CN112544118A

CN112544118A - Method, apparatus and computer readable medium for random access

Info

Publication number: CN112544118A
Application number: CN201880096433.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 晁华; 李海涛
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Oyj; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2018-08-09
Filing date: 2018-08-09
Publication date: 2021-03-23
Also published as: WO2020029173A1

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media for random access are disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: random access resources for at least one terminal device group are determined at the network device (210). The method further comprises the following steps: a random access procedure (220) for the at least one terminal device group is triggered by the network device by providing information on the random access resources to the at least one terminal device group.

Description

Method, apparatus and computer readable medium for random access

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications, and more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media for random access.

Background

With the rapid deployment of internet of things (IoT) services or applications, the number of terminal devices in the IoT has increased dramatically over the last few years, and a trend that will remain in the future is anticipated. The terminal devices may be distributed over multiple geographical locations and many have delay tolerances. Different IoT services may be provided with different QoS requirements. In the context of fifth generation (5G) New Radios (NR), large scale machine type communication (mtc) is specified to consider the corresponding challenges.

In current cellular networks, terminal devices autonomously access the network by using random access resources broadcast in System Information Blocks (SIBs). The network device responds to the access request from the terminal device. Various mechanisms are designed in the third generation project partnership (3GPP) to control load distribution in cellular networks. These mechanisms may include random access control, radio admission control, load balancing, etc. When the network device detects congestion, the network device may restrict access behavior of the terminal device by access barring and/or denying some or all of the Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment requests. When the load of a cell is saturated, handover, cell reselection, and/or RRC connection release may be triggered to directly offload or reduce the load of the cell. However, all mechanisms are reactive. This means that the network device can only start solving the problem if it actually happens or is detected.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, devices, and computer-readable media for random access.

In a first aspect, a method for random access is provided. The method comprises the following steps: determining, at a network device, random access resources for at least one terminal device group; and triggering, by the network device, a random access procedure for the at least one terminal device group by providing information on the random access resources to the at least one terminal device group.

In some embodiments, the plurality of terminal devices are grouped into the at least one terminal device group based on at least one of: service access categories for the plurality of terminal devices, wherein each of the service access categories is associated with a quality of service requirement; identifiers of the plurality of terminal devices; and one or more paging groups to which the plurality of terminal devices belong.

In some embodiments, the information on the random access resources comprises at least one of: group information on at least one terminal device group; a valid period during which at least one terminal device group is able to initiate a random access procedure using random access resources; and a location of the random access resource during the validity period.

In some embodiments, providing information on random access resources to the at least one group of terminal devices comprises: transmitting paging messages to the at least one terminal device group, wherein each of the paging messages includes the validity period and a location of a random access resource, the group information being determined based on a paging frame associated with the at least one terminal device group.

In some embodiments, providing information on random access resources to the at least one group of terminal devices comprises: and sending paging messages to the at least one terminal equipment group, wherein each paging message in the paging messages comprises group information, an effective period and a position of a random access resource.

In some embodiments, providing information on random access resources to the at least one group of terminal devices comprises: broadcasting the location of the random access resource via system information; and transmitting a paging message or downlink control information, DCI, to the at least one group of terminal devices, wherein each of the paging message or the DCI includes the group information and the validity period.

In some embodiments, triggering the random access procedure for the at least one terminal device group comprises: triggering a random access procedure for the first group of terminal devices by providing the first group of terminal devices with first information on the first set of random access resources; and triggering a random access procedure for the second group of terminal devices by providing the second group of terminal devices with second information on the second set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, providing the first information to the first group of terminal devices comprises: providing an indication in the first information, wherein the indication indicates that terminal devices belonging to both the first and second terminal device groups should initiate a random access procedure using a first set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: allocating uplink resources in a first uplink grant and uplink resources in a second uplink grant to a terminal device, wherein the first uplink grant is associated with the first terminal device group and the second uplink grant is associated with the second terminal device group.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: allocating uplink resources in an uplink grant to the terminal device, wherein the uplink grant is associated with the first group of terminal devices and the second group of terminal devices.

In a second aspect, a method for random access is provided. The method comprises the following steps: receiving, at a terminal device, information on random access resources for a terminal device group to which the terminal device belongs from a network device; determining, based on the information, whether the terminal device is triggered to initiate a random access procedure; and in response to determining that the terminal device is triggered, initiating the random access procedure by using one of the random access resources.

In some embodiments, the terminal devices are grouped into the group of terminal devices based on at least one of: a service access category of the terminal device, wherein the service access category is associated with a quality of service requirement; an identifier of the terminal device; and a paging group to which the terminal device belongs.

