FACILITATING IN-DEVICE COEXISTENCE BETWEEN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

• US 20140243041A1
• Filed: 06/04/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zhao, Wen, Flynn, Paul V., Burchill, William S., Majjigi, Vinay R., Wang, Xiaowen, Mujtaba, Syed A., Song, Kee-Bong
• Granted Patent: US 9,049,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/552.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1081 Reduction of multipath noise by equalising H04B7/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/29 Performance testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/41 by acting on aggregated flows or links
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/265 taking into account the quality of service QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/267 taking into account the information rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/36 with a discrete range or set of values, e.g. step size, ramping or offsets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A method for facilitating in-device coexistence between wireless communication technologies on a wireless communication device is provided. The method can include transmitting data traffic from the wireless communication device via an aggressor wireless communication technology; determining occurrence of an in-device interference condition resulting from transmission of the data traffic via the aggressor wireless communication technology interfering with concurrent data reception by the wireless communication device via a victim wireless communication technology; and reducing a bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology in response to the in-device interference condition.

Claims

1. A wireless communication device comprising:

a cellular communication interface that is configured to communicate using Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) technology;

a second communication interface that is configured to communicate using one or more of Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth technology; and

processing circuitry coupled to the cellular communication interface and to the second communication interface, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the wireless communication device to at least;

transmit data traffic via the cellular communication interface;

determine occurrence of an in-device interference condition resulting from transmission of the data traffic via the cellular communication interface interfering with concurrent data reception via the second communication interface; and

reduce a bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the cellular communication interface in response to the in-device interference condition.

2. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the wireless communication to reduce the bit rate of the data traffic at least in part by reducing a bit rate of data provided to a protocol stack for transmission via the cellular communication interface.

3. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to further control the wireless communication device to:

determine whether the in-device interference condition continues to persist following reducing the bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the cellular communication interface; and

further reduce the bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the cellular communication interface in an instance in which it is determined that the in-device interference condition continues to persist.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the data traffic transmitted via the cellular communication interface is grouped into a plurality of traffic classifications, each traffic classification having a respective priority, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the wireless communication to reduce the bit rate of the data traffic at least in part by first reducing a bit rate of a traffic classification having a lowest priority among the plurality of traffic classifications.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to further control the wireless communication device to:

determine whether the in-device interference condition continues to persist following reducing the bit rate of the traffic classification having the lowest priority; and

reduce a bit rate of a traffic classification having a second lowest priority among the plurality of traffic classifications in an instance in which it is determined that the in-device interference condition continues to persist.

6. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the data traffic transmitted via the cellular communication interface is initially encoded with a first codec, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the wireless communication device to reduce the bit rate of the data traffic at least in part by switching from using the first codec to using a second codec to encode the data traffic, the second codec having a lower bit rate than the first codec.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the wireless communication device to determine occurrence of the in-device interference condition based at least in part on a measurement reported by the second communication interface.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 7, wherein the measurement reported by the second communication interface comprises an indication of a received data error rate observed by the second communication interface.

9. The wireless communication device of claim 7, wherein the measurement reported by the second communication interface comprises an indication of a noise floor reported by the second communication interface.

10. A method for facilitating in-device coexistence between wireless communication technologies on a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

at the wireless communication device;

transmitting data traffic from the wireless communication device via an aggressor wireless communication technology, wherein the aggressor wireless communication technology is a cellular communication technology;

determining occurrence of an in-device interference condition resulting from transmission of the data traffic via the aggressor wireless communication technology interfering with concurrent data reception by the wireless communication device via a victim wireless communication technology, wherein the victim wireless communication technology is one of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and a wireless personal area network (WPAN) communication technology; and

reducing a bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology in response to the in-device interference condition.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein reducing the bit rate of the data traffic comprises reducing a bit rate of data provided to a protocol stack for transmission via the aggressor wireless communication technology.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether the in-device interference condition continues to persist following reducing the bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology; and

further reducing the bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology in an instance in which it is determined that the in-device interference condition continues to persist.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology is grouped into a plurality of traffic classifications, each traffic classification having a respective priority, and wherein reducing the bit rate of the data traffic comprises first reducing a bit rate of a traffic classification having a lowest priority among the plurality of traffic classifications.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining whether the in-device interference condition continues to persist following reducing the bit rate of the traffic classification having the lowest priority; and

reducing a bit rate of a traffic classification having a second lowest priority among the plurality of traffic classifications in an instance in which it is determined that the in-device interference condition continues to persist.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology is initially encoded with a first codec, and wherein reducing the bit rate of the data traffic comprises switching from using the first codec to using a second codec to encode the data traffic, the second codec having a lower bit rate than the first codec.

16. A computer program product for facilitating in-device coexistence between wireless communication technologies on a wireless communication device, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer program code stored thereon, the computer program code comprising:

program code for transmitting data traffic from the wireless communication device via an aggressor wireless communication technology;

program code for determining occurrence of an in-device interference condition resulting from transmission of the data traffic via the aggressor wireless communication technology interfering with concurrent data reception by the wireless communication device via a victim wireless communication technology; and

program code for reducing a bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology in response to the in-device interference condition.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the program code for reducing the bit rate of the data traffic comprises program code for reducing a bit rate of data provided to a protocol stack for transmission via the aggressor wireless communication technology.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

program code for determining whether the in-device interference condition continues to persist following reducing the bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology; and

program code for further reducing the bit rate of the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology in an instance in which it is determined that the in-device interference condition continues to persist.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the data traffic transmitted via the aggressor wireless communication technology is grouped into a plurality of traffic classifications, each traffic classification having a respective priority, and wherein the program code for reducing the bit rate of the data traffic comprises program code for first reducing a bit rate of a traffic classification having a lowest priority among the plurality of traffic classifications.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

program code for determining whether the in-device interference condition continues to persist following reducing the bit rate of the traffic classification having the lowest priority; and

program code for reducing a bit rate of a traffic classification having a second lowest priority among the plurality of traffic classifications in an instance in which it is determined that the in-device interference condition continues to persist.

21. (canceled)