Nokia has filed a patent for an apparatus that monitors a cell’s physical downlink control channel for downlink control information. It then determines whether a field of the control information indicates support for reduced capability user equipment in the cell. GlobalData’s report on Nokia gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s company profile on Nokia, Adaptive video coding was a key innovation area identified from patents. Nokia's grant share as of September 2023 was 55%. Grant share is based on the ratio of number of grants to total number of patents.
Method for monitoring and determining support for reduced capability user equipment
A recently filed patent (Publication Number: US20230319841A1) describes a method for determining whether a cell supports reduced capability user equipment (UE) based on downlink control information. The method involves monitoring a physical downlink control channel of a cell for downlink control information. Upon detecting the downlink control information, the method determines whether a field of the downlink control information indicates support for reduced capability UE.
If the field indicates support for reduced capability UE, the method allows access to the cell. The downlink control information is transmitted on a control resource set used for scheduling a system information block, and the cyclic redundancy check bits of the downlink control information are scrambled with a system information radio network temporary identifier. In this case, the control resource set is CORESET #0, and the system information block scheduling information is SIB1.
The downlink control information can be in the form of DCI Format 1_0. If the field of the downlink control information indicates support for reduced capability UE, the method further checks whether the field or another field contains assistance information indicating whether the cell is barred to the reduced capability UE. This determination is based on the capability set associated with the reduced capability UE or a time period consideration. If the cell is not barred, the method allows access to the cell. If the cell is barred, the method performs a search to locate a reduced capability supported cell that is not barred.
If the field of the downlink control information does not indicate support for reduced capability UE, the method checks whether the field contains cell reselection assistance information. If it does, the method performs a search using the cell reselection assistance information to locate a reduced capability supported cell. If the field does not contain cell reselection assistance information, the method performs a search without using assistance information to locate a reduced capability supported cell.
The field of the downlink control information can also provide assistance information related to a system access check and/or system information acquisition. It can be implemented using one or more reserved bits of the downlink control information, which are reserved for non-RedCap UEs. Additionally, the method involves decoding a physical broadcast channel from a synchronization signal block to determine whether a cell is accessible.
The patent also describes an apparatus that includes at least one processor and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions for performing the method described above. The apparatus monitors the physical downlink control channel, detects the downlink control information, and determines whether the field indicates support for reduced capability UE. It also allows access to the cell based on the field indicating reduced capability UE support.
In summary, the patent presents a method and apparatus for determining whether a cell supports reduced capability UE based on downlink control information. The method involves monitoring the downlink control channel, detecting the downlink control information, and analyzing the field of the downlink control information to make decisions regarding cell access and assistance information. The apparatus includes a processor and memory for executing the method.
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GlobalData Patent Analytics tracks bibliographic data, legal events data, point in time patent ownerships, and backward and forward citations from global patenting offices. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
