Management of wireless devices in limited radio coverage

1. A wireless device configured to communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) node and a Core Network (CN) node, the wireless device comprising:

a processor; and,

a memory that stores processor-executable instructions, wherein the processor interfaces with the memory to execute the processor-executable instructions, whereby the wireless device is operable to:

receive, from the RAN node, control channels;

estimate a downlink radio condition based on a signal quality of the received control channels;

map the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of downlink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values;

transmit, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based first messages per an uplink RCC value, wherein each of the one or more AB based first messages includes the one downlink RCC value;

determine that a first AB based system access failed after transmitting the one or more AB based first messages; and

upon the determination that the first AB based system access failed:

increment the one downlink RCC value, the uplink RCC value, or both the one downlink RCC value and the uplink RCC value; and

transmit, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based second messages per the uplink RCC value, if not incremented, or the incremented uplink RCC value, if incremented, wherein each of the one or more AB based second messages includes the one downlink RCC value, if not incremented, or the incremented one downlink RCC value, if incremented.

2. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to:

determine that a second AB based system access failed after transmitting the one or more AB based second messages; and

upon the determination that the second AB based system access failed:

re-increment/increment the one downlink RCC value, the incremented one downlink RCC value, the uplink RCC value, the incremented uplink RCC value, or both of the following: (1) the one downlink RCC value or the incremented one downlink RCC value, and (2) the uplink RCC value or the incremented uplink RCC value; and

transmit, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based third messages per the uplink RCC value after the re-increment/increment operation, wherein each of the one or more AB based third messages includes the downlink RCC value after the re-increment/increment operation; or

trigger a cell re-selection procedure.

3. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to:

determine that a second AB based system access succeeded after transmitting the one or more AB based second messages; and

upon the determination that the second AB based system access succeeded, use Normal Burst (NB) based messages in subsequent system access attempts.

4. The wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to:

receive, from the RAN node, a first message having a number of repeated downlink transmissions based on (1) the one downlink RCC value when the first AB based system access succeeded, or (2) either the one downlink RCC, if not incremented, or the incremented one downlink RCC value when the second AB based system access succeeded.

5. The wireless device of claim 4 , wherein:

the first message includes another uplink RCC value, and

the wireless device is further operable to:

map the another uplink RCC value to a number of repeated uplink transmissions; and

transmit, to the RAN node, one or more second messages repeated according to the number of repeated uplink transmissions.

6. The wireless device of claim 5 , wherein the first message further includes a new downlink RCC value.

7. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to transmit, to the CN node, an updated downlink RCC value in a cell update, wherein the updated downlink RCC value is estimated at a predetermined time prior to a next occurrence of a paging group.

8. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to map the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of uplink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values.

9. A method in a wireless device configured to communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) node and a Core Network (CN) node, the method comprising:

receiving, from the RAN node, control channels;

estimating a downlink radio condition based on a signal quality of the received control channels;

mapping the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of downlink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values;

transmitting, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based first messages per an uplink RCC value, wherein each of the one or more AB based first messages includes the one downlink RCC value;

determining that a first AB based system access failed after transmitting the one or more AB based first messages; and

upon the determination that the first AB based system access failed:

incrementing the one downlink RCC value, the uplink RCC value, or both the one downlink RCC value and the uplink RCC value; and

transmitting, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based second messages per the uplink RCC value, if not incremented, or the incremented uplink RCC value, if incremented, wherein each of the one or more AB based second messages includes the one downlink RCC value, if not incremented, or the incremented one downlink RCC value, if incremented.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining that a second AB based system access failed after transmitting the one or more AB based second messages; and

upon the determination that the second AB based system access failed:

re-incrementing/incrementing the one downlink RCC value, the incremented one downlink RCC value, the uplink RCC value, the incremented uplink RCC value, or both of the following: (1) the one downlink RCC value or the incremented one downlink RCC value, and (2) the uplink RCC value or the incremented uplink RCC value; and

transmitting, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based third messages per the uplink RCC value after the re-incrementing/incrementing step, wherein each of the one or more AB based third messages includes the downlink RCC value after the re-incrementing/incrementing step; or

triggering a cell re-selection procedure.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining that a second AB based system access succeeded after transmitting the one or more AB based second messages; and

