# US 2020/0288394 A1 · Selectively controlling transmit power from a radio access network (ran) cell to user equipment (ue) in closed-loop power control for uplink control channel based on variation in measured uplink signal quality > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2020/0288394 A1 - Document ID: US20200288394A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/293,950 - Filed: 2019-03-06 - Published: 2020-09-10 - Earliest claimed: 2019-03-06 - Assignees: Corning Research & Development Corporation - Applicants: Corning Research & Development Corporation - Inventors: Vandana Chhabra; Shirish Nagaraj; Farhan Aslam Qazi - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20200288394A1 ## CPC - H04W 52/0216: {using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame} - H04W 52/221: {using past power control commands} - H04W 52/146: {Uplink power control} - H04W 52/225: {Calculation of statistics, e.g. average or variance} - H04W 52/241: {taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR or Eb/lo} - H04W 52/248: {where transmission power control commands are generated based on a path parameter} - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Selectively controlling transmit power from a radio access network (RAN) cell to user equipment (UE) in closed-loop power control for uplink control channel based on variation in measured uplink signal quality. To avoid the RAN cell continuously sending transmit power control messages that may not be effective in further adjusting transmit power of the UE, the RAN cell selectively controls transmit power of the UE based on effectiveness in such transmit power control changing uplink channel signal quality. The determined effectiveness of the transmit power control can be used by the RAN cell to determine when the next transmit power control message should be sent to the UE. The RAN cell can be configured to indirectly measure the uplink channel power by reviewing the received uplink channel quality in a report communicated from the UE to the RAN cell. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A radio access network (RAN) cell, comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a communications signal on a downlink channel to a user equipment (UE); a receiver circuit configured to receive communications signals on an uplink channel from the UE; and a controller circuit communicatively coupled to the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit, the controller circuit configured to: receive on the uplink channel, a downlink channel quality of the downlink channel measured by the UE; measure an uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the received downlink channel quality; in response to the measured uplink channel quality being less than a target uplink channel quality: create a transmit power control message comprising a power adjustment indicator to be sent to the UE to adjust its transmit power based on the power adjustment indicator; and store the transmit power control message and the measured uplink channel quality corresponding to the sent transmit power control message; determine if a number of stored sent transmit power control messages having a corresponding power adjustment factor greater than a defined power adjustment threshold exceeds a defined transmit power control message number threshold; and in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor greater than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold: determine a variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the measured uplink channel quality; determine if the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeds a defined uplink channel quality variance threshold; and in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel not exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold, not send the transmit power control message to the UE. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The RAN cell of claim 1, wherein the controller circuit is further configured to, in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel not exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold, not send a refresh discontinuous reception inactivity timer message to the UE. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The RAN cell of claim 1, wherein the controller circuit is further configured to send the transmit power control message to the UE, in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor less than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The RAN cell of claim 3, wherein the controller circuit is further configured to send a refresh discontinuous reception inactivity timer message to the UE, in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor less than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The RAN cell of claim 1, wherein the controller circuit is further configured to send the transmit power control message to the UE, in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The RAN cell of claim 5, wherein the controller circuit is further configured to send a refresh discontinuous reception inactivity timer message to the UE, in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The RAN cell of claim 1, wherein: the downlink channel quality of the downlink channel comprises a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the downlink channel; and the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel comprises an SNR of the uplink channel. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The RAN cell of claim 7, wherein the controller circuit is configured to determine the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the measured uplink channel quality by being configured to: determine an average SNR of the uplink channel based on the SNRS of the uplink channel corresponding to the transmit power control messages; and determine a mean absolute deviation of SNR of the uplink channel based on the determined average SNR of the uplink channel and a last number of average SNRS of the uplink channel as the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The RAN cell of claim 1, wherein the uplink channel comprises an uplink control channel, the controller circuit configured to receive on the uplink control channel, the downlink channel quality of the downlink channel measured by the UE. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The RAN cell of claim 1, wherein the downlink channel comprises a downlink control channel; the controller circuit configured to: receive on the uplink channel, the downlink channel quality of the downlink control channel measured by the UE; and measure the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the received downlink channel quality. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The RAN cell of claim 1, wherein the transmit power control message comprises a transmit power control (TPC) command. