SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LTE ALLOCATION IN A SHARED UNLICENSED SPECTRUM

• US 20170332353A1
• Filed: 03/27/2017
• Published: 11/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Viorel, Dorin Gheorghe, Andreoli-Fang, Jennifer, Allanki, Neeharika
• Granted Patent: US 10,448,366 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria

Abstract

A method for allocating aggressive signal carriers in a target band of a wireless communication network is provided. The network includes at least one long term evolution (LTE) node and at least one non-LTE transmission source. The target band includes at least two adjacent pairs of contiguous radio frequency (RF) channels. The method includes steps of scanning each contiguous RF channel of the target band to measure a respective value of non-LTE RF energy therein, determining, from the measured non-LTE RF energy, that a first one of the contiguous RF channels is occupied by a non-LTE carrier, and allocating an LTE carrier to a second one of the contiguous RF channels, different than the first one of the contiguous RF channels, based on the determination.

Claims

1. A method for allocating aggressive signal carriers in a target band of a wireless communication network including at least one long term evolution (LTE) node and at least one non-LTE transmission source, the target including at least two adjacent pairs of contiguous radio frequency (RF) channels, the method comprising the steps of:

scanning each contiguous RF channel of the target band to measure a respective value of non-LTE RF energy therein;

determining, from the measured non-LTE RF energy, that a first one of the contiguous RF channels is occupied by a non-LTE carrier; and

allocating an LTE carrier to a second one of the contiguous RF channels, different than the first one of the contiguous RF channels, based on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the measured non-LTE RF energy represents one or more of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee transmissions from the non-LTE transmission source.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the LTE carrier is a license-assisted access (LAA) LTE transmission signal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first one of the contiguous RF channels resides in a first one of the at least two adjacent pairs, and the second one of the contiguous RF channels resides in a second one of the at least two adjacent pairs.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining further comprises a sub step of detecting that the remaining contiguous RF channel of the second one of the at least two adjacent pairs does not contain significant non-LTE RF energy.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of bonding the second one of the contiguous RF channels with the remaining contiguous RF channel within the second one of the at least two adjacent pairs to form an expanded RF channel.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of assigning the expanded RF channel a lower priority with respect to further channel allocation in the target band.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein in the step of allocating, the node schedules no more than half of the total available RF bandwidth of the target band to LTE carrier signals.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein in the step of scanning, non-LTE RF energy is measured in each of the contiguous RF channels, and wherein, in the step of allocating, the LTE carrier is assigned to a particular one of the contiguous RF channels exhibiting the lowest value of the measured RF energy.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-LTE transmission source utilizes an IEEE 802.11 protocol.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the target band is an unlicensed national information infrastructure (UNII) band.

12. The method of claim 11, the wherein the target band is UNII-1 or UNII-3.

13. A method for selecting an RF channel in a target band of a wireless communication network for allocation of at least one long term evolution (LTE) carrier, the method comprising the steps of:

scanning a first contiguous channel and a second contiguous channel of four contiguous RF channels in the target band;

scanning a third contiguous channel and a fourth contiguous channel of the four contiguous RF channels;

measuring RF channel power for each of the four contiguous RF channels;

comparing the measured RF channel power for each of the four contiguous RF channels; and

selecting a particular one of the four contiguous RF channels corresponding to the lowest measured RF channel power.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the measured RF channel power represents non-LTE energy.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the non-LTE energy one or more of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee transmissions from a non-LTE transmission source.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the non-LTE transmission source is a Wi-Fi access point.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of storing in a memory of an LTE node values representing the RF channel power measured for each of the four contiguous RF channels.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of comparing is performed by a processor of the LTE node.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the method is performed by an algorithm programmed into the processor of the LTE node.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein when both of the first and second contiguous channels are unoccupied, the LTE carrier is allocated to the first contiguous channel.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein when both of the third and fourth contiguous channels are unoccupied, the LTE carrier is allocated to the fourth contiguous channel.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein when all of the four contiguous RF channels are occupied, the LTE carrier is allocated to the least utilized channel of the four contiguous RF channels.

23. A wireless communications system operating in an unlicensed target band, comprising:

at least one long term evolution (LTE)-enabled node including a memory and a processor, and configured to wirelessly send and receive LTE carrier data to and from at least one user equipment; and

a first access point located within a transmission proximity of the at least one LTE-enabled node, and configured to wirelessly send and receive cooperative transmission data to and from at least cooperative technology device,

wherein the processor is further configured to measure the RF power in each carrier of a plurality of carriers in the target band, store values for the measured power in the memory, compare the stored power values, and select a one of the plurality of carriers corresponding to the lowest stored power value in the memory.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the access point comprises an IEEE 802.11 protocol Wi-Fi device.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the LTE carrier comprises a license-assisted access (LAA) LTE transmission signal.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the target band comprises an unlicensed national information infrastructure (UNIT) band.