CN111373815A - Method and apparatus for providing access control - Google Patents

Abstract

A method includes applying, at a user equipment, an access policy for covering enhanced level access barring. The access policy depends on a state associated with the user equipment. Different policies may be applied depending on whether the device is moving or stationary.

Description

Method and apparatus for providing access control

technical field

Some embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for providing an access control mechanism.

Background technique

A communication system can be viewed as a facility that enables communication between two or more entities, such as user terminals, base stations, and/or other nodes, by providing carrier waves between the various entities involved in the communication path. communication session. The communication system may be provided, for example, by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. A communication session may include, for example, data communications for carrying communications such as voice, video, electronic mail (email), text messages, multimedia and/or content data, and the like. Non-limiting examples of services provided include two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services, and access to data network systems such as the Internet.

In a wireless communication system, at least a portion of a communication session between at least two stations occurs over a wireless link. Examples of wireless systems include public land mobile networks (PLMNs), satellite-based communication systems and different wireless local area networks, such as wireless local area networks (WLAN). Wireless systems can generally be divided into cells, and are therefore often referred to as cellular systems.

Users can access the communication system by means of suitable communication equipment or terminals. A user's communication device may be referred to as user equipment (UE) or user equipment. Communication equipment is provided with suitable signal reception and transmission means to enable communication, eg to enable access to a communication network or to communicate directly with other users. A communication device may access a carrier provided by a station (eg, a base station of a cell) and transmit and/or receive communications on the carrier.

Communication systems and associated devices typically operate according to a given standard or specification that sets out what various entities associated with the system are allowed to do and how this should be accomplished. The communication protocol and/or parameters to be used for the connection are usually also defined. An example of a communication system is UTRAN (3G Radio). Other examples of communication systems are the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio access technology and the so-called 5G or new radio networks. The standardization of 5G or new radio networks is currently under discussion. LTE is being standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect, there is provided a method comprising applying, at a user equipment, an access policy for covering enhanced level access barring, the access policy being dependent on a state associated with the user equipment.

The state may be the mobility state of the user equipment.

The state may include that the user equipment is one of: stationary user equipment and mobile user equipment.

The method may include: receiving a first access policy and a second access policy, where the first access policy is used when the user equipment is mobile, and the second access policy is used when the user equipment is stationary, And the first access policy or the second access policy is applied depending on whether the user equipment is stationary or mobile.

The method may include determining whether the user equipment is a stationary or moving mobile device, and applying a respective one of the first access policy and the second access policy in response to the determination.

The state may be a radio resource management monitoring state.

The state may be a radio resource management neighbor cell monitoring state.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a first time scale , and a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a second time scale that is faster than the first time scale.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, loose monitoring, and normal monitoring.

The method may include receiving, at the user equipment, the access policy.

The method may include determining a state at the user equipment and selecting an access policy from a plurality of access policies depending on the determined state.

The applied policy can be associated with a given coverage enhancement level or levels.

The method may include determining, at the user equipment, that a current coverage enhancement level for the user equipment is prohibited, and in response to the determination, attempting by the user equipment to access using a different coverage enhancement level.

For example, this may be performed by stationary UEs to avoid being trapped/banned in overloaded CE levels.

This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The method may include receiving, at the user equipment, information indicating whether the user equipment is allowed to use a different coverage enhancement level when the current coverage enhancement level for the user equipment is disabled.

For example, this may be performed by stationary UEs to avoid being trapped/banned in overloaded CE levels.

This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The access policy may include information on which of the plurality of control procedures is to be performed.

This information can be provided for a number of different coverage enhancement levels.

Different information may be provided for multiple different coverage enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that the overlay enhancement level prohibition is not to be performed for one or more overlay enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that coverage enhancement level inhibition is not performed for one or more coverage enhancement levels when the user equipment is stationary.

The information may include information indicating whether the first prohibition process is to be skipped, and performing a second prohibition process in response to the information indicating that the first prohibition process is to be skipped.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile equipment depending on eg network policy. This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The information may include information indicating that the second prohibition process is not required, and the first prohibition process is performed.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile user equipment depending on eg network policy. This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The first barring procedure may include a cell-level barring mechanism.

In some cases, this can be referred to as a "traditional" process. For example, in the context of 3GPP, this could be a pre-Rel-15 release.

The second prohibition process may include overriding enhancement level prohibition.

