WO2013162538A1

WO2013162538A1 - Context aware networking for multimode devices

Info

Publication number: WO2013162538A1
Application number: PCT/US2012/034929
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eng-Hwee ONG; Janne Marin; Niko Kiukkonen
Original assignee: Nokia Corporation; Nokia, Inc.
Priority date: 2012-04-25
Filing date: 2012-04-25
Publication date: 2013-10-31

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for context awareness. In one aspect there is provided a method. The method may include receiving, at a user equipment comprising a plurality of radio interfaces including at least one wireless proximity communications interface, an indication representative of a context of the user equipment determined based on the at least one wireless proximity communications interface being proximate to a sensor; and initiating, based on the received indication, at least one event to control at least one radio access link. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described.

Description

CONTEXT AWARE NETWORKING FOR MULTIMODE DEVICES

FIELD

[001] The subject matter described herein relates to wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

[002] Devices are increasingly configured with multiple radio interfaces, each of which may operate using a different radio access technology. For example, user equipment, such as for example a smart phone and the like, may have a cellular radio interface for coupling to a cellular base station, a Wi-Fi radio interface for accessing wireless local area networks, a Bluetooth radio interface for coupling to another device via a Bluetooth connection, and a near field communications interface for coupling to sensors enabled with near field communications. Near field communications may comply with one or more standards including ECMA-340, ISO/IEC 18092, and the like. These multimode user devices may even activate all of the radio interfaces, operating via each of the radio access technologies. Indeed, wireless access points, such as for example multimode access points, are also being configured with multiple radio interfaces, each of which may operate using a different radio access technology. Moreover, some of the multimode access points are being implemented as home base stations serving small cells, such as for example femtocells and picocells. These multimode access points allow network operators to offload traffic from the macrocells associated with the cellular network to smaller cells associated with the multimode access points/home base stations. SUMMARY

[003] Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for context aware networking.

[004] In one aspect there is provided a method. The method may include receiving, at a user equipment comprising a plurality of radio interfaces including at least one wireless proximity communications interface, an indication representative of a context of the user equipment determined based on the at least one wireless proximity communications interface being proximate to a sensor; and initiating, based on the received indication, at least one event to control at least one radio access link.

[005] In some exemplary embodiments, one of more variations may be made as well as described in the detailed description below and/or as described in the following features. The at least one wireless proximity communications interface may include one or more of the following: a near field communications interface, a radio frequency identifier, and the like. The at least one of the plurality of radio interfaces may couple to an access point including at least one of a base station and a wireless access point. The context may include a location of the user equipment determined by the sensor, when the user equipment including the at least one wireless proximity communications interface is proximate to the sensor. The at least one event may include a scan, by the user equipment, for an access point. The at least one event may include a handover, by the user equipment, to an access point. The at least one event may include establishing at least one radio bearer to prepare a base station for an incoming handover from a multi- mode wireless access point to the base station. The at least one event may include an establishment of the at least one radio access link to an access point. The at least one event may include a disconnection of the at least one radio access link to an access point. The at least one event may include at least one of an establishing and a maintaining of a peer-to-peer radio link between the user equipment and the sensor. The at least one event may include at least one of an updating system information, a granting access control, and a sharing of user information. The at least one event may include at least one of an activation and a deactivation of a multimode access point based on the context representative of a location of the user equipment being proximate to the sensor.

[006] The above-noted aspects and features may be implemented in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[007] In the drawings,

[008] FIG. 1 depicts an example of a system configured to allow context awareness of user equipment, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;

[009] FIG. 2 depicts another example of a system configured to allow context awareness of user equipment, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;

[010] FIG. 3 depicts an example of a process for context awareness of user equipment, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;

[01 1] FIG. 4 depicts another example of a process for context awareness of user equipment, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments; [012] FIG. 5 depicts an example of an access point, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments; and

[013] FIG. 6 depicts an example of a radio, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.

[014] Like labels are used to refer to same or similar items in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[015] FIG. 1 depicts a system 100, in accordance with to some exemplary embodiments. System 100 may include one or more user equipment, such as for example user equipment 14A-B, one or more base stations, such as for example base station 11 OA, one or more multimode access points, such as for example multimode access point 1 10B, and one or more short-range wireless transceivers, such as for example sensors 192A-B. The base station 11 OA may serve a cell, such as for example macrocell 1 12A, and wireless multimode access point 110B may serve a small cell, such as for example a picocell or a femtocell 1 12B. Although FIG. 1 depicts a specific quantity and configuration of base stations, cells, multimode access points, sensors, and user equipment, other quantities and configurations may be implemented as well. Moreover, base station 1 1 OA and/or multimode access points 1 10B may have wired and/or wireless backhaul links to other network nodes, such as for example a mobility management entity 199, other base stations, a radio network controller, a core network, a serving gateway, and the like.

