Paging user equipment on a shared communication medium

Abstract

In an embodiment, a device (e.g., an eNB) pages a UE on a shared communication. The device obtains a paging message to send to a UE with a different coverage level. The device sends an extended common ePDCCH, followed by a paging ePDCCH, followed by repeated transmissions of the paging message on multiple PDSCH subframes. In another embodiment, the device obtains a first set and a second set of paging messages to send to different paging groups. The device establishes non-overlapping POWs for the first and second paging groups to avoid paging ePDCCH conflicts.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of a Chinese patent application with an application date of January 18, 2018, application number 201880012837.4, and invention name “Paging User Equipment on a Shared Communication Medium”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 462,212, filed on February 22, 2017, entitled “PAGING FOR MULTEFIRE WITH COVERAGE ENHANCEMENT,” which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, and is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0004] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to telecommunication techniques and, more particularly, to operations over a shared communications medium, among other things. Background Art

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, multimedia, etc. A typical wireless communication system is a multiple access system capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and others. These systems are typically deployed in accordance with specifications such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) provided by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) provided by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), 802.11 provided by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the like.

[0006] In cellular networks, "macro cell" access points provide connectivity and coverage to a large number of users over a geographic area. Macro network deployments are carefully planned, designed, and implemented to provide good coverage over that geographic area. To improve indoor or other specific geographic coverage (such as for residences and office buildings), additional "small cells" (usually low-power access points) have recently begun to be deployed to supplement the traditional macro network. Small cell access points can also provide incremental capacity growth, a richer user experience, etc.

[0007] For example, small cell LTE operations have been extended into unlicensed spectrum, such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technology. This extension of small cell LTE operations is designed to increase spectral efficiency and thereby increase the capacity of LTE systems. However, it may be necessary to coexist with operations of other radio access technologies (RATs) that typically use the same unlicensed bands, most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi". Summary of the invention

[0008] One embodiment relates to a method for paging a user equipment (UE) on a shared communication medium, comprising: obtaining a set of paging messages to send to a paging group including a set of UEs associated with different coverage levels; sending a common enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH), sending the common ePDCCH to start a POW with a duration extended from a traditional paging occurrence window (POW) used by one or more traditional UEs; sending a paging ePDCCH after sending the common ePDCCH; and repeatedly sending the set of paging messages on multiple PDSCH subframes based on the paging ePDCCH.

[0009] Another embodiment relates to a method for paging a UE on a shared communication medium, comprising: obtaining a first set of paging messages to send to a first paging group including a first set of UEs; obtaining a second set of paging messages to send to a second paging group including a second set of UEs; and establishing non-overlapping paging opportunity windows (POWs) for the first and second paging groups to avoid paging ePDCCH conflicts.

[0010] Another embodiment relates to an apparatus configured to page a UE on a shared communication medium, comprising: a unit for obtaining a set of paging messages to send to a paging group including a set of UEs associated with different coverage levels; a unit for sending a common ePDCCH, which starts a POW with a duration extended from a legacy POW used by one or more legacy UEs; a unit for sending a paging ePDCCH after sending the common ePDCCH; and a unit for repeatedly sending the set of paging messages on multiple PDSCH subframes based on the paging ePDCCH.

[0011] Another embodiment relates to an apparatus configured to page a UE on a shared communication medium, comprising: a unit for obtaining a first set of paging messages to send to a first paging group including a first set of UEs; a unit for obtaining a second set of paging messages to send to a second paging group including a second set of UEs; and a unit for establishing non-overlapping paging opportunity windows (POWs) for the first and second paging groups to avoid paging ePDCCH conflicts.

[0012] Another embodiment relates to an apparatus configured to page a UE on a shared communication medium, comprising at least one processor coupled to at least one transceiver and configured to: obtain a set of paging messages to send to a paging group including a set of UEs associated with different coverage levels; send a common ePDCCH, wherein the sending of the common ePDCCH turns on a POW having a duration extended from a legacy POW used by one or more legacy UEs; send a paging ePDCCH after the sending of the common ePDCCH; and repeatedly send the set of paging messages on multiple PDSCH subframes based on the paging ePDCCH.

[0013] Another embodiment relates to an apparatus configured to page a UE on a shared communication medium, comprising at least one processor coupled to at least one transceiver and configured to: obtain a first set of paging messages to send to a first paging group including a first set of UEs; obtain a second set of paging messages to send to a second paging group including a second set of UEs; and establish non-overlapping paging opportunity windows (POWs) for the first and second paging groups to avoid paging enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) conflicts.

[0014] Another embodiment relates to a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by an apparatus configured to page a UE on a shared communication medium, cause the apparatus to perform operations, the instructions including: being configured to cause the apparatus to obtain a set of paging messages to send to a paging group including a set of UEs associated with different coverage levels, at least one instruction to send a common ePDCCH, wherein the sending of the common ePDCCH turns on a POW having a duration extended from a legacy POW used by one or more legacy UEs; being configured to cause the apparatus to send at least one instruction of a paging ePDCCH after the sending of the common ePDCCH; and being configured to cause the apparatus to repeatedly send the set of paging messages on multiple PDSCH subframes according to the paging ePDCCH.

