Narrowband time-division duplex frame structure for narrowband communications

• US 10,469,158 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2017
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Sridharan, Arvind, Bhattad, Kapil, Chandrasekar, Manikandan, Somichetty, Gowrisankar, Rico Alvarino, Alberto, Wang, Xiao feng
• Primary Examiner(s): Pancholi, Rina C
• Application Number:
  US15/706,934
• Publication Number:
  US 20180234169A1
• Time in Patent Office: 778 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2656 for structure of frame, burst
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2668 Arrangements for Wireless Code-Division Multiple Access [CDMA] System Synchronisation, for code acquisition H04B1/7075, for code tracking H04B1/7085
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0682 by delay compensation, e.g. by compensation of propagation delay or variations thereof, by ranging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/04 using frequency diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/023 Multiplexing of multicarrier modulation signals multicarrier modulation H04L27/2601
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/143 for modulated signals H04L5/1469 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/24 : with start-stop synchronous converters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 : Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0005 : synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/008 : detecting arrival of signal based on received raw signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 : Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Abstract

There is a need to support narrowband TDD frame structure for narrowband communications. The present disclosure provides a solution by supporting one or more narrowband TDD frame structure(s) for narrowband communications. In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may determine a bandwidth for narrowband communications. The apparatus may determine a narrowband TDD frame structure for the narrowband communications. In one aspect, the narrowband TDD frame structure may include at least one of two or more contiguous downlink subframes, or one or more flexible subframes that can be configured as either a downlink subframe or an uplink subframe. The apparatus may communicate with a UE using the narrowband TDD frame structure determined for the narrowband communications.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication for a base station, comprising:

determining a bandwidth for narrowband communications;

determining a time-division duplex (TDD) frame structure from a plurality of TDD frame structures for the narrowband communications, the TDD frame structure including at least one of two or more contiguous downlink subframes, or one or more flexible subframes that can be configured as either a downlink subframe or an uplink subframe, the plurality of TDD frame structures includes a first set of TDD frame structures associated with a first switching periodicity, a second set of TDD frame structures associated with a second switching periodicity, and a third set of TDD frame structures associated with a third switching periodicity, each of the first switching periodicity, the second switching periodicity, and the third switching periodicity being different; and

communicating with a user equipment (UE) using the TDD frame structure determined for the narrowband communications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the TDD frame structure for the narrowband communications is different than another TDD frame structure actively being used in an overlapping frequency region by a different radio access technology (RAT).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

when a first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring a downlink subframe to sending a transmission using an uplink subframe, a special subframe is located in both half frames of the TDD frame structure;

when a second duration that is longer than the first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, a special subframe may be located in a first half frame of the TDD frame structure but not a second half frame of the TDD frame structure; and

when a third duration that is longer than the second duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, no special subframes are present in the TDD frame structure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the TDD frame structure has at least three contiguous downlink subframes.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

transmitting a system information block (SIB) in a first subframe of the TDD frame structure; and

transmitting a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) in a second subframe of the TDD frame structure, the second subframe being different than the first subframe.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth used for the narrowband communications is smaller than cellular bandwidths available for different radio access technologies (RATs).

7. An apparatus for wireless communication for a base station, comprising:

means for determining a bandwidth for narrowband communications;

means for determining a time-division duplex (TDD) frame structure from a plurality of TDD frame structures for the narrowband communications, the TDD frame structure including at least one of two or more contiguous downlink subframes, or one or more flexible subframes that can be configured as either a downlink subframe or an uplink subframe, the plurality of TDD frame structures includes a first set of TDD frame structures associated with a first switching periodicity, a second set of TDD frame structures associated with a second switching periodicity, and a third set of TDD frame structures associated with a third switching periodicity, each of the first switching periodicity, the second switching periodicity, and the third switching periodicity being different; and

means for communicating with a user equipment (UE) using the TDD frame structure determined for the narrowband communications.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the TDD frame structure for the narrowband communications is different than another TDD frame structure actively being used in an overlapping frequency region by a different radio access technology (RAT).

