TWI864765B - Methods for multi-paging - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are provided for multi-paging of a user equipment (UE) in a network. The network being a wireless cellular network and comprising a plurality of cells; the method being executed by the UE, and comprising a multi-paging procedure; the multi-paging procedure comprising: when the UE camps on a serving cell of the plurality of cells, checking whether a non-serving cell paging message is received on a non-serving cell of the plurality of cells, with the non-serving cell being different from the serving cell.

Description

Multi-paging method

The present invention generally relates to wireless communications, and, more particularly, to multi-paging of user equipment (UE) in a network.

UEs used in wireless networks are common in many aspects of modern daily life. When the network tries to communicate with the UE, how to ensure that the UE (especially mobile UE) can quickly receive and respond to the network's paging is important for the development of UE.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-paging method for a user equipment in a network, wherein the network is a wireless cellular network and includes multiple cells. The multi-paging method for the user equipment in the network includes a multi-paging process, wherein the multi-paging process includes: when the UE resides in a serving cell among the multiple cells, checking whether a non-serving cell paging message is received in a non-serving cell among the multiple cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-paging method for a user equipment in a network, the network is a wireless cellular network and includes multiple cells, the multi-paging method for the user equipment in the network includes a multi-paging process, the multi-paging process includes: when the UE resides in a serving cell among the multiple cells, responding to a non-serving cell paging message received in a non-serving cell among the multiple cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell.

10: Wireless communication network

100:UE

110:RAN

120: Core network

200a,200b,200c,300a,300b:Flowchart

201-209,302-314: Steps

The present application can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description and examples with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein: FIG. 1 schematically depicts a UE in a network and how the network begins to communicate with the UE's first paging attempt when the UE is no longer communicatively connected to the network; FIG. 2a to FIG. 2c depict flow charts according to an implementation of the present invention, wherein each flow chart may include a multi-paging process; FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b each depict an implementation of the multi-paging process in FIG. 2a to FIG. 2c; FIG. 4 depicts the waiting period shown in FIG. 3a; and FIG. 5 depicts the duration of time that the UE can monitor the paging message.

Some embodiments of the present invention are now given in detail for reference, and examples are described in the attached figures.

FIG. 1 schematically depicts a conceptual diagram of a UE 100 in a wireless communication network 10. The network 10 may be a wireless cellular network and may include a radio access network (RAN) 110 and a core network 120. For example, the network 10 may adopt one or more radio access technologies of mobile telecommunications, such as global system for mobile communication (GSM), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), long-term evolution (LTE), and/or new radio (NR) specified by the third generation partnership project (3GPP) and referred to as second, third, fourth, and fifth generation (2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G) telecommunications. The radio access network 110 may implement a GSM radio access network (GRAN), a GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN, where EDGE stands for enhanced data rates for GSM evolution, EDGE), a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN), an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), and/or a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN). The radio access network 110 may form an air interface between the UE 100 and the core network 120, and may include a plurality of cells, such as cells c1, c2, and c3 shown in FIG. 1.

UE 100 may be a mobile phone, or a remote information processing system of a vehicle (e.g., a car, a truck, etc.). UE 100 may also be a tablet, a notebook, a laptop, a desktop, a wearable gadget (e.g., a smart watch, headphones, or glasses), a drone, a digital camera, a digital video recorder, a set-top box, a smart speaker, a game console, customer-premises equipment (CPE), a router, an access point, a home appliance (e.g., a smart TV, an air conditioner, a lighting system, a refrigerator, a washing machine, etc.), an office device (e.g., a copier, a printer, an audio or video conferencing system, a surveillance system, etc.), an industrial device (e.g., an assembly line robot), an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor or device, a navigation device, or any electronic device that implements wireless communication functions. UE 100 may select one of the cells of radio access network 110 as a serving cell to camp on the selected cell, may reselect another cell of the cells of radio access network 110 as a new serving cell to camp on, and may send user data to core network 120 and/or receive user data from core network 120 via the serving cell of radio access network 110.