In some embodiments, the information on the random access resources comprises at least one of: group information about the group of terminal devices; the terminal device group can use the random access resource to initiate the effective period of the random access process; and a location of the random access resource during the validity period.

In some embodiments, receiving information about the random access resource comprises: receiving a paging message from the network device, the paging message including the information on the random access resource.

In some embodiments, determining whether the terminal device is triggered comprises: determining that the terminal device is triggered in response to determining that the paging message includes a validity period and a location of a random access resource.

In some embodiments, determining whether the terminal device is triggered comprises: determining that the terminal device is triggered in response to determining that the paging message includes group information about a group of terminal devices.

In some embodiments, receiving information about the random access resource comprises: receiving the location of the random access resource via system information broadcast by the network device; and receiving a paging message or downlink control information, DCI, from the network device, wherein the paging message or DCI includes group information and a validity period.

In some embodiments, the terminal device belongs to both the group of terminal devices and another group of terminal devices; receiving the information on the random access resource includes: receiving first information on a first set of random access resources for the group of terminal devices; and receiving second information on a second set of random access resources for the other group of terminal devices; and initiating the random access procedure comprises: initiating the random access procedure by using one of the first set of random access resources and the second set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, receiving the first information comprises: receiving an indication in the first information, wherein the indication is used for indicating that the terminal equipment should initiate a random access process by using a first random access resource set; and initiating the random access procedure comprises: initiating the random access procedure by using the first set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, initiating the random access procedure comprises: in response to selecting the first set of random access resources, initiating the random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: sending an indication to the network device indicating that the terminal device belongs to both the terminal device group and another terminal device group.

In some embodiments, initiating the random access procedure comprises: identifying a location of the random access resource; randomly selecting one of the random access resources; and initiating a random access procedure by using the selected random access resource.

In some embodiments, initiating the random access procedure comprises: comparing a first number of resources in the first set of random access resources with a second number of resources in the second set of random access resources; and in response to the first number being greater than the second number, initiating the random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

In a third aspect, an apparatus for random access is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method according to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an apparatus for random access is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method according to the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided, having a computer program stored thereon. The computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method according to the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided, having a computer program stored thereon. The computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method according to the second aspect.

It should be understood that this summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent from the following description.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following more detailed description of some embodiments of the present disclosure, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 is a flow diagram of a method for random access in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of a validity period of a random access resource in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for random access in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

fig. 5 is a block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements.

Detailed Description

The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to a few exemplary embodiments. It is understood that these examples are described solely for the purpose of illustration and to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the disclosure, and are not intended to imply any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard or protocol, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE advanced (LTE-a), and 5G NR, and employs any suitable communication technology, including, for example, MIMO, OFDM, Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), bluetooth, ZigBee, Machine Type Communication (MTC), eMBB, MTC, and urrllc technologies. For purposes of discussion, in some embodiments, an LTE network, an LTE-a network, a 5G NR network, or any combination thereof are taken as examples of communication networks.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to any suitable device on the network side of a communication network. The network device may comprise any suitable device in an access network of a communication network, including for example a Base Station (BS), a relay, an Access Point (AP), a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a gigabit NodeB (gnb), a remote radio module (RRU), a Radio Head (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a low power node such as a femto node (femto), a pico node (pico), etc. For discussion purposes, in some embodiments, an eNB is taken as an example of a network device.

The network devices may also include any suitable device in the core network, including, for example, multi-standard radio (MSR) wireless devices such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) or Base Station Controllers (BSCs), multi-cell/Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) and MMEs, operations and management (O & M) nodes, Operations Support Systems (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, location nodes such as enhanced serving mobile location centers (E-SMLCs), and/or Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs).

As used herein, the term "terminal device" refers to a device that can be configured, arranged and/or operated for communicating with a network device or another terminal device in a communication network. Communication may involve the transmission and/or reception of wireless signals using electromagnetic signals, radio waves, infrared signals, and/or other types of signals suitable for the communication of information in the air. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be configured to send and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, when triggered by an internal or external event or in response to a request from the network side, the terminal device may transmit information to the network device according to a predetermined schedule.

Examples of end devices include, but are not limited to, User Equipment (UE), such as a smart phone, a wireless-enabled tablet, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop installed device (LME), and/or a wireless Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). For purposes of discussion, some embodiments will be described below with reference to a UE as an example of a terminal device, and the terms "terminal device" and "user equipment" (UE) may be used interchangeably within the context of this disclosure.

As used herein, the term "cell" refers to an area covered by radio signals transmitted by a network device. Terminal devices within a cell may be served by a network device and access a communication network via the network device.