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The RAN cell of claim 11, wherein the controller circuit is configured to: determine if the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor greater than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeds the defined transmit power control message number threshold, by being configured to determine if the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor not equal to zero is greater than the defined power adjustment threshold, exceeds the defined transmit power control message number threshold; and in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor not equal to zero being greater than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold: determine the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the measured uplink channel quality; determine if the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeds the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold; and in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel not exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold, not sending the transmit power control message to the UE. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The RAN cell of claim 9, wherein the uplink control channel comprises a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The RAN cell of claim 10, wherein the downlink control channel comprises a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). ### Claim 15 A method of controlling transmit power of user equipment (UE) in communication with a radio access network (RAN) cell, comprising: receiving on an uplink channel, a downlink channel quality of a downlink channel measured by a UE; measuring an uplink channel quality of uplink channel based on the received downlink channel quality; in response to the measured uplink channel quality being less than a target uplink channel quality: creating a transmit power control message comprising a power adjustment indicator to be sent to the UE to adjust its transmit power based on the power adjustment indicator; and storing the transmit power control message and the measured uplink channel quality corresponding to the sent transmit power control message; determining if a number of stored sent transmit power control messages having a corresponding power adjustment factor greater than a defined power adjustment threshold exceeds a defined transmit power control message number threshold; and in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor greater than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold: determining a variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the measured uplink channel quality; determining if the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeds a defined uplink channel quality variance threshold; and in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel not exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold, not sending the transmit power control message to the UE. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method claim 15, wherein, in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel not exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold, not sending a refresh discontinuous reception inactivity timer message to the UE. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising sending the transmit power control message to the UE, in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor less than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, further comprising sending a refresh discontinuous reception inactivity timer message to the UE, in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor less than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising sending the transmit power control message to the UE, in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, further comprising sending a refresh discontinuous reception inactivity timer message to the UE, in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold. ### Claim 21 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein: the downlink channel quality of the downlink channel comprises a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the downlink channel; and the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel comprises an SNR of the uplink channel. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein determining the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the measured uplink channel quality comprises: determining an average SNR of the uplink channel based on the SNRS of the uplink channel corresponding to the transmit power control messages; and determining a mean absolute deviation of SNR of the uplink channel based on the determined average SNR of the uplink channel and a last number of average SNRS of the uplink channel as the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel. ### Claim 23 A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor associated with a radio access network (RAN) cell to: receive on an uplink channel, a downlink channel quality of a downlink channel measured by a user equipment (UE); measure an uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the received downlink quality; in response to the measured uplink channel quality being less than a target uplink channel quality: create a transmit power control message comprising a power adjustment indicator to be sent to the UE to adjust its transmit power based on the power adjustment indicator; and store the transmit power control message and the measured uplink channel quality corresponding to the sent transmit power control message; determine if a number of stored sent transmit power control messages having a corresponding power adjustment factor greater than a defined power adjustment threshold exceeds a defined transmit power control message number threshold; and in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor greater than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold: determine a variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel based on the measured uplink channel quality; determine if the variance in uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeds a defined uplink channel quality variance threshold; and in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel not exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold, not send the transmit power control message to the UE. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions which, when executed, further cause the processor associated with the RAN cell to send the transmit power control message to the UE, in response to the number of stored sent transmit power control messages having the corresponding power adjustment factor less than the defined power adjustment threshold exceeding the defined transmit power control message number threshold. ### Claim 25 (depends on 23) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions which, when executed, cause the processor associated with the RAN cell to send the transmit power control message to the UE, in response to the variance in the uplink channel quality of the uplink channel exceeding the defined uplink channel quality variance threshold.