FIG. 1 also depicts an example of a general scenario. In this scenario, at time t0 and location L1, when UE 100 resides in cell c1 as a serving cell and stops sending and receiving user data to and from network 10 for longer than a time threshold, UE 100 may become communicatively unconnected to network 10. For example, UE 100 may enter RRC_inactive or RRC_idle as specified by 3GPP, where RRC stands for Radio Resource Control. Because UE 100 becomes communicatively unconnected to network 10 while residing in cell c1, network 10 identifies cell c1 as the last seen cell of UE 100.

After time t1, UE 100 may continue to remain unconnected to network 10 in communication, or may move to a different location and may reselect to reside in another cell. For example, at time t2 after time t1 and at location L2 that is different from location L1, UE 100 may reside in cell c2 as the current serving cell after one or more cell reselections. At time t3 after time t2, when UE 100 continues to remain in cell c2, network 10 initiates a first paging attempt to page UE 100. For example, when radio access network 110 or core network 120 needs to reach UE 100 in communication, and/or when network 10 receives user data and/or an incoming call targeted at UE 100, network 10 may initiate a first paging attempt. In some practical implementations, the network 10 will start the first paging attempt at time t3 by having cell c1 (rather than cell c2) send the paging message for paging UE 100, because cell c1 is the last cell seen by UE 100 and the network 10 is not aware that UE 100 is currently stationed in cell c2.

At time t3, when the network 10 causes only the last seen cell c1 to page the UE 100 for the first paging attempt, if the UE 100 operates according to the conventional paging procedure, the UE 100 will not be able to receive the paging message sent by cell c1. According to the conventional paging procedure, the UE 100 only monitors whether it is paged by the current serving cell. Therefore, when the UE 100 stays in cell c2 and the network 10 causes cell c1 to page the UE 100 at time t3, the UE 100 will not be able to correctly receive the paging message on cell c1. This is because the UE 100 using the conventional paging procedure only monitors whether to receive information on the current serving cell c2, rather than receiving messages on cell c1, which has become a non-serving cell for the UE 100 at time t3. Therefore, if UE 100 operates according to the conventional paging process, UE 100 will not be able to quickly receive and respond to the paging of network 10 on the first paging attempt, and will suffer from longer paging delays and/or higher paging miss rates.

Figures 2a to 2c respectively depict flowcharts 200a, 200b, and 200c according to different embodiments of the present invention. In order to overcome the longer paging delay and/or higher paging miss rate caused by the conventional paging process, when the UE 100 is not connected to the network 10 in communication, for example, when the UE 100 is in RRC idle or RRC inactive, the UE 100 can adopt flowcharts 200a, 200b, or 200c.

As shown in Figure 2a, the steps of flowchart 200a can be described as follows.

Step 201: When UE 100 is initially not connected to network 10 in communication (for example, when UE 100 enters RRC idle state or RRC inactive state), UE 100 may start flowchart 200a.

Step 203: As the UE 100 is staying in the serving cell, the UE 100 may compare whether one or more signal quality values of any non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement, and if one or more signal quality values of one or more non-serving cells meet the quality requirement, the UE 100 may proceed to step 205; and if one or more signal quality values of any non-serving cell do not meet the quality requirement, the UE 100 may proceed to step 207. The non-serving cell may be a cell different from the serving cell, for example, may be or may include the cell last seen by the UE 100, and/or a qualified subset of neighboring cells of the current serving cell (no neighboring cell, one neighboring cell, some neighboring cells, or all neighboring cells). The cell last seen by UE 100 may be the cell in which UE 100 resides when UE 100 becomes communicationally unconnected to network 10 (e.g., when UE 100 begins to enter RRC idle state or RRC inactive state). The qualified subset of neighboring cells may be selected from the neighboring cells according to one or more signal quality values of each neighboring cell of the current serving cell. For example, if one or more signal quality values of a neighboring cell of the current serving cell meet at least one predefined quality requirement, the neighboring cell may be selected as a neighboring cell in the qualified subset of neighboring cells.

