US 9,794,944 B2Granted

System and method for mobility tracking of user equipment

AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated

InventorsJoseph Binamira Soriaga, Tingfang Ji, Peter Pui Lok Ang, Naga Bhushan, Keiichi Kubota, Gavin Bernard Horn

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Abstract

A system and method for mobility tracking of user equipment in a network includes a user equipment. The user equipment includes an antenna for receiving and sending signals to a plurality of network nodes in a network and a processor coupled to the antenna. The processor is configured to broadcast, using the antenna, a pilot signal to advertise the user equipment, receive, using the antenna, a pilot response from a first network node acting as a serving node for the user equipment, and communicate with the network through the serving node. The pilot signal includes a reference sequence for the network nodes to track followed by a payload including information about an identity of the user equipment. In some embodiments, the reference sequence varies based on a state of the user equipment. In some embodiments, the reference sequence is randomly selected.

Claims47

Dependent claims

A user equipment comprising:

an antenna for receiving and sending signals to a plurality of network nodes in a network;
and
a processor coupled to the antenna;
wherein the processor is configured to:
select transmission resources for a pilot signal from a pool of transmission resources during at least one state of operation of the user equipment where data is not actively transferred between the user equipment and a serving node;
broadcast, using the antenna and the selected transmission resources, the pilot signal to the plurality of network nodes at intervals that depend on a state of the user equipment, the pilot signal advertising the user equipment to the plurality of network nodes;
receive, using the antenna, a pilot response from a first network node in response to the first network node receiving the broadcast pilot signal, the pilot response reporting to the user equipment selection of the first network node as the serving node for the user equipment;
and
communicate with the network through the serving node;
wherein:
the pilot signal includes a reference sequence followed by a payload including information about an identity of the user equipment, the reference sequence comprising a signaling pattern to support recognition of the pilot signal as a pilot signal by the plurality of network nodes and tracking of the pilot signal by the plurality of network nodes;
and
a type of the pilot signal varies based on a state of the user equipment.

10 more elements

A network node for coupling a plurality of user equipment to a network, the network node comprising:

an antenna for receiving and sending signals to the plurality of user equipment;
and
a processor coupled to the antenna;
wherein the processor is configured to:
receive, using the antenna, a pilot signal broadcast by a first user equipment to the network node and other network nodes coupled to the network node, the pilot signal being broadcast at intervals that depend on a state of the first user equipment and the pilot signal being broadcast using transmission resources selected from a pool of transmission resources by the first user equipment in at least one state of operation that depends on a state of the first user equipment where data is not actively transferred between the user equipment and a serving node;
exchange information about the pilot signal with the other network nodes;
elect or not elect the network node as the serving node for the first user equipment based on the exchanged information about the pilot signal;
and
transmit, using the antenna, a pilot response to the first user equipment when the network node is elected as the serving node for the first user equipment;
wherein:
the pilot signal includes a reference sequence followed by a payload including information about an identity of the first user equipment, the reference sequence comprising a signaling pattern to support recognition of the pilot signal as a pilot signal by the network node and the other network nodes and tracking of the pilot signal by the network node and the other network nodes;
and
a type of the pilot signal varies based on a state of the first user equipment.

10 more elements

A wireless communication system for accessing a network, the system comprising:

a user equipment comprising a first antenna for receiving and sending signals and a first processor coupled to the first antenna;
a plurality of network nodes, each of the network nodes comprising a second antenna for sending and receiving signals and a second processor coupled to the second antenna;
wherein the user equipment is configured to:
select transmission resources for a pilot signal from a pool of transmission resources during at least one state of operation of the user equipment where data is not actively transferred between the user equipment and a serving node;
broadcast, using the first antenna and the selected transmission resources, the pilot signal to the plurality of network nodes, the pilot signal advertising the user equipment to the plurality of network nodes at intervals that depend on a state of the user equipment;
receive, using the first antenna, a pilot response from a first network node from the plurality of network nodes;
and
communicate with the network through the first network node;
wherein the each of the network nodes is configured to:
receive, using the second antenna, the pilot signal broadcast by the user equipment;
exchange information about the pilot signal with others of the plurality of network nodes;
and
elect or not elect the first network node as a serving node for the user equipment based on the exchanged information about the pilot signal;
wherein the first network node is further configured to:
transmit the pilot response to the user equipment in response to being elected as the serving node for the user equipment;
wherein:
the pilot signal includes a reference sequence followed by a payload including information about an identity of the user equipment, the reference sequence comprising a signaling pattern to support recognition of the pilot signal as a pilot signal by the plurality of network nodes and tracking of the pilot signal by the plurality of network nodes;
and
a type of the pilot signal varies based on a state of the user equipment.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/946,374Filed 19 Nov 2015 · us provisional application
Priority: 13 Mar 2015
Published: US 2016/0270082 A115 Sep 2016
Granted: 17 Oct 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04W 72/52
Allocation or scheduling criteria for wireless resources: based on load
H04L 5/0053
Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path: allocation of signalling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
H04W 4/025
Services making use of location information: using location based information parameters
H04W 4/06
Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor: selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia…