Method and apparatus for system information delivery

1. A method for system information (SI) acquisition by a user equipment (UE) in a radio resource control (RRC) Connected state, the SI comprising minimum SI and at least one other SI block, the method comprising:

receiving the minimum SI from a base station, the minimum SI having an area identification (ID) and at least one value tag;

comparing the area ID with an area ID stored at the UE;

comparing the at least one value tag with a value tag stored at the UE;

transmitting an RRC message to the base station to acquire the at least one other SI block from the base station when the area ID is the same as the stored area ID, and the value tag is different from the stored value tag; and

starting a prohibit timer configured by the base station after sending a system information request;

wherein the UE is not allowed to perform system information acquisition until the prohibit timer expires.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the area ID is assigned to at least two cells in the wireless communication network.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least two cells share the at least one other SI block having the same content, and the UE does not need to acquire the at least one other SI block when moving into one of the at least two cells from another one of the at least two cells when the at least two cells are assigned with the same area ID.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein each cell of the at least two cells broadcasts a minimum SI of the cell having a different content from the other cell.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising acquiring at least one updated parameter of the at least one other SI block from the base station when the value tag in the minimum SI is different from the stored value tag on the UE.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising receiving the updated parameter of the at least one other SI block from the base station when the area ID is the same as the stored area ID, and the value tag is different from the stored value tag on the UE.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the minimum SI includes an information field, the information field includes at least one of the area ID and the value tag.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the information field only includes the area ID, and the value tag is provided to the UE in the at least one other SI block.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the value tag includes a version of the at least one other SI block.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising, when the area ID is different from the stored area ID or the value tag is different from the stored value tag, transmitting a specific preamble to the base station to acquire the at least one other SI block.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising acquiring the at least one other SI block from the base station in a dedicated resource when the base station receives the specific preamble.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first minimum SI associated with a first cell within a particular area includes different content than a second minimum SI associated with a second cell within the particular area, while a first other SI block associated with the first cell includes a same content as a second other SI block associated with the second cell.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising acquiring the at least one other SI block after transmitting the RRC message to the base station requesting the at least one other SI block.

14. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication in a wireless communication network, the UE comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon;

at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive, while the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) Connected state, minimum system information (SI) from a base station, the minimum SI having an area identification (ID) and at least one value tag;

compare the area ID with an area ID stored at the UE;

compare the at least one value tag with a value tag stored at the UE;

transmit, while the UE is in the RRC Connected state, an RRC message to the base station to acquire at least one other SI block from the base station when the area ID is the same as the stored area ID, and the value tag is different from the stored value tag;

start, while the UE is in the RRC Connected state, a prohibit timer configured by the base station after sending a system information request;

wherein the UE is not allowed to perform system information acquisition until the prohibit timer expires.

15. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the area ID is assigned to at least two cells in the wireless communication network.

16. The UE of claim 15 , wherein the at least two cells share the at least one other SI block having the same content, and the UE does not need to acquire the at least one other SI block when moving into one of the at least two cells from another one of the at least two cells, when the at least two cells are assigned with the same area ID.

17. The UE of claim 15 , wherein each cell of the at least two cells broadcasts a minimum SI of the cell having a different content from the other cell.

18. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

acquire at least one updated parameter of the at least one other SI block from the base station when the value tag in the minimum SI is different from the stored value tag on the UE.

19. The UE of claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

acquire the updated parameter of the at least one other SI block from the base station when the area ID is the same as the stored area ID, and the value tag is different from the stored value tag on the UE.

20. The UE of claim 14 , wherein when the UE identifies that the area ID is different from the stored area ID or the value tag is different from the stored value tag, the UE is configured to transmit a specific preamble to the base station to acquire the at least one other SI block.

21. The UE of claim 20 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

acquire the at least one other SI block from the base station in a dedicated resource when the base station receives the specific preamble.

22. The UE of claim 14 , wherein a first minimum SI associated with a first cell within a particular area includes different content than a second minimum SI associated with a second cell within the particular area, while a first other SI block associated with the first cell includes a same content as a second other SI block associated with the second cell.

23. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to acquire the at least one other SI block after transmitting the RRC message to the base station requesting the at least one other SI block.