Patent Description:
With the rapid development of radio communication technologies, large amounts of System Information (SI) of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) will be involved, thus transmitting the system information in a periodic broadcast mode will lead to larger power consumption of a base station and a low utilization rate of spectrum resources. When there is less user Equipment (UE) being accessed, periodically broadcasting the system information will cause waste of resources. In order to alleviate the waste of resources and larger power consumption of the base station caused by the broadcasting of the system information, operators come to consider solving the above problems by classifying and transmitting the system information.

In related technologies, during the research and discussion of the project of the 5th Generation (<NUM>) Mobile Communication Technology, the system information can be divided into a first type of system information which may include system information related to cell selection and accessing and a second type of system information which may include system information other than the first type of system information. In relevant technology, the first type of system information can still be sent in a broadcast manner. However, the second type of system information may be sent in a broadcast mode or in a unicast mode after a request for the second type of system information sent from the UE is received. For example, after a request for the system information which is carried in a preamble sequence transmitted from the UE is received, the requested system information is transmitted in a broadcast mode by default; after a request for the system information which is carried in a connection establishment request transmitted from the UE is received, the requested system information is transmitted in a broadcast mode or in a unicast mode by default; after a request for the system information which is carried in dedicated signaling transmitted from the UE is received, the requested system information is transmitted in a unicast mode by default. However, it is not flexible enough to restrict transmitting the system information in a broadcast mode or in a unicast mode. Documents of the prior art are <CIT>, <CIT>, document <NPL>, document <NPL>, document <NPL>, and document <NPL>.

In view of this, the present application discloses methods and devices for transmitting and receiving system information, a user equipment and a base station, and computer-readable media, as defined by the appended set of claims, to determine at least one of a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests according to a received SI request, so as to unicast the first set of SI and broadcast the second set of SI to a corresponding UE, and the transmitting manner is flexible.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for transmitting system information as defined by claim <NUM>.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for receiving system information as defined by claim <NUM>.

According to the invention indication information includes at least one of the following information:.

In an embodiment, the receiving the second set of SI according to the indication information includes:.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a device for transmitting system information as defined by claim <NUM>.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a device for receiving system information as defined by claim <NUM>.

In an embodiment, the receiving module includes:.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station as defined by claim <NUM>.

According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment as defined by claim <NUM>.

According to a seventh and eighth aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, there are provided computer-readable storage media as defined by claims <NUM> and <NUM>.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can include the following beneficial effects:
at least one of the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests is determined according to the received SI request from at least one UE, so as to unicast the first set of SI and broadcast the second set of SI to the corresponding UE, and the transmitting manner is flexible.

A clear and thorough description will be given to the technical solution of the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings of the present disclosure. Obviously, the illustrated embodiments are not all of the embodiments of the present disclosure, but only part of them.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting system information. Further limitations and features, which are not shown in the flowchart, are required by the claimed invention. The method is described from the perspective of a base station side. As illustrated in <FIG>, the method for transmitting the system information includes the following steps.

In step S101, an SI request transmitted from at least one UE is received.

The SI request may be carried in a preamble sequence, or a connection establishment request, or a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) message transmitted by the UE, to request for a piece of or some pieces of SI.

In step S102, a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests is determined according to the received SI request.

After receiving the SI request transmitted from the at least one UE, a base station determines a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests in the following manners. As illustrated in <FIG>, a method for determining at least one of the first set of SI and the second set of SI includes the following steps.

In step S1021, the number of UEs which request each SI in the received SI request is counted.

For example, if an UE1 sends an SI request for requesting SI1, SI2 and SI3 to the base station, an UE2 sends an SI request for requesting SI1 and SI3 to the base station, and an UE3 sends an SI request for requesting SI1 and SI4 to the base station, the base station, according to the above-described SI requests, determines that the number of UEs which request SI1 is <NUM>, the number of UEs which request SI2 is <NUM>, the number of UEs which request SI3 is <NUM>, and the number of UEs which request SI4 is <NUM>.