upon determining that the second AB based system access succeeded, use Normal Burst (NB) based messages in subsequent system access attempts.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving, from the RAN node, a first message having a number of repeated downlink transmissions based on (1) the one downlink RCC value when the first AB based system access succeeded, or (2) either the one downlink RCC, if not incremented, or the incremented one downlink RCC value when the second AB based system access succeeded.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the first message includes another uplink RCC value, and

the method further comprises:

mapping the another uplink RCC value to a number of repeated uplink transmissions; and

transmitting, to the RAN node, one or more second messages repeated according to the number of repeated uplink transmissions.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first message further includes a new downlink RCC value.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

transmitting, to the CN node, an updated downlink RCC value in a cell update, wherein the updated downlink RCC value is estimated at a predetermined time prior to a next occurrence of a paging group.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the mapping step further comprises mapping the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of uplink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values.

17. A wireless device configured to communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, the wireless device comprising:

a processor; and,

a memory that stores processor-executable instructions, wherein the processor interfaces with the memory to execute the processor-executable instructions, whereby the wireless device is operable to:

receive, from the RAN node, control channels;

estimate a downlink radio condition based on a signal quality of the received control channels;

map the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of downlink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values;

determine whether the received control channels indicate a first cell size or a second cell size, where the first cell size is smaller than the second cell size;

based on the determination that the received control channels indicate the first cell size, transmit, to the RAN node, one or more normal burst (NB) based first messages, wherein each of the one or more NB based first messages includes the one downlink RCC value; and

based on the determination that the received control channels indicate the second cell size, transmit, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based first messages, wherein each of the one or more AB based first messages includes the one downlink RCC value.

18. The wireless device of claim 17 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to:

determine that a NB based system access failed after transmitting the one or more NB based first messages; and

upon the determination that the NB based system access failed, perform an AB based system access.

19. The wireless device of claim 17 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to:

upon successfully performing the AB based system access after transmitting the one or more AB based first messages, (1) retain knowledge of Timing Advance (TA) information and (2) subsequently perform a NB based system access utilizing the TA information.

20. The wireless device of claim 17 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to map the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of uplink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values.

21. A method in a wireless device configured to communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, the method comprising:

receiving, from the RAN node, control channels;

estimating a downlink radio condition based on a signal quality of the received control channels;

mapping the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of downlink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values;

determining whether the received control channels indicate a first cell size or a second cell size, where the first cell size is smaller than the second cell size;

based on the determination that the received control channels indicate the first cell size, transmitting, to the RAN node, one or more normal burst (NB) based first messages, wherein each of the one or more NB based first messages includes the one downlink RCC value; and

based on the determination that the received control channels indicate the second cell size, transmitting, to the RAN node, one or more access burst (AB) based first messages, wherein each of the one or more AB based first messages includes the one downlink RCC value.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

determining that a NB based system access failed after transmitting the one or more NB based first messages; and

upon determining that the NB based system access failed, performing an AB based system access.

23. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

upon successfully performing the AB based system access after transmitting the one or more AB based first messages, (1) retaining knowledge of Timing Advance (TA) information and (2) subsequently performing a NB based system access utilizing the TA information.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the mapping step further comprises mapping the estimated downlink radio condition to one of a plurality of uplink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) values.

25. A wireless device configured to communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, the wireless device comprising:

a processor; and,

a memory that stores processor-executable instructions, wherein the processor interfaces with the memory to execute the processor-executable instructions, whereby the wireless device is operable to:

receive, from the RAN node, a synchronization channel (SCH);

determine a number of blind transmissions needed to decode the SCH;

map the determined number of blind transmissions needed to decode the SCH to an uplink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) value and a downlink RCC value; and,

transmit, to the RAN node, a first message having a number of repeated transmissions based on the uplink RCC value, wherein the first message also includes the downlink RCC value.

26. A method in a wireless device configured to communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, the method comprising:

receiving, from the RAN node, a synchronization channel (SCH);

determining a number of blind transmissions needed to decode the SCH;

mapping the determined number of blind transmissions needed to decode the SCH to an uplink Radio Coverage Category (RCC) value and a downlink RCC value; and,

transmitting, to the RAN node, a first message having a number of repeated transmissions based on the uplink RCC value, wherein the first message also includes the downlink RCC value.