Method of handling coverage enhancement in wireless communication system

• US 9,961,595 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Chih-Hsiang, Wu, Chih-Yao
• Primary Examiner(s): Jiang, Charles C
• Assistant Examiner(s): KAVLESKI, RYAN C
• Application Number:
  US14/529,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20150117410A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0069 in case of dual connectivity, e.g. decoupled uplink/downlink

Abstract

A method of handling coverage enhancement for a user equipment (UE) of a wireless communication system includes determining whether the UE is in an enhanced coverage mode according to the number of repetitions of a downlink transmission based on which the UE successfully decodes a system information block (SIB); and performing an uplink transmission with repetitions or without repetitions based on whether the UE is in the enhanced coverage mode.

Claims

1. A method of handling coverage enhancement for a network of a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

the network determining to include a random access configuration in a handover command when the network knows a user equipment (UE) is in an enhanced coverage mode, wherein the random access configuration indicates the number of repetitions that the UE follows to transmit a random access preamble;

the network transmitting the handover command including the random access configuration to the UE of the wireless communication system;

the network receiving repetitions of the random access preamble from the UE; and

the network transmitting a random access response with a number of repetitions in response to the repetitions of the random access preamble.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE knows the UE is in the enhanced coverage mode when the UE performs a handover according to the handover command.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE receives repetitions of a physical broadcast channel transmission comprising a master information block (MIB) to decode the MIB and repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel transmission comprising a system information block (SIB) to decode the SIB after the UE performs a handover according to the handover command.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the handover command comprises a T304 value which is large enough to cover a period of time during which the UE is able to transmit possible repetitions of the random access preamble.

5. A network apparatus of a wireless communication system for handling coverage enhancement, comprising:

a storage device, for storing instructions of;

determining to include a random access configuration in a handover command when the network knows a user equipment (UE) is in an enhanced coverage mode, wherein the random access configuration indicates the number of repetitions that the UE follows to transmit a random access preamble;

transmitting the handover command including the random access configuration to the UE of the wireless communication system;

receiving repetitions of the random access preamble from the UE; and

transmitting a random access response with a number of repetitions in response to the repetitions of the random access preamble; and

a processing circuit, coupled to the storage device, configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage device.

6. The network apparatus of claim 5, wherein the UE knows the UE is in the enhanced coverage mode when the UE performs a handover according to the handover command.

7. The network apparatus of claim 5, wherein the UE receives repetitions of a physical broadcast channel transmission comprising a master information block (MIB) to decode the MIB and repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel transmission comprising a system information block (SIB) to decode the SIB after the UE performs a handover according to the handover command.

8. The network apparatus of claim 5, wherein the handover command comprises a T304 value which is large enough to cover a period of time during which the UE is able to transmit possible repetitions of the random access preamble.

9. A communication device of a wireless communication system for handling coverage enhancement, comprising:

a storage device, for storing instructions of;

receiving a handover command including a random access configuration from a base station of the wireless communication system, wherein the random access configuration indicates the number of repetitions that the communication device follows to transmit a random access preamble, and the base station includes the random access configuration when the base station knows the communication device is in an enhanced coverage mode;

transmits the random access preamble with the number of repetitions to a target cell, in response to the handover command; and

receiving a random access response with a number of repetitions in response to the random access preamble from the target cell; and

a processing circuit, coupled to the storage device, configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage device.

10. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the communication device knows the communication device is in the enhanced coverage mode when the communication device performs a handover according to the handover command.

11. The communication device apparatus of claim 9, wherein the communication device receives repetitions of a physical broadcast channel transmission comprising a master information block (MIB) to decode the MIB and repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel transmission comprising a system information block (SIB) to decode the SIB after the communication device performs a handover according to the handover command.

12. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the handover command comprises a T304 value which is large enough to cover a period of time during which the communication device is able to transmit possible repetitions of the random access preamble.