CN110731102A

CN110731102A - Identification of system information blocks

Info

Publication number: CN110731102A
Application number: CN201780091817.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马子江; 李文婷
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2017-06-16
Filing date: 2017-06-16
Publication date: 2020-01-24
Also published as: WO2018227619A1

Abstract

One or more apparatuses, systems, and/or methods are provided for identifying system information with an identifier. The identifier may include a region component, a level component, and a value component.

Description

Identification of system information blocks

Background

Communication links between nodes in a wireless network, such as user equipment ("UE") and base stations ("BS"), for example, have a limited range. When the quality of the communication link decreases as the UE moves away from the BS, a new, higher quality communication link is established between the UE and another BS. This handover of the UE to another BS occurs when the quality of the existing communication link is inferior to the quality available for the new communication link being established.

Each new communication link is established based on information associated with the new BS. All such information required to establish a new communication link is obtained via wireless transmission from the new BS to the UE. However, as the performance demand for each BS continues to increase, the range of each BS becomes shorter, requiring handover to occur frequently. Repeatedly obtaining all of the information needed to establish a new communication link as part of a handover consumes computing resources of the wireless network, degrading the performance of the wireless network.

Disclosure of Invention

In accordance with the present disclosure, an apparatus and/or method is provided for identifying, transmitting and/or receiving system information to establish a communication link between nodes in a wireless network. As an example, a system information block may be identified with an identifier for transmission by a node establishing a cell. The identifier may include a region component, a level component, and a value component. The area component indicates the geographical area in which the cell is located. The level component has a first value that identifies the system information block as cell level information and a second value that identifies the system information block as system level information. The value component indicates a version of the system information block.

As another example, a system information block and an identifier associated with the system information block may be received from a node establishing a cell. The identifier of the present example includes a region component, a level component, and a value component. The area component indicates the geographical area in which the cell is located. The level component may have a first value that identifies the system information block as cell level information and a second value that identifies the system information block as system level information. The value component indicates a version of the system information block. And performing cellular communication within the cell using the received system information block.

Another example involves identifying a system information block with an identifier for transmission by a node establishing the first cell. The identifier of the present example includes a region component and a neighbor component. The region component indicates a first geographic area in which the first cell is located. The neighbor component may indicate a second geographic area in which the second cellular antenna node is located to facilitate cellular communication in the second cell using the system information block.

In an embodiment, a method involves receiving a system information block having an identifier from a node establishing a first cell. The identifier includes a region component indicating a geographical area in which the first cell is located and a neighbor component or a list of neighbor components. The neighbor component or neighbor component list indicates a second geographic area in which the second cellular antenna is located to facilitate cellular communication in the second cell using the system information block. Cellular communication is conducted in a first cell using the system information, and cellular communication is conducted in a second cell using the system information.

According to some examples, a method involves marking all system information blocks for a first cell with an identifier including a value component indicating a version of the system information block in response to all system information blocks being included in system information constituting cell level information of the first cell.

In some examples, a method involves sending a registry of system information for a cell to a wireless node after the wireless node comes within range of the cell. Receiving cell information indicating a subset of system information for the cell in a registry that is different from previous system information for a second cell previously occupied by a wireless node. The subset of system information is sent to the wireless node to update previous system information stored in a memory of the wireless node.

In some examples, a method involves: a system information block transmitted by a first cellular antenna establishing a first cell is received and the received system information block is stored in a memory comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium. In response to entering the second cell, a registry of system information for the second cell transmitted by the second cellular antenna is received. The system information for the second cell in the registry is compared to previous system information for the first cell. A subset of the system information in the registry transmitted by the second cellular antenna is read. System information for the first cell stored in the memory is updated.

Drawings

Although the techniques presented herein may be embodied in alternate forms, the specific embodiments shown in the drawings are just a few examples that supplement the description provided herein. These examples should not be construed in a limiting manner, such as to limit the claims appended hereto.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a communication system including a plurality of cells and user equipment moving with respect to the cells.

Fig. 2 is a component block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system that facilitates handover of a UE from a first BS establishing a cell to a second BS establishing the cell during wireless communication.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for identifying system information.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of an example of a method for receiving identified system information with a UE.

Fig. 5 shows a table of identifier components for cell 5 in the SIAID1 according to a specific example.

Fig. 6 shows a table of identifier components for cell 6 in the SIAID1 according to a specific example.

Fig. 7 shows a table of identifier components for cell 3 in the SIAID4 according to a specific example, where cell 3 has only cell-level system information.

Fig. 8 shows a table of identifier components (including neighbor components) for cell 1.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a general reception procedure of the UE.

Fig. 10 is an illustration of a scenario involving an example configuration of a Base Station (BS) that may utilize and/or implement at least a portion of the techniques presented herein.

Fig. 11 is an illustration of a scenario involving an example configuration of a User Equipment (UE) that may utilize and/or implement at least a portion of the techniques presented herein.

Fig. 12 is an illustration of a scenario featuring an example non-transitory computer-readable medium according to one or more of the provisions set forth herein.

Detailed Description

The subject matter now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific example embodiments. This description is not intended to be an extensive or detailed discussion of known concepts. Details that are generally known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art may have been omitted or may be processed in a generalized manner.

The following subject matter may be embodied in various forms, such as methods, apparatus, components, and/or systems. Thus, the present subject matter is not intended to be construed as limited to any of the illustrative embodiments set forth herein as examples. Rather, the examples are provided for illustration only. Such embodiments may take the form of, for example, hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.

