KR20140089294A - Methods and apparatuses for measuring WLAN signal in mobile communication networks - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and device for measuring the quality of a wireless local area network (WLAN) signal in a mobile communications network, and more particularly, to a method and device for measuring, by a terminal, the quality of a WLAN signal and reporting the measured quality of the WLAN signal to a base station. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for transmitting, by a terminal, a measurement report, the method including the steps of receiving, from a base station, an upper layer signaling including measurement setting information including at least one of location information of a WLAN access point (AP) for measuring the quality of a signal of a WLAN and a beacon message of the WLAN; measuring the quality of the signal of the WLAN on the basis of the measurement setting information; and transmitting a measurement report including a result of the measuring the quality of the signal of the WLAN to the base station on the basis of the measurement setting information.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring a quality of a wireless LAN signal in a mobile communication network,

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the quality of a wireless LAN signal in a mobile communication network, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for measuring a quality of a wireless LAN signal in a mobile communication network, And reporting the signal quality to the base station.

As communications systems evolved, consumers, such as businesses and individuals, used a wide variety of wireless terminals. A mobile communication system such as the current 3GPP family Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-A (LTE Advanced) is a high-speed, large-capacity communication system capable of transmitting and receiving various data such as video and wireless data, , It is required to develop a technology capable of transmitting large-capacity data based on a wired communication network. In addition, as a plurality of terminals transmit and receive a large amount of data to and from one base station, the data throughput of the base station rapidly increases and the service quality is deteriorated. Therefore, a technology for distributing data throughput of the base station is required.

Therefore, it is required to accurately measure the signal quality of the heterogeneous network and report it to the base station in order to distribute the data throughput of the base station. In addition, it is required to accurately measure the signal quality of the heterogeneous network for efficient distribution of data processing while minimizing the power consumption of the terminal, and report it to the base station.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for measuring a signal quality of a WLAN based on measurement setup information received from a base station and transmitting the measured signal quality to a base station to measure an accurate signal quality of the heterogeneous network .

In addition, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for measuring and reporting a signal quality of a WLAN while minimizing battery consumption of a terminal in measuring signal quality of a heterogeneous network.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of transmitting a measurement report of a terminal, the method comprising the steps of: receiving location information of a WLAN access point (AP) for measuring a signal quality of a wireless local area network (WLAN) Receiving the upper layer signaling including measurement setup information including at least one of the measurement setup information, measuring the signal quality of the WLAN based on the measurement setup information, and measuring the measurement report of the measured WLAN based on the measurement setup information And transmitting to the base station.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a measurement report transmission of a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving at least one of location information of a WLAN Access Point (AP) Generating measurement setup information including the above information, transmitting higher layer signaling including measurement setup information to the terminal, and receiving measurement report of the measured WLAN from the terminal.

In addition, the present invention provides a wireless communication system, which includes measurement setup information including at least one of location information of a WLAN Access Point (AP) for measuring signal quality of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and beacon message information of a WLAN from a base station A control unit for measuring the signal quality of the WLAN based on the measurement setup information, and a transmitter for transmitting the measurement report of the measured WLAN to the base station based on the measurement setup information.

Also, the present invention provides a wireless communication system including a controller for generating measurement setup information including at least one of position information of a WLAN Access Point (AP) for measuring a signal quality of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and beacon message information of a WLAN, A transmitter for transmitting upper layer signaling including setting information to a terminal, and a receiver for receiving a measurement report of a WLAN measured from the terminal.

As described above, according to the present invention, a method and an apparatus for measuring a signal quality of a WLAN based on measurement setup information received from a base station and measuring the signal quality of the WLAN and transmitting the measured signal quality to the base station, It is effective to distribute the data traffic of the network.

According to the present invention, in measuring the signal quality of the heterogeneous network, the signal quality of the WLAN is measured while minimizing battery consumption of the terminal, and the accurate signal quality of the heterogeneous network is measured while lowering the power consumption of the terminal.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of measuring a radio signal quality of another communication system by a terminal.
2 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for measuring a signal quality of a WLAN according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which a terminal measures signal quality based on location information of a WLAN AP according to another embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which a UE according to another embodiment of the present invention measures signal quality based on beacon message information of a WLAN.
5 is a diagram illustrating an operation in which a terminal measures and reports a signal quality of a WLAN according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a base station controlling WLAN signal quality measurement of a UE according to another embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a base station according to another embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a diagram illustrating parameters including measurement setting information according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary drawings. It should be noted that, in adding reference numerals to the constituent elements of the drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference symbols as possible even if they are shown in different drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

The wireless communication system in the present invention is widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, packet data and the like. A wireless communication system includes a user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS, or eNB). The user terminal in this specification is a comprehensive concept of a terminal in wireless communication. It is a comprehensive concept which means a mobile station (MS), a user terminal (UT), an SS (User Equipment) (Subscriber Station), a wireless device, and the like.

A base station or a cell generally refers to a station that communicates with a user terminal and includes a Node-B, an evolved Node-B (eNB), a sector, a Site, a BTS A base transceiver system, an access point, a relay node, a remote radio head (RRH), a radio unit (RU), and the like.

That is, the base station or the cell in this specification is interpreted as a comprehensive meaning indicating a partial region or function covered by BSC (Base Station Controller) in CDMA, NodeB in WCDMA, eNB in LTE or sector (site) And covers various coverage areas such as megacell, macrocell, microcell, picocell, femtocell and relay node, RRH, and RU communication range.