[0015] Another embodiment relates to a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by an apparatus configured to page UEs on a shared communication medium, cause the apparatus to perform operations, the instructions including: at least one instruction configured to cause the apparatus to obtain a first set of paging messages to send to a first paging group including a first set of UEs; at least one instruction configured to cause the apparatus to obtain a second set of paging messages to send to a second paging group including a second set of UEs; and at least one instruction configured to cause the apparatus to establish non-overlapping POWs for the first and second paging groups to avoid paging ePDCCH conflicts. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided for purposes of illustration only and not limitation of the various aspects.

[0017] Figure 1 is a system-level diagram illustrating an example wireless network environment.

[0018] Figure 2 An example frame structure that may be implemented for a primary RAT system on a communication medium to facilitate contention-based access to the communication medium is shown.

[0019] Figure 3A A timing diagram of a paging process is depicted, wherein Nrep=3, wherein two PDSCH subframes (or PO subframe repetitions) carrying a set of paging messages appear in a first TxOP (or, 1TxOP), and another PDSCH subframe (or PO subframe repetitions) carrying a set of paging messages appears in a second TxOP (or, 2TxOP).

[0020] Figure 3B Depicted with Figure 3A The timing diagram of is the same as the timing diagram of , except that each ePDCCH occupies only a portion of the PRBs in the corresponding subframe.

[0021] Figure 4A A timing diagram depicting a paging procedure using extended POW is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 4B Depicted with Figure 4A The timing diagram of is the same as the timing diagram of , except that each ePDCCH occupies only a portion of the PRBs in the corresponding subframe.

[0023] Figure 4C An embodiment according to the present disclosure shows a paging process.

[0024] Figure 5AAn embodiment according to the present disclosure illustrates a paging ePDCCH collision between paging group #0 and paging group #1.

[0025] Figure 5B Another embodiment according to the present disclosure shows a paging ePDCCH collision between paging group #0 and paging group #1.

[0026] Fig. 6A A timing diagram depicting non-overlapping POWs is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 6B A timing diagram depicting non-overlapping POWs is shown according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 6C An embodiment according to the present disclosure shows a paging process.

[0029] Figure 7 is shown in more detail Figure 1 A device-level diagram of example components of an access point and an access terminal for a primary RAT system.

[0030] Figure 8 Embodiments according to the present disclosure illustrate a method for implementing the methods discussed herein (e.g., for Figure 4A-4C ) Example apparatus of paging scheduling technology.

[0031] Fig. 9 Embodiments according to the present disclosure illustrate a method for implementing the methods discussed herein (e.g., for Figure 6A-6C ) Example apparatus of paging scheduling technology. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] Techniques for paging a user equipment (UE) over a radio link of a shared communication medium are disclosed. In one aspect, the radio link may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) in an unlicensed spectrum radio link.

[0033] More specific aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings relating to various examples provided for illustration purposes only. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, well-known aspects of the present disclosure may not be described in detail or may be omitted so as not to obscure more relevant details.

[0034] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any of a variety of different techniques and technologies may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips mentioned throughout the description below may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0035] In addition, many aspects are described around sequences of actions performed, for example, by units of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. Furthermore, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be implemented, for example, as a "logic unit configured to" perform the described actions.

[0036] Figure 1 1 is a system-level diagram illustrating an example wireless network environment, illustrated by way of example as including a "primary" radio access technology (RAT) system 100 and a "competing" RAT system 150. Each system may be composed of different wireless nodes that are generally capable of receiving and / or transmitting over a radio link, including information related to various types of communications (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, associated control signaling, etc.). The primary RAT system 100 is illustrated as including an access point 110 and an access terminal 120 that communicate with each other over a radio link 130. The competing RAT system 150 is illustrated as including two competing nodes 152 that communicate with each other over a separate radio link 132, and the competing RAT system 150 may similarly include one or more access points, access terminals, or other types of wireless nodes. As an example, the access point 110 and access terminal 120 of the primary RAT system 100 may communicate via the radio link 130 in accordance with the Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, while the competing node 152 of the competing RAT system 150 may communicate via the radio link 132 in accordance with the Wi-Fi technology. It will be appreciated that each system may support any number of wireless nodes distributed throughout a geographic area and that the illustrated entities are shown for illustration purposes only.

