CN117377063A - Method for multiple paging of user equipment in network and user equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and user equipment for multi-paging of user equipment in a network. The present invention provides a method for multiple paging of User Equipment (UE) in a network; the network may be a wireless cellular network and may include a plurality of cells. The method may be performed by a UE and may include a multi-paging procedure. The multi-paging procedure may include: when the UE camps on a serving cell of the plurality of cells, checking whether a non-serving cell paging message is received on a non-serving cell of the plurality of cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell.

Description

Method for multiple paging of user equipment in network and user equipment

Cross-reference to related patent applications

The present invention claims priority from indian patent application No.202221039398 filed on 7.8 of 2022 and U.S. patent application No.18/299,165 filed on 4.12 of 2023, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to multi-paging (UE) of User Equipment (UE) in a network.

Background

UEs used in wireless networks are common in many aspects of modern day life. How to ensure that a UE, especially a mobile UE, can quickly receive and respond to a page of the network when the network attempts to communicate with the UE is important to the development of UEs.

Disclosure of Invention

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for multi-paging of a user equipment in a network, the network being a wireless cellular network and comprising a plurality of cells, the method for multi-paging of a user equipment in a network comprising a multi-paging procedure comprising: when the UE camps on a serving cell of the plurality of cells, checking whether a non-serving cell paging message is received on a non-serving cell of the plurality of cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network, the network being a wireless cellular network and comprising a plurality of cells, the method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network comprising a multiple paging procedure comprising: and responding to a non-serving cell paging message received on a non-serving cell of the plurality of cells when the UE camps on the serving cell of the plurality of cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a UE operable in accordance with the method of the present invention.

By utilizing the invention, the paging delay and the paging miss rate can be effectively reduced.

Drawings

The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention, wherein:

fig. 1 schematically depicts a UE in a network and how the network starts a first paging attempt to reach the UE communicatively when the UE is no longer communicatively connected to the network;

fig. 2 a-2 c depict flowcharts, wherein each flowchart may include a multiple paging procedure, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;

each of fig. 3a and 3b depicts an implementation of the multiple paging procedure in fig. 2 a-2 c;

FIG. 4 depicts the waiting period shown in FIG. 3 a; and

fig. 5 depicts the duration that a UE may monitor for paging messages.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 schematically depicts a conceptual diagram of a UE100 in a wireless communication network 10. The network 10 may be a wireless cellular network and may include a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) 110 and a core network 120. For example, the network 10 may employ one or more radio access technologies of mobile telecommunications, such as the global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communication, GSM), universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or New Radios (NRs) specified by the third generation partnership project (third generation partnership project,3 GPP) and referred to as second, third, fourth, and fifth generation (2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G) telecommunications. The radio access network 110 may implement a GSM radio access network (GSM radio access network, GRAN), a GSM EDGE radio access network (GSM EDGE radio access network, GERAN), where EDGE represents enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (enhanced data rates for GSM evolution, EDGE)), a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UMTS terrestrial radio access network, UTRAN), an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network, E-UTRAN), and/or a next generation radio access network (next generation radio access network, NG-RAN). Radio access network 110 may form an air interface between UE100 and core network 120 and may include multiple cells, such as cells c1, c2, and c3 shown in fig. 1.

The UE100 may be a mobile phone, or a telematics system of a vehicle (e.g., car, truck, etc.). The UE100 may also be a tablet computer, notebook computer, laptop computer, desktop computer, wearable accessory (gadget) (e.g., smart watch, headset, or glasses, etc.), drone, digital camera, digital camcorder, set top box, smart speaker, game console, customer-premises equipment (CPE), router, access point, home appliance (e.g., smart TV, air conditioner, lighting system, refrigerator, washing machine, etc.), office equipment (e.g., copier, printer, audio or video conferencing system, monitoring system, etc.), industrial equipment (e.g., assembly line robot), internet-of-things (IoT) sensor or device, navigation device, or any electronic device implementing wireless communication functions. The UE100 may select one of the cells of the radio access network 110 as a serving cell to camp on (camp on) the selected cell, may reselect another of the cells of the radio access network 110 as a new serving cell to camp on, and may transmit user data to the core network 120 and/or receive user data from the core network 120 via the serving cell of the radio access network 110.

Fig. 1 also depicts an example of a general scenario. In this scenario, at time t0 and location L1, when UE100 camps on cell c1 as the serving cell and the time to stop sending user data to network 10 and receiving user data from network 10 is longer than the time threshold, UE100 may become communicatively unconnected (communicatively unconnected) to network 10. For example, the UE100 may enter RRC inactivity (rrc_inactive) or RRC idle (rrc_idle) specified by the 3GPP, where RRC represents radio resource control. Because the UE100 becomes communicatively unconnected to the network 10 while camping on the cell c1, the network 10 recognizes the cell c1 as the last seen cell (last sen cell) by the UE 100.

After time t1, UE100 may continue to remain communicatively unconnected to network 10, may move to a different location, and may reselect to camp on another cell. For example, at a time t2 after the time t1 and at a location L2 different from the location L1, the UE100 may camp on the cell c2 as the current serving cell after one or more cell reselections. At time t3, which is subsequent to time t2, network 10 begins a first paging attempt to page UE100 while UE100 continues to remain camped on cell c2. For example, network 10 may begin a first paging attempt when radio access network 110 or core network 120 needs to reach UE100 communicatively, and/or when network 10 receives user data and/or an incoming call targeted to UE 100. In some practical implementations, network 10 will send a paging message for paging UE100 by having cell c1 (instead of cell c 2), starting the first paging attempt at time t3, because cell c1 is the last cell seen by UE100 and network 10 is unaware that UE100 is currently camping on cell c2.

At time t3, when the network 10 causes only the last seen cell c1 to page the UE100 for the first paging attempt, if the UE100 operates according to the conventional paging procedure, the UE100 will not be able to receive the paging message sent by cell c 1. According to the conventional paging procedure, the UE100 monitors only whether it is paged by the current serving cell. Thus, when UE100 camps on cell c2 and network 10 causes cell c1 to page UE100 at time t3, UE100 will not be able to properly receive the paging message on cell c 1. This is because the UE100 employing the conventional paging procedure monitors only whether to receive information on the current serving cell c2, rather than receiving a message on the cell c1 that has become the non-serving cell of the UE100 at time t 3. Thus, if the UE100 operates according to a conventional paging procedure, the UE100 will not be able to quickly receive and respond to the paging of the network 10 at the first paging attempt and will suffer from longer paging delays and/or higher paging miss rates (miss rates).

Fig. 2 a-2 c depict flowcharts 200a, 200b, and 200c, respectively, according to various embodiments of the present invention. To overcome the longer paging delay and/or higher paging miss rate resulting from conventional paging procedures, the UE100 may employ the flow diagrams 200a, 200b, or 200c when the UE100 is not communicatively connected to the network 10, e.g., when the UE100 is RRC idle or RRC inactive.

As shown in fig. 2a, the steps of flowchart 200a may be described as follows.

Step 201: the UE100 may begin the flowchart 200a when the UE100 begins to be communicatively unconnected to the network 10 (e.g., when the UE100 enters an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state).

Step 203: as the UE100 is camping on a serving cell, the UE100 may compare whether one or more signal quality values of any non-serving cells meet at least one quality requirement, and may proceed to step 205 if one or more signal quality values of one or more non-serving cells meet the quality requirement; and if one or more signal quality values for any non-serving cells do not meet the quality requirements, then the process may proceed to step 207. The non-serving cells may be cells other than the serving cells, for example, may be or may include cells last seen by the UE100, and/or a qualified subset (qualified subset) of neighbor cells of the current serving cell (no neighbor cells, one neighbor cell, some neighbor cells, or all neighbor cells). The cell that the UE100 last sees may be the cell that the UE100 camps on when the UE100 becomes communicatively unconnected to the network 10 (e.g., when the UE100 starts to enter an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state). A qualified subset of neighboring cells may be selected from among the neighboring cells of the current serving cell based on one or more signal quality values of the respective neighboring cells. For example, if one or more signal quality values of a certain neighbor cell of the current serving cell meet at least one predefined quality requirement, this neighbor cell may be selected as one neighbor cell in the grid set of neighbor cells.

