Data Packet Communication Scheduling in a Communication System

• US 20100202416A1
• Filed: 02/12/2009
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Lovendahl, Arild, Lindoff, Bengt, Wilhelmsson, Leif
• Granted Patent: US 8,184,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies

Abstract

A communication device has a plurality of concurrently operating transceiver systems, each operating in a respectively different one of a plurality of communication systems. Operation of the transceiver systems is coordinated by receiving a plurality of requests from different ones of the transceiver systems, each of the requests being a request to access a communication medium for the purpose of transmitting or receiving a data packet. Utilization of an available time period is scheduled by selecting which one or ones of the requests to grant based, at least in part, on how many remaining times out of a maximum number of times each of the transmission systems'"'"' data packet is permitted to be retransmitted compared to other requests, on whether the requests are requests to transmit a data packet, and on whether the requests are requests to receive a data packet.

Claims

1. A method of operating a communication device having a plurality of concurrently operating transceiver systems, each operating in a respectively different one of a plurality of communication systems, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of requests from different ones of the transceiver systems, each of the requests being a request to access a communication medium for the purpose of transmitting or receiving a data packet; and

scheduling utilization of an available time period by selecting which one or ones of the requests to grant based, at least in part, on how many remaining times out of a maximum number of times each of the transmission systems'"'"' data packet is permitted to be retransmitted, and on whether the requests are requests to transmit a data packet, and on whether the requests are requests to receive a data packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling utilization of the available time period comprises:

granting only one of the requests if none of the requesting transceiver systems has been waiting longer than a threshold duration of time without access to the communication medium, wherein the granted request is a request to communicate a data packet having a fewest number of remaining permissible retransmission attempts compared to other requests; and

granting only one of the requests if one of the requesting transceiver systems has been waiting longer than the threshold duration of time without access to the communication medium and other ones of the requesting transceiver systems have a sufficient number of remaining retransmissions to communicate a data packet at a later time, wherein the request grant is awarded to the requesting transceiver systems that has been waiting longer than the threshold duration of time without access to the communication medium.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the threshold duration of time is sized to avoid a timeout of a requesting receiver system connection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling utilization of the available time period comprises:

ascertaining whether two or more of the requests are requests to receive a data packet;

ascertaining whether a link quality associated with each of the two or more receive requests is sufficient to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to successfully receive a respective one of a number of data packets from a received signal that has been split among the two or more requesting transceiver systems; and

granting the two or more receive requests if the link quality associated with each of the two or more receive requests is sufficient to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to successfully receive the respective one of the number of data packets from a received signal that has been split among the two or more requesting transceiver systems.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

denying one or more other requests that are requests to transmit a data packet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling utilization of the available time period comprises:

ascertaining whether two or more of the requests are requests to transmit a data packet;

ascertaining whether a transmission power associated with each of the two or more transmit requests is sufficiently low to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to concurrently transmit a respective one of a number of data packets without intermodulation affects exceeding a predetermined level of signal distortion or creating spurious signals outside a predefined frequency band; and

granting the two or more transmit requests if the transmission power associated with each of the two or more transmit requests is sufficiently low to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to concurrently transmit a respective one of a number of data packets without intermodulation affects exceeding the predetermined level of signal distortion or creating spurious signals outside the predefined frequency band.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising:

denying one or more other requests that are requests to receive a data packet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the transceiver systems operates in a frequency division duplex mode;

the requests comprise transmission requests and receiver requests; and

scheduling utilization of the available time period comprises;

ascertaining whether granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations;

granting all of the requests if granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would not result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations; and

if granting all of the requests would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations, then granting all receiver requests and granting fewer than all transmission requests.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the transceiver systems operates in a frequency division duplex mode;

the requests comprise transmission requests and receiver requests; and

scheduling utilization of the available time period comprises;

ascertaining whether granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations;

granting all of the requests if granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would not result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations;

if granting all of the requests would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations, then granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently only if each of the one or more receivers whose operations would be detrimentally affected by intermodulation effects has a remaining number of permissible retransmission attempts that is at least a predetermined number of times; and

if granting all of the requests would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations and at least one of the one or more receivers whose operations would be detrimentally affected by intermodulation effects does not have a remaining number of permissible retransmission attempts that is at least the predetermined number of times, then granting all receiver requests and granting fewer than all transmission requests.