[016] In some exemplary embodiments, user equipment 114A-B may be implemented as a mobile device and/or a stationary device. The user equipment 4A-B are often referred to as, for example, mobile stations, mobile units, subscriber stations, wireless terminals, tablets, smart phones, or the like. A user equipment may be implemented as, for example, a wireless handheld device, a wireless plug-in accessory, or the like. In some exemplary embodiments, user equipment may include a processor, a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., memory, storage, and the like), a radio access mechanism, and/or a user interface. For example, the user equipment may take the form of a wireless telephone, a computer with a wireless connection to a network, or the like.

[017] In some exemplary embodiments, the user equipment 1 14A-B may be implemented as multi-mode user devices configured to operate using a plurality of radio access technologies. For example, user equipment 1 14B may be configured to operate using a plurality of radio access technologies including one or more of the following: Long Term Evolution (LTE), wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, such as for example 802.11 WiFi and the like, Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BTLE), Near Field Communications (NFC) technologies including radio frequency identification (RFID), and any other radio access technologies. Moreover, the user equipment 114B may be configured to have established connections to access points using the plurality of the radio access technologies. For example, user equipment 1 14B may couple to cellular base station 1 1 OA based on a cellular standard, such as for example LTE, couple to multimode access point 11 OB based on Wi-Fi, and couple to the multimode access point 11 OB (or couple to the multimode access point 11 OB via a sensor) using a short-range, low power wireless standard, such as for example Bluetooth, BTLE, NFC, ultra wideband (UWB), ZigBee and/or any other short-range, low power wireless standard.

[018] Although the user equipment 114B may have established connections over the plurality of radio access technologies, having all of the radio interfaces active or "on" to serve all of the radio access technologies consumes a substantial amount of power at the user equipment and the access points. To conserve power, the subject matter disclosed herein may, as described further below, control link establishment and maintenance between the user equipment and the access point and/or short-range, low power sensor based on context-awareness information. This context-awareness information may represent the location of the user equipment and may be used to trigger the user equipment 1 14B to scan for an available access point and/or initiate a handover to another access point. For example, when the user equipment 1 14B includes an NFC and/or RFID interface, sensor 192A may detect the NFC/RFID sensor and the corresponding location of the user equipment 1 14B, when it is proximate to the sensor 192A. This location information detected by the sensor provides context awareness information, which may be used to initiate a scan for, and/or establish a connection to an access point, such as for example multimode access point 11 OB, or to maintain or establish a low power, short- range link to sensor 192A, which may enable disconnecting from other links to other access points.

[019] The base station 1 1 OA may, in some exemplary embodiments, be implemented as an evolved Node B (eNB) type base station, although other types of radio access points may be implemented as well. When the evolved Node B (eNB) type base station is used, base station 1 OA may be configured in accordance with standards, including the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards, such as for example 3GPP TS 36.201 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Long Term Evolution (LTE) physical layer; General description, 3GPP TS 36.21 1 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical channels and modulation, 3GPP TS 36.212, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Multiplexing and channel coding, 3GPP TS 36.213, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures, 3GPP TS 36.214, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer - Measurements, and any subsequent additions or revisions to these and other 3GPP series of standards (collectively referred to as LTE standards). The base station 1 1 OA may also be configured to serve macrocell 1 12A using a WLAN technology, such as for example WiFi (e.g., the IEEE 802.1 1 series of standards), and any other radio access technology capable of serving macrocell 112A.

[020] In some exemplary embodiments, the system 100 may include access links, such as for example links 122A-B. The access links 122A may include a downlink 1 16A for transmitting to the user equipment 1 14A and an uplink 126A for transmitting from user equipment 1 14A to the base station 1 10A. The downlink 1 16A may comprise a modulated radio frequency carrying information, such as for example user data, radio resource control (RRC) messages, location information, and the like, to the user equipment 1 14A, and the uplink 126A may comprise a modulated radio frequency carrying information, such as for example user data, RRC messages, location information, measurement reports associated with handovers, and the like, from the user equipment 1 14A to base station 1 10A. Access links 122B may include downlink 1 16B for transmitting from the multimode access point 1 10B to user equipment 14B, and uplink 126B for transmitting from user equipment 1 14B to the multimode access point 110B.

