CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0101377 filed on Aug. 19, 2019, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Certain embodiments according to this disclosure relate to an electronic device and operation method thereof and, in particular, to a technology for adjustment of a communication quality measurement interval.

2. Description of Related Art

As various electronic devices such as smart phones, tablet personal computers (PCs), portable multimedia players (PMPs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop PCs, and wearable devices are distributed, various wireless communication technologies used for communication by various electronic devices are being developed.

In order to meet wireless data traffic demands that have increased after 4thGeneration (4G) communication system commercialization, efforts to develop an improved 4thGeneration (5G) communication system or a pre-5G communication system have been made. For this reason, the 5G communication system or the pre-5G communication system is called a beyond 4G network communication system or a post LTE system. In order to achieve a high data transmission rate, an implementation of the 5G communication system in a mmWave band (for example, 60 GHz band) is being considered. In the 5G communication system, technologies such as beamforming, massive MIMO, Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beam-forming, and large scale antenna are being discussed as means to mitigate a propagation path loss in the mm Wave band and increase a propagation transmission distance.

The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the disclosure.

SUMMARY

In the E-UTRA New Radio dual connectivity (EN-DC) architecture for supporting 4th(4G) and 5thgeneration (5G) communication, it may be possible to configure a 4G base station as a master node and a 5G base station as a secondary node.

The 5G base station may use a spectrum in a frequency range higher than the existing 4G frequency range in addition to the 4G frequency range. A 5G base station operating in such a high frequency band characterized by a superior straightness may be likely to have small coverage.

In the EN-DC environment, the master node in 4G communication with an electronic device may transmit to the electronic device a quality measurement request signal for 5G communication. If the electronic device receives the quality measurement request signal, it may perform quality measurement for 5G communication. If the electronic device is located within an area where 5G signal strength is weak, it may repeat 5G communication quality measurement, suspending transmission of a measurement result to the master node.

Such repetitive communication quality measurements may consume power unnecessarily. The power consumption caused by repeating the 5G communication quality measurement may surpass the power consumption necessary for maintaining a 5G connected state independently of 5G communication quality.

According to various embodiments according to this disclosure disclosed herein, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a first communication processor in primary cellular communication with a primary node and a second communication processor in primary cellular communication with a secondary node, wherein the first communication processor is configured to control to receive a request signal requesting for measurement of quality of the secondary cellular communication from the primary node, transmit a signal requesting to the second communication processor for measurement of the quality of the secondary cellular communication to the second communication processor at a predetermined interval based on receipt of the request signal, receive a secondary cellular communication quality measurement result from the second communication processor, and adjust the predetermined interval based on the measurement result.

According to various embodiments according to this disclosure, an operation method of an electronic device is provided. The method includes receiving, at a first communication processor, a request signal requesting for measurement of quality of secondary cellular communication from a primary node in primary cellular communication with the electronic device, transmitting a signal requesting for measurement of the quality of the secondary cellular communication, from the first communication processor to a second communication processor in secondary cellular communication with a secondary node, at a predetermined interval, receiving, at the first communication processor, a secondary cellular communication quality measurement result from the second communication processor, and adjusting, at the first communication processor, the predetermined interval based on the measurement result.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term “or,” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term “controller” means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation, such a device may be implemented in hardware, firmware or software, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely.

Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms “application” and “program” refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase “computer readable program code” includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase “computer readable medium” includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A “non-transitory” computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transport transitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

