U.S. patent application number 14/378711 was filed with the patent office on 2015-06-25 for methods for handling a pattern-based guard band.
The applicant listed for this patent is Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ). Invention is credited to Muhammad Kazmi, Iana Siomina.
Application Number | 20150181583 14/378711 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48045649 |
Filed Date | 2015-06-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150181583 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Siomina; Iana ; et
al. |
June 25, 2015 |
METHODS FOR HANDLING A PATTERN-BASED GUARD BAND
Abstract
Methods in a first, a second and a third node in a wireless
communications network for handling a pattern-based guard band. The
first node configures the pattern-based guard band. The
pattern-based guard band comprises a pattern, which comprises at
least a first set and a second set of time resources. The first set
of time resources is associated with a first guard band
configuration. The second set of time resources is associated with
no guard band configuration or with a second guard band
configuration which is different from the first guard band
configuration. The method in the second node comprises obtaining
the configured pattern-based guard band and adaptively configuring
one more actions in response to the obtained pattern-based guard
band. The method in the third node comprises sending a request to a
first node to configure the pattern-based guard band. The first,
second and third nodes are also described.
Inventors: |
Siomina; Iana; (Solna,
SE) ; Kazmi; Muhammad; (Bromma, SE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ) |
Stockholm |
|
SE |
|
|
Family ID: |
48045649 |
Appl. No.: |
14/378711 |
Filed: |
March 8, 2013 |
PCT Filed: |
March 8, 2013 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/SE2013/050210 |
371 Date: |
August 14, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61608890 |
Mar 9, 2012 |
|
|
|
61608842 |
Mar 9, 2012 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/330 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 72/044 20130101;
H04L 27/2605 20130101; H04W 16/14 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 72/04 20060101
H04W072/04; H04W 16/14 20060101 H04W016/14; H04L 27/26 20060101
H04L027/26 |
Claims
1. A method in a first node for handling a pattern-based guard
band, the first node being comprised in a wireless communications
network, the method comprising: configuring the pattern-based guard
band, the pattern-based guard band comprising a pattern, the
pattern comprising at least a first set of time resources and a
second set of time resources, wherein the first set of time
resources is associated with a first guard band configuration and
the second set of time resources is associated with one of: no
guard band configuration and a second guard band configuration,
wherein the second guard band configuration is different from the
first guard band configuration.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the guard band comprises at least
one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first set of
time resources and the second set of time resources comprises at
least one of: a time slot, a subframe and a radio frame.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node is one of: an
aggressor system and a victim system.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising signalling the
configured pattern-based guard band to a second node in the
wireless communication network.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern is adaptively
configured based on at least one of: time- and/or frequency-varying
aggressor interference from an aggressor system, amount of impact
on a victim system of different transmissions in the aggressor
system, time- and/or frequency-varying victim signal receptions in
the victim system, and sensitivity to the aggressor interference of
different victim signal receptions in the victim system.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern is associated with at
least one of: a DownLink, DL, or UpLink, UL, transmission, a duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim, a UL-DL Time Division Duplex
configuration, a transmit activity pattern in an aggressor or a
victim, a receive pattern in a victim, and a specific signal of a
victim or an aggressor.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern further comprises
information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring is based on
information regarding a capability of supporting guard band
patterns of at least one of: the second node and a third node in
the wireless communications network.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring is performed at
least one of: periodically, on a request from another node, upon
being triggered by an event, triggered by a condition, and upon
expiry of a timer and after certain time duration.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting a
capability of handling, implementing or configuring, a guard band
pattern to one of: the second node and a third node in the wireless
communications network.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request
from at least one of the second node and a third node in the
wireless communications network to configure one or more guard band
patterns.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information
from at least one of the second node and a third node in the
wireless communications network, the information enabling the
configuring of the pattern-based guard band.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring one of
the second node and a third node to adapt at least one of its
transmission and its reception to the configured pattern-based
guard band.
15. The method of claim 9, wherein any of the first node, the
second node or the third node is one of: a first radio node, a
second radio node, a network node, or a wireless device.
16. A method in a second node for handling a pattern-based guard
band, the second node being comprised in a wireless communications
network, the method comprising: obtaining a configured
pattern-based guard band, the pattern-based guard band comprising a
pattern, the pattern comprising at least a first set of time
resources and a second set of time resources, wherein the first set
of time resources is associated with a first guard band
configuration and the second set of time resources is associated
with one of: no guard band configuration and a second guard band
configuration, wherein the second guard band configuration is
different from the first guard band configuration, wherein the
pattern-based guard band is configured by a first node in the
wireless communications network, and adaptively configuring one
more actions in response to the obtained pattern-based guard
band.
17. A method in a third node for handling a pattern-based guard
band, the third node being comprised in a wireless communications
network, the method comprising: sending a request to a first node
in the wireless communications network to configure a pattern-based
guard band, the pattern-based guard band comprising a pattern, the
pattern comprising at least a first set of time resources and a
second set of time resources, wherein the first set of time
resources is associated with a first guard band configuration and
the second set of time resources is associated with one of: no
guard band configuration and a second guard band configuration,
wherein the second guard band configuration is different from the
first guard band configuration.
