CN110234148B

CN110234148B - Communication method, user equipment and base station

Info

Publication number: CN110234148B
Application number: CN201910431710.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 余政
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-08-29
Filing date: 2013-08-29
Publication date: 2021-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 2033-08-29
Also published as: CN104838722B; WO2015027437A1; CN110234148A; CN104838722A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, user equipment and a base station, which can reduce unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption when different machine type communication user equipment acquires system information. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE) determines the category of the MTC UE; the MTC UE acquires system information corresponding to the type of the MTC UE, wherein the system information corresponding to different types of MTC UE is different. According to the embodiment of the invention, the MTC UE is classified, so that the MTC UE of different classes can acquire the system information corresponding to the class, and unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption can be reduced when the different MTC UE acquires the system information.

Description

Communication method, user equipment and base station

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly, to a communication method, a user equipment and a base station.

Background

The Internet of Things (IOT) is an important component of a new generation of information technology, and refers to a network that acquires information of the physical world by deploying various devices with certain sensing, computing, executing and communication capabilities, and implements information transmission, coordination and processing through the network, thereby implementing interconnection between people and objects, and between objects and objects. It is generally considered that the first phase of the internet of things is called Machine to Machine (M2M), i.e. free communication between machines is achieved. For a Communication network, such as a mobile cellular network, this Communication service that it undertakes is called Machine Type Communication (MTC).

The system information is divided into a main system information block (MIB) and a System Information Block (SIB). The SIB has a plurality of system information block types, such as system information block type 1(SIB1), system information block type 2(SIB2), and system information block type 3(SIB 3).

The MIB is carried by a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), and the PBCH is transmitted on subframe 0 within each radio frame. The SIB1 is carried by a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). SIBs other than SIB1 are encapsulated in one or more SI (systeminformation) messages, which are also carried by the PDSCH.

Compared with common UE, the MTC UE has particularity in service, and different MTC UEs have different functions and parameter configurations which need to be supported due to different environments and different bearing tasks. Thus, the existing system information block partitioning mechanism still adopted for MTC UEs in different environments and/or carrying different tasks is likely to cause unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, user equipment and a base station, which can reduce unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption when different machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE) acquires system information.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the method comprises the steps that machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE) determines the category of the MTC UE; the MTC UE acquires system information corresponding to the type of the MTC UE, wherein the system information corresponding to different types of MTC UE is different.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first implementation manner of the first aspect, the determining, by the machine type communication user equipment, the category of the MTC UE includes: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is greater than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a second type MTC UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a second implementation manner of the first aspect, the first parameter is used to determine a strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: a path loss or a path loss range index between the MTC UE and a base station of the MTC UE; the number of times the MTC UE successfully detects a predefined channel; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third implementation manner of the first implementation manner, the determining, by the first MTC UE, a category of the MTC UE includes: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is larger than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a second-type MTC UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fourth implementation manner of the first aspect, the first parameter is used to determine strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the MTC UE; channel Quality Information (CQI) or a CQI range index of the MTC UE; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fifth implementation manner of the present invention, the system information corresponding to the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE, and the N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first MTC UE with respect to the second MTC UE, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by a system.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a sixth implementation manner of the MTC UE, the acquiring, by the MTC UE, system information corresponding to a category of the MTC UE includes: when the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE, acquiring the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks from a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; and when the MTC UE is a second-type MTC UE, acquiring the M system information blocks from a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the first aspect, system information included in the K system information blocks is less than system information required by a common UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the present invention, when the first parameter is a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE, the determining the first parameter of the MTC UE includes: determining a path loss, a path loss range, an RSRP range, an RSRQ range, a CQI range, or a number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected for the MTC UE; determining a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE according to a corresponding relation between path loss, a path loss range, RSRP, an RSRP range, RSRQ, an RSRQ range, CQI, a CQI range or a number of times for successfully detecting a predefined channel and the coverage enhancement value, wherein the corresponding relation is predefined by a system or a protocol or configured and sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a ninth implementation manner of the present invention, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC dedicated signaling sent by the base station of the MTC UE; or, a value or range index indicated by media intervention control MAC signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; or, a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a tenth implementation manner of the first aspect, the M system information blocks include at least one of: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eleventh implementation manner of the first aspect, the N system information blocks include at least one of: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the base station configures system information of Machine Type Communication (MTC) User Equipment (UE), wherein the system information corresponding to different types of MTC UE is different; and the base station sends the system information of the MTC UE so that the MTC UE can obtain the corresponding system information according to the type of the MTC UE.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first implementation manner of the second aspect, the configuring system information of a machine type communication user equipment, MTC UE includes: determining MTC UE with a first parameter smaller than or equal to a threshold value as first-class MTC UE, wherein the first parameter is used for determining the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a second implementation manner of the second aspect, the first parameter is used to determine a strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: a path loss or path loss range index between the MTC UE and a base station; the number of times the MTC UE successfully detects a predefined channel; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a third implementation manner of the second aspect, the configuring system information of a machine type communication user equipment, MTC UE, includes: determining MTC UE with a first parameter larger than or equal to a threshold value as first-class MTC UE, wherein the first parameter is used for determining the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fourth implementation manner of the second aspect, the first parameter is used to determine a strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the MTC UE; channel Quality Information (CQI) or a CQI range index of the MTC UE; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fifth implementation manner of the second aspect, the configuring system information of a machine type communication user equipment, MTC UE, further includes: determining that system information corresponding to the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE consists of M + N system information blocks, wherein the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE, and the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, wherein K, M and N are positive integers preset by a system.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a sixth implementation manner of the second aspect, the sending the system information of the MTC UE includes: and sending the K system information blocks through system broadcast messages or Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling so that the first type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the second aspect, the system information included in the K system information blocks is less than the system information required by the general UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the second aspect, in an eighth implementation manner of the second aspect, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC dedicated signaling sent by the base station; or, a value or range index indicated by media intervention control MAC signaling sent by the base station; or a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling sent by the base station.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a ninth implementation manner of the method, the M system information blocks include at least one of the following: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a tenth implementation manner of the second aspect, the N system information blocks include at least one of: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common.

In a third aspect, a machine type communication user equipment is provided, comprising: a determining unit, configured to determine a category of the machine type communication user equipment, MTC UE; an obtaining unit, configured to obtain system information corresponding to the category of the MTC UE determined by the determining unit, where the system information corresponding to MTC UEs of different categories is different.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first implementation manner of the present invention, the determining unit is specifically configured to: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is greater than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a second type MTC UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a second implementation manner of the third aspect, the first parameter determined by the determining unit is used to determine the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: a path loss or a path loss range index between the MTC UE and a base station of the MTC UE; the number of times the MTC UE successfully detects a predefined channel; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third implementation manner of the third aspect, the determining unit is specifically configured to: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is larger than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a second-type MTC UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fourth implementation manner of the present invention, the first parameter determined by the determining unit is used to determine the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the MTC UE; channel Quality Information (CQI) or a CQI range index of the MTC UE; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fifth implementation manner of the present invention, the system information corresponding to the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE, and the N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first MTC UE with respect to the second MTC UE, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by a system.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the third aspect, in a sixth implementation manner of the third aspect, the obtaining unit is specifically configured to: when the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE, acquiring the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks from a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; and when the MTC UE is a second-type MTC UE, acquiring the M system information blocks from a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the third aspect, the system information included in the K system information blocks is less than the system information required by the ordinary UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the present invention, when the first parameter determined by the determining unit is a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE, the determining unit is further configured to: determining a path loss, a path loss range, an RSRP range, an RSRQ range, a CQI range, or a number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected for the MTC UE; determining a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE according to a corresponding relation between path loss, a path loss range, RSRP, an RSRP range, RSRQ, an RSRQ range, CQI, a CQI range or a number of times for successfully detecting a predefined channel and the coverage enhancement value, wherein the corresponding relation is predefined by a system or a protocol or configured and sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the third aspect, in a ninth implementation manner of the third aspect, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC dedicated signaling sent by the base station of the MTC UE; or, a value or range index indicated by media intervention control MAC signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; or, a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a tenth implementation manner of the third aspect, the M system information blocks acquired by the acquiring unit include at least one of: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eleventh implementation manner of the present invention, the N system information blocks acquired by the acquiring unit include at least one of: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common.

In a fourth aspect, a base station is provided, comprising: the system comprises a configuration unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the configuration unit is used for configuring system information of machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE), and the system information corresponding to different types of MTC UE is different; and the sending unit is used for sending the system information of the MTC UE configured by the configuration unit so that the MTC UE can obtain the corresponding system information according to the type of the MTC UE.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the base station, the base station further includes a determining unit, where the determining unit is configured to: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter less than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; or determining the MTC UE with the first parameter being larger than or equal to the threshold value as the second type MTC UE. Wherein the first parameter is used for determining the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter comprises at least one of the following: a path loss or path loss range index between the MTC UE and the base station; the number of times the MTC UE successfully detects a predefined channel; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second implementation manner of the base station, the base station further includes a determining unit, where the determining unit is configured to: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter being greater than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; or determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is smaller than or equal to the threshold value as the second type MTC UE. Wherein the first parameter is used for determining the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter comprises at least one of the following: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the MTC UE; channel Quality Information (CQI) or a CQI range index of the MTC UE; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: determining that system information corresponding to the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE consists of M + N system information blocks, wherein the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE, and the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, wherein K, M and N are positive integers preset by a system.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourth implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the sending unit is specifically configured to: and sending the K system information blocks determined by the determining unit through a system broadcast message or Radio Resource Control (RRC) common signaling, so that the first type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fifth implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the system information included in the K system information blocks determined by the configuration unit is less than the system information required by a common UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks determined by the determining unit is less than the system information required by the normal UE.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a sixth implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, the base station sends the value or range index indicated by the information element IE carried by the system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC dedicated signaling sent by the sending unit; or, the base station controls a value or a range index indicated by the MAC signaling sent by the sending unit; or, the base station transmits a value or a range index indicated by physical layer signaling transmitted by the transmitting unit.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the present invention, the M system information blocks include at least one of the following system information: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the N system information blocks include at least one of the following system information: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common.

