KR20190035789A - LAA / Wi-Fi coexistence for 5 ㎓ antenna sharing - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless communication device (UE) includes a cellular processor configured to perform wireless communications in a first frequency band and in a second frequency band in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is a cellular RAT, The frequency band is in the unlicensed spectrum, and the second frequency band is in the applied spectrum. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes a wireless local area network (WLAN) processor configured to perform wireless communications in accordance with a second RAT in a first frequency band. In some embodiments, the cellular processor and the WLAN processor are configured to couple to a common antenna for communications in a first frequency band. In some embodiments, the cellular processor can notify the WLAN processor when it is scanning and / or when it is assigned secondary component carriers in the first frequency band. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor may notify the cellular processor when it is transmitting. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor and / or the cellular processor may perform one or more operations in response to such notifications to improve coexistence in the first frequency band.

Description

LAA / Wi-Fi coexistence for 5 ㎓ antenna sharing

The present application relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to coexistence between Wi-Fi communications and LAA / LTE communications using a shared antenna.

Wireless communication systems are rapidly increasing in use. In recent years, wireless devices such as smartphones and tablet computers have become increasingly complex. Many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) now provide access to navigation via the Internet, email, text messaging, and GPS (Global Positioning System) in addition to supporting phone calls And run sophisticated applications that take advantage of these features. Additionally, there are a number of different wireless communication technologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards are GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE Advanced, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD) (WLAN or Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), BLUETOOTH ™, and the like.

The ever increasing number of features and functions introduced into wireless communication devices also create a continuing need for improvements in both wireless communications and wireless communication devices. In particular, it is important to ensure the accuracy of transmitted and received signals over wireless devices, such as cellular phones, base stations and relay stations, used in user equipment (UE) devices, for example in wireless cellular communications. Additionally, increasing the functionality of the UE device can place a significant burden on the battery life of the UE device. Thus, it is very important to also reduce power requirements in UE device designs while allowing the UE device to maintain good transmit and receive capabilities for improved communications.

Mobile phones or smart phones, portable gaming devices, laptops, wearable devices, PDAs, tablets, portable internet devices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, (RATs) as defined by various wireless communication standards (LTE, LTE-A, Wi-Fi, BLUETOOTH ™, etc.). The radio interfaces can be used by a variety of applications, and the presence of multiple radio interfaces allows the UE to implement mobility solutions, through a number of radio interfaces (e. G., Without affecting the end- For example, through LTE / LTE-A and BLUETOOTH ™) applications running simultaneously. That is, the UE may need to implement a mobility solution to simultaneously operate multiple wireless interfaces (e.g., LTE / LTE-A, Wi-Fi, BLUETOOTH ™, etc.) corresponding to multiple RATs.

In addition to the above-mentioned communication standards, there are also expansion plans aimed at increasing transmission coverage in certain cellular networks. For example, LTE-unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) allows mobile operators to increase coverage in their cellular networks by transmitting in the unlicensed 5 GHz band, which is also used by many Wi-Fi devices . License Assisted Access (LAA) describes a similar technique aimed at standardizing the operation of LTE in Wi-Fi bands through the use of a contention protocol called listen-before-talk (LBT) Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > Wi-Fi < / RTI > In some cases, the coexistence of cellular and Wi-Fi communications within the same band may result in deterioration of data throughput and / or degradation of Wi-Fi signals when both Wi-Fi signals and LAA / LTE- Which can lead to performance degradation of streaming applications (data streaming). Moreover, cellular communications that are implemented in the unlicensed band (s) often require increased power consumption relative to cellular communications that are implemented in the authorized band (s).

Embodiments of techniques for Wi-Fi and LAA coexistence are presented herein using a common antenna.

In some embodiments, the apparatus includes a cellular processor configured to perform wireless communications in a first frequency band and in a second frequency band in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is a cellular RAT, One frequency band is in the unlicensed spectrum (for example, in the 5 GHz band), and the second frequency band is in the applied spectrum. In some embodiments, the first RAT is a cellular RAT such as LTE. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes a wireless local area network (WLAN) processor configured to perform wireless communications in accordance with a second RAT in a first frequency band. In some embodiments, the cellular processor and the WLAN processor are configured to couple to a common antenna for communications in a first frequency band.

In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to indicate one or more transmission intervals by notifying the cellular processor when the WLAN processor is transmitting through the antenna. In some embodiments, the cellular processor is configured to determine whether to request deactivation (e.g., from a base station) of communications over the first frequency band based on one or more durations of one or more transmission intervals.

In some embodiments, the cellular processor is configured to transmit a message to the WLAN processor in response to the assignment of one or more secondary component carriers to the cellular processor in the first frequency band by the cellular base station. The message may list one or more secondary component carriers. The cellular processor may use similar messages to indicate one or more secondary component carriers (e.g., carriers from other neighbor base stations) for which measurements are to be performed. In some embodiments, the message includes a list of secondary component carriers in the first frequency band. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to avoid transmitting (e.g., cancel or delay scheduled transmissions) on one of the indicated secondary component carriers. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to, in response to the message, inhibit sending an acknowledgment for the probe from the wireless access point in the first frequency band. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to decrease the rate of active scanning in the first frequency band in response to the message. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to use the WMM in response to the aggregation (AMPDU) and / or message of the increased media access control protocol data units in response to the message.

In some embodiments, the cellular processor is configured to notify the WLAN processor when the cellular processor is performing a scan during a scan interval in the first frequency band. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to cancel or delay one or more scheduled transmissions during a scan interval. In some embodiments, in response to a determination that the one or more transmissions are not deferred for an interval, the WLAN processor is configured to notify the cellular processor that the WLAN processor has transmitted during the interval. In some embodiments, in response to a notification that a WLAN processor has been transmitted during an interval, the cellular processor is configured to ignore one or more scan measurements taken during the interval that the WLAN processor transmitted.

The techniques described herein may be used with a number of different types of devices including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular phones, portable media players, tablet computers, wearable devices, and various other computing devices And / or may be used with them.

The subject matter of the present invention is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the topics described herein. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above-described features are merely illustrative and are not to be construed in any way as to limit the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein. Other features, aspects and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, drawings, and claims.

