Communications device, infrastructure equipment and methods
A communications device that, when in an inactive state, transmits a first signal comprising a random access preamble and a first portion of data to infrastructure equipment, receives a random access response message from the infrastructure equipment, and transmits a second signal comprising a second portion of the data to the infrastructure equipment.
1. A communications device for transmitting data to or receiving data from a wireless communications network, the communications device comprising:
transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals to one or more infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network via a wireless access interface provided by the one or more infrastructure equipment;
receiver circuitry configured to receive signals from one or more of the infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface; and
controller circuitry configured to:
operate in an active state by controlling the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to transmit or receive the signals representing data; and
operate in an inactive state by controlling the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to:
transmit a first signal comprising a random access preamble and a first portion of data to one infrastructure equipment of the one or more infrastructure equipment;
receive a random access response message from the one infrastructure equipment;
transmit a second signal comprising a second portion of the data to the one infrastructure equipment; and
receive, based on whether the one infrastructure equipment successfully receives the second portion, an acknowledgement or a negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) from the one infrastructure equipment.
2. The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller circuitry is configured to select the random access preamble from a set of random access preambles which are specifically used to indicate that a signal corresponding to the first signal is being transmitted.
3. The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller circuitry is configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry to transmit the first signal using first radio resources indicated by the one infrastructure equipment.
4. The communications device according to claim 2 , wherein the controller circuitry is configured in combination with the transmitter circuitry to
determine first radio resources which should be used to transmit the first signal on the basis of the random access preamble selected from the set of random access preambles, and
transmit the first signal using the determined first radio resources.
5. The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the first signal further comprises one or more of:
a first portion of user data,
an identifier of the communications device,
an indication that the second portion of data is available to be transmitted,
an indication of the size of the second portion of data, and
a Radio Resource Control, RRC, message comprising a request to resume an RRC connection or a request to set up a new RRC connection.
6. The communications device according to claim 1 , wherein the random access response message comprises one or more of:
an indication of an uplink grant, the uplink grant comprising second radio resources which can be used by the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
a unique identifier which is assigned by the one infrastructure equipment to identify the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
an RRC response message in response to an RRC message comprised within the first signal,
an indication of a random access preamble and/or communications device identifier detected by the one infrastructure equipment,
a second ACK/NACK based on whether the first portion of the data was successfully received by the one infrastructure equipment, and
a timing advance command.
7. The communications device according to claim 6 , wherein the second signal further comprises a second RRC message in response to the RRC response message received from the one infrastructure equipment.
8. A method of operating a communications device in an active state and in an inactive state for transmitting data to or receiving data from a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
operating in the active state by controlling transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry of the communications device to transmit or receive signals that represent data via a wireless access interface provided by an infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network; and
operating in an inactive state by controlling the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to:
transmit a first signal via the wireless access interface to the infrastructure equipment, the first signal comprising a random access preamble and a first portion of data;
receive a random access response message from the infrastructure equipment;
transmit a second signal comprising a second portion of the data to the infrastructure equipment; and
receive, based on whether the infrastructure equipment successfully receives the second portion, an acknowledgement or a negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) from the infrastructure equipment.
9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the random access response message comprises one or more of:
an indication of an uplink grant, the uplink grant comprising second radio resources which can be used by the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
a unique identifier which is assigned by the infrastructure equipment to identify the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
an RRC response message in response to an RRC message comprised within the first signal,
an indication of a random access preamble and/or communications device identifier detected by the infrastructure equipment,
a second ACK/NACK based on whether the first portion of the data was successfully received by the infrastructure equipment, and
a timing advance command.
10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first signal further comprises one or more of:
a first portion of user data,
an identifier of the communications device,
an indication that the second portion of data is available to be transmitted,
an indication of the size of the second portion of data, and
a Radio Resource Control, RRC, message comprising a request to resume an RRC connection or a request to set up a new RRC connection.
11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the random access response message comprises one or more of:
an indication of an uplink grant, the uplink grant comprising second radio resources which can be used by the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
a unique identifier which is assigned by the infrastructure equipment to identify the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
an RRC response message in response to an RRC message comprised within the first signal,
an indication of a random access preamble and/or communications device identifier detected by the infrastructure equipment,
a second ACK/NACK based on whether the first portion of the data was successfully received by the infrastructure equipment, and
a timing advance command.
12. An infrastructure equipment for transmitting data to or receiving data from a communications device, the infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising:
transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals to the communications device via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communications network;
receiver circuitry configured to receive signals from the communications device via the wireless access interface; and
controller circuitry configured to:
operate in an active state by controlling the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to transmit or receive the signals representing data; and
operate in an inactive state by controlling the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to:
receive a first signal comprising a random access preamble and a first portion of data from the communications device;
transmit a random access response message to the communications device;
receive a second signal comprising a second portion of the data from the communications device; and
transmit, based on whether the one infrastructure equipment successfully receives the second portion, an acknowledgement or a negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) to the communications device.
13. The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein the first signal further comprises one or more of:
a first portion of user data,
an identifier of the communications device,
an indication that the second portion of data is available to be transmitted,
an indication of the size of the second portion of data, and
a Radio Resource Control, RRC, message comprising a request to resume an RRC connection or a request to set up a new RRC connection.
14. The infrastructure equipment according to claim 12 , wherein the random access response message comprises one or more of:
an indication of an uplink grant, the uplink grant comprising second radio resources which can be used by the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
a unique identifier which is assigned by the one infrastructure equipment to identify the communications device for the transmission of the second signal,
an RRC response message in response to an RRC message comprised within the first signal,
an indication of a random access preamble and/or communications device identifier detected by the one infrastructure equipment,
a second ACK/NACK based on whether the first portion of the data was successfully received by the one infrastructure equipment, and
a timing advance command.
15. The infrastructure equipment according to claim 14 , wherein the second signal further comprises a second RRC message in response to the RRC response message included in the random access response.