WO2016171609A1 - Améliorations apportées au téléavertissement de dispositifs terminaux - Google Patents

Améliorations apportées au téléavertissement de dispositifs terminaux Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2016171609A1
WO2016171609A1 PCT/SE2016/050342 SE2016050342W WO2016171609A1 WO 2016171609 A1 WO2016171609 A1 WO 2016171609A1 SE 2016050342 W SE2016050342 W SE 2016050342W WO 2016171609 A1 WO2016171609 A1 WO 2016171609A1
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Prior art keywords
ran node
message
terminal device
node
page
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PCT/SE2016/050342
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English (en)
Inventor
Paul Schliwa-Bertling
Walter Müller
Lars-Bertil Olsson
Alexander Vesely
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Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
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Publication of WO2016171609A1 publication Critical patent/WO2016171609A1/fr

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W68/00—User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
    • H04W68/06—User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like using multi-step notification by changing the notification area

Definitions

  • the disclosure relates to the paging of terminal devices by a network node in a radio access network (RAN) of a communications network.
  • RAN radio access network
  • a Core network Node such as a Mobility Management Entity, MME
  • processes a paging trigger for example, a Downlink Data Notification, DDN.
  • the MME then sends a paging message, such as an S1AP paging message, to a RAN node, for instance an eNodeB.
  • paging radio resources In order to page a UE, paging radio resources must be available simultaneously in all cells in the paging scope. If not all cells are available to page when the S1AP paging message is received, the S1AP paging message is buffered and held in a buffer queue. When paging resources become available, the buffered S1AP paging message triggers the eNodeB to start paging over the air in the cells within the paging scope. Paging of different cells in the paging scope at different times is usually to be avoided to avoid the possibility that a UE moves from a first cell to a second cell after the second cell has been paged but before the first cell is paged.
  • Holding S1AP paging messages in the buffer queue at the RAN node in this way may result in delays in contacting the UE. Furthermore, the delay may cause the MME timer supervision of the S1AP paging to time out and cause the MME to send a new, i.e. a repeat, S1AP paging message to the same eNodeB, again instructing the eNodeB to send a paging request to the UE.
  • the eNodeB may have multiple requests to page the same UE in its buffer at any one time, leading to unnecessary repeat paging of the UE.
  • the UE If the UE is reached by a paging message transmitted over the air by the eNodeB, e.g. an RRC (radio resource control) paging message, it responds by signaling to the eNodeB in the cell where it is currently located. However, the eNodeB does not keep a record of whether a particular paging message sent to a UE was actually answered by the UE. This information is only available to the MME. The eNodeB has no UE context. One reason for this is that the eNodeB has no unique UE identifier from the paging request to tie to a UE context.
  • RRC radio resource control
  • the MME may request many eNodeBs to page a given UE but it will only respond to one eNodeB. Having each eNodeB track whether a UE has responded would thus involve wasting resources in eNodeBs associated with tracking a response.
  • the eNodeB may therefore page a UE as a result of one or more buffered S1AP paging messages when the UE has already responded to a paging triggered by a previous S1AP paging message from the MME that was processed by the same eNodeB.
  • there is a general motivation in the field to reduce the overhead of paging requests, since the same resources used for paging are also used for other traffic, e.g. data and phone calls.
  • a method of operating a radio access network, RAN, node in a communications network comprising receiving a message requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device.
  • the message comprises timing information.
  • the method also comprises identifying, using the timing information, whether the message is the first message received by the RAN node requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • a method of operating a core network node in a communications network comprises sending a message to a radio access network, RAN, node, requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device.
  • the message comprises timing information.
  • a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code embodied therein, the computer readable code being configured such that, on execution by a suitable computer or processor, the computer or processor is caused to perform the method of either of the aspects described above.
  • a radio access network, RAN, node in a communications network is adapted to receive a message requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the message comprising timing information.
  • the RAN node is further configured to identify, using the timing information, whether the message is the first message received by the RAN node requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • a yet further aspect relates to core network node in a communications network, the core node being configured to send a message to a radio access network, RAN, node, requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device.
