Uplink Procedures For LTE/LTE-A Communication Systems With Unlicensed Spectrum

• US 20150049712A1
• Filed: 08/14/2014
• Published: 02/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Chen, Wanshi, Gaal, Peter, Malladi, Durga Prasad, Luo, Tao, Ji, Tingfang, Bhushan, Naga, Wei, Yongbin, Damnjanovic, Aleksandar
• Granted Patent: US 9,717,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0006 Assessment of spectral gaps suitable for allocating digitally modulated signals, e.g. for carrier allocation in cognitive radio for spectrum sharing between different networks H04W16/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/003 Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access

Abstract

Long term evolution (LTE)/LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) deployments with unlicensed spectrum leverage more efficient LTE communication aspects over unlicensed spectrum, such as over WIFI radio access technology. In order to accommodate such communications, various uplink procedures may be modified in order to handle communications between licensed and unlicensed spectrum with LTE/LTE-A deployments with unlicensed spectrum.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

generating, at a user equipment (UE), one or more uplink signals for transmission to a serving base station, wherein the UE is configured to transmit communication signals to the serving base station over at least an unlicensed spectrum and receive communication signals from the serving base station;

determining, by the UE, a non-clear channel assessment (non-CCA) subframe for transmission of at least one of the one or more uplink signals; and

transmitting, by the UE over an unlicensed band, the at least one of the one or more uplink signals in the non-CCA subframe.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the non-CCA subframe is associated with a duration and a periodicity, and a ratio between the duration and the periodicity is no more than 5%.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication signals received from the serving base station are orthogonal division multiple access (OFDMA) signals.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more uplink signals include at least one of:

a sounding reference signal (SRS);

a scheduling request (SR);

channel state information (CSI) feedback;

uplink discovery signals;

physical random access channel (PRACH);

or

physical uplink shared channel.

5. The method of claim 1, further including:

detecting, by the UE, a clear CCA in a CCA subframe; and

transmitting, by the UE, at least one other of the one or more uplink signals in the CCA subframe in response to detecting the clear CCA, wherein the transmitting occurs before expiration of a predetermined time from the detecting.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein an offset of the non-CCA subframe for transmitting the one or more uplink signals is a function of another offset of another non-CCA subframe for reception of one or more downlink signals from the serving base station.

7. The method of claim 4, further including:

receiving a downlink transmission in a non-CCA subframe from the serving base station, wherein the transmitting the at least one of the one or more uplink signals is in response to the receiving the downlink transmission.

8. The method of claim 1, further including:

determining a transmission state of the base station; and

determining whether to perform a re-transmission of at least one of the one or more uplink signals in response to the determined transmission state.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one of the one or more uplink signals is a random access request and the transmission state include at least one of:

a cleared-to-transmit state, or a non-cleared-to-transmit state, and in response to the transmission state, one of;

suspending re-transmission of the random access request when the transmission state indicates the base station is cleared of sending the random access response;

or

re-transmitting the random access request when the transmission state indicates the base station is no cleared of sending the random access response.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the transmission state includes:

monitoring, by the UE, for one or more reference signals transmitted by the base station;

determining a not-cleared-to-transmit transmission state when the UE fails to detect the one or more reference signals;

determining a cleared-to-transmit transmission state when the UE detects the one or more reference signals; and

determining a cleared-to-transmit transmission state when the UE detects a non-CCA subframe.

11. The method of claim 1, further including:

determining a first offset for a first non-CCA subframe; and

adjusting to a second offset, different from the first offset, for a second non-CCA subframe, in response to an idle duration between the first non-CCA subframe and the second non-CCA subframe wherein the idle duration at least meets a threshold duration.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one or more uplink signals includes a modified random access request, wherein the modified random access request is a function of an identifier of the UE.

13. The method of claim 12, further including receiving a modified random access response message, wherein the modified random access response message includes a first portion of information common to the UE and one or more additional UEs and one or more second portions of information, wherein each of the one or more second portions of information includes UE-specific information.

14. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

identifying, by a serving base station configured for communication over at least an unlicensed spectrum, a non-clear channel assessment (non-CCA) subframe for reception of at least one uplink signal; and

receiving, at the serving base station, over an unlicensed band one or more uplink signals from a user equipment (UE) in the non-CCA subframe.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration of the non-CCA subframe is associated with a duration and a periodicity, and a ratio between the duration and the periodicity is no more than 5%.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more uplink signals include at least one of:

a sounding reference signal (SRS);

a scheduling request (SR);

channel state information (CSI) feedback;

uplink discovery signals;

physical random access channel (PRACH);

or

physical uplink shared channel.

17. The method of claim 14, further including identifying an offset of the non-CCA subframe for at least one UE, where the offset is a function of another offset of another non-CCA subframe for transmitting one or more downlink signals from the serving base station.

18. The method of claim 14, further including:

determining a transmission state of the base station; and

determining whether or not to receive a re-transmission of at least one of the one or more uplink signals in response to the transmission state.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the one or more uplink signals is a random access request and the transmission state includes at least one of a cleared-to-transmit state, or a non-cleared-to-transmit state, and in response to the transmission state, determining one of:

suspending receiving of the re-transmitted random access request when the transmission state indicates the base station is cleared of sending the random access response;

or

receiving the re-transmitted random access request when the transmission state indicates the base station is not cleared of sending the random access response.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining the transmission state includes:

determining a not-cleared-to-transmit transmission state when the base station does not transmit one or more reference signals;

determining a cleared-to-transmit transmission state when the base station transmits one or more reference signals; and

determining a cleared-to-transmit transmission state when the base stations transmits in a non-CCA subframe.

21. The method of claim 14, further including:

determining a first offset for a first non-CCA subframe for the UE; and

adjusting to a second offset, different from the first offset, for a second non-CCA subframe, in response to an idle duration at the UE between the first non-CCA subframe and the second non-CCA subframe, wherein the idle duration at least meets a threshold duration.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more uplink signals include a modified random access request, wherein the modified random access request is a function of an identifier of the UE.

23. The method of claim 22, further including transmitting a modified random access response message, wherein the modified random access response message includes a first portion of information common to the UE and one or more additional UEs and one or more second portions of information, wherein each of the one or more second portions of information includes UE-specific information.

24. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor,

wherein the at least one processor is configured;

to generate, at a user equipment (UE), one or more uplink signals for transmission to a serving base station, wherein the UE is configured to transmit communication signals to the serving base station over at least an unlicensed spectrum and receive communication signals from the serving base station;

to determine, by the UE, a non-clear channel assessment (non-CCA) subframe for transmission of at least one of the one or more uplink signals; and

to transmit, by the UE over an unlicensed band, the at least one of the one or more uplink signals in the non-CCA subframe.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured:

to detect, by the UE, a clear CCA in a CCA subframe; and

to transmit, by the UE, at least one other of the one or more uplink signals in the CCA subframe in response to detecting the clear CCA, wherein the transmitting occurs before expiration of a predetermined time from the detecting.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein an offset of the non-CCA subframe for transmitting the one or more uplink signals is a function of another offset of another non-CCA subframe for reception of one or more downlink signals from the serving base station.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured:

to determine a transmission state of the base station; and

to determine whether to perform a re-transmission of at least one of the one or more uplink signals in response to the determined transmission state.

28. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor,

wherein the at least one processor is configured;

to identify, by a serving base station configured for communication over at least an unlicensed spectrum, a non-clear channel assessment (non-CCA) subframe for reception of at least one uplink signal; and

to receive, at the serving base station, over an unlicensed band one or more uplink signals from a user equipment (UE) in the non-CCA subframe.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor is further configured:

to identify an offset of the non-CCA subframe for at least one UE, where the offset is a function of another offset of another non-CCA subframe for transmitting one or more downlink signals from the serving base station.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor is further configured:

to determine a transmission state of the base station; and

to determine whether or not to receive a re-transmission of at least one of the one or more uplink signals in response to the transmission state.