METHOD TO ENABLE WIRELESS OPERATION IN LICENSE EXEMPT SPECTRUM

• US 20150131536A1
• Filed: 12/06/2011
• Published: 05/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaur, Samian, Bala, Erdem, Deng, Tao, Vanganuru, Kiran K., Pietraski, Philip J., Terry, Stephen E., Yang, Rui, Sternberg, Gregory S., Castor, Douglas R., Pragada, Ravikumar V., Beluri, Mihaela C., Stern-Berkowitz, Janet A., Shah, Kandarp
• Granted Patent: US 10,051,624 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 27/2657 Carrier synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2662 Symbol synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• 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 5/0057 Physical resource allocation for CQI
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Described herein are methods to enable wireless cellular operation in unlicensed and lightly licensed, (collectively referred to as license exempt spectrum. Cognitive methods are used to enable use of unlicensed bands and/or secondary use of lightly licensed bands. Wireless devices may use licensed exempt spectrum as new bands in addition to the existing bands to transmit to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) in the downlink direction, or to a base station in the uplink direction. The wireless devices may access license exempt spectrum for bandwidth aggregation or relaying using a carrier aggregation framework. In particular, a primary component carrier operating in a licensed spectrum is used for control and connection establishment and a second component carrier operating in a licensed exempt spectrum is used for bandwidth extension.

Claims

1. A method for use in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising:

configuring the WTRU for component carrier operation;

configuring the WTRU with a primary component carrier for control and connection establishment, the primary component carrier operating in a licensed spectrum; and

configuring the WTRU with a second component carrier for bandwidth extension, the second component carrier operating in a licensed exempt spectrum,

wherein the second component carrier is a non-backward compatible component carrier,

wherein the primary component carrier provides the control for the second component carrier with respect to at least scheduling, synchronization, and feedback signaling.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein cross-carrier scheduling is used to schedule the second component carrier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a hybrid automatic repeat request is associated with the second component carrier.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving and buffering the second component carrier'"'"'s downlink shared channel information before a control channel information is completely decoded.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a schedule of the second component carrier is offset with respect to the primary component carrier, the offset being greater than a control channel duration.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein uplink and downlink communications are on different bands of the license exempt spectrum.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein uplink and downlink communications are time shared on a same band in the license exempt spectrum.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a measurement event for the second component carrier is triggered on entering a coverage area and the second component carrier is added to a configured set.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein synchronization information is derived separately by the licensed exempt transceiver using a preamble.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein timing and frequency synchronization is achieved using at least one of frame preamble, periodic beacons, or primary and secondary synchronization symbols.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a soft grant for the second component carrier, the soft grant being a transmission opportunity awaiting confirmation of license exempt spectrum availability.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending resource availability and control information for the license exempt spectrum on a uplink control channel.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the WTRU is enabled with an autonomous grant mode wherein the WTRU is configured to sense license exempt spectrum availability before a transmission time interval (TTI) and on a condition of license exempt spectrum availability, the WTRU is configured to send control information on a uplink control channel to the base station.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the WTRU along with other WTRUs with a sensing opportunity at a given TTI; and

transmitting at allocated TTIs on a condition of a positive sensing opportunity.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

semi-statically configuring the WTRU along with other WTRUs with resource blocks; and

transmitting on the resource blocks on a condition of a positive sensing opportunity.

2. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

18. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), comprising:

a processor configured to configure the WTRU for component carrier operation;

the processor configured to configure the WTRU with a primary component carrier for control and connection establishment, the primary component carrier operating in a licensed spectrum; and

the processor configured to configure the WTRU with a second component carrier for bandwidth extension, the second component carrier operating in a licensed exempt spectrum, wherein the second component carrier is a non-backward compatible component carrier and wherein the primary component carrier provides the control for the second component carrier with respect to at least scheduling, synchronization, and feedback signaling.

19. (canceled)

20. (canceled)