Method and apparatus to facilitate support for multi-radio coexistence

• US 8,451,776 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2010
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Dayal, Pranav, Mantravadi, Ashok, Kadous, Tamer Adel, Agashe, Parag Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): CHO, HONG SOL
• Application Number:
  US12/851,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20110243047A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: 370328-331, 370/338
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A method includes identifying coexistence issues among radios in a User Equipment (UE). The method also includes submitting a message to a base station that requests reconfiguring of a timing schedule of a first one of the supported radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the supported radios. The inactive periods provide operating periods for at least a second one of the supported radios. The inactive periods may be measurement gaps.

Claims

1. A method for use in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

identifying coexistence issues among a plurality of radios in a User Equipment (UE); and

submitting a first message to a base station that affects reconfiguration of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios, in which the first message requests at least one parameter to reconfigure the timing schedule, the at least one parameter configuring the first one of the radios to refrain from sending a Scheduling Request (SR) or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) message outside of an onDuration.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the inactivity periods comprise a measurement gap.

3. The method of claim 2, in which the first message configures the measurement gap to have a total length substantially similar to a length of non-measurement gap time.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the at least one parameter configures the first one of the radios so that a starting subframe offset for the onDuration coincides with a Scheduling Request (SR) opportunity.

5. The method of claim 1, in which the submitting comprises providing a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration request message to the base station when a long term evolution (LTE) transfer is ongoing and communications on a wireless personal area network or wireless local area network (WLAN) become active.

6. The method of claim 1, in which the submitting comprises providing a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection request message to the base station when a wireless personal area network or wireless local area network (WLAN) communication is ongoing and a long term evolution (LTE) session becomes active.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising submitting a release indication message for at least one previously requested parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, in which the first message requests at least one parameter to configure a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mode.

9. The method of claim 8 in which the request for configuration of the DRX mode includes a request for the DRX mode to include substantially no inactivity timer and substantially no retransmission timer.

10. The method of claim 8 in which the request for configuration of the DRX mode includes a request for the DRX mode to include an inactivity timer that is a specified portion of a length of the onDuration.

11. The method of claim 8 in which the request for configuration of the DRX mode includes a request for the DRX mode to include the onDuration and an inactivity timer that have a total length a specified portion of a DRX cycle.

12. The method of claim 8 in which the request for configuration of the DRX mode includes a request for the DRX mode to disable short DRX cycles.

13. The method of claim 8 in which the request for configuration of the DRX mode includes a request for the DRX mode such that when a negative acknowledgment (NACK) is received by the UE in any of a last four subframes of the onDuration, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) transmission is considered as terminated in error by the UE and the base station.

14. A User Equipment (UE) for use in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured;

to identify coexistence issues among a plurality of radios in a User Equipment (UE); and

to submit a first message to a base station that affects reconfiguration of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios, in which the first message requests at least one parameter to reconfigure the timing schedule, the at least one parameter configuring the first one of the radios to refrain from sending a Scheduling Request (SR) or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) message outside of an onDuration.

15. A computer readable medium tangibly storing program code, comprising:

code to identify coexistence issues among a plurality of radios in a User Equipment (UE); and

code to submit a first message to a base station that affects reconfiguration of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios, in which the first message requests at least one parameter to reconfigure the timing schedule the at least one parameter configuring the first one of the radios to refrain from sending a Scheduling Request (SR) or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) message outside of an onDuration.

16. A wireless communication system, comprising:

means for identifying coexistence issues among a plurality of radios in a User Equipment (UE); and

means for submitting a first message to a base station that affects reconfiguration of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios, in which the first message requests at least one parameter to reconfigure the timing schedule, the at least one parameter configuring the first one of the radios to refrain from sending a Scheduling Request (SR) or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) message outside of an onDuration.

17. A method for communicating in a wireless communication system the method comprising:

receiving a coexistence indication message from a user equipment (UE) having a plurality of radios, the coexistence indication message indicating a coexistence issue for at least one of the radios of the UE and including a request for a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode;

receiving a request message from the UE, the request message requesting reconfiguring of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods of the first one of the radios providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios;

providing periods of inactivity for at least one of the radios of the UE, associated with the coexistence issue, in response to receiving the coexistence indication message;

identifying a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timeline associated with the UE; and

granting the request by configuring the timing schedule, the granting comprising abstaining from providing downlink grants to the UE past an onDuration corresponding to the DRX timeline.

18. The method of claim 17, in which the granting further comprises abstaining from providing retransmissions to the UE past the onDuration corresponding to the DRX timeline.

19. The method of claim 17, in which the receiving the request message comprises receiving a Scheduling Request (SR) from the UE during the onDuration, and in which the granting comprises providing a grant of the SR to the UE within the onDuration.

20. The method of claim 17 in which the request is granted upon determining a set of resources utilized by the UE is associated with the coexistence issue.

21. The method of claim 17 in which the granting comprises configuring a measurement gap pattern.

22. The method of claim 21 in which the configured measurement gap pattern has measurement gaps having a total length substantially similar to a length of non-measurement gap times.

23. A method for communicating in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a coexistence indication message from a user equipment (UE) having a plurality of radios, the coexistence indication message indicating a coexistence issue for at least one of the radios of the UE and including a request for a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode;

receiving a request message from the UE, the request message requesting reconfiguring of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods of the first one of the radios providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios;

providing periods of inactivity for at least one of the radios of the UE, associated with the coexistence issue, in response to receiving the coexistence indication message;

identifying a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timeline associated with the UE; and

granting request by configuring the timing schedule, in which the granting comprises abstaining from providing uplink grants to the UE past an onDuration corresponding to the DRX timeline.

24. The method of claim 23, in which the granting comprises abstaining from providing uplink grants to the UE past a time period defined by a predefined number of subframes preceding an end of the onDuration corresponding to the DRX timeline.

25. The method of claim 23, in which the reconfiguration configures the first one of the radios so that a starting subframe offset for the onDuration coincides with a Scheduling Request (SR) opportunity.

26. A wireless communication system, comprising:

means for receiving a coexistence indication message from a user equipment (UE) having a plurality of radios, the coexistence indication message indicating a coexistence issue for at least one of the radios of the UE and including a request for a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode;

means for receiving a request message from the UE the request message requesting reconfiguring of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods of the first one of the radios providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios;

means for providing periods of inactivity for at least one of the radios of the UE, associated with the coexistence issue, in response to receiving the coexistence indication message;

means for identifying a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timeline associated with the UE; and

means for granting the request by configuring the timing schedule, in which the means for granting comprises means for abstaining from providing downlink grants to the UE past an onDuration corresponding to the DRX timeline.

27. A base station or use in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured;

to receive a coexistence indication message from a user equipment (UE) having a plurality of radios, the coexistence indication message indicating a coexistence issue for at least one of the radios of the UE and including a request for a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode;

to receive a request message from the UE, the request message requesting reconfiguring of a timing schedule of a first one of the radios to provide for periods of inactivity of the first one of the radios, the inactivity periods of the first one of the radios providing operating periods for at least a second one of the radios;

to provide periods of inactivity for at least one of the radios of the UE, associated with the coexistence issue, in response to receiving the coexistence indication message;

to identify a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timeline associated with the UE; and

to grant the request by configuring the timing schedule by abstaining from providing uplink grants to the UE past an onDuration corresponding to the DRX timeline.