CN111183666B - Method, computer program and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A method comprising: receiving, at a user equipment having two or more receiver chains, information from a network node for use in determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment; and using said received information and radio frequency capability information of the user equipment to determine a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment for measuring a frequency layer; and receiving information of one or more serving cells from the network node at the user equipment, Measurement gap scheduling information should be requested from the one or more serving cells.

Description

Method, computer program and apparatus

technical field

The present disclosure relates to communications, and more particularly to methods, computer programs and apparatuses in wireless communication systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to measurement gap scheduling.

Background technique

A communication system can be viewed as a system that enables communication between two or more devices, such as user terminals, machine-type terminals, base stations, and/or other nodes, by providing communication channels between the communicating devices for carrying information. facility. For example, a communication system may be provided by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. For example, communications may include data communications for data carrying voice, electronic mail (email), text messages, multimedia and/or content data communications, and the like. Non-limiting examples of services provided include two-way or multi-way calling, data communication or multimedia services, and access to data network systems such as the Internet.

In a wireless system, at least a portion of the communication occurs over a wireless interface. Examples of wireless systems include Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs), satellite based communication systems and different wireless local networks, eg Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Local area wireless networking technology that allows devices to connect to data networks is known by the trade name WiFi (or Wi-Fi). WiFi is often used synonymously with WLAN. Wireless systems can be divided into cells and are therefore often referred to as cellular systems. A base station provides at least one cell.

A user may access the communication system by means of an appropriate communication device or terminal capable of communicating with a base station. Hence, nodes like base stations are often referred to as access points. A user's communication device is often referred to as user equipment (UE). A communication device is provided with suitable signal receiving and transmitting means for enabling communication, eg, communication with a base station and/or direct communication with other user equipment. A communications device may communicate on an appropriate channel, eg, listen to a channel on which a station (eg, a base station of a cell) transmits.

Communication systems and associated equipment typically operate according to given standards or specifications that specify what the various entities associated with the system are allowed to do and how they should do it. Usually also defines the communication protocol and/or parameters that should be used for the connection. Non-limiting examples of standardized radio access technologies include GSM (Global System for Mobile), EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) Radio Access Network (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) and Evolved UTRAN ( E-UTRAN). An example communication system architecture is Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio access technology. LTE is being standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). LTE employs Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) access and its further developments, which are sometimes referred to as LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

Since the introduction of fourth-generation (4G) services, there has been increased interest in the next-generation or fifth-generation (5G) standard. 5G may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) network. The standardization of 5G or New Radio networks is an ongoing work item. In LTE Rel-14 measurement gap enhancements for LTE WI (Work Item), the concept of gaps per CC (Component Carrier) is introduced.

Contents of the invention

According to a first aspect, there is provided a method comprising: receiving, at a user equipment having two or more receiver chains, information from a network node for use in determining measurement gap scheduling at the user equipment; and using the received information and the radio frequency capability information of the user equipment to determine a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment for measuring the frequency layer; and receiving information of one or more serving cells from the network node at the user equipment, the measurement gap Scheduling information should be requested from the one or more serving cells.

According to some embodiments, the user equipment is not configured with a serving cell for a frequency layer.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises determining a measurement gap schedule configured at one of the receiver chains for performing measurement frequency layers.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises determining one or more serving cells from which updated measurement gap scheduling information is requested.

According to some embodiments, determining the measurement gap schedule at the user equipment comprises using information of expected user equipment measurement performance.

According to some embodiments, the expected user equipment measurement performance comprises a threshold measurement delay duration, and the information of the expected user equipment measurement performance is received from the network node or preset at the user equipment.

According to some embodiments, configuring measurement gap scheduling at the user equipment includes using information of a maximum number of carriers that can be served by the configured measurement gaps.

According to some embodiments, determining the measurement gap schedule comprises using information of expected impact on data scheduling, or using information of previous impact on data scheduling.

According to some embodiments, the information on impact on data scheduling includes one or more of: operator policy based rules; data activity based rules; quality of service based rules.

According to some embodiments, the information of the expected impact on the data schedule and/or the information of the previous impact on the data schedule is provided by the network or fixed in the specification.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises: sending a request from the user equipment for measurement gap scheduling information to one or more serving cells, the request being sent based on information received from the network node for the one or more serving cells to one or more serving cells.