One or more computing devices and/or techniques are provided for communicating system information blocks between nodes in a communication network to facilitate wireless communication in different cells. For example, a base station ("BS"), which is a node that includes, for example, a cellular antenna that establishes a cell in a communication network, may communicate with a user equipment ("UE") that forms a second node in the communication network when the UE is located within the cell established by the BS. During an early stage of communication, the BS transmits various types of system information (e.g., system information blocks ("SIBs")) used by the UE to initially establish communication with the BS. The identifier associated with each SIB transmitted by the BS identifies, and optionally uniquely identifies, the SIB within the communication network.

Embodiments of the identifier may comprise at least one, optionally a plurality, and optionally all of the following components: a region component, a level component, and a value component. The region component of the identifier indicates the geographic area in which the cell corresponding to the SIB is located. One or more other cells may also be located within the geographic area. The level component may be assigned or otherwise provided with a first value that identifies whether the SIB is cell level information. The cell level information varies between all cells in the geographic area identified by the regional component. The level component may be assigned or otherwise provided with a second value different from the first value, the second value identifying the system information as system level information common to at least two of the cells in the region identified by the region component. The value component may indicate a version of the SIB, which may be used to determine whether the SIB is up-to-date.

According to an embodiment, the SIB is stored in the memory of the UE in association with the identifier. Based on the identifier, the UE can, for each SIB received and stored: (i) determining a cell associated with the SIB within a geographic area based on the regional component; (ii) determining, based on the level component, whether the SIB will change for all other cells within the geographic area (e.g., a cell-level SIB), or whether the SIB will be the same for at least two, and optionally all, cells within the geographic area (e.g., a system-level SIB); (iii) based on the value component, it is determined whether the SIB is the latest version at the time.

For example, as the UE moves within the geographic area and begins communicating with a second BS that establishes neighboring cells within the geographic area, the UE may read and store SIBs transmitted by the second BS to replace, supplement, or otherwise update cell-level SIBs read from a previous BS. Because the system-level SIBs will still be the same for all cells within the geographic area, the UE may avoid reading the system-level SIBs from the second BS to replace, supplement, or otherwise update the cell-level SIBs read from the previous BS (e.g., only) due to changing cells. However, if system-level SIBs are determined to be outdated based on the value component when changing cells, these SIBs may be replaced, supplemented, or otherwise updated. Outdated SIBs are replaced, supplemented, or otherwise updated by reading the current version of the corresponding SIB from the second BS and storing the current version of the corresponding SIB in memory. Thus, by transmitting the SIBs identified with the identifier, the BS and the second BS can control the operation of the UE to obtain the SIBs required to establish cellular communication in each respective cell in an efficient manner, saving computational resources of the communication network.

According to some embodiments, the identifier that each BIS transmits with the SIB may include a regional component and a neighbor component. The region component may indicate a first geographic area in which the first cell is located. The neighbor component may indicate a second geographic area in which the second BS is located to facilitate cellular communication in the second cell using the SIB. Thus, when the UE moves from a first cell to a second cell located in a different geographic area than the first cell, the UE determines, based on the neighbor components, that the same SIB may be used to facilitate cellular communication in the first cell and the second cell. By transmitting the SIB together with the identifier including the neighbor component, the BS enables the UE to avoid unnecessarily reading the SIB from the second BS and updating the memory of the UE due to changing cells.

According to some embodiments, the BS may transmit only cell-level SIBs to facilitate cellular communication with UEs in the respective cells. In other words, none of the SIBs transmitted by a BS is used to facilitate cellular communication in a different cell within the geographic area in which the BS is located. According to such embodiments, the BS may determine the type of information included in the SIB for the cell. If it is determined that all SIBs constitute cell level information (e.g., no SIBs constitute system level information), the BS can identify the system information block with an identifier that (i) includes a value component, optionally only a value component. Such an identifier would have no region component and no level component. However, if it is determined that both the cell level information and the system level information are included in the SIB for the cell (e.g., at least one SIB constitutes system level information), the BS may transmit the SIB together with an identifier including an area component, a level component, and a value component.

Some embodiments relate to sending a registry of system information (e.g., minimum system information "MSI") for a cell to a UE after the UE enters the cell. In response, the UE compares the information included in the registry to identify any SBIs that may be reused to establish cellular communication in the new cell. The UE may restrict the SIB or other system information read by the BS from the broadcast and stored in the memory of the UE to a subset of the changes in system information, replacing, supplementing, or otherwise updating the previous system information stored in the memory of the UE. The same portion of the system information in the registry as the previous system information may be excluded from the subset of information read and stored from the UE. As a result, cellular communication between nodes in different cells is efficiently maintained.

Referring to the drawings, fig. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a cellular communication system 100, such as a cellular communication network. The communication system 100 includes a plurality of nodes including a plurality of BSs 105, each BS105 establishing a cell (cells 1-16) within the communication network 100. Communication system 100 also includes a plurality of nodes, one of which is shown in fig. 1 as UE110, UE110 moving along path 115 within communication system 100 relative to cells 1-16. The presence of UE110 within a plurality of different cells cell 5, cell 6, cell 1, cell 3, and cell 14 is designated by points A, B, C, D and E, respectively.