[0037] Unless otherwise specified, the terms "access terminal" and "access point" are not intended to be specific to or limited to any particular RAT. In general, an access terminal may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a personal computer, a server, an entertainment device, an Internet of Things (IoT) / a device with Internet of Everything (IOE) functions, a vehicle-mounted communication device, etc.) that allows a user to communicate on a communication network, and may be alternatively referred to as a user device (UD), a mobile station (MS), a subscriber station (STA), a user equipment (UE), etc. in different RAT environments. Similarly, an access point may communicate with an access terminal by operating in accordance with one or several RATs according to the network in which the access point is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as a base station (BS), a network node, a node B, an evolved node B (eNB), etc. For example, such an access point may correspond to a small cell access point. "Small cell" generally refers to a class of low-power access points that may include or otherwise be referred to as a femtocell, a microcell, a microcell, a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, other small coverage area access points, etc. Small cells can be deployed to supplement macrocell coverage, covering a few blocks within a community or a few square miles in a rural environment, resulting in improved signal transmission, increased capacity growth, a richer user experience, and more.

[0038] Return to Figure 1 , the radio link 130 used by the primary RAT system 100 and the radio link 132 used by the competing RAT system 150 can operate on a shared communication medium 140. This type of communication medium can be composed of one or more frequency, time, and / or space communication resources (e.g., including one or more channels across one or more carriers). As an example, the communication medium 140 can correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band. Although different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communications (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), some systems, particularly those using small cell access points, have extended operation to unlicensed frequency bands (such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by WLAN technologies including Wi-Fi).

[0039] Due to the shared use of the communication medium 140, there is a possibility of cross-link interference between the radio link 130 and the radio link 132. In addition, some RATs and some jurisdictions may require contention or "listen before talking (LBT)" to access the communication medium 140. As an example, a clear channel assessment (CCA) protocol can be used, in which each device verifies via medium sensing that there is no other traffic on the shared communication medium before grabbing (and in some cases reserving) the communication medium for its own transmission. In some designs, the CCA protocol may include different CCA preamble detection (CCA-PD) and CCA energy detection (CCA-ED) mechanisms for giving up the communication medium to intra-RAT and inter-RAT traffic, respectively. For example, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) requires all devices to contention regardless of their RAT on certain communication media (such as unlicensed bands).

[0040] As will be described in more detail below, the access point 110 may include a paging scheduler 121, and the access terminal 120 may include a paging monitoring manager 122. The paging scheduler 121 may be configured to schedule paging transmissions as described in more detail below, and the paging monitoring manager 122 may be configured to facilitate reception and decoding of paging messages at the access terminal 120.

[0041] Figure 2 An example frame structure that may be implemented for the primary RAT system 100 on the communication medium 140 to facilitate contention-based access to the communication medium 140 is shown.

[0042] The frame structure shown in the figure includes the system frame numbering nomenclature (RF N ,RF N+1 ,RF N+2 A series of radio frames (RF) numbered and divided into corresponding subframes (SFs), which may also be numbered for reference (e.g., SF0, SF1, etc.). Each corresponding subframe may be further divided into time slots ( Figure 2 ), and the time slots may be further divided into symbol periods. As an example, the LTE frame structure includes a system frame divided into 1024 numbered radio frames, each radio frame consisting of 10 subframes, which together constitute the system frame period (e.g., 10.24s for a 10ms radio frame with 1ms subframes). Furthermore, each subframe may include two time slots, and each time slot may include six or seven symbol periods. The use of a frame structure may provide more natural and efficient coordination between devices than more ad hoc signaling techniques.

[0043] generally, Figure 2An example frame structure of can be implemented as a frequency division duplex (FDD) frame structure or a time division duplex (TDD) frame structure. In an FDD frame structure, each subframe on a given frequency can be statically configured for uplink (UL) communication for sending uplink information from access terminal 120 to access point 110 or for downlink (DL) communication for sending downlink information from access point 110 to access terminal 120. In a TDD frame structure, each subframe can be operated differently as a downlink (D), uplink (U) or special (S) subframe at different times. Different arrangements of downlink, uplink and special subframes can be referred to as different TDD configurations.

[0044] In some designs, Figure 2 The frame structure of may be “fixed” in that the location of each subframe may be predetermined relative to absolute time, but in any given situation the frame structure may or may not be occupied by primary RAT signal transmissions due to contention processes for access to the communication medium 140. For example, if the access point 110 or the access terminal 120 fails to win contention for a given subframe, the subframe may be muted. However, in other designs, Figure 2 The frame structure of the RF subframe may be "floating" in that the position of each subframe may be dynamically determined relative to the point at which access to the communication medium 140 is secure. N+1 ) is delayed relative to the absolute time until the access point 110 or the access terminal 120 is able to win the contention.

[0045] As in Figure 2 As further shown in the figure, one or more subframes may be designated to include what is referred to herein as discovery reference signaling (DRS). DRS may be configured to deliver reference signaling to facilitate system operation. Reference signaling may include information related to timing synchronization, system acquisition, interference measurements (e.g., radio resource measurements (RRM) / radio link measurements (RLM)), tracking loops, gain references (e.g., automatic gain control (AGC)), paging, and the like. As an example, DRS may include a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) for cell search, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) for RRM, a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) for transmitting various access parameters, and the like. DRS may be scheduled for periodic transmission (e.g., every 10 ms) in a designated subframe (e.g., subframe SF0) of each radio frame or in a range of such subframes defined around a designated subframe, referred to as a DRS measurement timing configuration (DMTC) window (e.g., spanning the first six subframes SF0 to SF5 in a radio frame).

