US 11,240,727 B2Granted

Telecommunications network

AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company

InventorsRichard Mackenzie, Jonathan Hart, David Townend

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Abstract

The disclosure provides an improved method of operating a mobile terminal or user equipment in a cellular telecommunications network to efficiently discover preferred cells, in particular a HeNB, prior to connecting. Whilst constant searching for a preferred cell can ensure it is found as soon as it is within range, this has a significant impact on resources at the UE, such as battery power, and can disrupt any existing services that might be running. The proposed method determines the probability of the UE being within range of a preferred cell based on measurements already available to the UE or by the network. Additional measurements can then be made as required, and made with increasing frequency as the probability of being within range of the preferred cell increases.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method of operating a mobile terminal in a telecommunications network comprising a plurality of cells, the method comprising:

storing a cell preference list comprising a preferred cell from the plurality of cells in the telecommunications network;
generating a plurality of measurements by the mobile terminal as configured by at least one serving cell in the plurality of cells, each of the plurality of measurements variable relative to a coverage area of the at least one serving cell;
estimating an estimated route to be taken by the mobile terminal based on the plurality of measurements;
determining a probability of the mobile terminal being within range of the preferred cell using the estimated route, the probability based on the plurality of measurements and already available to the mobile terminal or the telecommunications network;
repeatedly performing actions to find the preferred cell, wherein the repeatedly performed actions to find the preferred cell comprises generating at least one additional measurement by the mobile terminal that is not configured by at least one serving cell, and wherein an interval between actions is dependent on the determined probability;
and
connecting to the preferred cell.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/762,040Filed 26 Sep 2016
Priority: EP 1518717228 Sep 2015
Published: US 2018/0262965 A113 Sep 2018
Granted: 1 Feb 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

H04W 48/20
Access restriction ; Network selection; Access point selection: selecting an access point
H04W 36/322
By location or mobility data, e.g. speed data: by location data
H04W 36/324
By location or mobility data, e.g. speed data: by mobility data, e.g. speed data
H04W 48/16
Access restriction ; Network selection; Access point selection: discovering, processing access restriction or access information