1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system in accordance with some embodiments.
2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device, in accordance with some embodiments.
3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE according to some embodiments.
4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station in accordance with some embodiments.
5 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary communication system in which a number of different devices can communicate with each other over a particular band, such as the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz frequency bands, using Wi-Fi.
Figure 7 illustrates an example of typical LAA control and data scheduling in accordance with some embodiments.
8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary communication interfaces between MWS and Wi-Fi processors, in accordance with some embodiments.
Figures 9-11 are communication diagrams illustrating exemplary communications between Wi-Fi and cellular processors, in accordance with some embodiments.
12A and 12B are flow charts illustrating an exemplary procedure for determining whether a Wi-Fi transmission causes an interruption threshold to be triggered, in accordance with some embodiments.
13 is a communication diagram illustrating an exemplary procedure for using IDC indications, in accordance with some embodiments.
Figures 14-16 are flow charts illustrating exemplary techniques for using coexistence information, in accordance with some embodiments.
17A and 17B are diagrams illustrating an exemplary computer-readable medium, in accordance with some embodiments.
While various modifications and alternative forms for the features described herein are possible, their specific embodiments are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims, Equivalents, and alternatives in light of the above teachings.

acronym

Various acronyms are used throughout this application. Definitions of the most prominently used acronyms that may be referred to throughout this application are provided below:

ACK : 확인응답

ACK : acknowledgment

APR: Applications Processor

APR: Applications Processor

BS: Base Station

BS : Base Station

BSR : Buffer Size Report

BSR : Buffer Size Report

CC: Component Carrier

CC: Component Carrier

CMR : Change Mode Request

CMR : Change Mode Request

CQI : Channel Quality Indicator

CQI : Channel Quality Indicator

DL: (BS로부터 UE로의) Downlink

DL : Downlink (BS to UE)

DYN : Dynamic

DYN : Dynamic

FDD: Frequency Division Duplexing

FDD : Frequency Division Duplexing

FT: Frame Type

FT: Frame Type

GPRS: General Packet Radio Service

GPRS: General Packet Radio Service

GSM: Global System for Mobile Communication

GSM : Global System for Mobile Communication

HARQ : Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

HARQ : Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

IE : Information Element

IE : Information Element

LAN: Local Area Network

LAN: Local Area Network

LBT : Listen Before Talk

LBT : Listen Before Talk

LTE: Long Term Evolution

LTE : Long Term Evolution

LTE -U: LTE in Unlicensed Spectrum

LTE- U : Unlicensed Spectrum in LTE

LAA: License Assisted Access

LAA : License Assisted Access

MAC: Media Access Control (계층)

MAC : Media Access Control (layer)

NACK: Negative Acknowledgement

NACK : Negative Acknowledgment

PCell : Primary Cell

PCell : Primary Cell

PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel

PDCCH : Physical Downlink Control Channel

PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared Channel

PDSCH : Physical Downlink Shared Channel

PDN : Packet Data Network

PDN : Packet Data Network

PDU : Protocol Data Unit

PDU : Protocol Data Unit

PUCCH : Physical Uplink Control Channel

PUCCH : Physical Uplink Control Channel

QoS: Quality of Service

QoS: Quality of Service

RAT: Radio Access Technology

RAT: Radio Access Technology

RF: Radio Frequency

RF : Radio Frequency

RTP : Real-time Transport Protocol

RTP : Real-time Transport Protocol

RX: Reception/Receive

RX : Reception / Receive

SCell: Secondary Cell

SCell : Secondary Cell

TBS: Transport Block Size

TBS: Transport Block Size

TDD: Time Division Duplexing

TDD : Time Division Duplexing

TTI: Transmission Time Interval

TTI : Transmission Time Interval

TX: Transmission/Transmit

TX : Transmission / Transmit

UCI: Uplink Control Information

UCI : Uplink Control Information

UE: User Equipment (디바이스)

UE : User Equipment (device)

UL: (UE로부터 BS로의) Uplink

UL : (UE to BS) Uplink

UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunication System

UMTS : Universal Mobile Telecommunication System

VoLTE: Voice over LTE

VoLTE : Voice over LTE

WLAN : Wireless LAN

WLAN : Wireless LAN

Wi - Fi : 전기 전자 기술자 협회(IEEE) 802.11 표준들에 기초한 무선 로컬 영역 네트워크(WLAN) RAT

Wi - Fi : Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) based on 802.11 standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) RAT

Terms

The following are explanations of terms that may come from this application:

Memory media - any of various types of memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" includes, but is not limited to, installation media, e.g., CD-ROMs, floppy disks, or tape devices; Computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, and the like; Flash, magnetic media, e.g., non-volatile memory such as a hard drive, or optical storage; Registers, or other similar types of memory elements, and the like. The memory medium may also include other types of memory or combinations thereof. Additionally, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located in a different second computer system that connects to the first computer system via a network, such as the Internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations, for example, different computer systems connected via a network.

Carrier Medium -Other physical transmission media that carry signals, such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals, as well as physical media such as buses, networks, and memory media as discussed above.

A computer system (or computer) - a personal computer system (PC), a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network appliance, an Internet appliance, a personal digital assistant ), A television system, a grid computing system, or any other type of computing or processing system including other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined as including any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor executing instructions from a memory medium.

The user equipment ( UE ) (or " UE Devices ") - Any of a variety of types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and perform wireless communication. Examples of UE devices are mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone ™, Android ™ Based tablet devices such as iPad ™ and Samsung Galaxy ™ portable gaming devices such as Nintendo DS ™, PlayStation Portable ™, Gameboy Advance ™ and iPod ™, laptops, wearable devices such as Apple Watch ™, Google Glass A variety of other types of devices may also be used as long as they allow short range radio access technologies (SRATs), such as, for example, BLUETOOTH ™, , Wi-Fi, or both cellular and Wi-Fi communication capabilities and / or other wireless communication capabilities Quot; UE "or" UE device "refers to any electronic, computing, and / or communication device (or device) that is easily transported by a user and capable of wireless communication, And the like).

Base Station (BS) - The term "base station" has a full range of its general meaning and includes, at least, a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing element - refers to various elements or combinations of elements that can perform functions in a device, e.g., a user equipment device or a cellular network device. The processing elements may include, for example, processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuits such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays FPGA), as well as any of various combinations of the above.

Wireless device (or wireless communication device) - Any of various types of computer system devices that perform wireless communications using WLAN communications, SRAT communications, Wi-Fi communications, and the like. As used herein, the term "wireless device" may refer to a UE device as defined above, or a fixed device such as a fixed wireless client or a wireless base station. For example, the wireless device may be a cellular wireless access technology (e. G., A base station or cellular telephone), such as, for example, any type of wireless station in an 802.11 system, such as an access point Lt; / RTI > may be any type of wireless station in a cellular communication system that communicates in accordance with, for example, LTE, CDMA, GSM.

Wi-Fi - The term "Wi-Fi" has the full scope of its general meaning and includes, at least, a wireless communication network that is served by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and provides connectivity to the Internet through these access points RAT. Most modern Wi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on the IEEE 802.11 standards and are sold under the name "Wi-Fi ". Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks are different from cellular networks.

Automatically-action or behavior, action or the no user input to direct specific or perform the operation, the computer system (for example, software executed by the computer system) or a device (e. G., Circuitry, programmable hardware element , ≪ / RTI > ASICs, etc.). Thus, the term "automatically" is contrasted with an operation performed or specified manually by the user, which provides the input by which the user directly performs the operation. The automated procedure may be initiated by an input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions performed "automatically " are not specified by the user, that is, they are performed" manually " Do not. For example, a user may enter an electronic form by providing an input specifying the information (e.g., by typing information, selecting check boxes, selecting a wireless communication device, etc.) This is to manually fill in the form even if the computer system has to update the form in response to user actions. The form may be automatically filled in by a computer system (e.g., software running on a computer system) that analyzes the fields of the form and writes to the form without any user input specifying a response to the fields . As shown above, the user can invoke automatic filling of the form, but does not participate in the actual writing of the form (e.g., the user does not specify the answers to the fields manually, Is completed). The present specification provides various examples of operations that are being performed automatically in response to actions taken by a user.

