparatus to a wake up mode, in which the transmitter is kept deactivated, for at most an apparatus-specific offset time in response to receipt of the message in case the apparatus is in the standby mode,

detect whether an acknowledgment message acknowledging that a successful access to the communications network has been achieved based on the message is received in the wake up mode of the apparatus,

shift the apparatus to an active mode in which the transmitter is activated and provide access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message using the transmitter in, case no acknowledgment message has been received in the wake up mode when the apparatus-specific offset time elapses, and shift the apparatus to the standby mode when the acknowledgement message is received in the wake up mode of the apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the acknowledgement message from the mobile apparatus.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the processor is configured to determine that the acknowledgment message acknowledges the successful access to the communications network based on the message, using preamble sequences of the message and the acknowledgment message.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, comprising an interface configured to receive the acknowledgement message from an apparatus of the communications network.

7. The apparatus of claim 3, comprising an interface, wherein the processor is configured to cause the interface to send the acknowledgment message acknowledging that the successful access to the communications network has been achieved based on the message to apparatuses of the communications network in case the apparatus has provided access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the apparatus-specific offset time fulfills the following expression:

t_min<

Δ

t<

t_max

where Δ

t is the apparatus-specific offset time, t_min is a minimum offset time and t_max is a maximum offset time, wherein the apparatus comprises an interface configured to receive the minimum offset time and the maximum offset time from the communications network.

9. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to derive the apparatus-specific offset time from a cell identity of the apparatus and/or determine the apparatus-specific offset time based on a time of deactivation of the transmitter.

10. The apparatus of claim 3, comprising an interface, wherein when the processor determines that the apparatus is in the active mode when the message is received, the processor is configured to provide access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message and cause the interface to send the acknowledgment message acknowledging that the successful access to the communications network has been achieved based on the message to apparatuses of the communications network in case the apparatus has provided access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message.

11. A method comprising:

transmitting an access request message for waking up an apparatus of a communications network in order to achieve access to the communications network;

determining successful access to the communications network based on the access request message; and

transmitting an acknowledgment message for acknowledging the successful access, wherein the acknowledgement message is linked to the access request message such that the access request message can be identified based on the acknowledgement message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the acknowledgement message is linked to the message such that the message can be identified based on the acknowledgment message.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the message includes a first preamble sequence out of a plurality of first preamble sequences, the acknowledgment message includes a second preamble sequence out of a plurality of second preamble sequences, and the second preamble sequence is linked to the first preamble sequence such that the first preamble sequence can be identified based on the second preamble sequence.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising:

transmitting the message using a power setting resulting from a relatively aggressive power setting procedure.

24. A non-transitory computer program product including a program for a processing device, comprising software code portions for performing the steps of claim 11 when the program is run on the processing device.

25. The computer program product according to claim 24, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer-readable medium on which the software code portions are stored.

26. The computer program product according to claim 24, wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the processing device.

15. A method for an apparatus of a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving, from a mobile apparatus, a message for waking up the apparatus in order to achieve access to the communications network;

determining whether the apparatus is in a standby mode in which a transmitter is deactivated;

shifting the apparatus to a wake up mode, in which the transmitter is kept deactivated, for at most an apparatus-specific offset time in response to receipt of the message in case the apparatus is in the standby mode;

detecting whether an acknowledgment message acknowledging that a successful access to the communications network has been achieved based on the message is received in the wake up mode of the apparatus;

shifting the apparatus to an active mode in which the transmitter is activated and providing access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message using the transmitter in case no acknowledgment message has been received in the wake up mode when the apparatus-specific offset time elapses; and

shifting the apparatus to the standby mode when the acknowledgement message is received in the wake up mode of the apparatus.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

receiving the acknowledgement message from the mobile apparatus.

17. The method of claim 15, comprising:

determining that the acknowledgment message acknowledges the successful access to the communications network based on the message, using preamble sequences of the message and the acknowledgment message.

18. The method of claim 15, comprising:

receiving the acknowledgement message from an apparatus of the communications network.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the acknowledgment message includes an identity of the mobile apparatus and/or a timestamp and a cell identity of a location from where the message is transmitted and/or a preamble sequence included in the message and a cell identity of the apparatus transmitting the acknowledgment message.

20. The method of claim 15, comprising:

sending the acknowledgment message acknowledging that the successful access to the communications network has been achieved based on the message to apparatuses of the communications network in case the apparatus has provided access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the apparatus-specific offset time fulfills the following expression:

t_min<

Δ

t<

t_max,

where Δ

t is the apparatus-specific offset time, t_min is a minimum offset time and t_max is a maximum offset time, wherein the method comprises receiving the minimum offset time and the maximum offset time from the communications network.

22. The method of claim 21, comprising:

deriving the apparatus-specific offset time from a cell identity of the apparatus and/or determining the apparatus-specific offset time based on a time of deactivation of the transmitter.

23. The method of claim 15, comprising:

when it is determined that the apparatus is in the active mode when the message is received, providing access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message and sending the acknowledgment message acknowledging that the successful access to the communications network has been achieved based on the message to apparatuses of the communications network in case the apparatus has provided access to the communications network for the mobile apparatus based on the message.