10. An apparatus for controlling a communication device having a plurality of concurrently operating transceiver systems, each operating in a respectively different one of a plurality of communication systems, the apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to receive a plurality of requests from different ones of the transceiver systems, each of the requests being a request to access a communication medium for the purpose of transmitting or receiving a data packet; and

circuitry configured to schedule utilization of an available time period by selecting which one or ones of the requests to grant based, at least in part, on how many remaining times out of a maximum number of times each of the transmission systems'"'"' data packet is permitted to be retransmitted, and on whether the requests are requests to transmit a data packet, and on whether the requests are requests to receive a data packet.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the circuitry configured to schedule utilization of the available time period comprises:

circuitry configured to grant only one of the requests if none of the requesting transceiver systems has been waiting longer than a threshold duration of time without access to the communication medium, wherein the granted request is a request to communicate a data packet having a fewest number of remaining permissible retransmission attempts compared to other requests; and

circuitry configured to grant only one of the requests if one of the requesting transceiver systems has been waiting longer than the threshold duration of time without access to the communication medium and other ones of the requesting transceiver systems have a sufficient number of remaining retransmissions to communicate a data packet at a later time, wherein the request grant is awarded to the requesting transceiver system that has been waiting longer than the threshold duration of time without access to the communication medium.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the threshold duration of time is sized to avoid a timeout of a requesting receiver system connection.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the circuitry configured to schedule utilization of the available time period comprises:

circuitry configured to ascertain whether two or more of the requests are requests to receive a data packet;

circuitry configured to ascertain whether a link quality associated with each of the two or more requests is sufficient to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to successfully receive a respective one of a number of data packets from a received signal that has been split among the two or more requesting transceiver systems; and

circuitry configured to grant the two or more receive requests if the link quality associated with each of the two or more receive requests is sufficient to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to successfully receive the respective one of the number of data packets from a received signal that has been split among the two or more requesting transceiver systems.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, comprising:

circuitry configured to deny one or more other requests that are requests to transmit a data packet.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the circuitry configured to schedule utilization of the available time period comprises:

circuitry configured to ascertain whether two or more of the requests are requests to transmit a data packet;

circuitry configured to ascertain whether a transmission power associated with each of the two or more transmit requests is sufficiently low to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to concurrently transmit a respective one of a number of data packets without intermodulation affects exceeding a predetermined level of signal distortion or creating spurious signals outside a predefined frequency band; and

circuitry configured to grant the two or more transmit requests if the transmission power associated with each of the two or more transmit requests is sufficiently low to enable each of the two or more requesting transceiver systems to concurrently transmit a respective one of a number of data packets without intermodulation affects exceeding the predetermined level of signal distortion or creating spurious signals outside the predefined frequency band.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, comprising:

circuitry configured to deny one or more other requests that are requests to receive a data packet.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

at least one of the transceiver systems operates in a frequency division duplex mode;

the requests comprise transmission requests and receiver requests; and

the circuitry configured to schedule utilization of the available time period comprises;

circuitry configured to ascertain whether granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations; and

circuitry configured to grant all of the requests if granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would not result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations; and

circuitry configured to grant all receiver requests and granting fewer than all transmission requests if granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

at least one of the transceiver systems operates in a frequency division duplex mode;

the requests comprise transmission requests and receiver requests; and

the circuitry configured to schedule utilization of the available time period comprises;

circuitry configured to ascertain whether granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations; and

circuitry configured to grant all of the requests if granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would not result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations;

circuitry configured to grant all of the requests if it is ascertained that granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations and each of the one or more receivers whose operations would be detrimentally affected by intermodulation effects has a remaining number of permissible retransmission attempts that is at least a predetermined number of times; and

circuitry configured to grant all receiver requests and to grant fewer than all transmission requests if it is ascertained that granting all transmission requests and all receiver requests concurrently would result in intermodulation effects that would detrimentally affect one or more receiver operations and at least one of the one or more receivers whose operations would be detrimentally affected by intermodulation effects does not have a remaining number of permissible retransmission attempts that is at least the predetermined number of times.

19. A communication device comprising:

a plurality of concurrently operable transceivers; and

the apparatus of claim 10.