18. A first node for handling a pattern-based guard band, the first
node being adapted to be comprised in a wireless communications
network, the first node comprising: a configuring circuit
configured to configure the pattern-based guard band, the
pattern-based guard band comprising a pattern, the pattern
comprising at least a first set of time resources and a second set
of time resources, wherein the first set of time resources is
associated with a first guard band configuration and the second set
of time resources is associated with one of: no guard band
configuration and a second guard band configuration, wherein the
second guard band configuration is different from the first guard
band configuration.
19. The first node of claim 18, further comprising a signalling
circuit configured to signal the configured pattern-based guard
band to a second node adapted to be comprised in the wireless
communication network.
20. The first node of claim 18, wherein the configuring circuit is
further configured to adaptively configure the pattern based on at
least one of: time- and/or frequency-varying aggressor interference
from an aggressor system, amount of impact on a victim system of
different transmissions in the aggressor system, time- and/or
frequency-varying victim signal receptions in the victim system,
and sensitivity to the aggressor interference of different victim
signal receptions in the victim system.
21. The first node of claim 18, wherein the pattern further
comprises information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
22. The first node of claim 18, wherein the configuring circuit is
further configured to configure based on information regarding a
capability of supporting guard band patterns of at least one of:
the second node and a third node, the third node being adapted to
be comprised in the wireless communications network.
23. The first node of claim 18, wherein the configuring circuit is
further configured to configure at least one of: periodically, on a
request from another node, upon being triggered by an event,
triggered by a condition, and upon expiry of a timer and after
certain time duration.
24. The first node of claim 18, further comprising a reporting
circuit configured to report a capability of handling, implementing
or configuring, a guard band pattern to one of: the second node and
a third node adapted to be comprised in the wireless communications
network.
25. The first node of claim 18, further comprising a receiving
circuit configured to receive a request from at least one of the
second node and a third node adapted to be comprised in the
wireless communications network to configure one or more guard band
patterns.
26. The first node of claim 18, wherein the receiving circuit is
further configured to receive information from at least one of the
second node and a third node adapted to be comprised in the
wireless communications network, the information enabling the
configuring of the pattern-based guard band.
27. The first node of claim 18, wherein the configuring circuit is
further configured to configure one of the second node and a third
node adapted to be comprised in the wireless communications network
to adapt at least one of its transmission and its reception to the
configured pattern-based guard band.
28. The first node of claim 25, wherein any of the first node, the
second node or the third node is one of: a first radio node, a
second radio node, a network node, or a wireless device.
29. A second node for handling a pattern-based guard band, the
second node being adapted to be comprised in a wireless
communications network, the second node comprising: an obtaining
circuit configured to obtain a configured pattern-based guard band,
the pattern-based guard band comprising a pattern, the pattern
comprising at least a first set of time resources and a second set
of time resources, wherein the first set of time resources is
associated with a first guard band configuration and the second set
of time resources is associated with one of: no guard band
configuration and a second guard band configuration, wherein the
second guard band configuration is different from the first guard
band configuration, wherein the pattern-based guard band is
configured by a first node adapted to be comprised in the wireless
communications network, and a configuring circuit configured to
adaptively configure one more actions in response to the obtained
pattern-based guard band.
30. A third node for handling a pattern-based guard band, the third
node being adapted to be comprised in a wireless communications
network, the third node comprising: a sending circuit configured to
send a request to a first node adapted to be comprised in the
wireless communications network, to configure a pattern-based guard
band, the pattern-based guard band comprising a pattern, the
pattern comprising at least a first set of time resources and a
second set of time resources, wherein the first set of time
resources is associated with a first guard band configuration and
the second set of time resources is associated with one of: no
guard band configuration and a second guard band configuration,
wherein the second guard band configuration is different from the
first guard band configuration.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] Embodiments herein relate to a first node, a second node and
a third node, and methods therein. In particular, embodiments
herein relate to handling a pattern-based guard band.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Communication devices such as wireless devices are also
known as e.g. User Equipments (UE), mobile terminals, wireless
terminals and/or mobile stations. Wireless devices are enabled to
communicate wirelessly in a wireless communications system or
wireless communication system, sometimes also referred to as a
cellular radio system or cellular networks. The communication may
be performed e.g. between two wireless devices, between a wireless
device and a regular telephone and/or between a wireless device and
a server via a Radio Access Network (RAN) and possibly one or more
core networks, comprised within the wireless communications
system.
[0003] Wireless devices may further be referred to as mobile
telephones, cellular telephones, or laptops with wireless
capability, just to mention some further examples. The wireless
devices in the present context may be, for example, portable,
pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted
mobile devices, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the
RAN, with another entity, such as wireless device or a server.
[0004] The wireless communications system covers a geographical
area which is divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area being
served by a base station, e.g. a Radio Base Station (RBS), which
sometimes may be referred to as e.g. "eNB", "eNodeB", "NodeB", "B
node", or BTS (Base Transceiver Station), depending on the
technology and terminology used. The base stations may be of
different classes such as e.g. macro eNodeB, home eNodeB or pico
base station, based on transmission power and thereby also cell
size. A cell is the area of radio coverage provided by the base
station at a base station site. One base station, situated on the
base station site, may serve one or several cells. Further, each
base station may support one or several communication technologies.
The base stations communicate over the air interface operating on
radio frequencies with the wireless devices within range of the
base stations.
[0005] In some RANs, several base stations may be connected, e.g.
by landlines or microwave, to a radio network controller, e.g. a
Radio Network Controller (RNC) in Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS), and/or to each other. The radio
network controller, also sometimes termed a Base Station Controller
(BSC) e.g. in GSM, may supervise and coordinate various activities
of the plural base stations connected thereto. GSM is an
abbreviation for Global System for Mobile Communications
(originally: Groupe Special Mobile).