In this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (e.g., implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry); (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, for example (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuitry and software/firmware and (ii) any portion of a hardware processor with software (including a digital signal processor, software, and memory that work together to cause a device such as a mobile telephone or server to perform various functions); and (c) hardware circuitry and/or a processor, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but may be absent when such software operation is not required.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses implementations in which only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, the term circuitry, if applicable to a particular claim element, also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term "include" and its variants are to be understood as meaning open-ended terms of "including, but not limited to. The term "based on" is to be understood as "based at least in part on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" should be understood as "at least one other embodiment". Other definitions, whether explicit or implicit, may be included below.

As used herein, Downlink (DL) transmissions refer to transmissions from a network device to a terminal device, while Uplink (UL) transmissions refer to transmissions in the opposite direction. That is, in DL, a network device is a transmitter, and a terminal device is a receiving device; whereas in the UL, the terminal device is a transmitter and the network device is a receiving device.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown, wireless communication network 100 may include one or more network devices, such as network device 110. Network device 110 may be a Base Station (BS), a node b (nb), an evolved nb (enb), a gNB, a virtual BS, a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) or base station subsystem (BSs), an AP, or the like.

Network device 110 may provide services to a plurality of terminal devices 120-1, 120-2, 120-3, and 120-4, collectively referred to as "terminal devices 120" or each terminal device individually referred to as "terminal devices 120", within its coverage area 112. It should be understood that in some embodiments, a network device may serve fewer or more terminal devices, and the number of terminal devices in this example does not imply any limitation on the scope of the disclosure.

In the current 3GPP standard, the network device configures the random access parameters in the SIB. The random access parameters include Random Access Opportunity (RAO), number of non-dedicated random access preambles and preamble division to indicate message 3(Msg3) size differentiation. RAO refers to time-frequency resources that a terminal device may use to send a preamble to a network device. During the random access procedure, the terminal device selects the first available RAO to send its preamble to the network device.

Due to the limited number of RAOs and the limited number of non-dedicated random access preambles, arrival bursts or access bursts for a large number of terminal devices in MTC or IoT may occur at a high rate. This means that a large number of terminal devices may access the network simultaneously. Therefore, it is likely to result in a high access collision rate, a high access failure rate, and a large access delay. The network performance and experience of the terminal device will be reduced accordingly.

In this case, a scheme of random access triggered by a network device is proposed. In this scheme, a plurality of terminal devices are grouped into at least one terminal device group. The network device sends an explicit notification to at least one terminal device group in order to invite the at least one terminal device group to initiate a random access procedure. Upon receiving the notification, the terminal devices belonging to the at least one terminal device group know that they are allowed to transmit Uplink (UL) traffic data and then initiate a random access procedure. By this scheme, the network device can control the attempt time of random access from a large number of terminal devices, thereby actively balancing the load of the cell over time before congestion or overload occurs.

The principles and embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 2, which is a flow chart of a method 200 for random access according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 200 may be implemented at the network device 110 as shown in fig. 1. It will be understood that method 200 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some of the blocks shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

At block 210, network device 110 determines random access resources for at least one terminal device group.

In some embodiments, terminal devices 120-1 through 120-4 may be grouped into at least one terminal device group based on a Service Access Class (SAC) of the terminal devices. Each SAC is associated with a quality of service (QoS) requirement. The QoS requirements may be associated with the types of services supported by the terminal device. In some embodiments, the terminal devices 120-1 through 120-4 may be preconfigured with respective SACs. For example, the SACs may be stored in Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards of the terminal devices 120-1 to 120-4.

In some embodiments, if the terminal device supports different types of services, more than one SAC may be pre-configured for the terminal device.

In some embodiments, end devices 120-1 through 120-4 may support the same type of service and thus have the same QoS requirements. Thus, the terminal devices 120-1 to 120-4 may be preconfigured with the same SAC. In such an embodiment, terminal devices 120-1 through 120-4 may be grouped into at least one terminal device group based on the identifiers of terminal devices 120-1 through 120-4.

In other embodiments, terminal devices 120-1 through 120-4 may be grouped into at least one terminal device group based on one or more paging groups to which terminal devices 120-1 through 120-4 belong. For example, if terminal devices 120-1 and 120-2 belong to a first paging group and terminal devices 120-3 and 120-4 belong to a different second paging group, terminal devices 120-1 and 120-2 may be grouped into one terminal device group and terminal devices 120-3 and 120-4 may be grouped into another terminal device group.