[021] The downlink 1 16A and uplinks 126A may, in some exemplary embodiments, each represent a radio frequency (RF) signal. The RF signal may, as noted above, include data, such as for example voice, video, images, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, control information, and any other type of information and/or messages. For example, when LTE is used, the RF signal may use OFDMA. OFDMA is a multi-user version of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In OFDMA, multiple access is achieved by assigning, to individual users, groups of subcarriers (also referred to as subchannels or tones). The subcarriers are modulated using BPSK (binary phase shift keying), QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying), or QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), and carry symbols (also referred to as OFDMA symbols) including data coded using a forward error- correction code. The subject matter described herein is not limited to application to OFDMA systems, LTE, LTE-Advanced, or to the noted standards, specifications, and/or technologies. Furthermore, the downlink 1 16B and uplink 126B may be configured using standards and/or technologies similar to those noted with respect to downlink 1 16A and uplink 126A, although downlink 1 16B and uplink 126B may use a different standards or technologies as well. In addition, each access link may be unidirectional or bidirectional.

[022] The multimode access point 11 OB may, in some exemplary embodiments, be implemented to serve a small cell, such as for example femtoceil 1 12B. Moreover, multimode access point 1 10B may be configured to operate with a plurality of radio access technologies including LTE, BTLE, and/or any other wireless local area network standards, such as for example WiFi and the like. In some exemplary embodiments, the multimode access point 1 1 OB may be implemented as a home evolved node B (HeNB) base station serving femtoceil 112B, which covers a structure or a predefined area, such as for example a home, an office building, and the like.

[023] In some exemplary embodiments, the sensors 192A-B may be configured with at least one low power, short-range transceiver (also referred to as wireless proximity communications interface), such as for example a BTLE transceiver, an NFC transceiver, a radio frequency identification sensor, an ultra wideband (UWB) transceiver, a ZigBee transceiver, and the like. Moreover, the sensors 192A-B may be active in the sense that the user equipment 114B may couple via uplinks and downlinks to the sensors 192A-B, which are further coupled to other nodes in the network, such as for example other sensors, multimode access points, base stations, and the like. In some exemplary embodiments, sensors 92A-B may include only of a single radio transceiver, when they are connected to the multimode access point 11 OB via a wired link.

[024] Although some of the examples described herein refer to sensors 192A implemented with NFC, the sensors may use other low power, short-range radio technology as well. In the case of NFC, the sensors 192A-B may be configured to support one or more of the following modes: a reader/writer mode in which an NFC device reads an NFC tag or a device configured in the card emulation mode; a card emulation mode in which the NFC device is configured as the NFC tag; and a peer-to-peer mode in which two NFC devices establish a connection to share information.

[025] In some exemplary embodiments, sensor 192B may provide context- awareness information to a node in the network, such as for example multimode access point 110B, base station 1 10A, and/or user equipment. For example, when sensor 192B is proximate to user equipment 14B, sensor 92B may trigger user equipment 4B to scan for available access points or trigger the initiation of a handover process to another access point. In addition, sensor 192B may provide information regarding the context (e.g., location) of the user equipment, and this context information may be used to limit the establishment of links to, and/or from, the user equipment, which may reduce, in some implementations, the consumption of power at the user equipment and/or serving access point. For example, the sensor 192A may trigger user equipment 1 14B to establish for a certain period of time a single, low power, short-range link to sensor 192A and then suspend (e.g., disconnect) one or more other links to other access points, which may reduce power consumption.

[026] To further illustrate context awareness by way of an example, sensor 192B may be positioned at the edge of femtocell 112B served by multimode access point 1 1 OB, and when the user equipment 114B is proximate to (e.g., within range of sensor 192B), sensor 192B may send a message to the user equipment 1 14B and/or another node in network 100 to initiate a handover or scan for another access point. Moreover, the sensor 192B may send a message to the network to initiate the establishment of radio bearers in preparation for the handover of user equipment 1 14B to macrocell 112A served by base station 1 1 OA. The radio bearer may, in some exemplary embodiments, be a radio resource between a base station, such as an eNB base station and a user equipment, although the radio bearer may also comprise other resources used to establish an air interface between devices. In this example, when user equipment 1 14B loses a link to multimode access point 1 1 OB, the network 100 may already have established a link for a connection to base station 1 1 OA (which may, in some implementations, reduce any latency associated with the handover or subsequent link establishment).

[027] By way of another example, sensor 192A may be located in an area where the user equipment may be idle and/or less mobile. For example, sensor 192A may be placed in the bedroom, which corresponds to a location where the user equipment 1 14B may be less mobile and idle (e.g., the user equipment may be on a nightstand and not actively engaged in a call). In this example, when user equipment 1 14B is in the proximity of sensor 192A, sensor 192A may send an indication, such as for example a message, to an interface at user equipment 1 14B to maintain the wireless connection to a single, low power connection to a sensor, such as for example sensor 192A (e.g., by switching to a peer-to-peer mode between the sensor and user equipment). Moreover, when this single, low power connection is established, the user equipment 1 14B may temporarily disconnect any higher power LTE and WLAN connections to multimode access point 1 10B and/or base station 1 10A. However, user equipment 114B may initiate the higher power LTE and WLAN connections to multimode access point 1 1 OB and/or base station 1 1 OA, when the context awareness from a sensor indicates mobility or other activity. In this example, the sensors 192A-B may, in some exemplary embodiments, be used to provide context awareness of the location of the user equipment 114B in order to control (e.g., limit) the establishment of connections to the network, which may, in some instances, result in power savings at the user equipment by limiting the connection to a single connection and/or a single short-range connection.