[0046] For LTE operating in unlicensed spectrum, paging messages are broadcast on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). Paging messages are scheduled via the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) by allocating resources to the PDSCH. A common paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) (which is not assigned to any specific UE or UE group) is used for paging. For example, the length of the P-RNTI can be 16 bits with a fixed value (e.g., 65534 or 0xFFFE). A paging occasion (PO) subframe carrying one or more paging messages can be scheduled by the ePDCCH within a paging occasion window (POW). According to the MulteFire Alliance specifications (e.g., MulteFire 1.0), the duration of the POW is allowed to reach 10ms.

[0047] In one embodiment, a common (or non-paging) ePDCCH (which may alternatively be referred to as a CePDCCH) carrying downlink control information (DCI) may be signaled to the UE (e.g., format 1-C in a common search space (CSS)), and a paging ePDCCH may be used to indicate a temporal repetition (or multiple locations) of a PDSCH carrying a specific PO subframe including a paging message within a POW. In an example, each ePDCCH (e.g., a common or paging ePDCCH) may be configured as a transmission intra-opportunity (TxOP) data-scheduled ePDCCH or a multi-TxOP data-scheduled ePDCCH. Although an intra-TxOP data-scheduled ePDCCH may be used in other embodiments, the examples below describe the paging ePDCCH as a multi-TxOP data-scheduled ePDCCH. In an example, the paging ePDCCH may be scrambled using a P-RNTI to operate as a paging signal for paging message transmission. The paging ePDCCH does not carry the actual paging message, but indicates the location (e.g., PO subframe) where the paging message will appear within one or more TxOPs on the PDSCH. Accordingly, the paging message is scheduled via the paging ePDCCH and then sent on the PDSCH with time repetition or a smaller transport block size (TBS).

[0048] A UE is not usually part of a paging group based on its coverage level, which is why UEs with different coverage levels can be part of the same paging group paged via the same resources (or PO subframes) on the PDSCH. The paging ePDCCH can use 1 CSS scrambled with the P-RNTI. The paging ePDCCH indicates the maximum repetition level N in the DCI rep and TBS, which can cover all paged UEs of a specific paging group regardless of the individual coverage level of each UE. The same payload on the PDSCH (which can be N in POW) repThe paging ePDCCH carries a paging message for each paged UE in the paging group (repeated on repetition). Each UE monitors the paging ePDCCH at the coding rate (e.g., transport block size (TBS)) established by the UE in the supporting paging group with the worst coverage level (e.g., the lowest channel quality based on SNR or any other well-known channel quality metric, which can be reported by the UE to the access point to facilitate the determination of the coding rate). Similar to the multi-TxOP data scheduling ePDCCH, as shown in Figure 3A As shown, the paging ePDCCH can schedule repeated paging messages carrying the PDSCH in the current TxOP and (if necessary) the next TxOP. Figure 3A A timing diagram 300 of a paging process is depicted, wherein N rep =3, two PDSCH subframes (or PO subframe repetitions) carrying a set of paging messages appear in the first TxOP (or 1TxOP), and another PDSCH subframe (or PO subframe repetition) carrying a set of paging messages appears in the second TxOP (or 2TxOP). Figure 3B Depicted with Figure 3A The timing diagram 300 is the same as the timing diagram 300B, except that each ePDCCH occupies only a portion of the PRBs in the corresponding subframe. Figure 3B In the embodiment, each ePDCCH is separated from the associated PDSCH by frequency, each ePDCCH is sent on a first set of PRBs, and the PDSCH is sent on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe.

[0049] In an embodiment, Figure 3A As shown, paging ePDCCH can be multiplexed with PDSCH only in time (not frequency). For example, aggregation level 64 with 3 CSS + 2 UE-specific SSs can occupy 80 physical resource blocks (PRBs). In order to accommodate the paging of UEs with the lowest coverage level in a particular paging group, longer PDSCH paging repetitions (e.g., 8 or more repetitions) may be required. Moreover, interruptions in specific TxOPs may require additional LBT and overhead. As described above, paging ePDCCH must occur within a maximum POW of 10ms defined by MulteFire 1.0. Paging ePDCCH may be difficult to schedule with a high repetition count (e.g., 8 or more repetitions) without colliding with ongoing downlink data transmission on PDSCH, and wait to send paging ePDCCH until after the ongoing downlink data transmission can push the paging ePDCCH beyond the upper POW threshold of 10ms.

[0050] Embodiments of the present disclosure thus relate to extended POW. Figure 4AA timing diagram 400 depicting a paging process using an extended POW is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, a paging ePDCCH is included within an extended portion of the extended POW (e.g., extended from a legacy POW used by one or more legacy UEs), while one or more paging PDSCH repetitions are allowed to occur outside the extended POW.

