Apparatus and method of sharing a transmit chain in wireless communications

• US 9,445,417 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Hsu, Liangchi, Kanamarlapudi, Sitaramanjaneyulu, Saladi, Valibabu
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAMPTON, TARELL A
• Application Number:
  US14/470,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20150289266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1685 the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1893 Physical mapping arrangements physical resource mapping in general H04L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/36 by user or terminal equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• 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

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a user equipment (UE) that can maintain active connections on multiple wireless communication networks. The UE shares a transmission resource when transmitting (TX) on a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT in a time-division manual. During TX sharing, the UE provide uplink recovery and protection to one of the RATs.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication operable at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

transmitting, at a user equipment (UE), a first uplink transmission for a first radio access technology (RAT) utilizing a shared transmission resource of the UE, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises at least one of a signaling radio bearer (SRB) or a data radio bearer (DRB);

transmitting, at the UE, a second uplink transmission for a second RAT utilizing the shared transmission resource; and

if the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission at least partially overlap in time, protecting the first uplink transmission in accordance with one or more radio bearer protection rules, comprising;

protecting the SRB by setting a priority of the SRB based on a time-sensitivity and criticality of the SRB, and

protecting the DRB by utilizing opportunistic protection without considering a timing of the second uplink transmission.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises at least one of:

setting a blanking duty cycle of the SRB based on a transmission time interval (TTI) of the SRB;

or

protecting the DRB by utilizing deterministic protection based on a timing of the second uplink transmission.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by deterministic protection, comprising:

holding off upcoming transmission or protocol data unit (PDU) building of the DRB based on a timing of the second uplink transmission, or

increasing a priority of the upcoming transmission of the DRB without considering a timing of the second uplink transmission.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, comprising:

reducing a duty cycle of the first uplink transmission, wherein the first uplink transmission has a higher priority in an ON cycle relative to that of an OFF cycle of the duty cycle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, comprising:

reducing an Enhanced Transport Format Combination Indicator (E-TFCI) in accordance with a reduction factor,

wherein the reduction factor is based on at least one of;

a blanking percentage within a transmission time interval (TTI) of the first uplink transmission, or

a statistical blanking percentage of the first uplink transmission.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, comprising:

in response to a transmission failure of the first uplink transmission, increasing a power gain factor of a retransmission of the first uplink transmission.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, comprising:

if the first uplink transmission comprises time-sensitive data traffic, increasing a priority of the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by at least one of:

in response to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission exhaustion, expediting failure recovery of the first uplink transmission by triggering radio link control (RLC) polling;

prioritizing a High Speed-Dedicated Physical Control Channel (HS-DPCCH) of the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, based on the presence of at least one of a HARQ acknowledgement, a HARQ not-acknowledgement, or a channel quality indicator (CQI) in the HS-DPCCH;

prioritizing the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, if enhanced uplink (EUL) Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC) Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) operation is enabled;

prioritizing the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, if the first uplink transmission comprises an acknowledgement to High Speed Signaling Control Channel (HS-SCCH) orders to a network;

or

prioritizing the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, if the first uplink transmission comprises Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) establishment traffic.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by increasing a CQI feedback cycle of the HS-DPCCH.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the protecting the first uplink transmission comprises protecting the DRB by increasing a power gain factor of the HS-DPCCH.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising protecting the second uplink transmission based on voice activity of the second uplink transmission to reduce blanking of the second uplink transmission.

12. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

a first radio access technology block configured to transmit a first uplink transmission for a first radio access technology (RAT) utilizing a shared transmission resource of the UE, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises at least one of a signaling radio bearer (SRB) or a data radio bearer (DRB);

a second radio access technology block configured to transmit a second uplink transmission for a second RAT utilizing the shared transmission resource; and

a TX sharing manager block configured to if the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission at least partially overlap in time, protect the first uplink transmission in accordance with one or more radio bearer protection rules, comprising;

protecting the SRB by setting a priority of the SRB based on a time-sensitivity and criticality of the SRB, and

protecting the DRB by utilizing opportunistic protection without considering a timing of the second uplink transmission.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block is configured to at least one of:

set a blanking duty cycle of the SRB based on a transmission time interval (TTI) of the SRB;

or

protect the DRB by utilizing deterministic protection based on a timing of the second uplink transmission.

14. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block comprises a DRB protection block for protecting the DRB by deterministic protection, and the DRB protection block is configured to:

hold off upcoming transmission or protocol data unit (PDU) building of the DRB based on a timing of the second uplink transmission, or

increase a priority of the upcoming transmission of the DRB without considering a timing of the second uplink transmission.

15. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block comprises a DRB protection block for protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, and the DRB protection block is configured to:

reduce a duty cycle of the first uplink transmission, wherein the first uplink transmission has a higher priority in an ON cycle relative to that of an OFF cycle of the duty cycle.

16. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block comprises a DRB protection block for protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, and the DRB protection block is configured to:

reduce an Enhanced Transport Format Combination Indicator (E-TFCI) in accordance with a reduction factor,

wherein the reduction factor is based on at least one of;

a blanking percentage within a transmission time interval (TTI) of the first uplink transmission, or

a statistical blanking percentage of the first uplink transmission.

17. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block comprises a DRB protection block for protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, and the DRB protection block is configured to:

in response to a transmission failure of the first uplink transmission, increase a power gain factor of a retransmission of the first uplink transmission.

18. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block comprises a DRB protection block for protecting the DRB by opportunistic protection, and the DRB protection block is configured to:

if the first uplink transmission comprises time-sensitive data traffic, increase a priority of the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission.

19. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block comprises a DRB protection block for protecting the DRB, and the DRB protection block is configured to at least one of:

in response to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission exhaustion, expedite failure recovery of the first uplink transmission by triggering radio link control (RLC) polling;

prioritize a High Speed-Dedicated Physical Control Channel (HS-DPCCH) of the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, based on the presence of at least one of a HARQ acknowledgement, a HARQ not-acknowledgement, or a channel quality indicator (CQI) in the HS-DPCCH;

prioritize the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, if enhanced uplink (EUL) Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC) Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) operation is enabled;

prioritize the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, if the first uplink transmission comprises an acknowledgement to High Speed Signaling Control Channel (HS-SCCH) orders to a network;

or

prioritize the first uplink transmission relative to the second uplink transmission, if the first uplink transmission comprises Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) establishment traffic.

20. The UE of claim 19, wherein the DRB protection block is further configured to increase a CQI feedback cycle of the HS-DPCCH.

21. The UE of claim 19, wherein the DRB protection block is further configured to protect the DRB by increasing a power gain factor of the HS-DPCCH.

22. The UE of claim 12, wherein the TX sharing manager block is configured to protect the second uplink transmission based on voice activity of the second uplink transmission to reduce blanking of the second uplink transmission.

23. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

means for transmitting a first uplink transmission for a first radio access technology (RAT) utilizing a shared transmission resource of the UE, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises at least one of a signaling radio bearer (SRB) or a data radio bearer (DRB);

means for transmitting a second uplink transmission for a second RAT utilizing the shared transmission resource; and

means for if the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission at least partially overlap in time, protecting the first uplink transmission in accordance with one or more radio bearer protection rules, comprising;

protecting the SRB by setting a priority of the SRB based on a time-sensitivity and criticality of the SRB, and

protecting the DRB by utilizing opportunistic protection without considering a timing of the second uplink transmission.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code for causing a user equipment (UE) to:

transmit a first uplink transmission for a first radio access technology (RAT) utilizing a shared transmission resource of the UE, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises at least one of a signaling radio bearer (SRB) or a data radio bearer (DRB);

transmit a second uplink transmission for a second RAT utilizing the shared transmission resource; and

if the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission at least partially overlap in time, protect the first uplink transmission in accordance with one or more radio bearer protection rules, comprising;

protecting the SRB by setting a priority of the SRB based on a time-sensitivity and criticality of the SRB, and

protecting the DRB by utilizing opportunistic protection without considering a timing of the second uplink transmission.