Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for improving pairing of user equipment (UE) in a Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system using carrier aggregation are provided. Component carriers (CC) used for communication with UEs in the network may undergo routine beamforming calibration checks to determine if the CCs are calibrated. If a CC fails calibration, then UEs that communicate with the CC as their primary component carrier (PCC) may not be receiving the high data throughput typically experienced through the PCC. In response to determining that a CC fails calibration, a computing device may pair UEs with another CC as their PCC until the original CC passes a calibration check. The computing device may determine which CC to pair to the UEs based on uplink capacity, bandwidth, or a passed calibration check.

Abstract: A method and system for controlling how many carriers to aggregate together for carrier-aggregation service of a UE. A base station could take into account how many MIMO layers a UE would support respectively for each of various candidate quantities of carriers, and the base station could select the candidate quantity of carriers that would result in use of a highest aggregate total number of MIMO layers. Further, the selection could involve mapping UE-reported rank to a quantity of carriers, with the rank being inversely proportional to the selected quantity of carriers. The base station could then configure carrier-aggregation service of the UE with the selected quantity of carriers.

Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed that can help to select an enhancement mode for uplink coordinated multipoint (CoMP). An exemplary method involves: determining a measure of remaining battery power of a first user equipment (UE), wherein the first UE is capable of uplink coordinated multipoint (CoMP) communication; determining a particular UE type of the first UE, wherein the particular UE type is one of a plurality of possible UE types; based at least in part on (a) the particular UE type of the first UE, and (b) the measure of remaining battery power of the first UE, selecting either a battery-saving mode or a throughput-enhancement mode as an uplink CoMP enhancement mode for the first UE; and providing uplink CoMP service to the first UE according to the selected uplink CoMP enhancement mode.

Abstract: When a UE is served with dual-connectivity by a master node (MN) over master connection on a first radio access technology (RAT) and a secondary node (SN) over a secondary connection on a second RAT and where the UE is engaged in a voice call over the master connection, an entity detects that quality of the UE's master connection has become threshold poor and responsively carries out a sequence of operations including (i) releasing the UE's secondary connection with the SN so as to transition the UE from dual-connectivity to standalone-connectivity served by the MN, and (ii) then transferring the UE's voice call from being served by the MN on the first RAT to instead being served by a tertiary node (TN) on a third RAT.

Abstract: When a serving base station encounters a trigger for handover of a UE to a target base station, the serving base station will responsively predict whether, before the serving base station would direct the UE to handover to the target base station, an inactivity timer for the UE will expire, and the serving base station will then control the handover based on that prediction. For instance, responsive to the predicting being that the inactivity timer will expire before the serving base station would send a handover command message to the UE, the serving base station could forgo engaging in handover-preparation signaling with the target base station for the handover, instead allowing the UE to transition to idle mode upon expiration of the timer, at which point the UE could then engage in idle-mode handover to the target base station.

Abstract: When a donor base station serves a relay on a wireless backhaul connection that encompasses at least two carriers, and where the relay includes a relay base station and a relay-WCD, communications over the wireless backhaul connection will be distributed among the carriers based on whether the communications are control-plane communications with the relay base station or rather user-plane communications with a WCD served by the relay base station. For instance, all such control-plane communication could be carried on one of the carriers, and all such user-plane communication could be carried instead on another of the carriers.

Abstract: A method and system to control UE handover is disclosed herein. A source base station serving a UE receives from the UE a measurement report that specifies a signal strength of a neighboring target base station. The source base station sets a value of a handover threshold parameter, with the set value being based at least in part on whether the target base station is a relay base station or a non-relay base station. Further, the source base station may compare the specified signal strength of the target base station to the set value of the handover threshold parameter and determine that a handover condition is satisfied. Responsive to making such a determination, the source base station may invoke handover of the UE from the source base station to the target base station.

Abstract: In an example method, a base station determines that a UE is CSFB capable and that the base station is currently serving a relay on a first carrier of a plurality of carriers. The base station provides a coverage area on which to serve UEs, and the coverage area operates on the plurality of carriers. Based on at least the determining that the UE is CSFB capable and that the base station is currently serving the relay on the first carrier, the base station assigns the UE to operate on a carrier of the plurality of carriers other than the first carrier rather than having the UE operate on the first carrier on which the base station is currently serving the relay.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for reducing a maximum allowable transmit power of a wireless device. Instructions to reduce a maximum transmit power of wireless devices operating at a carrier band edge of a band channel maybe received at an access node. Power headroom reports may be collected from the wireless devices. The wireless devices may be classified based on the collected power headroom reports. Power reduction may be imposed on wireless devices classified as low power wireless devices and wireless devices classified as high power wireless devices may be handed off to a neighboring band channel.

Abstract: A method and system for controlling handover of a wireless communication device from a first base station to a second base station. Upon detecting a trigger (such as load) for handing over at least one WCD from the first base station, the first base station or another entity selects at least one of the WCDs served by the first base station based on a determination that the WCD is not configured to support use of a particular communication scheme, such as a particular modulation scheme, that the first base station is configured to support using for air interface communication. Based at least in part on that determination, the first base station then selects the WCD. And the first base station processes handover of the selected WCD from being served by the first base station to being served by the second base station.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for configuring a handover threshold for wireless devices in a wireless network. A plurality of wireless devices operating in a radio range of an access node (AN) are instructed to report an actual maximum allowable transmit power value at the AN. The plurality of wireless devices are classified based on the reported actual maximum allowable transmit power value. Handover thresholds for the plurality of wireless devices are configured based on the classification.