According to some embodiments, the method includes determining whether the user equipment has a receiver chain that is not actively scheduled with data, and when it is determined that there is a receiver chain that is not actively scheduled with data, performing the measurement frequency layer using the receiver chain.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises: receiving from a network node one or more parameters for use in determining a measurement gap schedule, the one or more parameters comprising one or more of: throughput; quality of service .

According to some embodiments, the method comprises: comparing values of parameters received from a network node with measured values of those parameters associated with one or more serving cells, or one or more groups of serving cells, or The value of the parameter received by the node is compared with one or more network configured thresholds.

According to some embodiments, the information of the one or more serving cells includes a priority associated with each serving cell within the set of serving cells.

According to some embodiments, the radio frequency capability information includes frequency measurement capabilities.

According to a second aspect there is provided a method comprising: sending information from a network node to a user equipment having two or more receiver chains for use in determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment in the following Used for measurement frequency layer; this information includes information of one or more serving cells from which measurement gap scheduling information should be requested.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises: sending to the user equipment information of expected user equipment measurement performance.

According to some embodiments, the expected user equipment measurement performance comprises a threshold measurement delay duration.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises: transmitting information of a maximum number of carriers capable of being served by the determined measurement gap.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises: sending information of expected impact on data scheduling or information of previous impact on data scheduling to the user equipment.

According to some embodiments, the information on impact on data scheduling includes one or more of: operator policy based rules; data activity based rules; quality of service based rules.

According to some embodiments, the method includes: sending to the user equipment one or more parameters for determining the measurement gap scheduling, the one or more parameters including one or more of the following: throughput; quality of service.

According to some embodiments, the information of the one or more serving cells includes a priority associated with each serving cell within the set of serving cells.

According to a third aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the steps of the first aspect when the program is run on data processing means.

According to a fourth aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the steps of the second aspect when the program is run on data processing means.

According to a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory comprising computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor: receive from a network node information for use in determining a measurement gap schedule at an apparatus having two or more receiver chains; and determining a measurement gap schedule at the apparatus using the received information and radio frequency capability information of the apparatus, for measuring the frequency layer; and receiving from the network node information of one or more serving cells from which measurement gap scheduling information should be requested.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is not configured with a serving cell for a frequency layer.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to determine a measurement gap schedule configured at one of the receiver chains for performing frequency layer measurements.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: determine one or more serving cells from which updated measurement gap scheduling information is requested.

According to some embodiments, the device is configured to determine a measurement gap schedule at the device comprising: using information of expected device measurement performance.

According to some embodiments, the expected device measurement performance comprises a threshold measurement delay duration, and the information of the expected device measurement performance is received from the network node or preset at the device.

According to some embodiments, configuring measurement gap scheduling at the apparatus comprises using information of a maximum number of carriers capable of being served by the configured measurement gaps.

According to some embodiments, determining the measurement gap schedule comprises using information of expected impact on data scheduling, or using information of previous impact on data scheduling.

According to some embodiments, the information on impact on data scheduling includes one or more of: operator policy based rules; data activity based rules; quality of service based rules.

According to some embodiments, the information of the expected impact on the data schedule and/or the information of the previous impact on the data schedule is provided by the network or fixed in the specification.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: send a request from the apparatus to one or more serving cells for measurement gap scheduling information, the request being sent to the one or more serving cells based on the request from the The information of one or more serving cells received by the network node.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: determine whether the apparatus has a receiver chain that is not actively scheduled with data, and when it is determined that there is a receiver chain that is not actively scheduled with data, perform the measurement frequency layer using the receiver chain .

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: receive one or more parameters from the network node for determining the measurement gap scheduling, the one or more parameters include one or more of the following: throughput; quality of service.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: compare values of parameters received from the network node with measured values of those parameters associated with one or more serving cells, or one or more serving cell groups, or The value of the parameter received from the network node is compared to one or more network configured thresholds.

According to some embodiments, the information of the one or more serving cells includes a priority associated with each serving cell within the set of serving cells.

According to some embodiments, the radio frequency capability information includes frequency measurement capabilities.

