Radio communication devices and methods for controlling a radio communication device

A radio communication device may include: a receiver configured to receive a first signal in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and configured to receive a second signal in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell, wherein the first signal includes an information and the second signal includes the same information; and a determination circuit configured to determine the information based on the received first signal and the received second signal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of this disclosure relate generally to radio communication devices and methods for controlling a radio communication device.

BACKGROUND

For a mobile device such as a radio communication device, power consumption may be a key parameter. When there is no active dedicated connection (e.g. a voice call) the mobile device may try to save power by switching off e.g. the modem or RF (radio frequency). But the mobile device may still desire to wake up from time to time to listen to certain information, e.g. if it is paged. These wake-up times should be as rare and short as possible to avoid too high power consumption. But on the contrary, a sufficient reception performance must be achieved to successfully receive e.g. the pagings.

SUMMARY

A radio communication device may include: a receiver configured to receive a first signal in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and configured to receive a second signal in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell, wherein the first signal includes an information and the second signal includes the same information; and a determination circuit configured to determine the information based on the received first signal and the received second signal.

A method for controlling a radio communication device may include: receiving a first signal in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and receiving a second signal in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell, wherein the first signal includes an information and the second signal includes the same information; and determining the information based on the received first signal and the received second signal.

A radio communication device may include: a determination circuit configured to determine an information based a first signal received in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and a second signal received in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell, wherein the first signal includes the information and the second signal includes the same information.

A method for controlling a radio communication device may include: determining an information based a first signal received in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and a second signal received in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell, wherein the first signal includes the information and the second signal includes the same information.

DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific details and aspects of the disclosure in which the invention may be practiced. These aspects of the disclosure are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other aspects of the disclosure may be utilized and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The various aspects of the disclosure are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some aspects of the disclosure may be combined with one or more other aspects of the disclosure to form new aspects of the disclosure.

The terms “coupling” or “connection” are intended to include a direct “coupling” or direct “connection” as well as an indirect “coupling” or indirect “connection”, respectively.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration”. Any aspect of this disclosure or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspect of this disclosure or designs.

The term “protocol” is intended to include any piece of software, that is provided to implement part of any layer of the communication definition.

A radio communication device may be an end-user mobile device (MD). A radio communication device may be any kind of mobile radio communication device, mobile telephone, personal digital assistant, mobile computer, or any other mobile device configured for communication with another radio communication device, a mobile communication base station (BS) or an access point (AP) and may be also referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS) or an advanced mobile station (advanced MS, AMS), for example in accordance with IEEE 802.16m.

As used herein, a base station (which may also be referred to as a radio base station) may be a radio base station operated by a network operator (which may also be referred to as a legacy base station), e.g. a NodeB or an eNodeB, or may be a home base station, e.g. a Home NodeB, e.g. a Home (e)NodeB. In an example, a ‘Home NodeB’ may be understood in accordance with 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) as a trimmed-down version of a cellular mobile radio base station optimized for use in residential or corporate environments (e.g., private homes, public restaurants or small office areas). Femto-Cell Base Stations (FC-BS) may be provided in accordance with a 3GPP standard, but may also be provided for any other mobile radio communication standard, for example for IEEE 802.16m.

The radio communication device may include a memory which may for example be used in the processing carried out by the radio communication device. A memory may be a volatile memory, for example a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or a non-volatile memory, for example a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable PROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable PROM), or a flash memory, for example, a floating gate memory, a charge trapping memory, an MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) or a PCRAM (Phase Change Random Access Memory).

Description is provided for devices, and description is provided for methods. It will be understood that basic properties of the devices also hold for the methods and vice versa. Therefore, for sake of brevity, duplicate description of such properties may be omitted.

It will be understood that any property described herein for a specific device may also hold for any device described herein. It will be understood that any property described herein for a specific method may also hold for any method described herein.

FIG. 1shows a mobile radio communication system100. A radio communication device102may receive a signal from a first base station104, for example wirelessly like indicated by arrow108. The radio communication device102may further receive a signal from a second base station106, for example wirelessly like indicated by arrow110. The radio communication device102may perform measurements, for example of the first radio base station104and of the second radio base station106, and may store information about the measurements or about the measured radio base stations.

Devices and methods may be provided for dynamic combining of common channel data to improve reception performance.

For a mobile device like a radio communication device, power consumption may be a key parameter. When there is no active dedicated connection (e.g. a voice call) the mobile device may try to save power by switching off for example the modem or the RF (radio frequency), for example the RF circuits. But it may still desire to wake up from time to time to listen to certain information, e.g. if it is paged. These wake-up times may be desired to be as rare and short as possible to avoid too high power consumption. But on the contrary, a sufficient reception performance may be desired to be achieved to successfully receive e.g. the pagings.

