Method and apparatus for sending and receiving information on a wireless network

1. A method comprising:

establishing, by a user equipment, a radio resource control connection with a wireless wide area network base station to enter a radio resource control connected state;

sending, by the user equipment, an uplink grant request message using a predefined dedicated random access channel preamble while in the radio resource control connected state;

receiving an uplink grant from the base station; and

transmitting a radio resource control message in response to receiving the uplink grant,

wherein transmitting comprises transmitting a radio resource control message including a system information request in response to receiving the uplink grant.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the uplink grant request message requests resources to at least accommodate the system information request.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the uplink grant provides resources to accommodate both the system information request and a medium access control control element; and

prioritizing sending the system information request over sending the medium access control control element when the uplink grant does not provide resources to accommodate both the system information request and the medium access control control element.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving a system information block in response to sending the radio resource control message.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein receiving the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble comprises receiving the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station in an essential system information block, the essential system information block including essential system information associated with a cell of the base station.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein receiving the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble comprises receiving configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station in a dedicated radio resource control message.

8. The method according to claim 5 , wherein receiving the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble comprises receiving the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station in a handover command message.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a controller that controls the operations of the apparatus; and

a transceiver coupled to the controller, where the transceiver

establishes a radio resource control connection with a wireless wide area network base station to enter a radio resource control connected state,

sends an uplink grant request message using a predefined dedicated random access channel preamble while in the radio resource control connected state,

receives an uplink grant from the base station, and

transmits a radio resource control message in response to receiving the uplink grant,

wherein the transceiver transmits the radio resource control message including a system information request in response to receiving the uplink grant.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the uplink grant request message requests resources to at least accommodate the system information request.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising:

wherein the controller

determines whether the uplink grant provides resources to accommodate both the system information request and a medium access control control element, and

prioritizes sending the system information request over sending the medium access control control element when the uplink grant does not provide resources to accommodate both the system information request and the medium access control control element.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the transceiver receives a system information block in response to sending the radio resource control message.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the transceiver receives configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the transceiver receives the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station in an essential system information block, the essential system information block including essential system information associated with a cell of the base station.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the transceiver receives the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station in a dedicated radio resource control message.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the transceiver receives the configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station in a handover command message.

17. A method comprising:

establishing, by a user equipment, a radio resource control connection with a wireless wide area network base station to enter a radio resource control connected state;

sending, by the user equipment, an uplink grant request message using a predefined dedicated random access channel preamble while in the radio resource control connected state, where the uplink grant request message requests resources to at least accommodate a system information request;

receiving an uplink grant from the base station; and

transmitting a radio resource control message including a system information request in response to receiving the uplink grant.

18. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising receiving configuration information related to the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble from the base station.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble comprises a predefined random access channel preamble dedicated to system information requests.

20. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein sending comprises sending, by the user equipment to the base station, the uplink grant request message using the predefined dedicated random access channel preamble while in the radio resource control connected state, and

wherein receiving comprises receiving the uplink grant from the base station in response to sending the uplink grant request message.