Since the various cells that are listed have a base station controlling each cell, the base station can be interpreted in two meanings. i) a device itself providing a megacell, a macrocell, a microcell, a picocell, a femtocell, or a small cell in relation to a wireless region, or ii) the wireless region itself. i indicate to the base station all the devices that interact to allow the devices providing the given wireless region to be controlled by the same entity or to configure the wireless region as a collaboration. An eNB, an RRH, an antenna, an RU, an LPN, a point, a transmission / reception point, a transmission point, a reception point, and the like are embodiments of a base station according to a configuration method of a radio area. ii) may indicate to the base station the wireless region itself that is to receive or transmit signals from the perspective of the user terminal or from a neighboring base station.

Therefore, a base station is collectively referred to as a megacell, a macrocell, a microcell, a picocell, a femtocell, a small cell, an RRH, an antenna, an RU, a low power node (LPN), a point, an eNB, Quot;

Herein, the user terminal and the base station are used in a broad sense as two (uplink or downlink) transmitting and receiving subjects used to implement the technology or technical idea described in the present invention, and are not limited by a specific term or word . Here, an uplink (UL, or uplink) means a method of transmitting / receiving data to / from a base station by a user terminal, and a downlink (DL or downlink) .

There are no restrictions on multiple access schemes applied to wireless communication systems. Various multiple access schemes such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), OFDM-FDMA, OFDM- Can be used. An embodiment of the present invention can be applied to asynchronous wireless communication that evolves into LTE and LTE-advanced via GSM, WCDMA, and HSPA, and synchronous wireless communication that evolves into CDMA, CDMA-2000, and UMB. The present invention should not be construed as limited to or limited to a specific wireless communication field and should be construed as including all technical fields to which the idea of the present invention can be applied.

A TDD (Time Division Duplex) scheme in which uplink and downlink transmissions are transmitted using different time periods, or an FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) scheme in which they are transmitted using different frequencies can be used.

In systems such as LTE and LTE-A, the uplink and downlink are configured on the basis of one carrier or carrier pair to form a standard. The uplink and downlink transmit control information through a control channel such as a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a Physical Control Format Indicator CHannel (PCFICH), a Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator CHannel (PHICH), a Physical Uplink Control CHannel And a data channel such as a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH), a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH), and the like.

On the other hand, control information can also be transmitted using EPDCCH (enhanced PDCCH or extended PDCCH).

In this specification, a cell refers to a component carrier having a coverage of a signal transmitted from a transmission point or a transmission point or transmission / reception point of a signal transmitted from a transmission / reception point, and a transmission / reception point itself .

The wireless communication system to which the embodiments are applied may be a coordinated multi-point transmission / reception system (CoMP system) or a coordinated multi-point transmission / reception system in which two or more transmission / reception points cooperatively transmit signals. antenna transmission system, or a cooperative multi-cell communication system. A CoMP system may include at least two multipoint transmit and receive points and terminals.

In one embodiment of the base station, the multiplex transmission / reception point has a high transmission power, which is connected to a base station or a macro cell (eNB) and an optical cable or an optical fiber to an eNB, Or at least one RRH with low transmission power.

Hereinafter, a downlink refers to a communication or communication path from a multiplex transmission / reception point to a terminal, and an uplink refers to a communication or communication path from a terminal to a multiplex transmission / reception point. In the downlink, a transmitter may be a part of a multipoint transmission / reception point, and a receiver may be a part of a terminal. In the uplink, the transmitter may be a part of the terminal, and the receiver may be a part of multiple transmission / reception points.

Hereinafter, a situation in which a signal is transmitted / received through a channel such as PUCCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, EPDCCH, and PDSCH is expressed as 'PUCCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, EPDCCH and PDSCH are transmitted and received'.

Meanwhile, the High Layer Signaling described below includes RRC signaling (or RRC message) including RRC parameters and transmitting RRC information.

The base station performs downlink transmission to the UEs. The eNB includes a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) as a main physical channel for unicast transmission, downlink control information such as scheduling required for reception of a PDSCH, A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for transmitting scheduling grant information for transmission in a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). Hereinafter, the transmission / reception of a signal through each channel will be described in a form in which the corresponding channel is transmitted / received.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of measuring a radio signal quality of another communication system by a terminal.

It is essential to support the mobility of the terminal in the mobile communication system. In order to support mobility, the UE continuously measures a signal quality of a serving cell currently serving and a signal quality of neighboring cells surrounding the serving cell. The measured result is transmitted to the base station under a special condition, and the base station supports the mobility of the mobile station in a manner of instructing the mobile station to perform handover to the neighboring cell based on the measurement result reported by the mobile station.

If the terminal supports signal quality measurement for a heterogeneous network, it may also measure signal quality for a cell of the heterogeneous network by base station establishment. This measurement of signal quality for a heterogeneous network is called inter-RAT (Radio Access Technology) measurement. Here, the RAT may include a UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network), a GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network) conforming to the 3GPP standard, and a CDMA 2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000) system conforming to the 3GPP2 standard .

That is, the base station 102 of another mobile communication system in FIG. 1 may be a base station that transmits radio signals in other communication systems in Inter-RAT such as UTRAN, GERAN, and CDMA2000 described above.

