Techniques for transmitting data over an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band in accordance with an agreement between operators

• US 9,717,087 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2015
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Luo, Tao, Zhang, Xiaoxia, Wang, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bhatti, Hashim
• Application Number:
  US14/640,301
• Publication Number:
  US 20150305037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1263 Mapping of traffic onto schedule, e.g. scheduled allocation or multiplexing of flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management

Abstract

Techniques are described for wireless communication. A first method includes performing a clear channel assessment (CCA) for a first node associated with a first operator in a deployment of operators over an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, and transmitting data over the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band when the CCA is successful. The data may be transmitted by the first node in accordance with an agreement between the first operator and a second operator in the deployment of operators. A second method includes receiving over an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, at a user equipment (UE), a first transmission from a first node associated with a first operator in a deployment of operators. The first transmission may include data originating from a second operator in the deployment of operators.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

performing, for a first node associated with a first operator in a deployment of operators, a clear channel assessment (CCA) associated with data at the first node over an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, wherein the deployment of operators comprises a second operator associated with a second node;

determining that a CCA of the second node for a frame associated with transmission of the data at the first node has failed; and

transmitting data over the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band when the CCA is successful;

the data being transmitted by the first node in accordance with an agreement between the first operator and the second operator and based on the determination that the CCA of the second node has failed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first node, a location of the CCA for a frame associated with the transmission of the data;

wherein the location of the CCA for the frame is the same for the first node and the second node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node transmits the data concurrent to a transmission of the data by the second node when a CCA of the second node for a frame associated with the transmission of the data succeeds.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node uses a multicast control channel (MCCH) configuration to transmit the data, and wherein the MCCH configuration is common to the first node and the second node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node uses a synchronization protocol data unit (SYNC PDU) to transmit the data, and wherein the SYNC PDU is common to the first node and the second node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission of the data is part of at least one of:

a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission, a unicast transmission, or a coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission by the first node and the second node.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first node and based on a transmission status of the second node, whether to transmit the data during a frame of the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band for which the CCA is successful.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting the data by the first node during the frame in response to detecting a transmission of the data by the second node.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting the data by the first node during the frame in response to detecting an absence of a transmission by the second node of the data during the frame.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the agreement between the first operator and the second operator defines a proportion of a bandwidth of the first node that is allocated to transmit the data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the agreement between the first operator and the second operator comprises at least one of:

a predefined agreement or an opportunistic agreement.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first node, information about the transmission of the data, the information being received from at least one of;

an operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) server, a multicast coordination entity of the first operator communicatively coupled with the second operator, a second node associated with the second operator, a third node associated with the first operator, a service information bulletin transmitted by the second node, or a multicast channel transmitted by the second node.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information about the transmission of the data comprises at least one of:

the data or configuration data for the transmission of the data.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

coordinating the transmission of the data between the first node and the second node.

14. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for performing, for a first node associated with a first operator in a deployment of operators, a clear channel assessment (CCA) associated with data at the first node over an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, wherein the deployment of operators comprises a second operator associated with a second node;

means for determining that a CCA of the second node for a frame associated with transmission of the data at the first node has failed; and

means for transmitting data over the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band when the CCA is successful;

the data being transmitted by the first node in accordance with an agreement between the first operator and the second operator and based on the determination that the CCA of the second node has failed.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for determining, by the first node, a location of the CCA for a frame associated with the transmission of the data;

wherein the location of the CCA for the frame is the same for the first node and the second node.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first node transmits the data concurrent to a transmission of the data by the second node when a CCA of the second node for a frame associated with the transmission of the data succeeds.

25. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for coordinating the transmission of the data between the first node and the second node.

17. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a processor; and

memory couple to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to;

perform, for a first node associated with a first operator in a deployment of operators, a clear channel assessment (CCA) associated with data at the first node over an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, wherein the deployment of operators comprises a second operator associated with a second node;

determine that a CCA of the second node for a frame associated with transmission of the data at the first node has failed; and

transmit data over the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band when the CCA is successful;

the data being transmitted by the first node in accordance with an agreement between the first operator and the second operator and based on the determination that the CCA of the second node has failed.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine, by the first node, a location of the CCA for a frame associated with the transmission of the data;

wherein the location of the CCA for the frame is the same for the first node and the second node.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first node transmits the data concurrent to a transmission of the data by the second node when a CCA of the second node for a frame associated with the transmission of the data succeeds.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first node uses a multicast control channel (MCCH) configuration to transmit the data, and wherein the MCCH configuration is common to the first node and the second node.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transmission of the data is part of at least one of:

a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission, a unicast transmission, or a coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission by the first node and the second node.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to:

coordinate the transmission of the data between the first node and the second node.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing instructions executable by a processor, comprising:

instructions to perform, for a first node associated with a first operator in a deployment of operators, a clear channel assessment (CCA) associated with data at the first node over an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, wherein the deployment of operators comprises a second operator associated with a second node;

instructions to determine that a CCA of the second node for a frame associated with transmission of the data at the first node has failed; and

instructions to transmit data over the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band when the CCA is successful;

the data being transmitted by the first node in accordance with an agreement between the first operator and the second operator and based on the determination that the CCA of the second node has failed.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the transmission of the data is part of at least one of:

a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission, a unicast transmission, or a coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission by the first node and the second node.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:

coordinate the transmission of the data between the first node and the second node.