In fig. 1, the cellular communication system 100 is divided into a plurality of tracking areas TA1, TA 2. Tracking areas TA1, TA2 may represent large geographic areas such as states, cities, or portions thereof. Each tracking area TA1, TA2 is divided into a plurality of relatively small geographic areas (e.g., downtown regions), referred to herein as system information areas ("SIA"). Each SIA is provided with an SIA identification ("SIA") in the communication system 100. For example, TA1 is divided into four SIA: SIAID1, SIAID 2, SIAID3, SIAID 4. Similarly, TA2 is also divided into four SIA: SIAID1, SIAID 2, SIAID3, and SIAID 4. Although each tracking area TA1, TA2 is divided into four equal sized SIA, the disclosure is not so limited. Each tracking area TA1, TA2 can be independently divided into two or more SIAs, each SIA including at least one, and optionally a plurality of BSs 105.

An example of a system that facilitates handover of a UE110 from a first BS 105A (fig. 1) establishing cell 5 to a second BS105B (fig. 1) establishing cell 6 during wireless communication is shown in fig. 2. For the illustrated embodiment, each

BS

105A, 105B includes a memory 200 that stores a system information database 205. The identification module 210 may optionally be implemented as logic stored in the memory 200 and executed by the processor to control storage of system information associated with the identifier. The SIBs and their corresponding identifiers are periodically transmitted over the air by transceiver 215 to be received by UE 110.

The system information database 205 stores at least system information such as: SIBs, and optionally other system information such as master information blocks ("MIB"), and/or scheduling blocks ("SB"), for example. The SIBs provide the UE 105 with system information such as: cell ID, core network domain information, UE timers, constants, and other parameters that may be used to establish a connection with BS105B as part of a handover process. SIBs can be divided into various types and their size can vary according to the information they contain. For example, SIB1 and SIB2 may contain the necessary camping information and initial access information to communicate cellular within the cell. For example, SIB3-SIB8 may contain cell reselection information needed to handover the UE 105 to a new cell. However, SIBs may be classified in other ways and contain any information for conducting cellular communications without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. To accommodate SIBs of various sizes, the SIBs may be segmented and broadcast by the BS105 in multiple frames over a control channel, and/or other SIBs may be transmitted as a whole in a single frame.

Each SIB may be considered a cell-level SIB or a system-level SIB. The cell-level SIBs contain information for a cell within the SIA that is different from the information contained in the corresponding SIBs for all other cells within the same SIA. In other words, cell-level SIBs for one cell in an SIA cannot be used to facilitate cellular communication in other cells in the same SIA. System-level SIBs may be used to facilitate cellular communication for at least two, and optionally each, cell in a given SIA.

The MIB contains information about the scheduling of SIBs, including the repetition count of the first segment, the number of segments, the system frame number ("SFN"), and the SFN offset for the remaining segments (if any) for each SIB. In addition to the MIB, the control channel may broadcast SBs that may contain information for SIBs that are not already included in the MIB.

An illustrative example of UE110 in the form of a cellular telephone is also shown in fig. 2. UE110 may include a platform that may exchange data and/or commands with cellular communication system 100. UE110 may include a transceiver 220 operably coupled to a handover module 225, and handover module 225 may be implemented by an application specific integrated circuit, or other processor, microprocessor, logic circuit, or other data processing device that executes instructions stored in memory 230. As a particular example, the handover module 225 may execute an application programming interface that interfaces with any resident programs in the memory 230. Memory 230 may be comprised of read-only or random-access memory (RAM and ROM), EEPROM, flash cards, or any memory common to computer platforms, or an array thereof. The memory 230 may also include a system information database 235. The system information database 235 stores SIBs received via the transceiver 220. As described herein, the SIBs stored by memory 230 may be retrieved by handover module 225 to be used for handover of UE110 from BS 105A to BS 105B. Various communication protocol layers in UE110 may perform various commands and processing at different layers.

The identification module 210 identifies the SIBs stored by the memory 200 with an identifier, indicated generally at 240. Identification may be accomplished by establishing reference links within system information database 205 between the SIBs and their corresponding identifiers 240. According to some embodiments, the SIBs may be identified by encapsulating them in the same system frame with their respective identifiers 240, thereby forming part of the same communication. Some embodiments of identifying SIBs may involve appending identifiers 240 to a string representing their respective SIBs, and/or transmitting the SIBs and their respective identifiers 240, respectively, according to a defined schedule that will allow UE110 to receive and decode the relationship. According to embodiments, identification using an identifier may involve tagging or otherwise associating the SIB with the identifier.

The example of the identifier 240 shown in fig. 2 includes a character string having a plurality of components. The tracking area component 245 may be selected to uniquely identify each tracking area TA1, TA2 within the service area. The number of bits included in the tracking area component 245 may be selected according to the number of tracking areas constituting a service area. For example, the eight-bit tracking area component 245 may be used to uniquely identify up to 256 tracking areas within a service area.

The illustrated example of the identifier 240 in FIG. 2 also includes a region component 250, the region component 250 uniquely identifying each SIA within each tracking region. The length of the region component 250 may be selected based on the number of regions to be identified in the tracking region of interest. The four-bit region component 250 is adapted to uniquely identify up to 16 SIAs within a tracking region. According to some embodiments, the region component 250 does not necessarily uniquely identify each SIA in the tracking region. Rather, a locale component 250 can be selected for each SIA such that no contiguous SIA is given the same locale component 250. For such embodiments, when UE110 receives an identifier with a new zone component 250, UE110 determines that the boundary between the SIAs has been crossed.

The example of the identifier 240 in FIG. 2 also includes a value component 255 shown as containing three bits of the identifier 240. The value component 255 indicates the version of the SIB identified by the identifier 240. If the value component 255 of the SIB being broadcast indicates a different version than the version of the SIB stored in the system information database 235 of the UE110, the stored SIB is determined to be outdated.