[0006] In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term
Evolution (LTE), base stations, which may be referred to as eNodeBs
or even eNBs, may be directly connected to one or more core
networks.
[0007] UMTS is a third generation mobile communication system,
which evolved from the GSM, and is intended to provide improved
mobile communication services based on Wideband Code Division
Multiple Access (WCDMA) access technology. UMTS Terrestrial Radio
Access Network (UTRAN) is essentially a radio access network using
wideband code division multiple access for wireless devices. The
3GPP has undertaken to evolve further the UTRAN and GSM based radio
access network technologies.
[0008] According to 3GPP GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), a
wireless device has a multi-slot class, which determines the
maximum transfer rate in the uplink and downlink direction. EDGE is
an abbreviation for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution. In the
end of 4008 the first release, Release 8, of the 3GPP Long Term
Evolution (LTE) standard was finalized and later releases have also
been finalized.
[0009] In the context of this disclosure, the expression Downlink
(DL) is used for the transmission path from the base station to the
mobile station. The expression Uplink (UL) is used for the
transmission path in the opposite direction i.e. from the mobile
station to the base station.
[0010] In a wireless communications network, radio transmissions on
one frequency create co-channel interference but may also cause
interference or noise on another frequency, where the other
frequency may be an adjacent or non-adjacent channel, in the same
or other frequency band. Interference sources may be categorized
as: [0011] (1) Co-channel (interferer, a.k.a. aggressor, and victim
use the same frequencies); and/or [0012] (2) Inter-channel
Interference (aggressor and victim use different frequencies), such
as, [0013] Out-of-band emissions, [0014] Spurious emissions, [0015]
Unwanted emissions, [0016] Adjacent channel interference &
receiver selectivity, [0017] Spurious responses, [0018]
Intermodulation, and/or [0019] Receiver blocking and receiver
overload.
[0020] The term inter-channel interference reflects a series of
potential interference issues that may occur throughout a
communications system's service area on one channel due to radio
communications activity on another channel. Inter-channel
interference is a function of the performance of both transmitters
and receivers.
[0021] Out-of-band emissions. Transmitter emissions that fall
outside of the transmitter's intended channel bandwidth are known
as out-of-band emissions (OOBE) or, equivalently, as sideband
noise. This noise splatters into the adjacent channels and into
other bands, generally decreasing in strength with the frequency
offset from the transmitter frequency.
[0022] Spurious emissions. Emission on a frequency or frequencies
which are outside the transmitter's intended channel bandwidth are
known as spurious emissions, and the level of spurious emissions
may be reduced without affecting the corresponding transmission of
information.
[0023] Unwanted emissions. Unwanted emissions consist of spurious
emissions and out-of-band emissions.
[0024] Adjacent channel interference and receiver selectivity.
Desensitization, or ACS (Adjacent Channel Selectivity), is a
measure of a receiver's ability to receive a wanted signal at its
assigned channel frequency in the presence of an adjacent channel
interfering signal at a given frequency offset from the centre
frequency of the assigned channel, without the interfering signal
causing a degradation of the receiver performance beyond a
specified limit.
[0025] Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio is a measure of the power
which leaks into certain specific nearby Radio Frequency (RF)
channels as a result of transmitting in a given channel. It
provides an estimate of how much a neighboring radio receiver will
be affected by the Out Of Band (00B) emissions from a transmitter.
It is defined as the ratio of the filtered mean power in a set
bandwidth within the wanted channel to the filtered mean power in
an adjacent channel.
[0026] Spurious responses. It is common for transmitters to have
elevated power levels at a small number of discrete frequencies
other than the intended transmitter frequency. Likewise, receivers
exhibit somewhat elevated sensitivity at a small number of discrete
frequencies outside the intended receive frequency bandwidth.
[0027] Intermodulation. Receiver intermodulation (IM) is the result
of mixing two or more over-the-air signals within a radio's
receiver circuitry such that the mix products fall within the
Intermediate Frequency (IF) bandwidth of the receiver and add to
its thermal noise floor, thus reducing the sensitivity of the
receiver. IM is not due to the transmitter's spectrum output but to
non-linearity within the receiver itself.
[0028] Receiver blocking. Describes a situation when the receiver
front end can be overloaded by a single high level unwanted signal,
residing outside of the desired channel, or multiple high level
unwanted signals.
[0029] Transmit-receive scenarios are common interference
scenarios, especially in unpaired spectrum, but also with paired
spectrum with multiple systems in the same area. Some example
interference scenarios caused by DL radio transmissions are
illustrated in FIG. 1. There are also interference scenarios cause
by UL radio transmission or a combination of both DL and UL
transmissions.
[0030] FIG. 1 illustrates examples of scenarios of adjacent or
other-channel interference from DL (downlink) transmissions on
frequency f1: (a) to a device communicating with another system
(e.g., a satellite) on frequency f2; (b) to a device receiving DL
transmissions from a radio node on frequency f3; (c) to a radio
node receiving UL (uplink) transmissions from a device on frequency
f4, where the radio node may belong to own system (e.g., with FDD
or frequency division duplex where DL and UL transmissions are on
different frequencies) or other system; and (d) to a device
communicating with another device using frequency f5.