[028] FIG. 2 depicts another example system 200, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. System 200 is similar to system 100 in some respects but includes additional aspects. For example, base station 1 1 OA may be implemented as an evolved Node B type base station configured with a plurality of radio technologies, such as for example LTE, WLAN, and the like, to serve macrocell 112A. Furthermore, the multimode access point 1 10B may serve femtocell 1 12B using multiple radio access technologies, such as for example LTE, Bluetooth, BTLE, WLAN, and the like. Femtocell 1 12B may be configured to serve a predefined area, such as for example the interior 260 of an office building or a home, while the exterior 262 may be served by the macrocell 1 12A.

[029] FIG. 2 also includes sensors 192A-C configured to provide context awareness with respect to the location of user equipment, such as for example user equipment 1 14B. For example, sensors 192A-C may be configured to allow user equipment 1 14B to couple via low power, short range links 212A-C using, for example, NFC, BTLE, and/or the like. Specifically, when user equipment 1 14B is within the limited range of one of the sensors 192A-C, the sensor may send an indication to the user equipment to trigger a scan for an access point, maintain the current wireless connection, establish another wireless connection, disconnect another wireless connection, and/or send a message to the network and/or user equipment to initiate a handover process. For example, the user equipment 1 14B may determine that sensor 92C is accessible via NFC links, in which case user equipment 114B may establish low power connections to sensor 192C and/or disconnect other connections to multi-mode access point 1 1 OB and/or base station 1 10A. In addition, sensor 192C may send a message to the network and/or user interface to trigger a handover to another access point, as noted above. For example, sensor 192C may send a message to the network to trigger base station 1 1 OA and/or multi-mode access point 1 1 OB to handover user equipment 1 14B to another access point, such as for example base station 11 OA or multi-mode access point 11 OB.

[030] To illustrate by way of an example, user equipment 1 14B may have an established connection, such as for example a voice call, through multimode access point 1 10B and wireless links 214A or B. When the user equipment 1 14B begins to move from the interior 260 of the building served by femtocell 1 12B to the outdoors 262 served by macrocell 112A, the quality of the voice call (which may be a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) connection) may begin to deteriorate, resulting at some point in a dropped call if the handover to the macrocell 112A is not performed in a timely manner (e.g., the handover to base station 11 OA occurring before the call is dropped by multimode access point 11 OB).

[031] Furthermore, handover from the WLAN interface in the multimode access point OB to the LTE interface in the base station 1 1 OA is typically a break-before-make handover, when considering an inter-system handover in system 200. Therefore, the WLAN radio link 214A may be released before the LTE radio link 218A to the base station 1 10A is established. In this case, there may be a long handover latency, which may result in poor quality of service and/or quality of experience (e.g., poor VoIP quality or a dropped call). Timely handover triggering and target handover preparation may, in some implementations, benefit any break-before-make handover, which is not limited to the inter- system handover scenario (e.g., a WLAN reassociation from link 214A to 218B is another example of make-before-break handover). However, the context awareness provided by sensors 192A-C may, in some implementations, be used to provide a so-called seamless handover in the inter-RAT handover example noted above. For example, sensor 192B may be placed at a location near the periphery of the femtocell 112B, such that when the user equipment 112B is near the edge of the coverage area of femtocell 1 12B, sensor 192B couples via short-range links 212C to user equipment 114B. This coupling allows sensor 192B to send a message to the network (e.g., wireless multimode access point 1 1 OB, evolved Node B base station 1 1 OA, MME 199, and the like). This message may indicate that user equipment 1 14B is proximate to edge of femtocell 1 12B and that link, such as for example link 218A and/or 218B, should be established in macrocell 1 12A served by the evolved Node B base station 11 OA. In other words, the message may trigger the user equipment 1 14B to initiate a handover. Moreover, the sensor 192B may contain the system or discovery information of the macrocell 1 12A. In such case, the user equipment 1 14B does not need to perform scanning and/or periodic measurement reporting. As such, when user equipment 114B traverses the edge of femtocell 1 12B and is outside 262 its coverage area, a handover to macrocell 12A to evolved Node B base station 1 1 OA may, in some implementations, be performed in a timelier manner as links 218A and/or 218B have already been triggered (or established) based on the context aware sensor 192B.

