US Patent 9942412 Use of contention-free random-access preamble in paging process

Disclosed is a method and system to help ensure contention-free response to a paging message. As disclosed, when a base station transmits a paging message for receipt by a UE, the base station includes in the paging message a contention-free random-access preamble useable by the UE to engage in contention-free random access in response to the paging message. The UE thus receives the paging message and responsively engages in a contention-free random access process with the base station, to establish a radio-link-layer connection between the UE and the base station.