Systems and methods for scheduling wireless communications

• US 9,485,777 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Wang, Jibing
• Primary Examiner(s): SMARTH, GERALD A
• Application Number:
  US13/843,444
• Publication Number:
  US 20140269540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,327 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies

Abstract

This disclosure provides coexistence strategies for a combined wireless communications device using multiple wireless protocols, such as WLAN and LTE. One or more periods having increased interference potential during an upcoming communication event of one wireless protocol may be identified and the transmission duration of another wireless protocol may be dynamically adjusted to reduce interference. In one aspect, a first period of potential interference during an upcoming LTE transmission may be predicted based on allocated LTE transmission power. The duration of the transmission may be adjusted so that a response to the transmission does not arrive during the first period. In another aspect, a second period of potential interference during an upcoming LTE reception may be predicted based on an estimated quality of LTE reception. The duration of the transmission may be adjusted so that the transmission does not being during the second period.

Claims

1. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a first transceiver configured to operate using a first wireless protocol;

a second transceiver configured to operate using a second wireless protocol; and

a coexistence manager configured to;

receive an allocation of network resources using the first transceiver;

identify a first period of potential interference regarding an upcoming transmission using the first transceiver based, at least in part, on a characteristic determined from the allocation of network resources; and

adjust a nonzero transmission duration of the second transceiver so that a response, triggered by a transmission using the second transceiver, does not arrive during the first period of potential interference.

2. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is an allocated transmission power of the first transceiver.

3. The wireless communications device of claim 2, wherein the first period of potential interference corresponds to the upcoming transmission of an uplink subframe when the allocated transmission power of the first transceiver is greater than a predetermined threshold.

4. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the allocation of network resources is a resource block (RB) assignment.

5. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence manager is further configured to:

predict a quality of reception using the first transceiver,

identify a second period of potential interference regarding an upcoming reception using the first transceiver when the predicted quality of reception is below a predetermined threshold; and

adjust the nonzero transmission duration of the second transceiver so that the transmission using the second transceiver does not begin during the second period of potential interference.

6. The wireless communications device of claim 5, wherein the coexistence manager is to predict the quality of reception based, at least in part, on at least one of a transmission power of the second transceiver and a receive performance metric of the first transceiver.

7. The wireless communications device of claim 5, wherein the coexistence manager is to identify the first period of potential interference when the allocation of network resources indicates that the first transceiver is to operate on a first frequency band of a first set of frequency bands having a potential for interference, and to identify the second period of potential interference when the allocation of network resources indicates that the first transceiver is to operate on a second frequency band of a second set of frequency bands having a potential for interference, wherein the first set of frequency bands and the second set of frequency bands each include at least one frequency band.

8. The wireless communications device of claim 7, wherein the second set of frequency bands is a subset of the first set of frequency bands.

9. The wireless communications device of claim 1, wherein the first wireless protocol is a long term evolution (LTE) protocol and wherein the second wireless protocol is a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol.

10. The wireless communications device of claim 9, wherein the coexistence manager is to adjust the nonzero transmission duration of the second transceiver by varying a number of aggregated frames in the transmission.

11. The wireless communications device of claim 1, further comprising:

means for predicting a quality of reception using the first transceiver,

means for identifying a second period of potential interference regarding an upcoming reception using the first transceiver when the predicted quality of reception is below a predetermined threshold; and

means for adjusting the transmission duration of the second transceiver so that the transmission does not begin during the second period.

12. A method for providing coexistence between a first wireless protocol and a second wireless protocol, comprising:

receiving an allocation of network resources using the first wireless protocol;

identifying a first period of potential interference regarding an upcoming transmission using the first wireless protocol based, at least in part, on a characteristic determined from the allocation of network resources; and

adjusting a nonzero transmission duration of the second wireless protocol so that a response, triggered by a transmission using the second wireless protocol, does not arrive during the first period of potential interference.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the characteristic is an allocated transmission power of the first wireless protocol.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first period of potential interference corresponds to the upcoming transmission of an uplink subframe when the allocated transmission power of the first wireless protocol is greater than a predetermined threshold.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the allocation of network resources is a resource block (RB) assignment.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

predicting a quality of reception using the first wireless protocol,

identifying a second period of potential interference regarding an upcoming reception using the first wireless protocol when the predicted quality of reception is below a predetermined threshold; and

adjusting the nonzero transmission duration of the second wireless protocol so that the transmission does not begin during the second period of potential interference.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein predicting the quality of reception is based, at least in part, on at least one of a transmission power of the second wireless protocol and a receive performance metric of the first wireless protocol.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first period of potential interference is identified when the allocation of network resources indicates that the first wireless protocol is to operate on a first frequency band of a first set of frequency bands having a potential for interference, and wherein the second period of potential interference is identified when the allocation of network resources indicates that the first wireless protocol is to operate on a second frequency band of a second set of frequency bands having a potential for interference, wherein the first set of frequency bands and the second set of frequency bands each include at least one frequency band.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second set of frequency bands is a subset of the first set of frequency bands.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the first wireless protocol is a long term evolution (LTE) protocol and wherein the second wireless protocol is a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein adjusting the nonzero transmission duration of the second wireless protocol comprises varying a number of aggregated frames in the transmission.

22. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium for providing coexistence between a first wireless protocol and a second wireless protocol in a wireless communications device, the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the wireless communications device to:

receive an allocation of network resources using the first wireless protocol;

identify a first period of potential interference regarding an upcoming transmission using the first wireless protocol based, at least in part, on a characteristic determined from the allocation of network resources; and

adjust a nonzero transmission duration of the second wireless protocol so that a response, triggered by a transmission using the second wireless protocol, does not arrive during the first period of potential interference.

23. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the characteristic is an allocated transmission power of the first wireless protocol.

24. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the first period of potential interference corresponds to the upcoming transmission of an uplink subframe when the allocated transmission power of the first wireless protocol is greater than a predetermined threshold.

25. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the allocation of network resources is a resource block (RB) assignment.

26. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions to cause the wireless communications device to:

predict a quality of reception using the first wireless protocol,

identify a second period of potential interference regarding an upcoming reception using the first wireless protocol when the predicted quality of reception is below a predetermined threshold; and

adjust the nonzero transmission duration of the second wireless protocol so that the transmission does not begin during the second period of potential interference.

27. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein predicting the quality of reception is based, at least in part, on at least one of a transmission power of the second wireless protocol and a receive performance metric of the first transceiver.

28. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the first period of potential interference is identified when the allocation of network resources indicates that the first wireless protocol is to operate on a first frequency band of a first set of frequency bands having a potential for interference, and wherein the second period of potential interference is identified when the allocation of network resources indicates that the first wireless protocol is to operate on a second frequency band of a second set of frequency bands having a potential for interference, wherein the first set of frequency bands and the second set of frequency bands each include at least one frequency band.

29. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the second set of frequency bands is a subset of the first set of frequency bands.

30. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the first wireless protocol is a long term evolution (LTE) protocol and wherein the second wireless protocol is a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol.

31. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein adjusting the nonzero transmission duration of the second wireless protocol comprises varying a number of aggregated frames in the transmission.

32. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a first transceiver configured to operate using a first wireless protocol;

a second transceiver configured to operate using a second wireless protocol;

means for receiving an allocation of network resources using the first transceiver;

means for identifying a first period of potential interference regarding an upcoming transmission using the first transceiver based, at least in part, on a characteristic determined from the allocation of network resources; and

means for adjusting a nonzero transmission duration of the second transceiver so that a response, triggered by a transmission using the second transceiver, does not arrive during the first period of potential interference.