The information may include at least one flag.

The applied policy may include prohibition threshold information for one or more coverage enhancement levels.

For example, this may be associated with stationary user equipment to allow stationary user equipment to retry a different CE level when the current CE level is disabled.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus in user equipment, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to interact with at least one A processor together causes the apparatus to at least apply an access policy for overriding enhanced level access barring at a user equipment, the access policy being dependent on a state associated with the user equipment.

The state may be the mobility state of the user equipment.

The state may include that the user equipment is one of: stationary user equipment and mobile user equipment.

The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor: receive a first access policy and a second access policy, the first access policy for use when the user equipment is mobile, the second access policy The access policy is for use when the user equipment is stationary and either the first access policy or the second access policy is applied depending on whether the user equipment is stationary or mobile.

At least one memory and computer program code may be configured, with at least one processor, to determine whether the user equipment is a stationary or moving mobile device, and to apply the first access policy and the second access in response to the determination A corresponding access policy in the policy.

The state may be a radio resource management monitoring state.

The state may be a radio resource management neighbor cell monitoring state.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a first time scale , and a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a second time scale that is faster than the first time scale.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a relaxed monitoring state, and a normal monitoring state.

At least one memory and computer program code may be configured with at least one processor to receive the access policy at the user equipment.

The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured, with the at least one processor, to: determine a state, and select an access policy from a plurality of access policies depending on the determined state.

The applied policy can be associated with a given coverage enhancement level or levels.

The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured, with the at least one processor, to determine that the current coverage enhancement level is disabled, and in response to the determination, attempt access using a different coverage enhancement level.

For example, this may be performed by stationary UEs to avoid being trapped/banned in overloaded CE levels.

This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured, with the at least one processor, to receive information indicating whether the user equipment is permitted to use a different coverage enhancement level when the current coverage enhancement level is disabled.

For example, this may be performed by stationary UEs to avoid being trapped/banned in overloaded CE levels.

This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The access policy may include information on which of the plurality of control procedures is to be performed.

This information can be provided for a number of different coverage enhancement levels.

Different information may be provided for multiple different coverage enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that the overlay enhancement level prohibition is not to be performed for one or more overlay enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that coverage enhancement level inhibition is not performed for one or more coverage enhancement levels when the user equipment is stationary.

The information may include information indicating whether the first prohibition process is to be skipped, and performing a second prohibition process in response to the information indicating that the first prohibition process is to be skipped.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile equipment depending on eg network policy. This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The information may include information indicating that the second prohibition process is not required, and the first prohibition process is performed.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile user equipment depending on eg network policy. This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

The first barring procedure may include a cell-level barring mechanism.

In some cases, this can be referred to as a "traditional" process. For example, in the context of 3GPP, this could be a pre-Rel-15 release.

The second prohibition process may include overriding enhancement level prohibition.

The information may include at least one flag.

The applied policy may include prohibition threshold information for one or more coverage enhancement levels.

For example, this may be associated with stationary user equipment to allow stationary user equipment to retry a different CE level when the current CE level is disabled.

This can be associated with no monitoring and/or relaxed monitoring and/or normal monitoring.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus in an access node, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to interact with The at least one processor together causes the apparatus to at least: cause an access policy to be communicated to a user for coverage enhancement level access barring, the access policy being dependent on a state associated with the user equipment.

The state may be the mobility state of the user equipment.

The state may include that the user equipment is one of: stationary user equipment and mobile user equipment.

The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured with the at least one processor to: cause transmission of a first access policy and a second access policy, the first access policy for use when the user equipment is mobile, the second access policy The access policy is for use when the user equipment is stationary and either the first access policy or the second access policy is applied depending on whether the user equipment is stationary or mobile.

At least one memory and computer program code may be configured, with at least one processor, to determine whether the user equipment is a stationary or mobile mobile device, and to provide a first access policy and a second access in response to the determination A corresponding access policy in the policy.

The state may be a radio resource management monitoring state.

The state may be a radio resource management neighbor cell monitoring state.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a first time scale , and a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a second time scale that is faster than the first time scale.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a relaxed monitoring state, and a normal monitoring state.

The applied policy can be associated with a given coverage enhancement level or levels.