Since each cell may broadcast one or more of its own notification signals to announce its own information, one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cells may relate to the strength and/or power of the notification signals of the non-serving cells received and measured by the UE 100. For example, the notification signal may be, or may include, a synchronization signal (synchronization signal, SS), a cell-specific reference signal (cell specific reference signal, CRS), and/or a channel state information (channel state information, CSI) signal, etc., as specified by the 3 GPP. The one or more signal quality values may be, may include, or may relate to a received signal strength indication (received signal strength indication, RSSI), a reference signal received power (reference signal received power, RSRP), and/or a reference signal received quality (reference signal received quality, RSRQ), etc., as specified by the 3 GPP. Each quality requirement may require that one or more signal quality values (alone or in combination) exceed one or more associated quality thresholds.

Step 205: the UE100 may enable the multi-paging procedure according to the present invention, and may perform the multi-paging procedure by proceeding to the steps shown in fig. 3a or 3b, which will be described in detail later.

Step 207: the UE100 may compare whether one or more signal quality values of the current serving cell meet at least one quality requirement. If the one or more signal quality values of the serving cell meet the quality requirement, then step 209 may be proceeded to, and if the one or more signal quality values of the serving cell do not meet the quality requirement, then step 205 may be proceeded to. The one or more signal quality values of the serving cell may relate to the strength and/or power of a notification signal of the serving cell received and measured by the UE 100. For example, the notification signal may be, or may include, SS, CRS, and/or CSI signals, etc. The one or more signal quality values may be, may include, or may relate to RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, and/or the like.

Step 209: UE100 may disable the (disable) multi-paging procedure. For example, the UE100 may only monitor (e.g., periodically) whether the current serving cell pages the UE 100.

In an embodiment, the UE100 may iteratively perform step 203, periodically or aperiodically (e.g., whenever the UE100 reselects a new serving cell), to dynamically and adaptively determine whether to enable the multi-paging procedure at step 205.

As shown in fig. 2b, the steps of flowchart 200b may be described as follows. In step 201, the UE100 may start the flowchart 200b when the UE100 starts to be communicatively disconnected from the network 10 (e.g., when the UE100 transitions to an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state). In step 205, the ue100 may enable the multi-paging procedure according to the present invention, and may perform the multi-paging procedure by proceeding to the steps shown in fig. 3a or 3 b. In an embodiment, between step 201 and step 205, the UE100 may still compare whether the one or more signal quality values of the serving cell and/or the non-serving cell meet the associated quality requirements similar to step 203 and/or step 207 shown in fig. 2a, but may enable the multi-paging procedure at step 205, regardless of whether the one or more signal quality values of the serving cell and/or the non-serving cell meet the associated quality requirements.

As shown in fig. 2c, the steps of flowchart 200c may be described as follows. In step 201, the UE100 may begin the flowchart 200c after the UE100 is communicatively disconnected from the network 10 (e.g., when the UE100 becomes RRC idle or RRC inactive). In step 204, based on one or more decision factors (decision factors), the UE100 may determine whether to enable or disable the multi-paging procedure of the present invention by proceeding to step 205 or step 209, respectively. In step 205, the ue100 may enable the multi-paging procedure and may proceed to the steps shown in fig. 3a or fig. 3 b. In step 209, the ue100 may disable the multi-paging procedure; for example, the UE100 may repeatedly check only whether the current serving cell pages the UE 100. In an embodiment, the UE100 may iteratively perform step 204 periodically and/or aperiodically to dynamically and adaptively determine whether to enable the multi-paging procedure.

The determinants considered at step 204 may include: the signal quality value of the serving cell, the signal quality value of the non-serving cell, timing criticality with respect to the currently running service and/or application (criticalness of timing, e.g., whether the one or more applications and/or one or more services currently being executed by the UE100 are time critical), the tolerance of paging miss rate (tolerance), the tolerance of paging delay, the mobility status of the UE100, and/or the necessity of a telematics function (e.g., whether the UE100 is a predefined type of product, such as a telematics product), etc. For example, in step 204, when the UE100 is running one or more services and/or applications that are critical in time, the tolerance for paging miss rate is low, the tolerance for paging delay is low, the UE100 is moving fast, the UE100 is moving in a manner that results in frequent cell reselection, the UE100 needs to implement a telematics function, and/or the UE100 itself is a telematics system, the UE100 may decide to enable the multi-paging procedure of the present invention by proceeding to step 205.