[0051] refer to Figure 4A , the access point 110 transmits a common ePDCCH at 405, which turns on the POW. The first eight PDSCH subframes 410 in the POW are occupied by downlink data transmissions, which block the transmission of paging messages in any paging PDSCH repetitions. After the eight PDSCH subframes 410 are transmitted, the access point 110 clears the shared communication medium via LBT (415-420). Once the clearing is complete, the access point 110 transmits a paging ePDCCH (425) and then transmits multiple paging PDSCH repetitions (430) (e.g., based on the N as indicated in the paging ePDCCH at 425). rep ). As indicated at 435, the operations of 415-430 occur after the traditional POW threshold of 10 ms should have elapsed. In an example, POW may be extended to be greater than 10 ms (e.g., POW=10*M ms, where M is an integer greater than or equal to 2) to allow for greater flexibility in sending the paging ePDCCH 425 and the associated paging PDSCH repetition 430. As described above with respect to Figure 3A-3B As described above, the worst coverage level among the UEs to be paged associated with a given POW may be used to establish the TBS and may be used to establish the number of paging repetitions (eg, N rep ).

[0052] Figure 4B Depicted with Figure 4A The timing diagram 400 is the same as the timing diagram 400B, except that each ePDCCH occupies only a portion of the PRBs in the corresponding subframe. Figure 4B In the embodiment of the present invention, each ePDCCH is separated from the associated PDSCH by frequency, wherein each ePDCCH is sent on a first set of PRBs, and the PDSCH is sent on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe. Specifically, subframe 405B includes both common ePDCCH and PDSCH on separate PRBs, while subframe 425B includes both paging ePDCCH and PDSCH on separate PRBs.

[0053] Figure 4C A paging process 400C is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example, Figure 4C The process is performed by Figure 1In the example, Figure 4C The process can lead to Figure 4A The timing diagram of 400 or Figure 4B Timing diagram 400B.

[0054] Reference Figure 4C At block 405C, the access point obtains a set of paging messages to send to a paging group including a set of UEs associated with different coverage levels. At block 410C, the access point sends a common ePDCCH (e.g., Figure 4A 405 or Figure 4B 405B), which turns on a POW having a duration extended from a legacy POW used by one or more legacy UEs (e.g., MulteFire 1.0 UEs). At block 415C, the access point sends a paging ePDCCH (e.g., Figure 4A 425 or Figure 4B At block 420C, the access point repeatedly sends the set of paging messages (eg, Figure 4A or Figure 4B In an example, some or all of block 415, block 420C, or both may occur in an extended portion of the POW, i.e., after the traditional POW has elapsed (e.g., after the traditional POW has elapsed). Figure 4A-4B 435 of them).

[0055] Reference Figure 4C As described above, the access point may determine a transport block size (TBS) and a number of repetitions for the transmission of the set of paging messages based on the worst coverage level UE in the set of UEs. The repeated transmissions at block 420C may then be performed based on the TBS and the number of repetitions. In addition, Figure 4B As shown, each ePDCCH (eg, ePDCCH, common ePDCCH, paging ePDCCH, etc.) may be transmitted on a first set of PRBs, while a PDSCH may be transmitted on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe. Figure 4A As shown, each ePDCCH may be transmitted without a PDSCH in the same subframe.

[0056] In a specific DRX period, a legacy MulteFire UE may be divided into different paging frames (PFs) based on the UE ID. A PF is a radio frame that may contain one or more PO subframes for sending paging messages for paging and system information change notifications. In LTE, for example, the location of the PF for access terminal 120 (LTE UE in this example) is defined by certain paging parameters according to the following formula:

[0057] SFN mod T=(T / N)*(UE_ID mod N) (Formula 1)

[0058] Here, T = min (UE-specific DRX value, DefaultPagingCycle) and represents the minimum DRX cycle as between the UE-specific DRX cycle and the default cell-specific DRX cycle. At the same time, N = min (T, nB) and represents the number of paging frames within the UE's paging cycle, where nB = {2T, T, T / 2, T / 4, T / 8, T / 16, T / 32}. Finally, UE_ID = International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) mod 1024 and is used as a pseudo-random spacing value. The DefaultPagingCycle and nB parameters are broadcast in the system information (SIB-2).

[0059] The extended POW may include multiple PFs. The PF mentioned above may constitute a start frame for paging, which may be extended according to the extended POW. Paging ePDCCHs for different paging groups may conflict with each other due to LBT, and frequency reuse may be impossible as described above. For example, one paging ePDCCH may have occupied more than 64 PRBs. When the POWs for different paging groups overlap, a paging conflict (or a paging ePDCCH conflict) may occur. Figure 5A An embodiment according to the present disclosure illustrates a paging ePDCCH collision 500 between paging group #0 and paging group #1. Figure 5B Another embodiment according to the present disclosure shows a paging ePDCCH conflict 500B between paging group #0 and paging group #1. Figure 5B and Figure 5A Same as except that each ePDCCH occupies only a portion of the PRBs in the corresponding subframe. Figure 5B In the embodiment, each ePDCCH is separated from an associated PDSCH by frequency, wherein each ePDCCH is transmitted on a first set of PRBs, while the PDSCH is transmitted on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe.

