WWAN Radio Cooperation with WLAN for Small Cell Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of small cells in wireless communication networks leads to a significant increase in measurements for mobile devices, resulting in degraded quality of service and poor mobility performance due to limited resources, making existing wireless wide area network radios ineffective for certain applications.
Innovation Solution
A method and system where a wireless local area network radio assists a wireless wide area network radio by performing tasks such as subscriber identity module page monitoring, interference measurement, and beacon detection, allowing the wide area network radio to focus on communication without measurement gaps, thereby improving throughput and quality of service.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the number of small cells is increased to provide coverage and capacity, then network coverage and capacity are improved, but the number of measurements made by mobile devices increases significantly, leading to degraded quality of service and poor mobility performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides measurement tasks between two separate radios: the WWAN radio maintains communication while the WLAN radio performs measurements on small cells. This segmentation allows measurement functions to be separated from communication functions, enabling parallel operation without interfering with each other's performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The WLAN radio acts as an intermediary that performs measurement tasks on behalf of the WWAN radio. Instead of the WWAN radio directly measuring all small cells (which would require measurement gaps), the WLAN radio serves as a mediator that collects measurement data while the WWAN radio continues uninterrupted communication.
2Measurement precision
If the mobile device performs measurements on all small cells, then measurement accuracy is improved, but device resources are exhausted, resulting in degraded quality of service and poor mobility performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the measurement burden across two independent radios. The WLAN radio is dedicated to performing measurements on small cells with full resources, while the WWAN radio maintains communication functions. This segmentation prevents resource exhaustion in a single device radio by distributing tasks across separate hardware components.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device utilizes multiple radios (WWAN and WLAN) that can perform different functions simultaneously. The WLAN radio, originally designed for local area network communication, is repurposed to perform wide area network measurements, demonstrating multi-functionality that improves measurement capabilities without compromising primary communication functions.
3Measurement precision
If measurement gaps are introduced for WWAN radio to perform measurements, then measurement capability is improved, but communication throughput is reduced due to interrupted transmission
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments measurement and communication functions into separate radios. The WLAN radio performs all necessary measurements on small cells independently, while the WWAN radio maintains continuous communication without measurement gaps. This segmentation eliminates the need to interrupt communication for measurements, as both functions operate in parallel on different hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The WLAN radio serves as an intermediary measurement device that collects all necessary small cell measurement data. This allows the WWAN radio to act purely as a communication device without needing to pause for measurements, maintaining continuous throughput while the WLAN intermediary handles all measurement tasks.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of wireless communication includes communicating using a first radio based on a first radio technology; configuring a second radio based on a second radio technology different from the first radio technology to assist the first radio with a first-radio operation; and performing at least a portion of the first-radio operation at the second radio. The first-radio operation includes at least one of multiple subscriber identity module (SIM) page monitoring and page/data processing, higher order diversity data acquisition and processing, interference measurement and management, E-UTRAN cell global identifier (ECGI) determination and reporting, a reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, beacon detection for small cell identification, a minimization of drive test (MDT) measurement, and a speed estimation measurement. The first radio technology is a wireless wide area network (WWAN) technology and the second radio technology is a wireless local area network (WLAN) technology.