The terminal 109 determines an object to be measured according to the measurement configuration set by the base station and reports the result (S140). Upon receiving the message including the measurement configuration, the terminal 109 performs measurement (S130) and reports the measurement result to the base station (S140).

In other words, the UE 109 receives measurement setup information for Inter-RAT measurement from the base station 101 constituting the serving cell (S110). After receiving the measurement setting information, the terminal 109 receives a radio signal transmitted from the base station 102 of another communication system (S120). The radio signal quality of the other base station is measured based on the received radio signal and measurement setting information (S130). The terminal 109 transmits a measurement report including the measured result to the base station 102 (S140).

For example, the measurement configuration information transmitted from the base station to the terminal may include the following parameters.

- Measurement objects: Contains information about the objects that the terminal should measure. The measurement objects set in the terminal are each one of an intra-frequency measurement object, an inter-frequency measurement object, or an inter-RAT measurement object. For intra-frequency and inter-frequency measurements, the measurement object is one LTE carrier frequency.

Reporting configuration: Includes information related to the setting of when to report to the base station about the measurement result of the terminal. And may be set to be reported periodically or by occurrence in an event.

- Measurement identities: Contains information about identifiers (IDs) that link specific measurement targets with specific reporting settings.

- Quantity configurations: Includes measurement quantities and configuration information for filtering measurement results.

- Measurement gaps: The measurement gaps are information that does not transmit / receive data to / from the corresponding terminal, and includes information on the time allocated to allow the terminal to perform measurement only. Inter-frequency, inter-RAT measurement operations are performed during this period.

The UE 109 receives the measurement setup information as described above, for example, from the Node B 101 and measures the quality of a radio signal of a base station of another base station or a heterogeneous network (S 130).

Then, the terminal 109 transmits a measurement report including the measured result to the base station 101 (S140).

Hereinafter, a reporting operation in which the terminal 109 transmits a measurement report to the base station will be described.

The measured result is performed by the reporting operation periodically or by event occurrence according to the information included in the reporting configuration parameter of the measurement configuration information.

An event that triggers a measurement reporting operation can be defined as follows.

Event A1: If the quality of the measured serving cell is better than a certain threshold, the UE transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-described specific threshold is set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Event A2: If the quality of the measured serving cell is worse than a certain threshold, the UE transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-described specific threshold is set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Event A3: If the quality of the neighboring cell measured is better than the offset value of the serving cell, the terminal transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-described offset value is set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Event A4: If the quality of the measured neighboring cell is better than a certain threshold, the terminal transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-described specific threshold is set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Event A5: If the quality of the measured serving cell is worse than the threshold 1 and the quality of the neighboring cell is better than the threshold 2, the UE transmits the measurement result to the base station. The specific values 1 and 2 are set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Event A6: If the quality of the measured neighboring cell is better than the offset value of the S cell (Secondary Cell), the terminal transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-mentioned offset value is set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Event B1: If the quality of the measured Inter RAT neighbor cell is better than a certain threshold, the terminal transmits the measurement result to the base station. The specific threshold is set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Event B2: If the measured quality of the serving cell is worse than the threshold 1 and the quality of the Inter RAT neighbor cell is better than the threshold 2, the UE transmits the measurement result to the base station. The specific values 1 and 2 are set in advance through the measurement setting information.

Thus, the radio signal quality measurement and reporting operation in the LTE communication system or in the heterogeneous network between the LTE communication system and the UTRAN / GERAN / CDMA2000 communication system can be performed based on the measurement setting information received from the base station.

However, currently, there is no signal quality measurement and reporting operation for a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) frequency in LTE / UMTS. Accordingly, since the base station can not know the signal quality state of the WLAN to which the terminal can belong, it is impossible for the terminal to efficiently select LTE / UMTS or WLAN to access the terminal. In addition, since the terminal always measures the signal quality of the WLAN network, it is required to have a method of measuring the signal quality of the WLAN only in a place where the WLAN network installed by the provider exists.

LTE / UMTS operators usually deploy and manage WLAN networks for data offloading. However, current LTE / UTMS terminals can not select LTE / UMTS or WLAN networks adaptively according to the quality of wireless signal. Accordingly, the terminal aims at maintaining the best connection quality by making it possible to connect to a good signal quality through an operation of measuring and reporting the signal quality of LTE / UMTS or WLAN.

The WLAN AP in the present specification is one of the devices or points constituting a wireless LAN, and can transmit a wireless signal by connecting a wired LAN and a wireless LAN. An AP can be used as a stand-alone device to connect to an Ethernet hub or server, or it can be understood as a point or device that transmits wireless signals of a WLAN.

2 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for measuring a signal quality of a WLAN according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the terminal 209 receives at least one of the location information of a WLAN Access Point (AP) for measuring a signal quality of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) from the base station 201 and the beacon message information of the WLAN Receiving the upper layer signaling including the measurement setup information including the above information, measuring the signal quality of the WLAN based on the measurement setup information, and measuring the measured WLAN measurement report based on the measurement setup information, ). ≪ / RTI >

That is, in the present invention, the terminal 209 performs signal quality measurement and reporting operations on the WLAN frequency based on the measurement setting information received from the base station 201 (S230, S250).

Meanwhile, in the present invention, the terminal 209 can perform communication by connecting to either the WLAN or the base station having a better quality based on the measured wireless signal quality of the WLAN (S260).

