METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SECONDARY SHARING

• US 20130115964A1
• Filed: 07/13/2010
• Published: 05/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Irnich, Tim, Kronander, Jonas, Prytz, Mikael, Rahman, Muhammad Imadur, Karlsson, Jorgen
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks

Abstract

A node (105, 200) for a communications system (100), arranged to operate as a secondary user of part of a frequency spectrum, comprising a detection unit (210) for detecting other secondary users (110) who use all or part of said frequency spectrum and for detecting changes in such other secondary user'"'"'s usage of their part of the frequency spectrum. The node (105, 200) also comprises a signaling unit (225) for signaling to detected other secondary users (110) that the node (105, 200) wishes to operate within their frequency spectrum as a secondary user, by means of transmitting interference signals according to a predefined pattern in the frequency spectrum of detected other secondary users. The node also comprises a decision unit (230) for deciding how the node (105, 200) should arrange its secondary operation in the frequency spectrum together with detected other secondary users (110).

Claims

1. A node for a wireless communications system, the node being arranged to operate as a secondary user of at least part of a frequency spectrum, the node comprising:

a detection unit configured to detect if one or more other secondary users use all or part of the frequency spectrum and to detect changes in such other secondary user'"'"'s usage of their part of the frequency spectrum;

a signaling unit configured to signal to one or more detected other secondary users that the node wants to operate within the frequency spectrum as a secondary user, wherein the signaling unit performs the signalling by transmitting interference signals according to a predefined pattern in the frequency spectrum of the one or more detected other secondary users; and

a decision unit configured to determine how the node should arrange its secondary operation in the frequency spectrum together with detected other secondary users.

3. The node of claim 1, wherein the decision unit is configured to make the node operate according to a time and/or frequency sharing scheme with one or more detected other users.

4. The node of claim 1, wherein:

the detection unit is configured to detect a signal from another secondary user indicating that the other secondary user wants to use all or part of the same frequency spectrum as the node, and

the decision unit is configured to decide how the node should rearrange its operation in the frequency spectrum in response to signals detected by the detection unit that are indicative of the one or more other secondary users use of all or part of the frequency spectrum.

5. The node of claim 4, wherein, when deciding how the node should rearrange its operation in the frequency spectrum, the decision unit performing operations to at least one of:

move to another part of the frequency spectrum, time share the frequency spectrum with one or more users, and/or to frequency share the frequency spectrum with one or more users.

2. The node of claim 2, wherein:

the detection unit comprises a scanning unit for scanning the frequency spectrum for use by other secondary users and/or a receiver unit for receiving signals from other users which indicate that the other users use the frequency spectrum.

6. A method for operating a node in a wireless communications system, the method comprising:

operating the node as a secondary user of at least part of a frequency spectrum,

detecting if one or more other secondary users use all or part of the frequency spectrum,

detecting changes in such other secondary user'"'"'s usage of their part of the frequency spectrum,

signaling to one or more detected other secondary users that the node wants to operate within the frequency spectrum as a secondary user by transmitting interference signals according to a predefined pattern in the frequency spectrum of the one or more detected other secondary users, and

deciding how the node should arrange its operation in the frequency spectrum together with detected other secondary users.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting if one or more other secondary users use all or part of the frequency spectrum comprises scanning the frequency spectrum for use by other users and/or receiving signals from other secondary users which indicate that the other secondary users use the frequency spectrum.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising operating the node to time share the frequency spectrum with one or more detected other secondary users and/or to frequency share the frequency spectrum with one or more detected other secondary users.

9. The method claim 6, further comprising:

detecting a signal from another secondary user indicating that the other secondary user wants to use all or part of the same frequency spectrum as the node, and

deciding how the node should rearrange its operation in the frequency spectrum when signals indicative of this are detected.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein deciding how the node should rearrange its operation in the frequency spectrum comprises performing operations to at least one of:

move to another part of the frequency spectrum, time share the frequency spectrum with one or more users, and/or frequency share the frequency spectrum with one or more users.