System and method for dynamic coordination of radio resources usage in a wireless network environment

• US 8,976,677 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Novak, Robert, Steer, David, Yu, Dongsheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Harper, Kevin C
• Application Number:
  US13/611,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20130064197A1
• Time in Patent Office: 909 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/26 at least one of which is mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0252 per individual bearer or channel dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/06 Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

A wireless user equipment (UE) device includes a processor configured to control at least one of a plurality of subsystems to receive sensory data associated with multiple radio channels relative to one or more radio elements utilizing multiple radio access technologies in a communications network, whereby the sensory data may be processed to determine one or more reliability conditions associated with the sensory data. The processor is further configured to control at least one or more of the plurality of subsystems for communicating the sensory data and the associated reliability conditions to a network node and for processing a control message received from the network node for facilitating allocation of a radio resource to at least one of the radio elements.

Claims

1. A radio resource management method utilizing multiple radio access technologies in a communications network, said method comprising:

receiving, at a sensing mobile station, sensory data associated with multiple radio channels relative to other mobile stations disposed in a sensing area of the sensing mobile station;

processing, by the sensing mobile station, said sensory data to determine one or more reliability conditions associated with said sensory data;

communicating said sensory data and said one or more reliability conditions to a network node; and

responsive to said sensory data and said one or more reliability conditions, allocating, by the sensing mobile station, a radio resource with respect to at least one of the mobile stations disposed in the sensing area.

2. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said act of allocating a radio resource is further based on at least one of:

(i) interference associated with said multiple radio channels;

(ii) determination that interference is beyond operating parameters within said multiple radio channels;

(iii) traffic loadings on said multiple radio channels;

(iv) determining a radio access technology is suitable for a particular type of service; and

(v) geographic location restrictions associated with said multiple radio channels.

3. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said sensory data associated with a particular radio channel of said multiple radio channels comprises at least one of:

a location of a select mobile station operating in said particular radio channel, an interference level of said particular radio channel, an interference signal bandwidth, a center frequency of a radio signal sensed in said particular radio channel, an type identification of a radio signal sensed in said particular radio channel, a radio access technology (RAT) type associated with said particular radio channel, a network identifier (ID) associated with said particular radio channel, a transmitter identifier (ID) associated with said particular radio channel, a duty cycle of a radio signal sensed in said particular radio channel, and an expected duration of a radio signal sensed in said particular radio channel.

4. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said multiple radio channels are operable using an access technology comprising at least one of a television (TV) white space spectrum technology, IEEE 802.11a technology, IEEE 802.11b technology, IEEE 802.11g technology, IEEE 802.11n technology, GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) technology, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) technology, Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, HiperLan technology, HiperLan II technology, Wi-MAX technology, OpenAir technology, Bluetooth technology, and GMR-1 technology.

5. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said radio resource comprises at least one of a carrier frequency and a time slot in at least one of said multiple radio channels.

6. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said network node comprises at least one of a channel occupancy and location database (COLD), a base station, a relay node, a femto cell, an evolved node B (eNB), and an access point.

7. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said communicating is performed using an Over-the-Top (OtP) signaling mechanism that comprises at least one of a TCP/IP mechanism, a Short Messaging Service (SMS) mechanism and a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) mechanism or using a modified channel of a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network.

8. The radio resource management method of claim 7 wherein said modified channel of the LTE network comprises at least one of a modified physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a modified physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and a modified physical random access channel (PRACH) of the LTE network.

9. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said communicating is performed responsive to at least one of:

(i) receiving a request for said sensory data, (ii) detecting a change in a radio condition, (iii) said sensing mobile station commencing operation in a shared radio frequency band, (iv) said sensing mobile station changing operation from one radio frequency band to another radio frequency band, (v) monitoring passage of an idle period of a predetermined duration, and (vi) monitoring passage of a predetermined periodic time duration.

10. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said reliability conditions is based on at least one of:

(i) an identity of said sensing mobile station, (ii) a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) determination relative to a sensed radio channel, (iii) a confidence level determined for said sensory data, and (iv) a granularity level associated with said sensory data.

