Patent Description:
loTs communication system is a network of physical objects or devices, buildings, sensors, computers, servers or hosts and other items connected through software and/or wireless communication networks. IoTs communication may comprise paging, signaling, exchange of data, measurement data, configuration information etc. To save power and network resources in a long-range loTs wireless system with User Equipment (UE) having limited battery capacity, long Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycles are utilized. Since the UE will then check for paging seldom, the latency to page a UE is considerable. To transmit data to a host in the network also requires power and network resources and is therefore made as seldom as possible. The resolution in time of the data collected from the UEs is therefore low.

Terms host, server, computer herein refer to a device used for running one or several application programs or provide functionality for other programs or devices. For example, in an application for home automation, where the host collects on demand or on alarm data from other sensors or devices, e.g. temperature in rooms, freezer and fridge, status of door locks, fire alarm, water leakage detector etc. The host may also control e.g. temperature in rooms, freezer and fridge, lock/unlock of door locks etc. In this example the long-range connection may connect the devices with the host, e.g. an alarm central supervising several houses. The host, server, computer may be used interchangeably in the present application. A host can be regarded as being inside the wireless communication network if it is controlled or administered by the operator of the wireless communication network, but also outside the wireless communication network if it is controlled or administered by another entity or company.

The document <CIT> describes methods for paging and connection establishment via relay devices in a wireless communication system.

The document <CIT> describes mobile radio communication devices provided with a cellular wireless transceiver and with a short range wireless transceiver that may form an opportunistic network.

The document <CIT> describes a method of paging a terminal, by a base station and via a relay node, wherein the terminal is configured to communicate with the base station via the relay node.

The document <CIT> proposes that a UE which detects it is moving out of coverage, or may at a later time move out of coverage of its serving eNodeB, establishes a connection with a relay UE such that it is able to receive via the relay UE a paging message from the eNodeB.

The document <CIT> discloses systems, methods, and instrumentalities for power efficient device to device (D2D) communications for wearables and internet of things (IoT).

It is therefore an object of embodiments herein to provide an improved method and apparatus for handling paging and data transmission in a wireless communication network.

With loTs, it should be a common scenario that several related loT devices are in close proximity of each other but may be far away from the host that interacts with the loT devices, e.g. loT devices in a vehicle or in a house. For this reason, there is a need for the host to have a long-range wireless connection with the devices, e.g. Narrowband loT (NB-loT) or LTE category M for loT devices CAT-M. To be power and resource efficient the long-range wireless connection enables long DRX cycles, e.g. for NB-loT up to several hours. To transmit data to the host also requires considerable power and is for this reason likely made seldom.

To save power and network resources and at the same time enable transmission of data more often, the embodiments herein provide methods and apparatus for handling paging and data transmission efficiently in a wireless communication system.

<FIG> depicts an example of a wireless communication system or network <NUM> in which embodiments herein may be implemented. The wireless communication system <NUM> may be a long-range wireless system utilizing DRX and paging with long cycles, such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network or an Internet of Things (loTs) communication system, e.g. Narrow-band loT. The wireless communication system <NUM> may also be any other wireless system or cellular network, such as any <NUM>rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular network, Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) network, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN/Wi-Fi), a Fourth Generation (<NUM>) or LTE advanced network, a Fifth Generation (<NUM>) or New Radio (NR) network etc..

The wireless communication system <NUM> comprises a host <NUM>, which has a long-range wireless connection with multiple communication devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, e.g. Dev1, Dev2, Dev3 etc., via e.g. a network node, which may also be referred as a base station or an access node (not shown). The host <NUM> needs to exchange data with one or more than one of the communication devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> at different occasions or at the same time. The host sends data or indication to the network node when it intends to send data. The network node then pages a communication device and receives a paging response from the communication device.

The multiple communication devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are closely located, and have a short-range low power wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or even a wired connection between them in addition to the long-range wireless connection with the host <NUM>.

Example of embodiments of a method performed in a communication device <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> for handling paging from a network node and data exchanging with a host <NUM> in a wireless communication system <NUM> will now be described with reference to <FIG>. The communication device <NUM> is one of a group of closely located communication devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> being capable of communicating with each other via a short-range wireless connection or a wired connection. Each communication device <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is capable of communicating with the host <NUM> by a long-range wireless connection via the network node. The host <NUM> may be part of the wireless communication network <NUM>, or considered outside the wireless communication network <NUM>. The host functionality may be running on a dedicated device or on a device running also other functionality. The host functionality may also be located in the cloud. The host functionality may even be running on a mobile device, that is not in the proximity of, and part of, the local communication possibilities which are made possible by the short-range wireless connections. The communication device <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be any one of a UE or a mobile device etc. The network node may be any one of a base station, an access node etc. The different standards have different names for these devices like e.g. eNB, gNB, etc. The method comprises the following actions.