Fig. 3a and 3b depict processes 300a and 300b, respectively, according to different embodiments of the present invention. After step 205 shown in fig. 2a, 2b or 2c, the UE100 may perform the process 300a of fig. 3a or the process 300b of fig. 3b to implement the multi-paging procedure enabled at step 205.

As shown in fig. 3a, process 300a may include steps as described below.

Step 302: the UE100 may check whether any non-serving cell paging message is received on any non-serving cell of the network 10 (fig. 1), wherein the non-serving cell paging message may be a paging message sent by a non-serving cell other than the current serving cell. If the UE100 receives a non-serving cell paging message on a non-serving cell, the UE100 may proceed to step 304; on the other hand, if the UE100 does not receive any non-serving cell paging message on any non-serving cell, the UE100 may proceed to step 312.

Step 304: the UE100 may start waiting for a waiting period t_wait and may check whether a serving cell paging message is received on the current serving cell while waiting, wherein the serving cell paging message may be a paging message transmitted by the current serving cell. While waiting for the waiting period t_wait to elapse, if the UE100 receives a serving cell paging message on the serving cell, the UE100 may proceed to step 314. On the other hand, if the UE100 does not receive any serving cell paging message on the serving cell at the end of the waiting period t_wait, the UE100 may proceed to step 306.

Step 306: the UE100 may compare whether one or more signal quality values of a non-serving cell that sent the non-serving cell paging message received at step 302 meet at least one quality requirement. If one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cells meet the quality requirement, the UE100 may proceed to step 308; otherwise, the UE100 may proceed to step 310.

The one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cells may relate to the strength and/or power of notification signals of the non-serving cells received and measured by the UE 100. For example, the notification signal may be, or may include, SS, CRS, and/or CSI, etc.; the one or more signal quality values may be, may include, or may relate to RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, and/or the like. Each quality requirement may require that one or more signal quality values (alone or in combination) exceed one or more associated quality thresholds.

Step 308: the UE100 may respond to a non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell, where the non-serving cell paging message is received by the UE100 and sent by the non-serving cell in step 302. Thus, the UE100 may become communicatively connected to the network 10.

Step 310: the UE100 may send a notification message to the network 10 (notifying message). In an embodiment, the notification message may be a message requesting registration and/or mobility update. For example, the notification message may be a registration request of the 5G telecommunication, a tracking area update (tracking area update, TAU) of the 4G telecommunication, a Location Update (LU) of the 3G telecommunication, or a Radio Area Update (RAU) of the 2G telecommunication.

Step 312: after step 302, the UE100 may check whether any serving cell paging messages are received on the current serving cell of the network 10. If the UE100 receives a serving cell paging message on the serving cell, the UE100 may proceed to step 314; on the other hand, if the UE100 does not receive any serving cell paging message on the serving cell, the UE100 may return to step 302.

Step 314: the UE100 may respond (at step 312) to the serving cell paging message received on the current serving cell and may thus become communicatively connected to the network 10.

When a UE operating according to the conventional paging procedure only checks and responds to a serving cell paging message transmitted on a current serving cell, the UE100 operating according to the multi-paging procedure 300a of the present invention may check (step 304 and step 312) not only for and respond (step 314) to a serving cell paging message on a serving cell, but also check (step 302) and respond (step 308) to a non-serving cell paging message on a non-serving cell if the UE100 does not receive any serving cell paging message on the current serving cell. Thus, when the UE100 operates according to the procedure 300a of the present invention, even if the network 10 pages the UE100 only on non-serving cells, not on the current serving cell, at the first paging attempt, the UE100 can quickly receive and respond to the first paging attempt of the network 10 and thus can effectively shorten the paging delay and/or reduce the paging miss rate.

As shown in fig. 3b, process 300b may be similar to process 300a (fig. 3 a). Process 300b may include steps 302, 306, 308, 310, 312, and 314 (which are also included in process 300 a), but process 300b may skip step 304 present in process 300 a. That is, when the UE100 operates according to the procedure 300b, the UE100 may proceed to step 306 without checking whether a serving cell paging message is received during the waiting period t_wait after the UE100 receives a non-serving cell paging message on a non-serving cell in step 302 (fig. 3 a). Also similar to process 300a, UE100 may check (step 302) and respond (step 308) to non-serving cell paging messages on non-serving cells in addition to checking (step 312) and responding (step 314) to serving cell paging messages on serving cells when operating according to process 300b. Thus, when the UE100 operates according to the procedure 300b of the present invention, the UE100 can quickly receive and respond to the first paging attempt of the network 10 even if the network 10 pages the UE100 only on non-serving cells, not on the current serving cell, at the first paging attempt, and thus can effectively shorten the paging delay and/or reduce the paging miss rate.