In the following, UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) standard may be described as example, but the devices and methods described may also be applied to other standards, for example LTE (Long Term Evolution).

FIG. 2shows an example for paging in UMTS. It is to be noted that time is assumed to progress from left to right. In the “idle mode”, the UE may listen only to one NodeB, i.e. it may be “camped on a cell”. It is to be noted that by “idle mode”, it may be referred in general to the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) states where there is no active data connection, i.e. “Idle”, “CELL_PCH”, “URA_PCH”. Depending on the concrete field of application, only some of the 3GPP states may be relevant for the devices and methods provided. In a commonly applied solution, the UE may wake up in certain intervals and may listen to the camped cell. The UE may know the wake-up time and distance from reading some common channel, e.g. the broadcast channel (BCH). For example the UE may wake up to listen for the paging indicator (PI) on the paging indicator channel (PICH)202. In case of a negative PI, the UE may go to sleep again for the paging interval and may wake up again at the next PI206, for example after a paging DRX (discontinuous reception) length204. In case of a positive PI206, the UE may try to receive the following paging channel (PCH)208, which may be sent on the secondary common control physical channel (SCCPCH). If a PCH with a good CRC (cyclic redundancy check) was received, the paging may be successful and the UE may start establishing the call. If not (for example if a PCH with a false CRC was received), this may either be due to bad reception quality for the PCH/SCCPCH or a false alarm by the PI/PICH. In both cases, the UE may desire to wait the complete paging interval210to try again, and may receive another PI212after the complete paging interval210.

Various devices and methods may be provided, and they will be explained herein based on the paging detection in UMTS, but they may also be applicable to other channels in UMTS, e.g. CMAS (commercial mobile alert system), and other standards, e.g. LTE.

FIG. 3shows a network300with various base stations (for example with three NodeBs). In the mobile network300, a UE314may not only see one NodeB, but it may receive signals from several NodeBs. It may select the NodeB with the strongest signal as the NodeB it listens to. For example, a first NodeB302(NodeB A) may be the strongest one with a first coverage area304. The UE314may camp on NodeB A302, like indicated by arrow316, but the UE314may also in a coverage area308of a second NodeB306(NodeB B) and in a coverage area312of a third NodeB310(NodeB C).

If the UE316is in the URA_PCH state, which may typically be the case in idle mode, the network may not know the location of the UE316at cell/NodeB level, but only at URA (UTRAN registration area) level. This may reduce cell update messages between the network (NW) and the UE314, if the UE314moves through the NW. However, this may imply also that the NW must broadcast the paging messages in the complete URA, while the UE314according to commonly used methods and devices may listen only to one.

The different NodeBs may not time be aligned, in other words, they may broadcast their information at different timings and also the paging information for the UE may be transmitted at different timings.

FIG. 4shows a flow diagram400illustrating different timings of exemplary NodeBs. It is to be noted that time is assumed to progress from left to right. It may be assumed that presently no information for the radio communication device is present, so that the PI on the PICH may be negative, and that the radio communication device, upon reception of the PICH may go to sleep again. For example a first NodeB402(NodeB A) may transmit the PICH in404. For example a second NodeB414(NodeB B) may transmit the PICH in416. For example a third NodeB426(NodeB B) may transmit the PICH in428, and after a paging DRX length430may again transmit the PICH432. For example after the third NodeB426has transmitted the PICH in432, information for the radio communication device may arrive in the network. Thus, from now, the NodeBs may transmit a positive PI on the PICH, and furthermore may transmit PCH for the radio communication device. For example, the first NodeB402may, a paging DRX length406after the negative PI on the PICH404, transmit a positive paging indicator408, and furthermore may transmit PCH410on the SCCPCH. For example, the second NodeB414may, a paging DRX length418after the negative PI on the PICH416, transmit a positive paging indicator420, and furthermore may transmit PCH422on the SCCPCH. For example, the third NodeB426may, a paging DRX length after the negative PI on the PICH432, transmit a positive paging indicator434, and furthermore may transmit PCH436on the SCCPCH. After each NodeB once sent out a positive paging indicator (PI), the NodeBs may continue with negative PIs, for example the first NodeB402in412, and the second NodeB414in424.

