Preemptive Inter-RAT Mobility Indication for Latency Reduction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current wireless communication systems face challenges in efficiently transitioning between different radio access technologies (RATs), particularly in determining whether inter-RAT mobility procedures are supported in specific geographic areas, leading to potential latency issues when a user equipment (UE) moves to a new location.

Innovation Solution

The system provides a preemptive indication of inter-RAT mobility by allowing the UE to receive information from the core network about geographic areas where inter-RAT connected-mode mobility is supported, enabling it to determine the appropriate mobility procedure before location changes, thereby avoiding unsupported procedures and reducing latency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of time

If the UE attempts to initiate an inter-RAT mobility procedure without prior knowledge of supported geographic areas, then the UE can freely try to transition between RATs, but the UE may waste time attempting unsupported procedures leading to increased latency

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovelatencyVSAvoidmobility procedure management
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The network provides the UE with preemptive indication information about geographic areas where inter-RAT mobility is supported before the UE actually attempts the mobility procedure. This allows the UE to plan its mobility actions in advance and avoid wasting time on unsupported transitions, directly reducing latency while maintaining manageable complexity through network-guided preconfiguration

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Loss of time

If the network provides preemptive indication information about supported inter-RAT mobility areas, then the UE can make informed decisions to reduce latency, but the network must maintain and manage the indication information infrastructure

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovelatencyVSAvoidnetwork management
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The network leverages existing self-organizing network (SON) capabilities and automated configuration systems to maintain the preemptive indication information. The network infrastructure automatically updates and manages the geographic area support data based on current network state, reducing the manual management burden while enabling the latency-reducing preemptive indication feature

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

3Adaptability or versatility

If the system supports inter-RAT mobility procedures in all geographic areas, then the UE has maximum flexibility to transition between RATs, but the system may attempt unsupported procedures in areas where they are not available leading to failures

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveRAT transition flexibilityVSAvoidmobility procedure success rate
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements location-aware mobility management where the preemptive indication information is geographically segmented. Different geographic areas have different mobility support configurations, allowing the UE to access supported RATs in each location while avoiding unsupported transitions. This maintains high adaptability within each local area while ensuring reliability across the broader network

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP3673681B1Preemptive indication of inter-rat mobility
Publication Date: 2022.04.20 QUALCOMM INC
  • EP3673681B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3673681B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3673681B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described for inter-RAT mobility from a first radio access technology (RAT) to a second RAT, including cases in which different RATs correspond to different generations of networks. Approaches described herein include providing a preemptive indication of inter-RAT mobility for one or more geographic areas such to a user equipment (UE). The UE can thus use a mobility procedure to transition from the first RAT to the second RAT that is supported in the UE's location without first attempting an unsupported mobility procedure, reducing transition latency.