Since each cell may broadcast one or more of its own notification signals (informing signals) to announce its own information, one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell may relate to the strength and/or power of the notification signal of the non-serving cell received and measured by the UE 100. For example, the notification signal may be, or may include, a synchronization signal (SS), a cell specific reference signal (CRS), and/or a channel state information (CSI) signal, etc., specified by 3GPP. One or more signal quality values may be, may include, or may relate to a received signal strength indication (RSSI), a reference signal received power (RSRP), and/or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), etc., specified by 3GPP. Each quality requirement may require that one or more signal quality values (either individually or in combination) exceed one or more associated quality thresholds.

Step 205: UE 100 may enable the multi-paging process according to the present invention, and may perform the multi-paging process by proceeding to the steps shown in FIG. 3a or FIG. 3b which will be described in detail later.

Step 207: UE 100 may compare whether one or more signal quality values of the current service cell meet at least one quality requirement. If one or more signal quality values of the service cell meet the quality requirement, it may proceed to step 209, and if one or more signal quality values of the service cell do not meet the quality requirement, it may proceed to step 205. One or more signal quality values of the service cell may relate to the strength and/or power of the notification signal of the service cell received and measured by UE 100. For example, the notification signal may be, or may include, SS, CRS and/or CSI signals, etc. One or more signal quality values may be, may include, or may relate to RSSI, RSRP and/or RSRQ, etc.

Step 209: UE 100 may disable the multi-paging process. For example, UE 100 may only monitor (e.g., periodically) whether the current serving cell pages UE 100.

In one embodiment, UE 100 may iteratively perform step 203 periodically or aperiodically (e.g., whenever UE 100 reselects a new serving cell) to dynamically and self-adjustably determine whether to enable the multi-paging process in step 205.

As shown in FIG. 2b, the steps of flowchart 200b can be described as follows. In step 201, when UE 100 begins to disconnect from network 10 in communication (for example, when UE 100 changes to RRC idle state or RRC inactive state), UE 100 can start flowchart 200b. In step 205, UE 100 can activate the multi-paging process according to the present invention, and can perform the multi-paging process by proceeding to the steps shown in FIG. 3a or FIG. 3b. In one embodiment, between step 201 and step 205, UE 100 can still compare whether one or more signal quality values of the serving cell and/or non-serving cell meet the associated quality requirements similarly to step 203 and/or step 207 shown in FIG. 2a, but can activate the multi-paging process at step 205 regardless of whether one or more signal quality values of the serving cell and/or non-serving cell meet the associated quality requirements.

As shown in FIG. 2c, the steps of flowchart 200c can be described as follows. At step 201, after UE 100 is disconnected from network 10 in communication (e.g., when UE 100 becomes RRC idle or RRC inactive), UE 100 can start flowchart 200c. At step 204, based on one or more decision factors, UE 100 can determine whether to enable or disable the multi-paging process of the present invention by proceeding to step 205 or step 209, respectively. At step 205, UE 100 can enable the multi-paging process and can proceed to the steps shown in FIG. 3a or FIG. 3b. In step 209, UE 100 may disable the multi-paging process; for example, UE 100 may only repeatedly check whether the current serving cell is paging UE 100. In one embodiment, UE 100 may iteratively perform step 204 periodically and/or aperiodically to dynamically and self-adjustingly determine whether to enable the multi-paging process.

The decision factors considered in step 204 may include: a signal quality value of a serving cell, a signal quality value of a non-serving cell, a timing criticality of a currently running service and/or application (e.g., whether one or more applications and/or one or more services currently executed by UE 100 are time-critical), a tolerance for a paging miss rate, a tolerance for a paging delay, a mobile state of UE 100, and/or a necessity for a remote information processing function (e.g., whether UE 100 is a product of a predefined type, such as a remote information processing product), etc. For example, in step 204, when UE 100 is running one or more time-critical services and/or applications, when the tolerance for paging miss rate is low, when the tolerance for paging delay is low, when UE 100 is moving quickly, when UE 100 is moving in a manner that causes frequent cell reselection, when UE 100 needs to implement remote information processing functions, and/or when UE 100 itself is a remote information processing system, UE 100 can decide to activate the multi-paging process of the present invention by proceeding to step 205.

FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b respectively depict processes 300a and 300b according to different embodiments of the present invention. After step 205 shown in FIG. 2a, FIG. 2b, or FIG. 2c, UE 100 may execute process 300a of FIG. 3a or process 300b of FIG. 3b to implement the multi-paging process enabled at step 205.

As shown in FIG. 3a, process 300a may include the steps described below.

Step 302: UE 100 may check whether any non-serving cell paging message is received on any non-serving cell of network 10 (FIG. 1), wherein the non-serving cell paging message may be a paging message sent by a non-serving cell different from the current serving cell. If UE 100 receives a non-serving cell paging message on a non-serving cell, UE 100 may proceed to step 304; on the other hand, if UE 100 does not receive any non-serving cell paging message on any non-serving cell, UE 100 may proceed to step 312.

Step 304: UE 100 may start waiting for a waiting period T_wait, and may check whether a serving cell paging message is received on the current serving cell while waiting, wherein the serving cell paging message may be a paging message sent by the current serving cell. When waiting for the waiting period T_wait, if UE 100 receives a serving cell paging message on the serving cell, UE 100 may proceed to step 314. On the other hand, if UE 100 does not receive any serving cell paging message on the serving cell when the waiting period T_wait ends, UE 100 may proceed to step 306.

Step 306: UE 100 may compare whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell (the non-serving cell sending the non-serving cell paging message received in step 302) meet at least one quality requirement. If one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet the quality requirement, UE 100 may proceed to step 308; otherwise, UE 100 may proceed to step 310.

One or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell may relate to the strength and/or power of the notification signal of the non-serving cell received and measured by the UE 100. For example, the notification signal may be, or may include, SS, CRS, and/or CSI, etc.; one or more signal quality values may be, may include, or may relate to RSSI, RSRP, and/or RSRQ, etc. Each quality requirement may require that one or more signal quality values (individually or in combination) exceed one or more associated quality thresholds.

Step 308: UE 100 may respond to a non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell, wherein the non-serving cell paging message is received by UE 100 in step 302 and sent by the non-serving cell. Thus, UE 100 may become communicatively connected to network 10.

Step 310: UE 100 may send a notification message to network 10. In one embodiment, the notification message may be a message requesting registration and/or mobility update. For example, the notification message may be a registration request for 5G telecommunications, a tracking area update (TAU) for 4G telecommunications, a location update (LU) for 3G telecommunications, or a radio area update (RAU) for 2G telecommunications.

Step 312: After step 302, UE 100 may check whether any serving cell paging message is received on the current serving cell of network 10. If UE 100 receives a serving cell paging message on the serving cell, UE 100 may proceed to step 314; on the other hand, if UE 100 does not receive any serving cell paging message on the serving cell, UE 100 may return to step 302.

Step 314: UE 100 may respond (at step 312) to the serving cell paging message received on the current serving cell and may thereby become communicatively connected to network 10.

While a UE operating according to a conventional paging procedure only checks and responds to a serving cell paging message sent on the current serving cell, a UE 100 operating according to the multi-paging procedure 300a of the present invention can not only check (steps 304 and 312) and respond (step 314) to a serving cell paging message on a serving cell, but can also check (step 302) and respond (step 308) to a non-serving cell paging message on a non-serving cell if the UE 100 does not receive any serving cell paging message on the current serving cell. Therefore, when UE 100 operates according to process 300a of the present invention, even if network 10 only pages UE 100 in a non-service cell instead of the current service cell at the first paging attempt, UE 100 can quickly receive and respond to the first paging attempt of network 10, and thus can effectively shorten the paging delay and/or reduce the paging miss rate.

