SYNCHRONIZING PEER-TO-PEER OPERATION FOR OUTSIDE NETWORK COVERAGE AND PARTIAL NETWORK COVERAGE USING LTE AIR INTERFACE

• US 20160286508A1
• Filed: 06/08/2016
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Shilov, Mikhail A., Khoryaev, Alexey, Panteleev, Sergey, Chatterjee, Debdeep
• Granted Patent: US 9,686,055 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 15/00 Suppression or limitation of noise or interference by means associated with receiver H04B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/00 Orthogonal multiplex systems, e.g. using WALSH codesH04J13/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0005 Time-frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/00 Access restriction access security to prevent unauthorised access H04W12/08; Network selection; Access point selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/002 Mutual synchronization
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/044 based on the type of the allocated resource
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) enables synchronous peer-to-peer communication between devices for out of network coverage and partial network coverage scenarios. The UE performs a synchronization procedure and selects a spectrum resource within an uplink (UL) spectrum for device-to-device (D2D) communication. The UE, representing a synchronization source, generates timing information and synchronization signals for synchronizing a group of wireless communication devices (peer UEs) with the UE in a local synchronization area. The UE transmits, in selected or pre-allocated time or frequency resources, a synchronization signal including the timing information in order to synchronize devices in the local synchronization area.

Claims

1. An apparatus to:

select a portion of an uplink (UL) frame, used by a first User Equipment (UE), to establish a direct communication (D2D) between the first UE and one or more second UEs;

generate timing information and synchronization source type information, wherein the timing information is used to synchronize the one or more second UEs with the first UE; and

transmit a synchronization signal comprising the timing information, wherein the timing information is included in the portion of the UL frame used by the first UE,

wherein the first UE is to act as a reference source in a local synchronization area.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to transmit the synchronization signal at a first timing instance, which is independent of synchronization information derived from the one or more second UEs.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further configured to configure the first UE to act as a synchronization source based on the synchronization source type information configured in the synchronization signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the portion of the UL frame used by the first UE comprises a logical frequency subchannel associated with multiple physical resource blocks (PRBs) configured for frequency divisional multiplexing.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to receive, from the one or more second UEs, a signal indicating detection of a third UE outside of the local synchronization area, and to configure a selected one of the one or more second UEs to extend the local synchronization area by retransmitting the synchronization signal, wherein the first UE becomes an independent synchronization source and the selected one of the one or more second UEs becomes a regional synchronization source that depends from deriving synchronization from the first UE.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to receive, from the one or more second UEs, a signal indicating detection of a second wireless communication device outside of the local synchronization area, and that the one or more second UEs autonomously extends the local synchronization area by retransmitting the synchronization signal, wherein the first UE becomes an independent synchronization source and the one or more second UEs becomes a regional synchronization source that depends from deriving synchronization from the first UE.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to:

receive, from one or more second UEs, a request to change the selected portion of the UL frame to a different subchannel, timeslot, or subframe to avoid interference with a remote synchronization area that at least partially overlaps with the local synchronization area; and

in response to the request, change transmission of the synchronization signal to the different subchannel, timeslot, or subframe.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to:

determine interference with a remote synchronization area that at least partially overlaps with the local synchronization area; and

in response to the interference, autonomously change transmission of the synchronization signal to a different subchannel, timeslot or subframe.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first UE is a first peer radio head configured as a first reference source in the local synchronization area, and wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

detect entry of a second peer radio head into the local synchronization area, the second peer radio head configured as a second reference source in a remote synchronization area; and

synchronize with the second radio head to establish a common reference source for the local synchronization area and the remote synchronization area.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further configured to:

receive, in a different subchannel of the UL subframe, timeslot or subframe, synchronization information from the second peer radio head; and

derive, based on the synchronization information from the second peer radio head, the timing information for synchronizing the group of wireless communication devices in the local synchronization area.

11. A User Equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry, the processing circuitry to:

select a portion of a Up Link (UL) frame, used by the UE, to establish a direct communication (D2D) between the UE and one or more other UEs;

generate timing information and synchronization source type information, wherein the timing information is used to synchronize the one or more other UEs with the UE; and

transmit a synchronization signal comprising the timing information, wherein the timing information is included in the portion of the UL frame used by the UE, and

wherein the UE is to act as a reference source in a local synchronization area.

12. The UE of claim 11, the processing circuitry further configured to transmit the synchronization signal at a first timing instance, which is independent of synchronization information derived from the one or more other UEs.

13. The UE of claim 12, the processing circuitry further configured to configure the UE to act as a synchronization source based on the synchronization source type information configured in the synchronization signal.

14. The UE of claim 11, wherein the portion of the UL frame used by the UE comprises a logical frequency subchannel associated with multiple physical resource blocks (PRBs) configured for frequency divisional multiplexing.

15. The UE of claim 11, the processing circuitry further configured to receive, from the one or more other UEs, a signal indicating detection of a wireless device outside of the local synchronization area, and to configure a selected one of the one or more other UEs to extend the local synchronization area by retransmitting the synchronization signal, wherein the UE becomes an independent synchronization source and the selected one of the one or more other UEs becomes a regional synchronization source that depends from deriving synchronization from the U E.

16. The UE of claim 11, the processing circuitry further configured to receive, from the one or more other UEs, a signal indicating detection of a wireless communication device outside of the local synchronization area, and that the one or more other UEs autonomously extends the local synchronization area by retransmitting the synchronization signal, wherein the UE becomes an independent synchronization source and the one or more other UEs becomes a regional synchronization source that depends from deriving synchronization from the UE.

17. The UE of claim 11, the processing circuitry further configured to:

receive, from one or more other UEs, a request to change the selected portion of the UL frame to a different subchannel, timeslot, or subframe to avoid interference with a remote synchronization area that at least partially overlaps with the local synchronization area; and

in response to the request, change transmission of the synchronization signal to the different subchannel, timeslot, or subframe.

18. The UE of claim 11, the processing circuitry further configured to:

determine interference with a remote synchronization area that at least partially overlaps with the local synchronization area; and

in response to the interference, autonomously change transmission of the synchronization signal to a different subchannel, timeslot or subframe.

19. The UE of claim 11, wherein the UE is a first peer radio head configured as a first reference source in the local synchronization area, and the processing circuitry further configured to:

detect entry of a second peer radio head into the local synchronization area, the second peer radio head configured as a second reference source in a remote synchronization area; and

synchronize with the second radio head to establish a common reference source for the local synchronization area and the remote synchronization area.

20. The UE of claim 19, the processing circuitry further configured to:

receive, in a different subchannel of the UL subframe, timeslot or subframe, synchronization information from the second peer radio head; and

derive, based on the synchronization information from the second peer radio head, the timing information for synchronizing the group of wireless communication devices in the local synchronization area.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

selecting a portion of a Up Link (UL) frame, used by the UE, to establish a direct communication (D2D) between the UE and one or more other UEs;

generating timing information and synchronization source type information, wherein the timing information is used to synchronize the one or more other UEs with the UE; and

transmitting synchronization signal comprising the timing information, wherein the timing information is included in the portion of the UL frame used by the UE,

wherein the UE is to act as a reference source in a local synchronization area.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising transmitting the synchronization signal at a first timing instance, which is independent of a synchronization information derived from the one or more other UEs.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising configuring the UE to act as a synchronization source based on the synchronization source type information configured in the synchronization signal.