Backhaul assisted by user equipment

• US 9,413,502 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2013
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Partners II LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Tellado, Jose, Raleigh, Gregory G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rivas, Raul
• Application Number:
  US14/053,561
• Publication Number:
  US 20140105135A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15528 Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/247 where the output power of a terminal is based on a path parameter sent by another terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0473 the resource being transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for to assisting backhaul by user equipment are provided. One system includes a base station (BS) and a plurality of backhaul user equipment (bUE) devices. Each of the plurality of bUE devices are operable to communicate with the BS through a first communication technology, and the plurality of bUE devices are each operable to communicate with a data network through a second communication technology. The BS is operative to communicate with user equipment (UE) devices, and network connect the UE devices to the data network through the bUE devices, select bUE devices for backhaul (BH) traffic, aid in selecting a transmission power level of the bUE devices, or the one or more UE devices, and transmit resource block (RB) scheduling information for the BH traffic of the bUE devices and the access traffic of the one or more UE devices.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a base station (BS) operable to communicate directly with a first data network;

a plurality of backhaul user equipment (bUE) devices, each of the plurality of bUE devices operable to wirelessly communicate with the BS through at least a first communication technology, and the plurality of bUE devices each operable to communicate with a second data network through at least a second communication technology, wherein the second data network is different than the first data network;

the BS operative to;

wirelessly communicate with one or more user equipment (UE) devices, and network connect the one or more UE devices to the second data network through one or more of the plurality of bUE devices, or directly to the first data network though a third communication technology;

communicate backhaul (BH) traffic through a selectable one of to the second data network through the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices, and directly to the first data network, wherein the BH traffic comprises access traffic from the one or more UE devices;

aid in selecting a transmission power level of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices, and at least one of the one or more UE devices; and

transmit resource block (RB) scheduling information for the BH traffic of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices and the access traffic of at least one of the one or more UE devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of bUE devices wirelessly communicate with the BS over one or more of wireless communication technologies, wherein the one or more wireless communication technologies comprise at least one of WiFi, WiMax, 3G, 4G, LTE, Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), Wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA).

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more UE devices wirelessly communicate with the BS and the plurality of bUE devices wirelessly communicate with the BS utilizing a same wireless communication technology.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more UE devices wirelessly communicate with the BS, and the plurality of bUE devices wirelessly communicate with the BS utilizing the same wireless communication technology and a shared one or more frequency channels.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality bUE devices is at least one of associated with or a part of a small cell BS, wherein the small cell BS comprises client side modem functionality.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the BS is further operative to obtain one or more first parameters associated with the wireless communication between one or more of the plurality of bUE devices and the BS.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein a selection of the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices for the BH traffic is based on the first parameters.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more first parameters comprises one or more of a link quality, link quality statistics, link quality variation, path loss, fading, shadowing, Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR), Packet Error Rate (PER), received interference, interference generated to other devices, Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Channel State Information (CSI), Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI), single user or multiuser Multiple Input Multiple Output (SU-MIMO or MU-MIMO) information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the BS is further operative to obtain one or more second parameters associated with the second data network through at least the second communication technology.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein a selection of the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices for the BH traffic is based on the one or more second parameters.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more second parameters comprise one or more of a link quality, bandwidth, throughput, cost, latency, jitter, QoS, PER.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the access traffic associated with the one or more UE devices is classified into two or more data flows based on a data flow parameter and the selection of the one or more plurality of bUE devices for the BH traffic is based in part on the data flow parameter.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the BS operative to aid in selecting the transmission power level of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices, or the one or more UE devices is assisted by a signal transmitted by the BS.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein a resource block comprises a partition of a carrier or frequency channel for the wirelessly communicating.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the partition comprises one or more of a unit of time, a unit of frequency, a code.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication between the plurality of bUE devices and the BS is enhanced relative to the wireless communication between the BS and at least one of the one or more UE devices, wherein the enhanced wireless communication comprises one or more of better antenna gain, more antennas, outdoor installation, better processing power, better transmit or receive analog or digital performance, lower transmit power, higher or outdoor installation, improved link parameters, improved number of antennas.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising classifying and prioritizing the BH traffic based on the access traffic, and wherein the RB scheduling information for the BH traffic is based on the BH traffic prioritization.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising classifying and prioritizing the access traffic, wherein the RB scheduling information for the access traffic and the BH traffic is based on the access traffic prioritization and BH traffic prioritization.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein a bUE device selection of one or more of the plurality of bUE devices is based on one or more first parameters of the wireless communication between the bUE device and the BS or one or more second parameters of associated with the second data network through at least the second communication technology.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first parameter of the bUE device selection is based on a joint first parameter between at least two of the plurality of bUE devices.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the joint first parameter enables joint or simultaneous wireless communication on a shared resource block (RB) of at least two of the plurality of bUE devices.