At least one memory and computer program code may be configured, with at least one processor, to cause transmission to the user equipment of information indicating that when the current coverage enhancement level for the user equipment is disabled, the user Whether the device is allowed to use different coverage enhancement levels.

For example, this may be performed by stationary UEs to avoid being trapped/banned in overloaded CE levels.

The access policy may include information on which of the plurality of control procedures is to be performed.

This information can be provided for a number of different coverage enhancement levels.

Different information may be provided for multiple different coverage enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that the overlay enhancement level prohibition is not to be performed for one or more overlay enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that coverage enhancement level inhibition is not performed for one or more coverage enhancement levels when the user equipment is stationary.

The information may include information indicating whether the first prohibition process is to be skipped, and performing a second prohibition process in response to the information indicating that the first prohibition process is to be skipped.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile equipment depending on eg network policy.

The information may include information indicating that the second prohibition process is not required, and the first prohibition process is performed.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile user equipment depending on eg network policy.

The first barring procedure may include a cell-level barring mechanism.

In some cases, this can be referred to as a "traditional" process. For example, in the context of 3GPP, this could be a pre-Rel-15 release.

The second prohibition process may include overriding enhancement level prohibition.

The information may include at least one flag.

The applied policy may include prohibition threshold information for one or more coverage enhancement levels.

For example, this may be associated with stationary user equipment to allow stationary user equipment to retry a different CE level when the current CE level is disabled.

According to another aspect, a method is provided, the method comprising causing an access policy to be communicated to a user for coverage enhancement level access barring, the access policy being dependent on a state associated with the user equipment.

The state may be the mobility state of the user equipment.

The state may include that the user equipment is one of: stationary user equipment and mobile user equipment.

The method may include causing transmission of a first access policy for use when the user equipment is mobile and a second access policy for use when the user equipment is stationary is used, and the first access policy or the second access policy is applied depending on whether the user equipment is stationary or mobile.

The method may include determining whether the user equipment is a stationary or moving mobile device, and providing a respective one of a first access policy and a second access policy in response to the determination.

The state may be a radio resource management monitoring state.

The state may be a radio resource management neighbor cell monitoring state.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a first time scale , and a neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a second time scale that is faster than the first time scale.

The neighbor cell monitoring state may include one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a relaxed monitoring state, and a normal monitoring state.

The applied policy can be associated with a given coverage enhancement level or levels.

The method may include causing the user equipment to transmit information to the user equipment indicating whether the user equipment is allowed to use a different coverage enhancement level when the user equipment's current coverage enhancement level is disabled.

For example, this may be performed by stationary UEs to avoid being trapped/banned in overloaded CE levels.

The access policy may include information on which of the plurality of control procedures is to be performed.

This information can be provided for a number of different coverage enhancement levels.

Different information may be provided for multiple different coverage enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that the overlay enhancement level prohibition is not to be performed for one or more overlay enhancement levels.

The information may include information indicating that coverage enhancement level inhibition is not performed for one or more coverage enhancement levels when the user equipment is stationary.

The information may include information indicating whether the first prohibition process is to be skipped, and performing a second prohibition process in response to the information indicating that the first prohibition process is to be skipped.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile equipment depending on eg network policy.

The information may include information indicating that the second prohibition process is not required, and the first prohibition process is performed.

This may be associated with stationary user equipment and/or mobile user equipment depending on eg network policy.

The first barring procedure may include a cell-level barring mechanism.

In some cases, this can be referred to as a "traditional" process. For example, in the context of 3GPP, this could be a pre-Rel-15 release.

The second prohibition process may include overriding enhancement level prohibition.

The information may include at least one flag.

The applied policy may include prohibition threshold information for one or more coverage enhancement levels.

For example, this may be associated with stationary user equipment to allow stationary user equipment to retry a different CE level when the current CE level is disabled.

There may also be provided a computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the method(s). The computer program can be stored and/or implemented in other ways by means of a carrier medium. The computer program may be provided on a non-transitory computer program carrying medium.

A number of different embodiments have been described above. It should be understood that further embodiments may be provided by combining any two or more of the above-described embodiments.

Various other aspects and additional embodiments are also described in the following detailed description and the appended claims.

Description of drawings

Some embodiments will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the following drawings, in which:

1 shows a schematic diagram of an example communication system including a base station and a plurality of communication devices;

2 shows a schematic diagram of an example mobile communication device;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of an example control device; and

Figure 4 shows the method flow.