In addition, the measurement setting information may further include at least one of WLAN channel information, WLAN identification information, and report setting information for reporting a measurement result. Also, the measurement setting information can be received included in the higher layer signaling. That is, it may be included in the MeasConfig Information Element of the RRC Reconfiguration message or may be included in the newly defined Measurement Setting Information Element (IE).

2, the terminal 209 receives the upper layer signaling including the measurement setting information for measuring the signal quality of the WLAN from the base station 201 (S210). Thereafter, the wireless signal of the WLAN is received from the AP of the WLAN based on the measurement setting information (S220), and the wireless signal quality is measured based on the received wireless signal and measurement setting information (S230).

Thereafter, a measurement report cycle time or a specific event generation time is determined (S240), and a measurement report including a radio signal quality result value is transmitted to the base station (S250).

Meanwhile, after transmitting the measurement report to the base station 201, the terminal 209 performs connection to the WLAN or the base station based on the signal quality of the WLAN and whether a specific event is generated (S260).

In FIG. 2, for example, when the signal quality of the WLAN is better than that of the base station, the terminal 209 is connected to the WLAN. If it is determined that the signal quality of the WLAN is not better than the signal quality of the base station, the terminal may terminate the communication with the WLAN and connect to the base station.

For example, the step of connecting the terminal to the WLAN may be performed after the measurement report transmission step, as shown in FIG. 2, or may be performed simultaneously with step S250.

The information elements included in the measurement setting information received by the terminal 209 will be described below by way of example.

Measurement configuration information transmitted from the base station 201 to the terminal 209 may include the following information elements.

- WLAN frequency information: Includes WLAN frequency (channel) information to be measured by the terminal. This information may include information of at least one of an operating class and a channel number.

- WLAN identifier information: It may include SSID (Service Set Identifier) information of the WLAN to be measured by the UE. In addition, it may include at least any one of a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), a Homogeneous Extended Service Set Identifier (HESSID), and a Domain Name List (HSSID) that can identify the WLAN as well as the SSID .

- Report setting information: Includes setting information about when the terminal should report to the base station about the result of measuring the WLAN frequency.

- WLAN location information: Contains location information of WLAN APs.

- Beacon message information: Includes the period and timing information of the beacon message transmitted by the corresponding WLAN AP. That is, the terminal can scan the WLAN frequency at the correct time through the corresponding beacon message information and directly receive the beacon message from the WLAN AP, thereby minimizing the scan time of the WLAN frequency.

The terminal may receive measurement setting information including at least one of the information elements described above.

In order to report the radio signal quality value of the measured WLAN to the base station 201 as described above, the terminal 209 determines whether a set reporting period and a reporting event have occurred (S240).

The information on the above-mentioned report event may be included in the report setting information parameter (information element) of the measurement setting information received from the base station. Therefore, the report setting information may include periodic reporting and the following event information.

- Event A1: When the measured WLAN signal quality is above a certain threshold, the terminal transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-mentioned specific threshold is set through the report setting information.

- Event A2: If the measured WLAN quality is better than the current serving cell quality, the terminal transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-described offset value is set through the report setting information.

- Event A3: If the quality of the measured serving cell is worse than the specified value 1 (threshold 1) and the WLAN signal quality is better than the specified value 2 (threshold 2), the UE transmits the measurement result to the base station. The above-described specific values 1 and 2 are set through the report setting information.

Hereinafter, each embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

Example  1: Using location information WLAN  Frequency quality measurement operation

In the step of measuring the signal quality of the WLAN according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the measurement setup information includes the location information of the WLAN AP, if the distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP is less than or equal to the reference distance value Or when entering the service area of the WLAN AP, the signal quality of the WLAN can be measured.

That is, if the WLAN measurement setup information received from the base station (network) includes the WLAN location information, if the mobile station approaches the WLAN AP by a predetermined distance or less based on the WLAN AP location information, Start measuring quality.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which a terminal measures signal quality based on location information of a WLAN AP according to another embodiment of the present invention.

3, the WLAN frequency quality measurement operation using the location information of the present invention will be described in detail.

1. The terminal receives WLAN-related measurement setting information from the network (S300).

2. It is checked whether the received measurement setting information includes the location information of the WLAN AP (S305). The location information of the WLAN AP indicates where the AP of the WLAN is located, and may be GNSS (e.g., GPS) information such as latitude and longitude, or a cell ID of the LTE / Area), and TA (Tracking Area) information.

3. If the terminal enters the location information (for example, enters the service area) or is within a certain distance from the location information (S310), the terminal starts measuring the WLAN frequency (S315). If the location information is GNSS (GPS) information, the current estimated location of the terminal is calculated at the location, and if the calculated distance is less than a predetermined distance value, the quality measurement of the WLAN frequency is attempted. The predetermined distance value may be a value set at the time of measurement configuration or a value previously defined in the specification.

If the calculated distance is greater than a preset distance value, the quality measurement of the WLAN frequency is stopped.

4. When measuring the quality of the WLAN frequency, it is checked whether the measured value meets the reporting condition of the set report configuration (S320).

5. If the report condition is satisfied, the corresponding result value is transmitted to the base station (S350). The quality measurement result value may be communicated with the corresponding WLAN frequency, identifier value (e.g., SSID value), and the like.

If the location information of the WLAN AP is not included in the measurement setup information in step S305, the signal quality of the WLAN is measured without measuring the separation distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP (S325).

It is determined whether the measurement result after the measurement satisfies the measurement report condition (S330).