[0031] The amount of inter-channel interference and the caused
performance degradation of a victim system may be significant.
Managing the inter-channel interference may thus be important for
spectrum management, network planning, network deployment, and/or
network operation tasks. To provide good/improved co-existence
performance of multiple systems and control an amount of allowed
emitted power and unwanted emissions as well as a receiver ACS
capability, the 3GPP (3.sup.rd Generation Partnership Project)
standard specifies RF transmitter and receiver requirements, e.g.,
spectral masks, ACLR (Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio), ACS, etc.,
which are defined for both user equipment and radio nodes.
Radio Requirements
[0032] The UEs (i.e., user equipment nodes or wireless devices or
terminals) and base stations may be required to fulfill a specified
set of RF transmitter and RF receiver requirements to provide that
the wireless devices limit interference and are able to handle a
certain level of interference respectively.
[0033] More specifically, out of band (OOB) and spurious emission
requirements are to be met as part of RF transmitter requirements.
An objective of OOB and spurious emission requirements is to
reduce/limit the interference caused by the transmitters (e.g.,
User Equipment (UE) and/or Base Station (BS) transmitters) outside
their respective operating bandwidths to the adjacent carriers or
bands. In fact, wireless communication standards such as GSM,
UTRAN, Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
etc., clearly specify the OOB and spurious emission requirements to
reduce, limit, and/or minimize unwanted emissions. These
requirements may be primarily approved and set by the national and
international regulatory bodies, such as, ITU-R (International
Telecommunications Union--Radiocommunications Sector), FCC (Federal
Communications Commission), ARIB (Association of Radio Industries
And Businesses), ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards
Institute), etc.
[0034] Unwanted emission requirements, which may be specified by
the standardization bodies and eventually enforced by the
regulators in different countries and regions for both UE and the
base stations may include: [0035] (1) Adjacent Channel Leakage
Ratio (ACLR); [0036] (2) Spectrum Emission Mask (SEM); [0037] (3)
Spurious emissions; and/or [0038] (4) In-band unwanted
emissions.
[0039] Specific definitions and/or specified levels of these
requirements may vary from one system to another. Typically, these
requirements provide that emission levels outside an operating
bandwidth or band in some cases remain several tens of decibels
(dB)lower compared to the wanted signal in the operating bandwidth.
Although OOB and spurious emission level tend to decay dramatically
further away from an operating band, they may not be completely
eliminated, at least in the adjacent carrier frequencies.
[0040] Significant RF receiver requirements, which are typically
specified by the standards bodies and in some cases enforced by the
regulators in different countries and regions for both UE and the
base stations include: [0041] (1) Receiver sensitivity; [0042] (2)
Adjacent Channel Selectively (ACS); [0043] (3) In-channel
selectivity; [0044] (4) Spurious emissions; and/or [0045] (5)
Blocking: in-band, out-of-band, narrow-band, etc.
Operating Bands in 3GPP
[0046] The currently specified operation bands for Evolved
Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) are shown in Table 1 of
FIG. 2. The embodiments described herein, however, are not limited
to E-UTRA bands, 3GPP bands, or even licensed bands in general.
Spectrum Management and Guard Bands
[0047] A significant step in the development of interference
avoidance mechanisms is the creation of a spectrum database. It may
also be important to supplement this allocation and assignment data
with information regarding the actual use of the airwaves. Indeed,
a more complete database may include additional information such as
temporal duty cycles, and active and inactive time periods. The
analysis of the inventory information along with any data on the
actual use of spectrum may take into account the purpose for which
a spectrum band in question has been originally allocated. For
example, in some bands, it may be appropriate to look at average
spectrum utilization over a given period of time or over a certain
geographic area. For other bands, utilization could be based on
peak usage levels, especially during times of emergency.
[0048] Configuring guard bands is one of the basic inter-channel
interference, mainly adjacent channel interference, avoidance
techniques. The part of the spectrum constituting a guard band is
either unused or is partially used by the wireless device. The
latter is also known as restricted operation or guard band
comprising the restricted use of radio resources. More specifically
the partial or limited use may mean, for example, that the
transmitter is allowed to transmit at lower power level, e.g. up to
0 dBm in guard band, whereas up to 43 dBm may be transmitted in
normal (non-guard band) portions of the spectrum.
[0049] A guard band is an allocation of spectrum used to separate
adjacent transmit and receive bands within a given service or to
separate bands of different services for the purpose of protecting
operations within the separated bands from interference. Guard
bands allow sideband noise and filter responses to roll off to
acceptable levels before entering other bands. A guard band may be
helpful, for example, to account for practical limits of filters
used to prevent strong off-channel signals or emissions from
entering receivers while enabling reducing out-of-channel signals
or emissions to levels sufficient to protect the receiver. The
guard band spectrum is typically designated for another type of
service that, due to its particular use case, is neither
significantly affected by interference from the adjacent bands nor
significantly interferes with the adjacent bands.
[0050] Unused band, unused spectrum, restricted band, restricted
spectrum, and/or restricted resource blocks are some of the
alternate terminologies used to describe guard bands. All of these
terms may have substantially the same meaning (i.e., part of unused
spectrum or spectrum with limited use to reduce/prevent
interference between 2 wireless systems.