In step S1022, for each SI, if the number of UEs requesting a current SI is less than a preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in the unicast mode, and if the number of UEs requesting the current SI is equal to or greater than the preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in the broadcast mode.

The preset number can be set as needed. Further description will be given with reference to the above example, assuming that the preset number is <NUM>, as for SI1, the number of UEs requesting the SI1 is greater than the preset number, it is determined that the SI1 is transmitted in the broadcast mode; as for SI2, the number of UEs requesting the SI2 is less than the preset number, it is determined that the SI2 is transmitted in the unicast mode; as for SI3, the number of UEs requesting the SI3 is equal to the preset number, it is determined that the SI3 is transmitted in the broadcast mode; and as for SI4, the number of UEs requesting the SI4 is less than the preset number, it is determined that the SI4 is transmitted in the unicast mode.

In step S1023, a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests is determined according to the determined SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the determined SI transmitted in the broadcast mode.

Since it has been determined that SI1 and SI3 are transmitted in the broadcast mode, and SI2 and SI4 are transmitted in the unicast mode, it is determined that in the SI which the UE1 requests, the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode includes SI2, and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode includes SI1 and SI3; in the SI which the UE2 requests, the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode includes SI1 and SI3; and in the SI which the UE3 requests, the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode includes SI4, and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode includes SI1.

In addition, if an SI identifier transmitted by the current base station in a broadcast mode and not successfully decoded by the corresponding UE is carried in the SI request, the base station adds SI corresponding to the SI identifier not successfully decoded by the corresponding UE to the first set of SI of the corresponding UE.

It is assumed that an UE4 sends to the base station an SI request for requesting SI6, wherein SI6 is transmitted from the current base station in a broadcast mode and is not successfully decoded by the corresponding UE. Then, at this time, the SI6 may be included in a first set of SI of the UE4.

In step S103, a response message of the SI request is returned to each UE, wherein the response message carries the first set of SI of the corresponding UE and indication information for instructing the corresponding UE to receive the second set of SI.

After the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests is determined, a response message of the SI request is returned to the corresponding UE. For the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode, the first set of SI is carried in the response message to be returned to the corresponding UE; and for the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode, indication information is carried in the response message, for the UE to receive the second set of SI according to the indication information.

The indication information includes, but not limited to, at least one of the following information: the SI in the second set of SI being transmitted in a broadcast mode; the number of monitor windows of the SI in the second set of SI (uniformly or separately indicated); and a broadcast window location at which each SI in the second set of SI starts to be monitored.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests is determined according to the received SI request from at least one UE, so as to unicast the first set of SI and broadcast the second set of SI to the corresponding UE, and the transmitting manner is flexible.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method for receiving system information. Further limitations and features, which are not shown in the flowchart, are required by the claimed invention. The method is described from the perspective of a UE side. As illustrated in <FIG>, the method for receiving the system information includes the following steps.

In step S301, an SI request is transmitted to a base station.

An SI identifier transmitted by the base station in a broadcast mode and not successfully decoded by a current UE is carried in the SI request.

In step S302, a response message of the SI request returned by the base station according to the SI request is received, and a first set of SI and indication information for instructing the current UE to receive a second set of SI is parsed from the response message.

The first set of SI includes SI transmitted by the base station in a unicast mode in SI which the current UE requests, and the second set of SI includes SI transmitted by the base station in a broadcast mode in the SI which the current UE requests.

After receiving SI requests transmitted from UEs, the base station determines the number of UEs requesting each SI according to the SI requests from the multiple UEs; for each SI, if the number of UEs requesting a current SI is less than a preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in a unicast mode, and if the number of UEs requesting the current SI is equal to or greater than the preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in a broadcast mode; last of all, a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests are determined according to the determined SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the determined SI transmitted in the broadcast mode.