As shown in FIG. 3b, process 300b may be similar to process 300a (FIG. 3a). Process 300b may include steps 302, 306, 308, 310, 312, and 314 (these steps are also included in process 300a), but process 300b may skip step 304 present in process 300a. That is, when UE 100 operates according to process 300b, after UE 100 receives a non-serving cell paging message on a non-serving cell in step 302, UE 100 may proceed to step 306 without checking whether a serving cell paging message is received during the waiting period T_wait (FIG. 3a). And similar to process 300a, when operating according to process 300b, in addition to checking (step 312) and responding (step 314) to the serving cell paging message on the serving cell, UE 100 can also check (step 302) and respond (step 308) to the non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell. Therefore, when UE 100 operates according to process 300b of the present invention, even if network 10 only pages UE 100 on the non-serving cell instead of the current serving cell at the first paging attempt, UE 100 can quickly receive and respond to the first paging attempt of network 10, and thus can effectively shorten the paging delay and/or reduce the paging miss rate.

In short, when UE 100 operates according to the present invention, UE 100 can check whether any non-serving cell paging message is received on one or more non-serving cells. If a non-serving cell paging message is received on a non-serving cell, UE 100 can determine whether to respond to the non-serving cell paging message based on whether a serving cell paging message is received on a serving cell during a waiting period T_wait after receiving the non-serving cell paging message (step 304 in FIG. 3a), and/or whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement (step 306 in FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b). In one embodiment, UE 100 can dynamically and self-adjustably select one of process 300a and process 300b according to one or more selection conditions (e.g., whether UE 100 has the redundancy and/or necessity to monitor the serving cell paging message during the waiting period T_wait).

Continuing with the example of the scenario illustrated in FIG. 1 , the UE 100 operating according to the present invention may start the flowchart 200a of FIG. 2a , the flowchart 200b of FIG. 2b , or the flowchart 200c of FIG. 2c at time t1. Assuming that after the UE 100 resides in the cell c2 at time t2, the UE 100 has enabled the multi-paging process 300a of FIG. 3a or the multi-paging process 300b of FIG. 3b at step 205, then the UE 100 may quickly receive the non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell c1 by executing step 302 ( FIG. 3a or FIG. 3b ) at time t3 when the network 10 starts the first paging attempt, and thus may overcome the long paging delay and/or high paging miss rate.

FIG. 4 depicts the waiting period T_wait utilized at step 304 of process 300a shown in FIG. 3a. Continuing with the example of the scenario shown in FIG. 1, the timing allocated for cell c1 to send a paging message may be repeated at a period T1 around time tc1. That is, if cell c1 needs to page UE 100, cell c1 may send a paging message at times tc1, tc1+T1, and/or tc1+2*T1. On the other hand, the timing allocated for cell c2 to send a paging message may be repeated at a period T2 around time tc2, that is, if cell c2 needs to page UE 100, cell c2 may send a paging message at times tc2, tc2+T2, or tc2+2*T2. In one embodiment, time segment T1 may be a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of cell c1, and time segment T2 may be a DRX cycle of cell c2.

As shown in FIG. 4, there may be a time difference T_dff between time tc1 and time tc2. When UE 100 operates according to process 300a (FIG. 3a) and stays in cell c2 as the current serving cell (e.g., after time t2 in FIG. 1), if UE 100 receives a non-serving cell paging message on non-serving cell c1 in step 302 (FIG. 3a), UE 100 may set the length of the waiting period T_wait to be utilized in step 304 (FIG. 3a) to cover the time difference T_dff. Because the time difference T_dff may extend as long as the period T1 and/or the period T2, UE 100 may set the waiting period T_wait according to the period T1 and/or the period T2. For example, in one embodiment, UE 100 may set the waiting period T_wait to be not shorter than the period T2 of the current serving cell c2. In another embodiment, UE 100 may set the waiting period T_wait to be not shorter than the period T2 of the serving cell c2 and the period T1 of the non-serving cell c1, that is, UE 100 may set the waiting period T_wait to be not shorter than the maximum value of period T1 and period T2. Period T1 and period T2 may be the same or different.

