Method, system and device for machine type communication in LTE-A

• US 9,736,620 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2013
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanechips Technology Co., Ltd. (ZTE Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanechips Technology Co., Ltd. (ZTE Corporation), ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Gang
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jae Y
• Application Number:
  US14/439,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20150289080A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,422 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Provided is a method for MTC in LTE-A. The method includes that pieces of MTC UE are divided into at least one cluster unit, each of which includes one piece of second UE as a cluster head and at least one piece of first UE as cluster members, wherein the first UE sends data information to the second UE through a PUSCH; after receiving the data information, the second UE forwards the data information to an eNB; after receiving the data information, the eNB sends DTG information to the first UE so as to complete data information transmission. In the meanwhile, a system and device for MTC communication in LTE-A are provided. Accordingly, the utilization rate of resources is improved when there are limited frequency spectrum resources, the burden of a base station is reduced and interference on uses around is reduced.

Claims

1. A method for Machine Type Communication (MTC) in Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), comprising:

dividing pieces of MTC User Equipment (UE) into at least one cluster unit, each cluster unit comprising one piece of second UE serving as a cluster head and at least one, pieces of first UE serving as cluster members, wherein

the number of the pieces of the first UE in the cluster unit is larger than the number of the pieces of the second UE in the cluster unit;

the first UE sends data information to the second UE through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH);

after receiving the data information the second UE forwards the data information to an Evolved Node B (eNB);

the eNB sends Data Transmission Grant (DTG) information to the first UE after receiving the data information to complete data information transmission;

before the first UE sends the data information to the second UE through the PUSCH, the method further comprising;

forwarding to the eNB, by the second UE, Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection request information sent by the first UE to request for establishment of a network connection, wherein the step of forwarding to the eNB, by the second UE, Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection request information sent by the first UE to request for establishment of a network connection comprises;

when a plurality of pieces of the first UE in the cluster unit initiate the RRC connection request to the second UE in the cluster unit, the second UE in the cluster unit selects at least one RRC connection request according to delays of the RRC connection requests and forwards the selected at least one RRC connection request to the eNB;

sending, by the eNB, RRC connection establishment information to the first UE; and

forwarding, by the first UE, RRC connection establishment completion information to the eNB through the second UE to complete the establishment of the network connection.

2. The method according to claim 1, before forwarding to the eNB, by the second UE, the RRC connection request information sent by the first UE to request for the establishment of the network connection, the method further comprising:

forwarding to the eNB, by the second UE, a Random Access Preamble (RAP) signal sent by the first UE, so as to request for network access;

sending, by the eNB, a Random Access Response (RAR) signal to the first UE;

forwarding to the eNB, by the second UE, message signals of a Data Link Layer (DLL) and a Network Layer (NL) from the first UE; and

sending, by the eNB, a competition parsing message to the first UE to complete the network access.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the eNB, sub-frame resource configuration information to the second UE and the first UE through the RRC connection establishment information, wherein the sub-frame resource configuration information comprises sub-frame resource configuration information of a time domain and sub-frame resource configuration information of a frequency domain.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

sending, by the eNB, the sub-frame resource configuration information of the time domain to the second UE and the first UE directly through SubframeConfig signaling in the RRC connection establishment information;

sending, by the eNB, the sub-frame resource configuration information of the frequency domain to the second UE and the first UE through Uplink Control Information (UCI) in a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) in an uplink direction, and through Downlink Control Information (DCI) in a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in a downlink direction.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the sub-frame resource configuration information of a frequency domain includes information of F1, F2 and F3;

the F1 is a downlink frequency band;

the F2 is an uplink frequency band between the second UE in the cluster unit and the eNB;

the F3 is an MTC frequency band between the first UE in the cluster unit and the second UE in the cluster unit, and

a bandwidth of the F2 is larger than a bandwidth of the F3.

6. A cluster unit for Machine Type Communication (MTC) in Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), comprising one piece of second User Equipment (UE) serving as a cluster head and at least one piece of first UE serving as cluster members, wherein

the number of the pieces of the first UE in the cluster unit is larger than the number of the pieces of the second UE in the cluster unit;

the second UE is configured to forward to an Evolved Node B (eNB) data information sent by the first UE;

the first UE is configured to send the data information to the second UE through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and is further configured to receive Data Transmission Grant (DTG) information sent by the eNB to complete data information transmission, and

before the first UE sends the data information to the second UE through the PUSCH, the second UE is further configured to forward to the eNB Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection request information sent by the first UE, and is further configured to forward to the eNB RRC connection establishment completion information sent by the first UE to complete establishment of a network connection, wherein the forwarding to the eNB RRC connection establishment completion information comprises;

when a plurality of pieces of the first UE initiate RRC connection request to the second UE in the cluster unit, the second UE in the cluster unit is configured to select at least one RRC connection request according to delays of the RRC connection requests and forward the selected at least one RRC connection request to the eNB, and

the first UE is further configured to send the RRC connection request information to the second UE to request for the establishment of the network connection, and is further configured to send the RRC connection establishment completion information to the second UE after receiving RRC connection establishment information sent by the eNB.

7. The cluster unit according to claim 6, wherein

the second UE is configured to forward to the eNB a Random Access Preamble (RAP) signal sent by the first UE, and is further configured to forward to the eNB message signals of a Data Link Layer (DLL) and a Network Layer (NL) from the first UE;

and

the first UE is configured to send the RAP signal to the second UE to request for network access and receive a Random Access Response (RAR) signal from the eNB, and is further configured to send the message signals of the DLL and the NL to the second UE, and receive a competition parsing message from the eNB so as to complete the network access.

