Reservation of unlicensed spectrum in a wireless communications network
First Claim
1. Spectrum reservation circuitry for use in a source eNodeB or UE of a wireless communication system for establishing a downlink or uplink LTE-Licensed Assisted Access, LAA, connection for exchange of data with at least one destination UE or eNodeB respectively, the circuitry comprising:
- control circuitry for performing a carrier status check to determine whether spectrum of an unlicensed carrier is occupied or available for use;
transmit circuitry configured to transmit, on the unlicensed carrier, an LAA Request to Send signal to the at least one destination eNodeB or UE dependent upon the carrier status check determining that the spectrum of the unlicensed carrier is available for use; and
receive circuitry configured to receive, on the unlicensed carrier, an LAA Clear to Send signal from at least a subset of the at least one destination eNodeB or UE in response to the Request to Send signal and depending upon availability of the spectrum of the unlicensed carrier as determined by a respective one of the at least one destination eNodeB or UE,wherein the LAA Clear to Send signal is multiplexed and wherein the multiplexed LAA Clear to Send Signal comprises reference symbols corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of destination UEs.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Spectrum reservation circuitry for use in a source electronic device (e.g. eNB or UE) of a wireless communication system is provided. The availability of an unlicensed carrier for use is checked by control circuitry of the source device and a License Assisted Access (LAA) Request to Send signal is transmitted on an unlicensed carrier if it is determined to be available for use. Receive circuitry is configured to receive on an unlicensed carrier, from a destination electronic device an LAA Clear to Send signal in response, depending upon availability of the unlicensed channel at the destination. Corresponding spectrum reservation circuitry is provided for use in a destination device, comprising transmit circuitry to transmit the LAA Clear to Send signal. A corresponding computer program product is provided on a non-transitory medium.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. Spectrum reservation circuitry for use in a source eNodeB or UE of a wireless communication system for establishing a downlink or uplink LTE-Licensed Assisted Access, LAA, connection for exchange of data with at least one destination UE or eNodeB respectively, the circuitry comprising:
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control circuitry for performing a carrier status check to determine whether spectrum of an unlicensed carrier is occupied or available for use; transmit circuitry configured to transmit, on the unlicensed carrier, an LAA Request to Send signal to the at least one destination eNodeB or UE dependent upon the carrier status check determining that the spectrum of the unlicensed carrier is available for use; and receive circuitry configured to receive, on the unlicensed carrier, an LAA Clear to Send signal from at least a subset of the at least one destination eNodeB or UE in response to the Request to Send signal and depending upon availability of the spectrum of the unlicensed carrier as determined by a respective one of the at least one destination eNodeB or UE, wherein the LAA Clear to Send signal is multiplexed and wherein the multiplexed LAA Clear to Send Signal comprises reference symbols corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of destination UEs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. Spectrum reservation circuitry for use in a destination UE or eNodeB of a wireless communication system for establishing a connection on an unlicensed component carrier of an aggregated carrier for exchange of data with a source eNodeB or UE, the circuitry comprising:
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receive circuitry configured to receive, on the unlicensed component carrier, an LAA Request to Send signal from the source eNodeB or UE, the LAA Request to Send Signal identifying at least the destination UE or eNodeB; a processor for performing a Clear Channel Assessment, CCA, or enhanced CCA to determine whether spectrum of the unlicensed component carrier corresponding to the LAA Request to Send signal is busy or idle; transmit circuitry configured to transmit, on the unlicensed component carrier, an LAA Clear to Send signal to the source eNodeB or UE, depending upon a result of the CCA/enhanced CCA, wherein the spectrum reservation circuitry is implemented in the destination UE and wherein the LAA Request to Send signal identifies at least one further destination UE and wherein the transmit circuitry is configured to transmit the LAA Clear to Send signal on radio frame resource elements according to received LAA scheduling and control information such that a plurality of other LAA Clear to Send signals from the at least one further destination UE are multiplexed, upon receipt at the source eNodeB, with the LAA Clear to Send Signal of the destination UE using at least one of;
IFDMA, FDMA, TDMA and CDMA. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions, which upon execution by one or more processors of a source eNB or UE for establishing a Licensed Assisted Access wireless connection with a destination UE or eNB respectively, the method comprising:
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performing a Clear Channel Assessment, CCA, or enhanced CCA to determine whether an unlicensed spectrum bandwidth is busy or clear; transmitting, on the unlicensed spectrum bandwidth, an LAA Request to Send signal to the at least one destination eNodeB or UE dependent upon the CCA or enhanced CCA determining that the unlicensed spectrum bandwidth is clear; receiving, on the unlicensed spectrum bandwidth, an LAA Clear to Send signal from at least one of the at least one destination eNodeB or UE in response to the Request to Send signal and depending upon availability of the unlicensed spectrum bandwidth as determined by a respective one of the at least one destination eNodeB or UE, wherein the LAA Clear to Send signal is multiplexed and wherein the multiplexed LAA Clear to Send Signal comprises reference symbols corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of destination UEs. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions, which upon execution by one or more processors of a destination UE or of an eNB for establishing a wireless connection with a source eNB or UE, the method comprising:
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receiving on a contentiously-accessed secondary carrier of an LTE Licence Assisted Access, LAA, connection, an LAA Request to Send signal from the source eNodeB or UE; performing a Clear Channel Assessment, CCA, or enhanced CCA at the destination UE or eNodeB of radio spectrum of the contentiously-accessed secondary carrier corresponding to the LAA Request to Send signal to determine if the contentiously-accessed secondary carrier is available or occupied; transmitting, on the contentiously-accessed secondary carrier, an LAA Clear to Send signal to the source eNodeB or UE, depending upon a result of the CCA or enhanced CCA; wherein spectrum reservation circuitry is implemented in the destination UE and wherein the LAA Request to Send signal identifies at least one further destination UE and wherein the transmit circuitry is configured to transmit the LAA Clear to Send signal on radio frame resource elements according to received LAA scheduling and control information such that a plurality of other LAA Clear to Send signals from the at least one further destination UE are multiplexed, upon receipt at the source eNodeB, with the LAA Clear to Send Signal of the destination UE using at least one of;
IFDMA, FDMA, TDMA and CDMA. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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Specification