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

when a first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring a downlink subframe to sending a transmission using an uplink subframe, a special subframe is located in both half frames of the TDD frame structure;

when a second duration that is longer than the first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, a special subframe may be located in a first half frame of the TDD frame structure but not a second half frame of the TDD frame structure; and

when a third duration that is longer than the second duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, no special subframes are present in the TDD frame structure.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the TDD frame structure has at least three contiguous downlink subframes.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

means for transmitting a system information block (SIB) in a first subframe of the TDD frame structure; and

means for transmitting a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) in a second subframe of the TDD frame structure, the second subframe being different than the first subframe.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the bandwidth used for the narrowband communications is smaller than cellular bandwidths available for different radio access technologies (RATs).

13. An apparatus for wireless communication for a base station, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

determine a bandwidth for narrowband communications;

determine a time-division duplex (TDD) frame structure from a plurality of TDD frame structures for the narrowband communications, the TDD frame structure including at least one of two or more contiguous downlink subframes, or one or more flexible subframes that can be configured as either a downlink subframe or an uplink subframe, the plurality of TDD frame structures includes a first set of TDD frame structures associated with a first switching periodicity, a second set of TDD frame structures associated with a second switching periodicity, and a third set of TDD frame structures associated with a third switching periodicity, each of the first switching periodicity, the second switching periodicity, and the third switching periodicity being different; and

communicate with a user equipment (UE) using the TDD frame structure determined for the narrowband communications.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the TDD frame structure for the narrowband communications is different than another TDD frame structure actively being used in an overlapping frequency region by a different radio access technology (RAT).

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein:

when a first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring a downlink subframe to sending a transmission using an uplink subframe, a special subframe is located in both half frames of the TDD frame structure;

when a second duration that is longer than the first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, a special subframe may be located in a first half frame of the TDD frame structure but not a second half frame of the TDD frame structure; and

when a third duration that is longer than the second duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, no special subframes are present in the TDD frame structure.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the TDD frame structure has at least three contiguous downlink subframes.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit a system information block (SIB) in a first subframe of the TDD frame structure; and

transmit a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) in a second subframe of the TDD frame structure, the second subframe being different than the first subframe.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the bandwidth used for the narrowband communications is smaller than cellular bandwidths available for different radio access technologies (RATs).

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for a base station, comprising code to:

determine a bandwidth for narrowband communications;

determine a narrowband time-division duplex (TDD) frame structure from a plurality of TDD frame structures for the narrowband communications, the TDD frame structure including at least one of two or more contiguous downlink subframes, or one or more flexible subframes that can be configured as either a downlink subframe or an uplink subframe, the plurality of TDD frame structures includes a first set of TDD frame structures associated with a first switching periodicity, a second set of TDD frame structures associated with a second switching periodicity, and a third set of TDD frame structures associated with a third switching periodicity, each of the first switching periodicity, the second switching periodicity, and the third switching periodicity being different; and

communicate with a user equipment (UE) using the TDD frame structure determined for the narrowband communications.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the TDD frame structure for the narrowband communications is different than another TDD frame structure actively being used in an overlapping frequency region by a different radio access technology (RAT).

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein:

when a first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring a downlink subframe to sending a transmission using an uplink subframe, a special subframe is located in both half frames of the TDD frame structure;

when a second duration that is longer than the first duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, a special subframe may be located in a first half frame of the TDD frame structure but not a second half frame of the TDD frame structure; and

when a third duration that is longer than the second duration is used by the UE to switch between monitoring the downlink subframe to sending the transmission using the uplink subframe, no special subframes are present in the TDD frame structure.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the TDD frame structure has at least three contiguous downlink subframes.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising code to:

transmit a system information block (SIB) in a first subframe of the TDD frame structure; and

transmit a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) in a second subframe of the TDD frame structure, the second subframe being different than the first subframe.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the bandwidth used for the narrowband communications is smaller than cellular bandwidths available for different radio access technologies (RATs).