SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL SCHEDULER FOR A LONG TERM EVOLUTION UNLICENSED NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

• US 20160037490A1
• Filed: 08/01/2014
• Published: 02/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pazhyannur, Rajesh S., Chandrasekhar, Vikram, Hedayat, Ahmadreza
• Granted Patent: US 9,516,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• 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 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance

Abstract

An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may determining, by a first communication device, whether one or more other communication devices are communicating wireless signals in a particular channel of an unlicensed band of the communication network; scheduling one or more Long Term Evolution Unlicensed (LTE-U) sub-frames within a frame schedule for a user equipment (UE) based, at least in part, on determining that one or more communication devices are communicating wireless signals in the particular channel; and communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE according to the frame schedule.

Claims

1. A method for a communication network comprising:

determining, by a first communication device, whether one or more other communication devices are communicating wireless signals in a particular channel of an unlicensed band of the communication network;

scheduling one or more Long Term Evolution Unlicensed (LTE-U) sub-frames within a frame schedule for a user equipment (UE) based, at least in part, on determining that one or more communication devices are communicating wireless signals in the particular channel; and

communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE according to the frame schedule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the frame schedule further includes one or more zero-power sub-frames.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more LTE-U sub-frames are LTE-U downlink frames for the UE.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes at least one of:

implementing physical carrier sense by the first communication device to detect wireless signals being transmitted by one or more other communication devices;

decoding, by the first communication device, Request to Send (RTS) and Clear to Send (CTS) frames being transmitted by one or more other communication devices; and

implementing virtual carrier sense by the first communication device to detect wireless signals being communicated by one or more other communication devices.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining is performed using a wireless receiver for a LTE-U Media Access Control (MAC) scheduler for the first communication device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the physical carrier sense includes a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) at one or more signal strength thresholds.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the virtual carrier sense includes decoding a Duration Field and a Network Allocation Vector being transmitted by the one or more other communication devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication devices is at least one of:

an LTE-U evolved Node B (eNodeB) including an LTE-U Media Access Control (MAC) scheduler, wherein the LTE-U eNodeB includes a wireless receiver and a wireless transmitter for the LTE-U MAC scheduler and includes an LTE MAC scheduler; and

an LTE-U Access Point (AP) including an LTE-U MAC scheduler, wherein the LTE-U AP includes a wireless receiver and a wireless transmitter for the LTE-U MAC scheduler.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the first communication device, Clear to Send-to-self (CTS-to-self) frames including a Duration Field and Network Allocation Vector (NAV) based on transmit opportunity (TXOP) prior to communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing, by the first communication device, one or more random back-off mechanisms to prohibit communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE including at least one of;

a distributed coordination function (DCF) back-off mechanism; and

an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) back-off mechanism.

11. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that include instructions for execution that, when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

determining, by a first communication device, whether one or more other communication devices are communicating wireless signals in a particular channel of an unlicensed band of a communication network;

scheduling one or more Long Term Evolution Unlicensed (LTE-U) sub-frames within a frame schedule for a user equipment (UE) based, at least in part, on determining that one or more communication devices are communicating wireless signals in the particular channel; and

communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE according to the frame schedule.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein the frame schedule further includes one or more zero-power sub-frames.

13. The media of claim 11, wherein the one or more LTE-U sub-frames are LTE-U downlink frames for the UE.

14. The media of claim 11, wherein the determining includes at least one of:

implementing physical carrier sense by the first communication device to detect wireless signals being transmitted by one or more other communication devices;

decoding, by the first communication device, Request to Send (RTS) and Clear to Send (CTS) frames being transmitted by one or more other communication devices; and

implementing virtual carrier sense by the first communication device to detect wireless signals being communicated by one or more other communication devices.

15. The media of claim 14, wherein the physical carrier sense includes a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) at one or more signal strength thresholds.

16. The media of claim 14, wherein the virtual carrier sense includes decoding a Duration Field and a Network Allocation Vector being transmitted by the one or more other communication devices.

17. The media of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

transmitting, by the first communication device, Clear to Send-to-self (CTS-to-self) frames including a corresponding Duration Field and Network Allocation Vector (NAV) based on transmit opportunity (TXOP) prior to communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a Long Term Evolution Unlicensed (LTE-U) Media Access Control (MAC) scheduler;

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured for;

determining, by a first communication device, whether one or more other communication devices are communicating wireless signals in a particular channel of an unlicensed band of a communication network;

scheduling one or more LTE-U sub-frames within a frame schedule for a user equipment (UE) based, at least in part, on determining that one or more communication devices are communicating wireless signals in the particular channel; and

communicating the one or more LTE-U sub-frames to the UE according to the frame schedule.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the determining includes at least one of:

implementing physical carrier sense by the first communication device to detect wireless signals being transmitted by one or more other communication devices;

decoding, by the first communication device, Request to Send (RTS) and Clear to Send (CTS) frames being transmitted by one or more other communication devices; and

implementing virtual carrier sense by the first communication device to detect wireless signals being communicated by one or more other communication devices.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first communication devices is at least one of:

an LTE-U evolved Node B (eNodeB) including the LTE-U MAC scheduler, wherein the LTE-U eNodeB includes a wireless receiver and a wireless transmitter for the LTE-U MAC scheduler and includes an LTE MAC scheduler; and

an LTE-U Access Point (AP) including the LTE-U MAC scheduler, wherein the LTE-U AP includes a wireless receiver and a wireless transmitter for the LTE-U MAC scheduler.