Detailed ways

Before explaining the examples in detail, some general principles of wireless communication systems and mobile communication devices are briefly explained with reference to FIGS. 1-3 to aid in understanding the underlying technology of the described examples.

In a wireless communication system 100 such as that shown in FIG. 1, a wireless transmission and/or reception wireless infrastructure node or point via at least one base station or similar is a wireless communication device (eg, user equipment (UE) 102, 104, 105) Wireless access is provided. Such nodes may be, for example, base stations or eNodeBs (eNBs), or in 5G systems, next generation NodeBs (gNBs), or other wireless infrastructure nodes. These nodes will generally be referred to as base stations. A base station is typically controlled by at least one suitable controller device for its operation and management of mobile communication devices in communication with the base station. The controller device may be located in a radio access network (eg, wireless communication system 100) or in a core network (CN) (not shown), and may be implemented as one central device, or its functions may be distributed over several devices. The controller means may be part of the base station and/or be provided by a separate entity such as a radio network controller. In FIG. 1 , control devices 108 and 109 are shown controlling respective macro-level base stations 106 and 107 . In some systems, the control means 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 a wider communication network 113 via a gateway 112 . Additional gateway functionality may be provided to connect to another network.

Smaller base stations 116, 118, and 120 may also be connected to network 113, eg, through separate gateway functions and/or via the controllers of the macro-level stations. Base stations 116, 118, and 120 may be pico- or femto-level base stations, or the like. In this 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. A suitable mobile communication device may be provided by any device capable of sending and receiving radio signals. Non-limiting examples include a mobile station (MS) or mobile device (such as a mobile phone or so-called "smart phone"), a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (eg, a USB dongle), A personal data assistant (PDA) or tablet computer with wireless communication capabilities, or any combination of these devices, etc. Mobile communication devices may provide, for example, data communications for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text messages, multimedia, and the like. Accordingly, a number of services may be offered and provided to the user via the user's communication device. Non-limiting examples of these services include two-way or multi-way calling, data communication or multimedia services, or simply access to data communication network systems such as the Internet. Broadcast or multicast data can also be provided to users. Non-limiting examples of content include downloads, television and radio programs, videos, advertisements, various alerts, and other information.

The wireless communication device may be, for example, a mobile device, ie a device that is not fixed to a specific location, or it may be a stationary device.

Wireless devices may require human interaction to communicate, or may not require human interaction to communicate. The latter devices are sometimes referred to as MTC (Machine Type Communication) devices. Such devices may have only a subset of the components shown in FIG. 2 and/or simplified versions of the components. In the present teachings, the term "UE" is used to refer to any type of wireless communication device.

A mixture of different types of devices can be configured to operate within the network.

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 , the transceiver device is schematically represented by block 206 . The transceiver means 206 may be provided eg by means of a radio part and associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement can be arranged inside or outside 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 performing, with the assistance of software and hardware, the tasks it is designed to perform, including access systems and other communication devices access to and control of communications with it. Data processing, storage and other related control means may be provided on suitable circuit boards and/or in chipsets. This feature is represented by reference numeral 204 .

Optionally, the user may control the operation of the wireless device by means of a suitable user interface, such as a keypad 205, voice commands, a touch-sensitive screen or touchpad, combinations thereof, and the like. A display 208, speaker and microphone may optionally be provided.

In addition, the wireless communication device may optionally include suitable connectors (wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories (eg, hands-free devices) thereto. Communication devices 102, 104, 105 may access the communication system based on various access technologies.

Figure 3 shows an example of an apparatus that may be provided in a base station. The 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 means can be coupled to the receivers and transmitters of the base station. The receiver and/or transmitter may be implemented as a radio front end or as a remote radio head. For example, the control device 300 or the processor 201 may be configured to execute suitable software code to provide control functions.

Narrowband LTE systems may support Machine Type Communication (MTC) or Machine-to-Machine Communication (M2M). This narrowband LTE system may sometimes be referred to as LTE-M.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is known. IoT includes the interworking of interconnected devices (including but not limited to user equipment, vehicles, household appliances, etc.). Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is a radio technology standard used to enable IoT devices to communicate using cellular networks. Improvements to NB-IoT are in progress.

The goal of NB-IoT enhancements and LTE-M is to enhance access barring. This can be used to improve access and/or load control in idle mode, eg access barring based on CE (Coverage Enhancement) levels.