  • the message comprises timing information.
  • the RAN node can determine if the terminal device should be paged in a subset of cells or within a broader paging scope. If the RAN node is aware from the information that this is the second or subsequent attempt to page the terminal device in response to a given paging trigger, then it may take one or more steps to improve coverage by, for example, increasing the transmission power and/or applying a more robust Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) than was used in previous paging attempts.
  • MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme
  • Figure 1 is a non-limiting example block diagram of an LTE (Long Term Evolution) cellular communications network
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram of a RAN node according to an embodiment
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram of a core network node according to an embodiment
  • Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method of operating a RAN node according to a specific embodiment
  • Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary method of operating a RAN node according to a general embodiment
  • Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary method of operating a core network node according to a general embodiment
  • Figure 7 is a block diagram of a RAN node according to an alternative embodiment
  • Figure 8 is a block diagram of a core network node according to an alternative embodiment
  • Figure 9 is a block diagram of a RAN node according to another alternative embodiment
  • Figure 10 is a block diagram of a core network node according to another alternative embodiment.
  • the technology can additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable memory, such as solid-state memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk containing an appropriate set of computer instructions that would cause a processor and also in some cases a receiver component and/or transmitter component to carry out the techniques described herein.
  • Hardware implementation may include or encompass, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, a reduced instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital or analog) circuitry including but not limited to application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC) and/or field programmable gate array(s) (FPGA(s)), and (where appropriate) state machines capable of performing such functions.
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • a computer is generally understood to comprise one or more processors, one or more processing units, one or more processing modules or one or more controllers, and the terms computer, processor, processing unit, processing module and controller may be employed interchangeably.
  • processors When provided by a computer, processor, processing unit, processing module or controller, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated computer, processor, processing unit, processing module or controller, by a single shared computer, processor, processing unit, processing module or controller, or by a plurality of individual computers, processors, processing units, processing modules or controllers, some of which may be shared or distributed.
  • processor also refer to other hardware capable of performing such functions and/or executing software, such as the example hardware recited above.
  • terminal device or user equipment (UE)
  • UE user equipment
  • terminal device and “UE” are non-limiting terms comprising any mobile, non-mobile or wireless device or node equipped with a radio interface allowing for at least one of: transmitting signals in uplink (UL) and receiving and/or measuring signals in downlink (DL).
  • a UE herein may comprise a UE (in its general sense) capable of operating or at least performing measurements in one or more frequencies, carrier frequencies, component carriers or frequency bands.
  • UE may be a “UE” operating in single- or multi-radio access technology (RAT) or multi- standard mode.
  • RAT radio access technology
  • terminal device the term “mobile device” is used interchangeably in the following description, and it will be appreciated that such a device does not necessarily have to be mobile in the sense that it is carried by a user. Instead, the term “mobile device”, as with “terminal device” encompasses any device that is capable of communicating with communication networks that operate according to one or more mobile communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), etc.
  • GSM Global System for Mobile communications
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
  • WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
  • LTE Long-Term Evolution
  • One or more cells are associated with a radio access network (RAN) node, where a RAN node comprises in a general sense any node transmitting radio signals in the downlink (DL) to a terminal device and/or receiving radio signals in the uplink (UL) from a terminal device.
  • RAN nodes or terms used for describing RAN nodes, are base station, eNodeB, eNB, NodeB, macro/micro/pico/femto radio base station, home eNodeB (also known as femto base station), relay, repeater, sensor, transmitting-only radio nodes or receiving-only radio nodes.
  • a RAN node may operate or at least perform measurements in one or more frequencies, carrier frequencies or frequency bands and may be capable of carrier aggregation. It may also be a single- radio access technology (RAT), multi-RAT, or multi-standard node, e.g., using the same or different base band circuitry for different RATs. It should be noted that unless otherwise indicated, the general term "RAN node” as used herein refers to a node in the RAN, such as a base station, a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), a NodeB, or an eNodeB.