At block 220, the network device 110 triggers a random access procedure for at least one terminal device group by providing information on random access resources to the at least one terminal device group.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a network device sends an explicit notification to at least one terminal device group to invite the at least one terminal device group to initiate a random access procedure. Thus, the network device may control the time of attempts for random access from a large number of terminal devices in order to actively balance the load of the cell over time before congestion or overload occurs. Since the number of triggered terminal devices can be configured by the network device, consumption of network resources can be controlled and occurrence of congestion or overload can be avoided. In addition, the network equipment distinguishes the random access resources of each terminal equipment group, so that different QoS requirements of different terminal equipment groups can be met.

In some embodiments, the information on the random access resources comprises group information on at least one terminal device group. In an embodiment in which the terminal devices 120-1 to 120-4 are grouped into at least one terminal device group based on their SACs, their SACs may be used as a group index.

In some embodiments, the information on the random access resource comprises a validity period during which the random access resource may be used by the at least one group of terminal devices to initiate the random access procedure and a location of the random access resource during the validity period.

The random access resources are also referred to as Random Access Opportunities (RAOs) since the terminal device may initiate a random access procedure using the random access resources configured by the network device. In embodiments of the present disclosure, random access resources configured by a network device according to embodiments of the present disclosure are also referred to as active RAOs, since the network device actively balances the load of cells over time before congestion or overload occurs.

Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of active RAOs and active RAOs' active periods in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, a first group of terminal devices (also referred to as group 1) is configured with a first set of random access resources having a validity period 310. There are six active RAOs during active period 310. A terminal device in the first terminal device group may select any one of the six active RAOs to initiate a random access procedure. A second group of terminal devices, also referred to as group 2, is configured with a second set of random access resources having a validity period 320. There are four active RAOs during the active period 320. A terminal device in the second terminal device group may select any one of the four active RAOs to initiate a random access procedure. Since the network device can configure more than one active RAO for each terminal device group, the collision rate can be reduced.

It should be noted that the active RAO does not overlap with the conventional RAO. Therefore, the scheme according to the present disclosure has no impact on the conventional RACH procedure.

In some embodiments, the network device may control the load of the cell by configuring random access resources for one or more groups of terminal devices and triggering a random access procedure for the one or more groups of terminal devices. For example, the network device may trigger a random access procedure for a group of terminal devices in case there are fewer network resources available for random access. As another example, the network device may trigger a random access procedure for more than one group of terminal devices in case there are more network resources available for random access.

In some embodiments, network device 110 may determine a first set of random access resources for a first terminal device group and a second set of random access resources for a second terminal device group. The network device 110 may trigger the random access procedure for the first group of terminal devices by providing first information on the first set of random access resources to the first group of terminal devices and trigger the random access procedure for the second group of terminal devices by providing second information on the second set of random access resources to the second group of terminal devices.

In such embodiments, the network device 110 may provide the indication in the first information about the first set of random access resources. The indication is for indicating that terminal devices belonging to both the first and second terminal device groups should initiate a random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, the first set of random access resources may be different from the second set of random access resources. For example, as shown in fig. 3, the length of the validity period for the first set of random access resources may be different from the length of the validity period for the second set of random access resources. As shown in fig. 3, a density of active RAOs (e.g., a number of active RAOs per radio frame) during an active period for a first set of random access resources may be different from a density of active RAOs during an active period for a second set of random access resources. In this way, the network can control the load of the cell.

In some embodiments, the number of random access resources in the first set of random access resources may be greater than the number of random access resources in the second set of random access resources. For example, as shown in fig. 3, the number of RAOs 312 in the first set of random access resources having an active period 310 is greater than the number of RAOs 322 in the second set of random access resources having an active period 320.

In such embodiments, network device 110 may allocate uplink resources in a first uplink grant associated with a first terminal device group and uplink resources in a second uplink grant associated with a second terminal device group to the terminal device. Alternatively, network device 110 may allocate uplink resources to terminal devices in an uplink grant, where the uplink grant is associated with the first terminal device group and the second terminal device group.

In some embodiments, network device 110 may provide information regarding random access resources to at least one terminal device group by sending a paging message to the at least one terminal device group. Each paging message includes a location of a random access resource and a validity period. Accordingly, terminal devices receiving the paging message may determine whether they are triggered based on the location and the validity period of the random access resources. In such an embodiment, explicit group information is not included in the paging message, and the group information is determined by the terminal devices of the at least one terminal device group based on the paging frame associated with the at least one terminal device group. The terminal devices in the at least one terminal device group may determine the number of paging frames based on the paging cycle, the parameter for paging the control channel, and the identifier of the terminal device. For example, the terminal devices 120-1 and 120-2 may determine a paging frame # (SFN mod paging cycle ═ 0) as a paging frame for receiving a paging radio network temporary identity (P-RNTI), and the terminal devices 120-3 and 120-4 may determine a paging frame # (SFN mod paging cycle ═ 4) as a paging frame for receiving a P-RNTI. Thus, terminal devices 120-1 and 120-2 may determine that they belong to one terminal device group, and terminal devices 120-3 and 120-4 may determine that they belong to another terminal device group.