[0051] Formal Guard Band Allocation
[0052] Frequency coordination may be an effective method in which a
guard space is used to separate systems sharing the same frequency
spectrum or occupying adjacent frequency spectrum. Frequency
coordination is usually thought of as a formal process by which a
frequency and a coverage area are assigned to an applicant. Guard
bands may then be statically decided by a regulatory body. The
guard band may also be decided mutually by the individual parties
operating their systems in adjacent bands or carriers. For example,
operator A and operator B operating LTE (Long Term Evolution) TDD
(Time Division Duplex) systems using adjacent carrier frequencies
may decide to keep a guard band of 5 Mega Hertz (MHz). This can be
realized, for example, using equal spectrum contribution from each
operator (i.e., each operator may agree to set aside 2.5 MHz of
unused spectrum). An example of a guard band is illustrated in FIG.
3 for an 800 MHz land-mobile band and an associated guard band.
[0053] The statically assigned guard bands may not be efficient
from a spectrum utilization point of view. Furthermore, they may or
may not be sufficient, depending on the location of transmitters
and receivers and the transmit power level. Additional means of
dealing with the interference may thus be used as discussed
below.
[0054] Duplex antenna combining. Duplexing is a way to reduce
interference when an antenna is shared by a transmitter and a
receiver. The technique includes combining, for example, a base
station's transmitter antenna and receiver antenna into a single
antenna) through a duplexer which attenuates the transmitter's
signal and reduces/prevents entry of the transmitter's signal into
the receiver to a practical extent.
[0055] Physical separation of BS transmitter antenna(s) and BS
receiver antenna(s) (see FIG. 4a). As shown in FIG. 4a, for
example, a statically allocated 2 MHz guard band may be sufficient
for non-collocated BS transmitters and receivers, but not for BS
transmitters and receivers located at a same antenna tower.
[0056] Interference between mobile transmitter and mobile receiver
(see FIG. 4b). A guard band between UE (mobile) transmitter
frequency spectrum and UE (mobile) receiver frequency spectrum may
be less practical because a large guard band may be needed compared
to the BS-to-BS case due to more relaxed requirements for mobiles
and practical filter limitations.
[0057] Effective guard bands by geographical reuse for BS-to-mobile
and mobile-to-BS scenarios. By exploiting geolocation of
transmitters and receivers and by exploiting the fact that the
inter-channel interference for BS-to-mobile and mobile-to-BS may
typically be less significant (e.g. due to height difference or
isolation), a true guard band may be omitted. For example, see FIG.
4c.
[0058] In general, guard bands may be very effective at reducing
effects of OOBE from narrowband systems because the OOBE of a
narrowband transmitter may roll off significantly in a
practical-sized guard band (e.g., approximately 1 MHz). Broadband
signals, however, may have broader OOBE spectrums, and aggressive
filtering may still be required to substantially reduce OOBE with a
1 MHz guard band, which may only be practical at base stations.
[0059] In some exceptions, a slightly higher performance
degradation may be accepted as a worst case while allowing for a
more dynamic guard band control. For example, to reduce/prevent
OOBE from 500 MHz C Block LTE mobile transmitters from interfering
with public safety mobiles in the 500 MHz public safety block, a
special mode was created in the 3GPP standard that results in lower
OOBE but also reduces throughput. The special mode is under the
control of the cellular operator and is turned on through a
downlink message on a cell-by-cell basis.
[0060] However, this may not just be a problem between LTE and
narrowband public safety. Any mobile receivers operating in the 500
MHz spectrum may be affected by the OOBE because the 1 MHz guard
band between the base and mobile transmit bands may be insufficient
for significant attenuation of broadband signals. On the other
hand, the 1 MHz guard band between Block C and the D/Public Safety
Spectrum Trust (PSST) blocks may provide sufficient room for
filters on the broadband base transmitters to attenuate the
base-generated OOBE, reducing potential interference near base
stations.
[0061] The operation of two unsynchronized TDD systems in adjacent
carriers is another scenario where guard bands may be required. In
TDD, UL and DL subframes operate on the same carrier. Without any
guard band, cross UL and DL subframe interference may lead to
severe performance degradation at the UE receiver (e.g., due to UE
to UE interference) as well as at the BS receiver (e.g., due to BS
to BS interference). This cross UL/DL subframe interference may
even lead to complete disruption of the service, for example, if
UEs on two carriers are quite close. Therefore, a guard band is
required between the two unsynchronized TDD carriers.
[0062] The operation of a TDD system and an FDD system using
adjacent carriers is another scenario where guard bands may be
required. The adjacent TDD and FDD carriers may belong to different
frequency bands, but the bands are adjacent. An example is
operation in 2.6 GHz, for example, LTE FDD band 7 and LTE TDD band
38. The TDD band 38 operates in the center of FDD band 7.
Therefore, to reduce, avoid, and/or minimize inter-system
interference, restricted use of 5 MHz of spectrum on each edge of
the TDD band 38 may be recommended. The restricted usage
corresponds to the guard band in a sense that both LTE TDD UE and
LTE TDD BS transmissions at the edges of band 38 are allowed at
very low output power.
