Base Transceiver Station User Equipment Counting Method
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current public land mobile networks face challenges in efficiently determining the number of user equipment within a geographic area, leading to high signaling traffic and inefficiencies in tracking user equipment mobility, especially in scenarios where user equipment are frequently changing cells or in idle mode.
Innovation Solution
A method where a base transceiver station detects user equipment entering and leaving a geographic area, updates the number of user equipment by sending identity information elements, allowing for regular tracking without individual messaging, and reduces signaling traffic by eliminating the need for conventional paging procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the user equipment announces its presence at each radio cell change (first tracking scheme), then the public land mobile network can accurately track user equipment location, but the signaling traffic between user equipment and network increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by having user equipment in idle mode announce presence only when entering a new geographic area (location area), rather than at every radio cell change. This reduces signaling traffic while maintaining sufficient location tracking accuracy for paging operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the network into location areas, each served by a specific base transceiver station. User equipment only needs to announce presence when crossing location area boundaries, allowing the network to track locations at a coarser granularity that suffices for idle mode paging without excessive signaling.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the public land mobile network pages user equipment in many radio cells when location is unknown (second tracking scheme), then user equipment mobility is supported, but the signaling load on broadcast channels increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having user equipment proactively announce its presence and provide location information when entering a location area, before any paging operation is needed. This allows the base transceiver station to have advance knowledge of user equipment locations, eliminating the need for wide-area paging.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by having user equipment send presence announcement messages to the base transceiver station, which then stores this location information for future paging operations. This feedback loop enables the network to adapt paging strategies based on actual user equipment locations.
3Measurement precision
If the base transceiver station tracks each user equipment individually, then accurate user equipment counting is achieved, but the complexity of the tracking system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by having user equipment automatically send presence announcement messages containing their identity information when entering a location area. The base transceiver station simply needs to count these announcements and maintain a register, without requiring complex individual tracking mechanisms for each user equipment.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for determining the number and/or capabilities of user equipments in a geographic area of an access network of a public land mobile network, wherein the access network comprises at least one base transceiver station, wherein a plurality of user equipments in the geographic area receive control signals from the base transceiver station, wherein the method comprises the following steps: -- in a first step, the base transceiver station detects a first group of user equipments entering the geographic area and a second group of user equipments leaving the geographic area, wherein a previous number of user equipments corresponds to the number of user equipments in the geographic area prior to or at the beginning of the first step -- in a second step, a current number of user equipments in the geographic area is updated based on the previous number of user equipments in the geographic area and based on both the number of the first group of user equipments as well as the number of the second group of user equipments.