[0060] Fig. 6A A timing diagram 600 depicting non-overlapping POWs is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 6AIn the embodiment of , the number of starting PFs of each DRX period can be reduced to N = min (T, nB), so that the POWs of paging group #0 and paging group #1 do not overlap. Fig. 6A In the embodiment, the value of nB can be limited to The corresponding POW of paging group #0 and paging group #1 may be set to P subframes, As mentioned above, the paging ePDCCH is sent in the corresponding POW, so Fig. 6A Separating the 0th and 1st POW as shown ensures that the paging ePDCCH for paging group #0 and paging group #1 will not be as Figure 5A-Figure 5B That creates conflict.

[0061] Figure 6B A timing diagram 600B depicting non-overlapping POWs is shown according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 6B and Fig. 6A Same as except that each ePDCCH occupies only a portion of the PRBs in the corresponding subframe. Figure 6B In the embodiment, each ePDCCH is separated from an associated PDSCH by frequency, wherein each ePDCCH is transmitted on a first set of PRBs, while the PDSCH is transmitted on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe.

[0062] Figure 6C A paging process 600C is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example, Figure 6C The process is performed by Figure 1 In the example, Figure 6C The process can lead to Fig. 6A The timing diagram of 600 or Figure 6B Timing diagram 600B.

[0063] Reference Figure 6C At block 605C, the access point obtains a first set of paging messages to send to a first paging group (eg, Figure 6A-6B At block 610C, the access point obtains a second set of paging messages to send to a second paging group (eg, Figure 6A-6B At block 615C, the access point establishes non-overlapping paging opportunity windows (POWs) for the first and second paging groups to avoid paging ePDCCH conflicts (e.g., Figure 6A-6B As shown, the POWs are thereby staggered to avoid paging ePDCCH collisions. In an example, block 615C may establish non-overlapping POWs in part by reducing the number of starting paging frames (PFs) per DRX period.

[0064] Although not in Figure 6C , but the access point may also send a first paging ePDCCH in the first POW that schedules a first set of paging messages to a first set of UEs, and may also send a second paging ePDCCH in the second POW that schedules a second set of paging messages to a second set of UEs. Based on block 615C, the first and second paging ePDCCHs are offset from each other to avoid ePDCCH collisions. In addition, as Figure 6B As shown, each ePDCCH (e.g., the first and second paging ePDCCHs) may be transmitted on a first set of PRBs, while the PDSCH is transmitted on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe. Fig. 6A As shown, each ePDCCH may be transmitted without a PDSCH in the same subframe.

[0065] In an embodiment, the paging protocol described above can be configured to: extend the MulteFire coverage deployed within an industrial IoT network and / or an automated guided vehicle (AGV) network. For example, some AGVs specify a minimum operating bandwidth of 150kbps, with 3 times the coverage relative to Wi-Fi or IEEE802.11 (e.g., 16dB gain is required on Wi-Fi, -14dB SNR requirement), and the paging protocol described above can meet these requirements.

[0066] Figure 7 1 is a device-level diagram illustrating in greater detail example components of an access point 110 and an access terminal 120 of a primary RAT system 100. As shown, the access point 110 and the access terminal 120 may generally include wireless communication devices (represented by communication devices 730 and 750) for communicating with other wireless nodes via at least one designated RAT. The communication devices 730 and 750 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals, and conversely to receive and decode signals according to a designated RAT (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.).

[0067] The communication devices 730 and 750 may include, for example, one or more transceivers (such as respective primary RAT transceivers 732 and 752), and in some designs, (optionally) co-located secondary RAT transceivers 734 and 754 (e.g., corresponding to the RAT used by the competing RAT system 150). As used herein, a "transceiver" may include transmitter circuitry, receiver circuitry, or a combination thereof, but need not provide both transmit and receive functions in all designs. For example, when providing full communication is not necessary, low-function receiver circuitry (e.g., a radio chip or similar circuitry that only provides low-level sniffing) may be used in some designs to reduce costs. In addition, as used herein, the term "co-location" (e.g., radio unit, access point, transceiver, etc.) may refer to one of a variety of arrangements. For example, components in the same housing; components hosted by the same processor; components within a defined distance from each other and / or components connected via an interface (e.g., an Ethernet switch), wherein the interface meets any required latency requirements for inter-component communication (e.g., message transmission).