If the measurement report condition is satisfied, the measurement report including the result value is transmitted to the base station (S350).

Whether or not the measurement result satisfies the measurement report condition at step S320 or S330 can be judged based on whether the periodic report point has been reached or an event that can be set by the report setting information included in the measurement setting information has been generated .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the measurement report event may occur in the case of the above-described events A1 to A3.

Specifically, when the measured signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or greater than the first reference value, the measured signal quality of the WLAN is better than the serving cell signal quality of the terminal by a second reference value or more, And the quality is equal to or greater than a fourth reference value, the measurement report of the measured WLAN is transmitted to the base station, and the first to fourth reference values may be included in the measurement setup information.

If the quality of the measured WLAN radio signal satisfies any of the above conditions, the UE transmits a measurement report including the WLAN radio signal quality measurement result to the base station (S350).

As described above, the terminal may further include a step of comparing the first reference value to the fourth reference value included in the measured signal quality of the WLAN and the measurement setup information, and performing communication by accessing the WLAN according to whether the event is generated have.

The terminal may receive the connection indication information from the base station and connect to it, or it may be connected simultaneously or sequentially with the measurement report transmission depending on whether the event has occurred or not.

If it is determined that the signal quality of the base station is better in a situation where the terminal is connected to the WLAN, it may be connected to the base station.

Although the case where the signal quality of the WLAN is good has been described above, when the signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or less than the first reference value or when the serving cell signal quality is equal to or higher than the third reference value and the WLAN signal quality is equal to or lower than the third reference value, It is also possible to set a measurement report even when the signal of the serving cell is better than the signal quality of the WLAN by a second reference value or more. In this case, the base station recognizes that the signal of the serving cell is better than the WLAN, and can control the terminal to stop the communication with the WLAN and perform communication with the serving cell.

Example  2 : Beacon ( Beacon Efficient use of message information WLAN  Frequency measurement operation

According to another embodiment of the present invention, in a step of measuring a signal quality of a WLAN, a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits a beacon message to the WLAN when the beacon message information of the WLAN is included in the measurement setup information The signal quality of the WLAN can be measured.

That is, if the beacon message information is included in the measurement setup information received from the network, the UE scans the WLAN frequency at the time of transmission of the beacon message and attempts to measure the quality of the WLAN frequency.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which a UE according to another embodiment of the present invention measures signal quality based on beacon message information of a WLAN.

The operation of measuring the WLAN frequency according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

1. The terminal receives the WLAN-related measurement setting information from the base station (network) (S400).

2. It is checked whether the received information includes beacon message information (S405). The beacon message information may include information on the beacon message transmission time when the WLAN transmits the beacon message and information on the transmission period of the beacon message.

3. When the WLAN frequency measurement is triggered, the UE checks the transmission time and period of the beacon message of the corresponding WLAN frequency using the received beacon message information (S410) Measurement is attempted (S415).

4. When measuring the quality of the WLAN frequency, it is checked whether the measured value meets the reporting condition of the set report configuration (S420).

5. If it meets the reporting condition, it transmits the measurement result to the base station including the WLAN frequency, the identifier value (e.g., SSID value), and the like (S450).

The beacon message described above may mean a non-directional intermittent signal transmitted at a certain frequency with a certain frequency. In addition, the beacon message may mean a wireless transmission frame signal having a predetermined period, which is used for versatility, such as making its presence known and easy to find.

In particular, it may refer to a message that is used by the AP in the WLAN to periodically inform the existence of a network to which it is entitled on the shared channel. Refers to a periodically transmitted signal that notifies the presence of a wireless network and allows the terminal to find the wireless network and participate in the wireless network.

If the beacon message information of the WLAN is not included in the measurement setup information in step S405, the terminal measures the signal quality of the WLAN irrespective of the beacon message transmission time of the WLAN (S425).

It is determined whether the measurement result after the measurement satisfies the measurement report condition (S430).

If the measurement report condition is satisfied, the measurement report including the result value is transmitted to the base station (S450).

Whether or not the measurement result satisfies the measurement report condition at S420 or S430 can be judged according to whether the periodic reporting point has been reached or an event that can be set by the report setting information included in the measurement setting information has been generated .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the measurement report event may occur in the case of the above-described events A1 to A3.

Specifically, when the measured signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or greater than the first reference value, the measured signal quality of the WLAN is better than the serving cell signal quality of the terminal by a second reference value or more, And the quality is equal to or greater than a fourth reference value, the measurement report of the measured WLAN is transmitted to the base station, and the first to fourth reference values may be included in the measurement setup information.

If the quality of the measured WLAN radio signal satisfies any of the above conditions, the UE transmits a measurement report including the WLAN radio signal quality measurement result to the base station (S450).

As described above, the terminal may further include a step of comparing the first reference value to the fourth reference value included in the measured signal quality of the WLAN and the measurement setup information, and performing communication by accessing the WLAN according to whether the event is generated have.

The terminal may receive the connection indication information from the base station and connect to it, or it may be connected simultaneously or sequentially with the measurement report transmission depending on whether the event has occurred or not.

If it is determined that the signal quality of the base station is better in a situation where the terminal is connected to the WLAN, it may be connected to the base station.

