SEPARATION OF CONTROL AND DATA SUBBANDS IN UNLICENSED SPECTRUM

• US 20170064702A1
• Filed: 09/01/2015
• Published: 03/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gubeskys, Arthur, Li, Junyi, Touboul, Assaf, Wu, Xinzhou
• Granted Patent: US 10,129,870 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 74/0816 with collision avoidance

Abstract

A wireless device may identify a first subband in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate control traffic. The wireless device may identify a second subband in the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate data traffic. The first subband and the second subband may be different. The wireless device may reserve the first subband for a first duration of time for a plurality of wireless devices. The reservation may be based at least in part on an enhanced self-clear-to-send (self-CTS) transmitted over the first subband.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

identifying a first subband in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate control traffic and a second subband in the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate data traffic, wherein the first subband and the second subband are different; and

reserving the first subband for a first duration of time for a plurality of wireless devices, the reservation based at least in part on an enhanced self-clear-to-send (self-CTS) transmitted over the first subband.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving data traffic over the second subband during a second duration of time, wherein the second subband is reserved for the plurality of wireless devices for the second duration of time by a second enhanced self-CTS transmitted over the second subband.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting, over the first subband during the first duration of time, a subband assignment for the second subband, wherein the second enhanced self-CTS is based at least in part on the subband assignment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting data traffic over the second subband during a second duration of time, wherein the second subband is reserved for the plurality of wireless devices for the second duration of time by a second enhanced self-CTS transmitted over the second subband.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, over the first subband during the first duration of time, a subband assignment for the second subband, wherein the second enhanced self-CTS is based at least in part on the subband assignment.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving control traffic over the first subband by at least one of the plurality of wireless devices during the first duration of time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting control traffic over the first subband by at least one of the plurality of wireless devices during the first duration of time.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein transmitting the control traffic comprises:

transmitting the control traffic according to a random access scheme or a pre-determined round robin time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein reserving the first subband for the first duration of time for the plurality of wireless devices comprises:

transmitting the enhanced self-CTS from a wireless device associated with control traffic transmitted over the first subband during the first duration of time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein reserving the first subband for the first duration of time for the plurality of wireless devices comprises:

transmitting the enhanced self-CTS from a central coordinator unassociated with control traffic transmitted over the first subband during the first duration of time.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving control traffic over the first subband by at least one of the plurality of wireless devices during the first duration of time, wherein the control traffic comprises at least one of a traffic request or a channel quality indicator (CQI) report.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the enhanced self-CTS comprises a network identifier (ID) that corresponds to a network with which the plurality of wireless devices belong.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subband is lower in frequency than the second subband and comprises a smaller bandwidth than the second subband.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subband comprises a frequency that is in a sub 1 GHz range and the second subband comprises a frequency that is in a 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band, and a bandwidth of the second subband is at least ten times larger than the first subband.

15. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to;

identify a first subband in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate control traffic and a second subband in the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate data traffic, wherein the first subband and the second subband are different; and

reserve the first subband for a first duration of time for a plurality of wireless devices, the reservation based at least in part on an enhanced self-clear-to-send (self-CTS) transmitted over the first subband.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to:

receive data traffic over the second subband during a second duration of time, wherein the second subband is reserved for the plurality of wireless devices for the second duration of time by a second enhanced self-CTS transmitted over the second subband.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to:

transmit, over the first subband during the first duration of time, a subband assignment for the second subband, wherein the second enhanced self-CTS is based at least in part on the subband assignment.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to:

transmit data traffic over the second subband during a second duration of time, wherein the second subband is reserved for the plurality of wireless devices for the second duration of time by a second enhanced self-CTS transmitted over the second subband.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to:

receive, over the first subband during the first duration of time, a subband assignment for the second subband, wherein the second enhanced self-CTS is based at least in part on the subband assignment.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to:

receive control traffic over the first subband by at least one of the plurality of wireless devices during the first duration of time.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the apparatus to:

transmit control traffic over the first subband by at least one of the plurality of wireless devices during the first duration of time.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein transmitting the control traffic comprises:

transmitting the control traffic according to a random access scheme or a pre-determined round robin time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme.

23. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein reserving the first subband for the first duration of time for the plurality of wireless devices comprises:

transmitting the enhanced self-CTS from a wireless device associated with control traffic transmitted over the first subband during the first duration of time.

24. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for identifying a first subband in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate control traffic and a second subband in the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate data traffic, wherein the first subband and the second subband are different; and

means for reserving the first subband for a first duration of time for a plurality of wireless devices, the reservation based at least in part on an enhanced self-clear-to-send (self-CTS) transmitted over the first subband.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

means for receiving data traffic over the second subband during a second duration of time, wherein the second subband is reserved for the plurality of wireless devices for the second duration of time by a second enhanced self-CTS transmitted over the second subband.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising:

means for transmitting, over the first subband during the first duration of time, a subband assignment for the second subband, wherein the second enhanced self-CTS is based at least in part on the subband assignment.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

means for transmitting data traffic over the second subband during a second duration of time, wherein the second subband is reserved for the plurality of wireless devices for the second duration of time by a second enhanced self-CTS transmitted over the second subband.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

means for receiving, over the first subband during the first duration of time, a subband assignment for the second subband, wherein the second enhanced self-CTS is based at least in part on the subband assignment.

29. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

means for receiving control traffic over the first subband by at least one of the plurality of wireless devices during the first duration of time.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable to:

identify a first subband in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate control traffic and a second subband in the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band used to communicate data traffic, wherein the first subband and the second subband are different; and

reserve the first subband for a first duration of time for a plurality of wireless devices, the reservation based at least in part on an enhanced self-clear-to-send (self-CTS) transmitted over the first subband.