The various components configured to be described as "configured to " perform tasks or tasks. In that context, "configured to" is a broad description that generally refers to " having a structure "to perform tasks or tasks during operation. As such, a component may be configured to perform a task even if the component is not currently performing a task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured such that even if one module is not connected to another module, To be electrically connected to each other. In some contexts, "configured to" may be a broad description of a structure that generally refers to having a circuitry that "performs a task or tasks during operation. As such, a component may be configured to perform a task even if the component is not currently in an on state. In general, the circuitry forming the structure corresponding to "configured to" may comprise hardware circuits.

The various components may be described as performing tasks or tasks for convenience of explanation. Such description should be interpreted to include the phrase "configured to ". Reference to a component configured to perform one or more tasks may be provided by reference to 35 USC. Without explicitly applying the interpretation of § 112, 6, it is expressly intended.

1 and 2 - Exemplary communication system

Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system in accordance with some embodiments. It is noted that the system of FIG. 1 is merely an example of a possible system, and embodiments may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

As shown, an exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102 that communicates with one or more user devices 106-1 through 106-N through a transmission medium. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE) or a UE device. Thus, user devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices. Various of the UE devices may operate in accordance with the techniques described in detail herein.

Base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site and may include hardware to enable wireless communication with UEs 106A-106N. The base station 102 may also be configured to communicate with the network 100 (e.g., among the various possibilities, a core network of a cellular service provider, a communication network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / have. Thus, the base station 102 may facilitate communication between user devices and / or between the user devices and the network 100. The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a "cell ". From the viewpoints of the UEs, as used also herein, the base station may sometimes be considered to represent the network, so long as the uplink and downlink communications of the UE are involved. Thus, the fact that the UE is communicating with one or more base stations in the network can also be interpreted as the UE communicating with the network.

The base station 102 and the user devices can communicate with one another over a wireless network such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced, LAA / LTE-U, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV- (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunications standards, such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and the like. In some embodiments, base station 102 communicates with at least one UE, preferably using LTE or similar RAT standards, using enhanced UL (uplink) and DL (downlink) decoupling.

The UE 106 may be able to communicate using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using either the 3GPP cellular communication standard (such as LTE) or the 3GPP2 cellular communication standard (such as the CDMA2000 family of cellular communication standards of cellular communication standards) . In some embodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to operate with reduced power consumption at the receiver front-end, at least according to various methods as described herein. Thus, the base station 102, and other similar base stations operating in accordance with the same or different cellular communication standards, may be provided as one or more networks of cells, which may communicate with the UE 106 over a wide geographical area through one or more cellular communication standards, And similar devices to provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping services.

Alternatively or in the alternative, the UE 106 may be a WLAN, BLUETOOTH ™, one or more global navigational satellite systems (GNSS) (eg, GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcasting standards For example, ATSC-M / H or DVB-H). Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106-1 through 106-N) that communicates with a base station 102, in accordance with some embodiments. UE 106 may be a device having wireless network connectivity, such as a mobile phone, handheld device, computer or tablet, or virtually any type of wireless device. The UE 106 may comprise a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or additionally, the UE 106 may be any of the method embodiments described herein, or may be implemented as a program such as an FPGA configured to perform any portion of any of the method embodiments described herein Capable hardware elements. The UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any of a plurality of wireless communication protocols. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

The UE 106 may comprise one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols in accordance with one or more RAT standards. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may share one or more portions of a receive chain and / or a transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared radio may comprise a single antenna or may comprise multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) to perform wireless communications. Alternatively, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and / or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol configured to communicate with it . As another alternative, the UE 106 may include one or more radios shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radios exclusively used by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, UE 106 may include shared radios for communicating using either LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT, and separate radios for communicating using Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH, respectively. Other configurations are also possible.

Figure 3 - Exemplary UE  Block diagram

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip (SOC) 300 that may include portions for various purposes. For example, as shown, SOC 300 includes processor (s) 302 that can execute program instructions for UE 106, and processor (s) 302 that perform graphics processing and provide display signals to display 360 And may include a display circuit 304, The processor (s) 302 also receive the addresses from the processor (s) 302 and store them in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 351, NAND flash memory 310 (MMU) 340, which may be configured to convert the position information in the memory 360 to positions within the memory 360, and / or the display circuit 304, the radio 330, the connector I / F 320, and / ), ≪ / RTI > The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor (s)

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE 106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including a NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system), a display 360 ), And wireless communication circuitry (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g., 335a) and possibly a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 335a and 335b) for performing wireless communications with base stations and / And 335b). Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example and UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. Overall, the one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antenna (s) 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use the antenna (s) 335 to perform wireless communication with the aid of the radio circuit 330. As mentioned above, the UE may be configured to communicate wirelessly using a plurality of wireless communication standards in some embodiments.

The processor (s) 302 of the UE device 106 may execute program instructions stored on, for example, a memory medium (e.g., non-volatile computer readable memory medium) May be configured to implement some or all of them. In other embodiments, the processor (s) 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). In addition, the processor (s) 302 may be coupled to the UE 106, embodying mitigating the potential impact of LAA / LTE imbalance for wireless communication of the UE 106, in accordance with various embodiments disclosed herein Lt; / RTI > can be coupled to and / or interact with other components as shown in FIG. In particular, the processor (s) 302 may be configured to enable the UE 106 to communicate in a manner that attempts to minimize the imbalance between the LAA communication and the LTE communication of the UE 106, May be coupled to other components and / or may interact with them. The processor (s) 302 may also implement various other applications and / or end-user applications running on the UE 106. [

In some embodiments, the radio 330 includes separate controllers dedicated to controlling communications for the various RAT standards. 3, the radio 330 includes a Wi-Fi controller 350, a cellular controller (e.g., LTE / 3GPP controller) 352, and a BLUETOOTH ™ controller 354 And in at least some embodiments, one or more of these controllers may communicate with each other and with their respective integrated circuits (briefly, in communication with the SOC 300 (and more specifically with the processor (s) 302) (I. E., ICs or chips). ≪ / RTI > For example, the Wi-Fi controller 350 may communicate with the cellular controller 352 via the cell-ISM link or WCI interface and / or the BLUETOOTH controller 354 may communicate with the cellular controller 352 via the cell- 352), and so on. Although three separate controllers are shown in the radio 330, other embodiments have fewer or more similar controllers for different RATs that may be implemented in the UE device 106.

Figure 4 - Block Diagram of Exemplary Base Station

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 in accordance with some embodiments. Note that the base station of FIG. 4 is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, base station 102 may include processor (s) 404 that may execute program instructions for base station 102. [ The processor (s) 404 may also be configured to receive addresses from the processor (s) 404 and convert those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and ROM 450) To the MMU 440, or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network and configured to provide access to a plurality of devices, e. G., UE devices 106, as described above in Figs. 1 and 2. Additionally or alternatively, network port 470 (or additional network port) may be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network via the core network and / or the core network may be coupled to the telephone network (e. G., Between other UE devices serviced by the cellular service provider) Can be provided.

