Multi-Rat Measurement Reporting

Abstract

An example method for preparing a measurement report on neighbour resources of a multi-RAT mobile station is disclosed. In the example method, the mobile station (MS) supports a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs). The example method comprises receiving a plurality of RAT resource reporting values, each RAT resource reporting value indicating a number of resources of the corresponding RAT to be included into the measurement report, determining a plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources associated with the plurality of RATs, and including resources from the plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources into the measurement report according to a RAT sequence of the plurality of RATs, wherein a second resource of the given RAT is included into the report, subject to including a first resource into the measurement report, for each of the plurality of RATs for which the RAT resource reporting value is greater than zero.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for preparing a measurement report on network resources, referred to as resources, in the vicinity of a multi-RAT mobile station, referred to as MS, wherein the MS supports a plurality of radio access technologies, referred to as RATs; the method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of RAT resource reporting values, each RAT resource reporting value indicating a number of resources of the corresponding RAT that should be included into the measurement report;   determining a plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources associated with the plurality of RATs; and   including resources from the plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources into the measurement report according to a RAT sequence of the plurality of RATs, wherein a second resource of the given RAT is included into the report, subject to including a first resource into the measurement report, for each of the plurality of RATs for which the RAT resource reporting value is greater than zero.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining at least one measurement quantity for each of the resources of a plurality of lists of neighbour resources, the plurality of lists of neighbour resources corresponding to the plurality of RATs supported by the MS, wherein a type of the at least one measurement quantity of a resource is dependent on the RAT and is indicative of a quality of a connection between the MS and the respective resource. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources is determined from the corresponding lists of neighbour resources, wherein for each resource in the plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources the determined at least one measurement quantity exceeds at least one threshold value, wherein the at least one threshold value is dependent on the RAT. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising ranking the resources within the plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources in accordance to the at least one measurement quantity determined for the resources, wherein the resources included into the report correspond to the highest ranking resources of their respective lists of valid neighbour resources. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one measurement quantity of a resource is indicative of at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio or a signal strength, which is achieved when operating the MS using the resource. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the RAT sequence is determined by ranking the plurality of RATs in accordance to the respective plurality of RAT resource reporting values. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the including comprises, for a particular RAT from the plurality of RATs having a RAT resource reporting value which is greater than the number of resources of the particular RAT that have already been included into the report, including one resource of the associated list of valid neighbour resources into the report. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the including comprises:
 selecting a current RAT from the plurality of RATs in accordance to the RAT sequence; and   if the number of resources of the current RAT which have already been included into the report is lower than the respective RAT resource reporting value, including one resource from the plurality of valid resources associated with the current RAT into the report.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the including further comprises, subject to an iteration during which one resource has been included into the report for each RAT of the plurality of RATs for which the number of resources that had previously been included into the report is lower than the respective RAT resource reporting value, performing a further iteration. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the MS further comprises a maximum RAT resource reporting value indicating the total number of resources to be included into the measurement report, wherein the maximum RAT resource reporting value is greater than one. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 subject to including a resource into the measurement report, determining a total number of resources included into the report; and   terminating the including if the total number of resources corresponds to the maximum RAT resource reporting value or if for each RAT, the number of resources included into the report corresponds to the lower one of the corresponding RAT resource reporting value and the number of resources in the corresponding list of valid neighbour resources.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the MS supports GSM. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the MS further comprises a maximum RAT resource reporting value indicating the total number of resources to be included into the measurement report, wherein the maximum RAT resource reporting value is greater than one, and further comprising including a valid GSM cell into the measurement report, subject to including in the report, for each RAT, a number of resources corresponding to the lower one of the corresponding RAT resource reporting value and the number of resources in the corresponding list of valid neighbour resources. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving a GSM cell parameter at the MS indicative of a number of valid GSM cells to be included into the report. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the MS further comprises a maximum RAT resource reporting value indicating the total number of resources to be included into the measurement report, wherein the maximum RAT resource reporting value is greater than one, and further comprising:
 subject to including a resource into the measurement report, determining a total number of resources included into the report; and   terminating the including if the total number of resources corresponds to the maximum RAT resource reporting value or if for each RAT, the number of resources included into the report corresponds to the lower one of the corresponding RAT resource reporting value and the number of resources in the corresponding list of valid neighbour resources, wherein the including is terminated if the total number of resources corresponds to the maximum RAT resource reporting value reduced in accordance to the GSM cell parameter or if for each RAT, the number of resources included into the report corresponds to the lower one of the corresponding RAT resource reporting value and the number of resources in the corresponding list of valid neighbour resources.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 determining that the total number of resources included into the measurement report is lower than the maximum RAT resource reporting value; and   including a further resource into the measurement report, wherein the further resource is associated with a RAT having a RAT resource reporting value greater than 0.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the further resource and any other resources are included one by one from the different lists of valid neighbour resources associated with the plurality of RATs in accordance to the RAT sequence. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the MS supports a combination of RATs including one or more of UTRAN-TDD, UTRAN-FDD, E-UTRAN, and CDMA2000. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
 receiving the plurality of lists of neighbour resources at the MS; or   determining a valid neighbour resource associated with a RAT at the MS and adding the determined neighbour resource to the respective list of valid neighbour resources.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network resources are at least one of network cells or frequencies. 
     
     
         21 . A method for preparing a measurement report on network resources, referred to as resources, in the vicinity of a multi-RAT mobile station, referred to as MS, wherein the MS supports a plurality of radio access technologies, referred to as RATs, wherein the MS comprises a maximum RAT resource reporting value indicating the total number of resources to be included into the measurement report, wherein the maximum RAT resource reporting value is greater than one, the method comprising:
 receiving a GSM cell parameter at the MS indicative of a number of valid GSM cells to be included into the report; and   including a number of resources associated with the plurality of RATs into the measurement report, wherein the number is equal to or less than the maximum RAT resource reporting value reduced in accordance to the GSM cell parameter.   
     
     
         22 . A multi-RAT mobile station (MS) configured to support a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs), the mobile station comprising:
 a memory; and   a processor programmed to prepare a measurement report on network resources in the vicinity of the MS by at least:
 receiving a plurality of RAT resource reporting values, each RAT resource reporting value indicating a number of resources of the corresponding RAT that should be included into the measurement report; 
 determining a plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources associated with the plurality of RATs; and 
 including resources from the plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources into the measurement report according to a RAT sequence of the plurality of RATs, wherein a second resource of the given RAT is included into the report, subject to including a first resource into the measurement report, for each of the plurality of RATs for which the RAT resource reporting value is greater than zero. 
   
     
     
         23 . A tangible storage medium storing a software program comprising machine-readable instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to at least:
 receive a plurality of radio access technology (RAT) resource reporting values, each RAT resource reporting value indicating a number of resources of the corresponding RAT that should be included into the measurement report;   determine a plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources associated with the plurality of RATs; and   include resources from the plurality of lists of valid neighbour resources into the measurement report according to a RAT sequence of the plurality of RATs, wherein a second resource of the given RAT is included into the report, subject to including a first resource into the measurement report, for each of the plurality of RATs for which the RAT resource reporting value is greater than zero.