Termination of wireless communication uplink periods to facilitate reception of other wireless communications

• US 10,212,721 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2017
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Chao, Yi-Ling, Zhao, Qing, Song, Leilei, Lou, Hui-Ling, Sun, Yakun
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Warner
• Application Number:
  US15/448,528
• Publication Number:
  US 20170181181A1
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1825 Adaptation of specific ARQ protocol parameters according to transmission conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0078 Timing of allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

The present disclosure describes systems and techniques relating to wireless communications. A described system includes a first radio configured to wirelessly transmit to a first station in accordance with a first wireless communication technology via uplink periods that are scheduled by the first station; a second radio configured to wirelessly communicate with a second station in accordance with a second wireless communication technology; and a controller coupled with the first and second radios, the controller being configured to select for puncturing one or more of the uplink periods based on information about types of data to be transmitted respectively in the uplink periods, puncture, independently of the first station, the one or more selected uplink periods by causing the first radio to terminate transmissions to the first station during the selected uplink period(s), and cause the second radio to receive data from the second station during the selected uplink period(s).

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a first radio comprising first transceiver electronics configured to wirelessly transmit to a first station in accordance with a first wireless communication technology via uplink periods that are scheduled by the first station;

a second radio comprising second transceiver electronics configured to wirelessly communicate with a second station in accordance with a second wireless communication technology; and

a controller coupled with the first radio and the second radio, wherein the controller is configured to select for puncturing one or more of the uplink periods based on information about types of data to be transmitted respectively in the uplink periods, wherein the controller is configured to puncture, independently of the first station, the one or more selected uplink periods by causing the first radio to terminate transmissions to the first station during the one or more selected uplink periods, and cause the second radio to receive data from the second station during the one or more selected uplink periods;

wherein the information used to puncture one or more of the uplink periods comprises information about hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, and wherein the uplink periods comprise uplink subframes;

wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink subframes available for puncture based on the HARQ processes; and

wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink subframes made available for puncture based on results of a prior off-line search for puncture patterns performed based on the HARQ processes.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to exclude uplink periods used for acknowledgements (ACKs) from the first radio to the first station from being selected for puncturing.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to exclude one or more uplink periods used to transmit uplink control information (UCI) from the first radio to the first station from being selected for puncturing to reduce downlink performance degradation of communications from the first station to the first radio.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink periods available for puncture by, without cooperation from the first station, not using all retransmission opportunities in a retransmission request protocol between the device and the first station using the first radio.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink subframes made available for puncture to evenly distribute puncture of the uplink subframes among different ones of the HARQ processes.

6. A method comprising:

operating first transceiver electronics of a first radio of a device to wirelessly transmit to a first station in accordance with a first wireless communication technology via uplink periods that are scheduled by the first station;

operating second transceiver electronics of a second radio of the device to wirelessly communicate with a second station in accordance with a second wireless communication technology;

selecting one or more of the uplink periods for puncture based on information about types of data to be transmitted respectively in the uplink periods to the first station;

puncturing, independently of the first station, the one or more selected uplink periods by causing the first radio to terminate transmissions to the first station during the one or more selected uplink periods;

receiving, by the second radio, data from the second station during the one or more punctured uplink periods;

wherein the information used to puncture one or more of the uplink periods comprises information about hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, wherein the uplink periods comprise uplink subframes, and wherein the selecting comprises restricting the uplink subframes available for puncture based on the HARQ processes; and

wherein the selecting comprises restricting the uplink subframes made available for puncture based on results of a prior off-line search for puncture patterns performed based on the HARQ processes.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the selecting comprises excluding uplink periods used for acknowledgements (ACKs) from the first radio to the first station from being selected for puncturing.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the selecting comprises excluding one or more uplink periods used to transmit uplink control information (UCI) from the first radio to the first station from being selected for puncturing to reduce downlink performance degradation of communications from the first station to the first radio.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the selecting comprises restricting the uplink periods available for puncture by, without cooperation from the first station, not using all retransmission opportunities in a retransmission request protocol between the device and the first station using the first radio.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the selecting comprises evenly distributing puncture of the uplink subframes among different ones of the HARQ processes.

11. A system comprising:

coexisting radios, comprising first transceiver electronics of a first radio and second transceiver electronics of a second radio, configured to communicate with a base station and an access point using respective, different wireless communication technologies, the first radio being configured to wirelessly transmit to the base station via uplink subframes that are in accordance with a schedule controlled by the base station; and

a controller coupled with the coexisting radios, wherein the controller is configured to select for puncturing one or more of the uplink subframes based on information about types of data to be transmitted respectively in the uplink subframes, wherein the controller is configured to puncture, independently of the base station, the one or more selected uplink subframes by causing the first radio to terminate transmissions to the base station during the one or more selected uplink subframes, and cause the second radio to receive data from the access point during the one or more selected uplink subframes;

wherein the information used to puncture one or more of the uplink subframes comprises information about hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, and wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink subframes available for puncture based on the HARQ processes; and

wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink subframes made available for puncture based on results of a prior off-line search for puncture patterns performed based on the HARQ processes.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to exclude one or more uplink subframes used to transmit uplink control information (UCI) from the first radio to the base station from being selected for puncturing to reduce downlink performance degradation of communications from the base station to the first radio.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink subframes available for puncture by, without cooperation from the base station, not using all retransmission opportunities in a retransmission request protocol between the first radio and the base station.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to restrict the uplink subframes made available for puncture to evenly distribute puncture of the uplink subframes among different ones of the HARQ processes.