[032] In the previous example, the user equipment 1 14B may, in some implementations, make use of this context awareness information from sensor 192B to trigger a handover process in a more timely way to reduce handover latency. On the other hand, multimode access point 11 OB may make use of this context awareness information from sensor 192B to prepare the target eNB base station 1 1 OA for handover before the WLAN connection to multimode access point 1 1 OB is lost. In any case, the timely handover triggering and target handover preparation may, in some implementations, assist in providing a substantially seamless handover.

[033] The multimode access point OB may provide discovery information to the user equipment 114B upon, or prior to, receiving this context awareness information (or trigger), so that the user equipment 1 14B need not perform an access point discovery procedure, which is typically time (and power) consuming. The access point discovery procedure may include LTE cell (re)selection, WLAN passive scanning, and/or WLAN active scanning. In order to achieve this, the multimode access point 1 10B may perform network discovery on behalf of the user equipment 114B, when it has entered its indoor 260 coverage area served by femtocell 1 12A. A positive indoor presence of the user equipment 1 14B may be detected by the door sensor 192B and signaled by the context/location trigger, when entering a structure or a home. Otherwise, without this additional context awareness/location trigger, the access point discovery procedure and the target handover preparation may be activated only when the WLAN connection to the multimode access point 11 OB is lost. Reassociation/handover of a WLAN connection (e.g., a voice WLAN connection) may also be seamlessly implemented when the macro eNB 1 10A has a co-located WLAN radio.

[034] Seamless idle mode mobility may be implemented by triggering an LTE cell (re)selection procedure (or, e.g., WLAN scanning/reassociation procedure, if the macro eNB 1 1 OA has a co-located WLAN radio) autonomously and in advance, when the user equipment 114B is proximate to sensor 192B, which in this case is at the edge of the femtocell 112B (e.g., placed on a door).

[035] In some exemplary embodiments, the sensors 192A-C may provide enhanced power consumption in the sense that power is conserved by using, when possible, a lower power, short-range link, rather than higher power, longer-range links. Moreover, in some exemplary embodiments, the system 200 is configured to minimize the operation of multiple radio interfaces at the same time at the user equipment. For example, an optimum radio link to an access point may be selected based on context awareness information from proximity sensors 192A-C of system 200. To select a single, optimum link from the user equipment to the access point, the user equipment 1 14B may determine which link minimizes overall power consumption at the multimode access point 110B and/or the user equipment 114B. Such information may be preconfigured in the user equipment or obtained from the serving access point. Moreover, this determination may be subject to the constraint of receiving valid context awareness information (or location trigger) as follows:

s.t. N_RL = l, β_ί≠0, V/ where

RL_hes = the optimum radio link,

P_i ~ power consumption of radio link ,

N_RL = number of radio link, and

β_ί = context/location trigger from proximity sensor of radio link /^'.

[036] In some exemplary embodiments, the selection of a radio interface at a user equipment may consider factors, such as for example utilizing the short-range radio link as much as possible based on context and location of the user equipment and/or utilizing a single radio link during idle or stationary mode. More specifically, the single radio link constraint may be observed, when the user equipment is detected in the vicinity of the sensors 192A-C, which implies idle or stationary mode. On the other hand, active or mobility mode may be inferred by an absence of context awareness information (and/or location triggers) when user equipment 1 14B is not proximate to a sensor, such as for example sensors 192A-C (e.g., ^^≠0 in Equation 1 above). Active mode may refer to a mode in which the user equipment is engaged in an active connection, and idle mode may refer to a mode in which the user equipment is not engaged in an active connection. Stationary mode may refer to a mode in which the user equipment is placed near proximity sensors, while mobility mode may refer to modes in which the user equipment is not proximate to the sensors.

[037] The single radio link constraint noted above may be relaxed during active mode and/or mobility mode, when at least one radio interface is activated momentarily during these processes to achieve a substantially seamless handover or idle mode mobility. In addition, this condition may imply that a short-range link, such as for example an NFC interface (or RFID) of the user equipment, should be turned on for detection of the user equipment, but other longer-range radio links may be selectively turned off depending on context awareness/location information generated by the sensors 192A-C. Although system 200 may be implemented to configure only a single radio interface at the user equipment, this constraint of single radio interface and link may also be relaxed for the multimode access point 1 1 OB when the proximity sensors 192A-C are connected to the multimode access point 1 OB via wireless links. This is due to the multimode access point 1 1 OB, which may have to maintain multiple short-range radio links with the proximity sensors 192A-C. When the proximity sensors 192A-C are connected to multimode access point 1 10B via wired links, such single radio link constraint may then be achieved.