  • BSC base station controller
  • RNC radio network controller
  • NodeB NodeB
  • eNodeB evolved NodeB
  • core network node or "CN node” as used herein refers to a node in the core network of a communications network and/or a node otherwise responsible for controlling or coordinating the operations of nodes in the RAN, and can be a mobility management entity, MME (in an LTE network), or a serving GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) support node, SGSN (in GSM, UMTS or WCDMA networks).
  • MME mobility management entity
  • GPRS General Packet Radio Service
  • SGSN in GSM, UMTS or WCDMA networks.
  • the signalling described is either via direct links or logical links (e.g. via higher layer protocols and/or via one or more network nodes).
  • signalling from a coordinating node may pass via another network node, e.g., a RAN node.
  • FIG. 1 shows an example diagram of an evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) architecture as part of an LTE-based communications system 2.
  • Nodes in the core network 4 include one or more Mobility Management Entities (MMEs) 6, a key control node for the LTE access network, and one or more Serving Gateways (SGWs) 8 which route and forward user data packets while acting as a mobility anchor. They communicate with base stations 10 in the RAN referred to in LTE as eNBs or eNodeBs, over an interface, for example an S1 interface.
  • the eNBs 10 can include the same or different categories of eNBs, e.g. macro eNBs, and/or micro/pico/femto eNBs.
  • FIG. 2 shows a RAN node 10 (for example a base station, NodeB or an eNodeB) that can be adapted for use in example embodiments described.
  • the RAN node 10 comprises a processor or processing unit 40 that controls the operation of the base station 10.
  • the processing unit 40 is connected to a transmitter or a transceiver 42 (which comprises a receiver and a transmitter) with associated antenna(s) 44 which are used to transmit signals to, and receive signals from, terminal devices 12 in the network 2.
  • the RAN node 10 also comprises a memory or memory unit 46 that is connected to the processing unit 40 and that stores computer program code and other information and data required for the operation of the RAN node 10.
  • the memory 46 can contain instructions executable by the processor 40 that cause the RAN node 10 to operate according to the methods described herein.
  • the RAN node 10 also includes components and/or circuitry 48 for allowing the RAN node 10 to exchange information with other RAN nodes 10 (for example via an X2 interface) and/or for allowing the RAN node 10 to exchange information with nodes in the core network 4 (for example via the S1 interface).
  • RAN nodes for use in other types of network e.g. UTRAN or WCDMA RAN
  • FIG. 3 shows a core network node 6, 8 that can be adapted for use in the example embodiments described.
  • the node 6, 8 comprises a processor or processing unit 50 that controls the operation of the node 6, 8.
  • the processing unit 50 is connected to components and/or circuitry 52 for allowing the node 6, 8 to exchange information with RAN nodes 10 with which it is associated (which is typically via the S1 interface).
  • the node 6, 8 also comprises a memory or memory unit 56 that is connected to the processing unit 50 and that stores computer program code and other information and data required for the operation of the node 6, 8.
  • the memory 56 can contain instructions executable by the processor 50 that cause the core network node 6, 8 to operate according to the methods described herein.
  • a core network node when paging a terminal device in response to a given paging trigger, a core network node sends a paging message to a RAN node, requesting that the RAN node pages the terminal device.
  • the paging will be described with reference to the core network node being an MME and the RAN node being an eNodeB, with the paging message sent from the MME to the eNodeB being an S1AP paging message but it will be appreciated that some embodiments may involve different types of node and/or messaging formats.
  • the S1AP paging message is buffered. Holding the S1AP paging message in a buffer in this way creates a delay and can lead to the MME resending another S1AP paging message to the eNodeB in respect of the same paging trigger. There is no currently no information provided to, or available to, the eNodeB that can be used to determine if a paging message received from the MME is the first or second or even third request to attempt to page this particular terminal device in response to the given paging trigger.
  • the eNodeB processes each S1AP paging message independently, irrespective of whether the terminal device has responded or whether there are any other S1AP paging messages for the same terminal device pending in the buffer queue at the eNodeB. This can cause the eNodeB to repeatedly page the terminal device unnecessarily, which wastes resources, particularly if the eNodeB sends paging messages when the terminal device has already responded.