In some embodiments, network device 110 may provide information regarding random access resources to at least one terminal device group by sending a paging message to the at least one terminal device group. Each paging message includes group information, a validity period, and a location of a random access resource. In such an embodiment, explicit group information is included in the paging message. Accordingly, terminal devices receiving the paging message may determine whether they are triggered based on explicit group information.

In some embodiments, network device 110 may broadcast the location of the random access resource via system information. For example, network device 110 may broadcast the number of subframes defined as RAOs in a radio frame. Network device 110 may transmit paging messages or Downlink Control Information (DCI) to at least one group of terminal devices, where each paging message or DCI includes group information and a validity period. Since the location of the random access resource is not transmitted in the paging message or the DCI, overhead of the paging message or the DCI may be reduced.

In some embodiments, network device 110 may broadcast information regarding the random access resources for each group of terminal devices via system information, where the information includes the location of the random access resources, group information, and a validity period. In this case, the valid period is a period of time that occurs periodically. When a terminal device belonging to a group of terminal devices has UL data to send, the terminal device may initiate a random access procedure using broadcast information on the random access resources of the group. Since each group of terminal devices is configured with the random access resources of the group, random access bursts from a large number of terminal devices can be avoided.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a method 400 for random access in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 400 may be implemented at the terminal device 120 as shown in fig. 1. It will be understood that the method 400 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some of the blocks shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

At block 410, a terminal device 120 belonging to a group of terminal devices receives information from a network device 110 regarding random access resources of the group of terminal devices.

At block 420, the terminal device 120 determines whether the terminal device 120 is triggered to initiate a random access procedure based on the received information.

At block 430, if terminal device 120 determines that terminal device 120 is triggered, terminal device 120 initiates a random access procedure by using one of the random access resources.

In some embodiments, the terminal devices 120 are grouped into terminal device groups based on at least one of: a service access class of the terminal device 120, wherein the service access class is associated with a quality of service requirement; an identifier of terminal device 120; and the paging group to which the terminal device 120 belongs.

In some embodiments, the information on the random access resources comprises at least one of: group information on the group of terminal devices, a validity period during which the group of terminal devices can initiate a random access procedure using the random access resource, and a location of the random access resource during the validity period.

In some embodiments, terminal device 120 receives the information about the random access resources by receiving a paging message that includes the information about the random access resources.

In such embodiments, explicit group information is not included in the paging message, including the validity period and the location of the random access resource. The group information is determined by terminal device 120 based on a paging frame associated with terminal device 120. For example, if the terminal device 120 determines that the paging frame # (SFN mod paging cycle ═ 0) is a paging frame for receiving P-RNTI, the terminal device 120 is grouped into a terminal device group including all terminal devices that determine that the paging frame # (SFN mod paging cycle ═ 0) is a paging frame.

In such an embodiment, if terminal device 120 determines that the paging message includes a validity period and a location of the random access resource, terminal device 120 determines that terminal device 120 is triggered to initiate the random access procedure.

In some embodiments, explicit group information, validity period, and location of random access resources are included in the paging message. In such embodiments, the terminal device 120 may determine whether the terminal device 120 is triggered to initiate a random access procedure based on the explicit group information.

As described above, in an embodiment in which the terminal devices 120 are grouped into terminal device groups based on the SAC for the terminal devices 120, the SAC may be used as a group index. If the paging message includes a SAC, the terminal device 120 may determine whether the SAC in the paging message is the same as the SAC stored in the SIM card of the terminal device 120. If the SAC in the paging message is the same as the SAC stored in the SIM card of terminal device 120, terminal device 120 may determine that terminal device 120 is triggered to initiate a random access procedure.

In some embodiments, upon determining that the terminal device 120 is triggered, the terminal device 120 may identify the locations of the available RAOs and select one of the available RAOs with equal probability for a random access attempt. For example, in the example shown in fig. 3, terminal devices 120 belonging to group 1 identify the locations of available RAOs 312 and randomly select one of the available RAOs 312 to initiate a random access procedure.