In a fifth aspect, a machine type communication user equipment is provided, comprising: a processor for determining a category of the machine type communication user equipment, MTC UE; and the receiving circuit is used for acquiring system information corresponding to the category of the MTC UE determined by the processor, wherein the system information corresponding to different categories of MTC UEs is different.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the present invention, the processor is specifically configured to: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is greater than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a second type MTC UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a second implementation manner of the method, the first parameter determined by the processor is used to determine a strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: a path loss or a path loss range index between the MTC UE and a base station of the MTC UE; the number of times the MTC UE successfully detects a predefined channel; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the processor is specifically configured to: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is larger than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to a threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a second-type MTC UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fourth implementation manner of the method, the first parameter determined by the processor is used to determine a strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter includes at least one of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the MTC UE; channel Quality Information (CQI) or a CQI range index of the MTC UE; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fifth implementation manner of the present invention, the system information corresponding to the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE, and the N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first MTC UE with respect to the second MTC UE, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by a system.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a sixth implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the receiving circuit is specifically configured to: when the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE, acquiring the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks from a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; and when the MTC UE is a second-type MTC UE, acquiring the M system information blocks from a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the system information included in the K system information blocks is less than the system information required by the general UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the present invention, when the first parameter determined by the processor is a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE, the processor is further configured to: determining a path loss, a path loss range, an RSRP range, an RSRQ range, a CQI range, or a number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected for the MTC UE; determining a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE according to a corresponding relation between path loss, a path loss range, RSRP, an RSRP range, RSRQ, an RSRQ range, CQI, a CQI range or a number of times for successfully detecting a predefined channel and the coverage enhancement value, wherein the corresponding relation is predefined by a system or a protocol or configured and sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a ninth implementation manner of the method, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC dedicated signaling sent by the base station of the MTC UE; or, a value or range index indicated by media intervention control MAC signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; or, a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a base station comprising: the system comprises a processor and a processor, wherein the processor is used for configuring system information of Machine Type Communication (MTC) User Equipment (UE), and the system information corresponding to different types of MTC UE is different; and the transmitting circuit is used for transmitting the system information of the MTC UE configured by the processor so that the MTC UE can acquire the corresponding system information according to the type of the MTC UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first implementation manner thereof, the processor is further configured to: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter less than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; or determining the MTC UE with the first parameter being greater than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE; the first parameter includes at least one of: a path loss or path loss range index between the MTC UE and the base station; the number of times the MTC UE successfully detects a predefined channel; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a second implementation manner of the present invention, the processor is further configured to: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter being greater than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; or determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is smaller than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE; the first parameter includes at least one of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the MTC UE; channel Quality Information (CQI) or a CQI range index of the MTC UE; a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the present invention, the processor is specifically configured to: determining that system information corresponding to the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE consists of M + N system information blocks, wherein the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE, and the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, wherein K, M and N are positive integers preset by a system.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fourth implementation manner of the present invention, the transmit circuit is specifically configured to: and sending the K system information blocks determined by the processor through a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling, so that the first type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fifth implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the system information included in the K system information blocks determined by the processor is less than system information required by a general UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks determined by the processor is less than the system information required by the common UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a sixth implementation manner of the present invention, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, the base station sends a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC private signaling sent by the transmitting circuit; or, the base station controls a value or a range index indicated by the MAC signaling sent by the transmitting circuit; or, the base station sends a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling sent by the transmitting circuit.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the MTC UE is classified, so that the MTC UE of different classes can acquire the system information corresponding to the class, and unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption can be reduced when the different MTC UE acquires the system information.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments of the present invention will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart of a communication method of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of a communication method of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an interaction diagram of a communication method of one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a user equipment of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a base station of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a user equipment of another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a base station of another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the embodiments of the present invention, shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

The technical scheme of the invention can be applied to various communication systems, such as: a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) System, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) System, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) System, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution; LTE) System, a Long Term Evolution advanced (Long Term Evolution; LTE-A) System, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (Frequency Division Duplex; FDD) System, an LTE Time Division Duplex (Time Division Duplex; TDD), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and the like.

User Equipment (UE), which may be referred to as a Terminal (Terminal), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (Mobile Terminal), etc., may communicate with one or more core networks via a Radio Access Network (RAN), for example, the User Equipment may be a Mobile phone (or referred to as a "cellular" phone), a computer with a Mobile Terminal, etc., and for example, the User Equipment may also be a portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included, or vehicle-mounted Mobile device that exchanges voice and/or data with the RAN.

The Machine Type Communication User Equipment (MTC UE) in the present invention is: the UE performing MTC operation, or performing MTC service, or having low cost characteristics, or having coverage enhancement characteristics, or newly defined UE class (classes), or newly defined UE type (types), or delay tolerant UE (delay tolerant), or having new UE capability. It should be understood that the MTC UE in the present invention is only a general term, and it is possible to: any one or more of a UE performing MTC operation, a UE performing MTC service, a UE having low cost characteristics, a UE having coverage enhancement characteristics, a UE of one or more UE classes (categories) newly defined, a UE of one or more UE types (types) newly defined, a UE of delay tolerant (delay), and a UE having new UE capabilities is interpreted as the MTC UE in the present invention.

In addition, a normal (normal) UE in the present invention refers to a legacy UE distinguished from the MTC UE features described above.

The Base Station may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in GSM or CDMA, a Base Station (NodeB; NB) in WCDMA, or an evolved Node B (eNB or e-NodeB) in LTE, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In addition, the base station of the UE in the present invention may refer to a serving base station of the UE, and may also refer to a non-serving base station of the UE, which is not limited in the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart of a communication method of one embodiment of the present invention. The method of fig. 1 is performed by a user equipment.

101, a machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE) determines the category of the MTC UE.

102, the MTC UE acquires system information corresponding to a category of the MTC UE, wherein the system information corresponding to MTC UEs of different categories is different.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining the category of the MTC UE in step 101 includes: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to the threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is the second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, for the comparison of the first parameter with the threshold in step 101, the first parameter is used to determine the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter may include at least one of the following: path loss or a path loss range index between the MTC UE and the base station of the MTC UE; the number of times that the MTC UE successfully detects the predefined channel; coverage enhancement values required by MTC UEs. That is, the type of the first parameter may be a path loss, a path loss range, a number of times used to successfully detect a channel, a required coverage enhancement value, and the like. It is easily understood that the above several types of parameters are proportional to the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, for example, the MTC UE with larger path loss requires larger strength of coverage enhancement, and the MTC UE with path loss higher than the threshold is classified as the second type MTC UE. The path loss range Index may be determined by a range of path loss where the path loss between the MTC UE and the base station is located and a correspondence between a range of path loss predefined by a system or a protocol and an Index (Index); successful detection of the predefined channel may include successful detection of a synchronization channel, or a physical broadcast channel, or a PDSCH carrying SIB1, or a control channel scheduling SIB1, or a PDSCH carrying SIB2, or a control channel scheduling SIB 2; the number of times for successfully detecting the synchronization channel, or the physical broadcast channel, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB1, or the control channel scheduling the SIB1, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB2, or the control channel scheduling the SIB2 may reflect the communication environment of the MTC UE, i.e., the strength of coverage enhancement required, and the more times, the greater the strength of coverage enhancement required.

Specifically, the type of the first parameter may be preconfigured by a system or a protocol, and may also be configured to the MTC UE by the base station. While the type and value of the threshold may also be preconfigured by the system or protocol, or configured by the base station. And the type of threshold should be consistent with the type of first parameter.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining the category of the MTC UE in step 101 includes: determining a first parameter of the MTC UE; when the first parameter is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is a first-class MTC UE; or when the first parameter is smaller than or equal to the threshold value, determining that the MTC UE is the second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, for the comparison of the first parameter with the threshold in step 101, the first parameter is used to determine the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter may include at least one of the following: reference signal received power, RSRP, or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index for MTC UEs; channel Quality Information (CQI) or CQI range index of MTC UE; coverage enhancement values required by MTC UEs. That is, the type of the first parameter may be RSRP, RSRP range index, RSRQ range index, CQI range index, or the like. It is easily understood that the above parameters are inversely proportional to the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, for example, the larger the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI is, the smaller the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE is, the higher the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI is, the first type of MTC UE is classified, and the determination of the range index of the above parameters is similar to the determination method of the path loss range index.

It should be understood that the above listed first parameters are only some preferred solutions, and the first parameters of the embodiments of the present invention may further include a service type, a service type index, an energy saving level index, a power class, a physical random access channel PRACH resource index, a PRACH preamble index, a PRACH root sequence index, a narrowband resource index, a length of a spreading code, a repetition number, a bundling transmission time interval size, or a retransmission number, and other parameters capable of measuring a strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, which is not limited in this disclosure.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the system information corresponding to the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, and the N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first type of MTC UE relative to the second type of MTC UE, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by the system. According to the above MTC UE classification, because the first type of MTC UE has a better communication environment than the second type of MTC UE, the required coverage enhancement strength is smaller, and more functions can be supported, so that the first type of MTC UE may need more system information than the second type of MTC UE. Therefore, the system information configured for the MTC UE may be divided into two parts, where the system information included in one part is the same for the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, and the system information included in the other part is only for the first type of MTC UE, thereby avoiding power consumption caused by the second type of MTC UE acquiring unnecessary configuration parameters or information.