Coverage-enhancing CE has been proposed. CEs have been proposed to address issues such as the need to extend the range and/or coverage associated with base stations. CE can be implemented, for example, by increasing the number of repetitions of the transmission. CE can have a number of different levels. The number of different levels can be any suitable number. For example, current proposals have up to 4 levels for LTE-M and up to 3 levels for NB-IoT. Different proposals can have different levels. Each level can be associated with a different number of transmission repetitions.

In some embodiments, UE access to a particular cell may be barred or restricted depending on the CE level and/or mode.

UEs with higher CE levels may require more resources than UEs with lower CE levels. In some embodiments, the probability that the UE obtains the resource may be the same regardless of the CE level. In other embodiments, the probability that the UE obtains the resource may depend on the CE level.

Currently, with the LTE specification, the NB-IoT access control feature is referred to as access barring AB separately from the LTE access control mechanism. The access barring may be intended for delay tolerant services, eg, machine type communication (MTC) services that do not have strict delay requirements. Forbidden bitmaps can be transmitted in the system information block. It has been proposed to transmit this information in a narrowband system information block SIB. This information can be sent separately from other system information. A so-called SIB14 or SIB2 has been proposed to transmit this bitmap information. This bitmap information can only be transmitted when access control is enabled.

Currently, neither NB-IoT nor LTE-M supports load balancing between different CE levels when accessing a cell.

Potentially, the base station may restrict access to certain CE level users to avoid overloading. Different CE levels may be associated with different radio resources. For example, PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) resources can be separated for different CE levels. This may be a CE level(s) or pattern associated with a relatively high repetition rate. Fairness issues may arise for UEs where coverage is always poor, eg UEs in the form of stationary underground electricity meters. If UEs are not differentiated when accessing the NW, these stationary UEs may not have a better chance of establishing a connection than other UEs that happen to move to the edge of the cell. Then, meter reports may be delayed or lost.

Consider the following situation: For a meter that is always stationary, the access probability set for the CE level is small. These meters may be disabled most of the time when trying to send data to the network, but the mobile UE may have a chance to move to other CE levels with a higher probability of access, and thus have a higher chance of gaining access.

In one case, stationary UEs may stay at the most robust repetition level (ie, the most repetitions). This CE level may be level 3. This may be due to congestion at this level at high loads. For example, some mobile UEs also depend on the same level. This may result in stationary UEs staying at the CE level because the UEs are in a stationary, unchanging radio environment, whereas mobile UEs may expect a dynamic radio environment to bring the UE out of the CE level.

In some embodiments, different access probabilities for stationary UEs and mobile UEs may be provided such that a fraction of mobile UEs may be moved out of the CE level in question. This can be achieved by barring a certain percentage of these mobile UEs from the CE level. This can reduce congestion from stationary UEs in this CE level. These probabilities can be in units per CE level or can be applied specifically to CE levels. The base station may provide different access probabilities to the UE. As another alternative, the base station may provide a common probability for each CE level or a specific CE level, and provide an additional scaling factor to stationary UEs from which the access probability for stationary UEs may be derived. The UE itself can determine whether it is stationary or mobile, and then apply the appropriate access probability. Alternatively or additionally, this may be determined by the base station and signaled to the UE.

Access barring can resolve congestion on PRACH. For eMTC (Enhanced MTC) and NB-IoT, different resources are used for PRACH at each CE level. This can provide finer granularity for the network to perform congestion control on a per-CE level.

For a given access barring, there may be an associated access probability (sometimes called barring factor) and access class barring time. When the UE requests access, it derives a random number between 0 and 1 and compares this number with the access probability. When the number is less than the access probability, the device proceeds to the random access procedure. Otherwise, the device will be banned for a period of time before attempting to access the network again.

Some embodiments may involve access barring mechanisms for one or more of: NB-IoT, LTE-M, and NR UEs. Of course, other embodiments may involve any other suitable criteria.

Some embodiments may distinguish stationary UEs from mobile UEs and apply different access policies for stationary UEs and mobile UEs. Any suitable parameters can be used to differentiate UEs. For example, this may be based on RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) variation of the serving cell or cell reselection counts/results. In some embodiments, different access policies for stationary UEs and mobile UEs may be applied.

Some embodiments may provide one or more options to enhance access barring mechanisms for different CE levels.