22. The system of claim 1, further comprising selecting the plurality of bUE devices such that at least one of the one or more UE devices has an associated bUE, thereby enabling joint or simultaneous wireless communication over one or more shared resource blocks (RB).

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the joint wireless communication over the one or more shared RB comprises joint wireless communication utilizing one or more of communication separable in space, multilevel constellation, transmitter pre-coding or receiver separation.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the BS is one of a plurality of BSs, wherein the plurality of BSs are each assigned one or more frequency channels based on a soft frequency reuse (SFR) scheme with at least a low transmit power level and a high transmit power level, and wherein the plurality of bUE devices are assigned a resource block (RB) at the low transmit power level.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the BS is one of a plurality of BSs, wherein the plurality of BSs are each assigned one or more frequency channels based on a fractional frequency reuse (FFR) scheme and wherein the plurality of bUE devices are assigned a resource block (RB) having a higher frequency reuse than a resource block (RB) assigned to the one or more UE devices.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a first bUE device of the plurality of bUE devices transmits or receives access traffic associated with the first bUE.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein a first bUE device is dynamically added to or deleted from the plurality of bUE devices based on one or more first parameters associated with the wireless communication between the first bUE device and the BS or one or more second parameters associated with second data network through at least the second communication technology associated with the first bUE device.

28. A system comprising:

a base station (BS) operative to directly communication with a first data network;

a backhaul user equipment (bUE) device, the bUE devices operable to wirelessly communicate with the BS through at least a first communication technology, and the bUE device operable to communicate with a second data network through at least a second communication technology;

the BS operative to;

communicate with the first data network over at least a third communication technology;

wirelessly communicate with one or more user equipment (UE) devices, and network connect the one or more UE devices to the second data network through one or more of the plurality of bUE devices, or directly to the first data network through the third communication technology;

communicate backhaul (BH) traffic through a selectable one of to the second data network through the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices, and directly to the first data network, wherein the BH traffic comprises access traffic associated with the one or more UE devices;

aid in selecting a transmission power level of at least one of the bUE devices, and at least one of the one or more UE devices; and

transmit resource block (RB) scheduling information for the BH traffic of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices and the access traffic of at least one of the one or more UE devices.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the BS is further operative to obtain one or more third parameters associated with the first data network through at least the third communication technology.

30. A system comprising:

a base station (BS) operative to communicate directly with a first data network;

a plurality of backhaul user equipment (bUE) devices, each of the plurality of bUE devices operable to wirelessly communicate with the BS through at least a first communication technology, and the plurality of bUE devices each operable to communicate with a second data network through at least a second communication technology, wherein the second data network is different than the first data network;

the BS operative to;

communicate with the first data network through at least a third communication technology;

wirelessly communicate with one or more user equipment (UE) devices, and network connect the one or more UE devices to the first data network or the second data network through one or more of the plurality of bUE devices or the third communication technology;

communicate backhaul (BH) traffic through a selectable one of to the second data network through the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices, and directly to the first network through the third communication technology wherein the BH traffic comprises access traffic associated with the one or more UE devices;

aid in selecting a transmission power level of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices, and at least one of the one or more UE devices; and

transmit resource block (RB) scheduling information for the BH traffic of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices and the access traffic of at least one of the one or more UE devices.