Multi-Carrier Aggregation System
[0063] To increase/enhance peak-rates within a technology,
multi-carrier or carrier aggregation solutions are known. Each
carrier in a multi-carrier or carrier aggregation system may
generally be termed as a component carrier (CC) or sometimes is
also referred to as a cell. The term carrier aggregation (CA) may
also be referred to using terms such as "multi-carrier system",
"multi-cell operation", "multi-carrier operation", "multi-carrier"
transmission, and/or reception. This means the CA is used for
transmission of signaling and data in the uplink and downlink
directions. One of the CCs is the primary carrier or anchor carrier
and the remaining CCs are called secondary or supplementary
carriers. Generally, the primary or anchor CC carries the essential
UE specific signaling. The primary CC exists in both uplink and
direction CA. The network may assign different primary carriers to
different UEs operating in the same sector or cell. Thanks to
carrier aggregation, the UE has more than one serving cell: one
primary serving cell and one or more secondary serving cell(s). The
serving cell may alternatively be referred to as a primary cell
(PCell) or primary serving cell (PSC). Similarly the secondary
serving cell may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell) or
secondary serving cell (SSC). Regardless of the terminology, the
PCell and SCell(s) enable the UE to receive and transmit data. More
specifically the PCell and SCell exist in DL and UL for the
reception and transmission of data by the UE. The remaining
non-serving cells on the Primary Component Carrier (PCC) and
Secondary Component Carrier (SCC) are called neighbor cells.
[0064] The CCs belonging to the CA may belong to the same frequency
band (also referred to as intra-band CA) or to a different
frequency band(s) (inter-band CA) or any combination thereof (e.g.,
2 CCs in band A and 1 CC in band B). The carriers in intra-band CA
can be adjacent (also referred to as contiguous) or non-adjacent
(also referred to as non-contiguous). In non-adjacent intra-band
CA, the carriers in gaps may typically be used by other operators.
Typically, in intra-band CA, the UE may require a single RF
receiver chain and RF transmitter chain to receive and transmit the
aggregated carriers respectively, especially when the total
aggregated carriers are within a certain limit (e.g. 20 MHz in
total for HSPA or 40 MHz in total for LTE). Otherwise, the UE may
have to implement multiple RF transmitter/receiver chains for an
aggregated larger number of carriers and particularly in case of
non-contiguous CA.
[0065] The inter-band CA including carriers distributed over two
bands is also referred to as dual-band-dual-carrier High Speed
Downlink Packet Access (DB-DC-HSDPA) in HSPA (High Speed Packet
Access). Furthermore the CCs in intra-band CA may be adjacent or
non-adjacent in frequency domain (also referred to as intra-band
non-adjacent CA). A hybrid CA including intra-band adjacent CA,
intra-band non-adjacent CA, and inter-band CA is also possible.
[0066] In HSPA release 10 (also referred to as 4C-HSDPA), up to 4
DL carriers can be aggregated where the DL carriers or DL cells may
belong to the same frequency band or may be split over two
different frequency bands (e.g. 3 adjacent DL carriers in band I at
2.1 GHz and 1 DL carrier in band VIII at 900 MHz). In HSPA Rel-11
(also referred to as 8C-HSDPA), up to 8 DL carriers may be
aggregated, and the DL carriers may be distributed over 2 or even
more bands. In the present version of the HSPA and LTE
specifications (i.e., rel-10), all the carriers that belong to one
frequency band may have to be adjacent when configured by higher
layers (e.g. RRC or Radio Resource Control). The operation on
non-adjacent carriers within the same band, however, may result
from the carrier activation/deactivation, which is performed by the
lower layers (e.g., the MAC or Media Access Control layer). As
stated above, however, the non-adjacent carriers within the same
band may also be configurable provided that the UE supports this
capability.
[0067] In principle, up to 5 DL carriers and 5 UL carriers (each of
up to 20 MHz) may be aggregated by the UE in LTE intra-band CA.
Even more carriers may be introduced in future releases. UE
requirements exist for at least 2 DL carriers and 2 UL carriers
(e.g., up to 40 MHz in UL and DL) according to release 10. The
intra-band non-contiguous CA is also possible in LTE both in the DL
and UL. The UE may use single RF chain or multiple RF chains
depending upon the aggregated bandwidth.
[0068] In LTE inter-band CA, up to 5 DL and 5 UL carriers (each of
up to 20 MHz and belonging to different bands) can be aggregated by
the UE. Even additional carriers belonging to different bands may
be introduced in future releases. UE requirements exist for at
least 2 DL carriers belong to 2 different bands and 1 UL carriers
in release 10. The requirements for 2 UL inter-band CA are being
introduced in release 11. Typically, for inter-band CA, the UE has
an independent RF chain for each CC which may belong to a different
frequency band.
[0069] The CCs in CA may or may not be co-located in the same site
or base station. For example, the CCs may originate (i.e., may be
transmitted/received) at different locations (e.g. from non-located
BS, RRH or remote radio head, or RRU or remote radio unit).
Examples of combined CA and multi-point communication include DAS
(Distributed Antenna System), RRH (Remote Radio Head), RRU (Remote
Radio Unit), CoMP (coordinated multi-point), and multi-point
transmission/reception, etc. Embodiments discussed herein may also
apply to multi-point carrier aggregation systems.
Signal Activity Patterns
[0070] Signal activity patterns are described below for transmit
and receive activity patterns.