In addition, the example of the identifier 240 shown in fig. 2 also includes a one-bit-level component 260 that indicates whether the corresponding SIB is a cell-level SIB or a system-level SIB. Handover module 225 of UE110, upon receiving the broadcasted SIB and its corresponding identifier 240, may specify in system information database 235 the system-level SIB to use during handover until UE110 enters the new SIA, or value component 255 indicates that the SIB in system information database 235 is outdated.

An embodiment of a method for identifying system information to be used for handing over a UE110 from a first BS 105A to a second BS105B is shown in fig. 3. For such embodiments, at 300, the identification module 210 (fig. 2) of the BS 105A identifies system information including SIBs with the identifier 240. Identifying system information may include storing the SIBs in the system information database 205 in a known relationship with their respective identifiers 240 (e.g., linked with their respective identifiers 240). As another example, identifying system information may include assigning an identifier 240 to a SIB with identification module 210 (fig. 2) of BS 105A when the SIB is ready for transmission by transceiver 215. Some embodiments of identifying system information with the identifier 240 involve transmitting SIBs and their corresponding identifiers 240 according to a defined schedule. Each SIB and identifier 240 is transmitted by transceiver 215 of BS 105A when transceiver 220 of UE110 is configured to receive them, enabling UE110 to link the received SIBs to their respective identifiers 240.

At 305 in fig. 3, the transceiver 215 of BS 105A transmits the SIB and identifier 240. The system information may be broadcast occasionally, such as at regular, periodic intervals. Each SIB may optionally be transmitted with the identifier 240 as part of a common (e.g., identical) communication, such as by encapsulating the identifier 240 with the corresponding SIB.

An example of a method of receiving system information from the first BS 105A with the UE110 is illustrated in fig. 4. At 400, the transceiver 220 of the UE110 receives the SIB and the identifier 240 transmitted by the BS 105A. The transmitted SIBs and identifier 240 may optionally be received directly from the BS 105A, or indirectly through a repeater, router, or other networking device disposed within a communication channel between the BS 105A and the UE 110. At 405, the received SIB and identifier 240 are stored in a system information database 235 in memory 230 of UE 110. As described herein, the identifier 240 may be stored in a defined relationship with the received SIB for comparison purposes with a new identifier 240 received with the SIB from the second BS 105B. Based on the SIBs received from BS 105A, at 410, EU 110 begins cellular communication with the received SIBs.

A specific example of a technique for identifying system information will be described with reference to the SIAID1 of the tracking area TA1 of the cellular communication system 100 in fig. 1. For the SIAID1 of tracking area TA1, the following system information exists:

i) the SIB3 is a system-level SIB and is used to facilitate communication in all cells of the SIAID 1;

ii) SIB4 in cell 5 is version "m" and SIB4 in cell 6 is version "m + 1";

iii) SIB5 is a cell-level SIB in cell 5, while SIB5 in cell 6 is shared by another cell (not shown) in SIAID1 and at least one other cell in SIAID 4; and is

iv) the SIB6 is a cell level SIB in cell 5 and cell 6.

According to the above method of identifying SIBs, SIBs for cell 5 and cell 6 are identified based on at least one of the following:

A. the identifier for each SIB for the different cells is assigned a tracking area TA1 that identifies the area component of the SIA and, optionally, the cell;

B. the identifier for each SIB includes a one-bit level component indicating whether the SIB is cell level information or system level information; and is

C. The identifier for each SIB includes a value component that includes a string indicating the version of the SIB.

Thus, at least some of the identifier components presented in fig. 5 are used to identify system information for cell 5 in SIAID1, and at least some of the identifier components presented in fig. 6 are used to identify system information for cell 6 in SIAID 1. In fig. 5 and 6, setting the value of the one-bit level component 260 to "1" indicates a system level SIB, and setting the value of the one-bit level component 260 to "0" indicates a cell level SIB. Furthermore, the different alphabetical values assigned to the value components in figures 5 and 6 represent only different versions of the SIB. These alphabetic values may be represented by the multi-bit value component 255 shown in fig. 2, optionally as part of the same multi-bit word as the region component 250 and the level component 260.

According to an embodiment, the region component 250 and/or the level component 260 marking the identifier 240 of the SIB for the cell including only cell level information among system information may be omitted. In other words, if all SIBs included in the system information for a cell are cell-specific, all SIBs will change each time UE110 enters a new cell (even within the same SIA). No SIB will be used in more than one cell within the SIA or outside the SIA, so the regional and/or level components are unnecessary. This is true because the region component identifies a geographic area (e.g., SIA) in which a system-level SIB for a cell may be shared with another cell within which the system-level SIB is also used. However, because there is no system-level SIB sharing, according to embodiments, transmitting the regional component from the BS105 and/or reading and storing the regional component with the UE110 may be avoided.

Thus, in addition to the region component 250, the level component 260, and the value component 255, the identifier 240 transmitted by the BS105 establishing the cell and read and stored by the UE110 may be limited to the value component 255. This is not to say that the identifier is absolutely free of any other values, components, etc. But rather one or both of the region component 250 and/or the rank component 260, including the set of region component 250, value component 255, and rank component 260, may be omitted from the system information database 235 of UEs 110 within the cell. Identifying or indexing system information with an identifier 240 for a cell having only cell level information (e.g., cell 3) is shown in fig. 7.