Because the length of the PI and PCH may be very short compared to the paging interval, the UE may listen to all NodeBs, as long as their channels do not overlap. The UE may then combine the information received from all NodeBs in a certain combining interval, e.g. from one PI from the main camped cell to the next PI from this cell, to improve its reception performance. This combining may be performed according to various different methods. For example, a “hard” combining may be performed, wherein signals from each NodeB may be decoded separately and may be checked for a good CRC (cyclic redundancy check). For example, a “soft” combining may be performed, wherein all NodeBs may transmit the same information as the NW does not know where the UE is. Thus, the soft bits before the (channel) decoder may be combined (i.e. added) and the (channel) decoder may run on the combined information. This diversity combining may results in a significantly improved performance. Various devices and methods may be provided for combining as described above.

When the UE wakes up for every NodeB it receives, the power consumption may be increased. In the example described above, the power consumption may be increased by a factor of 3, i.e. the stand-by time may be reduced by a factor of 3.

If the paging instances of the different NodeBs overlap, not all NodeBs may be read. In the example described above, the PI may be read from all NodeBs, but the PCH of NodeB C may overlap with the PI from NodeB A. Thus, a priority decision may be provided, for example for the main camped cell A, in case of a resource conflict in the UE. Since PI and PCH may be on different physical channels, this may be reasonable.

To receive the signals from the different NodeBs, the UE may desire to know the timing of the NodeBs. Reading the timing may desire some resources and may consume power. But as the UE is moving through the NW, the other NodeBs may be previous camped cells, so their timing may be known form the past. Furthermore, acquiring the timing may be a onetime process, thus it may not give a continuous long term penalty in power consumption and may be acceptable.

Various devices and methods may be provided which not always read other NodeBs (and consume power), but do that only when necessary. Thus, a smart dynamic algorithm may be provided, which may adapt to the current scenario and may balance performance with power consumption.

Examples for when it may be beneficial to wake up to receive a signal from another NodeB will be described in the following.

For example, if a radio communication devices gets a negative or positive PI on the main NodeB, but this information is unreliable (for example a low correlation of the signal is determined), the radio communication device may confirm the information on one or more other NodeB(s).

For example, if a radio communication device gets a (reliable) positive PI on the main NodeB, but a CRC error occurs on the PCH, the radio communication device may read the PCH on one or more other NodeB(s).

Various devices and methods may be provided which may adapt to the general quality of the cells (for example RSSI (received signal strength indication), RSCP (Received signal code power), Edo (ratio of the received energy per chip to the total received power spectral density at the UE antenna connector)).

If the main NodeB is good, no other NodeB may be demodulated.

Only other NodeBs above a certain quality threshold may be evaluated.

Various devices and methods may consider the different timings of the NodeBs, e.g. if the information in another NodeB is shortly after the main NodeB (example NodeB A->NodeB B inFIG. 4above), it may be read; if there is a large distance (NodeB C inFIG. 4), it may not be read.

Various devices and methods may be provided which may perform combining only when necessary like described above.

Various devices and methods may be applicable e.g. to the CMAS (commercial mobile alert system) data in UMTS, which may be broadcasted on the SCCPCH like the PCH or the paging procedure in LTE.

The additional received signals may be seen as a diversity receive path, with independent fading, noise, and signal strength. Thus, results for various devices and methods may be extrapolated from receive diversity results. Assuming exemplary one other cell with the same noise and signal strength as the main camped cell, a demodulation performance gain of 3 dB may be gained in static conditions and more than 3 dB (up to 7 dB or more) in fading conditions.

Devices and methods may be provided for combing the received signals from several NodeBs, which may be broadcasted messages and according to commonly used devices and methods are read only from one NodeB. Devices and methods may do this combining and the reading of additional NodeBs only when necessary (e.g. bad conditions or unreliable results) to reduce the addition power consumption.

Furthermore, the demodulation performance of the main camped cell may be improved e.g. by receive diversity or interference cancellation.

Devices and methods may be provided which always combine information from various base stations, like described above.

FIG. 5shows a radio communication device500. The radio communication device500may include a receiver502configured to receive a first signal in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and configured to receive a second signal in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell. The first signal may include or may be an information and the second signal may include or may be the same information. The radio communication device500may further include a determination circuit504configured to determine the information based on the received first signal and the received second signal (in other words: may perform combining of the first signal and the second signal to determine the information). The receiver502and the determiner504may be coupled with each other, for example via a connection506, for example an optical connection or an electrical connection, such as for example a cable or a computer bus or via any other suitable electrical connection to exchange electrical signals.

The information may include or may be paging information.

The information may include or may be a paging indicator channel (PICH) and/or a paging channel (PCH).