The communication device <NUM> receives a page from a network node at a predefined occasion.

The Paging Occasions (PO) of the closely located devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may preferably be evenly spread over a DRX cycle. So according to some embodiments, the predefined occasion for each communication device to receive paging message may be evenly spread over a DRX cycle.

In a Radio Access Technology (RAT) where an identity of a communication device is part of the calculation of the PO, this may be achieved by selecting the identities for the group of closely located communication devices so that the POs of the communication devices are evenly spread over the DRX cycle. In other RATs there may be an additional index or offset parameter in the calculation of the PO to achieve an even distribution of the POs of the group of closely located communication devices. The additional index or offset parameter then indicates the relative paging position for the device within the group of closely located devices.

The communication device <NUM> evaluates if the paging message is targeted for itself or is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices <NUM>,<NUM>.

The actual page may be performed in different ways, depending on how the actual target of the page is indicated.

If the communication device <NUM> is to be paged but the communication device <NUM> is next to be paged, the communication device <NUM> will be paged and the paging message may indicate in an optional parameter that the communication device <NUM> is the target for the page or if the optional parameter is not set, the page is for the device receiving the page.

When the page is targeted for itself, the communication device <NUM> performs a paging response.

When the page is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices, the communication device <NUM> forwards paging information to the targeted communication device via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection.

For example, if the communication device <NUM> is to be paged but the communication device <NUM> is next to be paged according to the predefined PO, the communication device <NUM> will be paged and the page may indicate in an optional parameter that the communication device <NUM> is the target for the page. Since the paging format on the short-range connection may not be the same as on the long-range connection the communication device <NUM> then sends paging information to the communication device <NUM> according to the short-range wireless communications protocol. The communication device <NUM>, i.e. the targeted device, will then perform a paging response.

In connection with the paging response, the communication device <NUM> may receive data which is for itself.

In connection with the paging response, the communication device <NUM> may receive data and/or indication indicating that the data is for other device, e.g. the communication device <NUM>, i.e. Dev3, in the group. The communication device <NUM> will then forward the data to Dev3. If Dev3 is to receive a substantial amount of data, it may be more efficient if Dev3 only receives the indication from the communication device <NUM> and then establish an RRC connection to receive the actual data.

Therefore, according to some embodiments herein, the communication device <NUM> which is paged may check if data and/or indication received is for itself or is for another device. If the data and/or indication is for itself, the communication device <NUM> receives the data. If the data and/or indication is for another device, the method may further comprise the following actions:.

The communication device <NUM> may forward the data to a targeted communication device via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection if it is indicated that the data is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices.

The communication device <NUM> may forward the indication to a targeted communication device via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection to enable the targeted communication device to establish a connection with the host for receiving data via a long-range wireless connection.

Actions <NUM> and <NUM> are optional and only performed when the data or indication received in connection with the paging response is for another device than the one receiving the page. If the data received by the paged device is the complete data to be sent to the other device or an indication that the other device needs to set up an RRC Connection to receive the complete data, the communication device <NUM> may forward the data or indication to the targeted communication device. If only a small amount of data is to be received, this may be conveyed via the communication device receiving the page. However if a larger amount of data is to be received, it is more efficient to have the data sent directly from the host to the "other" device because the overhead to send a large amount of data over two connections, one long-range and one short-range, is likely larger than the overhead of the extra RRC Connection setup.

It may also be that the host <NUM> would like to exchange data with more than one or all of the closely located devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> at the same time. Similarly, it is then only necessary for the network node to page one of the communication devices, i.e. the next device to be paged. This communication device will then forward the paging information to the other devices of the group. Each communication device may receive its data from the paged device. It would be more complex and not so efficient if each of the communication devices should do a paging response. So according to the embodiments herein, the POs of the group of closely located devices are utilizing a long DRX cycle to save power and use the coordinated paging to still be able to be reached or communicated more often than the actual PO of each device. The relation of power consumption on the long-range connection versus the short-range connection is to determine when the coordinated paging is more efficient as compared to being paged more often according to the long-range protocol. The power consumption for data reception and transmission in some short-range connections should be considerably lower than the power consumption for data reception and transmission according to the long-range protocol. Since every device within a group of n closely located devices will likely have to wake up every time there is a PO according to the long-range protocol, the power consumption of the short-range communication should likely be at least n times lower than the power consumption of the long-range communication.