  • a RAN node e.g. the eNodeB
  • a core network node e.g. the MME
  • the paging message received from a core network node is a second or subsequent paging message for the terminal device corresponding to the same paging trigger.
  • paging trigger is taken to mean anything that causes a core network node to start a process of attempting to page a given terminal device.
  • a paging trigger will thus cause the core network node to send a paging message, e.g. an S1AP paging message, to a RAN node to page the terminal device and, if necessary, to repeat the request until the process is terminated, either due to the terminal device responding to the page or the process being terminated after a certain time due to failure to reach the terminal device.
  • a given paging trigger thus corresponds to paging trigger that initiates a paging process for a given terminal device.
  • the terminal device may be paged in a subset of cells or within a broader paging scope (e.g. in more or all cells). Additionally or alternatively it may be determined whether to try to improve coverage in the cells paged, for instance by increasing the transmit power and/or applying a more robust Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS).
  • MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme
  • an eNodeB is able to understand if a received paging message from an MME is the first or a subsequent attempt to page a terminal device (in response to a given paging trigger).
  • the eNodeB may process incoming S1AP paging messages by comparing a received S1AP paging message with buffered paging messages and apply a narrowed paging scope (i.e. paging of UE over air in a subset of the involved cells) when the buffer queue length is increasing.
  • a paging message e.g. an S1AP paging message, received at the RAN node, e.g. the eNode B, from a core network node, e.g.
  • the MME may include information, such as timing information, that allows the RAN node to determine whether or not a received paging message is the first paging message for paging a terminal device for a given paging trigger.
  • the timing information may indicate 1) when the S1AP paging message was issued by the MME, and 2) when previous S1AP paging requests were issued for the same UE and for the same paging trigger in the MME (i.e. the same Downlink Data Notification (DDN)).
  • DDN Downlink Data Notification
  • Figure 4 shows an exemplary method 400 of operating a RAN node according to a specific embodiment.
  • a message requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device is received, the received message comprises timing information.
  • the timing information may comprise information that allows the RAN node to determine whether or not a received paging message from the core network node is the first or a subsequent paging message for a terminal device for a given paging trigger.
  • at least some of the timing information may relate to the message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • the timing information may indicate the time at which the message was sent by the core network node, i.e. the MME, to the RAN node, i.e., eNodeB.
  • the timing information indicates whether one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node and/or may indicate whether one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node for the same paging trigger. In some examples, the timing information may indicate the time at which any messages sent previously, were sent.
  • Step 404 comprises identifying, using the timing information, whether the message is the first message received by the RAN node requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • first message is meant the first message received in an attempt to reach the terminal device, for instance to reach a terminal device in an idle state, (e.g. RRCJDLE), e.g. in response to a given paging trigger.
  • a first message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device can thus be seen as a message which has not been reissued by the core network node or generated in response to a time-out of a paging supervisor at the core network node.
  • the first message received by the RAN node requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device refers to the first message received in an ongoing attempt to reach that terminal device, whether or not the terminal device may have previously be in the idle state and successfully paged and become active before re-entering the idle state.
  • the first paging message is thus a new paging request from the core network node and not simply a repetition.
  • a change in priority by the core network node could be indicative of a new request and thus a paging message sent with a new priority could be a first paging message.
  • the RAN node becomes aware that it is a new paging sequence from a change in the priority indication in the paging message. It may be beneficial for the core network node to include timing information in a paging message when the priority is changed.
  • the timing information comprises information about the timing of any previously issued messages requesting paging of that terminal device in response to a particular paging trigger
  • the received message is the first message or a subsequent message as the first message will indicate that no previous messages had been sent.
  • the first message may lack any timing information regarding any previous messages being sent.
  • the timing information could additionally comprise at least one data field indicating whether the message is a first message or a subsequent message generated as a result of a time-out of a paging supervisor.
  • the data field could explicitly indicate how many previous messages have been sent by the core network node to request paging of a terminal device in an attempt to reach the terminal device.