[0068] The access point 110 and the access terminal 120 may also generally include communication controllers (represented by communication controllers 740 and 760) for controlling the operation (e.g., directing, modifying, enabling, disabling, etc.) of their respective communication devices 730 and 750, respectively. The communication controllers 740 and 760 may include one or more processors 742 and 762, respectively, and one or more memories 744 and 764 coupled to the processors 742 and 762, respectively. The memories 744 and 764 may be configured to store data, instructions, or a combination thereof, as an onboard cache, as a separate component, in combination, etc. The processors 742 and 762 and the memories 744 and 764 may be independent communication components, or may be part of the respective host system functions of the access point 110 and the access terminal 120.

[0069] It will be appreciated that the paging scheduler 121 may be implemented in different ways. In some designs, some or all of the functions associated therewith may be implemented by at least one processor (e.g., one or more of the processors 742), at least one memory (e.g., one or more of the memories 744), at least one transceiver (e.g., one or more of the transceivers 732 and 734), or a combination thereof, or in other ways under the guidance of the foregoing. In other designs, some or all of the functions associated therewith may be implemented as a series of interrelated functional modules.

[0070] It will be appreciated that the paging monitoring manager 122 may be implemented in different ways. In some designs, some or all of the functions associated therewith may be implemented by at least one processor (e.g., one or more of the processors 762), at least one memory (e.g., one or more of the memories 764), at least one transceiver (e.g., one or more of the transceivers 752 and 754), or a combination thereof, or in other ways under the guidance of the foregoing. In other designs, some or all of the functions associated therewith may be implemented as a series of interrelated functional modules.

[0071] It will therefore be understood that: Figure 7 The components in can be used to perform the above Figure 1-6C The operation described.

[0072] Figure 8 Embodiments according to the present disclosure show a method for implementing the methods discussed herein (e.g., for Figure 4A-4C ) Example apparatus 800 for paging scheduling techniques. In the illustrated example, the apparatus 800 includes a module 802 for obtaining, a module 804 for sending, a module 806 for sending, and a module 808 for repeatedly sending.

[0073] The module 802 for obtaining may be configured to obtain a set of paging messages to send to a paging group including a set of UEs associated with different coverage levels. The module 804 for sending may be configured to send a common ePDCCH (eg, Figure 4A 405 or Figure 4B 405B), which turns on a POW having a duration extended from a legacy POW used by one or more legacy UEs (e.g., MulteFire1.0 UEs). The module for sending 806 may be configured to: after the module for sending 804 sends the ePDCCH, send a paging ePDCCH (e.g., Figure 4A 425 or Figure 4B 425B). The module 808 for repeated transmission may be configured to: repeatedly transmit the set of paging messages on multiple PDSCH subframes according to the paging ePDCCH (eg, Figure 4A or Figure 4B 430, which may occur after the POW at 435 has passed).

[0074] Fig. 9 Embodiments according to the present disclosure show a method for implementing the methods discussed herein (e.g., for Figure 6A-6C) Example apparatus 900 for paging scheduling technology. In the illustrated example, the apparatus 900 includes a module 902 for obtaining, a module 904 for obtaining, and a module 906 for establishing.

[0075] The module 902 for obtaining may be configured to obtain a first set of paging messages to be sent to a first paging group (eg, Figure 6A-6B The module 904 for obtaining may be configured to obtain a second set of paging messages to be sent to a second paging group including a second set of UEs (eg, Figure 6A-6B The module 906 for establishing may be configured to: establish non-overlapping paging opportunity windows (POWs) for the first and second paging groups to avoid paging ePDCCH conflicts (e.g., Figure 6A-6B As shown, POW is staggered to avoid paging ePDCCH collision).

[0076] Figure 8-Figure 9 The functions of the modules can be implemented in various ways consistent with the teachings herein. In some designs, the functions of these modules can be implemented as one or more electrical components. In some designs, the functions of these blocks can be implemented as a processing system including one or more processor components. In some designs, at least a portion of, for example, one or more integrated circuits (e.g., ASICs) can be used to implement the functions of these modules. As discussed herein, an integrated circuit can include a processor, software, other related components, or some combination thereof. Therefore, the functions of different modules can be implemented as, for example, different subsets of integrated circuits, different subsets of a set of software modules, or a combination thereof. In addition, it will be understood that: a given subset (e.g., of a set of integrated circuits and / or software modules) can provide at least a portion of the functions of more than one module.

[0077] Furthermore, any suitable unit may be used to implement Figure 8-Figure 9 The components and functions represented by the present invention and other components and functions described herein. Such units may also be implemented at least in part using corresponding structures as taught herein. For example, the above combined Figure 8-Figure 9 The components described by the "module for..." may also correspond to functions similarly designated as "units for...". Thus, in some aspects, one or more of such units may be implemented using one or more of processor components, integrated circuits, or other suitable structures as taught herein, including as algorithms. Those skilled in the art will recognize in the present disclosure an algorithm represented by the above textual representation and a sequence of actions that may be represented by pseudocode. For example, Figure 8-Figure 9The components and functions represented may include code for performing LOAD operations, COMPARE operations, RETURN operations, IF-THEN-ELSE loops, and the like.

