CN111279771B

CN111279771B - Method and apparatus for communication

Info

Publication number: CN111279771B
Application number: CN201780096241.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: S·赛瓦加纳帕西; 李海涛; 刘海静
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2017-09-05
Filing date: 2017-09-05
Publication date: 2023-07-25
Anticipated expiration: 2037-09-05
Also published as: WO2019047021A1; CN111279771A

Abstract

A method comprising: arranging, at the apparatus, a random access preamble message to include an indication of a size of data that the apparatus intends to transmit in a subsequent connection request message; and transmitting the random access channel preamble message from the apparatus to the base station.

Description

Method and apparatus for communication

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to communications, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus in a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to the transmission of data over an access channel.

Background

A communication system may be considered to be a facility that enables communication between two or more devices, such as user terminals, machine-like terminals, base stations, and/or other nodes, by providing a communication channel between the communication devices for carrying information. The communication system may be provided, for example, by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. The communication may include, for example, data communication for carrying data for voice, electronic mail (email), text messages, multimedia and/or content data communication, and the like. Non-limiting examples of services provided include two-way or multi-way calls, data communications, or multimedia services, and access to data network systems such as the internet.

In a wireless system, at least a portion of the communication occurs over a wireless interface. Examples of wireless systems include Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs), satellite-based communication systems, and different wireless local networks, such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Local area network wireless networking technology that allows devices to connect to a data network is known as the trademark WiFi (or Wi-Fi). WiFi is often used synonymously with WLAN. A wireless system may be divided into cells and is therefore commonly referred to as a cellular system. The base station provides at least one cell.

The user may access the communication system by means of a suitable communication device or terminal capable of communicating with the base station. Thus, a node such as a base station is often referred to as an access point. The communication device of a user is often referred to as User Equipment (UE). The communication device is provided with suitable signal receiving and transmitting means to enable communication, for example communication with a base station and/or communication directly with other user equipment. The communication device may communicate on an appropriate channel, e.g., a channel on which a listening station (e.g., a base station of a cell) transmits.

Communication systems and associated devices typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters which should be used for the connection are also typically defined. Non-limiting examples of standardized radio access technologies include GSM (global system for mobile), EDGE (enhanced data for GSM Evolution) Radio Access Network (GERAN), universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). An example of a communication system architecture is Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio access technology. LTE is standardized by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). LTE employs evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) access and its further development, sometimes referred to as LTE-advanced (LTE-a).

Since the introduction of fourth generation (4G) services, there has been an increasing interest in the next generation or fifth generation (5G) standards. The 5G may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) network. Standardization of 5G or new radio networks is an ongoing research project.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect, there is provided a method comprising: arranging, at the apparatus, a random access preamble message to include an indication of a size of data that the apparatus intends to transmit in a subsequent connection request message; and transmitting the random access channel preamble message from the apparatus to the base station.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises using a binary sequence for an indication of the size of data that the device wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises arranging scrambling symbols within the preamble message to provide an indication of the size of data that the apparatus wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the arranging of scrambling symbols within the preamble message is performed in a manner dependent on whether cell specific scrambling is used for transmission on the random access channel.

According to some embodiments, the arrangement of the last symbol group of the preamble message is mapped to a size range of the size of the data that the device wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the symbols of all symbol groups of the preamble message are scrambled using a scrambling sequence that is mapped to a size range of the size of the data that the device wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the first N-1 symbol groups of the preamble are scrambled using cell-specific scrambling, the last symbol group of the preamble message providing an indication of the size of data that the device wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, each cell of the plurality of cells is assigned a set of scrambling codes for random access channel scrambling, each code representing a different message size.

According to some embodiments, the preamble message also provides information of the priority of the data that the device wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the method includes transmitting data in a subsequent connection request message.

According to some embodiments, the random access channel comprises a narrowband physical random access channel.

According to some embodiments, the connection request message comprises a narrowband radio resource control connection message.

According to some embodiments, the connection request message comprises an Msg3 message.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a user equipment.

According to some embodiments, the base station comprises an eNB.

According to a second aspect, there is provided a method comprising: a random access preamble message is received at the apparatus from the user equipment, wherein the preamble message is arranged to include an indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit in a subsequent connection request message.