  • the step of identifying 404 comprises comparing the time at which the message and the times at which the messages were previously sent and determining that the message is the first message if the difference is above a threshold, and that the message is not the first message if the difference is below a threshold.
  • This example may be particularly useful if the message contains details of messages that were previously sent for the same terminal device, that were not necessarily triggered by the same paging trigger in the core network node. If the received message has been generated because of a time-out of a paging supervisor and thus is a subsequent message relating to a given paging trigger, the time between the current message and the previous message will generally be below a certain threshold. However if instead the message was generated in response to a new paging trigger for a given terminal device, and thus the message is a first message, the time between the present paging message and any previous paging message for that terminal device is likely to be above the threshold.
  • timing information comprises the timing of the receipt or processing of the paging trigger and also the time of generation of the present paging message, it may also be possible to compare this time difference between the generation of the present paging message and the time of the paging trigger to a threshold. It may be expected that an MME will issue a first paging message within a certain time threshold of a paging trigger but that a subsequent paging message would occur after this time threshold.
  • the timing information may thus comprise information such as the time that the core network node received and/or processed a paging trigger, such as a download data notification (DDN) that prompted the core network node to message the RAN node requesting that the RAN node page the terminal device
  • DDN download data notification
  • the first subset may be any subset taken from the plurality of cells controlled by the RAN node.
  • the cells that make up the first subset may be chosen based on factors such as the location of the cells, the last known or predicted location of the terminal device and/or the availability of cells to page the terminal device.
  • the first subset might contain one or more cells selected based on the last visited cell for the terminal device, e.g. including the last visited cell and one or neighbouring or surrounding cells.
  • the first subset might comprise only the last visited cell for the terminal device.
  • the last visited cell is the cell where the terminal device was last known to be.
  • the act of paging the terminal device in a subset of cells controlled by the RAN node will be referred to herein as 'fast-path paging' in this context.
  • Paging in fewer cells normally causes overall less delay between the RAN receiving the message requesting it to page the terminal device, and the RAN node paging the terminal device since it requires less simultaneous availability of paging resources in involved cells.
  • Less involved cells at allocation of coordinated radio resources cause less paging delays on average and less resources being spent on paging instead of user data traffic.
  • the cells that make up the first subset of cells may be chosen based on the size of the buffer queue.
  • the number of cells in the first subset of cells may be determined by comparing the number of buffered requests in the buffer queue to a threshold. For example, if the message is the first message and the number of buffered requests is greater than the threshold (i.e. the buffer queue is large), then the RAN node may decide to fast-path page the terminal device in a small subset of the plurality of cells managed by the RAN node. However, if the number of buffered requests in the buffer queue is less than the threshold (i.e. the buffer queue is small), then the RAN node may determine to page the terminal device in a larger subset of cells.
  • the RAN node may determine to page the terminal device over all cells in the plurality of cells managed by the RAN node or at least all cells that are indicated in the paging scope.
  • Step 404 If in step 404 the RAN node identifies that the received message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device is not the first message, then the method moves on to step 408.
  • Step 408 comprises determining whether a previous message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device is still in a buffer queue in the RAN node.
  • the first (or other previous) message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device may still be in the buffer queue, if it was determined to page the terminal device over a number of cells which haven't yet become simultaneously available for paging. In the examples given above, this might occur, if for example, the number of messages in the buffer queue was below a threshold (i.e. small) when the first message was received which led the RAN node to page the terminal device over a larger subset of cells.
  • a threshold i.e. small
  • the first (or other previous) message may also be in the buffer if, for example, the RAN node was operating in a mode of operation wherein fast-path paging was not enabled when the RAN node processed the first (or previous) message.
  • fast path paging may not be used where there is low resource usage demands on the RAN node.
  • the RAN node may send paging messages over all cells managed by the RAN node and within the paging scope. This may help ensure that a terminal device is reached in response to any given paging request. If resource usage increases however and thus a number of paging messages in the buffer starts to increase, it may be necessary to switch to fast- path paging.