In some embodiments, terminal device 120 receives the location of the random access resource via system information broadcast by network device 110 and receives a paging message or DCI containing group information and a validity period.

In some embodiments, terminal device 120 may belong to both the terminal device group and another terminal device group. In such an embodiment, the terminal device 120 may receive first information on a first set of random access resources of the above-mentioned terminal device group and receive second information on a second set of random access resources of another terminal device group. The terminal device 120 may initiate a random access procedure by using one of the first set of random access resources and the second set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, terminal device 120 may receive an indication in the first information about the first set of random access resources from network device 110. The indication is used to indicate that the terminal device 120 should initiate a random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

In other embodiments, if the terminal device 120 selects the first set of random access resources, the terminal device 120 may initiate a random access procedure by using the first set of random access resources. For example, the terminal device 120 may select the first set of random access resources if the number of random access resources in the first set of random access resources is greater than the number of random access resources in the second set of random access resources. Alternatively, the terminal device 120 may randomly select one of the first set of random access resources and the second set of random access resources to initiate the random access procedure.

In such an embodiment, terminal device 120 may send an indication to network device 110 indicating that terminal device 120 belongs to both the terminal device group and the other terminal device group. For example, if the terminal device 120 uses the first set of random access resources for the above-mentioned terminal device group, the terminal device 120 may send the group information of the other terminal device group as the indication to the network device 110. This facilitates network device 110 to allocate appropriate UL resources with a larger UL grant (including more UL resources) or more than one UL grant. For example, network device 110 may allocate UL resources to terminal device 120 in a first uplink grant associated with a group of terminal devices and allocate UL resources to terminal device 120 in a second uplink grant associated with another group of terminal devices.

According to the present disclosure, a terminal device indicated by group information can only access the network by sending its random access attempt in the active RAO configured for the group. In a conventional random access procedure, each terminal device selects the first available RAO to send its preamble upon initiation of the random access procedure by layer 3 or higher layers. Unlike conventional random access procedures, a triggered terminal device according to the present disclosure may randomly select one of the available active RAOs with equal probability among all configured active RAOs. By changing the behavior of the terminal device in this manner, random access attempts by the terminal device to the network may be randomized over time, which helps to reduce the likelihood of access bursts.

In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., network device 110) capable of performing method 200 may include means for performing the various steps of method 200. The component may be embodied in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in a circuit or a software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for determining random access resources for at least one terminal device group; and means for triggering a random access procedure for the at least one terminal device group by providing the at least one terminal device group with information on the random access resources.

In some embodiments, the plurality of terminal devices are grouped into at least one terminal device group based on at least one of: service access categories of a plurality of terminal devices, wherein each service access category in the service access categories meets the service quality requirement; identifiers of a plurality of terminal devices; and one or more paging groups to which the plurality of terminal devices belong.

In some embodiments, the information on the random access resources comprises at least one of: group information on the at least one terminal device group, a validity period during which the at least one terminal device group can initiate a random access procedure using the random access resource, and a location of the random access resource during the validity period.

In some embodiments, providing information on the random access resource to the at least one terminal device group comprises: transmitting paging messages to at least one terminal device group, wherein each of the paging messages includes a location of a random access resource and a validity period, and group information is determined based on a paging frame associated with the at least one terminal device group.

In some embodiments, providing information on the random access resource to the at least one terminal device group comprises: and sending paging messages to at least one terminal equipment group, wherein each paging message in the paging messages comprises group information, an effective period and the position of the random access resource.

In some embodiments, providing information on the random access resource to the at least one terminal device group comprises: broadcasting a location of the random access resource via system information; and sending a paging message or Downlink Control Information (DCI) to at least one terminal equipment group, wherein each paging message or DCI in the paging message or DCI comprises group information and a valid period.

In some embodiments, the means for triggering a random access procedure for at least one group of terminal devices comprises: means for triggering a random access procedure for a first group of terminal devices by providing the first group of terminal devices with first information on a first set of random access resources; and means for triggering a random access procedure for the second group of terminal devices by providing second information on the second set of random access resources to the second group of terminal devices.

In some embodiments, providing the first information to the first group of terminal devices comprises: an indication is provided in the first information, wherein the indication indicates that terminal devices belonging to both the first and second terminal device groups should initiate a random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for allocating uplink resources in a first uplink grant and uplink resources in a second uplink grant to the terminal device, wherein the first uplink grant is associated with a first terminal device group and the second uplink grant is associated with a second terminal device group.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for allocating uplink resources in an uplink grant to a terminal device, wherein the uplink grant is associated with a first terminal device group and a second terminal device group.