Base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possibly multiple antennas. At least one antenna 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE devices 106 via radio 430. An antenna 434 communicates with the wireless communication device 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. The radio 430 may be designed to communicate through a variety of wireless communication standards including, but not limited to, LTE, LTE-A WCDMA, CDMA2000, and the like. Processor 404 of base station 102 may implement some or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., non-volatile computer readable memory medium) The base station 102 may be configured to detect an imbalance between the LAA communication and the LTE communication performed by the UE device and to make adjustments to communicate with the UE device that may handle such imbalances. Alternatively, processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA or ASIC, or a combination thereof. In some RATs, for example Wi-Fi, the base station 102 may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case the network port 470 may be a wide area network and / For example, it may include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard. The base station 102 may be configured to communicate with mobile devices capable of detecting an imbalance between LAA wireless communications and LTE cellular wireless communications of mobile devices and, when applicable, May operate in accordance with various methods as disclosed.

Figure 5 - Exemplary communication system

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 500 in accordance with some embodiments. System 500 is a system in which an LTE access network and a Wi-Fi radio access network are implemented. The system 500 may include a UE 106 and an LTE network 504 and a Wi-Fi network 506.

The LTE access network 504 represents some embodiments of the first RAT access and the Wi-Fi access network 506 represents some embodiments of the second RAT access. The LTE access network 504 may be interfaced with a wider cellular network (e.g., an LTE network), and the Wi-Fi access network 506 may be interfaced with the Internet 514. [ More specifically, the LTE access network 504 may be interfaced with a serving base station (BS) 508, which in turn may provide access to a wider cellular network 516. The Wi-Fi access network 506 can interface with an access point (AP), which in turn can provide access to the Internet 514. Accordingly, the UE 106 may access the cellular network 516 over the Internet 514 and through the LTE access network 504 via the AP 510. [ In some embodiments, although not shown, the UE 106 may also access the Internet 514 via the LTE access network 504. [ More specifically, the LTE access network 504 may be interfaced with a serving gateway, which in turn may be interfaced with a packet data network (PDN) gateway. The PDN gateway may then be interfaced with the Internet 514. Thus, the UE 106 may access the Internet 514 via either or both of the LTE access network 504 and the Wi-Fi access network 506. [

Figure 6 - Wi - Fi Devices  / RTI >

Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary communication system in which a number of different devices can communicate with each other over a particular band, such as the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz frequency bands, using a Wi-Fi RAT. 5 GHz Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 ac / n) capable devices have become very common, as shown in FIG. 6, to operate in both peer-to-peer mode and / or station mode. Data communications over a particular frequency band, e.g., the 5 GHz band, may include voice, video, real-time, and best-effort types of traffic. The depicted devices include cameras 111, tablets 113, media servers / mini servers 115, portable computers 105 and 117, access ports / routers 103, game controllers 119, mobile devices 107 such as smartphones, and smart monitors 121 or monitors 121 with monitors 122 having a wireless access interface. As shown in Figure 6, many of the devices can communicate over the 5 GHz band using Wi-Fi communication technology. In some cases, Wi-Fi communications performed by devices may be affected by LAA / LTE-U communications also occurring over the 5 GHz band.

LAA / LTE The presence of -U signals

In LTE, Carrier Aggregation (CA) refers to two or more component carriers (CCs) to support wider transmission bandwidths, for example, bandwidths up to 100 MHz. A UE may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or multiple CCs depending on the capabilities of the UE. When a CA is configured, the UE can maintain one RRC connection with the network. A serving cell that manages the RRC connection of the UE is referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and a secondary cell (SCell) together with PCell may form a set of serving cells. In the CA, the UE may be scheduled through multiple serving cells simultaneously via the PDCCH. Cross carrier scheduling with a Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) allows the serving cell PDCCH to schedule resources on different serving cells. That is, a UE receiving a downlink assignment on one CC can receive association data on another CC.

Licensed assisted access (LAA) is a subcategory of LTE inter-band carrier aggregation, where one of the secondary carriers is a 5 GHz band, which may also be in communication with another RAT, such as Wi-Fi Band. Resources in the LAA carrier are scheduled in the same way that resources are scheduled in legacy carrier aggregation (CA). That is, carrier scheduling and / or cross-layer scheduling for LAA carriers is the same as for other CA carriers (PDCCH or ePDCCH). The LAA SCell may operate with a frame structure 3 of 20 slots and may be accessed following a successful listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure. FIG. 7 illustrates a typical LAA control and data scheduling scheme that provides a respective example 201 of the same carrier scheduling and a respective example 251 of cross-carrier scheduling, assuming a successfully completed LBT procedure in the previous sub- FIG. If the start position of the RRC subframe indicates 's07' and no DCI is received in slot 1, the UE can read the PDCC / ePDCCH in slot 2 to check for downlink data availability.

Unlicensed spectrum and Of LAA  use

Cellular traffic is expected to increase exponentially in 2015-2020. For example, mobile data traffic may reach 3.7 exabytes per month or EB (~ 3.7 * 10 ¹⁸ Bytes) to 30.6 EB per month by 2020. However, authorization spectrum is considered a major bottleneck that prevents operators from expanding network capacity. During the latest AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) -3/79 spectrum auction, US operators spent more than $ 44.9 billion on the 65 ㎒ spectrum. On the other hand, the 5 ㎓ unlicensed band represents the available bandwidth up to 500 ㎒ at auction cost. Thus, the LAA represents at least one approach that is applicable to solving this very same spectrum problem.

Using a shared antenna LAA and Wi - Fi  Exemplary techniques for coexistence between

8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary portion of a device 800 that includes a mobile wireless system (MWS) device 810 and a Wi-Fi controller 820. As shown in FIG. In some embodiments, the MWS device 810 corresponds to the cellular controller 352 and the Wi-Fi controller 820 corresponds to the Wi-Fi controller 350. In the illustrated embodiment, the device 800 also includes a Wi-Fi host 830 (which may correspond to the processor (s) 302) and bus hardware 840 and 842. The MWS device 810 may also be referred to as a cellular processor.

In the illustrated embodiment, the MWS device 810 is configured to communicate with the Wi-Fi host 830 via a host interface 835, which may be implemented using any of a variety of protocols, such as, for example, PCIe . In the illustrated embodiment, the Wi-Fi controller 820 is configured to communicate with the Wi-Fi host 830 via a Host Interconnect Interface (HCI) 885. In the illustrated embodiment, the MWS device 810 and the Wi-Fi controller 820 are configured to communicate with each other through the MWS coexistence transmit interface 845. [ In some embodiments, such an interface uses a wireless coexistence interface (WCI) -2 protocol, but in other embodiments any of the various interfaces, such as general purpose I / O (GPIO) or other interfaces, Lt; / RTI >

In some embodiments, the MWS device 810 and the Wi-Fi controller 820 share antennas for LAA and Wi-Fi transmissions in the 5 GHz band, respectively. Thus, in some embodiments, the MWS device 810 and the Wi-Fi controller 820 are configured to communicate via the interface 845 and to take action based on various signals to reduce interference in the transmission . In other embodiments, similar techniques may be used to reduce interference between different antennas used for cellular and Wi-Fi communications in the same frequency band.