Abstract: A base station that provides coverage on at least one TDD carrier and at least one FDD carrier detects that the base station is serving a UE on just one or more of the TDD carrier(s) and that the UE is TDD-FDD CA capable. In response, the base station reconfigures the UE to change the UE's carrier prioritization from (i) prioritizing TDD over FDD to (ii) prioritizing FDD over TDD. For instance, if TDD carriers are defined in one or more frequency bands, and FDD carriers are defined in one or more other frequency bands, this could involve changing the UE's band prioritization to cause the UE to prefer connecting on TDD.

Abstract: A radio access network (RAN) may receive a request to establish a call involving a wireless communication device (WCD) served by the RAN. The WCD may receive signals from the RAN, via a plurality of wireless coverage areas, at respective signal strengths. A set of n wireless coverage areas may be selected from the plurality of wireless coverage areas to support communications related to the call, where n is at least 2. A service option to use for the call may be determined, where the service option indicates a call type. Based on the indicated call type, at least one wireless coverage area may be removed from the set of n wireless coverage areas. The call may be established between the RAN and the WCD.

Abstract: When a serving base station encounters a trigger for handover of a UE to a target base station, the serving base station will responsively predict whether, before the serving base station would direct the UE to handover to the target base station, an inactivity timer for the UE will expire, and the serving base station will then control the handover based on that prediction. For instance, responsive to the predicting being that the inactivity timer will expire before the serving base station would send a handover command message to the UE, the serving base station could forgo engaging in handover-preparation signaling with the target base station for the handover, instead allowing the UE to transition to idle mode upon expiration of the timer, at which point the UE could then engage in idle-mode handover to the target base station.

Abstract: A method and system to help manage resources in a fallback scenario is disclosed. A first network may be configured to serve user equipment devices (UEs) according to a first protocol and a second network may be configured to serve UEs according to a second protocol. The method may involve the first network serving a UE, where serving the UE includes allocating at least one resource to the UE. The method may also involve, after the UE has transitioned from being served by the first network to being served by the second network for a circuit-switched-fallback call, (i) if the UE completes call setup, the first network releasing the resources, but (ii) if the UE does not complete call setup, the first network using the allocated resources to serve the UE after the UE transitions back to being served by the first network.

Abstract: Methods and systems disclosed herein can help to dynamically adjust the degree of or enable/disable concatenation of page messages, depending upon whether a user equipment is operating as a single radio LTE (SRLTE) device. An exemplary method involves a radio access network: (i) determining that a UE is configured to use a single radio system for both (a) data communication under a first air interface protocol, and (b) voice calls under a second air interface protocol that is different from the first air interface protocol, (ii) based at least in part on the determination, selecting a page-concatenation level to be used to page the first UE, and (iii) transmitting at least on page message to the UE according to the selected page-concatenation level.

Abstract: An exemplary method involves a user equipment (UE) receiving a communication-origination request to initiate a communication with a given counterpart. In response, the UE: (a) uses historical communication data for one or more previous communications as a basis for evaluating whether the UE is likely to be assigned a particular codec, from a plurality of possible codecs, for communication with the given counterpart; (b) based on results of the evaluation, determines a respective setting for each of one or more access parameters affecting a likelihood of successfully establishing the communication with the given counterpart; and (c) performs the communication-origination process according to the determined settings for the one or more access parameters, to initiate the requested communication with the given counterpart.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for reducing a maximum allowable transmit power of a wireless device. Instructions to reduce a maximum transmit power of wireless devices operating at a carrier band edge of a band channel maybe received at an access node. Power headroom reports may be collected from the wireless devices. The wireless devices may be classified based on the collected power headroom reports. Power reduction may be imposed on wireless devices classified as low power wireless devices and wireless devices classified as high power wireless devices may be handed off to a neighboring band channel.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and system that may help control when a network will request (and receive) a remaining battery energy level report from a UE. Per the disclosure, a network that has an established radio-link-layer connection with the UE could track an amount of time in which the UE operates in a radio-link-layer connected mode. The network could then determine whether the amount of time in which the UE has operated in the radio-link-layer connected mode has exceeded a predetermined threshold amount of time. And responsive to determining that the amount of time in which the UE has operated in the radio-link-layer connected mode has exceeded the threshold amount of time, the network could cause the UE to report to the network the remaining battery energy level of the UE.

Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed that can help to select an enhancement mode for uplink coordinated multipoint (CoMP). An exemplary method involves: 9a) determining, from a plurality of possible communication types, a communication type of a communication associated with a first user equipment (UE), wherein the first UE is capable of uplink CoMP communication via an access network; (b) based at least in part on the determined communication type, selecting either a battery-saving mode or a throughput-enhancement mode as an uplink CoMP enhancement mode for the first UE; and (c) providing uplink CoMP service to the first UE according to the selected mode.