In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., terminal device 120) capable of performing the method 400 may include means for performing the various steps of the method 400. The components may be embodied in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuits or software modules.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving, at a terminal device, information on random access resources of a terminal device group to which the terminal device belongs from a network device; means for determining whether the terminal device is triggered to initiate a random access procedure based on the information; and means for initiating a random access procedure using one of the random access resources in response to determining that the terminal device is triggered.

In some embodiments, the terminal devices are grouped into terminal device groups according to at least one of: a service access category of the terminal device, wherein the service access category is associated with a quality of service requirement; an identifier of the terminal device; and a paging group to which the terminal device belongs.

In some embodiments, the means for receiving information on random access resources comprises: receiving a paging message from the network device, the paging message including the information regarding the random access resource.

In some embodiments, the means for determining whether the terminal device is triggered comprises: means for determining that the terminal device is triggered in response to determining that the paging message includes the validity period and the location of the random access resource.

In some embodiments, the means for determining whether the terminal device is triggered comprises: means for determining that the terminal device is triggered in response to determining that the paging message includes group information about a group of terminal devices.

In some embodiments, the means for receiving information on random access resources comprises: means for receiving a location of a random access resource via system information broadcast by a network device; and means for receiving a paging message or downlink control information, DCI, from the network device, wherein the paging message or DCI comprises the group information and the validity period.

In some embodiments, the terminal device belongs to both the terminal device group and the further terminal device group; the means for receiving information on random access resources comprises: means for receiving first information on a first set of random access resources of a group of terminal devices; and means for receiving second information regarding a second set of random access resources of another group of terminal devices; and the means for initiating the random access procedure comprises: means for initiating a random access procedure using one of the first set of random access resources and the second set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, the means for receiving the first information comprises: means for receiving an indication in the first information, wherein the indication indicates that the terminal device should initiate a random access procedure using a first set of random access resources; and the means for initiating the random access procedure comprises: means for initiating a random access procedure by using a first set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, the means for initiating the random access procedure comprises: means for initiating a random access procedure using the first set of random access resources in response to selecting the first set of random access resources.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for sending an indication to the network device indicating that the terminal device belongs to both the terminal device group and the further terminal device group.

In some embodiments, the means for initiating the random access procedure comprises: means for identifying a location of a random access resource; means for randomly selecting one of the random access resources; and means for initiating a random access procedure by using the selected random access resource.

In some embodiments, the means for initiating the random access procedure comprises: means for comparing a first number of resources in a first set of random access resources with a second number of resources in a second set of random access resources; and means for initiating a random access procedure using the first set of random access resources in response to the first number being greater than the second number.

Fig. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a device 500 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 500 may be viewed as another example implementation of network device 101 as shown in fig. 1. Accordingly, device 500 may be implemented at or as at least a portion of network device 110 or terminal device 120.

As shown, the device 500 includes a processor 510, a memory 520 coupled to the processor 510, a suitable Transmitter (TX) and Receiver (RX)540 coupled to the processor 510, and a communication interface coupled to the TX/RX 540. The memory 520 stores at least a portion of the program 530. TX/RX 540 is used for bi-directional communication. TX/RX 540 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, although in practical applications the access node referred to in this application may have several antennas. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements, such as an X2 interface for bidirectional communication between enbs, an S1 interface for communication between a Mobile Management Entity (MME)/serving gateway (S-GW) and an eNB, a Un interface for communication between an eNB and a Relay Node (RN), or a Uu interface for communication between an eNB and a UE.

The programs 530 are considered to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 510, enable the device 500 to operate in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to fig. 1-10. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 510 of the device 500, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 510 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Further, the combination of the processor 510 and the memory 520 may form a processing component 550 suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 520 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as non-transitory computer-readable storage media, semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. Although only one memory 520 is shown in device 500, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in device 500. Processor 510 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network, and may include one or more of the following, as non-limiting examples: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 500 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time dependent from a clock synchronized to the main processor.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Certain aspects 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. While aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product, tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the

methods

200, 400 described above with reference to fig. 2 and 4. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within a local device or within a distributed device. In a distributed facility, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for implementing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the computer or controller, cause the functions/operations indicated in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be performed. The program code may execute entirely on the computer, partly on the computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations described above. Examples of a carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

