Nokia Technologies Oy

Ntt Docomo, Inc.

Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy

Yixue Lei

Kodo Shu

Haitao Li

Zexian Li

Zhi Zhang

Vinh Van Phan

Ling Yu

Yang Liu

Juha Sakari Korhonen

Haipeng Lei

Xiang Xu

Yongsheng Zhang

Mikio Iwamura

Liu Liu

Lan Chen

Kari Veikko Horneman

Qun Zhao

Klaus Hugl

Seppo Ilmari Vesterinen

Xiaoming She

Liu Yang

Jianchi Zhu

Mika Petri Olavi Rinne

Dajiang Zhang

Da Jiang Zhang

Xin Xia

Van Vinh Phan

Various communication systems may benefit from inter-operator device-to-device operation. For example, communication systems of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) advanced (LTE-A) release12/13 (Rel-12/13) or future releases may use such operation with respect to D2D communications. A method can include preparing, at a network element operated by an operator, radio resource information related to one or more operators other than the operator. The method can also include broadcasting, by the network element, the radio resource information. The radio resource information can be configured to permit a user equipment served by the network element to perform device-to-device discovery and/or communication with another user equipment served by at least one of the one or more operators.

Inter-operator device-to-device operation

A method includes coordinating one or more pools of resources for discovery signal transmission between a plurality of devices, at least one of said pools of resources being shared by at least one larger cell and at least one smaller cell at least partially in a coverage area of the said larger cell.

Methods and apparatus for discovery signal transmission between a plurality of devices

Various communication systems may benefit from techniques and systems for resource allocation. For example, communication systems of the third generation partnership project may benefit from device to device discovery resource allocation methods and systems. A method can include determining that downlink data transmission may cause conflict between uplink control channel transmission and device to device discovery signal transmissions or that uplink shared channel transmissions may conflict with device to device discovery signal transmissions; and requesting a user equipment to report device to device discovery needs based on the determining.

Device to device discovery resource allocation

A method and apparatus can be configured to determine a redundancy rate. The method can also include mirroring an amount of data from a first node to a second node based upon the determined redundancy rate. The method can also include transmitting a last-data-unit index or a next-data-unit index.

Method and apparatus for dual connectivity

A fast-accessing method may comprise: establishing a first security connection between a first network node and a user equipment; obtaining first information from a second network node, wherein the first information comprises at least one of system information of the second network node and an identifier of a security algorithm selected by the second network node for the user equipment; providing second information to the second network node, in response to an indication of the second network node from the user equipment, wherein the second information comprises security information related to the user equipment; and sending the first information to the user equipment for establishing a second security connection between the user equipment and the second network node.

Fast-accessing method and apparatus

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for handling user equipment (UE) context for dual connectivity in, for example, enhanced small cell networks are provided. One method includes associating small cell identifiers that are assigned by an anchor evolved node B (eNB) with a unique cell identifier related to the anchor eNB, and reporting user equipment (UE) history information in dual connectivity mode to a target evolved node B (eNB). The UE history information comprises at least the unique cell identifier of the anchor eNB.

Method and apparatus to handle user equipment context for dual connectivity in enhanced small cell networks

Methods, corresponding apparatuses, and computer program products for ProSe communication are provided. A method comprises sending, from a first base station, a first configuration message to at least one of two user equipments which are performing ProSe communication over a first locally routed path via the first base station such that the two user equipments perform the ProSe communication over a second locally routed path via a second base station. The method also comprises sending, from the first base station, a second configuration message to the second base station such that the second base station is configured to support the two user equipments to perform the ProSe communication over the second locally routed path via the second base station. In the method, ciphering and deciphering of ProSe communication traffic at a specific protocol layer by the first base station is skipped such that the ciphering and deciphering are performed by the two user equipments or by the second base station and the two user equipments. With the claimed invention, the back-and-forth routing between the first base station and second base station resulting in heavy traffic load can be alleviated.

Methods, apparatuses and computer program products for prose communication

Systems and techniques for synchronization between in-coverage and out-of coverage user devices. A base station configures in-coverage and out-of coverage synchronization signals and configures user devices to recognize synchronization signals as in-coverage or out-of-coverage. An in-coverage device furnishes an in-coverage synchronization signal upon detection of an out-of coverage signal, and may continue to furnish the signal upon continued detection of an out-of-coverage signal that is not synchronized to the network. An out-of-coverage device may receive and synchronize to an in-coverage signal if available, or an out-of-coverage signal if available, or may generate and transmit its own out-of-coverage signal if no in-coverage or out-of-coverage signal is available. Signals may include rank information to indicate relay sequence information, and user devices may be configured to respond to signals based on the rank information&#x2014;such as favoring a signal whose rank indicates that the signal represents a lower relay order number.

Methods and apparatus for wireless device synchronization

First and second level discovery messages for device-to-device discovery are determined to be going to be transmitted, resource(s) are requested for transmission of at least the second level discovery message, and allocated resource(s) of a second type are received. The first level discovery message is transmitted on either a selected resource of the first type or a selected one of the allocated resource(s). The second level discovery message is transmitted on a selected one of the more allocated resource(s) of the second type, A first level discovery message is received on a resource of either a first type or a second type. It is determined whether the received message is of interest or not and if the message is of interest, then it is determined whether a second level discovery message is available and if so, the second level discovery message is received on a resource of the second type.

Adaptive D2D discovery operations

Methods, corresponding apparatuses, and non-transitory computer readable mediums for a Proximity-based Service are provided. A method comprises receiving, from at least one user equipment, a resource utilization indication that indicates resources used by at least one user equipment for a ProSe device-to-device discovery procedure. The method also comprises determining, based on the received resource utilization indication, resources for the at least one user equipment to perform a subsequent ProSe device-to-device discovery procedure. The method additionally comprises signaling the determined resource to the at least one user equipment. With the claimed inventions, utilization efficiency of the radio resources may be improved and the complexity and overhead in allocating the resource for ProSe D2D discovery procedure may be lowered.

Methods and apparatuses for proximity-based service

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for controlling state transition of a user equipment UE in proximity wireless communication. A method can comprise: learning about an associated agent's context of a connected UE and said UE's capability; deciding to put the connected UE into virtual associated state; sending to said UE a message with indication of putting said UE into said virtual associated state as well as the UE's context; and maintaining said associated agent's context of the UE.

Method and network element for controlling UE's state transition in proximity wireless communication

In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, comprising at least one processing core configured to determine an opportunity for device-to-device, D2D, communication, and at least one transmitter configured to cause transmitting of a D2D communication request, wherein the D2D communication request at least one of comprises a radio resource control signaling message and comprises an indication of a type of D2D communication that is requested. The indicated type may comprise D2D communication with no fallback to cellular connectivity, wherein such a D2D communication can be established without involving a core network, CN.

Method and apparatus for device-to-device communication

In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method comprises configuring an autonomous mode for traffic offloading; and indicating the autonomous mode towards at least one terminal, wherein said autonomous mode supports local area radio access connectivity by internet protocols to reduce control from a core network. Related apparatus and computer program product are also described.

Method and apparatus for autonomous operation in cellular-based local area networks

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for a switch from a first communication path between a first device and a second device to a second communication path to be established between the first device and the second device. A method can comprise: in response to the initiation of the switch, sending a notification of the initiation of the switch to a base station for setting up an intermediate communication path between the first device and the second device, wherein the intermediate communication path is relayed by the base station and does not pass a core network; and delivering traffics between the first device and the second device via the intermediate communication path until the second communication path is established.

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Beijing, China

Yixue Lei