According to a sixth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory comprising computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with at least one processor: send information to a user equipment having two or more receiver chains, the information is used in determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment for measuring frequency layers; the information includes information of one or more serving cells, the measurement gap schedule Information should be requested from the one or more serving cells.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: send information of expected user equipment measurement performance to the user equipment.

According to some embodiments, the expected user equipment measurement performance comprises a threshold measurement delay duration.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to transmit information of a maximum number of carriers that can be served by the determined measurement gap.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: transmit information of expected impact on data scheduling or information of previous impact on data scheduling to the user equipment.

According to some embodiments, the information on impact on data scheduling includes one or more of: operator policy based rules; data activity based rules; quality of service based rules.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to: send one or more parameters for determining measurement gap scheduling to the user equipment, the one or more parameters include one or more of the following: throughput; quality of service .

According to some embodiments, the information of the one or more serving cells includes a priority associated with each serving cell within the set of serving cells.

Description of drawings

The invention will now be described in further detail, by way of example only, with reference to the following examples and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic example of a wireless communication system in which the present invention may be implemented;

Figure 2 shows an example of a communication device;

Figure 3 shows an example of a control device;

Figure 4 shows an example UE with multiple Rx chains serving different serving cells;

Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method according to an example;

Figure 6 is a flowchart of a method according to an example;

7 is a flowchart of a method according to an example.

Detailed ways

Before explaining the examples in detail, some general principles of wireless communication systems and mobile communication systems are briefly explained with reference to FIGS. 1-2 to help understand the underlying technology of the described examples.

In a wireless communication system 100 such as that shown in FIG. 1 , wireless communication devices (e.g., user equipment (UE) or MTC devices 102, 104, 105) provide wireless access. Such a node may be, for example, a base station or eNodeB (eNB), or in a 5G system a next-generation NodeB (gNB) or other wireless infrastructure node. These nodes are often called base stations. The base station is usually controlled by at least one suitable controller means to be able to operate and manage the mobile communication devices in communication with the base station. The controller device may be located in a radio access network (e.g., wireless communication system 100) or in a core network (CN) (not shown), and may be implemented as one central device or its functionality may be distributed among multiple devices superior. The controller means may be part of the base station and/or provided by a separate entity such as a radio network controller. In FIG. 1 , control means 108 and 109 are shown to control the corresponding macro-level base stations 106 and 107 . In some systems, the control device may additionally or alternatively be provided in the radio network controller. Other examples of radio access systems include those provided by base stations of systems based on technologies such as 5G or New Radio, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and/or WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). A base station may provide coverage for an entire cell or similar radio service area.

In FIG. 1 base stations 106 and 107 are shown connected to wider communication network 113 via gateway 112 . Further gateway functionality can be provided to connect to another network.

Smaller base stations 116, 118, and 120 may also be connected to network 113, for example, through a separate gateway function and/or via a macro station controller. Base stations 116, 118, and 120 may be pico-scale or femto-scale base stations, among others. In an example, stations 116 and 118 are connected via gateway 111 , while station 120 is connected via controller device 108 . In some embodiments, smaller stations may not be provided.

A possible wireless communication device will now be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2 , which shows a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a communication device 200 . Such communication devices are often referred to as user equipment (UE) or terminals. Suitable mobile communication equipment may be provided by any device capable of sending and receiving radio signals. Non-limiting examples include mobile stations (MS) or mobile devices, such as mobile phones or so-called 'smart phones', computers provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., USB dongle), computers provided with A personal digital assistant (PDA) or tablet computer with wireless communication capabilities or any combination of these, etc. For example, a mobile communication device may provide data communications for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text messaging, multimedia, and the like. Many services can thus be offered and provided to users via their communication devices. Non-limiting examples of these services include two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services, or simply access to a data communication network system such as the Internet. Broadcast or multicast data may also be provided to users. Non-limiting examples of content include downloads, television and radio programming, videos, advertisements, various alerts and other information.

A wireless communication device may be, for example, a mobile device, ie a device that is not fixed to a particular location, or may be a stationary device. A wireless device may or may not require human interaction to communicate. In the present teachings, the term UE or "user" is used to refer to any type of wireless communication device.

The wireless device 200 may receive signals over the air or radio interface 207 via suitable means for receiving and may transmit signals via suitable means for transmitting radio signals. In FIG. 2 , a transceiver arrangement is designated schematically by block 206 . For example, the transceiver means 206 may be provided by means of radio components and associated antenna arrangements. Antenna arrangements may be provided internally or externally to the wireless device.