In various embodiments, the cellular processor and the Wi-Fi processor may be implemented on different chips or integrated circuits, or on the same chip or integrated circuit. In some embodiments, a single processor implements both a cellular processor and a Wi-Fi processor, for example, by executing different control programs for Wi-Fi and cellular. Portions of each processor may be implemented using dedicated circuitry, processing elements, programmable hardware components, and the like. The present disclosure is intended in particular to cover all such embodiments.

In some embodiments, cellular DL transmissions are performed in LAA bands, while all cellular UL transmissions are performed using authorized bands. In some embodiments, both Wi-Fi transmission and reception are performed in the 5 GHz band using a shared antenna. In addition, various elements such as a diplexer, a low noise amplifier, a bandpass filter, etc. may be shared between the Wi-Fi communication and the LAA communication by the UE. In various embodiments, the switching antennas may involve switching these additional shared elements whether the Wi-Fi controller is using or is being used by the cellular controller.

9 is a block diagram of a UE-Wi-Fi module 920 (e. G., A cellular base station), a UE-LTE module 910 (e. G., A cellular processor such as the MWS device 810) ) (E.g., a Wi-Fi processor), and an application processor 940.

In the illustrated embodiment, the eNB 930 is connected to both LAA secondary component carriers (SCC) in unlicensed frequency bands including primary component carriers (PCC) and 5 GHz bandwidths in the applied frequency bands . The eNB 930 may be implemented in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 4 in some systems.

UE-LTE 910 is configured to communicate with eNB 930 via PCCs and LAA-SCCs in the illustrated embodiment and communicates with UE-Wi-Fi 920 via WCI- . The UE-LTE 910 is also configured to communicate with the application processor 940, e.g., via a PCIe interface, in the illustrated embodiment. In the illustrated embodiment, the UE-WI-FI 920 is also configured to communicate with one or more wireless access points using one or more 5 GHz component carriers (CC), and the application processor 940, via the PCIe / HCI interface, Respectively. Although the signaling in Figs. 9-11 is shown for illustrative purposes, the types of messages, the types of interfaces, and the order of messages may be different in other embodiments.

In the illustrated embodiment, eNB 930 and UE-LTE 910 perform RRC reconfiguration to add an LAA secondary cell (SCell) for the UE. Subsequently, the UE-LTE 910 sends a host indication with a list of LAA SCCs to the application processor 940, which routes the list of LAA channels to the UE-Wi-Fi 920. In other embodiments, the UE-LTE 910 may send a list of LAA channels directly to the UE-Wi-Fi 920 rather than through the application processor. In some embodiments, the list of LAA channels includes channels configured for use by the eNB 930, but these channels may or may not be assigned to the UE.

Based on this list, the UE-Wi-Fi 920 may, in some embodiments, operate on 5GHz channels that may be used by the UE-LTE 910 (e.g., the channels in the list) . In some embodiments, the LAA has an 8 ms transmission opportunity (TXOP), which can prevent interference between the Wi-Fi transmission and the LAA reception.

UE-Wi-Fi 920 performs transmissions on the channel used by the eNB 930 for the LAA (e.g., for peer-to-peer versus station / AP mode), and in some embodiments, Wi-Fi 920 is configured to use the Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) framework for best aggregation of quality of service management and media access control (MAC) protocol data units (PDUs) Often referred to as AMPDU). This may help grouping the Wi-Fi transmissions in time intervals similar to the 8 ms LAA TXOP interval (e.g., ~ 5-8 ms Wi-Fi transmission blocks), which in turn may result in interference with LAA reception via the shared antenna Can be reduced.

Referring again to FIG. 9, the UE-LTE 910, along with performing reference signal receive power (RSRP), reference signal receive quality (RSRQ) and / or received signal indicator (RSSI) Transmits a MWS_SCAN_ON message to the UE-Wi-Fi 920, and the MWS_SCAN_OFF message is followed when the scan is completed. These measurements may be for neighboring cells and, in some embodiments, may be performed at the request of the eNB 930. As shown, there may be 20 to 200 us propagation delays across WCI-2 for these messages. As shown, the UE-LTE 910 may then report the determined scan measurements to the eNB 930, which then sends a MAC Control Element (CE) to activate the LAA secondary cell, - Activate the SCCs assigned to the LTE 910. As shown, the UE-LTE 910 may also use MMS_SCAN_ON and MWS_SCAN_OFF messages to signal the start and end of the CQI measurement process. In the illustrated embodiment, the UE-LTE 910 also uses the WCI-2 Type-2 message to transmit an index of the SCCs actually allocated and activated by the eNB 930 to the UE. Similar messages may be subsequently used to indicate deactivated SCCs. Such messages may cause the UE-Wi-Fi 920 to be kept up-to-date on the LAA carriers currently assigned to the UE-LTE 910. In the illustrated embodiment, at 24 ms after the MAC CE element, the UE and the eNB are ready to begin communicating in LAA CA mode.

In some embodiments, during intervals indicated by the MWS_SCAN_ON and MWS_SCAN_OFF messages, the UE-Wi-Fi 920 is configured to completely avoid UL transmissions to avoid interference with LTE measurements. In some embodiments, Wi-Fi transmissions may still be performed during this interval, e.g., in response to an explicit user request to connect to a particular access point. In such embodiments, the UE-Wi-Fi 920 may notify the UE-LTE 910 of the transmission and the UE-LTE 910 may be configured to discard any measurements performed during the Wi-Fi transmission . This can ensure that measurement reports for LAA channels are not degraded by Wi-Fi transmissions.

In some embodiments, when the UE-Wi-Fi 920 is notified of activation of the LAA for the UE, the UE-Wi-Fi 920 sends a 5 Lt; / RTI > band to reduce the impact of such scans on LAA DL reception and / or to extend the residence time of Wi-Fi active scans after sending a probe request. Similarly, in some embodiments, when the LAA is activated, the UE-Wi-Fi 920 is configured not to transmit an acknowledgment (ACK) message in response to probe responses from the access point. This may further reduce interference with LAA reception in some situations. As shown, Wi-Fi may inhibit transmission on SCCs in the index, if possible, for example by attempting to allocate transmissions to other channels.

In some embodiments, the eNB 930 may determine whether to activate the LAA Scell based on the amount of user data buffered at the eNB 930, whether the user is voice over LTE (VoLTE) or guaranteed bit rate (GBR) traffic , And whether the SCC activation has already occurred within the timer interval. In some embodiments, eNB 930 may enable LAA SCell only if the amount of buffered data is greater than the threshold, the user does not have any VoLTE or GBR traffic, and SCC activation does not occur within a threshold interval .

10 is a signal diagram illustrating exemplary communications during LAA activation, in accordance with some embodiments. In the illustrated example, Wi-Fi does not cause the LAA to be disabled. In contrast, Figure 11 illustrates a situation in which the LAA is disabled based on Wi-Fi transmissions, in accordance with some embodiments.

In various embodiments, any of a variety of metrics may be used to determine when a Wi-Fi transmission is potentially interfering with LAA reception. This may include, for example, determining whether a given Wi-Fi transmission is longer than a threshold interval, determining whether Wi-Fi transmissions over a time interval are greater than a threshold average transmission rate over that interval, Determining the actual LAA packet loss over intervals, and so on.

