Communication system, base station, user equipment, and discovery method for device-to-device communication

• US 9,894,698 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2015
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Tsai, Hua-Lung, Sheu, Chorng-Ren, Wei, Chun-Yi
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hyun, Soon-Dong D
• Application Number:
  US14/981,949
• Publication Number:
  US 20160338122A1
• Time in Patent Office: 777 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/00 Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Embodiments of a communication system, a base station (BS), a user equipment (UE), and a discovery method for device-to-device (D2D) communication are provided. The communication system includes a base station and multiple UEs. Each of the UEs uses one of multiple carrier frequency bands for communication. The BS obtains D2D communication requests of the UEs by the carrier frequency bands, and groups the UEs into multiple groups according to locations of the UEs. The BS allocates a discovery resource pool of a predefined carrier frequency band to the UEs in the same group and enables each of the UEs to transmit a discovery message corresponding to each of the UEs'"'"' own in the discovery resource pool.

Claims

1. A communication system, comprising:

a base station, including a transmitter and a receiver, the base station serves a plurality of user equipments within a transmission range of the base station, wherein each of the user equipments uses one of a plurality of carrier frequency bands for communication,

wherein the base station enable the receiver to obtain device-to-device communication requests of the user equipments by the carrier frequency bands and groups the user equipments into a plurality of groups according to locations of the user equipments,

the base station allocates a discovery resource pool of a predefined carrier frequency band to the user equipments in a same group and enables each of the user equipments to transmit a discovery message corresponding to each of the user equipments'"'"' own in the discovery resource pool by the transmitter, and

each of the user equipments has a priority message corresponding to the discovery resource pool and selectively receives the discovery messages according to the priority message.

2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the carrier frequency bands respectively belong to a plurality of mobile communication providers, and the plurality of user equipments use mobile communication services of the mobile communication providers, wherein a part of user equipments among the plurality of user equipments belongs to different mobile communication providers.

3. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the user equipments in the same group are geographically close to one another.

4. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the priority message is preset in the user equipments.

5. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the base station provides the priority message to the user equipments by a synchronous transmission protocol.

6. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the discovery resource pool is divided into a plurality of resource blocks, and the priority message of each of the user equipments comprises a plurality of priority values respectively included for the resource blocks,

wherein the user equipments determine whether to receive and analyze the discovery messages within the resource blocks according to the priority values.

7. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of priority values in the priority message is determined according to a type of communication purpose of the user equipments transmitting the discovery messages, a type of public land mobile network or message strengths of the discovery messages.

8. The communication system according to claim 7, wherein the user equipments are informed of the message strengths of the discovery messages by a signal strength measurement.

9. A user equipment, comprising:

a transceiver, configured to transceive wireless data for communication by one of a plurality of carrier frequency bands; and

a processor, operatively coupled to the transceiver,

wherein the processor enables the transceiver to transmit a device-to-device communication request of the user equipment to a base station and obtains a resource pool message from the base station, wherein the resource pool message is configured to allocate a discovery resource pool of a predefined carrier frequency band to the user equipment in a group, and user equipments in the group are geographically close to one another,

wherein the processor enables the transceiver to transmit a discovery message of the user equipment in the discovery resource pool, and

the user equipment has a priority message corresponding to the discovery resource pool and selectively receives the discovery messages according to the priority message.

10. The user equipment according to claim 9, wherein the carrier frequency bands respectively belong to a plurality of mobile communication providers, and the user equipment uses a mobile communication service of one of the mobile communication providers,

wherein the processor enables the transceiver to transmit the discovery message corresponding to the user equipment'"'"'s own according to the allocated discovery resource pool of the predefined carrier frequency band.

11. The user equipment according to claim 9, wherein the base station groups the user equipment into the group according to a location of the user equipment.

12. A user equipment, comprising:

a transceiver, configured to transceive wireless data for communication by one of a plurality of carrier frequency bands; and

a processor, operatively coupled to the transceiver,

wherein the processor enables the transceiver to transmit a device-to-device communication request of the user equipment to a base station and obtains a resource pool message from the base station, wherein the resource pool message is configured to allocate a discovery resource pool of a predefined carrier frequency band to the user equipment in a group, and user equipments in the group are geographically close to one another, wherein the user equipment has a priority message corresponding to the discovery resource pool,

wherein the processor enables the transceiver to monitor the predefined carrier frequency band and selectively receives discovery messages of other user equipments according to the priority message.

13. The user equipment according to claim 12, wherein the carrier frequency bands respectively belong to a plurality of mobile communication providers, and the user equipment uses a mobile communication service of one of the mobile communication providers, wherein a part of user equipments among the other user equipments belongs to different mobile communication providers,

wherein the user equipment transmits the discovery message corresponding to the user equipment'"'"'s own according to the allocated discovery resource pool of the predefined carrier frequency band.

14. The user equipment according to claim 12, wherein the priority message is preset in the user equipments.

15. The user equipment according to claim 12, wherein the base station provides the priority message to the user equipments by a synchronous transmission protocol.

16. The user equipment according to claim 12, wherein the discovery resource pool is divided into a plurality of resource blocks, and the priority message of the user equipment comprises a plurality of priority values respectively included for the resource blocks, wherein

the processor determines whether to receive and analyze the discovery messages within the resource blocks by the transceiver according to the priority values.