A wireless device is typically provided with at least one data processing entity 201, at least one memory 202 and possibly other components 203 for software and hardware assistance in performing the tasks it is designed to perform, including controlling access to access systems and other communication devices As well as communication with access systems and other communication devices. Data processing, storage and other related control devices may be provided on appropriate circuit boards and/or chipsets. This feature is indicated by reference numeral 204 . The user may control the operation of the wireless device by means of a suitable user interface, such as keypad 205, voice commands, touch-sensitive screen or pad, combinations thereof, and the like. A display 208, speaker and microphone may also be provided. Furthermore, the wireless communication device may include suitable connectors (wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories (eg, hands-free devices) to it. The communication devices 102, 104, 105 may access the communication system based on various access technologies.

Figure 3 shows an example of a control device for a communication system, e.g. coupled to and/or used to control a station of an access system such as a RAN node, e.g. a base station, a gNB, a central unit of a cloud architecture or Nodes of the core network such as MME or S-GW, scheduling entities such as spectrum management entities or servers or hosts. The control means may be integrated with or external to the core network or RAN nodes or modules. In some embodiments, the base station comprises a separate control device unit or module. In other embodiments, the control device may be another network element, such as a radio network controller or a spectrum controller. In some embodiments, each base station may have such control means as well as control means arranged in the radio network controller. The control means 300 may be arranged to provide control of communications in the service area of the system. The control device 300 comprises at least one memory 301 , at least one data processing unit 302 , 303 and an input/output interface 304 . Via the interface, the control device can be coupled to the receiver and transmitter of the base station. Receivers and/or transmitters may be implemented as radio front ends or remote radio heads. For example, the control device 300 or the processor 201 may be configured to execute appropriate software codes to provide control functions.

The LTE Rel-14 measurement gap enhancements for LTE WI (Work Item) have been mentioned above. In this work item, the concept of gap per CC (Carrier Component) is introduced. A "gap" is a period of time during which the UE ceases transmission/reception (Tx/Rx) on one or more serving cell groups (a group may include any number of serving cells) or carriers, such that it is possible for the UE to have been configured to measure e.g. Measurements are performed on a frequency layer of a carrier without a serving cell. Such measurements may include signal strength, signal quality of non-serving cell(s), or total received power of one or more cell(s), or interference level of frequency layers, etc. Such measurements may be useful or necessary, for example, during handover of a UE from one cell to another.

In the work item mentioned above, a UE with multiple receiver (Rx) chains can indicate a gap preference to the network, ie for each serving cell, whether gaps are required or not. Each Rx chain is related to the UE's ability to receive multiple frequency layers and may depend on exact UE implementation details. Thus, in some examples, each receiver chain may receive a different frequency layer. This preference is expected to be indicated from the UE to the network when the network performs RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection reconfiguration (eg changing carrier aggregation (CA) combination or adding/removing measurement objects) that may affect the UE's RF capabilities.

In this per-CC gap concept, it depends on UE implementation on which set of CC gaps to request. The technical problem that the inventors of the present application have identified is how a UE with multiple Rx chains should optimally request gaps. The inventors have also identified that by requesting gaps in an optimal way, the measurement performance of the different carriers can be guaranteed as much as possible and the interference to the data scheduling on the serving cell can be minimized. If the UE is using multiple Rx chains to serve its serving cell, per UE gaps are unnecessary for all serving cells of the UE.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which each CC (Component Carrier) with a configured serving cell is served by an Rx chain. In some cases, one Rx chain can be used to serve several CCs. In FIG. 4 , a UE is schematically shown at 400 . The UE includes Rx chain #1 402 and Rx chain #2 404 . In this example, Rx chain 402 serves CC #1-1, 1-2, and 1-M (indicated by reference numerals 406, 408, and 410, respectively). Rx chain 404 serves CC #2-1, 2-2 and 2-N (indicated by reference numerals 412, 414 and 416, respectively). When the UE is configured to measure a non-serving carrier A (ie carrier frequency) indicated by 418 that is not currently serving user equipment, the UE will attempt to measure cells in that carrier according to the configured measurement parameters. In this example, non-serving carrier A is a carrier for which no serving cell exists for the UE, but the network may configure the UE to measure carriers to find out if there are good candidates to be used as serving cells for the UE.