31. A base station, comprising:

means for communicating directly with a first data network;

means for wirelessly communicating with each of a plurality of backhaul user equipment (bUE) devices through at least a first communication technology, wherein the plurality of bUE devices are each operable to communicate with a second data network through at least a second communication technology;

means for wirelessly communicating with one or more user equipment (UE) devices, and network connect the one or more UE devices to the second data network through one or more of the plurality of bUE devices or to the first data network through a third communication technology;

a controller operative to select one or more of the plurality of bUE devices for backhaul (BH) traffic to the second data network or the BS for BH traffic directly to the first data network, wherein the BH traffic comprises access traffic associated with the one or more UE devices;

the controller operative to aid in selecting a transmission power level of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices, and at least one of the one or more UE devices; and

means for transmitting resource block (RB) scheduling information for the BH traffic of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices and the access traffic of at least one of the one or more UE devices.

32. The BS of claim 31, wherein the one or more UE devices wirelessly communicate with the BS and the plurality of bUE devices wirelessly communicate with the BS utilizing a same wireless communication technology.

33. The BS of claim 31, wherein the controller of the BS is further operative to obtain one or more first parameters associated with the wireless communication between one or more of the plurality of bUE devices and the BS.

34. The BS of claim 33, wherein the selection of the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices for the BH traffic is based on the first parameters.

35. The BS of claim 31, wherein the controller of the BS is further operative to obtain one or more second parameters associated with the second data network through at least the second communication technology.

36. The BS of claim 35, wherein the selection of the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices for the BH traffic is based on the one or more second parameters.

37. The BS of claim 31, wherein the access traffic associated with the one or more UE devices is classified into two or more data flows based on a data flow parameter and the selection of the one or more plurality of bUE devices for the BH traffic is based in part on the data flow parameter.

38. The BS of claim 31, wherein the controller of the BS is further operative to classify and prioritize the BH traffic based on the access traffic, and wherein the RB scheduling information for the BH traffic is based on the BH traffic prioritization.

39. The BS of claim 31, wherein a bUE selection of one or more of the plurality of bUE devices is based on one or more first parameters of the wireless communication with the BS or one or more second parameters of the second communication technology.

40. A backhaul user equipment (bUE) device the bUE device operative to:

wirelessly communicate with a base station (BS);

communicate a second data network through at least a second communication technology;

wherein

the bUE device is one of a plurality of bUE devices, wherein each of the bUE devices is also operable to communicate with second data network;

the bUE further operative to;

be selected from the plurality of bUE devices for backhaul (BH) traffic to the second data network, wherein the BH traffic comprises access traffic associated with one or more UE devices;

receive from the BS a signal for aiding in selecting a transmission power level;

receive from the BS transmit resource block (RB) scheduling information for the BH traffic;

wherein

the BS wirelessly communicates with the one or more user equipment (UE) devices, and network connects the one or more UE devices to the second data network through one or more of the plurality of bUE devices or to a first data network through a third communication technology, wherein the first data network is different than the second data network.

41. The bUE device of claim 40, further operative to process a BH traffic header information based on the second data network through the at least a second communication technology.

42. The bUE device of claim 40, further operative to send or receive a traffic intended for the bUE, wherein the bUE selects between wirelessly communicating the traffic with the BS or communicating the traffic with the second data network through the at least second communication technology.

43. A method of providing backhaul, comprising:

wirelessly communicating, by at least one of a plurality of backhaul user equipment (bUE) devices, with a base station (BS) through at least a first communication technology;

communicating, by at least one of the plurality of bUE devices, with a second data network through at least a second communication technology;

wirelessly communicating, by the BS, with one or more user equipment (UE) devices, and network connecting the one or more UE devices to the a second data network through one or more of the plurality of bUE devices or to a first data network through a third communication technology, wherein the second data network is different than the first data network;

selecting, one or more of the plurality of bUE devices for backhaul (BH) traffic to the second data network or the BS for BH traffic to the first data network, wherein the BH traffic comprises access traffic associated with the one or more UE devices;

aiding, by the BS, in selecting a transmission power level of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices, or at least one of the one or more UE devices; and

transmitting, by the BS, resource block (RB) scheduling information for the BH traffic of at least one of the plurality of bUE devices and the access traffic of at least one of the one or more UE devices.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising obtaining one or more first parameters associated with the wireless communication between one or more of the plurality of bUE devices and the BS.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the selection of the one or more of the plurality of bUE devices for the BH traffic is based on the first parameters.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein a bUE selection of one or more of the plurality of bUE devices is based on one or more first parameters of the wireless communication with the BS or one or more second parameters of the second communication technology.