According to some embodiments, the binary sequence indicates the size of the data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the scrambling symbol within the preamble message provides an indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the scrambling symbols within the preamble message are arranged in a manner dependent on whether cell specific scrambling is used for transmission on the random access channel.

According to some embodiments, the arrangement of the last symbol group of the preamble message is mapped to a size range of the size of the data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the symbols of all symbol groups of the preamble message are scrambled using a scrambling sequence that is mapped to a size range of the size of the data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the first N-1 symbol groups of the preamble are scrambled using cell-specific scrambling, the last symbol group of the preamble message providing an indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, each cell or cells is/are allocated a set of scrambling codes for random access channel scrambling, each code representing a different message size.

According to some embodiments, the preamble message also provides information of the priority of the data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the method includes receiving data in a subsequent connection request message.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a base station.

According to some embodiments, the base station comprises an eNB.

According to a third aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the steps of the first aspect when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the steps of any of the second aspects when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

According to a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus configured to perform the method of the first aspect.

According to a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus configured to perform the method of the second aspect.

According to a seventh aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor: arranging the random access preamble message to include an indication of the size of data that the device intends to transmit in a subsequent connection request message; and transmitting the random access channel preamble message from the apparatus to the base station.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to use the binary sequence for an indication of a size of data that the apparatus wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to arrange scrambling symbols within a preamble message to provide an indication of a size of data that the apparatus intends to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to arrange scrambling symbols within the preamble message in a manner dependent on whether cell specific scrambling is used for transmission on the random access channel.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to transmit data in a subsequent connection request message.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a user equipment.

According to some embodiments, the base station comprises an eNB.

According to an eighth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor: a random access preamble message is received from the user equipment, the preamble message being arranged to include an indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit in a subsequent connection request message.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to determine the size of the data that the user equipment wants to transmit from a binary sequence indicating the size of the data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to obtain information of a priority of data that the user equipment wants to transmit from the preamble message.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to receive data in a subsequent connection request message.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a base station.

According to some embodiments, the base station comprises an eNB.

Drawings

The invention will now be described in further detail, by way of example only, with reference to the following examples and accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a schematic example of a wireless communication system in which the present invention may be implemented;

fig. 2 shows an example of a communication device;

fig. 3 is an example of a control device;

fig. 4 schematically illustrates a part of a random access procedure;

fig. 5 schematically illustrates scrambling codes according to an example;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method according to an example;

fig. 7 schematically illustrates scrambling codes according to an example;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method according to an example; and

fig. 9 is a flow chart of a method according to an example.

Detailed Description

Before explaining examples in detail, certain general principles of wireless communication systems and mobile communication devices are briefly explained with reference to fig. 1-2 to aid in understanding the underlying techniques of the described examples.

In a wireless communication system 100 such as that shown in fig. 1, wireless access is provided to wireless communication devices (e.g., user Equipment (UE) or MTC devices 102, 104, 105) via at least one base station or similar wireless transmission and/or reception wireless infrastructure node or point. Such a node may be, for example, a base station or eNodeB (eNB), or in a 5G system, a next generation NodeB (gNB) or other wireless infrastructure node. These nodes are often referred to as base stations. The base station is typically controlled by at least one suitable controller means to effect its operation and management of mobile communication devices in communication with the base station. The controller device may be located in a radio access network (e.g., wireless communication system 100) or a Core Network (CN) (not shown) and may be implemented as one central device or its functions may be distributed over several devices. The controller means may be part of the base station and/or provided by a separate entity such as a Radio Network Controller (RNC). In fig. 1, control means 108 and 109 are shown as controlling the respective macro level base stations 106 and 107. In some systems, the control means may additionally or alternatively be provided in a radio network controller. Other examples of radio access systems include radio access systems provided by base stations of systems based on technologies such as 5G or new radio, wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and/or WiMax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) and the like. The base station may provide coverage of an entire cell or similar radio service area.

In fig. 1, base stations 106 and 107 are shown connected to a wider communication network 113 via gateway 112. Additional gateway functions may be provided to connect to another network.