In some embodiments, lost LAA packets can be recovered using Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), especially when Wi-Fi transmissions are relatively limited. However, at some point, the LAA may need to be disabled due to packet loss.

10, the UE-Wi-Fi 920 transmits an 802.TX_ON message to the UE-LTE 910 along with an antenna that switches to Wi-Fi for Wi-Fi transmission, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 802.11_TX_OFF < / RTI > The antenna is subsequently switched back for LAA use. In the illustrated embodiment, the UE-LTE 910 determines, based at least in part on the WCI-2 messages from the UE-Wi-Fi 920, that the packet loss is acceptable and the LAA CA remains active do.

In some embodiments, an initial message indicating that a Wi-Fi transmission is occurring may also specify the duration of the transmission. Generally speaking, a variety of techniques may be used to specify time intervals for transmissions, scans, etc., including start times and durations, start and end signals, start and end times (using any of various suitable time encodings) Any of the encodings may be used. The start and end messages (e.g., various "on" and "off" messages) illustrated in FIGS. 9-11 are included for illustrative purposes, but are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a Wi-Fi transmission causes an interrupt threshold to be triggered (e.g., based on one or more of the metrics discussed above), and the UE-LTE 910 initiates an SCC deactivation procedure. In some embodiments, the UE-LTE 910 initiates a deactivation procedure at a certain amount of time after receiving the TX_ON message if the TX_OFF message has not been received. In the illustrated embodiment, the UE-LTE 910 sends a CQI report with LAA SCC CQI = 0 to cause the eNB 930 to deactivate the LAA SCell (using the MAC CE in the illustrated embodiment) , And then the LAA is deactivated. In other embodiments, other messages may be used to request LAA deactivation from the eNB 930, for example, in a Device Coexistence (IDC) message, such as proprietary UL MAC CE or 3GPP Release 13. UE-LTE 910 may subsequently request to reactivate LAA SCCs (not shown), e.g., in response to a decrease in Wi-Fi transmissions. In some embodiments, similar techniques are used for reactivation procedures, using the same thresholds or different thresholds.

12A and 12B are flow charts illustrating an exemplary procedure for determining whether a Wi-Fi transmission (e.g., within the scenario of FIG. 11) causes an interrupt threshold to be triggered, in accordance with some embodiments. The procedures of Figs. 12A and 12B may be implemented, for example, by the UE-LTE 910.

Referring first to Figure 12A, at 1202, the UE-LTE 910 may determine whether the abort rate (LAA_Interrupt_Rate) by the Wi-Fi transmission exceeds (or meets) the start-timer threshold (LAA_Threshold_In). For example, LAA_Interrupt_Rate may be measured in terms of the number or percentage of TTIs interrupted by Wi-Fi transmissions within a certain time window (e.g., within a 100 ms period). As an example, LAA_Threshold_in may be set as 20% of the TTIs in the time window. The UE-LTE 910 may determine whether a given TTI in the time window is interrupted according to the procedures described above.

At 1204, in response to determining that LAA_Interrupt_Rate exceeds (or meets) LAA_Threshold_In, UE-LTE 910 may initiate a deactivation timer (LAA_Timer_Deac). LAA_Timer_Deac may be configured to measure whether the duration of high interference from the Wi-Fi transmission exceeds (or meets) a predefined threshold. As an example, LAA_Timer_Deac may expire after 500 ms.

At 1206, the UE-LTE 910 may determine whether LAA_Timer_Deac has expired. If so, the UE-LTE 910 may initiate an SCC deactivation procedure at 1208, e.g., as illustrated in FIG.

Referring now to FIG. 12B, at 1252, the UE-LTE 910 may determine whether the LAA_Interrupt_Rate does not exceed (e.g., fall below) the stop-timer threshold (LAA_Threshold_Out). As an example, LAA_Threshold_Out may be set as 10% of the TTIs in the time window. Setting LAA_Threshold_Out to a value lower than LAA_Threshold_In may provide a hysteresis function in determining whether to initiate an SCC deactivation procedure.

In response to determining that LAA_Interrupt_Rate is less than LAA_Threshold_Out, UE-LTE 910 may determine at 1254 whether LAA_Time_Deac is enabled. If LAA_Time_Deac is enabled, the UE-LTE 910 may stop LAA_Timer_Deac so that the SCC deactivation procedure is not initiated (e.g., the determination of step 1206 is not satisfied).

In various embodiments, the disclosed techniques may reduce the interference of LAA and Wi-Fi communications (which may eventually increase performance) using a shared antenna.

Illustrative device - my coexistence arc flow

In some embodiments, instead of (or in addition to) using the CQI = 0 report to deactivate the LAA, new signaling may be sent to the device-in-coexistence (IDC) frame to notify the mobile device of LAA RX unavailability. Used in work. This may, in some embodiments, remove dependence on the periodic CQI configuration by the network, which may degrade the user experience in certain situations. In some embodiments, the network is configured to use the IDC techniques discussed below with reference to FIG. 13, unless the mobile device supports these technologies, in which case the network may use the CQI = 0 techniques discussed above .

13 is a signal diagram illustrating exemplary IDC communications for LAA activation, in accordance with some embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, UE 1310 sends an InDeviceCoexd-LAA (r13) message to EUTRAN 1320 based on whether the network has determined to configure UE 1310 with one or more LAA SCells. The network then sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to UE 1310 that adds one or more LAA SCells and indicates that the UE is configured to send IDC indications for LAA RX shared purposes. The network also activates LAA SCells.

Subsequently, in the illustrated example, the UE 1310 determines that a WiFi LAA receive share is occurring or is expected and in response sends an InDeviceCoexIndication message with a shared issue field (LAAHardwareSharingIssue-R13) set to TRUE. In response, the network deactivates the LAA scells or suspends data transmission to the UE 1310 via such SCells.

Subsequently, in the illustrated example, the WiFi RX share no longer occurs and the UE 1310 sends an InDeviceCoexIndication message with the shared issue field set to false (thereby causing the network to configure the LAA SCell for the UE) And / or resume data transmission to UEs on SCells).

In some embodiments, the UE determines that during a first time period the transmission by the WLAN processor over the antenna has ceased transmission by the cellular processor within the first frequency band through the antenna at a rate that meets the first threshold Start a timer in response to; And to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band in response to expiration of the timer. In some embodiments, the UE determines, during a second time period, that transmission by the WLAN processor over the antenna has stopped transmission by the cellular processor within the first frequency band through the antenna at a rate lower than the second threshold And is further configured to stop the timer in response.

An exemplary method

14 is a flow chart illustrating a method for using coexistence information, in accordance with some embodiments. The method illustrated in FIG. 14 may be used inter alia with any of the computer circuitry, systems, devices, components or components disclosed herein. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently or in a different order as shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements can also be performed as desired.

At 1410, in the illustrated embodiment, a first processing element (e.g., cellular controller 352) performs wireless communications in accordance with a first RAT in a first frequency band and a second frequency band, wherein the first RAT is a cellular RAT , The first frequency band is in the unlicensed spectrum, and the second frequency band is in the applied spectrum.