According to another example, an embodiment of identifier 265 (fig. 2) may include neighbor component 270. The neighbor component 270 can be used to identify a SIB for establishing cellular communication in a plurality of cells, and at least one of the plurality of cells is located in a different SIA than another cell of the plurality of cells. For example, cell 1 in SIAID4 (fig. 1) and other cells in SIAID4 utilize the same SIB3, SIB4, and SIB5 to establish cellular communication between BS105 and UE 110. SIB5 for cell 1 is also used in cell 6 in SIAID 1. The identification or indexing of system information with an identifier 265 for cell 1 including a SIB shared by cells in different SIAs is illustrated in fig. 8. According to an embodiment, a neighbor component list comprising a plurality of neighbor SIAs may be sent instead of or in addition to the identifier 265 comprising the neighbor component 270.

Example of UE reception

An illustrative embodiment of a method for receiving system information identified with identifier 240 and/or identifier 265 described below is based on an identifier component associated with system information as shown in the tables appearing in fig. 5-8.

An embodiment of a method of receiving system information as a result of UE110 moving from cell 5 (point a in fig. 1) to cell 6 (point B in fig. 1) is illustrated in the flowchart of fig. 9. Upon establishing cellular communication with the BS105 of cell 5, at 900, the UE110 receives and stores SIB3, SIB4, SIB5, and SIB6 transmitted by the BS105 of cell 5. At 905, the UE110 uses this received information to establish cellular communication with the BS105 of cell 5. UE110 moves from cell 5 to cell 6 and, at 910, begins to establish cellular communication with BS105 of cell 6 by reading minimum system information ("MSI") of a registry broadcast by BS105 constituting cell 6 over a control channel. At 915, the MSI of cell 6 is compared to the system information identified from cell 5 stored in memory 230 to determine any differences and identify from cell 5 any system information that may be reused in cell 6.

For the particular example where UE110 moves from cell 5 to cell 6, UE110 determines:

(i) the identifier component of SIB3 in cell 6 is the same as the stored identifier component for SIB3 in cell 5, so UE110 may repeatedly use SIB3 in memory 230 to establish cellular communication with BS105 of cell 6 without re-reading from cell 6 in memory 230 and storing SIB3 again.

(ii) Although SIB4 is specified as system level information by level component 260 for both cell 5 and cell 6, value component 255 of SIB4 for cell 6 is different from value component 255 of SIB4 for cell 5 stored in memory 230, so UE 100 re-reads SIB4 transmitted by BS105 for cell 6 and stores this SIB4 in memory 230.

(iii) The UE110 re-reads the SIB5 transmitted by the BS105 for cell 6 and stores this SIB5 in the memory 230 because the level component 260 of the identifier 240 for the SIB5 for cell 5 indicates that the SIB5 for cell 5 constitutes cell level information and cannot be used in cells other than cell 5.

(iv) The UE110 re-reads the SIB6 transmitted by the BS105 for cell 6 and stores this SIB6 in the memory 230 because the level component 260 of the identifier 240 of the SIB6 for cell 5 and cell 6 indicates that the SIB6 for cell 5 and cell 6 constitutes cell level information.

Thus, to handover from cell 5 to cell 6 and establish cellular communication with BS105 of cell 6, UE110 will reuse SIB3 from cell 5. Reusing the SIB3 from cell 5 in cell 6 avoids the need to re-read memory 230 and update memory 230 with the newly read value, thereby saving system resources. The remaining portions of the system information block of the present example, namely SIB4, SIB5, and SIB6, are re-read when broadcast by BS105 of cell 6 and stored in memory 230 of UE110 to be used to establish cellular communication with BS105 of cell 6.

According to some embodiments, in response to transmitting the MSI, the BS105 receives cell information indicating a different subset of system information in the MSI for the cell than previous SIBs stored by the UE110 for a second cell previously occupied by the UE 110. For such embodiments, the BS105 may transmit content limited to a subset of the content and exclude SIBs from the transmitted content that have been stored by the UE 110.

As another specific example of receiving system information, UE110 moves from cell 6 (in SIAID 1) to cell 1 (in SIAID 4). Such movement corresponds to the UE110 moving from point B to point C in fig. 1 and involves moving from one SIA to a different SIA. The general process shown in the flow chart of fig. 9 may be followed again. Reading the MSI sent by the BS105 for cell 1 enables the UE110 to determine what could be reused in the new cell (cell 1 in this example) if any SIBs were obtained in the current cell (cell 6 in this example).

For the present example, based on identifier 240 and/or identifier 265 whose components are tabulated in fig. 6 and 8, UE 110:

(i) the new SIB3 and SIB4 transmitted by the BS105 of cell 1 are re-read and stored because the UE110 has moved from one geographical area SIAID1 to the new geographical area SIAID4 and neither

identifier

240, 265 includes a neighbor component 270 indicating the other geographical area.

(ii) The SIB5 obtained from the BS105 of cell 6 is reused because the identifier 265 includes a neighbor component 270, the neighbor component 270 identifying the geographic area SIAID1 in which the cell 6 is a neighbor. This makes the system-level information for the cells within the SIAID1 system-level information within the new geographic area SIAID 4. And since the level component 260 and value component 255 of SIB5 are the same for both cell 6 and cell 1, SIB5 is reusable in cell 1 despite the fact that cell 1 is in a different geographical area than cell 6.

(iii) The new SIB6 transmitted by the BS105 of cell 1 is re-read and stored because the SIB6 is specified as cell level information by the level component 260 of the

identifiers

240, 265.