[038] Apart from minimizing the number of active radio interfaces at a given time, other power savings features may be implemented in some exemplary embodiments. For example, when the user equipment 114B is located indoors during the evening/night, which accounts for approximately 1/3 of the day, a bed proximity sensor 192A may be used to detect the user equipment 114B during the evening/night and generate context awareness information (and/or a location trigger). In this example, the user equipment 114B may turn off radio interfaces for WLAN, LTE, and BTLE, and maintain a single, low power, short-range interface, such as for example an NFC, to the sensor 192A, which is coupled to the network. Moreover, the multimode access point 1 1 OB may also turn off its WLAN and LTE interfaces, leaving only its BTLE interface, which forms a wireless backbone for the proximity sensors 192A-C. In this example, the short-range radio links are maintained in the low power state (e.g., peer-to-peer mode) so that it can be used to turn on other radio interfaces, when needed. For example, the BTLE interface of the multimode access point 1 10B may be used to trigger the user equipment 1 14B via an NFC interface to turn on its LTE interface, when there is an incoming call during the night.

[039] When the user equipment 1 14B is not located indoors and thus located outdoors 262, the multimode access point 1 10B may turn off the LTE and WLAN radio interfaces until needed. The multimode access point 1 10B may also choose to operate the LTE and WLAN interface at a lower duty cycle instead of turning them off completely. Since the amount of time that the user equipment 1 14B is not located indoors may be quite significant, the system 200 may seek to minimize power consumption of the multimode access point 1 10B during these times as well. A positive indoor presence or absence of the user equipment 114B may be derived from the door sensor 192B or other indoor proximity sensors 192A or C to activate or deactivate (e.g., turn on or off) the appropriate radio interfaces of multimode access point 11 OB and user equipment 1 14B.

[040] Cell (re)selection and measurement reporting procedures for handover of the user equipment 1 14B may, in some implementations, be inhibited based on the availability of the context awareness (and/or location triggers) to reduce power consumption of user equipment 1 14B during idle and active modes. In other words, the multimode access point 1 10B may be best suited to operate as the serving cell, when the user equipment 1 14B remains indoors 260 within femtocell 1 12B. Hence, it may be unnecessary to perform cell (re)selection during idle mode and measurement reporting during active mode. As an alternative, or in addition to, the multimode access point 1 1 OB may perform cell (re)selection and measurement reporting tasks on behalf of the user equipment 1 14B when the user equipment 4B is located indoors (e.g., the multimode access point 1 10B may operate as a proxy for the user equipment 114B). In such cases, the door proximity sensor 192B may be used to trigger positive cell search, (re)selection, and handover procedures.

[041] In some exemplary embodiments, one or more of sensors 192A-C may be coupled with wireless (e.g., inductive) charging technology. For example, the desk proximity sensor 192B may be coupled with a charging station, so that user equipment 114B can download information (e.g., system information, network parameter, software update, and the like) while charging. In some exemplary embodiments, one or more of sensors 192A-C may be coupled to access control security system within an office environment. For example, the door proximity sensor 192B may be coupled with the security card reader so that user equipment 1 14B can gain on-the-fly access to the office door based on its credentials, such as for example an association to a guest service set identifier (SSID), which may be used to limit door access to a confined area. In some exemplary embodiments, one or more of sensors 192A-C may provide a generalized share point. For example, content sharing of music, video, document, access credential, etc. may be enabled. Content sharing may thus be provided with the one or more of sensors 192A-C, which may be coupled to a storage device, such as for example for example a database in, or collocated with, the multimode access point 11 OB.

[042] FIG. 3 depicts a process 300, which may be implemented at a multimode device, such as for example user equipment 1 14B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. The description of FIG. 3 also refers to FIG. 2 as well.

[043] At 310, an indication representative of context-awareness may be received at the user equipment, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. For example, the user equipment 1 14B may include a plurality of radio interfaces including a NFC radio interface or a RFID, as well as other radio interfaces, such as for example LTE, WLAN, BTLE, and the like. In this example, when the user equipment 114B is proximate to sensor 192C, sensor 192 detects the NFC/RFID of the user equipment 114B. The sensor 192C may then provide via link 212A (which may be configured as an NFC link, a BTLE link, or any other short-range, low power link), the indication to the user equipment 1 14B. This indication initiates user equipment 1 14B to at least one of a scan for an access point, maintain the current wireless connection, establish another wireless connection, disconnect another wireless connection, and/or initiate a handover to an access point.