The first shared radio communication channel and the second shared radio communication channel may include or may be a control channel.

The first shared radio communication channel and the second shared radio communication channel may include or may be a paging indicator channel and/or a paging channel.

The determination circuit504may further evaluate the information from the first radio communication channel and may evaluate the information from the second radio communication channel. The determination circuit504may further determine as the information the evaluated information from the first radio communication channel, if the evaluated information from the first radio communication channel and the evaluated information from the second radio communication channel match. The determination circuit504may determine as the information an error signal, if the evaluated information from the first radio communication channel and the evaluated information from the second radio communication channel do not match.

The determination circuit504may further combine soft bits of the first shared radio communication channel and soft bits of the second shared radio communication channel, and may determine the information based on the combination.

FIG. 6shows a radio communication device600. The radio communication device600may, similar to the radio communication device500ofFIG. 5, include a receiver502. The radio communication device600may, similar to the radio communication device500ofFIG. 5, include a determination circuit504. The radio communication device600may further include a quality determination circuit602, like will be described below. The radio communication device600may further include an information validity checking circuit604, like will be described below. The receiver502, the determiner504, the quality determination circuit602, and the information validity checking circuit604may be coupled with each other, for example via a connection606, for example an optical connection or an electrical connection, such as for example a cable or a computer bus or via any other suitable electrical connection to exchange electrical signals.

The quality determination circuit602may determine a quality of reception in the first shared radio communication channel.

The determination circuit504may further evaluate information from the second radio communication channel if (for example if and only if in other words: iff) the determined quality of reception in the first shared radio communication channel is below a pre-determined threshold.

The information may include or may be a paging indication. The receiver502may further receive further paging information if the paging indication includes or represents or is a positive paging indication. The information validity checking circuit604may check validity of the received further paging information. The determination circuit504may further evaluate information from the second radio communication channel if (for example if and only if in other words: iff) the received further paging information is not valid.

The information validity checking circuit604may check validity of the received further paging information based on a cyclic redundancy check.

FIG. 7shows a flow diagram700illustrating a method for controlling a radio communication device. In702, a receiver of the radio communication device may receive a first signal in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and may receive a second signal in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell. The first signal may include or may be an information. The second signal may include or may be the same information. In704, a determination circuit of the radio communication device may determine the information based on the received first signal and the received second signal.

The information may include or may be paging information.

The paging information may include or may be a paging indicator channel and/or a paging channel.

The first shared radio communication channel and the second shared radio communication channel may include or may be a control channel.

The first shared radio communication channel and the second shared radio communication channel may include or may be a paging indicator channel and/or a paging channel.

The determination circuit of the radio communication device may evaluate the information from the first radio communication channel. The determination circuit of the radio communication device may evaluate the information from the second radio communication channel. The determination circuit of the radio communication device may determine as the information the evaluated information from the first radio communication channel, if the evaluated information from the first radio communication channel and the evaluated information from the second radio communication channel match. The determination circuit of the radio communication device may determine as the information an error signal, if the evaluated information from the first radio communication channel and the evaluated information from the second radio communication channel do not match.

The determination circuit of the radio communication device may combine soft bits of the first shared radio communication channel and soft bits of the second shared radio communication channel. The determination circuit of the radio communication device may further determine the information based on the combination.

The determination circuit of the radio communication device may determine a quality of reception in the first shared radio communication channel.

The determination circuit of the radio communication device may evaluate information from the second radio communication channel if (for example if and only if; in other words: iff) the determined quality of reception in the first shared radio communication channel is below a pre-determined threshold.

The information may include or may be a paging indication. The method may further include: receiving further paging information if the paging indication includes (or represents or is) a positive paging indication; checking validity of the received further paging information; and evaluating information from the second radio communication channel if (for example if and only if; in other words: iff) the received further paging information is not valid.

The information validity checking circuit may check the validity of the received further paging information based on a cyclic redundancy check.

FIG. 8shows a radio communication device800. The radio communication device800may include a determination circuit802configured to determine an information based a first signal received in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and a second signal received in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell. The first signal may include the information. The second signal may include the same information.

The first shared radio communication channel and the second shared radio communication channel may include or may be a control channel.

FIG. 9shows a flow diagram900illustrating a method for controlling a radio communication device. In902, a determination circuit of the radio communication device may determine an information based a first signal received in a first shared radio communication channel of a first cell and a second signal received in a second shared radio communication channel of a second cell. The first signal may include or may be the information. The second signal may include or may be the same information.

The first shared radio communication channel and the second shared radio communication channel may include or may be a control channel.