As another specific example of receiving system information, a UE moves from cell 1 (in the SIAID 4) to cell 3 (in the SIAID 4). Such movement corresponds to the UE110 moving from point C to point D in fig. 1 and involves moving from one cell to another cell in the same SIA. The general process shown in the flow chart of fig. 9 may be followed again. Reading the MSI sent by the BS105 for cell 3 enables the UE110 to determine what could be reused in the new cell (cell 3 in this example) if any SIBs were obtained in the current cell (cell 1 in this example).

For the present example, based on identifier 265 and/or identifier 240 whose components are tabulated in fig. 8 and 7, UE 110:

(i) the reading and storing of the new SIB3, SIB4, SIB5 and SIB6 is repeated because the zero value or absence of the value of the level component 260 and/or the absence of the zone component 250 indicates that all SIBs of cell 3 constitute cell level information.

As another specific example of receiving system information, a UE moves from cell 3 (in the SIAID4 of tracking area TA 1) to cell 14 (in the SIAID1 of tracking area TA 2). Such movement corresponds to the UE110 moving from point D to point E in fig. 1 and involves moving from an SIA in tracking area TA1 to a different SIA in tracking area TA 2. The general process shown in the flow chart of fig. 9 may be followed again. Reading the MSI sent by the BS105 of the cell 14 enables the UE110 to determine what could be reused in the new cell (cell 14 in this example) if any SIBs were obtained in the current cell (cell 3 in this example).

For the present example, based on the identifier 240 whose components for cell 3 are tabulated in fig. 7, UE 110:

(i) the reading and storing of the new SIB3, SIB4, SIB5 and SIB6 is repeated because the zero value or absence of the value of the level component 260 and/or the absence of the zone component 250 indicates that all SIBs of cell 3 constitute cell level information. Further, the change in the tracking area component 245 due to the UE110 moving from tracking area TA1 to tracking area TA2 indicates that the SIB obtained in cell 3 is to be re-read from tracking area TA2 and saved in memory 230.

Fig. 10 presents a schematic architecture diagram 1000 of a base station 1050 (e.g., a network entity) that can utilize at least a portion of the techniques provided herein. Such base stations 1050 can vary widely in configuration and/or capabilities, alone or in combination with other base stations, nodes, terminal units and/or servers and/or the like, to provide services such as at least some of one or more of the other disclosed techniques, scenarios and/or the like. For example, base station 1050 can connect one or more User Equipments (UEs) to a (e.g., wireless and/or wired) network (e.g., which can be connected and/or include one or more other base stations), such as a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal FDMA (ofdma) network, a single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) network, and/or the like. The network may implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, global system for mobile communications (GSM), evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, and so on. The BS105 and/or the UE110 may communicate using standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5G New Radio (NR), and so on.

Base station 1050 can include one or more (e.g., hardware) processors 1010 that process instructions. The one or more processors 1010 may optionally include: a plurality of cores; one or more coprocessors, such as math coprocessors or integrated Graphics Processing Units (GPUs); and/or one or more levels of local cache memory. Base station 1050 may include memory 1002, memory 1002 storing various forms of applications, such as operating system 1004; one or more base station applications 1006; and/or various forms of data such as database 1008 and/or file systems, etc. Base station 1050 can include various peripheral components, such as a wired and/or wireless network adapter 1014 that can connect to a local area network and/or a wide area network; one or more storage components 1016, such as a hard disk drive, a solid State Storage Device (SSD), a flash memory device, and/or a magnetic and/or optical disk reader, and/or other peripheral components.

Base station 1050 may include a motherboard that features one or more communication buses 1012 that interconnect processor 1010, memory 1002, and/or various peripherals using various bus technologies, such as variations of a serial or parallel AT attachment (ATA) bus protocol; universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol; and/or a small computer system interface (SCI) bus protocol. In a multi-bus scenario, communication bus 1012 may interconnect base station 1050 with at least one other server. Other components that may optionally be included with base station 1050 (but are not shown in diagram 1000 of fig. 10) include: a display; a display adapter, such as a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU); input peripherals such as a keyboard and/or mouse; and/or a flash memory device that may store basic input/output system (BIOS) routines or the like that facilitate booting the base station 1050 to a ready state.

Base station 1050 may operate in various physical peripherals such as a desktop or tower, and/or may be integrated with a display into an "all-in-one" device. Base station 1050 may be mounted horizontally and/or in a cabinet or rack, and/or may include only one set of components interconnected. Base station 1050 may include a dedicated and/or shared power supply 1018 that supplies and/or regulates power to other components. Base station 1050 can provide power to and/or receive power from another base station and/or server and/or other device. Base station 1050 may include a shared and/or dedicated climate control unit 1020 that regulates climate properties, such as temperature, humidity, and/or airflow. Many such base stations 1050 may be configured and/or adapted to utilize at least a portion of the techniques presented herein.

Fig. 11 presents a schematic architecture diagram 1100 of a User Equipment (UE)1150 (e.g., a communications apparatus) upon which at least a portion of the techniques presented herein can be implemented. Such UEs 1150 may vary widely in configuration and/or capabilities to provide various functionality to the user. The UE1150 may be provided in various specifications, such as a mobile phone (e.g., a smartphone); a desk or tower workstation; an "all-in-one" device integrated with the display 1108; a laptop, tablet, convertible tablet, or palmtop device; a wearable device, such as may be mounted in a headset, glasses, earpiece, and/or wristwatch, and/or integrated with an article of clothing; and/or a component of a piece of furniture, such as a table top, and/or another device, such as a vehicle or a home. The UE1150 may serve a user in various roles, such as telephone, workstation, kiosk, media player, gaming device, and/or appliance.