[0071] Transmit Activity Patterns
[0072] A transmit activity pattern includes indication of time
period(s) with no or very low signal transmission followed by time
period(s) with normal signal transmission. The transmit activity
pattern can be in the downlink (e.g. on signals transmitted by base
station) or uplink (e.g. on signals transmitted by UE). Transmit
activity patterns may relate to DL or UL transmissions. Some
non-limiting examples of transmit activity patterns include: [0073]
(1) Any transmit pattern in general, [0074] (2) Almost Blank
Subframe (ABS) pattern used for interference coordination in
heterogeneous networks; [0075] (3) Signal transmissions following a
certain pattern (e.g., periodic satellite, radar transmissions,
and/or high-power physical signal transmissions in a cellular
network); [0076] (4) Discontinuous transmission (DTX) in DL; [0077]
(5) DTX (Discontinuous Transmission) in UL; and/or [0078] (6) UL-DL
TDD configuration (e.g. TDD UL-DL subframe configuration, TDD
special subframe configuration, etc.)
[0079] Receive Activity Patterns
[0080] The receive activity pattern (including time period(s) with
no or very limited signals) may be required to be received followed
by time period(s) with normal signal reception. A receive activity
pattern may relate to receiving DL or UL signals and/or channels.
The transmit activity pattern may also be in the downlink (e.g., on
signals received by the UE) or uplink (e.g., on signals received by
the BS). Some non-limiting examples of receive activity patterns
are identified as follows: [0081] (1) Any measurement pattern in
general; [0082] (2) Time-domain measurement pattern used for
interference coordination in heterogeneous networks; [0083] (3)
DRX; and/or [0084] (4) UL-DL TDD configuration (e.g. TDD UL-DL
subframe configuration, TDD special subframe configuration, etc.
Scenarios with Low Traffic Intensity
[0085] There are several scenarios where the traffic is low or
sporadic. Examples of such scenarios are described below.
[0086] Low-Traffic Load
[0087] Low-traffic time occasions may occur with different
periodicities, over different time intervals, and for different
reasons.
[0088] Certain services like speech may require low bit rate, and
operation of these services may also be periodic (e.g. once every
20 ms for speech). The traffic may also follow certain scheduling
patterns. For example, low-interference subframes may be configured
in an LTE for different purposes such as MBSFN (Multi-Broadcast
Single Frequency Network) subframes for backhaul communication for
relays or low-power nodes, positioning subframes for positioning
measurements, and/or almost blank subframes (ABS) for enhanced
inter-cell interference coordination. Furthermore, at certain
locations and/or times of day, the network activity may be very
low. In an industrial zone, for example, the activity of the mobile
network may be very low during night time, over weekends, and/or
during holidays.
[0089] Machine Type Communications
[0090] Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication or Machine Type
Communication (MTC) may be used to establish communication between
machines and between machines and humans. The communication may
include exchange of data, signaling, measurement data,
configuration information, etc. The device size may vary from that
of a wallet to that of a base station. The M2M devices can be
configured both for mobile operation and static operation. In most
scenarios, the M2M devices will transmit and receive data
occasionally, so that in some cases, the device receiver activity
can be as low as in IDLE state or even lower.
SUMMARY
[0091] It is an object of embodiments herein to provide an improved
way of configuring a guard band.
[0092] According to a first aspect of embodiments herein, the
object is achieved by a method in a first node for handling a
pattern-based guard band. The first node is comprised in a wireless
communications network. The method comprises configuring the
pattern-based guard band. The pattern-based guard band comprises a
pattern. The pattern comprises at least a first set of time
resources and a second set of time resources. The first set of time
resources is associated with a first guard band configuration. The
second set of time resources is associated with one of: no guard
band configuration and a second guard band configuration. The
second guard band configuration is different from the first guard
band configuration.
[0093] According to a second aspect of embodiments herein, the
object is achieved by a method in a second node for handling a
pattern-based guard band. The second node is comprised in the
wireless communications network. The method comprises obtaining a
configured pattern-based guard band. The pattern-based guard band
comprises a pattern. The pattern comprises at least a first set of
time resources and a second set of time resources. The first set of
time resources is associated with a first guard band configuration.
The second set of time resources is associated with one of: no
guard band configuration and a second guard band configuration. The
second guard band configuration is different from the first guard
band configuration. The pattern-based guard band is configured by
the first node in the wireless communications network. The method
also comprises adaptively configuring one more actions in response
to the obtained pattern-based guard band.
[0094] According to a third aspect of embodiments herein, the
object is achieved by a method in a third node for handling a
pattern-based guard band. The third node is comprised in the
wireless communications network. The method comprises sending a
request to the first node in the wireless communications network to
configure a pattern-based guard band. The pattern-based guard band
comprises a pattern. The pattern comprises at least a first set of
time resources and a second set of time resources. The first set of
time resources is associated with a first guard band configuration.
The second set of time resources is associated with one of: no
guard band configuration and a second guard band configuration. The
second guard band configuration is different from the first guard
band configuration.
[0095] According to a fourth aspect of embodiments herein, the
object is achieved by the first node for handling a pattern-based
guard band. The first node is adapted to be comprised in the
wireless communications network. The first node comprises a
configuring circuit configured to configure the pattern-based guard
band. The pattern-based guard band comprises a pattern. The pattern
comprises at least a first set of time resources and a second set
of time resources. The first set of time resources is associated
with a first guard band configuration. The second set of time
resources is associated with one of: no guard band configuration
and a second guard band configuration. The second guard band
configuration is different from the first guard band
configuration.