  • step 408 of determining whether a previous message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device comprises comparing timing information for the earlier message with a known, or measured, processing time of buffered paging requests. For example, if the timing information indicates that an earlier message was previously received by the RAN node a certain time, t1 , earlier and the processing time of buffered paging requests is greater than t1 , it can be determined that the previously received paging message will not have yet been executed.
  • the buffer processing time is easily discovered by comparing the time stamp of a paging request which is about to be executed with the actual time; the difference is the buffer processing time.
  • the RAN node could alternatively search the buffer for instances of a paging message for a given UE but that such a search would be computationally intensive.
  • the methods of the embodiment avoid the need for such processing by using timing information.
  • Information about all previous paging attempts for a specific terminal device is anyway known by the core network node where the terminal device is registered.
  • the core network node is therefore able to include that information as timestamps in the paging request.
  • the additional cost to do so is a cost of more memory and a slightly increased message size. However this memory and message size is less costly compared to performing an internal search at the RAN node.
  • step 408 If in step 408 it is determined that a previous message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device is still in the buffer (i.e. has not yet been processed), then the method moves on to step 410 and the RAN node fast-path pages the terminal device over air in the first subset of the plurality of cells controlled by the RAN node. This fast- path paging ensures that the second message is processed more quickly than the earlier buffered request.
  • the first subset of cells selected for fast-path paging in step 408 may be the same subset of cells that would be selected if step 406 were performed instead.
  • the subsets selected may be different, for instance if step 408 is performed the fast-path paging is being performed in response to a repeated request from the core network node to page the terminal device.
  • the subset of cells selected may therefore include more cells than would be the case were the fast-path paging being performed in response to a first received message to improve the likelihood that the paging is successful or, if there is likely to be a wait for radio resources to be available the subset of cells may include fewer cells in response to a repeated request so as to reduce the delay before paging at least some cells.
  • the RAN node may make a note the event of an executed fast-path paging of the terminal device. This may be done by setting a flag, indicating that the terminal device has been fast-path paged whilst the first request was known to be in the buffer queue.
  • the RAN node executes the buffered messages it matches the buffered messages with terminal devices for which fast-path paging has already taken place (e.g. it compares the buffered message with the flags noted above). At a match (i.e.
  • Comparing a buffered paging message to the set of flags involves a search process which consumes processing resources. If it is determined that a previous message is not in the buffer (i.e. the first message has been processed, via fast-path paging or otherwise), then the method moves on to step 412 which comprises transmitting paging messages for the terminal device in a second subset of the plurality of cells controlled by the RAN node; wherein the second subset of cells comprises more cells than the first subset of cells.
  • the second subset of cells may comprise any subset taken from the plurality of cells controlled by the RAN node.
  • the cells that make up the second subset of cells may be chosen based on factors such as the location of the cells, the last known or predicted location of the terminal device and/or the availability of cells to page the terminal device.
  • the second subset may contain at least some different cells to an earlier first subset of cells which were used to page the terminal device.
  • the second subset may contain all of the cells in the first subset of cells and one or more other cells that are controlled by the RAN node (i.e. the first subset is a proper subset of the second subset).
  • the second subset may contain some of the cells in the first subset of cells and a plurality of other cells not in the first subset that are controlled by the RAN node.
  • the second subset may only contain cells that are controlled by the RAN node that were not in the first subset of cells.
  • the second subset of cells may comprise more cells than were included in a first subset of cells that were used in a previous attempt to page the terminal device.
  • the second subset of cells comprises all of the cells in the plurality of cells controlled by the RAN node, or all the cells which are specified in the paging scope. This has the advantage of enabling the RAN node to initially fast-path page the terminal device for speed whilst subsequently paging the terminal device in a larger subset of cells if the fast-path paging was unsuccessful.
  • one or more transmission parameters used to transmit a paging message from the RAN node may be varied based on whether the RAN node is attempting to page a given terminal device for the first time in response to a paging trigger or a repeated request after at least one paging attempt has been made.
  • one or more transmission parameters may be adjusted to try to improve the coverage of the paging attempt, for example through increased transmission power and/or usage of a more robust modulation and coding scheme, MCS, than was used in earlier paging attempts.
