Supporting Different LTE-TDD Configurations in Neighboring Regions and/or Adjacent Carriers

• US 20130121189A1
• Filed: 11/08/2012
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Bhattad, Kapil, Gore, Dhananjay Ashok, Kadous, Tamer Adel, Mantravadi, Ashok, Sadek, Ahmed, Kumar, Raj
• Granted Patent: US 9,585,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2656 for structure of frame, burst
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1484 operating bytewise
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

When communications of a single radio access technology (RAT), or different radio access technologies in a proximate communication spectrum are operating at the same time, potential interference between devices may occur. To reduce the interference, the time division duplex (TDD) configuration of one or more conflicting device may be altered. For example, at the edge of a communication region, TDD configurations used by edge base stations to communicate with mobile devices may be set to reduce interference. As another example, communications of a first device may be altered so the first device schedules uplink communications when a second device also has uplink communications scheduled. Other configurations may also be implemented.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

scheduling user equipments (UEs) served by a first set of base stations in accordance with a first time division duplex (TDD) configuration, the first set of base stations being located between a second set of base stations in a first region that operates in a second TDD configuration and a third set of base stations in a second region that operate in a third TDD configuration, the first TDD configuration having no downlink subframe colliding with an uplink subframe of the second TDD configuration; and

restricting UEs served by the first set of base stations to avoid user equipment to user equipment interference with UEs and base stations operating with the third TDD configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the first TDD configuration is the same as the third TDD configuration.

3. The method of claim 1, in which the first TDD configuration is Long Term Evolution (LTE) TDD configuration 0.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting an aggressor UE causing the interference.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a victim UE experiencing the interference.

6. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for scheduling user equipments (UEs) served by a first set of base stations in accordance with a first time division duplex (TDD) configuration, the first set of base stations being located between a second set of base stations in a first region that operates in a second TDD configuration and a third set of base stations in a second region that operate in a third TDD configuration, the first TDD configuration having no downlink subframe colliding with an uplink subframe of the second TDD configuration; and

means for restricting UEs served by the first set of base stations to avoid user equipment to user equipment interference with UEs and base stations operating with the third TDD configuration.

7. A computer program product configured for wireless communications, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having non-transitory program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising;

program code to schedule user equipments (UEs) served by a first set of base stations in accordance with a first time division duplex (TDD) configuration, the first set of base stations being located between a second set of base stations in a first region that operates in a second TDD configuration and a third set of base stations in a second region that operate in a third TDD configuration, the first TDD configuration having no downlink subframe colliding with an uplink subframe of the second TDD configuration; and

program code to restrict UEs served by the first set of base stations to avoid user equipment to user equipment interference with UEs and base stations operating with the third TDD configuration.

8. An apparatus configured for wireless communications, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured;

to schedule user equipments (UEs) served by a first set of base stations in accordance with a first time division duplex (TDD) configuration, the first set of base stations being located between a second set of base stations in a first region that operates in a second TDD configuration and a third set of base stations in a second region that operate in a third TDD configuration, the first TDD configuration having no downlink subframe colliding with an uplink subframe of the second TDD configuration; and

to restrict UEs served by the first set of base stations to avoid user equipment to user equipment interference with UEs and base stations operating with the third TDD configuration.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, in which the first TDD configuration is the same as the third TDD configuration.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, in which the first TDD configuration is Long Term Evolution (LTE) TDD configuration 0.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, in which the at least one processor is further configured to detect an aggressor UE causing user equipment to user equipment interference.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, in which the at least one processor is further configured to detect a victim UE experiencing user equipment to user equipment interference.

13. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

determining when downlink time division duplex (TDD) communications of a first user equipment (UE) experience interference from uplink TDD communications of a second UE when communication frames of the first UE and second UE are aligned; and

scheduling communications to reduce the interference.

14. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises scheduling uplink communications of the second UE only on subframes when the first UE is engaged in uplink communications.

15. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises scheduling the first UE with a new TDD configuration.

16. The method of claim 15 in which the new TDD configuration is a different TDD configuration from other UEs served by a base station serving the first UE.

17. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises scheduling the first UE with TDD configuration 0.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising detecting the second UE causing the interference.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising detecting the first UE experiencing the interference.

20. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises scheduling uplink communications of the second UE to avoid at least one edge resource block on a frequency closest to a frequency used by the first UE.

21. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises prioritizing scheduling uplink resources of potential aggressor UEs to avoid at least one edge resource block of a subframe that would cause the interference.

22. The method of claim 21, in which the potential aggressor UEs comprises UEs transmitting at a high power and/or UEs allocated a large number of resource blocks.

23. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises scheduling uplink communications of the second UE to avoid at least one edge resource block of a subframe that would cause the interference.

24. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises the second UE scheduling its communications to avoid interference to the first UE.

25. The method of claim 13, in which the second UE performs the determining and the method further comprises sending a report of interference to a base station.

26. The method of claim 13, in which the scheduling comprises reducing a resource allocation to the second UE.

27. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for determining when downlink time division duplex (TDD) communications of a first user equipment (UE) experience interference from uplink TDD communications of a second UE when communication frames of the first UE and second UE are aligned; and

means for scheduling communications to reduce the interference.

28. A computer program product configured for wireless communications, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having non-transitory program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising;

program code to determine when downlink time division duplex (TDD) communications of a first user equipment (UE) experience interference from uplink TDD communications of a second UE when communication frames of the first UE and second UE are aligned; and

program code to schedule communications to reduce the interference.

29. An apparatus configured for wireless communications, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured;

to determine when downlink time division duplex (TDD) communications of a first user equipment (UE) experience interference from uplink TDD communications of a second UE when communication frames of the first UE and second UE are aligned; and

to schedule communications to reduce the interference.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to schedule uplink communications of the second UE only on subframes when the first UE is engaged in uplink communications.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to schedule the first UE with a new TDD configuration.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 in which the new TDD configuration is a different TDD configuration from other UEs served by a base station serving the first UE.

33. The apparatus of claim 29 in which the at least one processor is further configured to schedule the first UE with TDD configuration 0.

34. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to detect an aggressor UE causing user equipment to user equipment interference.

35. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to detect a victim UE experiencing user equipment to user equipment interference.

36. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to schedule uplink communications of the second UE to avoid at least one edge resource block on a frequency closest to a frequency used by the first UE.

37. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to schedule by prioritizing scheduling of uplink resources of potential aggressor UEs to avoid at least one edge resource block of a subframe that would cause the interference.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, in which the potential aggressor UEs comprises UEs transmitting at a high power and/or UEs allocated a large number of resource blocks.

39. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to schedule by scheduling uplink communications of the second UE to avoid at least one edge resource block of a subframe that would cause the interference.

40. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the second UE comprises the at least one processor and the at least one processor is further configured to schedule communications of the second UE to avoid interference to the first UE.

41. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the second UE comprises the at least one processor and the at least one processor is further configured to report interference to a base station.

42. The apparatus of claim 29, in which the at least one processor is further configured to reduce a resource allocation to the second UE.