Optionally, as an embodiment, in step 102, when the MTC UE is a first type MTC UE, M system information blocks and N system information blocks are obtained from a system broadcast message or a radio resource control RRC common signaling of a base station of the MTC UE; and when the MTC UE is the second type MTC UE, acquiring M system information blocks from a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) common signaling of a base station of the MTC UE. Wherein at least one of the M system information blocks contains transmission resource configuration information for one or more of the M system information blocks. Likewise, the transmission resource configuration information of one or more system information blocks of the N system information blocks may also be included in at least one system information block of the M system information blocks. The transmission resource configuration information may be pre-configured by the system or the base station.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the system information included in the K system information blocks is less than the system information required by the general UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE. Specifically, due to the particularity of the communication environment and the bearer task of some MTC UEs, compared with ordinary UEs, the MTC UEs do not need to support some specific channels or signals, so that configuration parameters or information included in the existing system information block can be reduced, unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the MTC UEs compared with the ordinary UEs is removed, and thus, resource overhead and power consumption when the MTC UEs acquire the system information can be further reduced, and reliability is improved.

Optionally, as an embodiment, when the first parameter is a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE, determining the first parameter of the MTC UE includes: determining a path loss, a path loss range, an RSRP range, an RSRQ range, a CQI range, or a number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected for the MTC UE; and determining a coverage enhancement value required by the MTC UE according to the corresponding relation between the path loss, the path loss range, the RSRP range, the RSRQ range, the CQI range or the number of times of successfully detecting a predefined channel and the coverage enhancement value, wherein the corresponding relation is predefined by a system or a protocol or configured and sent by a base station of the MTC UE.

For example, the system or protocol may specify a coverage enhancement value of 1 for a path loss range of 1dB to 5dB, a coverage enhancement value of 2 for a path loss range of 6dB to 10dB, and so on, which is not limited by the invention. After the MTC UE measures the path loss, the range of the path loss can be determined, and thus the coverage enhancement value is determined according to the predefined correspondence.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC private signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; or, a value or range index indicated by media intervention control MAC signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE; or a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling sent by a base station of the MTC UE. The MTC UE may obtain an IE indicating the threshold from a system broadcast sent by the base station, and specifically, the IE may directly exist in a system information block sent by the system broadcast, or may be carried by an RRC signaling in the system information block.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the M system information blocks include at least one of: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon. As an example, if the MTC UE does not need a bit for indicating the system frame number, the system frame number entry may not include the cell selection information cellselection info of the normal UE, and the MTC UE may correspondingly prune, for example, only include the configuration information of one cell.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the N system information blocks include at least one of: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common. The listed configuration information is system information additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, and some of the configuration information may not be included in the N system information blocks when the first-type MTC UE is also not required.

For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present invention, MTC UEs are divided into two categories, it should be understood that MTC UEs may be further divided into more categories to improve the granularity of distinguishing the MTC UEs.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the MTC UE is classified, so that the MTC UE of different classes can acquire the system information corresponding to the class, and unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption can be reduced when the different MTC UE acquires the system information. Furthermore, configuration parameters or information contained in the existing system information block can be reduced, and unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the MTC UE relative to the common UE is removed, so that resource overhead and power consumption of the MTC UE when the MTC UE acquires the system information can be further reduced, and reliability is improved.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of a communication method of one embodiment of the present invention. The method of fig. 2 is performed by a base station.

And 201, configuring system information of machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE), wherein the system information corresponding to different classes of MTC UE is different.

202, sending system information of the MTC UE, so that the MTC UE can obtain corresponding system information according to the category of the MTC UE.

Optionally, as an embodiment, step 101 may include: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter less than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first parameter is used to determine the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter may include at least one of the following: path loss or path loss range index between the MTC UE and the base station; the number of times that the MTC UE successfully detects the predefined channel; coverage enhancement values required by MTC UEs. It is easily understood that the above parameters are proportional to the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, for example, the MTC UE with larger path loss requires larger strength of coverage enhancement, and the MTC UE with path loss higher than the threshold is classified as the second type MTC UE. The path loss range Index may be determined by a range of path loss where the path loss between the MTC UE and the base station is located and a corresponding relationship between the range of path loss and an Index (Index) predefined by a system or a protocol, and successfully detecting the predefined channel may include successfully detecting a synchronization channel, or a physical broadcast channel, or a PDSCH carrying SIB1, or a control channel carrying SIB1, or a PDSCH carrying SIB2, or a control channel carrying SIB 2; the number of times for successfully detecting the synchronization channel, or the physical broadcast channel, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB1, or the control channel of the scheduling SIB1, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB2, or the control channel or the broadcast channel of the scheduling SIB2 may reflect the communication environment of the MTC UE, i.e., the strength of coverage enhancement of the required coverage, and the more the number of times, the greater the strength of coverage enhancement of the required coverage.

Optionally, as an embodiment, step 101 includes: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter being greater than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first parameter is used to determine the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter may include at least one of the following: reference signal received power, RSRP, or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index for MTC UEs; channel Quality Information (CQI) or CQI range index of MTC UE; coverage enhancement values required by MTC UEs. It is easily understood that the above parameters are inversely proportional to the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, for example, the larger the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI is, the smaller the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE is, the higher the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI is, the first type of MTC UE is classified, and the determination of the range index of the above parameters is similar to the determination method of the path loss range index.

Optionally, as an embodiment, step 201 includes: determining that system information corresponding to first-type MTC UE and second-type MTC UE consists of M + N system information blocks, wherein the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE, and the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, wherein K, M and N are positive integers preset by a system. According to the above MTC UE classification, because the first type of MTC UE has a better communication environment than the second type of MTC UE, the required coverage enhancement strength is smaller, and more functions can be supported, so that the first type of MTC UE may need more system information than the second type of MTC UE. Therefore, the system information configured for the MTC UE may be divided into two parts, where the system information included in one part is the same for the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, and the system information included in the other part is only for the first type of MTC UE, thereby avoiding power consumption caused by the second type of MTC UE acquiring unnecessary configuration parameters or information.

Optionally, as an embodiment, step 202 includes: and sending the K system information blocks through system broadcast messages or Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling so that the first type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UE can acquire the M system information blocks. Wherein at least one of the M system information blocks contains transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the M system information blocks, and similarly, transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the N system information blocks may also be contained in at least one of the M system information blocks. The transmission resource configuration information may be pre-configured by the system or the base station.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC private signaling sent by the base station; or, a value or range index indicated by media intervention control MAC signaling sent by the base station; or a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling transmitted by the base station. The IE may exist directly in a system information block broadcast by the system, or may be carried by RRC signaling in the system information block.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the M system information blocks configured by the base station in step 201 include at least one of the following: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon. As an example, if the MTC UE does not need a bit for indicating the system frame number, the system frame number entry may not include the cell selection information cellselection info of the normal UE, and the MTC UE may correspondingly prune, for example, only include the configuration information of one cell.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the N system information blocks configured by the base station in step 201 include at least one of the following: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common. The listed configuration information is system information additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, and some of the configuration information may not be included in the N system information blocks when the first-type MTC UE is also not required.

301, the base station sends the classification indication information (optional) to the MTC UE

In the embodiment of the present invention, the category of the MTC UE may be divided according to the degree of enhancement of the coverage required by the MTC UE, and certainly, the category may also be divided according to other indexes such as the type of service carried by the MTC UE, and the following description mainly takes the measurement of coverage enhancement as an example. The strength (measurement) of coverage enhancement required by MTC UEs with better communication environment is smaller, even comparable to that of ordinary (Legacy/Normal) UEs. For MTC UEs with poor communication environment, such as MTC UEs located underground or isolated by metal casing, a large coverage enhancement is required to ensure normal communication.

The specific partitioning method may be predefined by a system or a protocol, or configured by the base station or an upper node of the base station. Under the condition that the system or the protocol is predefined, the method for classifying the MTC UE classes predefined by the system or the protocol is also preconfigured to the MTC UE, and step 301 does not need to be executed. However, when the base station is configured, the base station may obtain or configure the classification method of the MTC UE category from a local or superior node, and generate the classification indication information to be sent to the MTC UE, that is, step 301 needs to be executed.