The UE1150 may include one or more (e.g., hardware) processors 1110 that process instructions. The one or more processors 1110 may optionally include: a plurality of cores; one or more coprocessors, such as math coprocessors or integrated Graphics Processing Units (GPUs); and/or one or more levels of local cache memory. The UE1150 may include a memory 1101, the memory 1101 storing various forms of applications, such as an operating system 1103; one or more user applications 1102, such as a document application, a media application, a file and/or data access application, a communication application (such as a web browser and/or email client), a utility, and/or a game; and/or drivers for various peripherals. The UE1150 may include various peripheral components, such as a wired and/or wireless network adapter 1106 that may connect to a local area network and/or a wide area network; one or more output components, such as a display 1108 (optionally including a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)) coupled to a display adapter, a sound adapter coupled to speakers, and/or a printer; an input device for receiving input from a user, such as a keyboard 1111, a mouse, a microphone, a camera, and/or a touch-sensitive component of the display 1108; and/or environmental sensors such as a GPS receiver 1119, compass, accelerometer to detect a position, velocity, and/or acceleration of the UE1150, and/or a gyroscope to detect a physical orientation of the UE 1150. Other components that may optionally be included with the UE1150 (but are not shown in the schematic architecture diagram 1100 of fig. 11) include one or more storage components, such as a hard disk drive, a solid State Storage Device (SSD), a flash memory device, and/or a magnetic and/or optical disk reader, a flash memory device that may store basic input/output system (BIOS) routines that facilitate booting the UE1150 to a ready state; and/or a climate control unit that adjusts climate properties such as temperature, humidity, and airflow.

The UE1150 may include a motherboard featuring one or more communication buses 1112, the one or more communication buses 1112 interconnecting the processor 1110, the memory 1101, and/or various peripherals using various bus technologies, such as variations of a serial or parallel AT attachment (ATA) bus protocol; universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol; and/or a small computer system interface (SCI) bus protocol. The UE1150 may include a dedicated and/or shared power supply 1118 that supplies and/or regulates power for other components, and/or a battery 1104 that stores power for use when the UE1150 is not connected to a power source via the power supply 1118. The UE1150 may provide power to and/or receive power from other client devices.

Fig. 12 is an illustration of a scenario 1200 involving an example of a non-transitory computer-readable medium 1202. Non-transitory computer-readable medium 1202 may include processor-executable instructions 1212 that, when executed by processor 1216, cause at least some of the provisions herein to be performed (e.g., executed by processor 1216). Non-transitory computer-readable medium 1202 may include a memory semiconductor (e.g., a semiconductor utilizing Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), and/or Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM) technology), a platter for a hard disk drive, a flash memory device, or a magnetic or optical disk such as a Compact Disk (CD), a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), and/or a floppy disk). The example non-transitory computer-readable medium 1202 stores computer-readable data 1204, the computer-readable data 1204 expressing processor-executable instructions 1212 when read 1206 by a reader 1210 of a device 1208 (e.g., a read head of a hard disk drive, or a read operation invoked on a solid state storage device). In some embodiments, the processor-executable instructions 1212, when executed, cause operations to be performed (such as, for example, at least some of the example method 100A of fig. 1A, the example method 100B of fig. 1B, and/or the example method 100C of fig. 1C). In some embodiments, the processor-executable instructions 1212 are configured to cause systems and/or scenarios, such as at least some of the following, to be implemented: for example, the example system 200A of fig. 2A, the example system 200B of fig. 2B, the example system 300A of fig. 3A, the example system 300B of fig. 3B, the example system 400A of fig. 4A, the example system 400B of fig. 4B, the example system 500 of fig. 5, the example system 600A of fig. 6A, and/or the example system 600B of fig. 6B.

As used in this application, the terms "component," "module," "system," "interface," and the like are generally intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. For example, both an application running on a controller and the controller can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers (e.g., node (s)).

Unless otherwise specified, "first," "second," and the like are not intended to imply temporal aspects, spatial aspects, and the like. Rather, such terms are merely used as identifiers, names, etc. for features, elements, items, etc. For example, the first object and the second object generally correspond to object a and object B, or two different or two identical objects or the same object.

Also, "examples," "illustrative embodiments," and the like, are used herein to mean serving as examples, illustrations, and the like, and do not necessarily mean being advantageous. As used herein, "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". In addition, "a" and "an" as used in this application are generally to be construed to mean "one or more" unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. Furthermore, at least one of a and B and/or the like generally means a, or B, or both a and B. Furthermore, to the extent that "includes," has, "and/or variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term" comprising.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing at least some of the claims.

Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer (e.g., a node) to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. Of course, many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter.

Various operations of embodiments and/or examples are provided herein. The order in which some or all of the operations are described herein should be construed to imply that these operations are necessarily order independent. Alternative ordering will be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit of this description. Further, it will be understood that not all operations are necessarily present in each embodiment and/or example provided herein. Further, it is to be understood that not all operations are necessarily in some embodiments and/or examples.

Further, although the disclosure has been shown and described with respect to one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. The present disclosure includes all such modifications and alterations, and is limited only by the scope of the claims. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (e.g., elements, resources, etc.), the terms used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure. In addition, while a particular feature of the disclosure may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a system information block for transmission by a node establishing a cell with an identifier comprising:

a regional component indicating a geographic area in which the cell is located;

a level component having a first value that identifies the system information block as cell level information and a second value that identifies the system information block as system level information; and

a value component indicating a version of the system information block.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the region component of the identifier is specific to the cell and the cell is identified within a tracking region that also includes a plurality of other cells.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the region component comprises:

a tracking region identifier that identifies the tracking region; and

a system information region identifier that identifies one system information region among a plurality of system information regions within the tracking region.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising transmitting the system information block and the identifier from the node to a second node within the cell.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the system information block and the identifier are transmitted together as part of a common communication.