According to some embodiments herein, uplink transmission may also be coordinated between a group of closely located devices to save power. The method may further comprise the following actions and will now be described with reference to <FIG>.

When there is no transmission opportunity, each of the communication devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in the group buffers data that has lower priority to be transmitted.

If any of the communication devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> has high priority data to be transmitted to the host <NUM> or a certain time has been reached, the communication device will first via the short-range connection check if any of the other communication devices have lower priority data buffered and are waiting for the next transmission opportunity.

If this is the case, the communication device which has transmission opportunity, e.g. the communication device <NUM>, collects data from the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices via the short-range connection or the wired connection prior to establishing a radio resource control connection with the network node for sending data to the host <NUM>.

The certain time may be a maximum waiting time when there has been no high priority data sent. The certain time may also be a predefined regular interval.

The buffered data from the communication device <NUM> which has transmission opportunity and collected data from the other devices <NUM>, <NUM> will then be transmitted to the host <NUM>. That is the communication device <NUM> transmits the complete data to the host <NUM> via the long-range wireless connection.

According to some embodiments herein, the data transmission from the host <NUM> may also be coordinated. Example of embodiments of a method performed in a host <NUM> for exchanging data with a communication device <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in a wireless communication system <NUM> will now be described with reference to <FIG>. The communication device <NUM> is one of a group of closely located communication devices being capable of communicating with each other via a short-range wireless connection or a wired connection. Each communication device <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is capable of communicating with the host <NUM> over a long-range wireless connection via a network node. The method comprises the following actions:.

The host <NUM> sends data or indication to the network node for triggering paging procedure in the network node when it intends to exchange data with one or more than one of the group of closely located communication devices. The network node pages a communication device at a predefined occasion via the long-range wireless connection. A device identity or additional index or offset parameter is included in the paging message to indicate which device the page is targeted for. The predefined occasion may be evenly spread over a Discontinuous Reception, DRX, cycle.

The host <NUM> sends data to the paged communication device or the targeted communication device. So the host <NUM> may send data for several of the communication devices over the long-range wireless connection to one of the communication devices, e.g. the communication device <NUM>. The receiving communication device will then distribute data destined for the other devices via the short-range interconnection.

This will also save power and network resources since less signaling is required compared to if each of the devices should setup an individual RRC Connection to receive or send data. Also here the power consumption for data reception and transmission in the short-range connection should be considerably lower than the power consumption for data reception and transmission according to the long-range protocol.

To perform the method actions in the communication device <NUM> for handling paging from a network node and data exchanging with a host in a wireless communication system <NUM>, the communication device <NUM> comprises circuits or units as depicted in <FIG>. The communication device <NUM> comprises e.g. a receiving unit <NUM>, a determining unit <NUM>, a transmitting unit <NUM>, a processor <NUM> and a memory <NUM>.

According to the embodiments herein, the communication device <NUM> is configured to, e.g. by means of the receiving unit <NUM> being configured to, receive a page from the network node at a predefined occasion.

According to the embodiments herein, the communication device <NUM> is further configured to, e.g. by means of determining unit <NUM> being configured to, evaluate if the page is targeted for itself or is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices <NUM>,<NUM>.

According to the embodiments herein, when the page is targeted for itself, the communication device <NUM> is further configured to, e.g. by means of the transmitting unit <NUM> and receiving unit <NUM> being configured to, perform a paging response.

According to the embodiments herein, when the page is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices, the communication device <NUM> is further configured to, e.g. by means of the transmitting unit <NUM> being configured to, forward paging information to the targeted communication device via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection.

According to some embodiments herein, the communication device <NUM> may be further configured to, e.g. by means of the receiving unit <NUM> being configured to, receive data and/or indication from the host (<NUM>).

According to some embodiments herein, the communication device <NUM> may be further configured to, e.g. by means of the transmitting unit <NUM> being configured to, forward the data to a targeted communication device via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection if it is indicated that the data is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices.

