US 10,542,464 B2 · Methods for data communication to a platoon of connected vehicles

Abstract

It is possible to reduce latency and/or overhead when performing a platoon handover by using the leading vehicle in the platoon to communicate handover requests and/or initial resource requests (e.g., random access transmissions) on behalf of trailing vehicles in the platoon. In one example, a leading vehicle in a platoon communicates a handover request to a source AP to request handover of the entire platoon from the source AP to a target AP. In such an example, the source AP then communicates handover commands to each vehicle in the platoon without receiving separate handover requests from the trailing vehicles, thereby reducing overhead in the access network. The handover commands notify the trailing vehicles of the handover, and may be sequentially communicated to the trailing vehicles based on their order in the platoon.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method for low overhead control signaling, the method comprising:

receiving, by an access point, channel information and platoon information from a leading vehicle in a platoon of vehicles, wherein the platoon information includes at least one of a speed of the platoon of vehicles and a spacing between vehicles in the platoon of vehicles;
assigning, by the access point, a beam direction parameter to the leading vehicle at a first time instance based on the channel information received from the leading vehicle, the beam direction parameter including a set of beamforming weights or a spatial direction to be used for an uplink or downlink transmission;
and
assigning, by the access point, the beam direction parameter to a trailing vehicle at a second time instance based on at least one of the speed in which the platoon of vehicles is traveling and the spacing between the vehicles in the platoon of vehicles.

1 more element

A method for low overhead control signaling, the method comprising:

receiving, by a trailing vehicle in a platoon of vehicles, a beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle from an access point prior to communicating any channel information to the access point, the beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle having been assigned based on a beam direction parameter associated with a leading vehicle in the platoon of vehicles during a first time instance and at least one of a speed in which the platoon of vehicles is traveling and a spacing between the vehicles in the platoon of vehicles, the beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle including a set of beamforming weights or a spatial direction to be used for an uplink or downlink transmission;
and
transmitting a signal to the access point according to the beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle during a second time instance.

A trailing vehicle in a platoon of vehicles, the trailing vehicle comprising:

a processor;
and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
receive a beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle from an access point prior to communicating any channel information to the access point, the beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle having been assigned based on a beam direction parameter associated with a leading vehicle in the platoon of vehicles during a first time instance and at least one of a speed in which the platoon of vehicles is traveling and a spacing between vehicles in the platoon of vehicles, the beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle including a set of beamforming weights or a spatial direction to be used for the uplink or downlink transmission;
and
transmit a signal to the access point according to the beam direction parameter assigned to the trailing vehicle during a second time instance.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Methods for data communication to a platoon of connected vehicles

Life of this patent

Methods for data communication to a platoon of connected vehicles

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22