In some embodiments, different barring factors/probabilities for different CE levels are signaled to the UE. This may allow the network to set different access probabilities based on estimates of the number/distribution and/or access activity of UEs in each CE level.

In some embodiments, an indication is provided as to whether the UE is allowed to attempt to access the cell at another CE level when the current CE level is barred. This is because the traffic loads at different CE levels may be independent, and overloading one CE level does not necessarily mean that other CE levels are also overloaded. This may allow the UE to access the network via a less loaded CE level when the cell is barred from the current overloaded CE level.

In some embodiments, a skip indication is provided to allow the UE to skip the existing barring mechanism and directly perform CE level based access barring. If for some reason the network has to set the existing barring factor to be relatively high, the UE will likely fail access control even if the CE level specific barring factor is not so high for some CE levels. In this case, skipping the existing barring mechanism can help the UE to pass the access control and use the radio resources more efficiently.

The UE may be signaled which access barring mechanism the UE should follow. The base station can define the access barring mechanism according to the policy followed by the base station.

The UE may be signaled that for a certain CE level, it is allowed to ignore CE level based barring. For example, for a stationary UE at an overloaded CE level, ignoring the CE level based barring can avoid the UE being barred in that CE level if the network wants the UE to access.

The UE may determine that the UE is allowed to ignore the CE level based barring. For example, as described above, stationary UEs can benefit from this, otherwise stationary UEs would always be barred by overloaded CE levels.

The barring function may be based on RRM (Radio Resource Management Monitoring).

It should be understood that some embodiments may use a single option or a combination of two or more of the above-described options.

Signaling from an access point or base station may be via broadcast communications and/or via dedicated signaling.

Referring to Figure 4, a method of an embodiment is shown.

In step S1, the base station will broadcast or signal the barring factors for different CE levels. This can be for all UEs in a cell, for all LTE-M UEs in a cell, for all NB-IoT UEs in a cell, or for a specific UE. This is in contrast to existing arrangements where one access control probability is provided for the UE. The barring factor is used for access control and is different from the PRACH weighting factor for anchor/non-anchor PRBs (Physical Resource Blocks). These weighting factors may be broadcast to the UE and may be used by the UE to select the PRB on which to transmit the random access preamble.

In step S2, it is determined whether the UE has passed a given level of access control.

If so, the next step is step S3, in which the UE is able to select a PRB based on the weighting factor of the anchor/non-anchor PRB to RA (Random Access Procedure) is performed at this CE level. A given CE level may be selected by the UE depending on one or more factors. For example, the CE level may be selected based on the measured RSRP reference signal received power and/or RSRQ reference signal received quality, or the like. In other embodiments, the CE level may alternatively or additionally be selected depending on the amount of data the UE has to send. In other embodiments, the base station may determine the CE level based on one or more factors. If the selected CE level is selected by the base station, the selected CE level may be signaled to the UE.

In some embodiments, the base station may signal to the UE whether the UE is allowed to attempt to access the cell at another CE level. For example, the base station may instruct the UE to be allowed to try a different, deeper (higher repetition rate) CE level if the cell is barred from the current CE level (eg, the CE level associated with the measured RSRP result). The allow/disallow indication can be signaled on a per-cell or per-CE level. This may be beneficial because traffic loads at different CE levels may be independent, and overloading one CE level does not necessarily mean overloading other CE levels. It should be understood that this information may be transmitted together with the information in step S1, or may be transmitted separately. In some embodiments, the information of step S1 may be broadcast and this additional information may be signaled to the UE as to whether the UE is allowed to access the cell at another CE level.

In embodiments where additional information is provided, when it is determined that the UE has not passed a given level of access control, the next step is step S4 in which it is determined whether the UE is allowed to try another level.

If so, the next step is S5 where it is determined whether the UE has passed the new CE level of access control.

If so, the next step is S3, and if not, the next step is step S4.

It should be understood that where the UE is allowed to attempt another level, the UE may need to first perform n attempts to access a given level before it is allowed to attempt to access the next CE level. N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

In some embodiments, alternatively or additionally, allowing/disallowing attempts at another CE level may be determined based on a barring factor threshold configured by the base station. For example, only those CE levels with a sufficiently low barring factor (eg, below a barring factor threshold) are allowed to retry to access at another CE level. This threshold may be signaled by the base station. For example, the threshold may be broadcast by the base station along with a barring factor for each CE level. For example, the CE level may be allowed to retry access when the barring factor is below, eg, 0.3.

