IP Library Granted Patent US 11,589,405
Granted Patent B2
US 11,589,405 · App. 16/958,321 · Granted Feb 21, 2023

Method for using radio access technology, user equipment, and system

Inventors: Yanzhao He (Beijing, CN); Li Shen (Beijing, CN); Yuan-Hao Lan (Shanghai, CN)
Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
H04W76/15H04W16/14H04W36/0069H04W72/1215H04W88/06
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,589,405
App. No.
16/958,321
Granted
Feb 21, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method includes determining, by a user equipment (UE), to use a first radio access technology, and triggering, by the UE, a first event to disable a second radio access technology while the UE currently uses the second radio access technology. The first event indicates that a base station fails to configure a secondary cell or instructs the base station to delete a configured secondary cell. The secondary cell is a secondary cell of the second radio access technology on the unlicensed spectrum.

Claims (106)

1. A method for using a radio access technology, the method comprising

determining, by a user equipment (UE), to use a first radio access technology; and

triggering, by the UE, a first event to disable a second radio access technology while the UE currently uses the second radio access technology,

wherein the first event indicates that a base station fails to configure a secondary cell or instructs the base station to delete a configured secondary cell,

the secondary cell is a secondary cell of the second radio access technology on an unlicensed spectrum,

the UE is configured to support the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology, the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are configured to use the unlicensed spectrum, and the second radio access technology is a carrier aggregation technology configured to use the unlicensed spectrum,

wherein after the determining, by the UE, to use the first radio access technology and before the triggering, by the UE, the first event, the method further comprises:

determining, by the UE, a status of the UE using the second radio access technology.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein

the triggering, by the UE, the first event comprises:

triggering, by the UE, the first event based on the status of the UE using the second radio access technology.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the status of the UE using the second radio access technology includes:

the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is not activated,

the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is activated, or

the secondary cell is not configured by the UE.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein

the status of the second radio access technology includes the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is not activated, or the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is activated;

the first event indicates that a signal quality of the secondary cell is lower than a first threshold; and

the triggering, by the UE, the first event based on the status of the US using the second radio access technology comprises:

sending, by the UE, the first event to the base station thereby causing the base station to delete the secondary cell in response to the status of the second radio access technology including the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is not activated, or the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is activated.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein

the status of the second radio access technology includes the secondary cell is not configured by the UE,

the first event indicates that the UE prohibits sending a result of measuring a first cell by the UE to the base station, and

the first cell is a serving cell of the second radio access technology; and

the triggering, by the UE, the first event based on the status of the UE using the second radio access technology comprises:

receiving, by the UE, a first configuration message sent by the base station in response to the status of the second radio access technology including the secondary cell is not configured by the UE, wherein the first configuration message indicates that the first cell has been configured as a neighboring cell of a primary serving cell, among serving cells of the second radio access technology, on which the UE currently camps, and the first cell is different from the primary serving cell;

receiving, by the UE, a first measurement instruction message sent by the base station, wherein the first measurement instruction message instructs the UE to measure a signal quality of the neighboring cell; and

prohibiting the UE from sending a result of measuring the signal quality of the neighboring cell to the base station thereby causing the base station being unable to configure the neighboring cell as the secondary cell.

6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein

the status of the second radio access technology includes the secondary cell is not configured by the UE,

the first event indicates that a signal quality of a first cell is lower than a first threshold, and

the first cell is a serving cell of the second radio access technology; and

the triggering, by the UE, the first event based on the status of the UE using the second radio access technology comprises:

receiving, by the UE, a second configuration message sent by the base station in response to the status of the second radio access technology including the secondary cell is not configured by the UE, wherein the second configuration message indicates that the first cell has been configured as the secondary cell;

receiving, by the UE, a second measurement instruction message sent by the base station, wherein the second measurement instruction message instructs the UE to measure a signal quality of the secondary cell; and

sending, by the UE, the first event to the base station thereby causing the base station to delete the secondary cell.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the triggering, by the UE, the first event to disable the second radio access technology comprises:

reading, by the UE, a flag bit on the UE; and

triggering, by the UE, the first event in response to the flag bit being a first value, wherein

the flag bit being the first value indicates that the UE is currently using the second radio access technology.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein after the triggering, by the UE, the first event to disable the second radio access technology, the method further comprises:

using, by the UE, the first radio access technology; and

setting, by the UE, the flag bit to a second value, wherein the flag bit being the second value indicates that the UE is currently using the first radio access technology.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the UE, to use the first radio access technology comprises:

determining, by the UE according to a current service requirement of the UE, to use the first radio access technology; or

determining, by the UE based on a selection operation of a user, to use the first radio access technology.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein

after the determining, by the UE, to use the first radio access technology and before the triggering, by the UE, the first event, the method further comprises:

determining, by the UE, that the secondary cell has been configured; and

the triggering, by the UE, the first event comprises:

triggering, by the UE, the first event in response to the unlicensed spectrum failing to include an available band; or

triggering, by the UE, the first event in response to a first band overlapping a second band, wherein the first band is used by the first radio access technology on the unlicensed spectrum, and the second band is used by the second radio access technology on the unlicensed spectrum.

11. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

a processor,

a memory coupled to the processor, and

a communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to communicate with another device, the memory having one or more computer programs stored thereon that in response to being executed by the processor,

cause the processor to:

determine to use a first radio access technology, and

trigger a first event to disable a second radio access technology while the UE currently uses the second radio access technology, wherein the first event indicates that a base station fails to configure a secondary cell or instructs the base station to delete the configured secondary cell, and the secondary cell is a secondary cell of the second radio access technology on an unlicensed spectrum,

wherein the UE is configured to support the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology, the first radio access technology and the second radio access technology are configured to use the unlicensed spectrum, the second radio access technology is a carrier aggregation technology configured to use the unlicensed spectrum, and

wherein the processor is further configured to after determining to use the first radio access technology and before triggering the first event, determine a status of the communications interface using the second radio access technology.

12. The UE according to claim 11 , wherein

the processor configured to trigger the first event comprises:

the processor being further configured to trigger the first event based on the status of the communications interface using the second radio access technology.

13. The UE according to claim 12 , wherein the status of the communications interface using the second radio access technology includes:

the secondary cell has been configured by the UE, and is not activated,

the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is activated, or

the secondary cell is not configured by the UE.

14. The UE according to claim 13 , wherein

the status of the second radio access technology includes the secondary cell has been configured by the UE, and is not activated or the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is activated, and

the first event indicates that a signal quality of the secondary cell is lower than a first threshold; and

wherein the processor configured to trigger the first event based on the status of the communications interface using the second radio access technology comprises:

the processor being further configured to send the first event to the base station thereby causing the base station to delete the secondary cell in response to the status of the second radio access technology including the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is not activated or the secondary cell has been configured by the UE and is activated.

15. The UE according to claim 13 , wherein

the status of the second radio access technology includes the secondary cell is not configured by the UE,

the first event indicates that the communications interface prohibits sending a result of measuring a first cell to the base station, and

the first cell is a serving cell of the second radio access technology;

the processor is further configured to:

receive a first configuration message sent by the base station in response to the status of the second radio access technology including the secondary cell is not configured by the UE, wherein the first configuration message indicates that the first cell has been configured as a neighboring cell of a primary serving cell, among serving cells of the second radio access technology, on which the UE currently camps, and the first cell is different from the primary serving cell;

receive a first measurement instruction message sent by the base station, wherein the first measurement instruction message instructs the UE to measure a signal quality of the neighboring cell; and

prohibit the UE from sending a result of measuring the signal quality of the neighboring cell to the base station thereby causing the base station being unable to configure the neighboring cell as the secondary cell.

16. The UE according to claim 13 , wherein

the status of the second radio access technology includes the secondary cell is not configured by the UE,

the first event indicates that a signal quality of a first cell is lower than a first threshold, and

the first cell is a serving cell of the second radio access technology;

the processor is further configured to:

receive a second configuration message sent by the base station in response to the status of the second radio access technology including the secondary cell is not configured by the UE, wherein the second configuration message indicates that the first cell has been configured as the secondary cell;

receive a second measurement instruction message sent by the base station, wherein the second measurement instruction message instructs the UE to measure a signal quality of the secondary cell; and

send the first event to the base station thereby causing the base station to delete the secondary cell.

17. The UE according to claim 11 , wherein the processor configured to trigger the first event to disable the second radio access technology comprises:

the processor being further configured to:

read a flag bit on the UE, and

trigger the first event in response to reading the flag bit being a first value, wherein the flag bit being the first value indicates that the second radio access technology is currently used.

18. The UE according to claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

use the first radio access technology after triggering the first event, and

set the flag bit to a second value, wherein the flag bit being the second value indicates that the UE currently uses the first radio access technology.

19. The UE according to claim 11 , wherein

the processor is further configured to, after determining to use the first radio access technology and before triggering the first event, determine that the secondary cell has been configured; and

the processor being configured to trigger the first event comprises

the processor being further configured to:

trigger the first event in response to the unlicensed spectrum failing to include an available band; or

trigger the first event in response to a first band overlapping a second band, wherein the first band is used by the first radio access technology on the unlicensed spectrum, and the second band is used by the second radio access technology on the unlicensed spectrum.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are run on a user equipment (UE), the UE is configured to:

determine to use a first radio access technology; and

trigger a first event to disable a second radio access technology while the UE currently uses the second radio access technology, wherein the first event indicates that a base station fails to configure a secondary cell or instructs the base station to delete a configured secondary cell, and the secondary cell is a secondary cell of the second radio access technology on an unlicensed spectrum,

wherein the UE is further configured to after determining to use the first radio access technology and before triggering the first event, determine a status of the UE using the second radio access technology.

Assignments (2)
NUNC PRO TUNC ASSIGNMENT Recorded Feb 5, 2026
From: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
To: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
Reel/Frame 074707/0221 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 2, 2020
From: HE, YANZHAO; SHEN, LI; LAN, YUAN-HAO
To: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 053961/0597 →
Continuity (1)
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