According to some embodiments herein, the communication device <NUM> may be further configured to, e.g. by means of the transmitting unit <NUM> being configured to, forward the indication to a targeted communication device via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection to enable the targeted communication device to establish a connection with the host for receiving data via a long-range wireless connection.

According to some embodiments herein, the communication device <NUM> may be further configured to, e.g. by means of determining unit <NUM> being configured to, buffer data that has lower priority to be transmitted.

When there is high priority data to be transmitted or a certain time has been reached, the communication device <NUM> may be further configured to, e.g. by means of receiving unit <NUM> being configured to, collect data from the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection, and by means of transmitting unit <NUM> being configured to, transmit the buffered and collected data to the host via a long-range wireless connection.

To perform the method actions in the host <NUM> for exchanging data with a communication device in a wireless communication system <NUM>, the host <NUM> comprises similar circuits or units as the communication device <NUM>, depicted in <FIG>. The host <NUM> comprises e.g. a receiving unit <NUM>, a determining unit <NUM>, a transmitting unit <NUM>, a processor <NUM> and a memory <NUM>.

According to the embodiments herein, the host <NUM> is configured to, e.g. by means of the transmitting unit <NUM> being configured to, send data or indication to a network node for triggering paging procedure in the network node when it intends to exchange data with one or more than one of the group of closely located communication devices. The network node then pages a communication device at a predefined occasion via the long-range wireless connection. A device identity or additional index or offset parameter may be included in the paging message to indicate which device the page is targeted for.

The host <NUM> is further configured to, e.g. by means of the transmitting unit <NUM> being configured to, send data to the paged communication device or the targeted communication device. The host may get a confirmation of successful delivery of the data sent, if there was a paging response from the paged device or failure to deliver the data, if there is no paging response from the paged device and the paging attempt times out.

In summary, according to the embodiments herein, the closely located communication devices, e.g. loT devices, may be reached or communicated more often while individually utilizing a long and power saving DRX cycle. The communication devices or loT devices and the host may also save power and network resources by coordinating the uplink and downlink transmissions within the closely located group of devices.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the receiving unit <NUM>, the determining unit <NUM> and the transmitting unit <NUM> described above in the host/communication device <NUM>/<NUM> may be referred to one circuit/unit, a combination of analog and digital circuits, one or more processors configured with software and/or firmware and/or any other digital hardware performing the function of each circuit/unit. One or more of these processors, the combination of analog and digital circuits as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single application-specific integrated circuitry (ASIC), or several processors and various analog/digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a system-on-a-chip (SoC).

The embodiments herein for handling paging and data exchanging in the host/communication device <NUM>/<NUM> may be implemented through one or more processors, such as the processor <NUM> together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier <NUM> carrying computer program code <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>, for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the host/communication device <NUM>/<NUM>. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the host/communication device <NUM>/<NUM>.

The memory <NUM> in the host/communication device <NUM>/<NUM> may comprise one or more memory units and may be arranged to be used to store received information, measurements, data, configurations and applications to perform the method herein when being executed in the host/communication device <NUM>/<NUM>.

Claim 1:
A method performed in a communication device (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) for handling paging from a network node and data exchanging with a host (<NUM>), in a wireless communication system (<NUM>), wherein the communication device (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) is one of a group of closely located communication devices being capable of communicating with each other via a short-range wireless connection or a wired connection, and each communication device (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) is capable of communicating with the host (<NUM>) over a long-range wireless connection via the network node, wherein said communication devices are using a Discontinuous Reception, DRX, cycle for paging reception from said network node via the long-range wireless connection at predefined occasions and the predefined occasion for each communication device to receive page is evenly spread over the DRX cycle, the method comprising:
receiving (<NUM>) a page from the network node using the long-range wireless connection at one of the predefined occasions;
evaluating (<NUM>) if the page is targeted for itself or is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices;
when the page is targeted for itself,
performing (<NUM>) a paging response;
when the page is targeted for one of the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices,
forwarding (<NUM>) paging information to the targeted communication device via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection, wherein the paging information enables the targeted communication device to establish a connection with the host for receiving data via the long-range wireless connection;
the method being further characterized by the steps of:
buffering (<NUM>) data that has lower priority to be transmitted;
when there is high priority data to be transmitted or a certain time has been reached,
collecting (<NUM>) data from the other devices in the group of closely located communication devices via the short-range wireless connection or the wired connection; and
transmitting (<NUM>) the buffered and collected data to the host via a long-range wireless connection.