Techniques for assisting radio access technology (RAT) communications using another RAT

• US 9,820,326 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2015
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gubeskys, Arthur, Touboul, Assaf, Barak, Oz, Cohen, Raphael
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Jianye
• Application Number:
  US14/859,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20160295630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0456 Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0005 synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer

Abstract

Systems and methods for communicating in a wireless network using a first radio access technology (RAT) and an assisting RAT are disclosed. A first connection can be established with an access point using the first RAT, and a second connection can be established with the access point using the assisting RAT. A timing of the first connection can be synchronized based at least in part on a timeline of the assisting RAT. Data can be communicated with the access point over at least the first connection based at least in part on synchronizing the timing, and control data can be communicated with the access point over at least the second connection, wherein the control data is related to the communicating data over at least the first connection.

Claims

1. A method for communicating in a wireless network using a first radio access technology (RAT) and an assisting RAT, comprising:

establishing a first connection with an access point using the first RAT;

establishing a second connection with the access point using the assisting RAT;

synchronizing a timing of the first connection based at least in part on a timeline of the assisting RAT;

communicating data with the access point over at least the first connection based at least in part on the synchronizing the timing; and

communicating, with the access point over the second connection using the assisting RAT and after synchronizing the timing of the first connection, control data of the first RAT for the first connection, wherein the control data comprises at least one of one or more preamble signals of the first RAT, feedback of the first RAT, or channel state information of the first RAT.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating control data over at least the second connection comprises receiving, over the second connection using the assisting RAT, the one or more preamble signals of the first RAT for decoding the data communicated with the access point over at least the first connection.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more preamble signals comprise a legacy signal (L-SIG) or very high throughput signal (VHT-SIG) where the first RAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

concurrently receiving the one or more preamble signals of the first RAT over the first connection with receiving the one or more preamble signals of the first RAT over the second connection; and

combining the one or more received preamble signals received over the first connection with the one or more received preamble signals received over the second connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating control data over at least the second connection comprises receiving, from the access point over the second connection, the feedback as an acknowledgement (ACK) or negative-ACK (NACK) feedback for the data communicated with the access point over at least the first connection.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the ACK or NACK feedback comprises receiving the ACK or NACK feedback in a transmission time interval (TTI) of the timeline of the assisting RAT after a last TTI within which the communicating data with the access point over at least the first connection occurs.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a compressed V-matrix based at least in part on a null data packet (NDP) or NDP announcement (NDPA) received from the access point, wherein communicating control data over at least the second connection comprises transmitting the channel state information as the compressed V-matrix to the access point over the second connection using the assisting RAT.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein communicating control data over at least the second connection further comprises periodically transmitting an updated compressed V-matrix to the access point over the second connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first RAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT and the assisting RAT is a cellular technology RAT.

10. An apparatus for communicating in a wireless network using a first radio access technology (RAT) and an assisting RAT, comprising:

a first RAT radio configured to establish a first connection with an access point using the first RAT;

an assisting RAT radio configured to establish a second connection with the access point using the assisting RAT;

a memory component; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory component, the at least one processor and the memory component configured to;

synchronize a timing of the first connection based at least in part on a timeline of the assisting RAT, wherein the first RAT radio is configured to communicate data with the access point over at least the first connection based at least in part on the synchronizing the timing; and

communicate, with the access point over the second connection using the assisting RAT and after synchronizing timing of the first connection, control data of the first RAT for the first connection, wherein the control data comprises at least one of one or more preamble signals of the first RAT, feedback of the first RAT, or channel state information of the first RAT.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein at least one processor and the memory component are configured to receive, over the second connection using the assisting RAT, the one or more preamble signals of the first RAT related to decoding the data communicated with the access point over at least the first connection.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more preamble signals comprise a legacy signal (L-SIG) or very high throughput signal (VHT-SIG) where the first RAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor and the memory component are further configured to:

concurrently receive the one or more preamble signals of the first RAT over the first connection with receiving the one or more preamble signals of the first RAT over the second connection; and

combine the one or more preamble signals received over the first connection with the one or more preamble signals received over the second connection.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor and the memory component are configured to receive, from the access point over the second connection, the feedback as an acknowledgement (ACK) or negative-ACK (NACK) feedback for the data communicated with the access point over at least the first connection.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor and the memory component are configured to receive the ACK or NACK feedback in a transmission time interval (TTI) of the timeline of the assisting RAT after a last TTI within which the communicating data with the access point over at least the first connection occurs.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor and the memory component are further configured to:

generate a compressed V-matrix based at least in part on a null data packet (NDP) or NDP announcement (NDPA) received from the access point; and

transmit the channel state information as the compressed V-matrix to the access point over the second connection using the assisting RAT.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor and the memory component are configured to periodically transmit an updated compressed V-matrix to the access point over the second connection.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first RAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT and the assisting RAT is a cellular technology RAT.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable code for communicating in a wireless network using a first radio access technology (RAT) and an assisting RAT, the code comprising:

code for establishing a first connection with an access point using the first RAT;

code for establishing a second connection with the access point using the assisting RAT;

code for synchronizing a timing of the first connection based at least in part on a timeline of the assisting RAT, wherein the first RAT radio is configured to communicate data with the access point over at least the first connection based at least in part on synchronizing the timing; and

code for communicating, with the access point over the second connection using the assisting RAT and after synchronizing the timing of the first connection, control data of the first RAT for the first connection, wherein the control data comprises at least one of one or more preamble signals of the first RAT, feedback of the first RAT, or channel state information of the first RAT.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the code for communicating control data over at least the second connection receives, over the second connection using the assisting RAT, the one or more preamble signals of the first RAT related to decoding the data communicated with the access point over at least the first connection.