The smaller base stations 116, 118 and 120 may also be connected to the network 113, for example by separate gateway functions and/or via controllers of macro-level stations. The base stations 116, 118, and 120 may be pico or femto base stations, or the like. In this example, stations 116 and 118 are connected via gateway 111, while station 120 is connected via controller device 108. In some embodiments, smaller stations may not be provided.

A possible wireless communication device will now be described in more detail with reference to fig. 2, fig. 2 showing a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a communication device 200. Such communication devices are often referred to as User Equipment (UE) or terminals. A suitable mobile communication device may be provided by any device capable of transmitting and receiving radio signals. Non-limiting examples include a Mobile Station (MS) or mobile device, such as a mobile phone or so-called "smart phone", a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., a USB dongle), a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) or tablet provided with wireless communication capabilities, or any combination of these devices, etc. For example, a mobile communication device may provide for the transfer of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text messages, multimedia, and the like. Accordingly, a large number of services can be given and provided to the user via the user's communication device. Non-limiting examples of such services include two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services, or simply access to a data communication network system such as the internet. Broadcast or multicast data may also be provided to the user. Non-limiting examples of content include downloads, television and radio programming, video, advertising, various alerts, and other information.

The wireless communication device may be, for example, a mobile device, i.e., a device that is not fixed in a particular location, or may be a fixed device. The wireless device may or may not require human-machine interaction to communicate. In the present teachings, the term "UE" or "user" is used to refer to any type of wireless communication device.

The wireless device 200 may receive signals over the air or radio interface 207 via suitable means for receiving and may transmit signals via suitable means for transmitting radio signals. In fig. 2, the transceiver device is schematically represented by block 206. The transceiver means 206 may be provided, for example, by means of a radio part and an associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may be arranged inside or outside the wireless device.

The wireless device is typically provided with at least one data processing entity 201, at least one memory 202 and possibly other components 203 for use in software and hardware assisted execution of tasks the wireless device is designed to perform, including control of access to and communication with access systems and other communication devices. The data processing, storage and other related control means may be provided on a suitable circuit board and/or in a chipset. This feature is indicated by reference numeral 204. The user may control the operation of the wireless device by means of a suitable user interface such as a keypad 205, voice commands, touch sensitive screen or keyboard, combinations thereof, and the like. A display 208, speakers, and microphone may also be provided. Further, the wireless communication device may include suitable connectors (wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories (e.g., hands-free devices) thereto. The communication devices 102, 104, 105 may access the communication system based on various access technologies.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a control means for a communication system, e.g. a station, such as a RAN node, e.g. a base station, a gNB, a central unit of a cloud architecture or a node of a core network, such as an MME or S-GW, a scheduling entity, such as a spectrum management entity, or a server or host, to be coupled to and/or for controlling an access system. The control means may be integrated with or external to a node or module of the core network or RAN. In some embodiments, the base station includes a separate control device unit or module. In other embodiments, the control device may be another network element, such as a radio network controller or a spectrum controller. In some embodiments, each base station may have such control means as well as control means provided in a radio network controller. The control means 300 may be arranged to provide control of the communication in the service area of the system. The control device 300 comprises at least one memory 301, at least one data processing unit 302, 303, and an input/output interface 304. The control means may be coupled to the receiver and the transmitter of the base station via the interface. The receiver and/or transmitter may be implemented as a radio front-end or a remote radio head. For example, the control device 300 or the processor 201 may be configured to execute appropriate software code to provide control functions.

The internet of things (IoT) is well known. IoT includes interworking of connected devices, such devices including, but not limited to, user equipment, vehicles, home appliances, and the like. Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is a radio technology standard for enabling IoT devices to communicate using a cellular network. Enhancement of NB-IoT is underway.

Random access procedures are typically used for communication between devices (e.g., ioT devices) and base stations. Fig. 4 schematically illustrates a part of a random access procedure between a device 400 and a base station 402.

At S1, the slave device 400 transmits a random access preamble to the base station 402. The random access preamble may be referred to as "Msg1".

At S2, a random access response is sent from the base station 402 to the device 400. This random access response may be referred to as "Msg2".

At S3, the slave device 400 transmits a connection request to the base station 402. The request may be an RRC (radio resource control) connection request (RRCConnectionRequest-NB) for narrowband access. This connection request may be referred to as "Msg3".

