IP Verse

Method Of System Information Transmission And Acquisition

Patent No. US11252641 (titled "Method Of System Information Transmission And Acquisition") was filed by Acer Inc on Jan 31, 2018.

What is this patent about?

’641 is related to the field of wireless communication systems, specifically addressing the problem of system information (SI) transmission and acquisition in networks employing both standalone and non-standalone cell deployments. Prior art systems lacked a clear mechanism for user equipment (UE) to determine cell campability and how to acquire necessary system information, leading to increased power consumption and delays during cell selection.

The underlying idea behind ’641 is to include an availability indicator within the essential minimum system information (SI) broadcast by a cell. This indicator explicitly signals whether the cell broadcasts non-essential minimum SI. By embedding this information in the fixed-schedule broadcast channel, the UE can quickly determine if the cell is suitable for camping without attempting to decode dynamically scheduled information that may not be present.

The claims of ’641 focus on a method for a base station to broadcast essential minimum SI, which includes scheduling information for non-essential minimum SI. This scheduling information contains both a time/frequency resource configuration *and* an availability indicator. The claims also cover a method for a mobile device to receive this essential minimum SI, use the availability indicator to determine if the cell is campable, and then acquire the non-essential minimum SI based on the scheduling information if the cell is campable.

In practice, the base station transmits the essential minimum SI on a downlink broadcast channel (e.g., PBCH). This SI includes scheduling information for the non-essential minimum SI, which is transmitted on a downlink shared channel (e.g., PDSCH). The scheduling information contains the time and frequency resources for the non-essential SI, as well as the crucial availability indicator. The UE decodes the essential minimum SI, checks the availability indicator, and proceeds to acquire the non-essential SI only if the indicator confirms its presence.

This approach differs from prior solutions by providing an explicit signal about the availability of non-essential SI. Previously, the UE had to attempt to decode the non-essential SI regardless, wasting resources if the cell didn't broadcast it. By including the campability indicator in the essential minimum SI, the UE can make a quick determination, reducing power consumption and speeding up the cell selection process. Furthermore, the scheduling information also indicates whether other system information is broadcast periodically or on-demand, allowing the UE to request on-demand information directly.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical landscape at the time

In the late 2010s when ’641 was filed, wireless communication systems commonly relied on broadcasting system information to enable user equipment (UE) to access and utilize network resources. At a time when cellular networks were evolving towards 5G New Radio (NR) technologies, a key challenge was efficiently managing and transmitting system information, especially in scenarios with standalone and non-standalone cell deployments. The efficient transmission of system information was crucial for UEs to determine cell campability and acquire necessary network parameters, when hardware or software constraints made optimizing power consumption and minimizing time delay in cell selection non-trivial.

Novelty and Inventive Step

The examiner approved the application because the prior art, including Iwamura and Ishii, did not disclose broadcasting non-essential minimum system information with dynamic scheduling on a downlink shared channel based on availability information. This allows a mobile device to obtain the non-essential minimum system information with dynamic scheduling and determine whether the cell broadcasts remaining parts of the non-essential minimum system information based on scheduling information included in the essential minimum system information. The prior art also failed to disclose obtaining the non-essential minimum system information with dynamic scheduling based on the first scheduling information of the essential minimum system information when the availability information indicates that the cell broadcasts the non-essential minimum system information.

Claims

This patent includes 17 claims, with claims 1 and 10 being independent. Independent claim 1 focuses on a method of system information transmission for a cell, while independent claim 10 focuses on a method of system information acquisition for a mobile device. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and refine the methods described in the independent claims, adding details and specific implementations.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)Support for SpecificationInterpretation
Availability information
(Claim 1, Claim 10)		“The present invention discloses a method of system information transmission for a cell in a wireless communication system. The method comprises broadcasting essential minimum system information of the cell of the wireless communication system with fixed scheduled on a downlink broadcast channel, wherein the essential minimum SI includes scheduling information for non-essential minimum SI of at least one of the cell and an auxiliary cell or a frequency location, the non-essential minimum SI is broadcasted with dynamically scheduled on a downlink shared channel, and the scheduling information includes a time and frequency resource configuration and an availability information for indicating whether the cell broadcasts the non-essential minimum SI.”Information indicating whether the cell broadcasts the non-essential minimum SI, set to a first value if the cell broadcasts the non-essential minimum SI, and set to a second value if the cell does not broadcast the non-essential minimum SI.
Dynamic scheduled
(Claim 1, Claim 10)		“Dynamically scheduled implies the size of the data unit could be dynamic, the volume of the radio resource to transmit the data unit could be dynamically arranged by the network, the radio resource location for transmitting the data unit is dynamically arranged by the network side in frequency domain, the periodicity of the present of the radio resource for transmitting the data unit is dynamically arranged by the network in time domain.”The size of the data unit could be dynamic, the volume of the radio resource to transmit the data unit could be dynamically arranged by the network, the radio resource location for transmitting the data unit is dynamically arranged by the network side in frequency domain, the periodicity of the present of the radio resource for transmitting the data unit is dynamically arranged by the network in time domain.
Essential minimum SI
(Claim 1, Claim 10)		“In addition, system information (SI) of 5G NR system includes essential minimum system information, which is fixed scheduled on a physical downlink broadcast channel (e.g., the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) of LTE or the NR-PBCH of 5G NR) and is organized into single system information block (SIB), non-essential minimum SI, which is dynamically scheduled on a physical downlink shared channel (e.g., the physical downlink share channel (PDSCH) of LTE or the NR-PDSCH of 5G NR) and is organized into one or more system information blocks (SIBs), and other SI, which could be periodically broadcast or on-demand, namely requested by the UE.”System information that is broadcast with fixed scheduling on a downlink broadcast channel and includes scheduling information for non-essential minimum SI.
First scheduling information
(Claim 1, Claim 10)		“The present invention discloses a method of system information transmission for a cell in a wireless communication system. The method comprises broadcasting essential minimum system information of the cell of the wireless communication system with fixed scheduled on a downlink broadcast channel, wherein the essential minimum SI includes scheduling information for non-essential minimum SI of at least one of the cell and an auxiliary cell or a frequency location, the non-essential minimum SI is broadcasted with dynamically scheduled on a downlink shared channel, and the scheduling information includes a time and frequency resource configuration and an availability information for indicating whether the cell broadcasts the non-essential minimum SI.”Information included in the essential minimum SI that provides a time and frequency resource configuration and availability information for the non-essential minimum SI.
Non-essential minimum SI
(Claim 1, Claim 10)		“In addition, system information (SI) of 5G NR system includes essential minimum system information, which is fixed scheduled on a physical downlink broadcast channel (e.g., the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) of LTE or the NR-PBCH of 5G NR) and is organized into single system information block (SIB), non-essential minimum SI, which is dynamically scheduled on a physical downlink shared channel (e.g., the physical downlink share channel (PDSCH) of LTE or the NR-PDSCH of 5G NR) and is organized into one or more system information blocks (SIBs), and other SI, which could be periodically broadcast or on-demand, namely requested by the UE.”System information that is broadcast with dynamic scheduling on a downlink shared channel.

Patent Family

Patent Family

File Wrapper

The dossier documents provide a comprehensive record of the patent's prosecution history - including filings, correspondence, and decisions made by patent offices - and are crucial for understanding the patent's legal journey and any challenges it may have faced during examination.

  • Date

    Description

  • Get instant alerts for new documents

US11252641

ACER INC
Application Number
US15885723
Filing Date
Jan 31, 2018
Status
Granted
Expiry Date
Jan 31, 2038
External Links
Slate, USPTO, Google Patents