GROUPING NARROWBAND INTERNET OF THINGS END POINTS WITH CONTROL PACKETS BASED ON MULTICAST PACKET DELIVERY FUNCTIONALITY FROM ENODEB

Techniques are described herein to create a multicast Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IOT) User Equipment (UE) group based on a set of four attributes that are not defined in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 14 Standard/Specification. This NB-IOT UE grouping for multicast applications may assist indoor NB-IOT eNodeB (eNB) based deployments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 13 and Release 14 Standards/Specifications for Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IOT) do not define a multicast message option for sending multicast packets to a group of NB-IOT end points or sensors from the NB-IOT eNodeB (eNB). The techniques described herein address this problem. Multicast has never been considered a primary issue for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, with the exception of narrow and limited use cases relating to optimization of video flows within a given cell. This difference from campus technologies is reasonable in a network structure where distributing data to more than one device would be uncommon. This logic changes with IOT, in which multiple devices of the same type may permanently inhabit a cell, and may need to receive copies of the same data element. However, even within the 3GPP Release 13 and Release 14 Standards/Specifications for NB-IOT, there is no definition of a multicast message option for sending multicast packets to a group of NB-IOT end points or sensors from the NB-IOT eNodeB (eNB). 3GPP is beginning to appreciate the need for multicast support in 5G IOT, but no clear solution has been introduced yet. 2 Sheriff et al.: GROUPING NARROWBAND INTERNET OF THINGS END POINTS WITH CONTROL PA Published by Technical Disclosure Commons, 2019 2 5845 At the upper layer, multicast may be viewed as all the subscribers of an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) / Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) group. However, this Layer 3 representation needs to be translated into a Layer 2 group, and this problem has not yet been solved in the 3GPP context. Techniques are described herein to address this first problem in multicast messaging: the ability to recognize and form device groups within a cell at Layer 2 without requiring the assumption of a Layer 3 multicast group that somehow translates into a Layer 2 group. Multicast packet delivery in the downlink direction with NB-IOT radio technology eNB has many IoT application use cases which are important for service providers managing IoT networks for IoT Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). For instance, there are many scenarios whereby multiple devices in a cell may need to receive the same type of data. One scenario relates to Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) upgrades provided to a selected group of NB-IOT end points or for a software based manager for a selected group of NB-IOT end points. In this case, each device may be individually connected (unicast) to a management server. Then, at some point in time a large number of devices are individually informed that they should update and all initiate unicast flows for the same upgrade data or firmware image. Another scenario involves selective delivery of IOT application features (e.g., video traffic, audio traffic, etc.) based on the location of NB-IOT end points from the NBIOT eNB. For example, members of emergency groups (e.g., first responders to a fire) all need to receive selected team instruction flows from their command centers. The same logic applies to fleet management and any other connected team. Still another scenario occurs in a high density 5G NB-IOT deployment, where Radio Frequency (RF) congestion is a concern. Here it becomes important to group or classify NB-IOT end points to provide differentiated multicast services for different IOT use cases. Such grouping may limit the impact on airtime due to one-to-many or many-tomany communications. In 5G NB-IOT, these one-to-many flows become common and frequent. For example, a connected board may query the status of parking sensors to refresh the available slots display, whereas previous implementations were relying on individual sensor upstream unicasts, thus ignoring unresponsive sensors. 3 Defensive Publications Series, Art. 2382 [2019] https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/2382 3 5845 To implement such multicast services without the expectation of an upper layer grouping system, the NB-IOT eNB should be able to recognize devices that belong to the same group. This recognition may be available with existing L1/L2 tools and software capabilities. A grouping method that may accomplish these goals is provided herein. The method implements a four-phase system. The first phase identifies NB-IOT User Equipments (UEs) in a cell and differentiates from standard LTE UEs. The second phase classifies multicast NB-IOT UEs using a Downlink Control Information (DCI) index and allocated sub-channels. DCI is a logical block (unit) that carries data for NB Physical Downlink Shared Channel (NPDSCH) or NB Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH) data. The third phase organizes multicast distribution using location-based identification of NB-IOT UE groups. The fourth phase optimizes downstream flows using decoding region-based classification of the multicast group. By optimizing LTE air time performance from the NB-IOT eNB in the downlink direction, the need for additional control signals for multicast grouping is limited or suppressed. This NB-IOT UE group specific decoding of regions helps to optimize multicast grouping, which can be applied to deliver additional innovative IOT services. UE group specific decoding regions may improve LTE air time utilization and efficiency. Figure 1 below illustrates an example system configured to implement the techniques described herein.