In terms of capabilities, any one or more of the Rx chains may be used to measure a given frequency of the non-serving carrier 418 at times. If one Rx chain is used for measurements, measurement gaps may be created for the set of CCs served by it. For example, if Rx chain 402 performs measurements, there will be measurement gaps required by CCs 406, 408, and 410, or in other words, periods of time that typically occur periodically (although DRX is utilized for ANR (Automatic Neighbor Relations), they may occur as the UE sees fit), where the suspension involves transmission/reception of those CCs.

As will be explained more fully below, the present disclosure describes, at least in part, the decision of whether and/or from which serving cell or set of serving cells a UE should request a gap as well as information from the network for the UE to facilitate making the best decision. required information. If intervals are authorized upon request, the Rx chains serving those cells will be re-aligned for measurements.

When non-serving carrier frequencies need to be measured and the UE has multiple Rx chains that can be used to perform the measurements, there may be at least two potential problems for the UE.

The first potential question is whether a new gap needs to be requested when

No active gap(s); and/or

activating gaps in a set of serving cells;

A second potential issue is whether a new gap(s) needs to be requested, from which serving cell or set of serving cells the UE should request the measurement gap(s).

Accordingly, in some embodiments, an enhancement is proposed wherein the network can influence or guide the UE's decision on whether to request gaps and from which CCs. In some examples, the UE's PCell (Primary Cell) generates the necessary information and sends it to the UE via one or more serving cells.

An immediate use case for the proposed enhancements is LTE-NR EN-DC (E-UTRAN-NR Dual Connectivity). In EN-DC, LTE MN (Master Node) and NR SN (New Radio Secondary Node) can configure UE measurements on NR carrier frequencies, both serving and non-serving carriers, respectively. For example, the MN can configure inter-RAT/frequency measurements and the SN can independently configure intra-RAT/frequency measurements. The NR carrier frequencies configured by MN and SN for measurement may be the same or different. As the inventors have identified, since the MN and SN work independently, it is not always necessary to achieve an optimal measurement configuration through network configuration, including allocating appropriate gaps to different CC sets. On the contrary, leaving the decision of gap request completely to the UE itself may lead to poor data scheduling opportunities and measurement performance.

According to some embodiments, for the case where the UE uses multiple RX chains to serve different serving cells, e.g. intra-RAT CA or DC or MR-DC (Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity), the UE will determine the gap request(s) Its own RF capabilities as well as network control information are taken into account. Based on this information, the UE determines whether a new gap configuration needs to be requested. If a new gap configuration is required, the UE selects the set of serving cells for which gaps will be activated. In MR-DC in which measurement objects are independently configured by different network nodes, the UE determines to which node to request a gap.

When the network performs RRC connection reconfiguration that may affect the UE's RF measurement capabilities, such as changing the CA combination or adding/removing measurement objects to be measured, in some embodiments, the UE has two steps to make a gap-related decision, as shown in Figure 5.

Initially, the UE determines whether new measurement gaps are needed based on UE RF capabilities and other new parameters of expected UE measurement performance. The expected UE measurement capability can be provided by the network or fixed in the specification. New parameters are eg the maximum allowable measurement delay for each measurement frequency, or the maximum total number of carriers that can be measured (or 'served') in one slot.

As shown in S1, the UE determines whether the UE using the Rx chain with the existing gap pattern has the capability of measuring the target measurement frequency carrier with the indicated performance based on the UE RF capability.

At S2, given the UE RF capabilities, new parameters of expected measurement performance are used to assist the UE in evaluating whether the currently used gap pattern can support all target measurement objects without tolerating measurement performance degradation (e.g., at Instructs the UE to measure performance targets within a given network).

At S3, if/when it is determined that a new gap pattern/gap is required, the UE determines on which set of serving cells to request the new gap. This may be based on UE RF capabilities and rules for expected impact on data scheduling, experienced data scheduling, and the like. This information can be provided by the network or fixed in the specification. These rules may include operator policy-based rules, data activity-based rules, QoS-based rules, and the like.

At S4, the UE RF capability may determine whether the Rx chain that will create the new gap has the capability of measuring the target measurement frequency carrier.

