USER EQUIPMENT CAPABILITY UPDATE IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20090149162A1
• Filed: 12/03/2008
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Tenny, Nathan Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,891,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate unsolicited indication of mobile device capability change in wireless communication networks. Upon establishing communication with an access point, a mobile device can experience a change in capability, such as by attaching a device, changing a setting in a user interface, and/or the like. Rather than waiting for a reconfiguration command, when changing base stations or switching from idle to active mode, the mobile device can transmit an unsolicited message to the access point indicating the change. The access point can support the change in subsequent uplink communications or deny such support and can accordingly notify the mobile device via radio resource control (RRC) message.

Claims

1. A method for updating mobile device capabilities in wireless communication networks, comprising:

determining a change in capability of a wireless device;

transmitting an unsolicited radio resource control (RRC) message indicating the change in capability; and

receiving an RRC capability response message indicating acceptance or denial of the change in capability.

2. The method of claim 1, the unsolicited RRC message is an existing message utilized to indicate a mobile device mode switch from idle to active.

3. The method of claim 2, the RRC capability response message is an existing message utilized to reconfigure the mobile device upon the mode switch.

4. The method of claim 1, the unsolicited RRC message comprises a transaction identifier to uniquely identify the message to the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, the RRC capability response message comprises a transaction identifier to associate the RRC capability response message to the unsolicited RRC message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying uplink communications parameters based at least in part on the acceptance or denial indication in the RRC capability response message.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising initializing a timer to restrict retransmitting the unsolicited RRC message based at least in part on the RRC capability response message indicating denial.

8. The method of claim 7, the timer is initialized based at least in part on a timer value included in the RRC capability response message.

9. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive indication of capability change in the wireless communications apparatus;

generate a radio resource control (RRC) message indicating the capability change; and

transmit the RRC message without solicitation to an access point providing wireless network access to the wireless communications apparatus; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

10. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 9, the at least one processor further configured to receive an RRC capability response message from the access point indicating acceptance or denial of the capability change.

11. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 10, the RRC message comprises a transaction identifier to differentiate the RRC message from disparate RRC messages.

12. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11, the RRC capability response message comprises a transaction identifier to correspond with the RRC message.

13. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 10, the at least one processor further configured to reconfigure uplink parameters for subsequent communications based on the acceptance or denial.

14. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 10, the RRC capability response message indicates denial of the capability change and specifies a timer that restricts re-requesting the capability change.

15. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 9, the at least one processer further configured to transmit an RRC connection establishment message to the access point to initialize wireless network access.

16. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 15, the RRC message indicating capability change uses the same structure as the RRC connection establishment message.

17. A wireless communications apparatus that facilitates unsolicited mobile device capability change notification in wireless communications networks, comprising:

means for detecting a capability change in the wireless communications apparatus;

means for creating an unsolicited radio resource control (RRC) message related to the capability change; and

means for transmitting the unsolicited RRC message to a disparate device to request support for the capability change.

18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, further comprising means for establishing communication with the disparate device to receive wireless network service.

19. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, further comprising means for receiving an RRC capability response message from the disparate device in response to the RRC message.

20. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 19, the RRC capability response message specifies whether the capability change is accepted or denied.

21. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 20, the RRC capability response message indicates the capability change is denied and further comprises a timer before which the RRC message can be re-transmitted.

22. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 19, the RRC capability response message comprises a transaction identifier associated with the RRC message to relate the RRC capability response message to the RRC message.

23. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to determine a change in capability of a wireless device;

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit an unsolicited radio resource control (RRC) message indicating the change in capability; and

code for causing the at least one computer to receive an RRC capability response message indicating acceptance or denial of the change in capability.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, the unsolicited RRC message is an existing message utilized to indicate a mobile device mode switch from idle to active.

25. A method for reconfiguring wireless uplink communication parameters based on changed wireless device capabilities, comprising:

receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message from a mobile device indicating change in one or more capabilities;

determining the one or more capabilities for which change is requested; and

transmitting an RRC capability response message to the mobile device indicating denial or acceptance of the change.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising modifying uplink parameters for subsequent communications with the mobile device based at least in part on the change.

27. The method of claim 26, the RRC capability response message comprises indication of the modified uplink parameters.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising including a transaction identifier in the RRC capability response message, the transaction identifier associated with the RRC message from the mobile device.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising determining a timer that restricts re-transmission of a subsequent RRC message from the mobile device and including the timer in the RRC capability response message.

30. The method of claim 25, the RRC capability response message is an existing system message utilized to transmit reconfiguration parameters to the mobile device upon indication of the mobile device switching from idle to active mode.

31. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive unsolicited indication of capability change for a mobile device in communication with the wireless communications apparatus;

determine the changed capability from the indication; and

transmit a radio resource control (RRC) capability response message to the mobile device accepting or denying the changed capability; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

32. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 31, the at least one processor further configured to accept the changed capability and accordingly modify uplink parameters to support the changed capability.

33. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 32, the RRC capability response message comprises notification of the modified uplink parameters.

34. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 33, the at least one processor further configured to receive subsequent mobile device communication that utilizes the modified uplink parameters.

35. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 31, the at least one processor further configured to deny the changed capability and include a timer that restricts re-transmission of the RR C message in the RRC capability response message.

36. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 31, the at least one processor further configured to generate the RRC capability response message comprising a transaction identifier to relate the RRC capability response message with the unsolicited indication of capability change.

37. A wireless communications apparatus for accommodating mobile device capability change in wireless communication networks, comprising:

means for receiving an unsolicited indication of mobile device capability change;

means for determining the changed capability of the mobile device; and

means for transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) capability response message comprising an indication of acceptance or denial for supporting the changed capability.

38. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 37, further comprising means for changing uplink parameters based at least in part on the changed capability.

39. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 38, the RRC capability response message comprises the changed uplink parameters and acceptance for supporting the changed capability.

40. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 37, further comprising means for establishing a timer that restricts re-transmitting the unsolicited indication, the timer is transmitted in the RRC capability response message along with a denial for supporting the changed capability.

41. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 37, further comprising means for including a transaction identifier in the RRC capability response message, the transaction identifier is associated with the unsolicited indication of mobile device capability change.

42. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive a radio resource control (RRC) message from a mobile device indicating change in one or more capabilities;

code for causing the at least one computer to determine the one or more capabilities for which change is requested; and

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit an RRC capability response message to the mobile device indicating denial or acceptance of the change.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, the computer-readable medium further comprising code for causing the at least one computer to modify uplink parameters for subsequent communications with the mobile device based at least in part on the change.