Methods of adapting measurement rate accounting for carrier frequency

• US 9,986,452 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2014
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Liu, Jinhua, Kazmi, Muhammad, Li, Gen
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, Wutchung
• Application Number:
  US14/442,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20160286419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 4554221, 455434
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• 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 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]

Abstract

The disclosure pertains to the field of performing measurements on radio signals in a communication system. More particularly the disclosure relates to methods of adapting measurement rate accounting for operating frequency. A method performed in a measuring node comprises obtaining S3 a carrier frequency of at least one radio signal to measure, determining S4 a measurement rate based on the obtained carrier frequency, and performing S5 at least one measurement on the radio signal with the determined measurement rate. The disclosure further relates to a corresponding method performed in a network node, a measuring node, e.g. wireless device, a network node and to corresponding computer programs.

Claims

1. A method, performed in a measuring node in a communication system, for performing one or more measurements on a radio signal, the method comprising:

obtaining a carrier frequency of at least one radio signal to measure;

determining, based on a bandwidth and/or frequency range of the carrier frequency, a power-saving measurement rate that consumes less power by sampling the at least one radio signal less often relative to a faster measurement rate used for measurement on a lower carrier frequency; and

controlling power consumption of the measuring node by performing at least one measurement on the at least one radio signal with the determined power-saving measurement rate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the faster measurement rate for measuring on the lower carrier frequency.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises applying at least one rule defining which measurement rate to use based on the bandwidth and/or frequency range of the carrier frequency of the radio signal to measure.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one rule is autonomously selected by the measuring node.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises receiving information associated with the at least one rule from a network node.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one rule is predefined in the measuring node.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one rule maps different ranges of carrier frequencies to different measurement rates.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one rule requires selecting a higher measurement rate for measuring on a radio signal transmitted on a carrier frequency below a threshold value than for measuring on a radio signal transmitted on a carrier frequency above the threshold value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the threshold value is between 5 GHz and 30 GHz.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining comprises identifying the carrier frequency of at least one signal to measure.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier frequency is at least one of:

an uplink carrier frequency on which the radio signals are uplink transmitted;

a downlink carrier frequency on which the radio signals are downlink transmitted.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is further based on at least one of:

a number of measurements to be at least partly performed in parallel or performed during at least a partly overlapping time period;

a number of carrier frequencies on whose radio signals the measurements are to be performed;

whether DRX is used and/or the length of DRX cycle.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, to a network node, an indication that the measuring node is configured to:

obtain a measurement rate based on the bandwidth and/or frequency range of the carrier frequency of a signal to measure; and

use the obtained measurement rate for performing measurements.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from a network node, a request defining a radio signal to perform measurements on.

15. A measuring node, configured to perform measurements on a radio signal, the measuring node comprising:

a radio communication interface for communication with at least one communication network;

processing circuitry configured to cause the measuring node to;

obtain a carrier frequency of at least one radio signal to measure;

determine, based on a bandwidth and/or frequency range of the carrier frequency, a power-saving measurement rate that consumes less power by sampling the at least one radio signal less often relative to a faster measurement rate used for measurement on a lower carrier frequency; and

control power consumption of the measuring node by performing, using the radio communication interface, at least one measurement on the at least one radio signal with the determined power-saving measurement rate.

16. The measuring node of claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to select faster measurement rate for measuring on the lower carrier frequency.

17. The measuring node of claim 15, wherein the measuring node is a wireless device or a network node.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program product for performing one or more measurements on a radio signal, the computer program product comprising software instructions which, when run on one or more processing circuits of a measuring node in a communication system, causes the measuring node to:

obtain a carrier frequency of at least one radio signal to measure;

determine, based on a bandwidth and/or frequency range of the obtained carrier frequency, a power-saving measurement rate that consumes less power by sampling the at least one radio signal less often relative to a faster measurement rate used for measurement on a lower carrier frequency; and

control power consumption of the measuring node by performing at least one measurement on the at least one radio signal with the determined power-saving measurement rate.

19. A method, performed in a network node in a communication system, for configuring a measuring node to perform one or more measurements on a radio signal, the method comprising:

determining, based on a bandwidth and/or frequency range of a carrier frequency, a power-saving measurement rate to be used by the measuring node for measuring on at least one radio signal, the determined power-saving measurement rate consuming less power by sampling the at least one radio signal less often relative to a faster measurement rate used for measurement on a lower carrier frequency; and

controlling power consumption of the measuring node by configuring the measuring node to measure the at least one radio signal at the determined power-saving measurement rate, the configuring comprising sending information associated with the determined power-saving measurement rate to the measuring node.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising selecting the faster measurement rate for measuring on the lower carrier frequency.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

obtaining at least one carrier frequency of at least one radio signal to be measured;

wherein the information is a determined measurement rate for respective radio signal.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the information comprises one or more rules defining which measurement rate to use based on the bandwidth and/or frequency range of the carrier frequency of the radio signal to measure.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the determining is further based on at least one of:

a number of measurements to be at least partly performed in parallel or performed during at least a partly overlapping time period;

a number of carrier frequencies on whose radio signals the measurements are to be performed;

whether DRX is used and/or the length of DRX cycle.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising receiving, from the measuring node, an indication that the measuring node is configured to:

obtain a measurement rate based on the bandwidth and/or frequency range of the carrier frequency of a signal to measure; and

use the obtained measurement rate for performing measurements.

25. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program product for configuring a measuring node to perform one or more measurements on a radio signal, the computer program product comprising software instructions which, when run on one or more processing circuits of a network node in a communication system, causes the network node to:

determine, based on a bandwidth and/or frequency range of a carrier frequency, a power-saving measurement rate to be used by the measuring node for measuring on at least one radio signal, the determined power-saving measurement rate consuming less power by sampling the at least one radio signal less often relative to a faster measurement rate used for measurement on a lower carrier frequency; and

control power consumption of the measuring node by configuring the measuring node to measure the at least one radio signal at the determined power-saving measurement rate, the configuring comprising sending information associated with the determined power-saving measurement rate to the measuring node.

26. A network node configured to cause a measuring node to perform one or more measurements on a radio signal, the network node comprising:

a communication interface configured to communicate with measuring nodes within reach of the network node; and

processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to;

determine, based on a bandwidth and/or frequency range of a carrier frequency, a power-saving measurement rate to be used by the measuring node for measuring on at least one radio signal, the determined power-saving measurement rate consuming less power by sampling the at least one radio signal less often relative to a faster measurement rate used for measurement on a lower carrier frequency; and

control power consumption of the measuring node by configuring the measuring node to measure the at least one radio signal at the determined power-saving measurement rate, the configuring comprising sending information associated with the determined power-saving measurement rate to the measuring node.