Specifically, when step 301 needs to be executed, the base station may send a parameter indicating MTC UE category division included in the classification indication Information in the form of an Information Element (IE) or a Flag (Flag) through a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling bearer by system broadcast. The category classification parameter may be a strength capable of measuring coverage strength or coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE. Such as Path Loss (PL), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Channel Quality Indicator (Channel Quality Indicator), and so forth. Taking PL as an example, the base station may determine an IE for indicating or configuring a PL threshold according to predefined or self-configuration of a system or protocol, and the pseudo code of the IE may be as follows:

wherein systemlnformationblocktype n indicates that the pseudo code exists in a system information block SIBn, such as SIB 1; r1, r2 are integers, and r2 is greater than r 1; INTEGER (r1.. r2) indicates that IE may indicate any INTEGER within the interval r1 to r 2; estimated { a1, a2, a 3.. an } represents one element of an enumeration set { a1, a2, a 3.. an }. If there are multiple PL thresholds (e.g., P), then IE may be ceil (log)₂(P)) bits to indicate or configure a PL range as a threshold, where ceil (x) denotes rounding up x. If there is no particular description that is given,the PL threshold is the value indicated by IE. Of course, it may also be specified that the PL threshold is the product of the value indicated by IE and a constant. This constant may be predefined by the system or may be configured by the base station. For example, if this constant is predefined to be equal to 2, then PL threshold 2 x IE indicates the value. The following pseudo code represents the IE and the indication step contained in the SIBn, which are used to indicate or configure the PL threshold:

the base station may also be configured with an IE for indicating or configuring the PL range index, and if the system or the base station has preset or configured R pathloss ranges, the IE may be ceil (log)₂(R)) bits to indicate or configure a path loss range index, where ceil (x) denotes rounding up x. The pseudo-code of this IE may be as follows:

PL _ range x or PL _ range (x) in the above pseudo code represents the pathloss range x, i.e.: path loss range 0, path loss range 1, path loss range 2, or the like. Where 0, 1, 2 are PL range indices. Specifically, for example, if the path loss range 0 is preset or configured to be (1dB-5dB), the path loss range 1 is (6dB-10dB), the path loss range 2 is (11dB-15dB), and the path loss range 3 is (16dB-20dB), the base station can indicate the above 4 ranges by the bit value:

IE bit status	PL Range	Index of PL Range
			00	1dB-5dB	0
01	6dB-10dB	1
			10	11dB-15dB	2
11	16dB-20dB	3

TABLE 1

The base station may also be configured with an IE for indicating or configuring the coverage enhancement value. Specifically, the base station may determine the coverage enhancement value according to a correspondence between a PL, a PL range, an RSRP range, an RSRQ range, a CQI range, or a number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected and the coverage enhancement value, where the correspondence is predefined by a system or protocol or configured and transmitted by the base station. For example, the system or protocol may specify a coverage enhancement value of 1dB to 5dB for the path loss range, 2 for the path loss range of 6dB to 10dB, and so on, and it should be understood that the PL range, RSRP range, RSRQ range, and CQI range therein may also be indexes corresponding to the ranges, which is not limited in the present invention. Similar to the PL threshold described above, the base station may send the coverage enhancement value write IE to the MTC UE through the SIBn.

The threshold, range, and range index included in the IE may also be RSRP, or RSRP range index, or RSRQ range index, or traffic type index, or energy saving level index, or Power Class, or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource index, or PRACH preamble index, or PRACH root sequence index, or narrowband resource index, or length of spreading code, or repetition number, or Bundling transmission time interval Size (TTI Bundling Size), or retransmission number, and the like, and any combination thereof.

302, the MTC UE determines a first parameter and determines the category to which the MTC UE belongs according to the determined first parameter

The MTC UE needs to determine its own category to further obtain corresponding system information according to the category. When the step 301 is executed, the MTC UE may obtain the classification indication information through parsing system broadcast, determine a type or attribute of the first parameter according to a threshold type or a class division parameter in the classification indication information (the type of the first parameter is the same as the threshold type, or the type of the first parameter is the same as the type indicated by the class division parameter), and determine the first parameter, for example, when the class is divided into PL thresholds, the MTC UE determines PL between itself and the base station as the first parameter. When step 301 is not executed, the MTC UE type classification (i.e. threshold type) is preset by a system or a protocol and is stored locally in the MTC UE, and then the MTC UE may determine the first parameter and determine its own type at any time, for example, at a time of initiating random access, ending the sleep state and being awakened, performing cell switching cell reselection, and the like.

The MTC UE determines own first parameters, including: PL, or PL range index, RSRP, or RSRP range index, or RSRQ range index, or CQI, or traffic type index, or energy saving Class index, or Power Class, or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource index, or PRACH preamble index, or PRACH root sequence index, or narrowband resource index, or length of spreading code, or number of repetitions, or Bundling transmission time interval Size (TTI Bundling Size), or number of retransmissions, and the like, as well as combinations of any of them. The type of the first parameter may be determined from the received IE or may be predefined by the system or protocol.

Taking path loss as an example, the MTC UE may determine the PL between itself and the base station according to the difference between RSRP and the transmission power when the base station transmits the reference signal, and then compare the PL with the PL threshold included in the IE obtained from SIBn, where the comparison type may be greater than, less than, equal to, greater than or equal to, or less than or equal to, and the comparison type may be predefined by a system or a protocol. For example, it may be specified that the comparison type is greater than the comparison, when the PL measured by the MTC UE is less than the PL threshold, the comparison result is true or the MTC UE is a first MTC UE, when the PL measured by the MTC UE is greater than the PL threshold, the comparison result is false or no, the MTC UE is a second MTC UE, and vice versa, and the description is omitted here.

Taking the coverage enhancement value as an example, the MTC UE needs to measure the path loss between the MTC UE and the base station, and then determine the range of the path loss, so as to determine the coverage enhancement value according to the predefined corresponding relationship. Where the correspondence of the pathloss range to the coverage enhancement value may be predefined by the system or protocol, for example, specifying a coverage enhancement value of 1dB to 5dB for the pathloss range, 2 for 6dB to 10dB for the pathloss range, and so on. Also, the value used for corresponding to the coverage enhancement value may be RSRP, RSRP range, RSRQ range, CQI range, or the number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected, etc., where the predefined channel may be a synchronization channel, or a physical broadcast channel, or a PDSCH carrying SIB1, or a control channel of scheduling SIB1, or a PDSCH carrying SIB2, or a control channel of scheduling SIB2, etc. Finally, the MTC UE determines its category by comparing the measured coverage enhancement value (first parameter) with the coverage enhancement value (threshold) obtained from the IE.

The comparison type may also be matching comparison, for example, when the threshold in the IE is traffic type or Power Class, the MTC UE also determines its own traffic type or Power Class as the first parameter, and then performs matching comparison with the threshold in the IE, thereby determining the category of the MTC UE.

In addition, the category of the MTC UE may be determined according to the UE category to which the MTC UE belongs, for example, a category (category) of the UE may be preset, the category1, the category2, the category3, and the like, and the category of the UE may be divided from functions, capabilities, or services; it is assumed that if an MTC UE belongs to category1 or category2, the MTC UE is a first type MTC UE, and if the MTC UE belongs to category3, the MTC UE is a second type MTC UE. That is, the MTC UE may determine the category according to the category to which it belongs.

303, the base station broadcasts system information of the MTC UE.

The base station may determine the system information corresponding to each MTC UE category according to the MTC UE category predefined by a system or a protocol or configured by the base station. For example, when the MTC UEs are classified into two types, the base station may divide the system information required by all the MTC UEs into K + M system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include the system information required by all the types of MTC UEs in common, for example, the system information required by the first type of MTC UEs and the second type of MTC UEs in common, and the N system information blocks only include the system information required by one type of MTC UEs, for example, only include the system information of the first type of MTC UEs. Similarly, if the MTC UEs are classified into 3 types, K + N + O includes all the system information required by the three types of MTC UEs, and N and O system information blocks respectively include the system information of one type or two types of MTC UEs, and so on.

Taking two types of MTC UEs as an example, the resources occupied by at least one information block transmission in M system information blocks configured by a base station are preset by the system, including: the time starting point of the information block transmission, the time length occupied by the single transmission of the information block, the time interval or period of the information block transmission, the frequency position occupied by the single transmission of the information block, and the frequency resource size occupied by the single transmission of the information block.

For example, the system may preset the time length occupied by the single transmission of the information block to be L subframes, the time interval or period occupied by the transmission of the information block to be T radio frames, the frequency position occupied by the single transmission of the information block to be a narrow band with a fixed position (e.g. the center) on the frequency band, and the frequency resource size occupied by the single transmission of the information block to be F PRBs. Wherein, L, T and F are preset fixed positive integers. The system further presets a fixed subframe offset subframe _ offset and radio frame offset radio frame _ offset, based on which the start of time for the transmission of the information block can be determined. For example, the subframe index and the frame index at the time of starting the transmission of the information block satisfy the following relationship:

frame index mod (T) is a radioframe _ offset

Subframe index mod (the number of subframes included in one radio frame) — subframe _ offset

Where mod is the modulo operation. In addition, resources for transmitting a plurality of information blocks in the M information blocks may be pre-configured by the system.

The transmission resources of one or more information blocks included in the N information blocks may be set in advance by the system. The predetermined method is as described above, and is not described herein again. The resource configuration for the one or more information block transmissions may be contained in the M information blocks.

Several methods of system information partitioning are listed below:

the method comprises the following steps: the System Information of the MTC UE is divided into a Master Information Block (MIB) and two System Information Blocks (SIB), such as SIBn and SIBm; where n and m are positive integers and n is not equal to m. The system information contained in the MIB and the SIBn is the same for the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE; the SIBm only contains system information for the first type MTC UE; in the method, K is 3, M is 2 and N is 1.

The method 2 comprises the following steps: the system information is divided into two SIBs, such as SIBp and SIBq; where p and q are positive integers and p is not equal to q. The system information contained in the SIBp is the same for the first MTC UE and the second MTC UE; the SIBq only contains system information for MTC UE of the first type; in the method, K is 2, M is 1, and N is 1.

The method 3 comprises the following steps: the system information is divided into a MIB and a system information block SIB, such as SIBi, where i is a positive integer. The system information contained in the MIB is the same for the first type MTC UE and the second type MTC UE; the SIBi only contains system information for the first type MTC UEs; in the method, K is 2, M is 1, and N is 1.

