Method and apparatus to facilitate support for multi-radio coexistence

• US 9,578,649 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2012
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Dayal, Pranav, Kadous, Tamer Adel, Prakash, Rajat, Mantravadi, Ashok, Sadek, Ahmed K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hsiung, Hai-Chang
• Application Number:
  US13/351,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20120188907A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,862 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

To improve performance in devices capable of communication using multiple radio access technologies (RATs), a gap pattern may be constructed in which a first RAT is quieted during certain times to allow for a second RAT to operate without interference. Gap patterns may be constructed based on timeline constraints, such as grant scheduling and HARQ performance, or based on desired performance levels of one or more of the RATs. Gap patterns may be selected by a user equipment or base station. Gap patterns may be selected to protect information in certain subframes. Potential gap patterns may be assigned weights indicating their desirability.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

determining at least one potential gap pattern configuration for a first radio access technology (RAT), the at least one potential gap pattern configuration satisfying a scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT and a timeline constraint of a second RAT, each potential gap pattern comprising a subframe for a potential uplink grant and a subframe for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to satisfy the scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT;

selecting one of the at least one potential gap pattern configuration that reduces conflicts between the first RAT and the second RAT; and

transmitting an indication of the selected gap pattern configuration to a base station, the indication intended for the base station to approve the selected gap pattern configuration and customize at least one HARQ process to correspond with the selected gap pattern configuration, the customizing comprises changing at least one of;

uplink HARQ grant to transmission, transmission to acknowledgment (ACK), downlink HARQ grant to ACK, or a combination thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the scheduling timeline constraint comprises at least one of a grant scheduling and HARQ configuration.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the at least one HARQ process is further customized based at least in part on at least one of a frame offset, a frequency division duplex configuration, and a time division duplex configuration, the customizing being based at least in part on increasing throughput of the first RAT on one of uplink communications, downlink communications, a function of uplink and downlink communications, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting operation of the second RAT based on the selected gap pattern configuration.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting, to the base station, at least one of an indication of a frame offset, an indication of a HARQ pattern configuration, an indication of a Bluetooth traffic type, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, transmitting, to the base station, at least one of a coexistence indication, a Bluetooth operation mode, a RAT timing offset, a desired gap pattern configuration, or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the selecting is further based at least in part on reducing overlap between multiple user equipments.

8. The method of claim 1 in which the selected gap pattern configuration is different from a desired gap pattern configuration.

9. The method of claim 1 in which the base station configures communication resources to implement the selected gap pattern configuration.

10. The method of claim 9 in which the communication resources comprise at least one of a scheduling request (SR), sounding reference signal (SRS), physical random access channel (PRACH), and channel quality index (CQI).

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a frame offset between communications of the first RAT and the second RAT, in which the at least one potential gap pattern configuration is based at least in part on the determined frame offset.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising implementing the selected gap pattern configuration with discontinuous reception (DRX).

13. The method of claim 1 in which the selecting is based at least in part on a Bluetooth error performance meeting a threshold.

14. The method of claim 1 in which the selecting is based at least in part on a desired performance of the first RAT.

15. The method of claim 1 in which the selecting is based at least in part on a desired performance of the second RAT.

16. The method of claim 1 in which the selecting is based at least in part on reducing degradation to a subframe containing desired control signals.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting communication activity based at least in part on undesired subframes in the selected gap pattern configuration.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a weight metric to each potential gap pattern configuration, the weight metric calculated based on a function of a downlink subframe and an uplink subframe used in each potential gap pattern configuration.

19. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for determining at least one potential gap pattern configuration for a first radio access technology (RAT), the at least one potential gap pattern configuration satisfying a scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT and a timeline constraint of a second RAT, each potential gap pattern comprising a subframe for a potential uplink grant and a subframe for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to satisfy the scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT;

means for selecting one of the at least one potential gap pattern configuration that reduces conflicts between the first RAT and the second RAT; and

means for transmitting an indication of the selected gap pattern configuration to a base station, the indication intended for the base station to approve the selected gap pattern configuration and customize at least one HARM process to correspond with the selected gap pattern configuration, the customizing comprises changing at least one of;

uplink HARQ grant to transmission, transmission to acknowledgment (ACK), downlink HARQ grant to ACK, or a combination thereof.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon for wireless communications, the program code comprising:

program code to determine at least one potential gap pattern configuration for a first radio access technology (RAT), the at least one potential gap pattern configuration satisfying a scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT and a timeline constraint of a second RAT, each potential gap pattern comprising a subframe for a potential uplink grant and a subframe for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to satisfy the scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT;

program code to select one of the at least one potential gap pattern configuration that reduces conflicts between the first RAT and the second RAT; and

program code to transmit an indication of the selected gap pattern configuration to a base station, the indication intended for the base station to approve the selected gap pattern configuration and customize at least one HARQ process to correspond with the selected gap pattern configuration, the customizing comprises changing at least one of;

uplink HARQ grant to transmission, transmission to acknowledgment (ACK), downlink HARQ grant to ACK, or a combination thereof.

21. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured;

to determine at least one potential gap pattern configuration for a first radio access technology (RAT), the at least one potential gap pattern configuration satisfying a scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT and a timeline constraint of a second RAT, each potential gap pattern comprising a subframe for a potential uplink grant and a subframe for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to satisfy the scheduling timeline constraint of the first RAT;

to select one of the at least one potential gap pattern configuration that reduces conflicts between the first RAT and the second RAT; and

to transmit an indication of the selected gap pattern configuration to a base station, the indication intended for the base station to approve the selected gap pattern configuration and customize at least one HARQ process to correspond with the selected gap pattern configuration, the customizing comprises changing at least one of;

uplink HARQ grant to transmission, transmission to acknowledgment (ACK), downlink HARQ grant to ACK, or a combination thereof.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the scheduling timeline constraint comprises at least one of a grant scheduling and HARQ configuration.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one HARQ process is further customized based at least in part on at least one of a frame offset, a frequency division duplex configuration, and a time division duplex configuration, the customizing being based at least in part on increasing throughput of the first RAT on one of uplink communications, downlink communications, a function of uplink and downlink communications, or a combination thereof.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to adjust operation of the second RAT based on the selected gap pattern configuration.

25. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to transmit, to the base station, at least one of an indication of a frame offset, an indication of a HARQ pattern configuration, an indication of a Bluetooth traffic type, or a combination thereof.

26. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to transmit, to the base station, at least one of a coexistence indication, a Bluetooth operation mode, a RAT timing offset, a desired gap pattern configuration, or a combination thereof.

27. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to select based at least in part on reducing overlap between multiple user equipments.

28. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the selected gap pattern configuration is different from a desired gap pattern configuration.

29. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the base station configures communication resources to implement the selected gap pattern configuration.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 in which the communication resources comprise at least one of a scheduling request (SR), sounding reference signal (SRS), physical random access channel (PRACH), and channel quality index (CQI).

31. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to configure a frame offset between communications of the first RAT and the second RAT, in which the at least one potential gap pattern configuration is based at least in part on the determined frame offset.

32. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to implement the selected gap pattern configuration with discontinuous reception (DRX).

33. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to select based at least in part on a Bluetooth error performance meeting a threshold.

34. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to select based at least in part on a desired performance of the first RAT.

35. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to select based at least in part on a desired performance of the second RAT.

36. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to select based at least in part on reducing degradation to a subframe containing desired control signals.

37. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the at least one processor is further configured to adjust communication activity based at least in part on undesired subframes in the selected gap pattern configuration.

38. The apparatus of claim 21, in which the at least one processor is further configured to assign a weight metric to each potential gap pattern configuration, the weight metric calculated based on a function of a downlink subframe and an uplink subframe used in each potential gap pattern configuration.