Additionally, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking or parallel processing may be beneficial. Likewise, while the above discussion contains certain specific implementation details, this should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure, but rather as a description of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A method for random access, comprising:

determining, at a network device, random access resources for at least one terminal device group; and

triggering, by the network device, a random access procedure for the at least one terminal device group by providing information on the random access resources to the at least one terminal device group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of terminal devices are grouped into the at least one terminal device group based on at least one of:

service access classes of the plurality of terminal devices, wherein each of the service access classes is associated with a quality of service requirement,

identifiers of the plurality of terminal devices, an

One or more paging groups to which the plurality of terminal devices belong.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the random access resources comprises at least one of:

group information on the at least one terminal device group,

a validity period during which the at least one group of terminal devices is able to initiate the random access procedure using the random access resource, an

A location of the random access resource during the validity period.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the information on the random access resources to the at least one group of terminal devices comprises:

transmitting paging messages to the at least one group of terminal devices, wherein each of the paging messages comprises the validity period and the location of the random access resource, the group information being determined based on a paging frame associated with the at least one group of terminal devices.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the information on the random access resources to the at least one group of terminal devices comprises:

sending paging messages to the at least one group of terminal devices, wherein each of the paging messages comprises the group information, the validity period, and the location of the random access resource.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the information on the random access resources to the at least one group of terminal devices comprises:

broadcasting the location of the random access resource via system information; and

transmitting a paging message or downlink control information, DCI, to the at least one group of terminal devices, wherein each of the paging messages or the DCI includes the group information and the validity period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein triggering the random access procedure for the at least one terminal device group comprises:

triggering a random access procedure for a first group of terminal devices by providing the first group of terminal devices with first information on a first set of random access resources; and

triggering a random access procedure for a second group of terminal devices by providing the second group of terminal devices with second information on a second set of random access resources.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the first information to the first group of terminal devices comprises:

providing an indication in the first information, wherein the indication indicates: terminal devices belonging to both the first and second terminal device groups should initiate a random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

allocating uplink resources in a first uplink grant and uplink resources in a second uplink grant to the terminal device, wherein the first uplink grant is associated with the first terminal device group and the second uplink grant is associated with the second terminal device group.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

allocating uplink resources in an uplink grant to the terminal device, wherein the uplink grant is associated with the first group of terminal devices and the second group of terminal devices.

11. A method for random access, comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device, information on random access resources for a terminal device group to which the terminal device belongs from a network device;

determining, based on the information, whether the terminal device is triggered to initiate a random access procedure; and

in response to determining that the terminal device is triggered, initiating the random access procedure by using one of the random access resources.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the terminal devices are grouped into the group of terminal devices based on at least one of:

a service access class of the terminal device, wherein the service access class is associated with a quality of service requirement,

an identifier of the terminal device, and

and the paging group to which the terminal equipment belongs.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the information about the random access resources comprises at least one of:

group information on the group of terminal devices,

a validity period during which the group of terminal devices is able to initiate a random access procedure using the random access resource, an

A location of the random access resource during the validity period.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the information regarding random access resources comprises:

receiving a paging message from the network device, the paging message including the information on random access resources.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether the terminal device is triggered comprises:

determining that the terminal device is triggered in response to determining that the paging message includes the validity period and the location of the random access resource.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether the terminal device is triggered comprises:

determining that the terminal device is triggered in response to determining that the paging message includes the group information about the group of terminal devices.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the information regarding random access resources comprises:

receiving the location of the random access resource via system information broadcast by the network device; and

receiving a paging message or Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the network device, wherein the paging message or the DCI includes the group information and the validity period.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the terminal device belongs to both the terminal device group and another terminal device group;

receiving the information on random access resources comprises:

receiving first information on a first set of random access resources for the group of terminal devices; and

receiving second information on a second set of random access resources for the other group of terminal devices; and

initiating the random access procedure comprises:

initiating the random access procedure by using one of the first set of random access resources and the second set of random access resources.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

receiving the first information comprises:

receiving an indication in the first information, wherein the indication is used for indicating: the terminal device should initiate the random access procedure using the first set of random access resources; and

initiating the random access procedure comprises:

initiating the random access procedure by using the first set of random access resources.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein initiating the random access procedure comprises:

comparing a first number of resources in the first set of random access resources with a second number of resources in the second set of random access resources; and

in response to the first number being greater than the second number, initiating the random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein initiating the random access procedure comprises:

in response to selecting the first set of random access resources, initiating the random access procedure using the first set of random access resources.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

sending an indication to the network device, the indication indicating that the terminal device belongs to both the terminal device group and another terminal device group.

23. The method of claim 11, wherein initiating the random access procedure comprises:

identifying a location of the random access resource;

randomly selecting one of the random access resources; and

initiating the random access procedure by using the selected random access resource.

24. A network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1-10.

25. A terminal device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 11 to 23.

26. A computer-readable medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

27. A computer-readable medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method according to any one of claims 11 to 23.