The specific content contained in the system information block may be configured according to the characteristics of the MTC UEs and the needs of different classes of MTC UEs. For example, also taking the two types of MTC UEs described above as examples, the first type of MTC UE has no (additional) coverage enhancement or needs less (additional) coverage enhancement compared to the normal UE. MTC UEs of the second type require larger (additional) coverage enhancements relative to normal UEs. Due to the greater particularity of the second type MTC UE, some simplification may be made to the messages, channels, signals, reference signals, etc. supported by the second type MTC UE, for example, the second type MTC UE may not need the physical control format indicator channel PCHICH, the physical hybrid automatic repeat request indicator channel PHICH, or alternatively, if the second type MTC UE does not need the physical uplink control channel PUCCH, the enhanced physical downlink control channel EPDCCH, the paging message, the system information update indicated by the paging, and the power control, the second type MTC UE need not be configured with the above functions. That is, the corresponding parameter configuration information may be removed from the system information. For the first type of MTC UEs, some simplification or no simplification may be performed according to the actual situation, for example, there may be related information of multiple cells in the configuration information about the cell selection information in the system information of the general UE, and some MTC UEs are relatively fixed, so that cell selection information of multiple cells is not required, and corresponding deletion may be performed.

As described above, the system information configured for the MTC UEs may be divided into 2 parts, where the system information included in the first part (M system information blocks) is the same for the first type of MTC UEs and the second type of MTC UEs, and the system information included in the second part (N system information blocks) is only configured for the first type of MTC UEs. The following describes the system information content that these two parts may contain:

the first part contains the system information:

system information
	dl-Bandwidth
systemFrameNumber
	ul-CyclicPrefixLength
cellAccessRelatedInfo
	cellSelectionInfo
p-Max
	freqBandIndicator
tdd-Config
	systemInfoValueTag
ac-BarringInfo
	ue-TimersAndConstants
mbsfn-SubframeConfigList
	freqInfo
timeAlignmentTimerCommon

TABLE 2

Table 2 illustrates some, not all, of the system information that is commonly required by the first and second types of MTC UEs. Compared with a common UE, the MTC UE may simplify support for some messages, channels or signals according to actual needs, that is, may delete or simplify some system information configuration information. For example, the MTC UE does not need the si-Window Length system information, the first part may not include the si-Window Length system information, and for example, the common UE cell selection information cellSelectionInfo may include information of a plurality of cells, and for the MTC UE, the number of cells may be reduced to 1. In addition, some system information items need to be determined whether to be needed according to practical situations, such as system frame number, and if the MTC UE does not need the bit to indicate the system frame number, the first part may not contain the item of system information.

The second part contains system information:

TABLE 3

The MTC UE acquires corresponding system information according to its own category, for example, the first MTC UE acquires system information included in the first part and the second part (M + N system information blocks), and the second MTC UE acquires only system information included in the first part (M system information blocks). The first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE may both acquire subsequent system information blocks according to the transmission resource configuration in the M system information blocks, and may also determine which system information blocks to acquire according to RRC dedicated signaling configured by the base station.

Therefore, the second-type MTC UE only receives the system information of the public part and has less content, so that the reliability of the second-type UE for receiving the system information is enhanced, and the expenditure of resources and power consumption is reduced. Besides receiving the system information of the public part, the first MTC UE also receives the system information special for the first MTC UE, so that the receiving integrity of the system information is ensured.

In addition, except that the configuration included in the system information of each category of MTC UE may be deleted from the configuration included in the system information of the general UE, the configuration information required by some MTC UEs may be added, and the configuration information not required by the general UE is included in the system information of the MTC UE, which is not limited in the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a user equipment of one embodiment of the present invention. The user equipment 40 of fig. 4 comprises a determining unit 41 and an obtaining unit 42. The user equipment 40 may be a machine type communication user equipment, MTC UE.

The determining unit 41 determines the category of the user equipment 40. The acquisition unit 42 acquires system information corresponding to the category of the user equipment 40 determined by the determination unit 41, wherein the system information corresponding to different categories of user equipment 40 is different.

The embodiment of the invention classifies the user equipment 40, so that the user equipment 40 of different classes can acquire the system information corresponding to the class, thereby reducing unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption when different user equipment 40 acquires the system information.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining unit 41 is specifically configured to determine a first parameter of the user equipment 40; when the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold, the determining unit 41 determines that the user equipment 40 is a first type of user equipment; or when the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold, the determining unit 41 determines that the user equipment 40 is the second type of user equipment. That is, the user equipment 40 may perform classification according to the first parameter determined by the determining unit 41, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of user equipment is small, that is, the communication environment is good, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of user equipment is large, that is, the communication environment is poor.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first parameter determined by the determining unit 41 is used to indicate the strength of coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 40, and the first parameter may include at least one of the following: a path loss or a path loss range index between the user equipment 40 and a base station of the user equipment 40; the number of times the user equipment 40 successfully detects the predefined channel; coverage enhancement values required by the user equipment 40. It is easily understood that the above parameters are proportional to the strength of the coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 40, for example, the user equipment 40 with higher path loss needs stronger coverage enhancement, and the user equipment with path loss higher than the threshold is classified as the second type user equipment. The path loss range Index may be determined by a range of path loss where the path loss between the MTC UE and the base station is located and a corresponding relationship between the range of path loss and an Index (Index) predefined by a system or a protocol, and successfully detecting the predefined channel may include successfully detecting a synchronization channel, or a physical broadcast channel, or a PDSCH carrying SIB1, or a control channel carrying SIB1, or a PDSCH carrying SIB2, or a control channel carrying SIB 2; the number of times for successfully detecting the synchronization channel, or the physical broadcast channel, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB1, or the control channel of the scheduling SIB1, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB2, or the control channel or the broadcast channel of the scheduling SIB2 may reflect the communication environment of the MTC UE, i.e., the strength of coverage enhancement of the required coverage, and the more the number of times, the greater the strength of coverage enhancement of the required coverage.

Specifically, the type of the first parameter may be pre-configured by a system or a protocol, and may also be configured to the user equipment 40 by the base station. While the type and value of the threshold may also be preconfigured by the system or protocol, or configured by the base station. And the type of threshold should be consistent with the type of first parameter.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining unit 41 is specifically configured to determine a first parameter of the user equipment 40; when the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold, the determining unit 41 determines that the user equipment 40 is a first type of user equipment; or when the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold, the determining unit 41 determines that the user equipment 40 is the second type of user equipment. That is, the user equipment 40 may perform classification according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of user equipment is small, that is, the communication environment is good, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of user equipment is large, that is, the communication environment is poor.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first parameter determined by the determining unit 41 is used to indicate the strength of coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 40, and the first parameter may include at least one of the following: reference signal received power, RSRP, or RSRP range index of the user equipment 40; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the user equipment 40; channel quality information CQI or CQI range index of the user equipment 40; coverage enhancement values required by the user equipment 40. It is easily understood that the above parameters are inversely proportional to the strength of the coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 40, for example, the user equipment 40 requiring the greater RSRP, RSRQ or CQI has the smaller strength of the coverage enhancement, the user equipment 40 requiring the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI higher than the threshold is classified as the first type of user equipment, and the determination of the range index of the above parameters is similar to the determination method of the path loss range index.

It should be understood that the above listed first parameters are only some preferred solutions, and the first parameters of the embodiments of the present invention may further include parameters capable of measuring the strength of coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 40, such as a service type, a service type index, an energy saving level index, a power class, a physical random access channel PRACH resource index, a PRACH preamble index, a PRACH root sequence index, a narrowband resource index, a length of a spreading code, a repetition number, a bundling transmission time interval size, or a retransmission number, which is not limited in this respect.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the system information corresponding to the first class of user equipment and the second class of user equipment is composed of K + M system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first class of user equipment and the second class of user equipment, and the N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first class of user equipment relative to the second class of user equipment, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by the system. According to the above classification of the user equipment 40, the first type of user equipment may need more system information than the second type of user equipment because the first type of user equipment has a better communication environment than the second type of user equipment, and the required coverage enhancement is less intense and can support more functions. Thus, the system information configured for the ue 40 can be divided into two parts, wherein one part includes the same system information for the first class of ue and the second class of ue, and the other part includes the system information only for the first class of ue, thereby avoiding power consumption caused by the second class of ue acquiring unnecessary configuration parameters or information.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the obtaining unit 42 is specifically configured to: when the user equipment 40 is a first type of user equipment, acquiring M system information blocks and N system information blocks from a system broadcast message of a base station of the user equipment 40; when the user equipment 40 is a second type of user equipment, M system information blocks are acquired from a system broadcast message of a base station of the user equipment 40. Wherein at least one of the M system information blocks contains transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the M system information blocks, and similarly, transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the N system information blocks may also be contained in at least one of the M system information blocks. The transmission resource configuration information may be pre-configured by the system or the base station.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the system information included in the K system information blocks acquired by the acquiring unit 42 is less than the system information required by the general UE; or the system information included in the M system information blocks acquired by the acquisition unit 42 is less than the system information required by the general UE. Specifically, due to the particularity of the communication environment and the bearer task of some user equipments 40, compared with a general UE, the user equipment 40 does not need to support some specific channels or signals, so that configuration parameters or information included in the existing system information block can be reduced, unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the user equipment 40 compared with the general UE is removed, and thus resource overhead and power consumption when the user equipment 40 acquires the system information can be further reduced, and reliability is improved.

Optionally, as an embodiment, when the first parameter determined by the determining unit 41 is a coverage enhancement value required by the user equipment 40, the determining unit 41 may be further configured to: determining a path loss, a path loss range, an RSRP range, an RSRQ range, a CQI range, or a number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected for the user equipment 40; the coverage enhancement value required by the user equipment 40 is determined according to a correspondence between the path loss, the path loss range, the RSRP range, the RSRQ range, the CQI range, or the number of times a predefined channel is successfully detected and the coverage enhancement value, wherein the correspondence is predefined by a system or a protocol or configured and transmitted by a base station.

