IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,490,060
Granted Patent B2
US 12,490,060 · App. 17/941,523 · Granted Dec 2, 2025

Unified operation for user equipment groups

Inventors: Dirk Nickisch (Oberpframmern, DE); Sharad Sambhwani (San Diego, CA); Dhiraj J Shirke (San Jose, CA); Madhukar K Shanbhag (Santa Clara, CA); Parvathanathan Subrahmanya (Sunnyvale, CA); Pranav Tripathi (San Jose, CA); Rohit U Nabar (Sunnyvale, CA); Sanjeevi Balasubramanian (San Jose, CA); Shiva Krishna Narra (San Jose, CA); Sriram Subramanian (Santa Clara, CA); Tarik Tabet (San Diego, CA); Vishwanth Kamala Govindaraju (Mountain View, CA); Yakun Sun (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W4/08H04L5/0048H04L5/0051H04W48/12H04W48/16H04W56/001H04W68/005H04W72/30H04W76/10H04W76/14H04W76/15H04W76/19H04W76/30H04W76/40H04W80/04
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,490,060
App. No.
17/941,523
Granted
Dec 2, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

User equipment in close proximity may transfer data and control information. For example, the user equipment may exchange data or data sets between each other. Each user equipment can receive and transmit data using radio access technologies. A group of user equipments may include active user equipment and passive user equipment. Active user equipment connects with one or more base stations and transfers data on a wireless communication network via the base station. The active user equipment may communicate with other active user equipment and passive user equipment. Passive user equipment may not connect to any base station and/or the wireless communication network and may communicate with other passive user equipment and active user equipment (e.g., via a sidelink, peer-to-peer, or device-to-device channel).

Claims (45)

1 . Processing circuitry configured to:

cause a receiver to receive a set of user equipment attributes associated with a group of user equipment;

generate a set of radio frequencies associated with a wireless communication network based on the set of user equipment attributes;

cause a transmitter to transmit a first subset of the set of radio frequencies to a first user equipment of the group of user equipment;

cause the receiver to receive a set of measurements associated with the first subset of the set of radio frequencies; and

cause the transmitter to transmit radio cell information to the first user equipment based at least in part on the set of measurements, wherein the radio cell information is configured to facilitate establishing a first connection between the first user equipment and the wireless communication network.

2 . The processing circuitry of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

generate a second set of measurements associated with a second subset of the set of radio frequencies; and

select the radio cell information based on the set of measurements and the second set of measurements.

3 . The processing circuitry of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to select the radio cell information based on a signal quality associated with the set of measurements and the second set of measurements.

4 . The processing circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause the transmitter to transmit the radio cell information to a second user equipment of the group of user equipment, wherein the radio cell information is configured to facilitate establishing a second connection between the second user equipment and the wireless communication network.

5 . The processing circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the radio cell information comprises a master information block (MIB), a system information block (SIB), or both.

6 . The processing circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

cause the receiver to receive a second subset of the set of radio frequencies from the first user equipment; and

generate a second set of measurements associated with the second subset of the set of radio frequencies.

7 . The processing circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the set of user equipment attributes comprise one or more communication capabilities of the group of user equipment, one or more computing capabilities of the group of user equipment, one or more sensing capabilities of the group of user equipment, or any combination thereof.

8 . A method to be performed by processing circuitry comprising:

receiving a set of user equipment attributes associated with a group of user equipment;

generating a set of radio frequencies associated with a wireless communication network based on the set of user equipment attributes;

causing transmission of a first subset of the set of radio frequencies to a first user equipment of the group of user equipment;

receiving a first set of measurements associated with the first subset of the set of radio frequencies; and

causing transmission of radio cell information to the first user equipment based at least in part on the first set of measurements, wherein the radio cell information is configured to facilitate establishing a first connection between the first user equipment and the wireless communication network.

9 . The method of claim 8 , comprising generating a second set of measurements associated with a second subset of the set of radio frequencies.

10 . The method of claim 9 , comprising selecting the radio cell information based on the first set of measurements and the second set of measurements.

11 . The method of claim 8 , comprising causing transmission of the radio cell information to a second user equipment of the group of user equipment, wherein the radio cell information is configured to facilitate establishing a second connection between the second user equipment and the wireless communication network.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the radio cell information comprises a master information block, a system information block, or both.

13 . The method of claim 8 , comprising:

receiving a second subset of the set of radio frequencies from the first user equipment; and

generating a second set of measurements associated with the second subset of radio frequencies.

14 . The method of claim 8 , comprising selecting the radio cell information based on a signal quality associated with the first set of measurements.

15 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions, that when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:

receive a set of user equipment attributes associated with a group of user equipment;

generate a set of radio frequencies associated with a wireless communication network based on the set of user equipment attributes;

cause transmission of a first subset of the set of radio frequencies to a first user equipment of the group of user equipment;

receive a first set of measurements associated with the first subset of the set of radio frequencies; and

cause transmission of radio cell information to the first user equipment based at least in part on the set of measurements, wherein the radio cell information is configured to facilitate establishing a first connection between the first user equipment and the wireless communication network.

16 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to:

generate a second set of measurements associated with a second subset of the set of radio frequencies; and

select the radio cell information based on the set of measurements and the second set of measurements.

17 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to select the radio cell information based on a signal quality associated with the first set of measurements and the second set of measurements.

18 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to cause transmission of the radio cell information to a second user equipment of the group of user equipment, wherein the radio cell information is configured to facilitate establishing a second connection between the second user equipment and the wireless communication network.

19 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the radio cell information comprises a master information block, a system information block, or both.

20 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to:

receive a second subset of the set of radio frequencies from the first user equipment; and

generate a second set of measurements associated with the second subset of radio frequencies.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 9, 2022
From: NICKISCH, DIRK; SHIRKE, DHIRAJ J; TRIPATHI, PRANAV; BALASUBRAMANIAN, SANJEEVI; TABET, TARIK; SAMBHWANI, SHARAD; SUBRAMANIAN, SRIRAM; NABAR, ROHIT U; SHANBHAG, MADHUKAR K; SUBRAHMANYA, PARVATHANATHAN; SUN, YAKUN; KAMALA GOVINDARAJU, VISHWANTH; NARRA, SHIVA KRISHNA
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 061049/0978 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63278438 · Nov 11, 2021
Related Publication 20230142162A1 · May 11, 2023
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