Method and apparatus for operating supplementary cells in licensed exempt spectrum

• US 10,153,870 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2018
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gauvreau, Jean-Louis, Freda, Martino M., Lin, Zinan, Murray, Joseph M., Ye, Chunxuan, Bala, Erdem, Beluri, Mihaela C., Castor, Douglas R., Chincholi, Amith V., Cuffaro, Angelo A., Dai, Yuying, Demir, Alpaslan, Gredone, Joseph, Yang, Rui, Ma, Liangping, Di Girolamo, Rocco, Purkayastha, Debashish, Touag, Athmane
• Primary Examiner(s): Towfighi, Afshawn M
• Application Number:
  US15/882,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20180152268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 316 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1893 Physical mapping arrangements physical resource mapping in general H04L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/06 the signals being represented by different frequencies combined with time-division multiplexing H04L5/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/143 for modulated signals H04L5/1469 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/24 Cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

A method and apparatus for operating supplementary cells in licensed exempt (LE) spectrum. An aggregating cell operating in a frequency division duplex (FDD) licensed spectrum is aggregated with a LE supplementary cell operating in a time sharing mode for uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) operations. The LE supplementary cell may be an FDD supplementary cell dynamically configurable between an UL only mode, a DL only mode, and a shared mode, to match requested UL and DL traffic ratios. The LE supplementary cell may be a time division duplex (TDD) supplementary cell. The TDD supplementary cell may be dynamically configurable between multiple TDD configurations. A coexistence capability for coordinating operations between the LE supplementary cell with other systems operating in the same channel is provided. Coexistence gaps are provided to measure primary/secondary user usage and permit other systems operating in the LE supplementary cell channel to access the channel.

Claims

1. A method of carrier aggregation, comprising:

operating on a frequency division duplex (FDD) primary cell aggregated with a time division duplex (TDD) supplementary cell;

receiving a downlink (DL) transmission;

determining a timing based on the timing used for the primary cell for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the DL transmission; and

sending the HARQ feedback on the FDD primary cell based on the determined timing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the HARQ feedback timing is set for a sub-frame (n+4).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the DL transmission is on the TDD supplementary cell.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the DL transmission is on the FDD primary cell.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending positive acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) n+4 subframes following the DL transmission.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the DL HARQ feedback is carried in a physical UL control channel (PUCCH).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the PUCCH is on the FDD primary cell.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple TDD supplementary cells are aggregated, each TDD supplementary cell being one of independently or dependently configured.

9. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having stored instructions that when executed by the processor cause the WTRU to;

operate on a FDD primary cell aggregated with a TDD supplementary cell;

receive a DL transmission on the TDD supplementary cell;

determine a timing for HARQ feedback for the DL transmission; and

send the HARQ feedback on the FDD primary cell based on the determined timing.

10. The WTRU of claim 9, wherein, wherein the HARQ feedback timing is set for a sub-frame (n+4).

11. The WTRU of claim 9, wherein the WTRU sends an ACK/NACK n+4 subframes following the DL transmission.

12. A method of carrier aggregation, comprising:

operating on a FDD primary cell aggregated with a TDD supplementary cell;

sending an uplink (UL) transmission in a sub-frame (n);

determining a timing for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the UL transmission;

receiving the HARQ feedback on the FDD primary cell; and

associating the HARQ feedback with the UL transmission based on the determined timing.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the HARQ feedback timing is set for a sub-frame (n+4).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the UL transmission is on the TDD supplementary cell.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the UL transmission is on the FDD primary cell.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving an ACK/NACK n+4 subframes following the UL transmission.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein UL HARQ feedback is carried in a modified physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH).

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the PHICH is carried on the primary cell.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein multiple TDD supplementary cells are aggregated, each TDD supplementary cell being one of independently or dependently configured.