For example, the system or protocol may specify a coverage enhancement value of 1 for a path loss range of 1dB to 5dB, a coverage enhancement value of 2 for a path loss range of 6dB to 10dB, and so on, which is not limited by the invention. After the user equipment 40 measures the path loss, the determining unit 41 may determine the range of the path loss, so as to determine the coverage enhancement value according to the predefined corresponding relationship.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC private signaling sent by the base station; or, a value or range index indicated by media intervention control MAC signaling sent by the base station; or a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling transmitted by the base station.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the M system information blocks acquired by the acquiring unit 42 include at least one of the following: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon. As an example, if the user equipment 40 does not need the bit for indicating the system frame number, then a systemFrameNumber entry may not be included, and in addition, the cell selection information cellselectenfo of the normal UE may include configuration information of a plurality of cells, and the user equipment 40 may perform puncturing accordingly, for example, only include configuration information of one cell.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the N system information blocks acquired by the acquiring unit 42 include at least one of the following: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common. The listed configuration information is system information additionally required by the first-class user equipment relative to the second-class user equipment, and when some of the configuration information is also not required by the first-class user equipment, the configuration information may not be included in the N system information blocks.

For convenience of description, the user equipment 40 is divided into two categories in the embodiment of the present invention, it should be understood that the user equipment 40 may be further divided into more categories to improve the granularity of the user equipment 40, and in addition, for the classification of the user equipment 40 in the embodiment of the present invention, different categories may belong to the same UE category, or may belong to different UE categories, which is not limited in the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention classifies the user equipment 40, so that the user equipment 40 of different classes can acquire the system information corresponding to the class, thereby reducing unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption when different user equipment 40 acquires the system information. Further, configuration parameters or information contained in the existing system information block can be reduced, and unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the user equipment 40 relative to the ordinary UE is removed, so that resource overhead and power consumption when the user equipment 40 acquires the system information can be further reduced, and reliability is improved.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a base station of one embodiment of the present invention. The base station 50 of fig. 5 comprises a configuration unit 51 and a transmission unit 52.

The configuration unit 51 configures system information of machine type communication user equipments, MTC UEs, wherein the system information corresponding to MTC UEs of different classes is different. The sending unit 52 sends the system information of the MTC UE configured by the configuration unit 51, so that the MTC UE can obtain the corresponding system information according to the category of the MTC UE.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the MTC UE is classified, and the base station 50 is used for obtaining different system information of the MTC UE of different types, so that the MTC UE of different types can obtain the system information corresponding to the type of the MTC UE, and unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption when the different MTC UE obtains the system information can be reduced.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the base station 50 may include a determining unit 53, where the determining unit 53 is configured to: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter less than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first parameter is used to determine the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the first parameter may include at least one of the following: path loss or range of path loss between MTC UE and base station 50; the number of times that the MTC UE successfully detects the predefined channel; coverage enhancement values required by MTC UEs. It is easily understood that the above parameters are proportional to the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, for example, the MTC UE with larger path loss requires larger strength of coverage enhancement, and the MTC UE with path loss higher than the threshold is classified as the second type MTC UE. The path loss range Index may be determined by a range of path loss where the path loss between the MTC UE and the base station is located and a corresponding relationship between the range of path loss and an Index (Index) predefined by a system or a protocol, and successfully detecting the predefined channel may include successfully detecting a synchronization channel, or a physical broadcast channel, or a PDSCH carrying SIB1, or a control channel carrying SIB1, or a PDSCH carrying SIB2, or a control channel carrying SIB 2; the number of times for successfully detecting the synchronization channel, or the physical broadcast channel, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB1, or the control channel of the scheduling SIB1, or the PDSCH carrying the SIB2, or the control channel or the broadcast channel of the scheduling SIB2 may reflect the communication environment of the MTC UE, i.e., the strength of coverage enhancement of the required coverage, and the more the number of times, the greater the strength of coverage enhancement of the required coverage.

Specifically, the type of the first parameter may be configured in advance by a system or a protocol, or may be configured by the base station 50 through the configuration unit 51 and issued to the MTC UE through the sending unit 52. Meanwhile, the type and value of the threshold may be pre-configured by the system or protocol, or issued by the base station 50 through the sending unit 52. And the type of threshold should be consistent with the type of first parameter.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the base station 50 further includes a determining unit 53, where the determining unit 53 is configured to: determining the MTC UE with the first parameter being greater than or equal to the threshold value as a first type of MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the configuration unit 51 is specifically configured to: determining that system information corresponding to first-type MTC UE and second-type MTC UE consists of M + N system information blocks, wherein the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE, and the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, wherein K, M and N are positive integers preset by a system. According to the above MTC UE classification, because the first type of MTC UE has a better communication environment than the second type of MTC UE, the required coverage enhancement strength is smaller, and more functions can be supported, so that the first type of MTC UE may need more system information than the second type of MTC UE. Therefore, the system information configured for the MTC UE may be divided into two parts, where the system information included in one part is the same for the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, and the system information included in the other part is only for the first type of MTC UE, thereby avoiding power consumption caused by the second type of MTC UE acquiring unnecessary configuration parameters or information.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the sending unit 52 is specifically configured to: the K system information blocks determined by the determining unit 53 are sent through system broadcast messages or radio resource control RRC common signaling, so that the first type of MTC UE obtains M system information blocks and N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UE obtains M system information blocks. Wherein at least one of the M system information blocks includes transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the M system information blocks, and similarly, transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the N system information blocks may also be included in at least one of the M system information blocks, and the transmission resource configuration information may be pre-configured by the system or the base station 50 through the configuration unit 51.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the system information included in the K system information blocks determined by the determining unit 53 is less than the system information required by the general UE; or the M system information blocks determined by the determining unit 53 contain less system information than the system information required by the normal UE. Specifically, due to the particularity of the communication environment and the bearer task of some MTC UEs, compared with ordinary UEs, the MTC UEs do not need to support some specific channels or signals, so that configuration parameters or information included in the existing system information block can be reduced, unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the MTC UEs compared with the ordinary UEs is removed, and thus, resource overhead and power consumption when the MTC UEs acquire the system information can be further reduced, and reliability is improved.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the threshold includes: a system or protocol pre-specified value or range index; or, a value or a range index indicated by an information element IE carried by a system information block or RRC common signaling or RRC dedicated signaling sent by the base station 50; or, a value or range index indicated by the media intervention control MAC signaling sent by the base station 50; or a value or range index indicated by physical layer signaling sent by the base station 50.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the M system information blocks configured by the base station 50 include at least one of the following: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon. As an example, if the MTC UE does not need a bit for indicating the system frame number, the system frame number entry may not include the cell selection information cellselection info of the normal UE, and the MTC UE may correspondingly prune, for example, only include the configuration information of one cell.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the N system information blocks configured by the base station 50 include at least one of the following: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common. The listed configuration information is system information additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, and some of the configuration information may not be included in the N system information blocks when the first-type MTC UE is also not required.

Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a user equipment of another embodiment of the present invention. The user equipment 60 of fig. 6 comprises a processor 61 and a memory 62. The processor 61 and the memory 62 are connected by a bus system 63.

The memory 62 is used to store instructions that cause the processor 61 to: determining a category of the user equipment 60; system information corresponding to the category of the user equipment 60 is obtained, wherein the system information corresponding to different categories of user equipment 60 is different.

By classifying the user equipment 60, the embodiment of the invention enables the user equipment 60 of different types to acquire the system information corresponding to the type of the user equipment 60, thereby reducing unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption when different user equipment 60 acquires the system information.

Further, the user equipment 60 may further include a transmission circuit 64, a reception circuit 65, an antenna 66, and the like. The processor 61 controls the operation of the user equipment 60, and the processor 61 may also be referred to as a Central Processing Unit (CPU). The memory 62 may include a read-only memory and a random access memory, and provides instructions and data to the processor 61. A portion of the memory 62 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). In particular applications, transmit circuitry 64 and receive circuitry 65 may be coupled to an antenna 66. The various components of user device 60 are coupled together by a bus system 63, wherein bus system 63 may include a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and the like, in addition to a data bus. For clarity of illustration, however, the various buses are labeled as bus system 63 in the figures.

The method disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention may be applied to the processor 61, or implemented by the processor 61. The processor 61 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware or instructions in the form of software in the processor 61. The processor 61 described above may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 62, and the processor 61 reads the information in the memory 62, and completes the steps of the method in combination with the hardware thereof.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 61 determines a first parameter of the user equipment 60, the first parameter being used to indicate the strength of coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 60; when the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold, the processor 61 determines that the user equipment 60 is a first type of user equipment 60; or when the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold, the processor 61 determines that the user equipment 60 is the second type of user equipment 60. That is, the user equipment 60 may be classified according to the first parameter, where the first type of user equipment 60 requires a smaller intensity of coverage enhancement, i.e., a better communication environment, and the second type of user equipment 60 requires a larger intensity of coverage enhancement, i.e., a worse communication environment.

Optionally, the first parameter determined by the processor 61 may include at least one of: a path loss or a path loss range index between the user equipment 60 and a base station of the user equipment 60; the number of times the user equipment 60 successfully detects the predefined channel; coverage enhancement values required by the user equipment 60. It is easily understood that the above parameters are proportional to the intensity of coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 60, for example, the user equipment 60 with higher path loss needs stronger coverage enhancement, and the user equipment 60 with path loss higher than the threshold is classified as the second type. Wherein successfully detecting the predefined channel may include successfully detecting a synchronization channel, or a physical broadcast channel, or a PDSCH carrying SIB1, or a control channel of scheduling SIB1, or a PDSCH carrying SIB2, or a control channel of scheduling SIB 2.