At S5, the rule of expected impact on data scheduling is used to help UE select one Rx chain to create a new gap for the target measurement object with minimal data scheduling impact.

In some examples, to optimize scheduling at the network and better utilize available system resources where the UE has an inactive Rx chain (i.e. not actively scheduled with data), then the UE uses its inactive receiver chain to perform Measurement. In this case, the UE should try to reduce the scheduling impact, e.g. request no gaps or request gaps with high density on the active receiver chain if new gaps need to be requested. In an example, this is achieved by generating a metric (e.g., throughput) indicated by the network, and comparing values (e.g., throughput) obtained from different sets of serving cells, or with network configured threshold for comparison. The network can also explicitly request that a certain group should provide gaps.

Referring back to Fig. 5, an example of a network control parameter or rule that may be used at S5 may be an explicit preference of a set of serving cells. For example, in case of MR-DC, the network can instruct the UE to use gaps as much as possible or to perform measurements in one NodeB. The parameters or rules may also include priorities associated with each serving cell. For example, a higher priority may be given to a serving cell if it is used for coverage/mobility. The UE should try to avoid affecting such a serving cell by not requesting gaps or by requesting gaps with a lower density. Network control parameters may also include one or more thresholds. The threshold(s) may include one or more of: Quality of Service (QoS); radio conditions; throughput. The UE is configured to try to avoid affecting a serving cell if the QoS and/or radio conditions and/or throughput on that cell are above a threshold.

In order to guarantee (or guarantee as much as possible) the measurement performance of the measured carriers, in some examples, if it is determined that sharing the Rx chain between the newly added carrier and other carriers will result in longer measurements than a threshold signaled by the network delay, the UE is set to start using the new Rx chain to measure the carrier.

Referring back to FIG. 5 again, in some examples, a network control parameter that may be used in S2 may be a maximum target performance scaling (eg, measurement delay) for each measurement object. For example, if the existing gap has been used to measure four carrier frequencies, and the maximum target performance scaling of the newly added carrier frequency used for measurement is 5, the UE should request a new gap on another set of serving cells. The maximum target performance and/or scale factor may also be related to other measurement properties (eg, reporting configuration) on the carrier frequency. If a mobility-related event is configured on the carrier frequency (like A3 (i.e., a neighbor cell becomes stronger than the current PCell plus a threshold) or A6 (i.e., a neighbor cell on the same frequency as the SCell becomes stronger than the corresponding SCell (Secondary Cell) plus threshold strong), then the maximum target performance scaling can be smaller than the case of immobility related events like A1/A2 (serving cell becomes better/worse than threshold)). A1, A2, A3 and A6 are reporting events defined in 3GPP Technical Specification 36.331 (RRC Protocol).

Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method from the perspective of a user equipment according to an example.

At S1, a UE with two or more receiver chains receives information from a network node for use in determining measurement gap scheduling at the user equipment.

At S2, the UE uses the received information and the radio frequency capability information of the user equipment to determine the measurement gap scheduling at the user equipment for measuring the frequency layer.

At S3, the UE receives from the network node information of one or more serving cells from which measurement gap scheduling information should be requested.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the method from the perspective of a network node according to an example.

At S1, the network node sends information to the user equipment with two or more receiver chains, the information for use in determining the measurement gap scheduling at the user equipment to measure frequency layers. The information includes information of one or more serving cells from which measurement gap scheduling information should be requested.

According to the described embodiments, selection of serving cell groups to provide UE-side measurement gaps may be optimized. Furthermore, the network can influence the UE's decisions so that the impact on data scheduling and measurement performance can be controlled.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects of the invention may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the invention is not limited thereto. Although various aspects of the present invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other graphical representation, it is to be fully understood that these blocks, devices, systems, techniques or methods described herein may serve as non-limiting examples Implemented in hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device, such as in a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or programs (also called program products, including software routines, applets and/or macros) can be stored on any device-readable data storage medium, and they include program instructions to perform certain tasks. A computer program product may include one or more computer-executable components that, when the program is run, are configured to perform an embodiment. One or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or a portion thereof.

