Method and arrangement for D2D discovery

• US 9,736,817 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2012
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Fodor, Gabor, Li, Zhe
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lalchinthang, Vanneilian
• Application Number:
  US14/408,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20150131571A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,756 Days
• Field of Search: 370329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A method for sending beacon signals is provided. The beacon signals are to be received by a slave device to discover the master device for Device to Device communication. The master device receives information from a network node. The information informs about a set of available peer discovery resources to be used in a peer discovery frame by the master device for sending beacon signals. The beacon signals are detected by the slave device. The master device obtains a beacon transmission probability. At each specific peer discovery frame, the master device determines according to the beacon transmission probability, whether or not a beacon signal shall be transmitted during that specific peer discovery frame. When determining to transmit a beacon signal during that specific peer discovery frame, master device sends the beacon signal by choosing one of the peer discovery resources out of the received set of available peer discovery resources.

Claims

1. A method in a first user equipment (UE) for sending beacon signals, which beacon signals are to be received by a second UE to discover the first UE for Device to Device (D2D) communication, which first UE is comprised in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving from a network node information about a set of available peer discovery resources to be used in a peer discovery frame by the first UE for sending beacon signals, which beacon signals are to be detected by the second UE,

obtaining, from the network node, information about a number of registered first UEs within a cell or tracking area associated with the network node,

obtaining a beacon transmission probability, which beacon transmission probability is the probability that the first UE transmits a beacon signal in a specific peer discovery frame, and wherein obtaining the beacon transmission probability comprises determining the beacon transmission probability based on a number of available peer discovery resources in the set of available peer discovery resources and a number of active first UEs,

at each specific peer discovery frame determining according to the beacon transmission probability, whether or not a beacon signal shall be transmitted during that specific peer discovery frame, and

when determining to transmit a beacon signal during that specific peer discovery frame, sending the beacon signal by choosing one of the peer discovery resources out of the received set of available peer discovery resources.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the beacon transmission probability is received from the network node in a transmission.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information about the set of available peer discovery resources further comprises information about which Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDM) frame to be used by the first UE as the peer discovery frame for sending the beacon signals.

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

registering to the network node by signaling that the first UE requests to be detected by a second UE.

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

obtaining from the network node, information about a number of second UEs that have registered at the network node and a threshold value T that the first UE shall use as a target rate for a discovering rate of the number of registered second UEs with respect to the number of registered second UEs.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

stopping the beacon signal transmission when the threshold value T is reached.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising

maintaining a list of second UEs that have discovered the first UE.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

when the number of discovering second UEs does not change during a number of subsequent peer discovery frames, stopping the sending of the beacon signals.

23. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first UE is a master device and the second UE is a slave device.

9. A method in a network node for assisting in Device to Device (D2D) discovery, which network node is comprised in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving from respective one or more first user equipments (UEs), a registration that the first UE requests to be detected by a second UE;

sending information to the respective one or more first UEs, which information comprises a number of registered first UEs and a set of available peer discovery resources, which set of available peer discovery resources are to be used in a peer discovery frame by the respective one or more first UEs for sending beacon signals, which beacon signals are to be received by second UEs to discover the first UE for D2D communication, the method further comprising determining a beacon transmission probability based on a number of available peer discovery resources in the set of available peer discovery resources and the number of registered first UEs, and which beacon transmission probability is the probability that the first UE transmits a beacon signal in a specific peer discovery frame, sending the beacon transmission probability to the respective one or more first UEs.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

sending to the respective one or more first UEs information about a number of second UEs that have registered at the network node and a threshold value that the respective one or more first UEs shall use as a target rate for a discovering rate of the number of registered second UEs with respect to the number of registered second UEs.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the information about the set of available peer discovery resources further comprises which Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDM) frame to be used by the first UE as the specific peer discovery frame for sending the beacon signals.

24. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first UE is a master device and the second UE is a slave device.

12. A first user equipment (UE) for sending beacon signals, which beacon signals are to be received by a second UE to discover the first UE for Device to Device (D2D) communication, which first UE is comprised in a wireless network, the first UE comprising:

a receiving circuit configured to receive from a network node information about a set of available peer discovery resources to be used in a peer discovery frame by the first UE for sending beacon signals, which beacon signals are to be detected by the second UE,

an obtaining circuit configured to obtain a beacon transmission probability, which beacon transmission probability is the probability that the first UE transmits a beacon signal in a specific peer discovery frame,

a sending circuit configured to at each specific peer discovery frame determine according to the beacon transmission probability, whether or not a beacon signal shall be transmitted during that specific peer discovery frame, and

when determining to transmit a beacon signal during that specific peer discovery frame, send the beacon signal by choosing one of the peer discovery resources out of the received set of available peer discovery resources, characterized in that the obtaining circuit further is configured to obtain from the network node, information about a number of registered first UEs within a cell or tracking area associated with the network node, and wherein the obtaining circuit further is configured to obtain the beacon transmission probability by determining the beacon transmission probability based on a number of available peer discovery resources in the set of available peer discovery resources and a number of active first UEs.

13. The first UE according to claim 12, wherein the beacon transmission probability is received from the network node in a transmission.

14. The first UE according to claim 12, wherein the information about the set of available peer discovery resources further comprises which Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDM) frame to be used by the first UE as the specific peer discovery frame for sending the beacon signals.

15. The first UE according to claim 12, wherein the sending circuit further is configured to register to the network node by signaling that the first UE requests to be detected by a second UE.

16. The first UE according to claim 12, wherein the obtaining circuit further is configured to obtain from the network node, information about a number of second UE that have registered at the network node and a threshold value T that the first UE shall use as a target rate for a discovering rate of the number of registered second UEs with respect to the number of registered second UEs.

17. The first UE according to claim 16, further comprising a stopping circuit configured to stop the beacon signal transmission when the threshold value T is reached.

18. The first UE according to claim 16, further comprising a maintaining circuit configured to maintain a list of second UEs that have discovered the first UE.

19. The first UE according to claim 18, wherein the stopping circuit further is configured to stop the sending of the beacon signals when the number of discovering second UEs does not change during a number of subsequent peer discovery frames.

25. The first UE according to claim 12, wherein the first UE is a master device and the second UE is a slave device.

20. A network node for assisting in Device to Device (D2D) discovery, which network node is comprised in a wireless network, the network node comprises:

a receiving circuit configured to receive from respective one or more first user equipments (UEs), a registration that the first UE requests to be detected by a second UE;

a sending circuit configured to send information to the respective one or more first UEs, which information comprises a number of registered second UEs and a set of available peer discovery resources, which set of available peer discovery resources are to be used in a peer discovery frame by the respective one or more first UEs for sending beacon signals, which beacon signals are to be received by second UEs to discover the first UE for D2D communication, characterized in that the network node further comprises a processor configured to determine a beacon transmission probability based on a number of available peer discovery resources in the set of available peer discovery resources and the number of registered first UEs, which beacon transmission probability is the probability that the first UE transmits a beacon signal in a specific peer discovery frame, and wherein the sending circuit further is configured to send the beacon transmission probability to the respective one or more first UEs.

21. The network node according to claim 20, wherein the sending circuit further is configured to send to the respective one or more first UEs information about a number of second UEs that have registered at the network node and a threshold value that the respective one or more first UEs shall use as a target rate for a discovering rate of the number of registered second UEs with respect to the number of registered second UEs.

22. The network node according to claim 20, wherein the information about the set of available peer discovery resources further comprises which Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDM) frame to be used by the first UE as the specific peer discovery frame for sending the beacon signals.

26. The network node according to claim 20 wherein the first UE is a master device and the second UE is a slave device.