At 1420, in the illustrated embodiment, the second processing element (e.g., Wi-Fi controller 350) performs wireless communications in accordance with a second RAT in a first frequency band, wherein the second RAT is a WLAN RAT. It is noted that the first and second processing elements may or may not be the same processing element.

At 1430, in the illustrated embodiment, the first and second processing elements performing method elements 1410 and 1420 use a common antenna for communications in the first frequency band for the first RAT and the second RAT do.

At 1440, in the illustrated embodiment, the second processing element represents one or more transmission intervals on the second RAT.

At 1450, in the illustrated embodiment, the first processing element determines whether to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band based on one or more durations of one or more transmission intervals. For example, when requesting deactivation, the first processing element can communicate with the base station to make a request. For example, the first processing element may send a CQI report with a CQI of zero to request deactivation. In some embodiments, the first processing element may send a DCI message to request deactivation.

Cellular communications in the first frequency band may be LAA communications. The first and second processing elements may communicate via the WCI interface. The first frequency band may be a 5 GHz band.

15 is a flow diagram of another method for using coexistence information, in accordance with some embodiments. The method illustrated in FIG. 15 may be used inter alia with any of the computer circuitry, systems, devices, components or components disclosed herein. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently or in a different order as shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements can also be performed as desired.

Method elements 1510 through 1530 correspond to method elements 1410 through 1430 of FIG. 14 in the illustrated embodiment.

At 1540, in the illustrated embodiment, the cellular processor transmits a message that lists one or more secondary component carriers in a first frequency band that are assigned for cellular communications or cellular measurements are to be performed. In some embodiments, one or more secondary component carriers are used by one or more neighboring base stations rather than, for example, a serving base station.

In some embodiments, based on this indication, the WLAN processor is configured to avoid transmitting on one of the secondary component carriers assigned to the cellular processor in response to the message. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to inhibit sending acknowledgments for one or more probes from a wireless access point in a first frequency band in response to the message. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to decrease the rate of active scanning in the first frequency band in response to the message. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor is configured to use aggregation (AMPDU) of the increased media access control protocol data units in response to the message. In some embodiments, the cellular processor is configured to send a message to an WLAN processor via an application processor.

16 is a flow diagram of another method for using coexistence information, in accordance with some embodiments. The method illustrated in FIG. 16 may be used inter alia among other things, in conjunction with any of the computer circuitry, systems, devices, components or components disclosed herein. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently or in a different order as shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements can also be performed as desired.

Method elements 1610 through 1630 correspond to method elements 1410 through 1430 of FIG. 14 in the illustrated embodiment.

At 1640, in the illustrated embodiment, the cellular processor represents the scan interval for a cellular scan in the first frequency band.

At 1650, in the illustrated embodiment, the WLAN processor cancels or suspends one or more scheduled transmissions over the second RAT during the scan interval. In some embodiments, the WLAN processor determines that it does not defer one or more transmissions during an interval (e.g., based on the duration of the scan interval, other information about the scan interval, and / or characteristics of the scheduled transmissions) . In some embodiments, the WLAN process is configured to notify the cellular processor whether it is transmitting during an interval. In some embodiments, in response to a notification that a WLAN processor has been transmitted during an interval, the cellular processor is configured to ignore one or more scan measurements taken during the interval that the WLAN processor transmitted.

Exemplary computer readable media

The present disclosure has described various exemplary circuits in detail above. The present disclosure is intended to cover not only embodiments that include such circuitry, but also computer readable storage media including design information specifying such circuitry. Accordingly, the present disclosure encompasses not only the apparatus including the disclosed circuitry but also the claims covering the storage medium specifying the circuitry in a format recognized by a manufacturing system configured to generate hardware (e.g., an integrated circuit) comprising the disclosed circuitry It is intended to support. Claims for such storage mediums are intended to cover, for example, entities that create circuit designs but do not themselves manufacture the design.

17A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary non-volatile computer readable storage medium for storing circuit design information, in accordance with some embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, semiconductor manufacturing system 1720 is configured to process design information 1715 stored on non-volatile computer readable medium 1710 and to manufacture integrated circuit 1730 based on design information 1715 do.

Non-volatile computer readable medium 1710 can include any of a variety of suitable types of memory devices or storage devices. The media 1710 can be any type of media, such as an installation medium, e.g., CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape devices; Computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, and the like; Flash, magnetic media, e.g., non-volatile memory such as a hard drive, or optical storage; Registers, or other similar types of memory elements. The medium 1710 may also include other types of non-volatile memory or combinations thereof. The media 1710 may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations, for example, different computer systems connected via a network.

Design information 1715 may be specified using any of a variety of suitable computer languages including but not limited to hardware description languages such as VHDL, Verilog, SystemC, SystemVerilog, RHDL, M, MyHDL, The design information 1715 may be usable by the semiconductor manufacturing system 1720 to manufacture at least a portion of the integrated circuit 1730. The format of the design information 1715 may be recognized by at least one semiconductor manufacturing system 1720. In some embodiments, the design information 1715 may also include one or more cell libraries that specify the synthesis and / or layout of the integrated circuit 1730. In some embodiments, the design information is wholly or partly specified in the form of a netlist that specifies cell library elements and their connectivity.

Semiconductor manufacturing system 1720 may include any of a variety of suitable elements configured to fabricate integrated circuits. This may be achieved, for example, by laminating semiconductor materials (e.g., on a wafer that may include masking), removing materials, shaping the stacked materials (e.g., doping materials, Changing the dielectric constants using the process), and the like. Semiconductor manufacturing system 1720 may also be configured to perform various tests of the manufactured circuits for correct operation.

In various embodiments, the integrated circuit 1730 is configured to operate in accordance with the circuit design specified by the design information 1715, which may include performing any of the functions described herein. For example, the integrated circuit 1730 may include any of the various elements shown herein. In addition, the integrated circuit 1730 may be configured to perform the various functions described herein in conjunction with other components. Additionally, the functions described herein may be performed by a number of connected integrated circuits.

17B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary non-volatile computer readable storage medium for storing design information for a programmable hardware element, in accordance with some embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, programming device 1750 is configured to process design information 1745 stored on non-volatile computer readable medium 1740 and program programmable hardware component 1760 based on design information 1745 do.

Media 1740 and design information 1745 may have features similar to media 1710 and design information 1715, as described above. The hardware description languages used to design the ASICs may be similar to or different from those used to program the programmable hardware components. The programmable hardware element 1760 may be a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic array (PLA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and the like. Programmable hardware element 1760 may include logic blocks, hard blocks for common functions, configurable clocking structures, memories, fuses, and the like. A given programmable hardware element 1760 can be programmed differently at different times, e.g., by adjusting the function of logic blocks, interconnections between circuit elements, and the like.

In various embodiments, the programmable hardware component 1760 is programmed and configured to operate in accordance with the circuit design specified by the design information 1745, which may perform any of the functions described herein ≪ / RTI > For example, the programmable hardware element 1760 may implement any of the various elements shown herein. Additionally, the programmable hardware component 1760 may be configured to perform the various functions described herein in conjunction with other components. In addition, the functions described herein may be performed by a number of connected programmable hardware components.