Briefly, when the UE100 operates in accordance with the present invention, the UE100 may check whether any non-serving cell paging messages are received on one or more non-serving cells. If a non-serving cell paging message is received on the non-serving cell, the UE100 may determine whether to respond to the non-serving cell paging message based on whether the serving cell paging message is received on the serving cell during a waiting period t_wait after receiving the non-serving cell paging message (step 304 in fig. 3 a), and/or whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement (step 306 in fig. 3a and 3 b). In an embodiment, the UE100 may dynamically and adaptively select to employ one of the processes 300a and 300b based on one or more selection conditions (e.g., whether the UE100 has redundancy and/or necessity to monitor the serving cell paging message during the waiting period t_wait).

Continuing with the example of the scenario illustrated in fig. 1, a UE100 operating in accordance with the present invention may begin at time t1 with flowchart 200a of fig. 2a, flowchart 200b of fig. 2b, or flowchart 200c of fig. 2 c. Assuming that the UE100 has enabled the multi-paging procedure 300a of fig. 3a or the multi-paging procedure 300b of fig. 3b at step 205 after the UE100 camps on the cell c2 at time t2, the UE100 may then quickly receive a non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell c1 by performing step 302 (fig. 3a or fig. 3 b) at time t3 when the network 10 starts the first paging attempt, and may thus overcome long paging delays and/or high paging miss rates.

Fig. 4 depicts a wait period t_wait utilized at step 304 of the process 300a shown in fig. 3 a. Continuing with the example of the scenario shown in fig. 1, the timing allocated for cell c1 to transmit the paging message may be repeated at a period T1 around time tc 1. That is, if cell c1 needs to page UE100, cell c1 may send a paging message at times tc1, tc1+t1, and/or tc1+2×t1, etc. On the other hand, the timing allocated for transmitting the paging message for cell c2 may be repeated at a period T2 around time tc2, i.e. if cell c2 needs to page UE100, cell c2 may transmit the paging message at a time tc2, tc2+t2, or tc2+2xt2, etc. In an embodiment, period T1 may be a discontinuous reception (discontinuous reception, DRX) cycle of cell c1, and period T2 may be a DRX cycle of cell c2.

As shown in fig. 4, there may be a time difference t_dff between time tc1 and time tc 2. When the UE100 operates according to the procedure 300a (fig. 3 a) and camps on the cell c2 as the current serving cell (e.g., after time T2 in fig. 1), if the UE100 receives a non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell c1 at step 302 (fig. 3 a), the UE100 may set the length of the waiting period t_wait to be utilized at step 304 (fig. 3 a) to the coverage time difference t_dff. Since the time difference t_dff may extend as long as the period T1 and/or the period T2, the UE100 may set the waiting period t_wait according to the period T1 and/or the period T2. For example, in an embodiment, the UE100 may set the waiting period t_wait to be not shorter than the period T2 of the current serving cell c2. In another embodiment, the UE100 may set the waiting period t_wait to be not shorter than the period T2 of the serving cell c2 and the period T1 of the non-serving cell c1, i.e., the UE100 may set the waiting period t_wait to be not shorter than the maximum value of the period T1 and the period T2. The period T1 and the period T2 may be the same or different.

