Multipoint Channel Configuration for Wireless Reliability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless communication systems experience service disruptions and inefficient cell reselection during the CELL-FACH state due to the lack of dedicated physical channels, leading to potential loss of synchronization and unreliable reception, especially in weak signal conditions, which can result in ping-pong effects between cells.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method for user equipment (UE) to obtain and combine channel configurations from multiple suitable serving and neighbor cells, enabling multipoint communications that allow seamless handovers and reduce data loss by creating a combined channel configuration for data reception from multiple sources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the UE performs cell reselection by obtaining system information and sending cell update messages, then the UE can change to a better quality neighbor cell, but the service is disrupted for up to a full second during the cell update procedure
Solution Approach 1:
The UE proactively identifies and prepares to receive data from multiple candidate cells (serving cell and neighbor cells) before actual handover is needed. By pre-establishing reception capabilities at multiple cells, the UE avoids service disruption during handover since data reception can continue seamlessly from the new cell once selected.
2Productivity
If the UE has an uplink resource allocated by the network in CELL-FACH state, then enhanced uplink communication is enabled, but the UE cannot perform cell reselection and risks losing synchronization to the serving cell
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates cell reselection functionality from uplink resource allocation constraints. The UE maintains its uplink resource allocation while independently performing cell reselection measurements and evaluations. This segmentation allows the UE to monitor and reselect cells based on signal quality without being blocked by active uplink transmissions, preventing loss of synchronization.
3Device complexity
If the UE receives data from only a single cell, then the system complexity is low, but the reception is unreliable in weak signal conditions and may cause ping-pong effects between cells
Solution Approach 1:
The UE combines data reception from multiple cells (serving cell and one or more neighbor cells) simultaneously. By merging the reception functions of multiple cells into a unified data reception process, the UE achieves more reliable reception in weak signal conditions through diversity combining, while avoiding ping-pong effects since data can be received from multiple sources concurrently rather than switching between single cells.
Data Source
AI summary
A user equipment UE obtains channel configurations from each of a serving cell and n neighbor cells which have been determined to be suitable for data communications with the UE, from which the UE creates a combined channel configuration and utilizes it for multipoint communications with those cells. In specific embodiments: the respective channel configurations are obtained from the respective cells' system information; the n neighbor cells are determined to be suitable by the UE comparing each cell's received signal strength/quality against a threshold. The UE may get a neighbor cell list NCL and the threshold and consider each cell on the NCL as one of the n neighbor cells if its signal strength/quality exceed the threshold, then the UE may acquire system information for only those n neighbor cells instead of all cells on the NCL. The UE then reports in uplink signaling that the n neighbor cells are suitable.