In some embodiments, the base station may configure the UE configuration to skip existing legacy barring mechanisms and directly perform CE level based access barring checks such as discussed with respect to FIG. 4 . The traditional barring mechanism is a cell-level barring mechanism. Whenever the UE wants to access the cell, the UE draws a random number and sees if it is less than the cell level barring factor. If so, the UE is allowed to perform RA procedures; if not, the cell is barred.

In some embodiments, CE level access barring may be disabled based on an indication from the base station for a particular CE level (eg, when the barring factor is too high and access is thus blocked). The indication may be a flag or indication for the CE level. The purpose of this indication may be to disable access barring for this CE level. This means that as long as the UE passes the legacy (cell level) barring control, the UE does not need to perform barring control for that CE level.

In some embodiments, the UE may skip legacy (cell level) barring control and directly perform CE level barring control. This can be indicated by the base station.

The base station may indicate whether it is allowed to ignore CE level based access control for a certain CE level. This can be provided in system information broadcasts or the like. When CE level based access control can be ignored and/or what might happen when CE level based access control is ignored can be determined by the UE according to one or more criteria defined by the base station.

The UE may determine whether it can ignore CE-level based access control based on its assessment of the quiescent state, eg, by detecting changes in its serving cell RSRP or cell reselection count.

Once CE level based access control has been ignored, the UE may perform normal AC checks during initial access. The purpose may be to avoid fairness issues for those stationary UEs that always require deeper CE levels. This means that as long as the UE passes the normal AC check, it is allowed to use this CE level to access the cell without further performing CE level based access control for this CE level.

For subsequent transitions from idle state to connected state, the UE may ignore CE-level based AC and perform normal AC procedures if the UE satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

The UE attempts to establish a connection using the same cell as the last serving cell in the connected state;

The UE operates at a certain CE level indicated by the base station during the connected state

When initiating a state transition, the UE remains at the same CE level

In some embodiments, different barring behaviors may be based on UE RRM monitoring, ie, the UE applies barring based on UE RRM neighbor cell monitoring status, for example as follows:

1) No monitoring

In this case, the UE may choose legacy barring. Alternatively or additionally, the prohibition check is only performed for a certain CE level(s)

2) Relax monitoring

For example, the UE may select CE level barring. Alternatively or additionally, the prohibition check is performed only for a certain CE level(s).

3) Normal monitoring

For example, the UE may choose between two prohibition mechanisms. The UE may perform AC sequentially: first, legacy cell level AC, if passed, then CE level AC, if passed, the UE is allowed to perform RA procedures for that CE level. Alternatively or additionally, the prohibition check is performed only for a certain CE level(s).

In some embodiments, only one of the monitoring states is provided. It should be understood that in some embodiments, two or more of these monitoring states may be provided.

The UE may dynamically determine whether to apply relaxed monitoring through changes in the serving cell RSRP, etc. If there are configuration parameters for dynamically determining whether to apply relaxed monitoring, these configuration parameters may be provided by means of system information. Relaxed monitoring may apply when the UE is below neighbor cell measurement thresholds (such as Sintrasearch or Sintersearch thresholds) respectively (if configured).

A UE applying "relaxed monitoring" may need to perform neighbor cell measurements on relatively slow timescales, whether or not the UE considers itself stationary.

The slow time scale may be the same or different for different UEs.

The UE may apply neighbor cell measurements "normal mobility requirements" or "relaxed monitoring requirements".

Some embodiments may provide one or more of the following advantages.

Some embodiments may implement load balancing between different CE levels.

Some embodiments may allow offloading from a congested CE level to another CE level. This can reduce latency and/or improve resource utilization efficiency.

Some embodiments may address fairness issues for stationary UEs that are always in poor coverage locations.

In LTE, the ACB mechanism includes a set of access classes. For example, categories 0 to 9 are for regular users, category 10 is for emergency calls, and categories 11 to 15 are for high priority or operator services.

It should be understood that the embodiments may be used with any suitable standard. Some embodiments may be used with narrowband arrangements such as NB-LTE, LTE-M and NB-IoT. However, these are only examples and some embodiments may be used in any other suitable scenario. Some embodiments may be used with non-narrowband scenarios.