As determined by the present inventors, early data transmission for small packets may reduce signaling overhead associated with establishing RRC connections for small data transmissions. The size of the definition "small packet" or "small data" may vary. In some examples, the small packet may correspond to a single application layer packet in the range of 20 to 50 bytes. The small data packet may be a report from an IoT device. It is suggested to include these small packets for early data transmission in the Msg3 transmission described above. As will be discussed in more detail below, this application proposes modifications to the NPRACH (narrowband physical random access channel) and RACH (random access channel) procedures to allow for resource efficient small data transmission in Msg3 (or connection request message).

As a summary, and with reference to the example shown in fig. 4, in some embodiments, a scrambling sequence is used in Msg1 to identify the size of data to be transmitted in Msg 3.

To support small data transmissions on Msg3, the eNB reserves dedicated NPRACH resources for transmitting preambles from UEs that will send small data in Msg 3. When the eNB detects the preamble from the dedicated NPRACH resource, it identifies that the UE needs to transmit small data and assigns uplink resources for the transmission of the data. Otherwise, the eNB allocates fixed resources for transmission of Msg3 of size 88 bits.

If it is desired to support small data transmissions of different sizes above 88 bits, an additional dedicated NPRACH resource pool may be needed for this purpose. Static partitioning of NPRACH resources into multiple groups without knowing the small data traffic load of each size can be resource inefficient and can also result in more collisions of conventional Msg3 transmissions.

The present application proposes a mechanism in which the same NPRACH preamble resource can be used for both Msg3 transmission and msg3+ data transmission. In this case, msg3+ data represents Msg3 and data transmitted simultaneously.

According to the 3GPP release 13 specification, the NPRACH preamble includes a transmission of 4 symbol groups. Each group contains 5 symbols and 1 CP (cyclic prefix). The transmission uses a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 KHz. The 4 transmissions within a single preamble are frequency hopped with a fixed frequency offset with respect to the previous symbol group. All symbols are transmitted without any additional modulation and with a fixed power.

NPRACH detection and timing estimation are based on detection of tones after removal of cyclic prefix and on estimation of arrival time based on correlation. Timing estimates across different symbol groups are used to determine the final value of the arrival time.

The present application proposes that a binary sequence occurs that maps to a small data packet size range when a preamble is sent to transmit msg3+ data. The method avoids separate NPRACH resources in the time/frequency domain for msg3+ data transmission purposes. The same resources of NPRACH release 13 of 3GPP and an additional indication of the required message size can be shared between the legacy RACH access and the RACH access for msg3+ data transmission.

According to some embodiments, the method may differ depending on whether the NPRACH transmission uses cell-specific scrambling.

(1) Cell-specific scrambling is not used for NPRACH transmission

In the case where cell-specific scrambling is not used for NPRACH transmission, symbol scrambling within the symbol group of NPRACH may be used to identify RACH accesses for small data transmissions with a specific message size range. Scrambling may also indicate a priority of data transmission. In one example, only the last symbol group transmission of the NPRACH preamble is scrambled using a scrambling sequence that may be mapped to a particular message size range. Alternatively, the symbols of all symbol groups may be scrambled using a scrambling sequence that may be mapped to a particular message size range.

(2) Cell-specific scrambling is used for NPRACH transmission

In the case where cell-specific scrambling is used for NPRACH transmissions, according to some embodiments, only the first N-1 symbol group transmissions are scrambled using cell-specific scrambling, while the last symbol group is scrambled based on the message size. In this case, according to some examples, only one scrambling code needs to be allocated per cell. Alternatively, a set of scrambling codes for NPRACH scrambling is allocated for each cell, where each code represents a different message size.

For both (1) and (2) above, the same NPRACH resources assigned to RACH access of release 13 UE of 3GPP can be reused.

For (1), in some embodiments, the eNB estimates the timing advance based on all but the last symbol group. Once the initial timing is estimated based on the symbol groups, blind detection of the scrambling code may be attempted on the last symbol group. In such an example, the eNB may avoid correlation with different timings since earlier symbol groups are used to estimate timing advance.