17. The user equipment according to claim 12, wherein a plurality of priority values in the priority message are determined according to a type of communication purpose of the user equipments transmitting the discovery messages, a type of public land mobile network or message strengths of the discovery messages.

18. The user equipment according to claim 17, wherein the user equipments are informed of the message strengths of the discovery messages by a signal strength measurement.

19. A base station, comprising:

a transmitter and a receiver, respectively configured to transceive wireless data for communication by one of a plurality of carrier frequency bands; and

a processing circuit, operatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver,

wherein the processing circuit enables the receiver to obtain device-to-device communication requests of a plurality of user equipments by the carrier frequency bands, group the user equipments into a plurality of groups according to locations of the plurality of user equipments, and enables the transmitter to allocate a discovery resource pool within a predefined carrier frequency band to the user equipments in a same group, and

wherein each of the user equipments has a priority message corresponding to the discovery resource pool and selectively receives the discovery messages according to the priority message.

20. The base station according to claim 19, wherein the carrier frequency bands respectively belong to a plurality of mobile communication providers, and the plurality of user equipments use mobile communication services of the mobile communication providers, wherein a part of user equipments among the plurality of user equipments belongs to different mobile communication providers,

wherein each of the user equipments transmits a discovery message corresponding to each of the user equipments'"'"' own according to the allocated discovery resource pool of the predefined carrier frequency band.

21. The base station according to claim 19, wherein the user equipments in each group are geographically close to one another.

22. The base station according to claim 19, wherein the priority message is preset in the user equipments.

23. The base station according to claim 19, wherein the base station provides the priority message to the user equipments by a synchronous transmission protocol.

24. The base station according to claim 19, wherein the discovery resource pool is divided into a plurality of resource blocks, and the priority message of each of the user equipments comprises a plurality of priority values respectively included for the resource blocks,

wherein the user equipments determine whether to receive and analyze the discovery messages within the resource blocks according to the priority values.

25. The base station according to claim 19, wherein a plurality of priority values in the priority message is determined according to a type of communication purpose of the user equipments transmitting the discovery messages, a type of public land mobile network or message strengths of the discovery messages.

26. The base station according to claim 25, wherein the user equipments are informed of the message strengths of the discovery messages by a signal strength measurement.

27. A discovery method for device-to-device communication for a base station, comprising:

obtaining device-to-device communication requests of a plurality of user equipments by a plurality of carrier frequency bands, wherein the base station uses one of the carrier frequency bands to communicate with the user equipments;

grouping the user equipments into a plurality of groups according to locations of the user equipments; and

allocating a discovery resource pool within a predefined carrier frequency band to the user equipments in a same group,

wherein each of the user equipments has a priority message corresponding to the discovery resource pool and selectively receives the discovery messages according to the priority message.

28. The discovery method according to claim 27, wherein the carrier frequency bands respectively belong to a plurality of mobile communication providers, and the plurality of user equipments use mobile communication services of the mobile communication providers, wherein a part of user equipments among the plurality of user equipments belongs to different mobile communication providers,

wherein each of the user equipments transmits a discovery message corresponding to each of the user equipments'"'"' own according to the allocated discovery resource pool of the predefined carrier frequency band.

29. The discovery method according to claim 27, wherein the priority message is preset in the user equipments.

30. The discovery method according to claim 27, further comprising:

providing the priority message to the user equipments by a synchronous transmission protocol.

31. The discovery method according to claim 27, wherein the discovery resource pool is divided into a plurality of resource blocks, and the priority message of each of the user equipments comprises a plurality of priority values respectively included for the resource blocks,

wherein the user equipments determine whether to receive and analyze the discovery messages within the resource blocks according to the priority values.

32. The discovery method according to claim 27, wherein a plurality of priority values in the priority message is determined according to a type of communication purpose of the user equipments transmitting the discovery messages, a type of public land mobile network or message strengths of the discovery messages.

33. A discovery method for device-to-device communication for a user equipment, wherein the user equipment includes a transceiver, the discovery method comprising:

transmitting a device-to-device communication request of the user equipment to a base station by the transceiver;

obtaining an resource pool message from the base station by the transceiver, wherein the resource pool message is configured to allocate a discovery resource pool of a predefined carrier frequency band to the user equipment in a group, and the user equipments in the group are geographically close to one another;

transmitting a discovery message of the user equipment in the discovery resource pool by the transceiver, wherein the user equipment has a priority message corresponding to the discovery resource pool; and

monitoring the predefined carrier frequency band and selectively receiving discovery messages of other user equipments according to the priority message.

34. The discovery method according to claim 33, wherein a plurality of carrier frequency bands respectively belong to a plurality of mobile communication providers, and the user equipment uses a mobile communication service of one of the mobile communication providers,

wherein the user equipment transmits the discovery message corresponding to the user equipment'"'"'s own according to the allocated discovery resource pool of the predefined carrier frequency band.

35. The discovery method according to claim 33, wherein discovery resource pool is divided into a plurality of resource blocks, and the priority message of the user equipment comprises a plurality of priority values respectively included for the resource blocks, wherein

the discovery method further comprises

determining whether to receive and analyze the discovery messages within the resource blocks according to the priority values.