[044] At 320, a single radio interface may be activated, based on the indication representative of context-awareness, wherein the single radio interface couples to a connection established to the sensor or access point, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. For example, user equipment 1 14B may activate, based on the context awareness, a single link to the sensor 192C. In this example, the context awareness may represent the less mobile and idle evening/night mode described above, so the user equipment 114B may establish a single link, such as for example an NFC link or BTLE to sensor 192C. Moreover, the user equipment 114B may determine that it should scan for another access point, such as for example base station 1 10A or another multimode access point, when the context awareness indication indicates that it is near the edge of the femtocell (e.g., near sensor 192B). In this example, the context awareness may facilitate a seamless handover by early initiation of a connection to base station 11 OA. In addition, seamless idle mode mobility may be supported by such context awareness to perform timely cell (re)selection or reassociation to the LTE interface and WLAN interface of base station 1 1 OA, respectively.

[045] At 330, another radio interface may be deactivated based on the indication representative of context-awareness, when the connection to the sensor or access point is established, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. Returning to the example above when the user equipment 1 14B activates a single link to sensor 192C, the user equipment 114B may deactivate other interfaces, such LTE interfaces, WLAN interfaces, and the like, which may save power at the user equipment and the access point. These interfaces may be reactivated if user equipment 114B becomes mobile (e.g., moves away from either of sensors 192CA-C) or the user equipment 1 14B is no longer idle (e.g., receives a call or message).

[046] Returning to the example above for the user equipment 14B performing a handover when it is moving from indoors 260 to outdoors 262 (e.g., near the edge of the femtocell or sensor 192B), user equipment 1 14B may maintain more than one connection to enable a seamless handover to the access point, such as for example base station 1 10A. This may, in some implementations, apply when the user equipment is moving from outdoors 262 to indoors 260, but once the handover is completed, the user equipment 1 14B may maintain the NFC radio interface in the active state (e.g., "on") in order to detect sensors 192A-C.

[047] FIG. 4 depicts a process 400 which may be implemented at a wireless access point, such as for example the multimode access point 11 OB and base station 1 1 OA, and/or a wireless transceiver, such as for example the sensor 192A-C. The description of FIG. 4 also refers to FIG. 2.

[048] At 410, a sensor may detect that a user equipment is proximate to the sensor, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. For example, sensor 192C may include a NFC radio interface or a RFID, and the like. In this example, when the user equipment 114B is proximate to the sensor 192C, the sensor 192 detects the NFC/RFID interface (e.g., low power, short range transceiver) of the user equipment 1 14B. In example implementations using NFC, the sensor 192C may detect the user equipment 114B, when it is within about 20 centimeters (although other detection ranges may be implemented as well). Moreover, when the user equipment is proximate to a sensor, the sensor may be close to or in contact with a portion of the user equipment.

[049] At 420, the sensor may send an indication representative of context- awareness to the user equipment, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. For example, sensor 92C may sends via link 212A (which may be configured as an NFC link, a BTLE link, or any other short-range, low power link), the indication to the user equipment 1 14B. This indication may initiate user equipment 1 14B to at least one of a scan for an access point, maintain the current wireless connection, establish another wireless connection, disconnect another wireless connection, or a handover to an access point. [050] FIG. 5 depicts an example implementation of an access point 500, which may be implemented at wireless multimode access point 110B, base station 1 1 OA, and/or sensor 192A-C. The access point may include one or more antennas 520 configured to transmit via a downlink and configured to receive uplinks via the antenna(s) 520. The access point may further include a plurality of radio interfaces 540 coupled to the antenna 520. The radio interfaces may correspond to a plurality of radio access technologies including, LTE, WLAN, Bluetooth, BTLE, NFC, RFID, UWB, ZigBee, and the like. The access point may further include a processor 530 for controlling the access point 500 and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory 535. The radio interface 540 may further include other components, such as for example filters, converters (e.g., digital- to-analog converters and the like), mappers, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module, and the like, to generate symbols for a transmission via one or more downlinks and to receive symbols (e.g., via an uplink). The access point 500 may include a context awareness controller 550. In some implementations, context awareness controller 550 may perform one or more of the operations described herein with respect to a wireless access point, such as for example the multimode access point 1 10B, base station 1 1 OA, and/or a wireless transceiver, such as for example the sensor 192A-C.

[051] FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of a radio, such as for example a user equipment 600. The user equipment 600 may include an antenna 620 for receiving a downlink and transmitting via an uplink. The user equipment 600 may also include a plurality of radio interfaces 640 coupled to the antenna 620. The radio interfaces may correspond to a plurality of radio access technologies including, LTE, WLAN, Bluetooth, BTLE, NFC, RFID, UWB, ZigBee, and the like. The radio interfaces 640 may include other components, such as for example filters, converters (e.g., digital-to-analog converters and the like), symbol demappers, signal shaping components, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) module, and the like, to process symbols, such as for example OFDMA symbols, carried by a downlink or an uplink. The user equipment 600 may further include at least one processor, such as for example processor 630, for controlling user equipment 600 and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory 635. The user equipment may include a context awareness processor 650. In some exemplary embodiments, the context awareness processor 650 may perform one or more of the operations described herein with respect to user equipment.