For (2), the eNB may identify the scrambling sequence by: first, associated with different possible scrambling sequences, and then using the detected scrambling sequence with the highest or highest correlation for timing estimation.

An example will now be described with reference to fig. 5, which shows one example of scrambling NPRACH using two different scrambling sequences. Fig. 5 illustrates a modified NPRACH preamble, shown generally at 502. In this example, the long binary scrambling code is 15 bits in length. This includes scrambling code portion 1 504, scrambling code portion 2 506, and scrambling code portion 3 508. The first bit in each code portion represents a cyclic prefix. The short scrambling code is shown at 510. In this example, short scrambling code 510 includes a message size indicator. That is, the short scrambling code 510 is operable to provide an indication to the base station of small data to be transmitted with Msg3 data.

In this example, the long binary scrambling code is encoded on the symbols of the first 3 symbol group (i.e., 502, 504, and 506) contents. A scrambling code value is assigned to each symbol. In this example, a code is uniquely assigned to each cell for NPRACH purposes. The scrambling of the final symbol group 510 is based on the message size to be transmitted. Different sizes may be indicated on the final symbol group 510 depending on the number of possible orthogonal codes.

Examples will now be described with reference to fig. 6 and 7. This example relates to the above example "(2) cell-specific scrambling is used for NPRACH transmission.

At S1, scrambling codes 1 through 4 (e.g., similar to scrambling codes 504, 506, 508, 510 of fig. 5) are generated. In some embodiments, the scrambling codes are generated from a parent scrambling code.

Some options for scrambling code formats are listed below in (a) to (c).

(a) A length 20 binary mother scrambling code may be used for the symbols within the 4 symbol group. Assuming that the length-20 codes are c0, c1, … …, c19, we have scrambling codes 1=c0, c1, c2, c3, c4; scrambling codes 2=c5, c6, c7, c8, c9; scrambling codes 3=c10, c11, c12, c13, c14; scrambling codes 4=c15, c16, c17, c18, c19.

(b) A length 5 binary mother scrambling code may be used for the symbols in each symbol group. Assuming a length 5 code of c0, c1, … …, c4, we also scramble 1=scramble 2=scramble 3=scramble 4=c0, c1, c2, c3, c4, i.e. the scramble in each group is the same.

(c) A length 4 binary mother scrambling code may be used for 4 symbol groups. Assuming that the length-4 codes are c0, c1, c2, c3, we have scrambling codes 1=c0, c0; scrambling codes 2=c1, c1; scrambling code 3=c2, c2; scrambling code 4=c3, c3.

Then, as shown in S2, a primary scrambling sequence is used to identify RACH access for small data transmissions having a size or range of sizes. Different sizes may be indicated depending on the number of available or possible parent scrambling codes.

Fig. 7 schematically shows scrambling according to the method of fig. 6. Fig. 7 shows four scrambling sequences 704, namely scrambling code 1 shown at 704, scrambling code 2 shown at 706, scrambling code 3 shown at 708, and scrambling code 4 shown at 710.

In case cell specific scrambling is not used to scramble the NPRACH transmission (i.e. above (1)), the mother scrambling code may be a newly defined scrambling code.

In the case of scrambling NPRACH transmission using cell-specific scrambling (i.e., above (2)), a mother scrambling code for identifying RACH access of small data transmission having a specific message size range can be redefined, and is different from a normal NPRACH cell-specific scrambling code.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart of an example method from the perspective of an apparatus (e.g., user device).

At S1, the apparatus arranges the random access preamble message to include an indication of the size of data that the apparatus intends to transmit in a subsequent connection request message.

At S2, the apparatus transmits a random access channel preamble message from the apparatus to a base station.

Fig. 9 is a flow chart of an example method from the perspective of an apparatus, such as a base station.

At S1, the apparatus receives a random access preamble message from a user equipment. The preamble message includes an indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit in a subsequent connection request message.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects of the invention may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the invention is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of a mobile device, such as in a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or programs (also referred to as program products) including software routines, applets, and/or macros can be stored in any apparatus-readable data storage medium and they include program instructions for performing particular tasks. The computer program product may include one or more computer-executable components configured to perform embodiments when the program is run. The one or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or a portion thereof.

