Bandwidth-based configuration of measurement gaps

• US 9,615,282 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2015
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Siomina, Iana, Kazmi, Muhammad
• Primary Examiner(s): Prez-Gutirrez, Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pannell, Mark G.
• Application Number:
  US14/715,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20150249934A1
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 455423
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0205 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/382 for resource allocation, admission control or handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0092 Indication of how the channel is divided
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0094 Definition of hand-off measurement parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

Method and apparatus for improving the quality of measurements performed on non-serving frequencies and/or the quality of serving cell data reception by intelligently configuring measurement gaps during which a wireless device is to perform those measurements. The intelligent configuration processing entails obtaining information that identifies, for each of a plurality of candidate non-serving frequencies, one or more measurement bandwidths over which one or more corresponding measurements on that non-serving frequency are to be performed. In at least some embodiments, such candidate non-serving frequencies represent frequencies for which the device has requested measurements gaps. The processing further includes selecting a subset of the candidate non-serving frequencies based on the measurement bandwidths. The processing finally includes configuring measurement gaps during which the wireless device is to perform one or more measurements on the selected non-serving frequencies.

Claims

1. A method of configuring measurement gaps during which a wireless device is to perform one or more measurements of one or more neighbor cells on one or more non-serving frequencies, the method comprising:

receiving, from the wireless device, a request to configure one or more measurement gaps corresponding to one or more candidate non-serving frequencies;

obtaining information that identifies, for each of the one or more candidate non-serving frequencies, one or more measurement bandwidths over which one or more corresponding measurements on that candidate non-serving frequency are to be performed;

selecting, based on the information, a subset of the one or more candidate non-serving frequencies on which one or more measurements are to be performed; and

configuring one or more measurement gaps during which the wireless device is to perform the one or more measurements on the selected subset of the one or more candidate non-serving frequencies.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the wireless device is configured to receive or measure signals from a serving cell over a serving-cell bandwidth;

the selecting comprises selecting the subset based on the one or more measurement bandwidths in relation to the serving-cell bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting comprises preferentially selecting, for inclusion in the subset, one or more candidate non-serving frequencies on which the most neighbor cells are to be measured over a measurement bandwidth that does not exceed a defined threshold set based on the serving-cell bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the defined threshold is set to be larger than the serving-cell bandwidth.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting comprises preferentially selecting, for inclusion in the subset, one or more candidate non-serving frequencies on which the most neighbor cells are to be measured over a bandwidth equal to the serving-cell bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the wireless device is configured to receive or measure signals from a serving cell on a serving-cell frequency over a serving-cell bandwidth, and

measurements on a reference cell serve as a reference for the measurements; and

wherein selecting the subset is further based on determining whether the reference cell is on the serving-cell frequency.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting comprises preferentially selecting, for inclusion in the subset, one or more candidate non-serving frequencies on which the most neighbor cells are to be measured over a measurement bandwidth that does not exceed a defined maximum bandwidth.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting comprises:

determining a majority measurement bandwidth for each candidate non-serving frequency, wherein the majority measurement bandwidth for a given candidate non-serving frequency is the measurement bandwidth over which the majority of measurements on that non-serving frequency are to be performed; and

preferentially selecting, for inclusion in the subset, one or more candidate non-serving frequencies that have a greatest majority measurement bandwidth.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting and configuring are performed responsive to determining that measurement gaps cannot be configured using a single measurement gap pattern for performing measurements on all of the one or more candidate non-serving frequencies.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes at least part of the information, and wherein obtaining the information comprises obtaining at least part of the information via the request.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the information comprises:

transmitting, to a network node, an information request message requesting at least part of the information; and

receiving, responsive to the information request message, at least part of the information.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the information comprises receiving at least part of the information from one or both of the wireless device and a network node.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining timing information regarding when one or more cells corresponding to the one or more candidate non serving frequencies are to transmit one or more reference signals to be measured during the one or more measurement gaps, wherein selecting the subset is further based on the timing information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the timing information comprises one or both of timing offset information and muting information corresponding to the one or more cells.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more measurements comprise positioning measurements that are to be used for determining the geographic position of the wireless device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the method is implemented in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network; and

the positioning measurements are performed on Positioning Reference Signals (PRS).

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the positioning measurements comprise any one or more of:

Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurements for Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA),

Receive-Transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurements,

Timing Advance (TA) measurements,

received signal strength measurements, and

received signal quality measurements.

18. The method of claim 1:

wherein the one or more measurements comprise one or more of;

intra-frequency measurements,

inter-frequency measurements,

intra-RAT measurements,

inter-RAT measurements; and

wherein an inter-frequency or inter-RAT measurement comprises either an intra-band measurement or an inter-band measurement.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device requires measurement gaps in order to perform the one or more measurements on the one or more non-serving frequencies.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises configuring a measurement pattern for the wireless device to perform the one or more measurements; and

the measurement pattern indicates low-interference subframes in which the wireless device is to perform the one or more measurements.

21. A radio network node for configuring measurement gaps during which a wireless device is to perform one or more measurements of one or more neighbor cells on one or more non-serving frequencies, the radio network node comprising:

a communications interface configured to receive, from the wireless device, a request to configure one or more measurement gaps corresponding to one or more candidate non-serving frequencies; and

one or more processing circuits operatively connected to the communications interface, wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to cause the network node to;

obtain information that identifies, for each of the one or more candidate non-serving frequencies, one or more measurement bandwidths over which one or more corresponding measurements on that candidate non-serving frequency are to be performed;

select, based on the information, a subset of the one or more candidate non-serving frequencies on which one or more measurements are to be performed; and

configure one or more measurement gaps during which the wireless device is to perform the one or more measurements on the selected subset of the one or more candidate non-serving frequencies.