As used herein, the term "implementing a circuit according to design" includes both manufacturing an integrated circuit according to design and programming a programmable hardware element according to the design. Semiconductor manufacturing system 1720 and programming device 1750 are examples of computing systems configured to implement circuits according to design information. Generally speaking, implementing a circuit according to a design may include other methods for implementing hardware circuits in addition to the techniques discussed with reference to Figs. 17A and 17B. These terms are intended to cover all such techniques for implementing hardware circuits in accordance with design information stored in a computer readable medium.

As used herein, the phrase " design information specifying the design of a circuit configured to "does not imply that the circuit must be fabricated to satisfy the element. Rather, this phrase indicates that the design information describes a circuit that will be configured to perform the indicated actions or to include the specified components at the time of manufacture.

The disclosed embodiments can be realized in any of a variety of forms. For example, in some embodiments, the disclosed techniques may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the disclosed techniques may be implemented using one or more custom designed hardware devices, such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the disclosed techniques may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware components, such as FPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-volatile computer readable memory medium (e.g., non-volatile memory element) may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, wherein the program instructions are executed The computer system may be configured to perform any of the methods described herein, for example, any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, , Or any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or set of processors) and a memory medium (or memory element), wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, Program instructions may be configured to read and execute program instructions from a memory medium, and program instructions may be stored in any of the various method embodiments described herein (or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, Any arbitrary subset of any of the method embodiments described in the specification, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any of a variety of forms.

While the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, many changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. The following claims are intended to be interpreted as encompassing all such modifications and variations.

Claims (20)

As an apparatus,
A cellular processor configured to perform wireless communications in a first frequency band and in a second frequency band in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT), the first RAT being a cellular RAT, the first frequency band being in an unlicensed spectrum, The second frequency band being in an applied spectrum;
A wireless local area network (WLAN) processor configured to perform wireless communications in accordance with a second RAT in the first frequency band, wherein the second RAT is a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT;
Wherein the cellular processor and the WLAN processor are configured to couple to the same antenna for communications in the first frequency band;
Wherein the WLAN processor is configured to indicate one or more transmission intervals by notifying the cellular processor when the WLAN processor is transmitting through the antenna;
Wherein the cellular processor is configured to determine whether to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band from the cellular network based on at least one duration of the one or more transmission intervals. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the cellular processor is configured to notify the WLAN processor when the cellular processor is starting a scan and when the cellular processor is terminating a scan in the first frequency band;
Wherein the WLAN processor is configured to cancel or delay one or more scheduled transmissions during an interval starting at the beginning of the scan and ending at the end of the scan. 3. The method of claim 2,
In response to determining that the WLAN processor does not defer one or more transmissions during the interval, the WLAN processor is configured to notify the cellular processor that the WLAN processor has transmitted during the interval;
And in response to the notification that the WLAN processor has been transmitted during the interval, the cellular processor is configured to ignore one or more scan measurements taken during the interval that the WLAN processor transmitted. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the cellular processor is configured to perform measurements on one or more secondary component carriers in the first frequency band or in response to an assignment of one or more secondary component carriers in the first frequency band being assigned to the cellular processor by a cellular base station And to send a message to the WLAN processor in response to an indication from the base station to perform. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular processor transmits a CQI report to a cellular base station having a channel quality indicator (CQI) of zero for one or more secondary component carriers in the first frequency band, To request the deactivation of the device. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cellular processor is configured to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band by sending an in-device coexistence (IDC) message to the cellular base station. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cellular communications by the cellular processor in the first frequency band are license-assisted access (LAA) communications. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the WLAN processor is configured to indicate the one or more transmission intervals using a wireless-coexistence interface (WCI). The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first frequency band is unlicensed 5 GHz band and the second frequency band is an applied cellular band. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a single processor executing different programs is configured to implement both the cellular processor and the WLAN processor. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein, when determining whether to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band,
In response to determining during a first time period that transmission by the WLAN processor over the antenna has ceased transmission by the cellular processor within the first frequency band through the antenna at a rate that meets a first threshold Start timer;
And to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band in response to expiration of the timer. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein to determine whether to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band,
In response to determining that transmission by the WLAN processor over the antenna has stopped transmission by the cellular processor within the first frequency band through the antenna at a rate lower than the second threshold for a second time period, Wherein the device is further configured to abort. As a method,
Performing wireless communications in a first frequency band and in a second frequency band in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT) by a cellular processor, wherein the first RAT is a cellular RAT and the first frequency band is an unlicensed spectrum And the second frequency band is in an applied spectrum;
Performing wireless communications in accordance with a second RAT in the first frequency band by a wireless local area network (WLAN) processor, the second RAT being a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT, Wherein communications by the cellular processor and the WLAN processor use a common antenna;
Indicating, by the WLAN processor, one or more transmission intervals by notifying the cellular processor when the WLAN processor is transmitting through the antenna; And
Determining, by the cellular processor, whether to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band based on at least one duration of the one or more transmission intervals. 14. The method of claim 13,
Notifying, by the cellular processor, when the cellular processor is starting a scan and when the cellular processor is ending a scan in the first frequency band; And
Further comprising determining by the WLAN processor to cancel or defer one or more scheduled transmissions during an interval starting at the beginning of the scan and ending at the end of the scan. 15. The method of claim 14,
In response to determining by the WLAN processor that it will not defer one or more transmissions during the interval, notifying the cellular processor that the WLAN processor has transmitted during the interval; And
Further comprising discarding, by the cellular processor, one or more scan measurements taken during an interval transmitted by the WLAN processor. 18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a computing device to perform operations,
The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing wireless communications in a first frequency band and in a second frequency band in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT) by a cellular processor, wherein the first RAT is a cellular RAT and the first frequency band is an unlicensed spectrum And the second frequency band is in an applied spectrum;
Performing wireless communications in accordance with a second RAT in the first frequency band by a wireless local area network (WLAN) processor, the second RAT being a wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT, Wherein communications by the cellular processor and the WLAN processor use a common antenna;
An operation indicating, by the WLAN processor, one or more transmission intervals by notifying the cellular processor when the WLAN processor is transmitting through the antenna; And
And determining, by the cellular processor, whether to request deactivation of communications over the first frequency band based on at least one duration of the one or more transmission intervals. 17. The method of claim 16,
Notifying, by the cellular processor, when the cellular processor is starting a scan and when the cellular processor is finishing a scan in the first frequency band; And
Further comprising determining, by the WLAN processor, to cancel or defer one or more scheduled transmissions during an interval starting at the beginning of the scan and ending at the end of the scan. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > . 18. The method of claim 17,
Notifying, by the WLAN processor, to the cellular processor that the WLAN processor has transmitted during the interval in response to a determination not to defer one or more transmissions during the interval; And
Further comprising discarding, by the cellular processor, one or more scan measurements taken during an interval transmitted by the WLAN processor. 17. The method of claim 16,
In response to an assignment of one or more secondary component carriers in the first frequency band being assigned to the cellular processor by a cellular base station by the cellular processor or on one or more secondary component carriers in the first frequency band, Further comprising: sending a message to the WLAN processor in response to an indication from the base station performing the measurement. 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising requesting deactivation of communications over the first frequency band by sending a device to device coexistence (IDC) message to the cellular base station.

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