In addition, in this regard, it should be noted that any blocks of the logic flows as illustrated may represent program steps, or interconnected logic circuits, blocks and functions, or a combination of program steps and logic circuits, blocks and functions. The software may be stored on a physical medium such as a memory chip or memory block implemented within a processor, a magnetic medium such as a hard disk or floppy disk, and an optical medium such as, for example, a DVD and its data variants, a CD, etc. The physical medium is a non-transitory medium.

The memory may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The data processor may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FPGAs, gate level circuits, and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture.

Embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is generally a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The above description provides a complete and informative description of exemplary embodiments of the invention by way of non-limiting example. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims. Indeed, there are additional embodiments that include a combination of one or more embodiments with any of the other embodiments previously discussed.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

arranging, at an apparatus, a random access channel preamble message to include an indication of a size of data that the apparatus intends to transmit in a subsequent connection request message, wherein a scrambling symbol is arranged within the preamble message to provide the indication of the size of data that the apparatus intends to transmit; and

transmitting the random access channel preamble message from the apparatus to a base station;

wherein the arrangement of the last symbol group of the preamble message is mapped to a size range of the size of the data that the device wants to transmit.

2. A method according to claim 1, comprising using a binary sequence for the indication of the size of data that the device wants to transmit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein arranging the scrambling symbols within the preamble message is performed in a manner dependent on whether cell-specific scrambling is used for transmission on the random access channel.

4. A method according to claim 1 or claim 3, wherein the symbols of the last symbol group of the preamble message are scrambled using a scrambling sequence, the scrambling sequence being mapped to a size range of the size of data that the device wants to transmit.

5. A method according to claim 1 or claim 3, wherein the first N-1 symbol groups of the preamble are scrambled using cell specific scrambling, the last symbol group of the preamble message providing the indication of the size of data that the device wants to transmit.

6. A method according to claim 1 or claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of cells is allocated a set of scrambling codes for random access channel scrambling, each code representing a different message size.

7. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the preamble message also provides information of the priority of the data that the device wants to transmit.

8. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, comprising transmitting the data in the subsequent connection request message.

9. A method of communication, comprising:

a random access channel preamble message is received at the apparatus from a user equipment,

wherein the preamble message is arranged to comprise an indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit in a subsequent connection request message, wherein scrambling symbols within the preamble message provide the indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit;

wherein the arrangement of the last symbol group of the preamble message is mapped to a size range of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a binary sequence indicates a size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein scrambling symbols within the preamble message are arranged in a manner dependent on whether cell specific scrambling is used for transmission on a random access channel.

12. The method of claim 9 or claim 11, wherein symbols of the last symbol group of the preamble message are scrambled using a scrambling sequence that is mapped to a size range of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

13. The method according to claim 9 or claim 11, wherein the first N-1 symbol groups of the preamble are scrambled using cell-specific scrambling, the last symbol group of the preamble message providing the indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

14. A method according to claim 9 or claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of cells is allocated a set of scrambling codes for random access channel scrambling, each code representing a different message size.

15. The method according to any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the preamble message further provides information of a priority of the data that the user equipment wants to transmit.

16. A method according to any of claims 9 to 11, comprising receiving the data in the subsequent connection request message.

17. An apparatus for communication, the apparatus comprising means for performing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

18. An apparatus for communication, the apparatus comprising means for performing the steps of the method according to any of claims 9 to 16.

19. An apparatus for communication comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor:

arranging a random access channel preamble message to include an indication of the size of data that the device intends to transmit in a subsequent connection request message, wherein scrambling symbols are arranged within the preamble message to provide the indication of the size of data that the device intends to transmit; and

20. The apparatus of claim 19, the apparatus configured to use a binary sequence for the indication of the size of data that the apparatus wants to transmit.

21. An apparatus for communication comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor:

a random access channel preamble message is received from a user equipment,

the preamble message is arranged to comprise an indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit in a subsequent connection request message, wherein scrambling symbols within the preamble message provide the indication of the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit;

22. The apparatus of claim 21, the apparatus configured to determine a size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit from a binary sequence, the binary sequence indicating the size of data that the user equipment wants to transmit.