Granted Patent B2

US 12,255,733 · App. 17/440,582 · Granted Mar 18, 2025

Inventors: Hua Li (Cupertino, CA); Yang Tang (Cupertino, CA); Jie Cui (Cupertino, CA); Qiming Li (Cupertino, CA); Zhibin Yu (Cupertino, CA)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

H04J11/0079H04B17/318H04J11/0076H04W24/10

Abstract

Claims (56)

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a user equipment (UE) for a cellular communications network, an identity of first cell of the cellular communications network using one or more synchronization signals received from a first base station corresponding to the first cell;

determining, by the UE, an identity of a second cell of the cellular communications network using one or more synchronization signals received from a second base station corresponding to the second cell;

receiving, at the UE, a first signal corresponding to the first cell, the first signal included in a first portion of a SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) window;

receiving, at the UE, a second signal corresponding to the second cell, the second signal being time division multiplexed (TDM) with the first signal, wherein the second signal is included in a second portion of the SMTC window that does not overlap in time with the first portion of the SMTC window;

determining, by the UE, a first Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) for the first cell using the first signal;

determining, by the UE, a second RSRP for the second cell using the second signal; and

in response to determining the identity of the first cell and the identity of the second cell, associating the first RSRP with the first cell and the second RSRP with the second cell.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the first signal comprises receiving a New Radio Secondary Synchronization Signal (NR-SSS) in the SMTC window.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the second signal comprises receiving a NR-SSS in the SMTC window.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the first signal comprises obtaining a first Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) corresponding to the first cell from the first signal, and

wherein determining the first RSRP for the first cell comprises determining an SSB-based RSRP for the first cell.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the second signal comprises obtaining a second SSB corresponding to the second cell from the second signal, and

wherein determining the second RSRP for the second cell comprises determining an SSB-based RSRP for the second cell.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the UE, whether to connect to the first cell or the second cell based on the first RSRP and the second RSRP.

7. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining, by a user equipment (UE) for a cellular communications network, an identity of a first cell of the cellular communications network using one or more synchronization signals received from a first base station corresponding to the first cell;

determining, by the UE, an identity of a second cell of the cellular communications network using one or more synchronization signals received from a second base station corresponding to the second cell;

receiving, at the UE, a first signal corresponding to the first cell, the first signal included in a first portion of a SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) window;

receiving, at the UE, a second signal corresponding to the second cell, the second signal being time division multiplexed (TDM) with the first signal, wherein the second signal is included in a second portion of the SMTC window that does not overlap in time with the first portion of the SMTC window;

determining, by the UE, a first Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) for the first cell using the first signal;

determining, by the UE, a second RSRP for the second cell using the second signal; and

in response to determining the identity of the first cell and the identity of the second cell, associating the first RSRP with the first cell and the second RSRP with the second cell.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein receiving the first signal comprises receiving a first New Radio Secondary Synchronization Signal (NR-SSS) in the SMTC window, and wherein receiving the second signal comprises receiving a second NR-SSS in the SMTC window.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein receiving the first signal comprises obtaining a first Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) corresponding to the first cell from the first signal, and

wherein determining the first RSRP for the first cell comprises determining an SSB-based RSRP for the first cell.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein receiving the second signal comprises obtaining a second SSB corresponding to the second cell from the second signal, and

wherein determining the second RSRP for the second cell comprises determining an SSB-based RSRP for the second cell.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein receiving the first signal comprises receiving the first signal associated with a first base station corresponding to the first cell, and

wherein receiving the second signal comprises receiving the second signal associated with a second base station corresponding to the second cell.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first base station includes one of an evolved NodeB (eNB) or a Next Generation NodeB (gNB), and

wherein the second base station includes one of an eNB or a gNB.

13. A method performed by a base station for a cellular communications network, the method comprising:

transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) for the cellular communications network, one or more first synchronization signals corresponding to a first cell of the cellular communications network, the first cell being associated with the base station, wherein the UE determines an identify of the first cell using the one or more first synchronization signals, and further determines an identity of a second cell of the cellular communications network using one or more second synchronization signals received from a second base station corresponding to the second cell; and

transmitting, to the UE, a first signal corresponding to the first cell, the first signal included in a first portion of a SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) window,

wherein the first signal is time division multiplexed (TDM) with a second signal corresponding to a second cell of the cellular communications network transmitted by a second base station, wherein the second signal is included in a second portion of the SMTC window that does not overlap in time with the first portion of the SMTC window, and

wherein the first signal is configured to be used by the UE to determine a first Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) for the first cell, and the second signal is configured to be used by the UE to determine a second RSRP for the second cell, and

wherein the first RSRP is associated with the first cell by the UE and the second RSRP is associated with the second cell by the UE in response to determining the identity of the first cell and the identity of the second cell.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first signal comprises a New Radio Secondary Synchronization Signal (NR-SSS) in the SMTC window.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second signal comprises a NR-SSS in the SMTC window.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first signal comprises a first Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) corresponding to the first cell from the first signal, and

wherein the UE is configured to determine an SSB-based RSRP for the first cell.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second signal comprises a second SSB corresponding to the second cell from the second signal, and

wherein the UE is configured to determine an SSB-based RSRP for the second cell.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the base station includes one of an evolved NodeB (eNB) or a Next Generation NodeB (gNB), and

wherein the second base station includes one of an eNB or a gNB.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

upon the associating, adjusting at least one of the first RSRP corresponding to the first cell or the second RSRP corresponding to the second cell; and

determining an SSB measurement accuracy value using at least one of the adjusted first RSRP or the adjusted second RSRP.

20. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising:

in response to associating the first RSRP with the first cell and the second RSRP with the second cell, adjusting at least one of the first RSRP corresponding to the first cell or the second RSRP corresponding to the second cell; and

determining an SSB measurement accuracy value using at least one of the adjusted first RSRP or the adjusted second RSRP.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first RSRP and the second RSRP are determined independent of one another.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (44)