Method and Apparatus for Device-to-Device Network Coordination

• US 20110317569A1
• Filed: 06/23/2010
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Kneckt, Jarkko Lauri Sakari, Doppler, Klaus Franz, Rinne, Mika Petri Olavi
• Granted Patent: US 8,509,105 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method comprises broadcasting from a user equipment (UE) having means for device to device (D2D) communication a beacon comprising an OFDM beacon frame comprising a plurality of beacon fields; receiving at least one random access request from at least one neighbor device to trigger handshake signaling for establishment of a D2D connection; responding to one of the at least one random access request with an acknowledgement beacon including at least an identifier of the UE to confirm the D2D connection with the selected neighbor device; discovering available resources; and exchanging said resource information in the handshake signaling with the neighbor devices.

Claims

1. A method, comprising

broadcasting from a user equipment (UE) a beacon comprising an OFDM beacon frame comprising a plurality of beacon fields;

receiving at least one random access request from at least one neighbor device to trigger handshake signaling to establish a D2D connection;

responding to one of the at least one random access request with an acknowledgement beacon including at least an identifier of the UE to confirm the D2D connection with the neighbor device;

discovering available resources; and

exchanging information on the discovered available resources in the handshake signaling with the neighbor device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

receiving a flexible spectrum usage (FSU) beacon from the neighbor device;

decoding the received FSU beacon if a periodicity of the FSU beacon is unknown; and

obtaining at least a spectrum usage status and a priority for each of the available resources from the decoded FSU beacon, wherein the available resource is a FSU resource.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein discovering the available resources further comprises at least:

a) selecting a supported frequency band;

b) scanning each of frequency channels within the selected frequency band;

c) measuring an interference for the selected channel;

d) identifying the selected channel as an available FSU candidate channel if the measured interference meets a specified criterion; and

e) repeating steps a) though d) until a termination criterion is met;

wherein exchanging with the neighbor device the information of the discovered available resources further comprises exchanging network type information

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the termination criterion is one of

all channels within each of the supported frequency bands are scanned;

and

a predetermined number of FSU resources are discovered.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the OFDM beacon frame comprises a beacon type field, a plurality of uplink beacon fields and a plurality of downlink beacon fields, each of the uplink beacon fields and downlink beacon fields comprises one or more beacon subframes, and the plurality of uplink beacon fields and the plurality of downlink beacon fields are interleaved in such a way that a number of the uplink beacon subframes is followed immediately by an equal number of downlink beacon subframes.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the uplink beacon fields comprise at least a D2D trigger field for known devices and unknown devices, a request field for at least one of a service discovery, an authentication, and a data exchange method and an acknowledgment (AC) field for at least one of a service discovery request, an authentication request, and a data exchange method request, wherein the data exchange method field is configured to represent the discovered FSU resources.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the downlink beacon fields comprise at least an uplink grant field and a temporary device identifier field, a response field for at least one of a service discovery request, an authentication request, and a data exchange method request, and at least one data exchange field.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising negotiating with the neighbor device

to elect between the D2D UE and the neighbor device a leader to decide which one of the discovered FSU resources to use, based on one of selection criteria, wherein the selection criteria include a higher number of active connections, a higher number of available resources, and a higher identifier number;

to select one of the D2D UE and the neighbor device to provide resources for the D2D connection and to maintain the resources through FSU beaconing based on the selection criterion; and

to select one of the D2D UE and the neighbor device to advertise services to use among multiple alternatives.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising

one of

sending a D2D service discovery request to the neighbor device, and

responding to a neighbor D2D service discovery request with a set of service capabilities included in a service discovery request ACK beacon subframe;

and

one of

sending an authentication request to the neighbor device; and

responding to a neighbor authentication request with an authentication grant included in an authentication request ACK beacon field.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising at least one of

establishing the D2D connection with the neighbor device upon receiving an authentication grant from the neighbor device;

and

initiating a data exchange session with the neighbor device using at least one of the discovered FSU resources.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

broadcasting from a device to device (D2D) user equipment (UE) a beacon comprising an OFDM beacon frame comprising a plurality of beacon fields;

discovering available flexible spectrum usage (FSU) resources;

exchanging with the neighbor device information of the discovered available FSU resources;

receiving at least one random access request from at least one neighbor device to trigger a handshake signaling session to establish a D2D connection; and

responding to one of the at least one random access request with an acknowledgement beacon including at least its own identifier to establish the D2D connection with the neighbor device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least one of

receiving a FSU beacon from the neighbor device;

decoding the received FSU beacon if a periodicity of the FSU beacon is unknown;

obtaining at least a spectrum usage status and a priority for each of the FSU resources from the decoded FSU beacon; and

coordinating with one or more neighbor devices in discovering available FSU resources, including assigning a frequency area to one of the neighbor devices, collecting results of frequency scanning, and arriving at an overall view of the available FSU resources.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein discovering the available FSU resources further comprises at least one of:

a) selecting a supported frequency band;

b) scanning each of frequency channels within the selected frequency band;

c) measuring an interference for the selected channel; and

d) identifying the selected channel as an available FSU candidate channel if the measured interference meets a specified criterion; and

e) repeating steps a) though d) until all channels within each of the supported frequency bands are scanned or a predetermined number of FSU resources are discovered.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the OFDM beacon frame comprises a beacon type field, a plurality of uplink beacon fields and a plurality of downlink beacon fields.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein each of the beacon fields comprises one or more beacon subframes and the plurality of uplink beacon fields and the plurality of downlink beacon fields are interleaved in such a way that a number of uplink beacon subframes is followed immediately by an equal number of downlink beacon subframes.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the plurality of the uplink beacon fields comprise at least a D2D trigger field for known devices and unknown devices, a request field for at least one of a service discovery, an authentication, and a data exchange method and an acknowledgment (AC) field for at least one of a service discovery request, an authentication request, and a data exchange method request;

and the plurality of downlink beacon fields comprise at least an uplink grant field and a temporary device identifier field, a response field for at least one of a service discovery request, an authentication request, and a data exchange method request, and at least one data exchange field.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein discovering the available FSU resources further comprises at least

a) selecting a supported frequency band;

and

b) scanning each of frequency channels within the frequency band;

c) measuring an interference for each of the frequency channels within the frequency band; and

d) identifying a scanned channel as a FSU candidate channel if the interference level meets a specified criterion; and

e) repeating steps a) though d) until all channel within each of the supported frequency bands are scanned or a predetermined number of FSU resources are discovered.

17. A method, comprising

receiving at a device to device (D2D) user equipment (UE) a beacon comprising an OFDM beacon frame;

sending a random access request to the neighbor device to trigger a handshake signaling session to establish a D2D connection;

discovering available flexible spectrum usage (FSU) resources; and

exchanging with the neighbor device information of the discovered available FSU resources.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the OFDM beacon frame comprises a beacon type field, a plurality of uplink beacon fields and a plurality of downlink beacon fields, each of beacon filed comprises one or more beacon subframes, and the plurality of uplink beacon fields and the plurality of downlink beacon fields are arranged in such a way that a number of uplink beacon subframes is followed immediately by an equal number of downlink beacon subframes.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the plurality of the uplink beacon fields comprise at least a D2D trigger field for known devices and unknown devices, a request field for at least one of a service discovery, an authentication, and a data exchange method and an acknowledgment (AC) field for at least one of a service discovery request, an authentication request, and a data exchange method request and the plurality of downlink beacon fields comprise at least an uplink grant field and a temporary device identifier field, a response field for at least one of a service discovery request, an authentication request, and a data exchange method request, and at least one data exchange field.