Specifically, the type of the first parameter may be pre-configured by a system or a protocol and stored in the memory 62, and may also be configured to the user equipment 60 by the base station. While the type and value of the threshold may also be preconfigured by the system or protocol and stored in memory 62, or configured by the base station. And the type of threshold should be consistent with the type of first parameter.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 61 determines a first parameter of the user equipment 60, the first parameter being used to indicate the strength of coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 60; when the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold, the processor 61 determines that the user equipment 60 is a first type of user equipment 60; or when the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold, the processor 61 determines that the user equipment 60 is a second type of user equipment 60. That is, the user equipment 60 may be classified according to the first parameter, where the first type of user equipment 60 requires a smaller intensity of coverage enhancement, i.e., a better communication environment, and the second type of user equipment 60 requires a larger intensity of coverage enhancement, i.e., a worse communication environment.

Optionally, the first parameter determined by the processor 61 may include at least one of: reference signal received power, RSRP, or RSRP range index of the user equipment 60; a reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index of the user equipment 60; channel quality information CQI or CQI range index of the user equipment 60; coverage enhancement values required by the user equipment 60. It is easily understood that the above parameters are inversely proportional to the strength of the coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 60, for example, the user equipment 60 requiring the greater RSRP, RSRQ or CQI has the smaller strength of the coverage enhancement, and the user equipment 60 having the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI higher than the threshold is classified as the first type user equipment 60.

It should be understood that the above listed first parameters are only some preferred solutions, and the first parameters of the embodiments of the present invention may further include parameters capable of measuring the strength of coverage enhancement required by the user equipment 60, such as a service type, a service type index, an energy saving level index, a power class, a physical random access channel PRACH resource index, a PRACH preamble index, a PRACH root sequence index, a narrowband resource index, a length of a spreading code, a repetition number, a bundling transmission time interval size, or a retransmission number, which is not limited in this respect.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the system information corresponding to the first class of user equipment 60 and the second class of user equipment 60 is composed of K ═ M + N system information blocks, where M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first class of user equipment 60 and the second class of user equipment 60, and N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first class of user equipment 60 relative to the second class of user equipment 60, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by the system. According to the above classification of the user equipments 60, the first type of user equipments 60 may need more system information than the second type of user equipments 60 because the first type of user equipments 60 have better communication environment and the required coverage enhancement is less intensive and can support more functions. Thus, the system information configured for the ue 60 can be divided into two parts, wherein one part includes the same system information for the first type of ue 60 and the second type of ue 60, and the other part includes the system information only for the first type of ue 60, thereby avoiding power consumption caused by the second type of ue 60 obtaining unnecessary configuration parameters or information.

Optionally, as an embodiment, when the ue 60 is the first type of ue 60, the receiving circuit 65 obtains M system information blocks and N system information blocks from a system broadcast message of a base station of the ue 60; when the user equipment 60 is a second type of user equipment 60, the receiving circuit 65 obtains M system information blocks from the system broadcast message of the base station of the user equipment 60. Wherein at least one of the M system information blocks contains transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the M system information blocks, and similarly, transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the N system information blocks may also be contained in at least one of the M system information blocks. The transmission resource configuration information may be pre-configured by the system or the base station.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the system information included in the K system information blocks received by the receiving circuit 65 is less than the system information required by the general UE; or the M system information blocks received by the receiving circuit 65 contain less system information than the system information required by the normal UE. Specifically, due to the particularity of the communication environment and the bearer task of some UE 60, the UE 60 does not need to support some specific channels or signals, so that configuration parameters or information included in the existing system information block can be reduced, unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the UE 60 relative to the general UE is removed, and thus resource overhead and power consumption when the UE 60 obtains the system information can be further reduced, and reliability is improved.

Optionally, as an embodiment, when the first parameter is a coverage enhancement value required by the user equipment 60, the processor 61 is configured to determine a path loss, a path loss range, an RSRP range, an RSRQ range, a CQI range, or a number of times for successfully detecting a predefined channel of the user equipment 60; the processor 61 determines the coverage enhancement value required by the user equipment 60 from the correspondence between the path loss, the path loss range, RSRP range, RSRQ range, CQI range, or the number of times it takes to successfully detect the predefined channel and the coverage enhancement value stored in the memory 62, where the correspondence is predefined by the system or protocol or configured and transmitted by the base station.

For example, the system or protocol may specify a coverage enhancement value of 1 for a path loss range of 1dB to 5dB, a coverage enhancement value of 2 for a path loss range of 6dB to 10dB, and so on, which is not limited by the invention. After the user equipment 60 measures the path loss, the range of the path loss can be determined, and the coverage enhancement value can be determined according to the predefined corresponding relationship.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the M system information blocks received by the receiving circuit 65 include at least one of: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon. As an example, if the user equipment 60 does not need the bit for indicating the system frame number, then a systemFrameNumber entry may not be included, and in addition, the cell selection information cellselectenfo of the normal UE may include configuration information of a plurality of cells, and the user equipment 60 may perform puncturing accordingly, for example, only include configuration information of one cell.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the N system information blocks received by the receiving circuit 65 include at least one of: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common. The listed configuration information is system information additionally required by the first-type user equipment 60 relative to the second-type user equipment 60, and some of the configuration information may not be included in the N system information blocks when the first-type user equipment 60 is not required.

For convenience of description, the user equipment 60 is divided into two categories in the embodiment of the present invention, and it should be understood that the user equipment 60 may be further divided into more categories to increase the granularity of the user equipment 60.

By classifying the user equipment 60, the embodiment of the invention enables the user equipment 60 of different types to acquire the system information corresponding to the type of the user equipment 60, thereby reducing unnecessary resource overhead and power consumption when different user equipment 60 acquires the system information. Further, configuration parameters or information included in the existing system information block may be reduced, and unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the user equipment 60 relative to the general UE may be removed, so that resource overhead and power consumption when the user equipment 60 acquires the system information may be further reduced, and reliability may be improved.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a base station of another embodiment of the present invention. The base station 70 of fig. 7 comprises a memory 71, a processor 72, a transmit circuit 73 and an antenna 74.

The processor 72 is configured to configure system information of MTC UEs, wherein the system information corresponding to different classes of MTC UEs is different; the transmitting circuit is configured to transmit the system information of the MTC UE configured by the processor 72, so that the MTC UE can obtain the corresponding system information according to the category of the MTC UE.

Further, the base station 70 may further include a receiving circuit 75 and the like. The processor 72 controls the operation of the base station 70, and the processor 72 may also be referred to as a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Memory 71 may include a read-only memory and a random access memory and provides instructions and data to processor 72. A portion of the memory 71 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). In particular applications, transmit circuitry 73 and receive circuitry 75 may be coupled to antenna 74. The various components of the base station 70 are coupled together by a bus system 76, wherein the bus system 76 may include a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and the like, in addition to a data bus. For clarity of illustration, however, the various buses are identified in the figure as bus system 76.

The method disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention may be applied to the processor 72, or may be implemented by the processor 72. The processor 72 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by instructions in the form of hardware, integrated logic circuits, or software in the processor 72. The processor 72 may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 71, and the processor 72 reads the information in the memory 71 and performs the steps of the above method in combination with the hardware thereof.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 72 determines that the MTC UE with the first parameter less than or equal to the threshold is a first type MTC UE, where the first parameter is used to indicate the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is greater than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first parameter may include at least one of: path loss or path loss range index between the MTC UE and the base station; the number of times that the MTC UE successfully detects the predefined channel; coverage enhancement values required by MTC UEs. It is easily understood that the above parameters are proportional to the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, for example, the MTC UE with larger path loss requires larger strength of coverage enhancement, and the MTC UE with path loss higher than the threshold is classified as the second type MTC UE. Wherein successfully detecting the predefined channel may include successfully detecting a synchronization channel, or a physical broadcast channel, or a PDSCH carrying SIB1, or a control channel of scheduling SIB1, or a PDSCH carrying SIB2, or a control channel of scheduling SIB 2.