Fig. 5 depicts the duration of the UE100 checking (monitoring) the paging message at step 302 (fig. 3a and 3 b) and step 304 (fig. 3 a) when the UE100 operates according to process 300a (fig. 3 a) or 300b (fig. 3 b). As shown in fig. 5, continuing with the example of the scenario shown in fig. 1, cell c2 may allocate a paging duration series pd2 to transmit a paging message, which may include a plurality of periodic durations in a plurality of time periods, respectively, such as durations d2[ k ] and d2[ k+1] in periods T [ m ] and T [ m+1], respectively. I.e. if cell c2 needs to page UE100, cell c2 may send a paging message during one paging duration (or each paging duration) in the series of paging durations pd1 (e.g. during duration d2 k or d2 k +1 in period T m or T m + 1). Similarly, cell c1 may allocate a paging duration series pd1 to transmit a paging message, which may include a plurality of periodic durations, such as durations d1[ i ] and d1[ i+1] in periods T [ m ] and T [ m+1], respectively, in the plurality of periods; cell c3 may allocate a paging duration series pd3 to transmit a paging message, which may include a plurality of periodic durations, such as durations d3 n and d3 n +1 in periods T m and T m +1, respectively, in the plurality of periods.

If the UE100 operates according to the present invention, after time t1 (fig. 1) the multi-paging procedure is enabled at step 205 (fig. 2a, 2b and 2 c), the UE100 may perform steps 302, 304 and 312 (fig. 3a and 3 b) by enabling wireless reception during the duration of the paging duration series pd1, pd2 and pd3 to check if paging messages are received on cell c1, cell c2 and cell c3, respectively. For example, when UE100 camps on cell c2 after time T2, UE100 may enable wireless reception during the duration of paging duration series pd1 and pd3 (e.g., during durations d1[ i ] and d3[ n ] in respective periods T [ m ]) to perform step 302 by checking whether any non-serving cell paging messages are received on non-serving cells c1 and c3 (fig. 3a and 3 b). The UE100 may also enable wireless reception during the duration of the paging duration series pd2 (e.g., during the duration d2 k in the respective period T m) to perform steps 312 (fig. 3a and 3 b) and 304 (fig. 3 a) by checking whether any serving cell paging messages are received on the current serving cell c2. The UE100 may disable wireless reception at times other than the duration of the paging duration series pd1, pd2, and pd3 to reduce power consumption.

If the UE100 operates according to the present invention, after time t1 (fig. 1) the multi-paging procedure is disabled in step 209 (fig. 2a and 2 c), the UE100 may enable radio reception during the duration of the paging duration series pd1 and pd2, respectively, while camping on cell c1 and cell c2, to check if a serving cell paging message is received on the current serving cell. That is, when UE100 camps on cell c1 between time T1 and time T2, UE100 may enable wireless reception during the duration of the series of paging durations pd1 (e.g., during each duration d1 i in each period T m) to check whether any paging messages are received on the current serving cell c 1. When UE100 camps on cell c2 after time T2, UE100 may enable wireless reception during the duration of the paging duration series pd2 (e.g., during each duration d2 k in each period T m) to check whether any paging messages are received on the current serving cell c2. At other times than the duration included in the paging duration series of the current serving cell, the UE100 may disable wireless reception to reduce power consumption.

In other embodiments not depicted, when a UE100 operating in accordance with the present invention enables a multi-paging procedure 300a or 300b, the UE100 may monitor different subsets of cells at different periods, respectively. For example, in an embodiment, while UE100 is camping on cell c2, UE100 may enable wireless reception for a duration in paging duration series pd1 and for a duration in paging duration series pd2 to monitor paging on cell c1 and cell c2 in a first of every two periods. The UE100 may enable wireless reception during another duration in the paging duration series pd2 and a duration in the paging duration series pd3 to monitor paging on cells c2 and c3 in a second one of every two periods. For example, the UE100 may monitor pages on cells c2 and c1 during two durations d2[2*k ' -1] and d1[2*i ' -1] in respective periods T [2*m ' -1], and may monitor pages on cells c2 and c3 during two durations d2[2*k ' ] and d3[2*n ' ] in respective periods T [2*m ]. In another embodiment, the UE100 may enable wireless reception during one of the paging duration series pd2, one of the paging duration series pd1, and one of the paging duration series pd3 in the first, second, and third periods, respectively, of every three periods. For example, the UE100 may monitor for pages on cell c2 during respective durations d2[3*k '-2] in respective periods T [3*m' -2], may monitor for pages on cell c1 during respective durations d1[3*i '-1] in respective periods T [3*m' -1], and may monitor for pages on cell c3 during respective durations d3[3*n '] in respective periods T [3*m' ].

