Grant-less Uplink Transmission For New Radio

• US 20170367110A1
• Filed: 06/15/2017
• Published: 12/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Convida Wireless LLC
• Inventors: Li, Qing, Zhang, Guodong, Adjakple, Pascal M., Iyer, Lakshmi R., Tsai, Allan Y., Zhang, Qian, Chen, Wei, Murray, Joseph M., Xu, Tianyi
• Granted Patent: US 10,631,319 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 of the information or information source or recipient
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance

Abstract

Current approaches to transmitting uplink data in a network often require resources to be granted. In an example, a node or apparatus may configure a plurality of devices to operate in a grant-less mode in accordance with a respective grant-less access allocation, such that, when the plurality of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted using frequency resources defined by the respective grant-less access allocation, and the plurality of devices transmit the messages without being granted access to transmit the messages, so as to operate in the grant-less mode.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and communication circuitry, the apparatus being connected to a network via its communication circuitry, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

configuring a plurality of devices to operate in a grant-less mode in accordance with a respective grant-less access allocation, such that, when the plurality of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted using frequency resources defined by the respective grant-less access allocation, and the plurality of devices transmit the messages without being granted access to transmit the messages, so as to operate in the grant-less mode.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices comprise a first set of devices and a second set of devices that have different operating requirements as compared to the first set of devices.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein configuring the plurality of devices further comprises:

configuring the first set of devices, such that, when the first set of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted within a first sub-band of the frequency resources; and

configuring the second set of devices, such that, when the second set of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted within a second subband of the frequency resources that is separate from the first subband.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein the first sub-band defines first slice of the network for a first type of device or service, and the second sub-band defines a second slice of the network for a second type of device or service that is different than the first type of device or service.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein configuring the plurality of devices further comprises:

configuring the first set of devices, such that, when the first set of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted within a first sub-band of the frequency resources; and

configuring the second set of devices, such that, when the second set of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted within the first sub-band of the frequency resources, and the messages are transmitted so as to have a higher priority than the messages transmitted by the first set of devices.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein the first set of devices are Ultra-high Reliability and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) devices, and the second set of devices are massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) devices.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein the first subband is shared by granted enhanced mobile broad band (mMBB) devices that are overriden by the URLLC devices whether there is a conflict between their respective message transmissions.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein configuring the plurality of devices further comprises:

configuring the first set of devices, such that, when the first set of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted within a first sub-band of the frequency resources, and within a second sub-band of the frequency resources, wherein the first set of devices share the first sub-band and the second sub-band with a third set of devices; and

configuring the second set of devices, such that, when the second set of devices transmit messages uplink in the network, the messages are transmitted within a guard band that is between the first sub-band and the second sub-band.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

obtaining context information associated with each of the plurality of devices; and

based, at least in part, on the context information, determining the respective grant-less allocation for which each device of the plurality of devices is configured.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the context information comprises at least one of a device type associated with each device, a service associated with each device, a latency requirement of each device, mobility associated with each device, a traffic type associated with each device, or a planned schedule of data transmissions from each device.

11. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and communication circuitry, the apparatus being connected to a network via its communication circuitry, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

sending a first access allocation signal to at least one device, wherein the first access allocation signal comprises a first access allocation scheme and an indication of a first dynamic access configuration time interval; and

receiving, from the at least one device, a first grant-less uplink transmission during the first dynamic access configuration time interval, the first grant-less uplink transmission sent in accordance with the first access allocation scheme.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

based on traffic associated with the at least one device, sending a second access allocation signal to the at least one device, wherein the second access allocation signal comprises a second access allocation scheme and an indication of a second dynamic access configuration interval that is different than the first dynamic access configuration time interval; and

receiving, from the at least one device, a second grant-less uplink transmission during the second dynamic access configuration time interval, the second grant-less uplink transmission sent in accordance with the second allocation scheme that is different than the first allocation scheme.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a request from the at least one device for the first dynamic access configuration time interval; and

sending the first allocation access signal to the at least one device in response to the request.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the first access allocation signal is periodically transmitted to a plurality of devices within a coverage area of the apparatus.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the first access allocation signal is sent over a first channel dedicated to access allocation signals or a second channel that is shared with other control signals.

16. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and communication circuitry, the apparatus being connected to a network via its communication circuitry, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a first dedicated contention area and a contention time interval;

without being granted specific resources for transmission, transmitting a message uplink in the network during the contention time interval and within the dedicated contention area.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 16, the operations further comprising:

receiving a negative acknowledgement; and

in response to the negative acknowledgement, re-transmitting the message uplink in the network during the contention time interval and within a second dedicated contention area.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 16, the operations further comprising:

waiting for a predetermined time; and

when the predetermined time elapses without receiving a positive acknowledgement, re-transmitting the message uplink in the network during the contention time interval and within a second dedicated contention area.