In addition, if an SI identifier transmitted by the base station in a broadcast mode and not successfully decoded by a current UE is carried in an SI request, the base station adds SI corresponding to the SI identifier not successfully decoded by the current UE to a first set of SI of the current UE.

In step S303, if the indication information is parsed, the second set of SI is received according to the indication information.

In the embodiment, a broadcast window at which monitoring is initiated can be obtained, and a preset number of broadcast windows beginning from the obtained broadcast window are continuously monitored, to receive the SI transmitted by the base station in the broadcast mode.

The broadcast window at which monitoring is initiated can be determined according to a broadcast window location in the indication information, or according to a broadcast period obtained in advance. The preset number can be equal to the number of monitor windows, or can be appointed by the current UE and the base station.

In the above embodiment, the SI request is transmitted to the base station, and the response message to the SI request returned by the base station according to the SI request is received, and the first set of SI and the indication information for instructing the current UE to receive the second set of SI is parsed from the response message. The first set of SI includes the SI transmitted by the base station in the unicast mode in the SI which the current UE requests, and the second set of SI includes the SI transmitted by the base station in the broadcast mode in the SI which the current UE requests. That is, the UE can receive the first set of SI transmitted by the base station in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted by the base station in the broadcast mode, and the success rate of receiving is high.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating a device for transmitting system information. Further features not shown in the block diagram are required by the claimed invention. The device is located in a base station. As illustrated in <FIG>, the device includes a receiving module <NUM>, a determining module <NUM> and a returning module <NUM>.

The receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive a system information (SI) request transmitted from at least one user equipment (UE).

The SI request may be carried in a preamble sequence, or a connection establishment request, or a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) message transmitted by the UE, to request a piece of or some pieces of SI.

The determining module <NUM> is configured to determine a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests according to the SI request received by the receiving module <NUM>.

The returning module <NUM> is configured to return a response message of the SI request to each of the UEs, the response message carrying the first set of SI of the corresponding UE and indication information for instructing the corresponding UE to receive the second set of SI, which is determined by the determining module <NUM>.

After the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests is determined, a response message of the SI request is returned to the corresponding UE. For the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode, the first set of SI is carried in the response message to be returned to the corresponding UE; and for the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode, indication information is carried in the response message for the UE to receive the second set of SI according to the indication information.

In the above embodiment, the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests is determined according to the received SI request from at least one UE, so as to unicast the first set of SI and broadcast the second set of SI to the corresponding UE, and the transmitting manner is flexible.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating another device for transmitting system information. Further modules not shown in this block diagram are required by the claimed invention. As illustrated in <FIG>, on the basis of the above embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the determining module <NUM> includes a first determining sub-module <NUM>, a second determining sub-module <NUM> and a third determining sub-module <NUM>.

The first determining sub-module <NUM> is configured to determine the number of UEs requesting each SI according to the SI request.

For example, if an UE1 sends an SI request for requesting SI1, SI2 and SI3 to the base station, an UE2 sends an SI request for requesting SI1 and SI3 to the base station, and an UE3 sends an SI request requesting SI1 and SI4 to the base station, the first determining sub-module <NUM>, according to the above-described SI requests, determines that the number of UEs which request for SI1 is <NUM>, the number of UEs which request SI2 is <NUM>, the number of UEs which request SI3 is <NUM>, and the number of UEs which request SI4 is <NUM>.

The second determining sub-module <NUM> is configured to, for each SI, if the number of UEs requesting for a current SI determined by the first determining sub-module <NUM> is less than a preset number, determine that the current SI is transmitted in the unicast mode, and if the number of UEs requesting the current SI determined by the first determining sub-module <NUM> is equal to or greater than the preset number, determine that the current SI is transmitted in the broadcast mode.