[052] The subject matter described herein may be embodied in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. For example, the base stations and user equipment (or one or more components therein) and/or the processes described herein can be implemented using one or more of the following: a processor executing program code, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an embedded processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or combinations thereof. These various implementations may include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. These computer programs (also known as programs, software, software applications, applications, components, program code, or code) include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and may be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the term "machine-readable medium" refers to any computer program product, computer-readable medium, computer-readable storage medium, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions. Similarly, systems are also described herein that may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may include one or more programs that cause the processor to perform one or more of the operations described herein.

[053] Although a few variations have been described in detail above, other modifications or additions are possible. In particular, further features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, although the sensors are described as being separate from the access points, the access points may include sensors. Moreover, the implementations described above may be directed to various combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/or combinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosed above. In addition, the logic flow depicted in the accompanying figures and/or described herein does not require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Other

embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED:

1 . A method comprising:

receiving, at a user equipment comprising a plurality of radio interfaces including at least one wireless proximity communications interface, an indication representative of a context of the user equipment determined based on the at least one wireless proximity communications interface being proximate to a sensor; and initiating, based on the received indication, at least one event to control at least one radio access link.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one wireless proximity communications interface comprises one or more of the following: a near field communications interface and a radio frequency identifier.

3. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the plurality of radio interfaces couples to an access point comprising at least one of a base station and a wireless access point.

4. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the context further comprises a location of the user equipment determined by the sensor, when the user equipment including the at least one wireless proximity communications interface is proximate to the sensor.

5. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the least one event comprises a scan, by the user equipment, for an access point.

6. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one event comprises a handover, by the user equipment, to an access point.

7. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one event comprises establishing at least one radio bearer to prepare a base station for an incoming handover from a multi-mode wireless access point to the base station.

8. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one event comprises an establishment of the at least one radio access link to an access point.

9. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one event comprises a disconnection of the at least one radio access link to an access point.

10. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one event comprises at least one of an establishing and a maintaining of a peer-to-peer radio link between the user equipment and the sensor.

11 . A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one event comprises at least one of an updating system information, a granting access control, and a sharing of user information.

12. A method as in any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one event comprising at least one of an activation and a deactivation of a multimode access point based on the context representative of a location of the user equipment being proximate to the sensor.

13. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including code which when executed by the at least one processor provides operations comprising: receiving, at a user equipment comprising a plurality of radio interfaces including at least one wireless proximity communications interface, an indication representative of a context of the user equipment determined based on the at least one wireless proximity communications interface being proximate to a sensor; and initiating, based on the received indication, at least one event to control at least one radio access link.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one wireless proximity communications interface comprises one or more of the following: a near field communications interface and a radio frequency identifier.

15. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-14, wherein at least one of the plurality of radio interfaces couples to an access point comprising at least one of a base station and a wireless access point.

16. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-15, wherein the context further comprises a location of the user equipment determined by the sensor, when the user equipment including the at least one wireless proximity communications interface is proximate to the sensor.

17. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-16, wherein the least one event comprises a scan, by the user equipment, for an access point.

18. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-17, wherein the at least one event comprises a handover, by the user equipment, to an access point.

19. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-18, wherein the at least one event comprises establishing at least one radio bearer to prepare a base station for an incoming handover from a multi-mode wireless access point to the base station.

20. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-19, wherein the at least one event comprises an establishment of the at least one radio access link to an access point.

21. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-20, wherein the at least one event comprises a disconnection of the at least one radio access link to an access point.

22. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-21 , wherein the at least one event comprises at least one of an establishing and a maintaining of a peer-to-peer radio link between the user equipment and the sensor.

23. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-22, wherein the at least one event comprises at least one of an updating system information, a granting access control, and a sharing of user information.

24. The apparatus as in any of claims 13-23, wherein the at least one event comprises at least one of an activation and a deactivation of a multimode access point based on the context representative of a location of the user equipment being proximate to the sensor.

25. A computer-readable storage medium including code, which when executed by at least one processor provides operations comprising:

26. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, at a user equipment comprising a plurality of radio interfaces including at least one wireless proximity communications interface, an indication representative of a context of the user equipment determined based on the at least one wireless proximity communications interface being proximate to a sensor; and

mean for initiating, based on the received indication, at least one event to control at least one radio access link.

27. An apparatus comprising:

a receiver, at a user equipment comprising a plurality of radio interfaces including at least one wireless proximity communications interface, configured to receive an indication representative of a context of the user equipment determined based on the at least one wireless proximity communications interface being proximate to a sensor; and

an interface configured to initiate, based on the received indication, at least one event to control at least one radio access link.