11. The radio resource management method of claim 1 wherein said act of allocating a radio resource is performed by the sensing mobile station further responsive to a control message from the network node.

12. A wireless user equipment (UE) device configured to operate as a sensing mobile station having a sensing area in a radio communications network, comprising:

a processor configured to control at least one of a plurality of subsystems for receiving sensory data associated with multiple radio channels relative to other mobile stations disposed in the sensing area and configured to utilize multiple radio access technologies in the radio communications network;

the processor further configured to process said sensory data to determine one or more reliability conditions associated with said sensory data;

the processor further configured to control at least one of the plurality of subsystems for communicating said sensory data and said one or more reliability conditions to a network node; and

the processor further configured to control at least one of the plurality of subsystems to allocate, responsive to said sensory data and said one or more reliability conditions, a radio resource to at least one of said mobile stations disposed in the sensing area.

13. The wireless UE device of claim 12 wherein said sensory data comprises at least one of:

respective locations of said one or more other mobile stations, occupancy of said one or more other mobile stations in one or more corresponding radio channels, interference levels of said radio channels, interference signal bandwidths associated with said radio channels, center frequencies of radio signals sensed in said corresponding radio channels, type identification of radio signals sensed in said corresponding radio channels, a radio access technology (RAT) type associated with said corresponding radio channels, network identifiers (IDs) associated with said corresponding radio channels, transmitter identifiers (IDs) associated with said corresponding radio channels, a duty cycle of radio signals sensed in said corresponding radio channels, and an expected duration of a radio signal sensed in said corresponding radio channels.

14. The wireless UE device of claim 12 wherein said sensory data is associated with multiple radio channels operable in an access technology comprising at least one of a television (TV) white space spectrum technology, IEEE 802.11a technology, IEEE 802.11b technology, IEEE 802.11g technology, IEEE 802.11n technology, GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) technology, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) technology, Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, HiperLan technology, HiperLan II technology, Wi-MAX technology, OpenAir technology, Bluetooth technology, and GMR-1 technology.

15. The wireless UE device of claim 12 wherein said communicating is performed using an Over-the-Top (OtP) signaling mechanism that comprises at least one of a TCP/IP mechanism, a Short Messaging Service (SMS) mechanism and a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) mechanism or using a modified channel of a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network.

16. The wireless UE device of claim 15 wherein said modified channel of the LTE network comprises at least one of a modified physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a modified physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and a modified physical random access channel (PRACH) of the LTE network.

17. The wireless UE device of claim 12 wherein said communicating is performed responsive to at least one of:

(i) receiving a request for said sensory data, (ii) detecting a change in a radio condition, (iii) said wireless UE device commencing operation in a shared radio frequency band, (iv) said wireless UE device changing operation from one radio frequency band to another radio frequency band, (v) monitoring passage of a predetermined idle period of said wireless UE device, and (vi) monitoring passage of a predetermined periodic time duration.

18. The wireless UE device of claim 12 wherein at least one of said reliability conditions is based on at least one of:

(i) an identity of said wireless UE device, (ii) a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) determination relative to a sensed radio channel, (iii) a confidence level determined for said sensory data, and (iv) a granularity level associated with said sensory data.

19. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium containing instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless user equipment (UE) device configured to operate as a sensing mobile station having a sensing area in a radio communications network, facilitate radio resource management, the non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium comprising:

a code portion configured to control at least one of a plurality of subsystems of said wireless UE device for receiving sensory data associated with multiple radio channels relative to other mobile stations disposed in the sensing area, wherein the other mobile stations are configured to utilize multiple radio access technologies in the radio communications network;

a code portion configured to process said sensory data to determine one or more reliability conditions associated with said sensory data;

a code portion configured to control at least one of the plurality of subsystems for communicating said sensory data and said one or more reliability conditions to a network node; and

a code portion configured for allocating, responsive to said sensory data and said one or more reliability conditions, a radio resource to at least one of said mobile stations disposed in the sensing area.