The preset number can be set as needed. Further description will be given with reference to the above example, assuming that the preset number is <NUM>, for SI1, the number of UEs requesting the SI1 is greater than the preset number, it is determined that the SI1 is transmitted in the broadcast mode; for SI2, the number of UEs requesting the SI2 is less than the preset number, it is determined that the SI2 is transmitted in the unicast mode; for SI3, the number of UEs requesting the SI3 is equal to the preset number, it is determined that the SI3 is transmitted in the broadcast mode; and for SI4, the number of UEs requesting the SI4 is less than the preset number, it is determined that the SI4 is transmitted in the unicast mode.

The third determining sub-module <NUM> is configured to determine a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests, according to the SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the SI transmitted in the broadcast mode determined by the second determining sub-module <NUM>.

In addition, if an SI identifier transmitted by the current base station in a broadcast mode and not successfully decoded by the corresponding UE is carried in the SI request, the determining module <NUM> adds SI corresponding to the SI identifier not successfully decoded by the corresponding UE to the first set of SI of the corresponding UE.

In the above embodiment, the number of UEs requesting each SI is determined according to the SI request, and for each SI, if the number of UEs requesting a current SI is less than a preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in the unicast mode, and if the number of UEs requesting the current SI is equal to or greater than the preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in a broadcast mode; and then a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests is determined according to the determined SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the determined SI transmitted in the broadcast mode, and its implementation manner is simple.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating a device for receiving system information. Further features not shown in the block diagram are required by the claimed invention. The device is located in an UE. As illustrated in <FIG>, the device includes a transmitting module <NUM>, a receiving and parsing module <NUM> and a receiving module <NUM>.

The transmitting module <NUM> is configured to transmit a system information (SI) request to a base station.

The receiving and parsing module <NUM> is configured to receive a response message of the SI request returned by the base station according to the SI request transmitted by the transmitting module <NUM>, and parse a first set of SI and indication information for instructing the current UE to receive a second set of SI from the response message. The first set of SI includes SI transmitted by the base station in a unicast mode in SI which the current UE requests, and the second set of SI includes SI transmitted by the base station in a broadcast mode in the SI which the current UE requests.

In the embodiment, the indication information includes, but not limited to, at least one of the following information: the SI in the second set of SI being transmitted in a broadcast mode; the number of monitor windows of the SI in the second set of SI (uniformly or separately indicated); and a broadcast window location at which each SI in the second set of SI starts to be monitored.

After receiving SI requests transmitted from LTEs, the base station determines the number of UEs requesting each SI according to the SI requests from the multiple UEs; for each SI, if the number of UEs requesting a current SI is less than a preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in a unicast mode, and if the number of UEs requesting the current SI is equal to or greater than the preset number, it is determined that the current SI is transmitted in a broadcast mode; last of all, a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests may be determined according to the determined SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the determined SI transmitted in the broadcast mode.

The receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive the second set of SI according to the indication information if the receiving and parsing module <NUM> parses the indication information.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating another device for receiving system information. Further modules not shown in this block diagram are required by the claimed invention. As illustrated in <FIG>, on the basis of the above embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the receiving module <NUM> can include an obtaining sub-module <NUM> and a monitoring sub-module <NUM>.

The obtaining sub-module <NUM> is configured to obtain a broadcast window at which monitoring is initiated, wherein the broadcast window is determined according to a broadcast window location in the indication information, or according to a broadcast period obtained in advance.

The monitoring sub-module <NUM> is configured to continuously monitor a preset number of broadcast windows beginning from the broadcast window obtained by the obtaining sub-module <NUM> to receive the SI transmitted by the base station in the broadcast mode, the preset number is equal to the number of monitor windows, or is appointed by the current UE and the base station.

In the above embodiment, a broadcast window at which monitoring is initiated is obtained, and a preset number of broadcast windows beginning from the obtained broadcast window are continuously monitored to receive the SI transmitted by the base station in the broadcast mode, and the success rate of receiving is higher.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating a device for transmitting system information, wherein the shown components are not according to the claimed invention. The device <NUM> can be provided as a base station. Referring to <FIG>, the device <NUM> includes a processing component <NUM>, a wireless transmitting/receiving component <NUM>, an antenna component <NUM> and a signal processing section specific to a wireless interface. The processing component <NUM> can further include one or more processors.