It will be appreciated that these means may include or be coupled to other units or modules, etc., such as radio components or radio heads for transmission and/or reception. Although an apparatus has been described as one entity, various modules and memories may be implemented in one or more physical or logical entities.

Although certain embodiments have been described above by way of example with reference to certain example architectures for wireless networks, technologies, and standards, embodiments may be applied to any other suitable communication systems other than those shown and described herein. form of communication system.

It should also be noted herein that although example embodiments have been described above, various variations and modifications may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the invention.

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 invention may be shown and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other graphical representation, it is readily understood that these blocks, apparatuses, systems, techniques or methods described herein, by way of non-limiting example, It may be 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 a mobile device, such as in a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or programs (also referred to as program products), including software routines, applets, and/or macros, may be stored in any device-readable data storage medium and include program instructions for performing particular tasks. A computer program product may include one or more computer-executable components that, when the program is run, are configured to perform the embodiments. One or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or a portion thereof.

In addition, at this point, it should be noted that any blocks of the logic flow 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 physical media such as memory chips or memory blocks implemented within a processor, magnetic media such as hard or floppy disks, and optical media such as, for example, DVD and its data variants, CD. Physical media are non-transitory 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. A data processor may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment, and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), Application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), FPGAs, gate-level circuits, and processors based on multi-core processor architectures.

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

The foregoing description provides, by way of non-limiting example, a complete and informative description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. However, various modifications and adaptations will 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. Indeed, additional embodiments exist that include combinations of one or more of the embodiments with any of the other embodiments previously discussed.

Claims (19)

1. A method comprising: An access policy for covering enhanced level access barring is applied at the user equipment, the access policy being dependent on the state associated with the user equipment. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the state is a mobility state of the user equipment. 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the state comprises the user equipment being one of: stationary user equipment and mobile user equipment. 4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, comprising: receiving a first access policy and a second access policy, wherein the first access policy is used when the user equipment is mobile, and the first access policy is used when the user equipment is mobile. A second access policy is used when the user equipment is stationary, and the first access policy or the second access policy is applied depending on whether the user equipment is stationary or mobile. 5. The method of claim 2, 3 or 4, comprising determining whether the user equipment is a stationary or moving mobile device, and applying the first access policy and the first access policy in response to the determination A corresponding one of the two access policies. 6. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the state is a radio resource management neighbor cell monitoring state. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the neighbor cell monitoring state comprises one of: a neighbor cell monitoring state in which no monitoring is performed, a state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed at the first A neighbor cell monitoring state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a time scale, and a neighbor cell measurement state in which neighbor cell measurements are performed on a second time scale, the second time scale being longer than the first time Scale fast. 8. A method according to any preceding claim, comprising determining a state at the user equipment and selecting an access policy from a plurality of access policies depending on the determined state. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the policy applied is associated with a given one or more coverage enhancement levels. 10. The method of any preceding claim, comprising determining at the user equipment that a current coverage enhancement level for the user equipment is disabled, and in response to the determination, attempting to use by the user equipment Different coverage enhancement levels to access. 11. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising receiving at the user equipment information indicating that when the current coverage enhancement level for the user equipment is disabled, the user Whether the device is allowed to use different coverage enhancement levels. 12. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the access policy includes information on which of a plurality of control procedures is to be performed. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information includes information indicating that coverage enhancement level inhibition is not performed for one or more coverage enhancement levels when the user equipment is stationary. 14. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the information includes information indicating whether a first prohibition process is to be skipped, and is performed in response to the information indicating that the first prohibition process is to be skipped The second prohibition process. 15. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the policy applied comprises prohibition threshold information for one or more coverage enhancement levels. 16. A method comprising causing an access policy to be communicated to a user for coverage enhancement level access barring, the access policy being dependent on a state associated with the user equipment. 17. A computer program comprising computer executable code which, when run on at least one processor, causes the method of any preceding claim to be carried out. 18. An apparatus in an access node, comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to interact with the at least one A processor together enables the device to at least: An access policy is transmitted to the user for coverage enhancement level access barring, the access policy being dependent on a state associated with the user equipment. 19. An apparatus in an access node, comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to interact with the at least one A processor together enables the device to at least: An access policy is transmitted to the user for coverage enhancement level access barring, the access policy being dependent on a state associated with the user equipment.

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