Specifically, the type of the first parameter may be pre-configured by a system or a protocol and stored in the memory 71, or may be configured to the MTC UE by the base station. While the type and value of the threshold may also be preconfigured by the system or protocol and stored in the memory 71, or configured by the base station. And the type of threshold should be consistent with the type of first parameter.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 72 determines that the MTC UE with the first parameter greater than or equal to the threshold is a first type MTC UE, where the first parameter is used to indicate the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE; and determining the MTC UE of which the first parameter is less than or equal to the threshold value as a second type MTC UE. That is to say, the MTC UEs may perform category division according to the first parameter, where the strength of coverage enhancement required by the first type of MTC UE is smaller, that is, the communication environment is better, and the strength of coverage enhancement required by the second type of MTC UE is larger, that is, the communication environment is poorer.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the first parameter may include at least one of: reference signal received power, RSRP, or RSRP range index of the MTC UE; reference signal received quality, RSRQ, or RSRQ range index for MTC UEs; channel Quality Information (CQI) or CQI range index of MTC UE; coverage enhancement values required by MTC UEs. It is easily understood that the above parameters are inversely proportional to the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, for example, the larger the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI, the smaller the strength of coverage enhancement required by the MTC UE, and the higher the RSRP, RSRQ or CQI is than the threshold, the MTC UE is classified as the first type.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the processor 72 determines that the system information corresponding to the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE is composed of K-M + N system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, and the N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first type of MTC UE relative to the second type of MTC UE, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by the system. According to the above MTC UE classification, because the first type of MTC UE has a better communication environment than the second type of MTC UE, the required coverage enhancement strength is smaller, and more functions can be supported, so that the first type of MTC UE may need more system information than the second type of MTC UE. Therefore, the system information configured for the MTC UE may be divided into two parts, where the system information included in one part is the same for the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, and the system information included in the other part is only for the first type of MTC UE, thereby avoiding power consumption caused by the second type of MTC UE acquiring unnecessary configuration parameters or information.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the transmitting circuit 73 sends K system information blocks through the antenna 74 by a system broadcast message or radio resource control RRC common signaling, so that the first type of MTC UEs acquires M system information blocks and N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UEs acquires M system information blocks. Wherein at least one of the M system information blocks contains transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the M system information blocks, and similarly, transmission resource configuration information of one or more of the N system information blocks may also be contained in at least one of the M system information blocks. The transmission resource configuration information may be pre-configured by the system or the base station and stored in the memory 71.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the K system information blocks determined by the processor 72 include system information less than system information required by the general UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE. Specifically, due to the particularity of the communication environment and the bearer task of some MTC UEs, compared with ordinary UEs, the MTC UEs do not need to support some specific channels or signals, so that configuration parameters or information included in the existing system information block can be reduced, unnecessary configuration parameters or information of the MTC UEs compared with the ordinary UEs is removed, and thus, resource overhead and power consumption when the MTC UEs acquire the system information can be further reduced, and reliability is improved.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the M system information blocks configured by the processor 72 include at least one of: the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth; system frame number system framenumber; the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length; cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo; cell selection information cellSelectionInfo; maximum power p-Max; frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator; time division duplex configuration tdd-Config; a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag; configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel; configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel; the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon. As an example, if the MTC UE does not need a bit for indicating the system frame number, the system frame number entry may not include the cell selection information cellselection info of the normal UE, and the MTC UE may correspondingly prune, for example, only include the configuration information of one cell.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the N system information blocks configured by the processor 72 include at least one of: configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel; an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel; enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon; configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel; configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel; configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel; sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon; the uplink power control common. The listed configuration information is system information additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, and some of the configuration information may not be included in the N system information blocks when the first-type MTC UE is also not required.

For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present invention, MTC UEs are divided into two categories, it should be understood that the MTC UEs may be further divided into more categories to improve the granularity of distinguishing the MTC UEs, which is not limited in the present invention.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various method steps and elements described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both, and that the steps and elements of the various embodiments have been described above generally in terms of their functionality in order to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

The methods or steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in hardware, a software program executed by a processor, or a combination of both. The software routines may reside in Random Access Memory (RAM), memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), electrically programmable ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.

Although the present invention has been described in detail by referring to the drawings in connection with the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto. Various equivalent modifications or alterations to the embodiments of the present invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and such modifications or alterations are intended to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE) determines the category of the MTC UE, wherein the category of the MTC UE comprises a first type MTC UE and a second type MTC UE;

the MTC UE acquires system information corresponding to the type of the MTC UE, wherein the system information corresponding to the MTC UE of different types is different, the system information corresponding to the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first type of MTC UE relative to the second type of MTC UE, and the K, the M and the N are positive integers preset by a system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the system information corresponding to the category of the MTC UE by the MTC UE comprises:

when the MTC UE is a first-type MTC UE, receiving a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) common signaling from a base station of the MTC UE to acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks;

and when the MTC UE is a second-type MTC UE, receiving a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling from a base station of the MTC UE to acquire the M system information blocks.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the K system information blocks contain less system information than a normal UE needs; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE.

4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the M system information blocks comprise at least one of:

the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth;

system frame number system framenumber;

the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length;

cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo;

cell selection information cellSelectionInfo;

maximum power p-Max;

frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator;

time division duplex configuration tdd-Config;

a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag;

configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel;

configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel;

the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the N system information blocks comprise at least one of:

configuring PHICH Config by a physical hybrid automatic repeat request indication channel;

an enhanced physical hybrid automatic repeat request (EPHICH) configuration is indicated by a channel;

enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon;

configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel;

configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel;

configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel;

sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon;

the uplink power control common.

6. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a base station configures system information of machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE), wherein the system information corresponding to different types of MTC UE is different, and the different types of MTC UE comprise first type MTC UE and second type MTC UE;

the base station sends system information of the MTC UE, wherein the system information of the MTC UE is used for triggering the MTC UE to acquire corresponding system information according to the type of the MTC UE, the system information corresponding to the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first type of MTC UE and the second type of MTC UE, the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first type of MTC UE relative to the second type of MTC UE, and K, M and N are positive integers preset by a system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sending the system information of the MTC UE comprises:

and sending the K system information blocks through a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling, wherein the system broadcast message or the RRC is used for triggering the first type of MTC UE to acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UE acquires the M system information blocks.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the K system information blocks contain less system information than a normal UE needs; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE.

9. The method according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the M system information blocks comprise at least one of:

the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth;

system frame number system framenumber;

the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length;

cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo;

cell selection information cellSelectionInfo;

maximum power p-Max;

frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator;

time division duplex configuration tdd-Config;

a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag;

configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel;

configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel;

the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

10. The method according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the N system information blocks comprise at least one of:

enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon;

configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel;

configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel;

configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel;

sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon;

the uplink power control common.

11. A machine-type communication user equipment, comprising:

a determining unit, configured to determine a category of the MTC UE, where the category of the MTC UE includes a first MTC UE and a second MTC UE;

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain system information corresponding to the category of the MTC UE determined by the determining unit, where the system information corresponding to MTC UEs of different categories is different, where the system information corresponding to the first category of MTC UE and the second category of MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, where the M system information blocks include system information that is commonly required by the first category of MTC UE and the second category of MTC UE, and the N system information blocks include system information that is additionally required by the first category of MTC UE relative to the second category of MTC UE, where K, M, and N are positive integers preset by a system.

12. The ue of claim 11, wherein the obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

when the MTC UE is the first type MTC UE, receiving a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) common signaling from a base station of the MTC UE to acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks;

and when the MTC UE is the second-type MTC UE, receiving a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) common signaling from a base station of the MTC UE to acquire the M system information blocks.

13. The UE of claim 11, wherein the K system information blocks contain less system information than the system information required by a normal UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks is less than the system information required by the common UE.

14. The UE of any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the M system information blocks obtained by the obtaining unit include at least one of:

the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth;

system frame number system framenumber;

the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length;

cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo;

cell selection information cellSelectionInfo;

maximum power p-Max;

frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator;

time division duplex configuration tdd-Config;

a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag;

configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel;

configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel;

the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

15. The UE of any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the N system information blocks acquired by the acquiring unit include at least one of:

enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon;

configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel;

configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel;

configuring PUCCH ConfigCommon by physical uplink control channel;

sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon;

the uplink power control common.

16. A base station, comprising:

the system comprises a configuration unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the configuration unit is used for configuring system information of machine type communication user equipment (MTC UE), and the system information corresponding to different types of MTC UE is different;

a sending unit, configured to send the system information of the MTC UE configured by the configuration unit, so that the MTC UE can obtain corresponding system information according to the category of the MTC UE;

the MTC UE category comprises a first type MTC UE and a second type MTC UE;

the system information corresponding to the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE is composed of M + N system information blocks, the M system information blocks contain system information which is commonly required by the first-type MTC UE and the second-type MTC UE, the N system information blocks contain system information which is additionally required by the first-type MTC UE relative to the second-type MTC UE, and the K, the M and the N are positive integers preset by a system.

17. The base station of claim 16, wherein the sending unit is specifically configured to: and sending the K system information blocks determined by the configuration unit through a system broadcast message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) public signaling, wherein the system broadcast message or the RRC public signaling is used for triggering the first type of MTC UE to acquire the M system information blocks and the N system information blocks, and the second type of MTC UE acquires the M system information blocks.

18. The base station of claim 16, wherein the K system information blocks determined by the configuration unit contain less system information than the system information required by a normal UE; or the system information contained in the M system information blocks determined by the configuration unit is less than the system information required by the common UE.

19. The base station according to any of claims 16 to 18, wherein said M system information blocks comprise at least one of the following system information:

the downlink Bandwidth dl-Bandwidth;

system frame number system framenumber;

the length of the uplink cyclic prefix ul-cyclic prefix length;

cell access related information cellAccess relatedInfo;

cell selection information cellSelectionInfo;

maximum power p-Max;

frequency bandwidth indicates freqBandIndicator;

time division duplex configuration tdd-Config;

a system information value tag systemlnfovaluetag;

configuring RACH ConfigCommon by a random access channel;

configuring PRACH Config by a physical random access channel;

the enhanced physical random access channel configures EPRACH ConfigCommon.

20. The base station according to any of claims 16 to 18, wherein said N system information blocks comprise at least one of the following system information:

enhanced physical downlink control channel configuration EPDCCH ConfigCommon;

configuring BCCH Config for the broadcast control channel;

configuring PCCH Config for a paging channel;

configuring a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) ConfigCommon by a paging channel;

sounding reference signal uplink configuration SRS-UL ConfigCommon;

the uplink power control common.

21. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-10.

22. A machine type communication user equipment, comprising a processor and a memory,

wherein the memory stores a computer program for execution by the processor to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 5.

23. A base station comprising a processor and a memory,

wherein the memory stores a computer program for execution by the processor to implement the method of any one of claims 6 to 10.