One processor of the processing component <NUM> can be configured to:.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating a device for receiving system information, wherein further features, not described with respect to <FIG> below, are required by the claimed invention. For example, the device <NUM> may be a mobile phone, a computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a messaging device, a gaming console, a tablet, a medical device, exercise equipment, a personal digital assistant, and the like.

The processing component <NUM> may include one or more processors <NUM> (required by the claimed invention) to execute instructions to perform all or part of the steps in the above described methods.

The memory <NUM> (required by the claimed invention) is configured to store various types of data to support the operation of the device <NUM>.

The audio component <NUM> is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, the audio component <NUM> includes a microphone ("MIC") configured to receive an external audio signal when the device <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may be further stored in the memory <NUM> or transmitted via the communication component <NUM>. In some embodiments, the audio component <NUM> further includes a speaker to output audio signals.

The communication component <NUM> is configured to facilitate communication, wired or wirelessly, between the device <NUM> and other devices. The device <NUM> can access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as Wi-Fi, <NUM>, or <NUM>, or a combination thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component <NUM> receives a broadcast signal or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component <NUM> further includes a near field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, an infrared data association (IrDA) technology, an ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In exemplary embodiments, the device <NUM> may be implemented with one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, or other electronic components, for performing the above described methods.

In exemplary embodiments, there is also provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions, such as included in the memory <NUM>, executable by the processor <NUM> in the device <NUM>, for performing the above-described methods. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disc, an optical data storage device, and the like.

Since the device embodiments basically correspond to the method embodiments, reference can be made to the method embodiments for relevant contents. The above-described device embodiments are exemplary only and the units described as separated parts may or may not be physically separated, and the parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions in the embodiments.

It should also be noted that, in this text, relational terms such as first and second, etc., are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relations or orders present between the entities or operations. The terms "including", "comprising" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion such that processes, methods, articles, or devices that contain a series of elements include not only those elements but also include other elements that are not explicitly listed. Alternatively, elements inherent to such processes, methods, articles, or devices can also be included. In case of no more limitations, an element defined by phase "including a. " does not exclude the situation where additional identical elements are present in the processes, the methods, the articles, or the devices including the element.

Claim 1:
A method for transmitting system information, comprising:
receiving (S101), at a base station, a system information, SI, request transmitted from at least one user equipment, UE;
determining (S102), at the base station, a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests according to the SI request;
returning (S103), from the base station, a response message of the SI request to each UE, the response message carrying the first set of SI of the corresponding UE and indication information for instructing the corresponding UE to receive the second set of SI;
wherein the determining (S102) the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode in the SI which each UE requests according to the SI request comprises:
determining (S1021) the number of UEs requesting each SI according to the SI request;
for each SI, if the number of UEs requesting a current SI is less than a preset number, determining (S1022) that the current SI is transmitted in a unicast mode, and if the number of UEs requesting the current SI is equal to or greater than the preset number, determining that the current SI is transmitted in a broadcast mode; and
determining (S1023) a first set of SI transmitted in a unicast mode and a second set of SI transmitted in a broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests according to the determined SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the determined SI transmitted in the broadcast mode;
wherein if an SI identifier transmitted by a current base station in a broadcast mode and not successfully decoded by a corresponding UE is carried in the SI request, the determining (S102) the first set of SI transmitted in the unicast mode and the second set of SI transmitted in the broadcast mode in SI which each UE requests according to the SI request comprises:
adding SI corresponding to the SI identifier not successfully decoded by the corresponding UE to the first set of SI of the corresponding UE; wherein the indication information comprises at least one of following information:
SI in the second set of SI being transmitted in a broadcast mode;
the number of monitor windows of the SI in the second set of SI; and
a broadcast window location at which each SI in the second set of SI starts to be monitored.