LTE EMBMS SERVICE ENHANCEMENT

• US 20150180676A1
• Filed: 10/27/2014
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: BAO, Gang, WANG, Jun, ZHANG, Xiaoxia, WALKER, Gordon Kent
• Granted Patent: US 9,537,668 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0263 involving mapping traffic to individual bearers or channels, e.g. traffic flow template [TFT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0278 using buffer status reports dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/082 among bearers or channels
• 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 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/29 between an access point and the access point controlling device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided. The apparatus may be an MCE. The apparatus receives a plurality of channel status reports from respective eNBs. In an aspect, each channel status report includes channel information associated with a respective eNB for one of a plurality of channels in a contention based radio frequency band. The apparatus selects a channel for an eNB among the plurality of channels based on the plurality of channel status reports. In an aspect, the selected channel is available to be used for an eMBMS. The apparatus prompts the eNB to provide the eMBMS using the selected channel.

Claims

1. A method of communications, comprising:

receiving, by a multicast coordination entity (MCE), a plurality of channel status reports from respective eNodeBs (eNBs), wherein each channel status report includes channel information associated with a respective eNB for one of a plurality of channels in a contention based radio frequency band;

selecting a channel for an eNB among the plurality of channels based on the plurality of channel status reports, wherein the selected channel is available to be used for an evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (eMBMS); and

prompting the eNB to provide the eMBMS using the selected channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each channel status report includes information indicating whether the channel of the respective eNB is free from a wireless local area network (WLAN) transmission.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the channel of the respective eNB is free from the WLAN transmission if a WLAN signal strength of the channel is less than or equal to a first threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the channel comprises:

selecting a free channel that is free from the WLAN transmission based on the plurality of channel status reports; and

selecting a low load channel having a WLAN signal strength that is less than a second threshold if none of the respective eNBs have the free channel according to the plurality of channel status reports.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

prompting a user equipment (UE) to receive the eMBMS via at least one of a macro eMBMS channel or a unicast channel if none of the respective eNBs have the free channel or the low load channel.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting a user equipment (UE) via a primary component carrier (PCC) to reselect an eMBMS channel of the UE to correspond with the selected channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel for the eNB is selected to maximize a single frequency network (SFN) gain for the eMBMS.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the SFN gain is maximized for the eMBMS by at least one of minimizing a number of channels used for eMBMS or maximizing a number of consecutive eMBMS sites using the same channel.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

selecting two or more of the plurality of channels to receive the eMBMS via the two or more of the plurality of channels,

wherein a user equipment (UE) is configured to receive the eMBMS by combining data from two or more eMBMS channels of the UE corresponding with the two or more of the plurality of channels.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

periodically reselecting a channel for each eNB among the plurality of channels to receive the eMBMS according to at least one of a random pattern or a predefined pattern; and

prompting the eNB to provide the eMBMS using the reselected channel,

wherein the reselected channel is a free channel or a low load channel.

11. A method of communications, comprising:

determining, by a multicast coordination entity (MCE), whether content to be communicated using an evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (eMBMS) includes a delay quality of service (QoS) requirement, wherein the eMBMS is communicated within a channel in a contention based radio frequency band;

prompting an eNodeB (eNB) to communicate the content during a contention-free portion of a frame of the channel upon determining that the content includes the delay QoS requirement, wherein the channel is organized based on a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme in which the frame includes the contention-free portion and a contention portion of the frame;

or

prompting the eNB to communicate the content during the contention portion of the frame upon determining that the content does not include the delay QoS requirement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the eNB and other eNBs are synchronized in the same TDM pattern at the same channel.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

prompting the eNB to switch from the channel to a second channel if a WLAN load in the contention period for the channel is greater than a threshold, the second channel having a lower WLAN load than the channel.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the contention-free portion of the frame of the channel is a point coordination function (PCF) contention-free portion of the frame, and the contention portion of the frame of the channel is a distributed coordination function (DCF) contention-free portion of the frame.

15. An apparatus for wireless communication including a multicast coordination entity (MCE), comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

receive a plurality of channel status reports from respective eNodeBs (eNBs), wherein each channel status report includes channel information associated with a respective eNB for one of a plurality of channels in a contention based radio frequency band;

select a channel for an eNB among the plurality of channels based on the plurality of channel status reports, wherein the selected channel is available to be used for an evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (eMBMS); and

prompt the eNB to provide the eMBMS using the selected channel.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein each channel status report includes information indicating whether the channel of the respective eNB is free from a wireless local area network (WLAN) transmission.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the channel of the respective eNB is free from the WLAN transmission if a WLAN signal strength of the channel is less than or equal to a first threshold.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor configured to select the channel is configured to:

select a free channel that is free from the WLAN transmission based on the plurality of channel status reports; and

select a low load channel having a WLAN signal strength that is less than a second threshold if none of the respective eNBs have the free channel according to the plurality of channel status reports.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

prompt a user equipment (UE) to receive the eMBMS via at least one of a macro eMBMS channel or a unicast channel if none of the respective eNBs have the free channel or the low load channel.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

prompt a user equipment (UE) via a primary component carrier (PCC) to reselect an eMBMS channel of the UE to correspond with the selected channel.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the channel for the eNB is selected to maximize a single frequency network (SFN) gain for the eMBMS.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the SFN gain is maximized for the eMBMS by at least one of minimizing a number of channels used for eMBMS or maximizing a number of consecutive eMBMS sites using the same channel.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

select two or more of the plurality of channels to receive the eMBMS via the two or more of the plurality of channels,

wherein a user equipment (UE) is configured to receive the eMBMS by combining data from two or more eMBMS channels of the UE corresponding with the two or more of the plurality of channels.

24. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

periodically reselect a channel for each eNB among the plurality of channels to receive the eMBMS according to at least one of a random pattern or a predefined pattern; and

prompt the eNB to provide the eMBMS using the reselected channel,

wherein the reselected channel is a free channel or a low load channel.

25. An apparatus for wireless communication including a multicast coordination entity (MCE), comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

determine whether content to be communicated using an evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (eMBMS) includes a delay quality of service (QoS) requirement, wherein the eMBMS is communicated within a channel in a contention based radio frequency band; and

prompt an eNodeB (eNB) to communicate the content during a contention-free portion of a frame of the channel upon determining that the content includes the delay QoS requirement, wherein the channel is organized based on a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme in which the frame includes the contention-free portion and a contention portion of the frame; and

prompt the eNB to communicate the content during the contention portion of the frame upon determining that the content does not include the delay QoS requirement.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the eNB and other eNBs are synchronized in the same TDM pattern at the same channel.

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

prompt the eNB to switch from the channel to a second channel if a WLAN load in the contention period for the channel is greater than a threshold, the second channel having a lower WLAN load than the channel.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the contention-free portion of the frame of the channel is a point coordination function (PCF) contention-free portion of the frame, and the contention portion of the frame of the channel is a distributed coordination function (DCF) contention-free portion of the frame.