Further in this regard it should be noted that any blocks of the logic flow as in the Figures may represent program steps or interconnected logic circuits, blocks and functions or a combination of program steps and logic circuits, blocks and functions. Software may be stored on such physical media as memory chips, memory blocks implemented within the processor, magnetic storage such as hard or floppy disks, and optical storage such as eg DVD and its data variant CD. Physical media are non-transient media.

The memory may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The data processor may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may include, by way of non-limiting examples, a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a data signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an FPGA, One or more of a gate-level circuit and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture.

Embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is by and large a highly automated process. Sophisticated and powerful software tools are available to convert a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The foregoing description provides, by way of non-limiting examples, a complete and informative description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims. In fact, there is yet another embodiment that includes a combination of one or more embodiments with any other embodiment previously discussed.

Claims (24)

1. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving information from a network node at a user equipment having two or more receiver chains, the information for use in determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment; and

determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment for measuring a frequency layer using the received information and radio frequency capability information of the user equipment; and

information of one or more serving cells from which measurement gap scheduling information should be requested is received at the user equipment from the network node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment is not configured with a serving cell for the frequency layer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises: a measurement gap schedule configured at one of the receiver chains is determined for use in performing the measurement frequency layer.

4. A method according to claim 3, comprising: one or more serving cells from which updated measurement gap scheduling information is requested are determined.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment comprises: information of expected user equipment measurement performance is used.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the expected user equipment measurement performance comprises a threshold measurement delay duration and the information of expected user equipment measurement performance is received from the network node or preset at the user equipment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring measurement gap scheduling at the user equipment comprises: information of the maximum number of carriers that can be served by the configured measurement gap is used.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a measurement gap schedule comprises: information of the expected impact on the data scheduling is used, or information of the previous impact on the data scheduling is used.

9. The method according to claim 1, comprising: a request for measurement gap scheduling information from the user equipment is sent to the one or more serving cells, the one or more serving cells to which the request is sent being based on the information of the one or more serving cells received from the network node.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises: it is determined whether the user equipment has a receiver chain that is not actively scheduled with data, and the measurement frequency layer is performed using the receiver chain when it is determined that there is a receiver chain that is not actively scheduled with data.

11. The method according to claim 1, comprising: receiving one or more parameters from the network node for use in determining the measurement gap schedule, the one or more parameters including one or more of: throughput capacity; quality of service.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising: the values of the parameters received from the network node are compared to measured values of those parameters associated with the one or more serving cells or one or more groups of the serving cells, or the values of the parameters received from the network node are compared to one or more network configuration thresholds.

13. The method of any of claims 1-12, wherein the information of one or more serving cells comprises: a priority associated with each serving cell within the set of serving cells.

14. A method of communication, comprising:

transmitting information from a network node to a user equipment having two or more receiver chains, the information for use in determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment for use in measuring a frequency layer;

the information includes information of one or more serving cells from which measurement gap scheduling information should be requested.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising: and sending information of expected user equipment measurement performance to the user equipment.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the expected user equipment measurement performance comprises a threshold measurement delay duration.

17. The method of claim 14, comprising: information is transmitted on the maximum number of carriers that can be served by the determined measurement gap.

18. The method of claim 14, comprising: information of an expected impact on data scheduling or information of a previous impact on data scheduling is transmitted to the user equipment.

19. The method of claim 14, comprising: transmitting one or more parameters to the user equipment, the one or more parameters for use in determining the measurement gap schedule, the one or more parameters comprising one or more of: throughput capacity; quality of service.

20. The method of any of claims 14 to 19, wherein the information of one or more serving cells comprises: a priority associated with each serving cell within the set of serving cells.

21. A computer readable medium comprising program code means adapted to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 13 when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

22. A computer readable medium comprising program code means adapted to perform the method of any of claims 14 to 20 when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

23. A communications apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor:

receiving information from a network node, the information for use in determining a measurement gap schedule at the apparatus, the apparatus having two or more receiver chains; and

determining a measurement gap schedule at the device for measuring a frequency layer using the received information and radio frequency capability information of the device; and

information of one or more serving cells from which measurement gap scheduling information should be requested is received from the network node.

24. A communications apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor:

transmitting information to a user equipment having two or more receiver chains, the information for use in determining a measurement gap schedule at the user equipment for use in measuring a frequency layer;

the information includes information of one or more serving cells from which the measurement gap scheduling information should be requested.