[0078] It should be understood that any reference to the elements in this article using marks such as "first", "second", etc. does not usually limit the number or order of those elements. Instead, these marks can be used as a convenient method to distinguish between two or more elements or between some instances of an element in this article. Therefore, the reference to the first element and the second element does not mean that only two elements are used here, or the first element must be arranged in front of the second element in some way. In addition, unless explicitly stated, a group of elements may include one or more elements. In addition, the term "at least one of A, B or C" or "one or more of A, B or C" or "at least one of the group consisting of A, B and C" used in this specification or claim means "A or B or C or any combination of these elements". For example, the term can include A, or B, or C, or A and B, or A and C, or A and B and C, or 2A, or 2B, or 2C, etc.

[0079] In view of the above description and explanation, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each illustrative logic box, module, circuit and algorithm step described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software or a combination thereof. In order to clearly represent the interchangeability between hardware and software, each illustrative component, box, module, circuit and step are generally described above around their functions. Whether such function is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions in an alternative manner for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0080] Thus, it will be appreciated that, for example, a device or any component of a device may be configured (or made user operable or adapted to) provide functionality as taught herein. This may be accomplished, for example, by manufacturing (e.g., making) a device or component so that it will provide the functionality; by programming a device or component so that it will provide the functionality; or by the use of some other suitable implementation technique. As an example, an integrated circuit may be fabricated to provide the desired functionality. As another example, an integrated circuit may be fabricated to support the desired functionality, and then the integrated circuit may be configured (e.g., via programming) to provide the desired functionality. As yet another example, a processor circuit may execute code to provide the desired functionality.

[0081] In addition, the methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may be located in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of temporary or non-temporary storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be a component of the processor (e.g., a cache memory).

[0082] It will also be appreciated, therefore, that certain aspects of the present disclosure may include, for example, a transitory or non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a method for communicating.

[0083] Although the foregoing disclosure shows various illustrative aspects, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made to the illustrated examples without departing from the scope defined by the appended claims. The disclosure is not intended to be limited to only the specifically illustrated examples. For example, unless otherwise stated, the functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to the aspects of the disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, although certain aspects may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is also contemplated unless expressly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method for paging a user equipment UE on a shared communication medium, include: Obtaining a first set of paging messages to send to a first paging group including a first set of UEs; obtaining a second set of paging messages to send to a second paging group including a second set of UEs; and A non-overlapping paging occasion window POW is established for the first paging group and the second paging group to avoid paging enhanced physical downlink control channel ePDCCH conflict, wherein the establishing includes reducing the number of start paging frames PF of each DRX period.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: include: sending, in a first POW based on the establishing, a first paging ePDCCH scheduling the first set of paging messages to the first set of UEs; as well as A second paging ePDCCH scheduling the second set of paging messages to the second set of UEs is sent based on the establishing in a second POW.

3. The method according to claim 2, in, The first paging ePDCCH and the second paging ePDCCH are offset from each other to avoid a conflict between the paging ePDCCHs.

4. The method according to claim 2, in, The first paging ePDCCH is sent on a first set of physical resource blocks PRBs, and the PDSCH is sent on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe.

5. The method according to claim 2, in, The second paging ePDCCH is sent on a first set of physical resource blocks PRBs, and the PDSCH is sent on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe.

6. An apparatus configured to page a user equipment UE on a shared communication medium, include: at least one processor coupled to at least one transceiver and configured to: Obtaining a first set of paging messages to send to a first paging group including a first set of UEs; obtaining a second set of paging messages to send to a second paging group including a second set of UEs; and A non-overlapping paging opportunity window POW is established for the first paging group and the second paging group to avoid paging enhanced physical downlink control channel ePDCCH conflict, wherein the at least one processor is configured to establish the non-overlapping POW by reducing the number of start paging frames PF in each DRX period.

7. The device according to claim 6, in, The at least one processor is configured to: sending, in a first POW based on the establishing, a first paging ePDCCH scheduling the first set of paging messages to the first set of UEs; as well as A second paging ePDCCH scheduling the second set of paging messages to the second set of UEs is sent based on the establishing in a second POW.

8. The device according to claim 6, in, The first paging ePDCCH and the second paging ePDCCH are offset from each other to avoid a conflict between the paging ePDCCHs.

9. The device according to claim 6, in, The first paging ePDCCH is sent on a first set of physical resource blocks PRBs, and the PDSCH is sent on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe.

10. The device according to claim 6, in, The second paging ePDCCH is sent on a first set of physical resource blocks PRBs, and the PDSCH is sent on a second set of PRBs in the same subframe.

11. An apparatus configured to page a user equipment (UE) on a shared communication medium, the apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to at least one of claims 1-5.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by an apparatus configured to page a user equipment (UE) on a shared communication medium, cause the apparatus to perform operations, the instructions comprising at least one instruction causing the apparatus to perform a method according to at least one of claims 1-5.

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