METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING SUPPLEMENTARY CELLS IN LICENSED EXEMPT SPECTRUM

• US 20140161002A1
• Filed: 02/07/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gauvreau, Jean-Louis, Freda, Martino M., Lin, Zinan, Murray, Joseph M., Ye, Chunxuan, Bala, Erdem, Beluri, Mihaela C., Castor, Douglas R., Cuffaro, Angelo A., Demir, Alpaslan, Gredone, Joseph W., Yang, Rui, Ma, Liangping, DiGirolamo, Rocco, Purkayastha, Debashish, Touag, Athmane, Chincholi, Amith V., Dai, Yuying
• Granted Patent: US 9,419,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/280
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1893 Physical mapping arrangements physical resource mapping in general H04L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/06 the signals being represented by different frequencies combined with time-division multiplexing H04L5/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/143 for modulated signals H04L5/1469 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/24 Cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

A method and apparatus for operating supplementary cells in licensed exempt (LE) spectrum. An aggregating cell operating in a frequency division duplex (FDD) licensed spectrum is aggregated with a LE supplementary cell operating in a time sharing mode for uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) operations. The LE supplementary cell may be an FDD supplementary cell dynamically configurable between an UL only mode, a DL only mode, and a shared mode, to match requested UL and DL traffic ratios. The LE supplementary cell may be a time division duplex (TDD) supplementary cell. The TDD supplementary cell may be dynamically configurable between multiple TDD configurations. A coexistence capability for coordinating operations between the LE supplementary cell with other systems operating in the same channel is provided. Coexistence gaps are provided to measure primary/secondary user usage and permit other systems operating in the LE supplementary cell channel to access the channel.

Claims

1. A method of aggregating carriers, comprising:

providing, at a base station, an aggregating cell configured for operation in a frequency division duplex (FDD) licensed spectrum; and

aggregating, at the base station, the aggregating cell with at least one licensed exempt (LE) supplementary cell operating in a time sharing mode for uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) operations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one LE supplementary cell is an FDD supplementary cell dynamically configurable between an UL only mode, a DL only mode, and a shared mode to match requested UL and DL traffic ratios.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein for the shared mode, the at least one LE supplementary cell is toggled between UL and DL at a toggling interval to match requested UL and DL traffic ratios.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a sharing mode pattern is based on sub-frame timing.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein a sharing mode pattern repeats at a multiple of a number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes used by the aggregating cell.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein multiple LE supplementary cells are one of independently or dependently configured.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one LE supplementary cell is a time division duplex (TDD) supplementary cell.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a coexistence capability for coordinating operations between the LE supplementary cell with at least one of other networks and users operating in a same LE channel, wherein a time sharing mode permits operation of the LE supplementary cell with the at least one of other networks and users.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

providing coexistence gaps to permit the other networks and users operating in the same LE channel as the LE supplementary cell to access the same LE channel.

7-9. -9. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

18. A base station for licensed exempt spectrum aggregation, comprising:

a dynamic spectrum management radio resource manager (RRM) configured to receive cognitive sensing results from a sensing toolbox and to configure operation of the sensing toolbox;

the RRM configured to control physical layer and a medium access layer configurations that provide coexistence gaps to permit other networks and users operating in a same licensed exempt (LE) channel as a LE supplementary cell to access the same LE channel;

the RRM configured to control a radio resource controller configuration to detect primary users and transition between different frequency division duplex (FDD) modes or time division duplex (TDD) uplink and downlink configurations; and

a coexistence enabler interface configured to communicate between a coexistence manager and cognitive networks, wherein coexistence manager reconfiguration commands are translated into network-specific reconfiguration commands and transmitted to the cognitive network for reconfiguration, wherein the RRM receives translated coexistence manager reconfiguration commands from the coexistence enabler interface.

19. A wireless transmit/receive unit, comprising:

a radio resource controller (RRC) and a medium access controller (MAC) configured to receive configuration messages, the RRC and MAC being configured to provide coexistence gaps to permit multiple networks and users operating in a same LE channel as a LE supplementary cell to access the same LE channel, in a time sharing mode, wherein a physical layer is configured by one of the RRC or MAC according to the configuration message;

the RRC being configured to control a sensing toolbox to perform cognitive sensing measurements and support the coexistence gaps for primary/secondary user detection; and

the RRC being configured to detect primary users and transition between different frequency division duplex (FDD) modes or time division duplex (TDD) uplink and downlink configurations

20. A management system, comprising:

a coexistence manager (CM) entity configured to manage inter-base stations as well as inter-operator coexistence operation,

the CM configured to receive sensing and usage data, and licensed exempt (LE) spectrum information;

the CM configured to process and forward the usage data to requesting base station;

the CM configured to maintain a map of networks to identify conflicts and coexistence operations based on at least the sensing and usage data, and LE spectrum information; and

the CM configured to transmit LE availability information based on at least the sensing and usage data, and the LE spectrum information,

wherein the CM provides coexistence gaps to permit other networks and users to access a same LE channel in a time sharing mode.

21. (canceled)