  • the RAN node may determine to page the terminal device using a standard MCS and standard transmission power. In some examples, if the RAN node determines that the message is the second or subsequent message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device (and a first message is not still in a buffer queue to be processed), then the RAN node may determine to increase the transmission power. Thus the RAN node may transmit the paging messages in a cell using a higher power than used for a previous paging message (i.e. a paging message sent in response to the first or other subsequent message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device).
  • the transmission power may be increased for each successive transmission or the transmission power may be one of a number of transmission parameters that may be adjusted in combination.
  • successive transmissions of paging messages may include transmissions of paging messages with increasing transmission powers but, some other transmission parameter fixed which may be interspersed with transmissions of paging messages of lower power but varying the other transmission parameter(s).
  • a transmission power which is varied may be a modulation coding scheme (MCS).
  • MCS modulation coding scheme
  • the RAN node may use a different MCS with respect to that used in a previous message.
  • such adjustments to the transmission power and MCS can be made during any step wherein paging messages are transmitted to the terminal device, in addition to or alternatively to the variants described above.
  • step 404 if in step 404 it is identified that the message is not the first message, e.g. if a timing comparison indicates that this attempt is a second or a third attempt to page the terminal device, then the page may be sent in a broader area, for example, in all cells belonging to a Tracking Area in the Tracking Area list, without first checking the buffer, i.e. omitting step 408.
  • FIG. 5 there is a method 500 in a RAN node comprising the steps of receiving a message requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the message comprising timing information 502 and identifying, using the timing information, whether the message is the first message received by the RAN node requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device 504.
  • Figure 6 shows an embodiment of a method in a core network node 600, the method comprising the step of sending a message to a radio access network, RAN, node, requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the message comprising timing information.
  • the message received in step 502 and sent in step 602 may be sent in response to the core network node receiving a paging trigger for the terminal device.
  • the message may be sent if the core network node timer supervision of a message that was previously sent in response to the same paging trigger, has timed out.
  • the timing information relates to the message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device. In some examples, the timing information may indicate the time at which the message was sent.
  • the timing information may indicate whether one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node.
  • the message may also indicate whether the message is a repeat message (i.e. because a timer has expired on one or more earlier messages) and one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node for the same paging trigger.
  • the timing information may therefore additionally indicate the time at which the previous messages were sent.
  • the terminal device/terminal equipment i.e. UE
  • the terminal device/terminal equipment may be paged using less resources and thus earlier/faster than otherwise, and if the UE is reached via fast-path paging, then it can be served with less delay.
  • consecutive paging requests from the core network node e.g. MME include timing information about previous paging attempts which enable the RAN node, e.g. eNodeB, to determine if a fast-path paging was successful or not and adapt the paging strategy accordingly by increasing or decreasing the paging scope (such as the number of cells over which the terminal device is paged) depending on the available resources and information about where it was last reached by paging.
  • FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an alternative RAN node 10 (for example a base station, NodeB or an eNodeB) that can be used in the example embodiments described above.
  • the RAN node 10 comprises a processor 60 and a memory 62.
  • the memory 62 contains instructions executable by the processor 60, and on execution of those instructions, the RAN node 10 is operative to receive a message requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the received message comprising timing information; and identify, using the timing information, whether the received message is the first message received by the RAN node requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an alternative core network node 6, 8 that can be used in the example embodiments described above.
  • the core network node 6, 8 comprises a processor 70 and a memory 72.
  • the memory 72 contains instructions executable by the processor 70, and on execution of those instructions, the core network node 6, 8 is operative to send a message to a RAN node, requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the message comprising timing information.
  • FIG 9 is a block diagram of another alternative RAN node 10 (for example a base station, NodeB or an eNodeB) that can be used in the example embodiments described above.
  • the RAN node 10 comprises a receiving module 80 configured to receive a message requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the received message comprising timing information; and an identifying module 82 configured to identify, using the timing information, whether the received message is the first message received by the RAN node requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • Figure 10 is a block diagram of another alternative core network node 6, 8 that can be used in the example embodiments described above.