Although the case where the signal quality of the WLAN is good has been described above, when the signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or less than the first reference value or when the serving cell signal quality is equal to or higher than the third reference value and the WLAN signal quality is equal to or lower than the third reference value, It is possible to set the measurement report even when the signal of the serving cell is better than the signal quality of the WLAN by a second reference value or more. In this case, the base station recognizes that the signal of the serving cell is better than the WLAN, and can control the terminal to stop the communication with the WLAN and perform communication with the serving cell.

According to the present invention, according to the present invention, a terminal measures quality of a WLAN frequency and reports it to a base station. Thus, the base station controls the terminal to connect to a better network according to the situation, It is possible to prevent the battery consumption of the terminal.

Hereinafter, operations of a terminal and a base station according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

5 is a diagram illustrating an operation in which a terminal measures and reports a signal quality of a WLAN according to another embodiment of the present invention.

A terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a measurement setting (not shown) including at least one of location information of a WLAN Access Point (AP) for measuring signal quality of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) and beacon message information of a WLAN from a base station And receives upper layer signaling including information (S510).

In addition, the measurement setting information may further include at least one of WLAN channel information, WLAN identification information, and report setting information for reporting a measurement result.

The terminal measures the signal quality of the WLAN based on the received measurement setting information (S520). In this case, the UE can measure the radio signal quality of the WLAN based on the WLAN channel information, the WLAN identification information, and the report setting information for reporting the measurement result, which may be included in the measurement setting information.

For example, in determining a wireless signal quality of a WLAN, a terminal may receive a received channel power indicator (RCPI), a received signal to noise indicator (RSNI), a basic service set load (BSS load), and a wide area network metrics (WAN metrics) And a measurement candidate of a plurality of measurement candidates.

In the step of measuring the signal quality of the WLAN, if the position information of the WLAN AP is included in the measurement setup information and the separation distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP is less than or equal to the reference distance value, The signal quality of the WLAN can be measured.

Alternatively, the UE may measure the signal quality of the WLAN when the beacon message is transmitted, when the measurement setup information includes beacon message information of the WLAN in the step of measuring the signal quality of the WLAN.

The terminal includes transmitting a measurement report including the signal quality result of the measured WLAN to the base station based on the measurement setup information (S530).

When the signal quality of the measured WLAN is equal to or greater than the first reference value and the signal quality of the measured WLAN is greater than the second reference value or more than the serving cell signal quality of the UE, The measurement report of the measured WLAN is transmitted to the base station, and the first to fourth reference values may be included in the measurement setup information.

That is, the first to fourth reference values may be included in the measurement setting information and transmitted to the terminal, or may be a preset value in the specification of the terminal.

The UE measures the signal quality of the WLAN as described above, and determines whether a report event in which the measured signal quality satisfies the measurement report condition is generated or not. If it is determined that a report event has occurred, the measurement report is transmitted to the base station (S530).

6 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a base station controlling WLAN signal quality measurement of a UE according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The base station according to another embodiment of the present invention may include measurement setting information including at least one of location information of a WLAN AP (Access Point) for measuring a signal quality of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) and beacon message information of a WLAN (S610).

In this case, the base station may generate at least one of the WLAN channel information, the WLAN identification information, and the report setting information for reporting the measurement result in the measurement setting information.

The base station includes a step of transmitting upper layer signaling including measurement setting information to the terminal (S620).

Specifically, the base station can transmit the RRC reconfiguration message including the parameters of the measurement setup information. In addition, a separate message may be defined and the measurement setup information may be transmitted to the terminal through higher layer signaling.

Thereafter, the method includes receiving a measurement report including the measured signal quality of the WLAN from the terminal (S630).

Specifically, if the location information of the WLAN AP is included in the measurement setup information, the base station determines whether the distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP is less than the reference distance value or when the terminal enters the service area of the WLAN AP. Measurement and reporting.

In addition, if the beacon message information of the WLAN is included in the measurement setup information, the base station may control the terminal to measure and report the signal quality of the WLAN when the beacon message is transmitted.

Further, the base station can control the measurement report event of the terminal in relation to the step of the base station receiving the measurement report from the terminal.

For example, when a specific event occurs, that is, when the signal quality of the measured WLAN is equal to or greater than the first reference value, the base station determines that the signal quality of the measured WLAN is better than the serving cell signal quality of the terminal by a second reference value, If the quality of the WLAN is less than the third reference value and the signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or greater than the fourth reference value, the measurement report of the WLAN measured from the terminal is received, and the first to fourth reference values are included in the measurement setting information .

Alternatively, the base station may control the terminal to transmit the measurement report at a periodic measurement reporting time to receive the measurement report, or to periodically receive the measurement report, and to additionally receive the measurement report in the case of the specific event occurrence described above.

7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.

7, a user terminal 700 according to another embodiment includes a receiving unit 730, a control unit 710, and a transmitting unit 720.

The receiving unit 730 receives downlink control information, data, and messages from the base station through the corresponding channel. In addition, it receives upper layer signaling including measurement setting information.

Also, the controller 710 controls the overall operation of the terminal, which performs signal quality measurement and reporting operations on the WLAN frequency, based on the measurement setup information received from the base station, which is necessary for performing the above-described present invention.

The transmitting unit 720 transmits downlink control information, data, and a message to the base station through the corresponding channel. It also sends a measurement report containing the result of the measured signal quality to the base station.

7 may implement the operations of all the terminals described in FIGS. 2 to 6, and each of the components may be implemented as a separate component or may be combined into one component.

8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a base station according to another embodiment of the present invention.

