BR-112019002215-B1 - Selection of coverage enhancement level based on power class.

Abstract

According to the exemplary embodiments of the invention, there exists at least one method and apparatus for performing the reception, by a user equipment, of a signaling including at least one of a plurality of reference signal received power threshold levels (RSRP); determining, by the user equipment, a power class parameter associated with the user equipment; and selecting, based on at least one of the plurality of reference signal received power threshold levels and said power class parameter, a set of features from one or more sets of features to perform a network access procedure with a communication network.

Inventors

• Jussi-Pekka Koskinen
• Jorma Kaikkonen

Assignees

• NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY

Dates

Publication Date

20260310

Application Date

20170803

Priority Date

20160805

Claims (15)

1. 1. A method characterized by comprising: receiving, by a user device, a signal comprising at least one of a plurality of received reference signal power threshold levels; determining, by the user device, a power class parameter associated with the user device; selecting, based on at least one of the plurality of received reference signal power threshold levels and said power class parameter, a set of features to perform a network access procedure with a communication network; adjusting at least one of the plurality of received reference signal power threshold levels by said power class parameter, wherein the selection comprises using the adjusted received reference signal power threshold levels to determine the coverage enhancement level to select the set of features for the network access procedure with the communication network.
2. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the power class parameter defines a maximum output power available at the user equipment for any given transmission bandwidth.
3. 3. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the plurality of received power threshold levels of the reference signal is received from the communication network in a single information block of the system.
4. 4. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the communication network comprises a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network.
5. 5. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the user equipment is a device that supports a power class of 14dBm.
6. 6. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the network access procedure comprises a physical random access channel procedure.
7. 7. Apparatus characterized by comprising: means for receiving, in a user equipment, a signal comprising at least one of a plurality of received power threshold levels of a reference signal; means for determining, in the user equipment, a power class parameter associated with the user equipment; means, based on at least one of the plurality of received power threshold levels of a reference signal and said power class parameter, for selecting a set of resources to perform a network access procedure with a communication network; means for adjusting at least one of the plurality of received power threshold levels of the reference signal by said power class parameter, and wherein the selection means comprise means for using the adjusted received power threshold levels of the reference signal to determine the coverage enhancement level to select the set of resources for the network access procedure with the communication network.
8. 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the power class parameter defines a maximum output power available at the user equipment for any given transmission bandwidth.
9. 9. Device according to any one of claims 7 to 8, characterized in that the said power class parameter associated with the user's equipment is received from the communication network in a system information block.
10. 10. Apparatus, according to claim 7, characterized in that the adjustment means comprise: for a case where the power class parameter is less than a threshold level, the adjustment means comprise means for increasing the threshold level, and for a case where the power class parameter is greater than a threshold level, the adjustment means comprise means for decreasing the threshold level.
11. 11. Apparatus, according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the plurality of received reference signal power threshold levels, RSRP, corresponds to an RSRP 1 threshold, an RSRP 2 threshold and an RSRP 3 threshold.
12. 12. Apparatus, according to any one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that the plurality of threshold power levels received from the reference signal is received from the communication network in a single system information block.
13. 13. Device according to any one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the communication network comprises a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network.
14. 14. Apparatus, according to any one of claims 7 to 13, characterized in that the user equipment is a device that supports a power class of 14dBm.
15. 15. Device according to any one of claims 7 to 14, characterized in that the network access procedure comprises a physical random access channel procedure.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD: [0001] The teachings according to the exemplary embodiments of this invention generally relate to the optimization of random access for lower power NB-IOT UE and, more specifically, relate to the consideration of a UE power class in a selection of PRACH features for a determination of the CE level. BACKGROUND: [0002] This section is intended to provide background or context for the invention that is set forth in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but not necessarily those that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated in this document, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. [0003] At the 3GPP LTE RAN#69 plenary meeting, a new work item called NB-IOT was approved. Since then, the 3GPP organization has been working on solutions for machine-to-machine (MTC) communications operation and for NB-IOT (Narrow Band Internet of Things). [0004] NB-IOT is expected to support up to 20 dB of coverage enhancement, a massive number of low-throughput devices, low latency sensitivity, ultra-low device cost, low device power consumption, and network structure (e.g., optimized). Furthermore, the bandwidth of NB-IOT is only 180 kHz, corresponding to a PRB (and 12 subcarriers) in LTE. [0005] The advantages of NB-IoT can include smart metering to remotely collect electricity, water, and gas meter data via the cellular network. This aspect of the NB-IoT topic is mainly due to the market opportunity it presents. This smart metering can, consequently, help reduce the cost generated by manual meter reading and meter battery replacement, for example. [0006] The exemplary embodiments of the invention work to optimize random access procedures for NB-IOT, so that, at least, the random access failure rates of devices using NB-IOT are reduced or eliminated. [0007] Some abbreviations that may be found in the description and/or in the Figures are defined here as follows: CE Coverage Enhancement CP Control Plane dB Decibels dBm Decibels milliwatts NB Node B Enhanced HO Automatic Switching MT Cellular Terminated MTC Machine Type Communications NB-IOT Narrowband Internet of Things PRACH Random Packet Access Channel RLF Radio Link Failure RRC Radio Resource Control RSRP Received Reference Signal Power TX Transmission UE User Equipment UP User Plane SUMMARY [0008] This section contains examples of possible implementations and is not intended to be exhaustive. [0009] In an exemplary embodiment, a method comprises receiving, by a user equipment, a signal comprising at least one of a plurality of reference signal received power threshold levels (RSRP); determining, by the user equipment, a power class parameter associated with the user equipment; and selecting, based on at least one of the plurality of reference signal received power threshold levels and said power class parameter, a set of features from one or more sets of features to perform a network access procedure with a communication network. [0010] Another exemplary embodiment of the invention is a method comprising the method of the preceding paragraph, in which the power class parameter defines a maximum output power available at the user equipment for any given transmission bandwidth. A further exemplary embodiment is the method of this paragraph and/or the preceding paragraph, in which said power class parameter associated with the user equipment is received from the communication network in a system information block. Another exemplary embodiment is the method of this paragraph and/or the preceding paragraph, in which at least one of the plurality of received reference signal power threshold levels is used to determine a coverage enhancement level for selecting the feature set. In another exemplary embodiment is the method of this paragraph and/or the preceding paragraph, comprising the adjustment of at least one of the plurality of received reference signal power threshold levels by said power class parameter, and wherein the selection comprises the use of the adjusted received reference signal power threshold levels to determine a coverage enhancement level to select the feature set for the network access procedure with the communication network. In another exemplary embodiment is the method of this paragraph and/or the preceding paragraph, wherein the adjustment comprises: for a case where the power class parameter is less than a threshold level, the adjustment comprises increasing the threshold level and, for a case where the power class parameter is greater than a threshold level, the adjustment comprises reducing the threshold level. An additional exemplary embodiment is the method in this paragraph and/or the preceding paragraph, where the plurality of received reference signal power threshold levels corresponds to an RSRP 1 threshold, an RSRP 2 threshold,