  • the core network node comprises a sending module 90 configured to send a message to a RAN node, requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the message comprising timing information.
  • the solution can be used in any cellular wireless technology where paging is used, including but not limited to 2G (GSM) and 3G (WCDMA) networks.
  • GSM 2G
  • WCDMA 3G
  • the Core network node may be a SGSN instead of an MME and a BSC and RNC instead of the eNodeB respectively.
  • the S1AP Paging message would be replaced by lu Paging for 3G and A or Gb Paging for 2G.
  • a method of operating a radio access network, RAN, node in a communications network comprising:
  • a method as in embodiment 1 further comprising the step of: transmitting paging messages for the terminal device in a first subset of a plurality of cells controlled by the RAN node if it is identified that the message is the first message instructing the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • the first subset comprises only the last visited cell for the terminal device.
  • the method further comprises the step of:
  • a method as in embodiment 11 wherein the second subset comprises cells in a tracking area in a tracking area list.
  • a method as in any of embodiments 8 to 12 further comprising the step of: transmitting the paging message to the terminal device with a higher power than was used to transmit a previous paging message if it is identified that message is not the first message and the first message is not in the buffer queue in the RAN node.
  • timing information relates to the message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • the timing information indicates whether one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node.
  • the timing information indicates whether one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node for the same paging trigger.
  • a method as in embodiments 17 or 18 wherein the step of identifying whether the message is the first message received by the RAN node comprises determining if the timing information indicates one or more messages were sent previously.
  • a method as in embodiment 20 wherein the step of identifying comprises comparing the time at which the message and the times at which the messages were previously sent and determining that the message is the first message if the difference is above a threshold, and that the message is not the first message if the difference is below a threshold.
  • a method as in any of embodiments 1 to 21 wherein the message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device is an S1AP message.
  • a method of operating a core network node in a communications network comprising: sending a message to a radio access network, RAN, node, requesting the RAN node to page a terminal device, the message comprising timing information.
  • the timing information relates to the message requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device.
  • timing information indicates whether one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node.
  • timing information indicates whether one or more messages requesting the RAN node to page the terminal device were sent previously to the RAN node for the same paging trigger.
  • a core network node in a communications network the core node being configured to:
  • network node configured to execute the core network node methods described in the embodiments above.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne, selon un aspect, un procédé de fonctionnement d'un nœud de réseau d'accès radio, RAN, dans un réseau de communication, le procédé comprenant les étapes consistant à recevoir (402) un message demandant au nœud RAN de téléavertir un dispositif terminal, le message reçu comprenant des informations de synchronisation ; et à identifier (404), à l'aide des informations de synchronisation, si le message reçu est le premier message reçu par le nœud RAN en demandant au nœud de RAN de téléavertir le dispositif terminal. Dans un autre aspect, l'invention concerne un procédé de fonctionnement d'un nœud de réseau central dans un réseau de communication, le procédé comprenant l'étape consistant à envoyer (602) un message à un nœud de réseau d'accès radio, RAN, en demandant au nœud RAN de téléavertir un dispositif terminal, le message comprenant des informations de synchronisation.
PCT/SE2016/050342 2015-04-20 2016-04-20 Améliorations apportées au téléavertissement de dispositifs terminaux WO2016171609A1 (fr)

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CN111213413A (zh) * 2017-08-14 2020-05-29 联想(北京)有限公司 响应无线电接入网络寻呼失败

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CN108924927A (zh) * 2017-04-13 2018-11-30 中兴通讯股份有限公司 标识分配、消息、参数发送、处理方法及装置
CN108924927B (zh) * 2017-04-13 2023-02-24 中兴通讯股份有限公司 标识分配、消息、参数发送、处理方法及装置
CN111213413A (zh) * 2017-08-14 2020-05-29 联想(北京)有限公司 响应无线电接入网络寻呼失败
CN111213413B (zh) * 2017-08-14 2021-10-15 联想(北京)有限公司 用于响应无线电接入网络寻呼失败的方法和装置

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