Extend long term evolution connected state coverage

• US 9,942,807 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2015
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhu, Lily, Wang, Xin, Youtz, Andrew E., Venizelos, Paul, Schmidt, Christopher M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Prez-Gutirrez, Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pannell, Mark G.
• Application Number:
  US14/918,621
• Publication Number:
  US 20170118680A1
• Time in Patent Office: 902 Days
• Field of Search: 455436
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0079 in case of hand-off failure or rejection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/305 Handover due to radio link failure control signalling for hand-off failure H04W36/0079
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/18 Management of setup rejection or failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment

Abstract

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium having instructions to detect a triggering event that invokes a T311 timer, while the device is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state; and invoke an extended cell selection procedure that does not use an S criterion value as a basis to select a candidate cell to re-establish an RRC connection, based on a detection of the triggering event.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

camping, by a wireless device associated with a user, on a cell of a wireless network, wherein the wireless device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state relative to a wireless station of the wireless network, and wherein the wireless device is configured to perform a first extended cell selection procedure and a second extended cell selection procedure;

detecting, by the wireless device, a triggering event that invokes a T311 timer, while the wireless device is in the RRC connected state;

determining, by the wireless device, whether the wireless device is involved in a real-time session or a non-real-time session, as a binary choice, in response to the detecting;

invoking, by the wireless device, the first extended cell selection procedure that does not use any minimum threshold value as a basis to select a candidate cell to re-establish an RRC connection, in response to determining that the wireless device is involved in the real-time session; and

invoking, by the wireless device, the second extended cell selection procedure that uses an S criterion value as a basis to select a candidate cell to re-establish the RRC connection, in response to determining that the wireless device is involved in the non-real-time session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the triggering event is one of a radio link failure, a handover failure, a mobility from Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) failure, an integrity check failure indication, or an RRC connection reconfiguration failure.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the wireless device, whether the wireless device is involved in an active session in response to the detecting; and

determining, by the wireless device, whether the wireless device is involved in the real-time session or the non-real-time session, as the binary choice, in response to determining that the wireless device is involved in the active session.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network or an LTE-Advanced network, and the wireless station is an evolved Node B, and wherein the real-time session is a voice over LTE session.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second extended cell selection procedure comprises:

measuring, by the wireless device, one or more reference signals pertaining to one or more candidate cells;

calculating, by the wireless device, the S criterion value based on the measuring; and

selecting, by the wireless device, one of the one or more candidate cells as a cell to re-establish the RRC connection based on the calculating.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first extended cell selection procedure comprises:

measuring, by the wireless device, one or more reference signals pertaining to one or more candidate cells;

determining, by the wireless device, which of the one or more candidate cells has at least one of a highest received signal strength or quality; and

selecting, by the wireless device, one of the one or more candidate cells as a cell to re-establish the RRC connection based on the one of the one or more candidate cells having the at least one of the highest received signal strength or quality.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first extended cell selection procedure further comprises:

performing, by the wireless device, a random access procedure, based on the selecting; and

performing an RRC connection re-establishment procedure subsequent to the performing of the random access procedure.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first extended cell selection procedure further comprises:

receiving, by the wireless device, master information block and system information block messages from the one of the one or more candidate cells, based on the selecting.

9. A user device comprising:

a communication interface;

a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the instructions to;

camp on a cell of a wireless network, wherein the user device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state relative to a wireless station of the wireless network, and wherein the user device is configured to perform a first extended cell selection procedure and a second extended cell selection procedure;

detect a triggering event that invokes a T311 timer, while the user device is in the RRC connected state;

determine whether the user device is involved in a real-time session or a non-real-time session, as a binary choice, in response to the detection;

invoke the first extended cell selection procedure that does not use any minimum threshold value as a basis to select a candidate cell to re-establish an RRC connection, in response to a determination that the user device is involved in the real-time session; and

invoke the second extended cell selection procedure that uses an S criterion value as a basis to select a candidate cell to re-establish the RRC connection, in response to a determination that the user device is involved in the non-real-time session.

10. The user device of claim 9, wherein the triggering event is one of a radio link failure, a handover failure, a mobility from Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) failure, an integrity check failure indication, or an RRC connection reconfiguration failure.

11. The user device of claim 9, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

determine whether a user of the user device is involved in an active session in response to the detection; and

determine whether the user device is involved in the real-time session or the non-real-time session, as the binary choice, in response to a determination that the user device is involved in the active session.

12. The user device of claim 9, wherein the wireless network is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network or an LTE-Advanced network, and the wireless station is an evolved Node B, and wherein when invoking the first extended cell selection procedure, the processor further executes the instructions to:

measure one or more reference signals pertaining to one or more candidate cells;

store one or more measured values;

determine which of the one or more candidate cells has at least one of a highest received signal strength or quality based on the one or more measured values; and

select one of the one or more candidate cells as a cell to re-establish the RRC connection based on the one of the one or more candidate cells having the at least one of the highest received signal strength or quality.

13. The user device of claim 12, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

perform a random access procedure in relation to the one of the one or more candidate cells; and

perform an RRC connection re-establishment procedure subsequent to the random access procedure.

14. The user device of claim 13, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

determine whether the RRC connection re-establishment procedure is successful; and

enter an RRC idle mode in response to a determination that the RRC connection re-establishment procedure is not successful.

15. The user device of claim 9, wherein, when invoking the second extended cell selection procedure, the processor further executes the instructions to:

measure one or more reference signals pertaining to one or more candidate cells;

calculate the S criterion value based on the measurement; and

select one of the one or more candidate cells as a cell to re-establish the RRC connection based on the calculation.

16. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor of a device to:

camp on a cell of a wireless network, wherein the device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state relative to a wireless station of the wireless network, and wherein the device is configured to perform a first extended cell selection procedure and a second extended cell selection procedure;

detect a triggering event that invokes a T311 timer, while the device is in the RRC connected state;

determine whether the device is involved in a real-time session or a non-real-time session, as a binary choice, in response to the detection;

invoke the first extended cell selection procedure that does not use any minimum threshold value as a basis to select a candidate cell to re-establish an RRC connection, in response to a determination that the device is involved in the real-time session; and

invoke the second extended cell selection procedure that uses an S criterion value as a basis to select a candidate cell to re-establish the RRC connection, in response to a determination that the user device is involved in the non-real-time session.

17. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

determine whether a user of the device is involved in an active session in response to the detection; and

determine whether the user device is involved in the real-time session or the non-real-time session, as the binary choice, in response to a determination that the user device is involved in the active session.

18. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions to invoke the first extended cell selection procedure further comprise instructions to:

measure one or more reference signals pertaining to one or more candidate cells;

store one or more measured values;

determine which of the one or more candidate cells has at least one of a highest received signal strength or quality based on the one or more measured values; and

select one of the one or more candidate cells as a cell to re-establish the RRC connection based on the one of the one or more candidate cells having the at least one of the highest received signal strength or quality.

19. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions to invoke further comprise instructions to:

perform a random access procedure in relation to the one of the one or more candidate cells; and

perform an RRC connection re-establishment procedure subsequent to the random access procedure.

20. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions to invoke the second extended cell selection procedure further comprise instructions to:

measure one or more reference signals pertaining to one or more candidate cells;

calculate the S criterion value based on the measurement; and

select one of the one or more candidate cells as a cell to re-establish the RRC connection based on the calculation.