FIG. 5 depicts the UE 100 checking (monitoring) the duration of the paging message in step 302 (FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b) and step 304 (FIG. 3a) when the UE 100 operates according to process 300a (FIG. 3a) or 300b (FIG. 3b). As shown in FIG. 5, continuing the example of the scenario shown in FIG. 1, cell c2 may allocate a paging duration series pd2 to send a paging message, which may include a plurality of periodic durations respectively in a plurality of time periods, such as durations d2[k] and d2[k+1] respectively in periods T[m] and T[m+1]. That is, if cell c2 needs to page UE 100, cell c2 may send a paging message during a paging duration (or each paging duration) in the paging duration series pd1 (e.g., during duration d2[k] or d2[k+1] in period T[m] or T[m+1]). Similarly, cell c1 may allocate a paging duration series pd1 to send a paging message, and the paging duration series may include multiple periodic durations in the multiple time periods, such as durations d1[i] and d1[i+1] in cycles T[m] and T[m+1]; cell c3 may allocate a paging duration series pd3 to send a paging message, and the paging duration series may include multiple periodic durations in the multiple time periods, such as durations d3[n] and d3[n+1] in cycles T[m] and T[m+1].

If UE 100 operates according to the present invention, after time t1 (FIG. 1), the multi-paging process is enabled at step 205 (FIG. 2a, FIG. 2b, and FIG. 2c), then UE 100 can perform steps 302, 304, and 312 (FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b) by enabling wireless reception during the durations of the paging duration series pd1, pd2, and pd3 to check whether paging messages are received on cell c1, cell c2, and cell c3, respectively. For example, when UE 100 stays in cell c2 after time t2, UE 100 can enable wireless reception during the duration of the paging duration series pd1 and pd3 (e.g., during duration d1[i] and d3[n] in each period T[m]) to execute step 302 (Figures 3a and 3b) by checking whether any non-service cell paging messages are received on non-service cells c1 and c3. UE 100 may also enable wireless reception during the duration of paging duration series pd2 (e.g., during duration d2[k] in each period T[m]) to perform step 312 (FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b) and step 304 (FIG. 3a) by checking whether any serving cell paging message is received on the current serving cell c2. UE 100 may disable wireless reception at other times except the duration of paging duration series pd1, pd2, and pd3 to reduce power consumption.

If the UE 100 operates according to the present invention, after time t1 (FIG. 1), the multi-paging process is disabled in step 209 (FIG. 2a and FIG. 2c), then the UE 100 can enable wireless reception during the durations of the paging duration series pd1 and pd2, respectively, when stationed in cell c1 and cell c2, to check whether a serving cell paging message is received on the current serving cell. That is, when the UE 100 is stationed in cell c1 between time t1 and time t2, the UE 100 can enable wireless reception during the duration of the paging duration series pd1 (e.g., during each duration d1[i] in each period T[m]) to check whether any paging message is received on the current serving cell c1. When the UE 100 stays in the cell c2 after time t2, the UE 100 may enable wireless reception during the duration of the paging duration series pd2 (e.g., during each duration d2[k] in each period T[m]) to check whether any paging message is received on the current serving cell c2. At other times except the duration included in the paging duration series of the current serving cell, the UE 100 may disable wireless reception to reduce power consumption.