8, a base station 800 according to another embodiment includes a controller 820, a transmitter 830, and a receiver 810.

The control unit 820 generates measurement setup information necessary for carrying out the above-described present invention, and transmits the measurement setup information to the terminal and generates an overall signal for measuring the WLAN frequency based on the measurement setup information. And controls the operation of the base station.

The transmitting unit 830 and the receiving unit 810 are used to transmit and receive signals, messages, and data necessary for carrying out the present invention to and from the terminal. That is, for example, the transmitter 830 transmits the measurement setting information to the terminal through higher layer signaling. Also, the receiving unit 810 receives a measurement report including the measurement result of the signal quality of the WLAN from the terminal.

Each of the components of the base station shown in FIG. 8 may implement all of the operations of the embodiments of the present invention described with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 6, and each component may be implemented as a separate component or may be implemented as a single component .

9 is a diagram illustrating parameters including measurement setting information according to the present invention.

An example in which the above-described measurement setting information is included in upper layer signaling and transmitted is described with reference to FIG.

As described above, the measurement setting information may be included in the measurement setting (MeasConfig, 900) parameter of the RRC reconfiguration message and transmitted to the terminal.

Specifically, for example, the WLAN channel information is included in the measurement object of the measurement setting parameter so that information on the measurement target WLAN can be transmitted.

In addition, the reporting configuration information is included in the reporting configuration, so that information such as the reporting time of the measurement result of the WLAN and the reporting event can be transmitted. The WLAN identification information may be included in Measurement identities of the measurement setup message 900 and transmitted.

In addition, each field including the location information of the WLAN AP and beacon message information may be additionally transmitted.

In the above description, the measurement setting information 900 of the present invention is transmitted to the measurement setting parameter 900. However, another parameter including measurement setting information may be defined and transmitted. In this case, a separate parameter may be included in the RRC message and transmitted.

Hereinafter, information elements that can be included in the RRC message according to the embodiments of the present invention as described above will be described.

For example, the measurement setup information may be included in the measurement setup parameters of the RRC Reconfiguration message.

The specific measurement setting information element may be configured as follows.

MeasConfig information element

We briefly describe key information elements.

- areaConfiguration: Contains information related to the beacon message of the WLAN. For example, it may include information such as a transmission time of a beacon message, a transmission period, a transmission interval, and the like.

- measObjectToAddModList: Contains information about what the terminal should measure. For example, the terminal may include information about a WLAN to be measured. Specific information about measObjectToAddModList The element composition is discussed in more detail below.

For example, the information element of measObjectToAddModList can be configured as follows.

measObjectToAddModList information element

An element of measObjectWLAN may be added to contain information about the WLAN that the terminal should measure. The terminal can select and measure the WLAN to be measured based on the element.

Also, measObjectWLAN may include an identifier of a specific WLAN.

For example, the following information element may be included and may include the identifier information of the WLAN.

MeasObjectWLAN information element

As described above, the WLAN identifier or the frequency information includes not only the SSID but also a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), a Homogeneous Extended Service Set Identifier (HESSID), a Domain Name List, And information of at least one of a class and a channel number.

On the other hand, for example, the report setting information included in the measurement setting information may be composed of the following information elements and transmitted.

ReportConfigToAddModList information element

The UE can transmit the WLAN measurement report to the base station by determining whether to report the WLAN, whether or not the reporting event is generated, and the reporting point based on the report setting information. In addition, in determining the wireless signal quality of the WLAN based on the report setting information, the received signal power indicator (RCPI), the received signal to noise indicator (RSNI), the basic service set load (BSS load) and measurement candidates such as metrics may be measured and determined.

For example, the ReportConfigInterRAT information element included in the above-mentioned ReportConfigToAddModList information element can be configured as follows.

ReportConfigInterRAT information element

For example, the ReportConfigInterRAT information element contains information about a specific value or reference value (such as ThresholdWLAN) of each event used in determining each reporting event. In addition, information on a reporting event (event C1, etc.) can also be included.

In addition, the threshold WLAN information element may include information on a value that the terminal should measure in order to determine the wireless signal quality of the WLAN.

In this manner, the UE receives the measurement setup information including the ReportConfigInterRAT information element from the base station, measures the signal quality of the WLAN based on the information included in each information element, and determines whether to report to the base station.

The above-described measurement setup information is described as an example of each information element, and thus may be included in a separate RRC message and transmitted.

As described above, according to the present invention, a method and an apparatus for measuring a signal quality of a WLAN based on measurement setup information received from a base station and measuring the signal quality of the WLAN and transmitting the measured signal quality to the base station, It is effective to distribute the data traffic of the network.

According to the present invention, in measuring the signal quality of the heterogeneous network, the signal quality of the WLAN is measured while minimizing battery consumption of the terminal, and the accurate signal quality of the heterogeneous network is measured while lowering the power consumption of the terminal.