6. A method according to claim 1, comprising transmitting the system information block and the identifier from the node to a second node within a system information region comprising the cell and an additional cell.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the region component, level component, and value component are sent together as part of a multi-bit word.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the value component is common to a plurality of cells within a system information region.

9. A method, comprising:

receiving a system information block and an identifier associated with the system information block from a node establishing a cell, wherein the identifier comprises:

a regional component indicating a geographic area in which the cell is located;

a value component indicating a version of the system information block; and is

Using the system information block for cellular communication in the cell.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the region component of the identifier is specific to the cell and the cell is identified within a tracking region that also includes a plurality of other cells.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the region component comprises:

a tracking region identifier that identifies the tracking region; and

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the system information block and the identifier are received together as part of a communication.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the region component, level component, and value component are received together as part of a multi-bit word.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the value component is common to a plurality of cells within a particular system information region.

15. A method, comprising:

identifying a system information block for transmission by a node establishing a first cell with an identifier comprising:

a regional component indicating a first geographic area in which the first cell is located; and

a neighbor component indicating a second geographic area in which the second node is located to facilitate cellular communication in the second cell using the system information block.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the neighbor component definition comprises a list of a plurality of additional cells in a neighboring geographic area, and the system information block is used to facilitate cellular communication in the plurality of additional cells.

17. A method according to claim 15, comprising transmitting the system information block and the identifier from the node to a receiver node within the first cell, wherein the identifier excludes subsequent transmissions of the system information block from the second node to the receiver node within the second cell.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the system information block and the identifier are received together as part of a communication.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the regional component and the neighbor component are sent together as part of a multi-bit word.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving a system information block having an identifier from a node establishing a first cell, the identifier comprising:

a regional component indicating a geographic area in which the first cell is located; and

a neighbor component or a neighbor component list indicating a second geographic area in which a second cellular antenna is located to facilitate cellular communication in a second cell using the system information block;

using the system information for cellular communication within the first cell; and is

Using the system information for cellular communication within the second cell.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the neighbor component list includes a plurality of additional cells in a neighboring geographic area, and the system information block is used to facilitate cellular communication in the plurality of additional cells.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein in response to receiving the system information block and the identifier from the node, a receiver node excludes the system information block from system information read and stored by a second node establishing the second cell.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the system information block and the identifier are received together as part of a common communication.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the region component and neighbor component are received together as part of a multi-bit word.

25. A method, comprising:

in response to all system information blocks being included in the system information constituting cell level information of the first cell, all system information blocks for the first cell are marked with an identifier including a value component indicating a version of the system information block.

26. The method of claim 25, comprising:

in response to at least one of the system information blocks being included in system information of the first cell including system level information, marking each of the system information blocks for the first cell with an identifier comprising:

a regional component indicating a geographic area in which the first cell is located;

a level component indicating whether the system information block is shared with a second cell; and

the value component.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the regional component of the identifier is specific to the cell and the cell is identified within a tracking area that also includes a plurality of other cells.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the region component comprises:

a tracking region identifier that identifies the tracking region; and

29. The method of claim 25, comprising transmitting the system information block and the identifier from a first node to a second node within the cell.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the system information block and the identifier are received together as part of a communication.

31. The method of claim 25, comprising transmitting the system information block and the identifier from a first node to a second node within a system information region comprising the cell and an additional cell.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the region component, level component, and value component are transmitted together as part of a multi-bit word in response to determining that cell level information and system level information are included in the system information for the cell.

33. A method, comprising:

sending a registry of system information for a cell to a wireless node after the wireless node comes within range of the cell;

receiving cell information indicating a subset of system information for the cell in the registry that is different from previous system information for a second cell previously occupied by the wireless node; and is

Transmitting the subset of the system information to the wireless node to update previous system information.

34. The method of claim 33, comprising excluding a portion of system information in the registry that is the same as previous system information from the subset of the system information sent to the wireless node.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the subset of the system information comprises each block of system information associated with an identifier in the system information that is different from a corresponding identifier in previous system information.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein each system information block included in the received subset of the system information is marked with the identifier in the system information.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the identifier for each of a plurality of system information blocks included in the subset of the system information comprises:

a regional component indicating a geographic area in which the cell is located;

a value component indicating a version of the system information block.

38. A method, comprising:

receiving a system information block sent by a first cellular antenna for establishing a first cell;

receiving a registry of system information for a second cell transmitted by a second cellular antenna in response to entering the second cell;

comparing system information for the second cell in the registry with previous system information for the first cell;

reading a subset of system information in a registry transmitted by the second cellular antenna; and is

Updating system information for the first cell.

39. The method of claim 38, comprising excluding a portion of the system information that is the same as the system information for the first cell from the subset of read system information.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the subset of the system information received comprises each system information block associated with an identifier in the system information that is different from a corresponding identifier in system information for the first cell.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein each block of system information included in the received subset of the system information is marked with the identifier.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the identifier for each of the received plurality of the system information blocks comprises:

a regional component indicating a geographic area in which the cell is located;

a value component indicating a version of the system information block.

43. A communication device, comprising:

a processor; and

memory comprising processor-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the method recited in any one of claims 1 to 42 to be performed.

44. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon processor executable instructions that when executed cause the method recited in any one of claims 1-42 to be performed.