In summary, for a wireless cellular network that only transmits a paging message on the last seen cell of a UE to page a communicatively unconnected UE at the first paging attempt, assuming that the UE has reselected to camp on one serving cell instead of the last seen cell, the UE will not be able to receive the first paging attempt if the UE operates according to a conventional paging procedure that monitors only pages on the serving cell. On the other hand, if the UE operates in accordance with the present invention, which can monitor (and if appropriate respond to) pages on one or more other non-serving cells other than the serving cell, the UE can quickly receive the first paging attempt. Therefore, the UE operating according to the present invention can effectively reduce the paging delay and the paging miss rate.

In one example, the UE includes a processor that executes the programs stored in the memory (storage medium) to perform embodiments of the present invention. In an exemplary embodiment, a storage medium (e.g., a computer readable storage medium) stores a program that, when executed, causes a UE to perform embodiments of the present invention.

While this invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.

Claims (21)

1. A method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network, the network being a wireless cellular network and comprising a plurality of cells, the method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network comprising a multiple paging procedure comprising:

when the user equipment camps on a serving cell of the plurality of cells, checking whether a non-serving cell paging message is received on a non-serving cell of the plurality of cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell.

2. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 1, wherein the multiple paging procedure further comprises:

if the non-serving cell paging message is received on the non-serving cell, checking whether a serving cell paging message is received on the serving cell.

3. The method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network according to claim 2, characterized by checking if the serving cell paging message is received on the serving cell during a waiting period when checking if the serving cell paging message is received on the serving cell.

4. A method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network according to claim 3, wherein the waiting period is not shorter than a discontinuous reception period of the serving cell.

5. A method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network according to claim 3, wherein the waiting period is not shorter than a discontinuous reception period of the serving cell and a discontinuous reception period of the non-serving cell.

6. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 2, wherein the multiple paging procedure further comprises:

responding to the serving cell paging message on the serving cell if the serving cell paging message is received on the serving cell.

7. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 2, wherein the multiple paging procedure further comprises:

comparing whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement if the serving cell paging message is not received on the serving cell; and

responding to the non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell if the one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet the at least one quality requirement.

8. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 7, wherein the multiple paging procedure further comprises:

and if the one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell do not meet the at least one quality requirement, sending a notification message.

9. The method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network according to claim 8, wherein the notification message is a registration request, a tracking area update, a location update or a radio area update.

10. The method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network according to claim 1, wherein the non-serving cell is the last seen cell.

11. The method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network of claim 1, wherein the non-serving cell is a neighbor cell of the serving cell.

12. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 1, wherein the non-serving cell is selected from at least one neighbor cell based on one or more signal quality values of the at least one neighbor cell.

13. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing, prior to the multi-paging procedure, whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement; and

the multi-paging procedure is enabled if the one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet the at least one quality requirement.

14. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 13, further comprising:

if the one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell do not meet the at least one quality requirement, then comparing whether the one or more signal quality values of the serving cell meet the at least one quality requirement prior to the multi-paging procedure.

15. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 14, further comprising:

the multi-paging procedure is enabled if the one or more signal quality values of the serving cell do not meet the at least one quality requirement.

16. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 15, further comprising:

the multi-paging procedure is disabled if the one or more signal quality values of the serving cell meet the at least one quality requirement.

17. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the multi-paging procedure, determining whether to enable the multi-paging procedure according to one or more of:

whether one or more applications or services currently being executed by the user device are time critical;

whether the user device is a predefined type of product; and

and the mobile state of the user equipment.

18. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 1, wherein the multiple paging procedure further comprises:

comparing whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement if the non-serving cell paging message is received on the non-serving cell; and

responding to the non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell if the one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet the at least one quality requirement.

19. A method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network, the network being a wireless cellular network and comprising a plurality of cells, the method for multiple paging of a user equipment in a network comprising a multiple paging procedure comprising:

and responding to a non-serving cell paging message received on a non-serving cell of the plurality of cells when the user equipment resides in the serving cell of the plurality of cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell.

20. The method for multiple paging of a user device in a network of claim 19, wherein the multiple paging procedure further comprises:

determining whether to respond to the non-serving cell paging message based on whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement before the non-serving cell paging message is received on the non-serving cell.

21. A user equipment, comprising:

a processor, when executing the program stored in the memory, performs the steps of the method for multi-paging of a user equipment in a network as claimed in any one of claims 1-20.