Opportunistic carrier aggregation using short range extension carriers
First Claim
1. A dual-mode base station, comprising:
- an enhanced NodeB (eNodeB), the eNodeB arranged to provide a primary cell (PCell) network; and
a short range extension carrier operably coupled to the eNodeB, the short range extension carrier arranged to provide a secondary cell (SCell) network;
wherein at least one of;
the eNodeB is a low power eNodeB and the short range extension carrier is co-located with the eNodeB,the eNodeB is a macrocell eNodeB and the SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier radio node co-located with a relay node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB, orthe SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier remote radio element radio node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB;
wherein a same network protocol is used for wireless network transmissions in each of the PCell and the SCell; and
wherein data communications are opportunistically offloaded from the PCell to the SCell.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for providing opportunistic carrier aggregation to short range or low power extension carriers are generally disclosed herein. One embodiment includes data traffic offload techniques to offload data communicated in a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) from a primary cell to a secondary cell. For example, the primary cell may be provided by a LTE/LTE-A base station operating in licensed spectrum, and the secondary cell may be provided by a low-power extension carrier operating in unlicensed spectrum using a LTE/LTE-A standard. The low-power extension carrier may be activated as needed to offload data transfers from the primary cell, in download-only, upload-only, and time-division LTE (TD-LTE) modes. Configurations involving multimode base stations, multimode user equipment (UE), relay extension carriers, and remote radio equipment are also described herein, in conjunction with deployment of opportunistic carrier aggregation using extension carriers.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A dual-mode base station, comprising:
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an enhanced NodeB (eNodeB), the eNodeB arranged to provide a primary cell (PCell) network; and a short range extension carrier operably coupled to the eNodeB, the short range extension carrier arranged to provide a secondary cell (SCell) network; wherein at least one of; the eNodeB is a low power eNodeB and the short range extension carrier is co-located with the eNodeB, the eNodeB is a macrocell eNodeB and the SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier radio node co-located with a relay node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB, or the SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier remote radio element radio node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB; wherein a same network protocol is used for wireless network transmissions in each of the PCell and the SCell; and wherein data communications are opportunistically offloaded from the PCell to the SCell. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for opportunistic carrier aggregation between a primary cell (PCell) wireless network and a secondary cell (SCell) wireless network, comprising:
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configuring a low power extension carrier (LPEC) to communicate one or more wireless transmissions via the SCell; activating the LPEC for the one or more wireless transmissions via the SCell; and offloading data communications from the PCell to the SCell using the one or more wireless transmissions; wherein a same network protocol is used to conduct the wireless transmissions in each of the PCell and the SCell, and wherein at least one of; the eNodeB is a low power eNodeB and the LPEC is co-located with the eNodeB, the eNodeB is a macrocell eNodeB and the SCell is provided by a LPEC radio node co-located with a relay node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB, or the SCell is provided by a LPEC remote radio element radio node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. User equipment comprising physical-layer circuitry arranged to implement opportunistic carrier aggregation, the physical-layer circuitry comprising:
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a primary network interface arranged to communicate with a PCell wireless network, the PCell provided by a primary carrier; a secondary network interface arranged to communicate with a SCell wireless network, the SCell provided on demand by a short range extension carrier; wherein at least one of; the primary carrier is a low power eNodeB and the short range extension carrier is co-located with the eNodeB, the primary carrier is a macrocell eNodeB and the SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier radio node co-located with a relay node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB or the primary carrier is an eNodeB and the SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier remote radio element radio node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB; wherein a same network protocol is used by the user equipment for wireless network communications with each of the PCell wireless network and SCell wireless network; and wherein data communications are opportunistically offloaded from the PCell to the SCell. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A system, comprising:
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a primary cell (PCell) network for communications with a plurality of wireless devices, the PCell provided by a base station; and a secondary cell (SCell) network for on-demand communications with the plurality of wireless devices, the SCell provided by a short range extension carrier controlled by the base station; wherein at least one of; the base station is a low power eNodeB and the short range extension carrier is co-located with the eNodeB, the base station is a macrocell eNodeB and the SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier radio node co-located with a relay node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB, or the base station an eNodeB and the SCell is provided by a low power extension carrier remote radio element radio node in communication with, and remote from, the eNodeB; wherein a same network protocol is used for wireless network transmissions in each of the PCell and SCell; and wherein data communications are opportunistically offloaded from the PCell to the SCell. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification