User Equipment Coverage Timing for Privacy-Safe Base Station Handover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile communication networks, particularly those using non-terrestrial infrastructure like satellites and high-altitude platforms, struggle to estimate the point in time when radio coverage will end for user equipment due to privacy concerns preventing precise location sharing, leading to inefficiencies in radio resource management and mobility decisions.
Innovation Solution
User equipment transmits coverage time information via a broadcast channel during connection establishment, indicating when it first receives sufficiently strong radio signals, allowing the base station to estimate the remaining service time without knowing the precise user location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the user equipment shares precise location information with the base station entity, then the base station can accurately estimate the remaining service time period, but the user privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary timing information (coverage time information indicating when the user equipment first receives sufficiently strong radio signals) from the larger context of location data. This allows the base station to estimate remaining service time without obtaining or processing precise location information, thus resolving the contradiction between estimation accuracy and privacy protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces coverage time information as an intermediary parameter that mediates between the user equipment's movement and the base station's estimation needs. This intermediary allows the base station to infer remaining service time based on timing data rather than direct location sharing, maintaining privacy while enabling accurate estimation.
2Loss of information
If the base station entity does not have precise location information of the user equipment, then user privacy is protected, but the base station cannot accurately manage radio resources and make mobility decisions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the user equipment provides coverage time information to the base station during connection establishment. This feedback loop enables the base station to continuously update its estimation of remaining service time, allowing for efficient radio resource management and mobility decisions without requiring precise location data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary action by having the user equipment transmit coverage time information during the connection establishment procedure. This preliminary data exchange enables the base station to prepare for future resource allocation and mobility management decisions, improving productivity while maintaining privacy through the use of timing information rather than location data.
3Speed
If the user equipment moves at high velocity, then the user can cover more distance, but the base station has difficulty estimating the remaining service time period
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the estimation method adaptive to varying user equipment velocities. The base station uses coverage time information combined with knowledge of the user's movement characteristics to dynamically adjust the remaining service time estimation, allowing accurate estimation even at high velocities without requiring precise location tracking.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for communication of a user equipment with a specific base station entity of a radio access network of a mobile communication network, wherein the specific base station entity transmits system information as part of a broadcast channel, wherein a specific coverage time information is able to be transmitted, by the user equipment, to the specific base station entity, wherein the specific coverage time information indicates a specific point in time when the user equipment is provided, by the specific base station entity, with sufficiently strong radio coverage, wherein in order to determine the specific point in time when the user equipment is provided with sufficiently strong radio coverage by the specific base station entity and in order to be able to transmit the specific coverage time information, the method comprises the following steps: -- in a first step, the user equipment receives radio signals indicative of the broadcast channel of the specific base station entity, -- in a second step, at a subsequent point in time and upon the user equipment initiating to be connected with the specific base station entity, the user equipment transmits, as part of the connection procedure, at least one radio resource control message to the specific base station entity, wherein the user equipment transmits the specific coverage time information as part of the at least one radio resource control message and wherein the specific coverage time information indicates the specific point in time when the user equipment detects the received radio signals of the specific base station entity as being sufficiently strong.