Beacon management for network assisted device-to-device (d2d) communication

Abstract

A method of a wireless communication device adapted to perform device-to-device communication is disclosed. The method comprises transmitting an indication of device-to-device communication capability to a network node, receiving one or more beacon parameters allocated to one or more second wireless communication devices adapted to perform device-to-device communication, monitoring device-to-device communication beacon signaling based on the received beacon parameters, and performing at least one radio operation task based on measurements of the monitored device-to-device communication beacon signaling. The at least one radio operation task may comprise using the measurements of the monitored device-to-device communication beacon signaling to select or re-select one of the one or more second wireless communication devices for device-to-device communication, and / or transmitting a beacon measurement report to the network node based on the monitored device-to-device communication beacon signaling. Another method of a wireless communication device comprises receiving one or more beacon parameters allocated to the wireless communication device from a network node, transmitting device-to-device communication beacon signaling based on the received beacon parameters, and receiving a beacon measurement report from the network node indicating detection of the transmitted beacon by one or more second wireless communication devices. Corresponding methods of a network node are also disclosed as well as corresponding arrangements, wireless communication devices and network nodes.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of network assisted device-to-device communications. More specifically, it concerns beacon management for such communications. Background technique [0002] Device-to-device (D2D) communication refers to direct communication between devices. In D2D communication, data transferred from a first device to a second device is typically not relayed through any cellular network. Some examples of prior art D2D communication are Bluetooth communication, FlashlinQ communication, WLAN (eg IEEE 802.11) communication (eg WIFI direct communication). [0003] Device-to-device communication can be applied in a variety of situations. One situation is when a cellular radio access network exists and a cellular connection can be established between two devices. D2D communication can complement cellular communication in such scenarios. [0004] There may be situations when D2D communication may provide better perfor...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0016] However, transmitting acknowledgments in an uncoordinated manner (before establishing a D2D connection) risks collisions and / or may increase interference levels in the system

[0017] Furthermore, the allocation of beacons in the network and efficiently communicating allocation information to devices becomes cumbersome as the possible number of devices to consider for device-to-device communication increases.

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