The standard content or standard documents referred to in each of the above-described embodiments constitute a part of this specification which is omitted for the sake of brevity. It is therefore to be understood that the appended claims or the scope of the appended claims may be construed as being within the scope of the present invention.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas falling within the scope of the same shall be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (22)

A method of transmitting a measurement report of a terminal,
Receiving upper layer signaling including measurement setup information including at least one of position information of a WLAN access point (AP) for measuring a signal quality of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and beacon message information of a WLAN from a base station step;
Measuring a signal quality of the WLAN based on the measurement setting information; And
And sending a measurement report including the signal quality result of the measured WLAN to the base station based on the measurement setup information. The method according to claim 1,
The measurement setting information includes:
The WLAN channel information, the WLAN identification information, and the report setting information for reporting the measurement result. The method according to claim 1,
Measuring the signal quality of the WLAN,
When the measurement setup information includes the location information of the WLAN AP, the signal quality of the WLAN is measured when the distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP becomes less than or equal to a reference distance value, . ≪ / RTI > The method according to claim 1,
Measuring the signal quality of the WLAN,
If the beacon message information of the WLAN is included in the measurement setup information, measuring the signal quality of the WLAN at a time when the beacon message is transmitted in the WLAN. The method according to claim 1,
When the signal quality of the measured WLAN is equal to or greater than a first reference value and when the measured signal quality of the WLAN is better than a second reference value of the terminal's serving cell signal quality and the serving cell signal quality is less than a third reference value, The measurement report of the measured WLAN is transmitted to the base station if any one of the cases where the signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or greater than the fourth reference value,
Wherein the first reference value to the fourth reference value are included in the measurement setting information. 6. The method of claim 5,
Further comprising the step of connecting to the WLAN when any one of the above cases occurs based on the measured signal quality of the WLAN and the comparison result of the first reference value to the fourth reference value. A method for a base station to control a measurement report transmission of a terminal,
Generating measurement setup information including at least one of position information of a WLAN Access Point (AP) and beacon message information of a WLAN for measuring a signal quality of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN);
Transmitting an upper layer signaling including the measurement setting information to the terminal; And
And receiving a measurement report comprising a signal quality result of the measured WLAN from the terminal. 8. The method of claim 7,
The measurement setting information includes:
The WLAN channel information, the WLAN identification information, and the report setting information for reporting the measurement result. 8. The method of claim 7,
If the measurement setup information includes the location information of the WLAN AP, when the distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP becomes less than or equal to a reference distance value, or when the terminal enters the service area of the WLAN AP, And the quality is measured. 8. The method of claim 7,
When the beacon message information of the WLAN is included in the measurement setup information, controls the terminal to measure the signal quality of the WLAN when the beacon message is transmitted in the WLAN. 8. The method of claim 7,
When the signal quality of the measured WLAN is equal to or greater than a first reference value and when the measured signal quality of the WLAN is better than a second reference value of the terminal's serving cell signal quality and the serving cell signal quality is less than a third reference value, The measurement report of the measured WLAN is received from the terminal if any one of the cases where the signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or greater than the fourth reference value,
Wherein the first reference value to the fourth reference value are included in the measurement setting information. Receiving upper layer signaling including measurement setup information including at least one of position information of a WLAN access point (AP) for measuring a signal quality of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and beacon message information of a WLAN from a base station A receiving unit;
A controller for measuring a signal quality of the WLAN based on the measurement setting information; And
And a transmitter for transmitting a measurement report including the measured signal quality of the WLAN to the base station based on the measurement setup information. 13. The method of claim 12,
The measurement setting information includes:
The WLAN channel information, the WLAN identification information, and the report setting information for reporting the measurement result. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein,
When the measurement setup information includes the location information of the WLAN AP, the signal quality of the WLAN is measured when the distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP becomes less than or equal to a reference distance value, To the terminal. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein,
When the beacon message of the WLAN is included in the measurement setup information, measures a signal quality of the WLAN at a time when the beacon message is transmitted in the WLAN. 13. The method of claim 12,
When the signal quality of the measured WLAN is equal to or greater than a first reference value and when the measured signal quality of the WLAN is better than a second reference value of the terminal's serving cell signal quality and the serving cell signal quality is less than a third reference value, The measurement report of the measured WLAN is transmitted to the base station if any one of the cases where the signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or greater than the fourth reference value,
Wherein the first reference value to the fourth reference value are included in the measurement setting information. 17. The method of claim 16,
Wherein the terminal is connected to the WLAN when any one of the cases occurs based on the measured signal quality of the WLAN and the comparison result of the first reference value to the fourth reference value. A control unit for generating measurement setup information including at least one of position information of a WLAN AP (Access Point) for measuring a signal quality of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and beacon message information of a WLAN;
A transmitter for transmitting upper layer signaling including the measurement setting information to a terminal; And
And a receiving unit for receiving a measurement report including a signal quality result of the measured WLAN from the terminal. 19. The method of claim 18,
The measurement setting information includes:
The WLAN channel information, the WLAN identification information, and the report setting information for reporting the measurement result. 19. The method of claim 18,
If the measurement setup information includes the location information of the WLAN AP, when the distance between the terminal and the WLAN AP becomes less than or equal to a reference distance value, or when the terminal enters the service area of the WLAN AP, And measures the quality of the received signal. 19. The method of claim 18,
Wherein when the beacon message information of the WLAN is included in the measurement setup information, the beacon message is measured by the terminal to measure a signal quality of the WLAN when the beacon message is transmitted from the WLAN. 19. The method of claim 18,
When the signal quality of the measured WLAN is equal to or greater than a first reference value and when the measured signal quality of the WLAN is better than a second reference value of the terminal's serving cell signal quality and the serving cell signal quality is less than a third reference value, The measurement report of the measured WLAN is received from the terminal if any one of the cases where the signal quality of the WLAN is equal to or greater than the fourth reference value,
Wherein the first reference value to the fourth reference value are included in the measurement setting information.

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