Enabling Half Duplex Frequency Division Duplex (HD-FDD) Operation of User Equipments in Full Duplex Frequency Division Duplex (FD-FDD) Network

• US 20130128782A1
• Filed: 11/06/2012
• Published: 05/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MStar Semiconductor Incorporated (MediaTek, Inc.), MStar Software R&D Shenzhen Ltd (MediaTek, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MStar Semiconductor Incorporated (MediaTek, Inc.), MStar Software R&D Shenzhen Ltd (MediaTek, Inc.)
• Inventors: Boixadera, Francesc, Valadon, Cyril
• Granted Patent: US 9,356,766 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/281
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/16 Half-duplex systems; Simplex/duplex switching; Transmission of break signals non-automatically inverting the direction of transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

The current invention provides simplifications to the user equipment (UE) radio front end module for the cellular handset or dongle through modification of the existing 3GPP specifications for LTE and WCDMA/HSPA+ in order to support half duplex (HD) operation. The option to support HD operation is provided without mandating upgrades to all existing base stations that have already been deployed. The instant invention further prevents HD UEs from attaching to any base stations which do not support HD operations. The instant invention further provides inter-frequency cell search periods for enabling HD UEs to communicate with any base stations/cells supporting the HD operations. The instant invention further enables the HSPA+ system to support the HD-FDD mode.

Claims

1. A method in a wireless communication network comprising at least one base station (BS) and at least one user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

signaling using a message by the at least one BS to the at least one UE for indicating supporting of half duplex frequency division duplex (HD-FDD) operation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the at least one BS to support concurrently the HD-FDD operation and at least one other duplex operation including full duplex frequency division duplex (FD-FDD) operation or time division duplex (TDD) operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is for a plurality of BS that form a group, and the BS sends the message to the at least one UE by a BS within the group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one base station supports a LTE FDD mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one base station supports a HSPA+ mode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is transmitted over a broadcast channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is transmitted over a channel dedicated to the at least one UE.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the message comprises at least one Information Element (IE) within at least one System Information Block (SIB) mapped to Broadcast Channel (BCH).

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the message comprises at least one bit in the Master Information Block (MIB) transmitted over Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH).

10. The method of claims 7, where the message is transmitted to the UE using the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the message is carried by a predefined portion of an orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) tree.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the message is carried by a predefined portion of an orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) tree.

13. A method in a wireless communication network comprising at least one base station (BS) and at least one user equipment (UE), where the BS supports at least HD-FDD operation, the method comprising:

scheduling transmissions from the UE such that a plurality of intra-frequency monitoring periods are made available to the UE;

wherein each intra-frequency monitoring period has a duration and frequency that are defined by the BS; and

wherein no UE transmission activity is scheduled during the plurality of intra-frequency monitoring periods.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of intra-frequency monitoring periods has a minimum duration and a predetermined frequency to enable the UE to perform an intra-frequency cell search and intra-frequency measurements.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprises signaling the minimum duration and the predetermined frequency by the BS to the UE.

16. A method in a wireless communication network comprising at least one base station (BS) and at least one user equipment (UE), where the BS supports at least HD-FDD operation and the UE supports at least HD-FDD operation, the method comprising:

creating a plurality of transmission gaps by the UE, wherein the plurality of transmission gaps created by the UE meet restrictions defined by the BS.

17. A method in a wireless communication network comprising at least one base station (BS) supporting at least HSPA+ mode and at least one user equipment (UE) not supporting FD-FDD operation in HSPA+ mode, the method comprising:

signaling by the at least one UE to the at least one BS indicating that the UE does not support FD-FDD operation in HSPA+ mode.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein signaling further comprises:

signaling to the at least one BS that the UE supports HD-FDD operation in HSPA+ mode.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein signaling further comprises:

signaling by the UE that HD-FDD operation is specified for multiple frequency bands.

20. A method in a wireless communication network comprising at least one base station (BS) supporting at least HSPA+ mode and at least one user equipment (UE) supporting HD-FDD operation in HSPA+ mode, the method comprising:

signaling by the least one UE implicitly or explicitly to the at least one BS indicating that the UE supports HD-FDD operation in HSPA+ mode.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein signaling further comprises:

signaling by the UE that HD-FDD operation is specified for multiple frequency bands.