In other embodiments not depicted, when the UE 100 operating according to the present invention activates the multi-paging process 300a or 300b, the UE 100 may monitor different subsets of cells in different periods. For example, in one embodiment, when the UE 100 resides in the cell c2, the UE 100 may activate radio reception for a duration in the paging duration series pd1 and a duration in the paging duration series pd2 to monitor paging on the cells c1 and c2 in the first period of every two periods. The UE 100 may enable radio reception during another duration in the paging duration series pd2 and a duration in the paging duration series pd3 to monitor paging on cells c2 and c3 in the second cycle of each two cycles. For example, the UE 100 may monitor paging on cells c2 and c1 during two durations d2[2*k'-1] and d1[2*i'-1] in each cycle T[2*m'-1], and may monitor paging on cells c2 and c3 during two durations d2[2*k'] and d3[2*n'] in each cycle T[2*m]. In another embodiment, UE 100 may enable wireless reception during a paging duration in the paging duration series pd2, a paging duration in the paging duration series pd1, and a paging duration in the paging duration series pd3 in the first cycle, the second cycle, and the third cycle in every three cycles, respectively. For example, UE 100 may monitor paging on cell c2 during each duration d2[3*k'-2] in each cycle T[3*m'-2], may monitor paging on cell c1 during each duration d1[3*i'-1] in each cycle T[3*m'-1], and may monitor paging on cell c3 during each duration d3[3*n'] in each cycle T[3*m'].

In summary, for a wireless cellular network that sends a paging message to a UE that is not connected in communication only on the cell last seen by the UE at the first paging attempt, assuming that the UE has reselected to stay in a serving cell other than the last seen cell, if the UE operates according to a conventional paging process that only monitors paging on the serving cell, the UE will not be able to receive the first paging attempt. On the other hand, if the UE operates according to the present invention that can monitor (and if appropriate, respond to) paging on one or more non-serving cells other than the serving cell, the UE can quickly receive the first paging attempt. Therefore, a UE operating according to the present invention can effectively reduce paging delays and paging miss rates.

In one example, the UE includes a processor, and when executing a program stored in a memory (storage medium), various embodiments of the present invention are implemented. In one example, a storage medium (such as a computer-readable storage medium) stores a program, and when the program is executed, the UE executes various embodiments of the present invention.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with respect to the preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Within the scope of protection of the present invention defined by the scope of the patent application, various changes, modifications and combinations can be made to the features in each embodiment.

200b: Flowchart

201,205: Steps

Claims (8)

A multi-paging method is used for a user equipment in a network, the network is a wireless cellular network, and includes multiple cells, the multi-paging method includes a multi-paging process, the multi-paging process includes: when the user equipment resides in a serving cell among the multiple cells, checking whether a non-serving cell paging message is received in a non-serving cell among the multiple cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell, wherein the multi-paging process further includes: if the non-serving cell paging message is received in the non-serving cell, checking whether a serving cell paging message is received in the serving cell, wherein when checking whether the serving cell paging message is received in the serving cell, checking whether the serving cell paging message is received in the serving cell during a waiting period. A multi-paging method as described in claim 1, wherein the waiting period is not shorter than a non-continuous reception cycle of the service cell. The multi-paging method as described in claim 1, wherein the waiting period is not shorter than a non-continuous reception cycle of the serving cell and a non-continuous reception cycle of the non-serving cell. The multi-paging method as described in claim 1, wherein the multi-paging process further includes: if the service cell paging message is received on the service cell, responding to the service cell paging message on the service cell. The multi-paging method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multi-paging process further comprises: if the serving cell paging message is not received on the serving cell, comparing whether one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet at least one quality requirement; and if the one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell meet the at least one quality requirement, responding to the non-serving cell paging message on the non-serving cell. The multi-paging method as described in claim 5, wherein the multi-paging process further comprises: if the one or more signal quality values of the non-serving cell do not meet the at least one quality requirement, sending a notification message. A multi-paging method as described in claim 6, wherein the notification message is a registration request, a tracking area update (TAU), a location update (LU) or a radio area update (RAU). A multi-paging method for a user equipment in a network, the network being a wireless cellular network and including a plurality of cells, the multi-paging method for the user equipment in the network comprising a multi-paging process, the multi-paging process comprising: when the user equipment resides in a serving cell among the plurality of cells, responding to a non-serving cell paging message received in a non-serving cell among the plurality of cells, wherein the non-serving cell is different from the serving cell, wherein the multi-paging process further comprises: checking whether a serving cell paging message is received in the serving cell, wherein when checking whether the serving cell paging message is received in the serving cell, checking whether a serving cell paging message is received in the serving cell during a waiting period.