8. The cluster unit according to claim 6, wherein

the first UE and the second UE are further configured to receive sub-frame resource configuration information through the RRC connection establishment information, and wherein the sub-frame resource configuration information comprises sub-frame resource configuration information of a time domain, and

wherein the sub-frame resource configuration information of a frequency domain includes information of F1, F2 and F3;

the F1 is a downlink frequency band;

the F2 is an uplink frequency band between the second UE in the cluster unit and the eNB;

the F3 is an MTC frequency band between the first UE in the cluster unit and the second UE in the cluster unit, and a bandwidth of the F2 is larger than a bandwidth of the F3.

9. A system for Machine Type Communication (MTC) in Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), comprising an Evolved Node B (eNB) and at least one cluster unit;

each cluster unit comprises one piece of second User Equipment (UE) serving as a cluster head and at least one piece of first UE serving as cluster members, wherein

the eNB is configured to send Data Transmission Grant (DTG) information to the first UE after receiving data information from the second UE in the cluster unit, to complete data information transmission;

the cluster unit is configured to forward the data information sent by the first UE to the eNB through the second UE;

the eNB is configured to send Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment information to the first UE in the cluster unit after receiving RRC connection request information from the second UE in the cluster unit, and is further configured to receive RRC connection establishment completion information from the second UE in the cluster unit to complete establishment of a network connection; and

the cluster unit is configured to send through the second UE the RRC connection request information to the eNB to request for the establishment of the network connection, and is further configured to forward through the second UE the RRC connection establishment completion information sent by the first UE to the eNB after receiving the RRC connection establishment information from the eNB, and

wherein the number of the pieces of the first UE in the cluster unit is larger than the number of the pieces of the second UE in the cluster unit, and when a plurality of pieces of the first UE in the cluster unit initiate the RRC connection request to the second UE in the cluster unit, the second UE in the cluster unit selects at least one RRC connection request according to delays of the RRC connection requests and forwards the selected at least one RRC connection request to the eNB.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein

the eNB is further configured to send an Random Access Response (RAR) signal to the first UE in the cluster unit after receiving a Random Access Preamble (RAP) signal from the second UE in the cluster unit, and is further configured to send a competition parsing message to the first UE in the cluster unit after receiving message signals of a Data Link Layer (DLL) and a Network Layer (NL) from the second UE in the cluster unit, to complete network access;

and

the cluster unit is further configured to forward through the second UE the RAP signal sent by the first UE to the eNB, so as to request for the network access, and is further configured to forward to the eNB through the second UE the message signals of the DLL and the NL sent by the first UE.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the eNB is further configured to send sub-frame resource configuration information to the cluster unit through the RRC connection establishment information, wherein the sub-frame resource configuration information comprises sub-frame resource configuration of a time domain and sub-frame resource configuration information of a frequency domain.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein

the sub-frame resource configuration information of the time domain is sent to the second UE and the first UE in the cluster unit by the eNB directly through SubframeConfig signaling in the RRC connection establishment information;

and

the sub-frame resource configuration information of the frequency domain is sent to the second UE and the first UE in the cluster unit by the eNB through Uplink Control Information (UCI) in a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) in an uplink direction, and is sent to the second UE and the first UE in the cluster unit by the eNB through Downlink Control Information (DCI) in a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in a downlink direction.

13. The system according to claim 11, the sub-frame resource configuration information of a frequency domain includes information of F1, F2 and F3;

the F1 is a downlink frequency band;

the F2 is an uplink frequency band between the second UE in the cluster unit and the eNB;

the F3 is an MTC frequency band between the first UE in the cluster unit and the second UE in the cluster unit, and

a bandwidth of the F2 is larger than a bandwidth of the F3.

14. The system according to claim 10, wherein

the second UE is configured to forward to the eNB the data information sent by the first UE;

and

the first UE is configured to send the data information to the second UE through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and is further configured to receive the DTG information from the eNB to complete the data information transmission.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein

the second UE is configured to forward to the eNB the RRC connection request information sent by the first UE, and is further configured to forward to the eNB the RRC connection establishment completion information sent by the first UE to complete the establishment of the network connection;

and

the first UE is configured to send the RRC connection request information to the second UE to request for the establishment of the network connection, and is further configured to send the RRC connection establishment completion information to the second UE after receiving the RRC connection establishment information from the eNB.

16. The system according to claim 9, wherein

the second UE is configured to forward to the eNB the data information sent by the first UE;

and

the first UE is configured to send the data information to the second UE through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and is further configured to receive the DTG information from the eNB to complete the data information transmission.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein

the second UE is configured to forward to the eNB the RAP signal sent by the first UE, and is further configured to forward to the eNB the message signals of the DLL and the NL from the first UE;

the first UE is configured to send the RAP signal to the second UE to request for the network access and receive the RAR signal from the eNB, and is further configured to send to the second UE the message signals of the DLL and NL sent by the second UE and receive the competition parsing message from the eNB to complete the network access.

18. The system according to claim 9, wherein

the second UE is configured to forward to the eNB the data information sent by the first UE;

and

the first UE is configured to send the data information to the second UE through a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and is further configured to receive the DTG information from the eNB to complete the data information transmission.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein

the second UE is configured to forward to the eNB the RRC connection request information sent by the first UE, and is further configured to forward to the eNB the RRC connection establishment completion information sent by the first UE to complete the establishment of the network connection;

and

the first UE is configured to send the RRC connection request information to the second UE to request for the establishment of the network connection, and is further configured to send the RRC connection establishment completion information to the second UE after receiving the RRC connection establishment information from the eNB.