Full duplex communication system using disjoint spectral blocks

• US 20050195758A1
• Filed: 03/04/2005
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interdigital Technology Corporation (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Interdigital Technology Corporation (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chitrapu, Prabhakar R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,083,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/279
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2615 using hybrid frequency-time division multiple access [FDMA-TDMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2618 using hybrid code-time division multiple access [CDMA-TDMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/17 Interaction among intermediate nodes, e.g. hop by hop
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

The invention involves utilizing pieces of disjoint spectral blocks. In one embodiment, a frequency division duplex approach is used, where each spectral block is utilized solely for either uplink or downlink communications. In another embodiment, a time division duplex approach is used, where each spectral block is time divided and uplink and downlink communications are assigned to different time slots within the same spectral blocks. In another embodiment, a code division duplex approach is utilized, where uplink and downlink communications are assigned different codes/hopping patterns within a same spectral block.

Claims

1. A method for utilizing disjoint spectral blocks comprising:

time dividing each of the disjoint spectral blocks into time slots;

providing uplink and downlink communications to communicate over the disjoint spectral blocks; and

assigning the uplink and downlink communications to time slots of the disjoint spectral blocks, where any of the uplink or downlink communications can potentially be assigned to any time slot of any disjoint spectral block available for assignment.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising spreading the assigned uplink and downlink communications over substantially the entire frequency range of the spectral block.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the spreading is performed by direct sequence spreading.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the spreading is performed by orthogonal frequency division multiplex.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising spreading the uplink and downlink communications in a fixed spectrum size and wherein at least one of the disjoint spectral blocks carries a different number of the fixed spectrum sizes than another one of the disjoint spectral blocks.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising dynamically spreading the uplink and downlink communications to substantially fit within the different spectrum sizes.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the spreading is performed by direct sequence spread spectrum and the dynamic spreading is performed by changing a chipping rate of the spreading.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the spreading is performed by direct sequence spread spectrum and the dynamic spreading is performed by filtering a result of a direct sequence spread spectrum operation.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the spreading is performed by frequency hopping spread spectrum and the dynamic spreading is performed by changing a hopping pattern.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the hopping pattern spans at least two of the spectral blocks.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the frequency hopping spread spectrum is slow frequency hopping spread spectrum.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the spreading is performed by orthogonal frequency division multiplex and the dynamic spreading is performed by nulling sub-carriers or restricting a number of used sub-carriers.

6. A method of utilizing disjoint spectral blocks comprising:

providing uplink and downlink communications to communicate over the disjoint spectral blocks;

dynamically assigning a first spectral block for uplink communications and a second spectral block for downlink communications, wherein in subsequent dynamic assignments the first spectral block is potentially assigned for downlink communications and the second spectral block is assigned for uplink communications; and

assigning at least one of the provided uplink communications to the first spectral block and at least one of the provided downlink communications to the second spectral block.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the first and second spectral blocks have different spectrum sizes.

15. The method of claim 6 wherein the dynamically assigning is based on an amount of downlink and uplink traffic and the size of each disjoint spectral block.

16. A method of utilizing disjoint spectral blocks comprising:

providing uplink and downlink communications to communicate over the disjoint spectral blocks;

dynamically assigning the uplink and downlink communications to any of the disjoint spectral blocks, each communication assigned to one of the spectral blocks is assigned a unique code/hopping pattern, wherein potentially an uplink and downlink communication are assigned hopping patterns with common frequencies within one of the disjoint spectral blocks.

17. A method of utilizing disjoint spectral blocks comprising:

providing uplink and downlink communications to communicate over the disjoint spectral blocks;

assigning the uplink and downlink communications to different hopping patterns, where the assigned hopping pattern of an uplink communication and the assigned hopping pattern of a downlink communication potentially use frequencies in the same disjoint spectral block at the same time and the assigned hopping patterns span at least two of the disjoint spectral blocks.