Measurement on SCC SCell and on/off discovery signals

• US 9,961,573 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2014
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Kazmi, Muhammad, Cheng, Jung-Fu, Falahati, Sorour, Koorapaty, Havish, Larsson, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Yeung, Mang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Solinsky, Peter G
• Application Number:
  US14/579,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20150215799A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 370252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and devices for performing measurements on a carrier associated with a deactivated cell in a cellular communications system. In some embodiments, a method of operation for a wireless device for determining whether to perform one or more measurements on a carrier associated with a deactivated cell comprises acquiring at least one parameter related to a periodicity (D_p) of a discovery signal transmitted on one or more cells of a carrier with the deactivated cell, acquiring a measurement cycle parameter (S_c) for performing one or more measurements on one or more cells on the carrier, comparing the periodicity (D_p) of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter (S_c), and deciding whether to perform the one or more measurements for the cells on the carrier based on the comparison of the periodicity (D_p) of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter (S_c).

Claims

1. A method of operation of a wireless device in a cellular communications network for determining whether to perform one or more measurements on a carrier with a deactivated cell, comprising:

acquiring, by the wireless device, at least one parameter related to a periodicity, D_p, of a discovery signal transmitted on one or more cells of the carrier with the deactivated cell, where deactivated means turned off;

acquiring, by the wireless device, a measurement cycle parameter, S_c, for performing the one or more measurements on the one or more cells of the carrier;

comparing, by the wireless device, the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter, S_c;

deciding, by the wireless device, to perform the one or more measurements on the one or more cells of the carrier only when at least one occasion of the discovery signal is time-aligned with at least one occasion of the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, as determined based on a starting time of the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter, S_c; and

performing, by the wireless device, the one or more measurements on the one or more cells of the carrier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier is a secondary component carrier of a carrier aggregation system, and the method further comprises:

configuring, by the wireless device, the wireless device to operate with the secondary component carrier of the carrier aggregation system, wherein the deactivated cell is a deactivated secondary cell that operates on the secondary component carrier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, comprises:

receiving, by the wireless device, a request from a radio access node to perform the one or more measurements on the one or more cells of the carrier of the deactivated cell, the request comprising the measurement cycle parameter, S_c.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after deciding to perform the one or more measurements;

determining, by the wireless device, an actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, based on the comparison of the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter, S_c; and

performing, by the wireless device, the one or more measurements in accordance with the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

reporting, by the wireless device, results of performing the one or more measurements to a node of the cellular communications network.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

reporting, by the wireless device, the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, to a node of the cellular communications network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the at least one parameter related to the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal comprises:

receiving, by the wireless device, the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal as a value transmitted by the cellular communications network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein acquiring the at least one parameter related to the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal further comprises:

receiving, by the wireless device, an indication of a starting time of the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal from the cellular communications network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the at least one parameter related to the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal comprises:

acquiring, by the wireless device, at least one parameter having a known relationship to the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal; and

deriving, by the wireless device, the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal from the at least one parameter.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

deriving, by the wireless device, a starting time for the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal from the at least one parameter.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one parameter is chosen from the group consisting of:

a bandwidth of the carrier;

a number of subframes within discovery signal occasion; and

an identifier associated with the discovery signal.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, comprises setting the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, to a maximum of the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter, S_c.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

performing, by the wireless device, the one or more measurements in accordance with the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, over a predefined time period corresponding to the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, multiplied by a scaling factor, m.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, comprises setting the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, to the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, multiplied by an integer, k, greater than or equal to 1, when the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, is greater than or equal to the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, further comprises setting the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, to the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal multiplied by an integer, k, greater than or equal to 1, when the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, is less than the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein performing the one or more measurements in accordance with the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, comprises:

performing the one or more measurements in accordance with the actual measurement cycle parameter, S_c1, over a predefined time period corresponding to the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, multiplied by a scaling factor, m.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery signal is a first reference signal for a carrier with a deactivated cell, and the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal is less than a periodicity of a second reference signal for a cell in an activated state.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery signal comprises at least one of a Cell-Specific Reference Signal, CRS, a Channel State Information Reference Signal, CSI-RS, a Primary Synchronization Signal, PSS, a Secondary Synchronization Signal, SSS, and a Positioning Reference Signal, PRS.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier is one of an intra-frequency carrier, an inter-frequency carrier, and an inter-Radio Access Technology, RAT, carrier.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more measurements comprise at least one of the group consisting of:

Radio Resource Management, RRM, measurements, Radio Link Monitoring, RLM, related measurements, Quasi Co-Location, QCL, of transmitting nodes, Reference Signal Time Difference, RSTD, Channel State Information, CSI, and time and frequency synchronization among transmissions of reference signals.

21. A wireless device in a cellular communications network operable for determining whether to perform one or more measurements on one or more cells of a carrier with a deactivated cell that operates on a component carrier, comprising:

a transceiver module;

a processing module; and

a memory module storing software executable by the processing module, whereby the wireless device is operative to;

acquire at least one parameter related to a periodicity, D_p, of a discovery signal of the deactivated cell on the carrier, where deactivated means turned off;

acquire a measurement cycle parameter, Sp, for the one or more measurements on the one or more cells of the carrier;

compare the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter, S_c;

decide to perform the one or more measurements on the one or more cells of the carrier only when at least one occasion of the discovery signal is time-aligned with at least one occasion of the measurement cycle parameter, S_c, as determined based on a starting time of the periodicity, D_p, of the discovery signal and the measurement cycle parameter, S_c; and

perform the one or more measurements on the one or more cells of the carrier.