[0096] According to a fifth aspect of embodiments herein, the
object is achieved by the second node for handling a pattern-based
guard band. The second node is adapted to be comprised in a
wireless communications network. The second node comprises an
obtaining circuit configured to obtain a configured pattern-based
guard band. The pattern-based guard band comprises a pattern. The
pattern comprises at least a first set of time resources and a
second set of time resources. The first set of time resources is
associated with a first guard band configuration. The second set of
time resources is associated with one of: no guard band
configuration and a second guard band configuration. The second
guard band configuration is different from the first guard band
configuration. The pattern-based guard band is configured by the
first node, which is adapted to be comprised in the wireless
communications network. The second node also comprises a
configuring circuit. The configuring circuit is configured to
adaptively configure one more actions in response to the obtained
pattern-based guard band.
[0097] According to a sixth aspect of embodiments herein, the
object is achieved by the third node for handling a pattern-based
guard band. The third node is adapted to be comprised in the
wireless communications network. The third node comprises a sending
circuit configured to send a request to the first node. The first
node is adapted to be comprised in the wireless communications
network. The request is to configure a pattern-based guard band.
The pattern-based guard band comprises a pattern. The pattern
comprises at least a first set of time resources and a second set
of time resources. The first set of time resources is associated
with a first guard band configuration. The second set of time
resources is associated with one of: no guard band configuration
and a second guard band configuration. The second guard band
configuration is different from the first guard band
configuration.
[0098] By using the described pattern-based guard band, an improved
guard band is provided, since the guard band does not always use
the same radio resources. The usage of radio resources changes
according to the guard band pattern.
[0099] A particular advantage of the embodiments herein is that
more efficient resource utilization may be provided in both
aggressor and victim systems, and flexible guard band configuration
may be provided when the guard band may be configured as a pattern.
In an aggressor system, reduced wasting of resources may be
provided compared to statically configured guard bands. In a victim
system, improved awareness of the aggressor transmissions may be
provided.
[0100] A further particular advantage of the embodiments herein is
that reduced signaling overhead may be provided compared to a fully
dynamic guard band configuration. Workload may be reduced for radio
nodes compared to fully dynamic guard band configuration, because
the guard band may be configured by a third node. eICIC may be
performed and/or adapted in a co-existence scenario.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0101] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a
further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this application, illustrate certain
non-limiting embodiment(s) of the invention. In the drawings:
[0102] FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communications network that
includes user equipment, radio network nodes, and network nodes
which can be configured to operate according to some
embodiments;
[0103] FIG. 2 illustrates a table of operational bands for
E-UTRA;
[0104] FIG. 3 illustrates a guard band between a public mobile band
and a private land mobile band;
[0105] FIGS. 4a, 4b, and 4c illustrate guard bands that are
provided between adjacent transmitter and receiver bands;
[0106] FIGS. 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d illustrate a schematic block diagram
of a wireless communications network, according to some
embodiments;
[0107] FIGS. 6a, 6b, and 6c illustrate guard bands scheduled at
specific time occasions according to some embodiments;
[0108] FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method in a
first node, according to some embodiments;
[0109] FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method in a
second node, according to some embodiments;
[0110] FIG. 9 is a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method in a
third node, according to some embodiments;
[0111] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a first node that is
configured according to some embodiments;
[0112] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a second node that is
configured according to some embodiments; and
[0113] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a third node that is
configured according to some embodiments; and
[0114] FIG. 13 illustrates a wireless communications network that
includes user equipment, radio network nodes, and network nodes
which may implement guard bands according to some embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0115] As part of the development of embodiments herein, a number
of problems with the existing systems will first be identified and
discussed.
[0116] At least the following problems with existing systems may be
envisioned. First, resource utilization may be inefficient if guard
bands are configured over a continuous time period, such as, [0117]
(1) An aggressor system may be not generate interference during a
continuous period of time, e.g., due to discontinuous transmission
activity in the entire aggressor system or its part or due to
discontinuous transmissions of specific signals that have
significant impact on the victim system (not all transmissions may
have the same impact), [0118] (2) A victim system may not need
protection during a continuous period of time, e.g., due to
discontinuous reception of signals particularly sensitive to the
aggressor interference, and/or [0119] (3) Under moderate traffic
load, the victim system may not continuously schedule users. Under
low load or during certain time(s) of the day, the victim system
may even schedule data sporadically. In these scenarios the
traditional approach of continuously maintaining guard band in the
aggressor system may lead to unnecessary wastage of resources in
the aggressor system.
[0120] Second, when aggressor interference is dynamically varying,
dynamic configuration or reconfiguration of guard bands may lead to
a significant signaling overhead in the event that the guard band
information needs to be exchanged with or communicated to another
node.
[0121] Third, the existing signal activity pattern with restricted
transmission (e.g. ABS pattern) used in heterogeneous networks may
be employed in an aggressor system to lower interference towards
the victim system. These patterns, however, may not take into
consideration the impact of radio emissions in an adjacent carrier
or frequency band(s). In other words, the existing patterns may be
used regardless of whether there is a co-existence problem between
the spectrum used by the aggressor system and that used by the
victim system. Furthermore, guard bands, if configured in the
victim system, may not depend on the low-activity patterns in the
aggressor system. In a common co-existence scenario, when aggressor
and victim carriers are adjacent or closely located, the signal
transmitted by the victim carrier generates out-of-band emission
into the carrier of the victim system, which may occur, for
example, due to imperfections in RF components in general and
imperfection in RF components in the RF filter. The generated
out-of band emissions may degrade the victim's receiver
performance. The generated out-of band emissions, if they are
strong, may even block the victim's receiver from receiving any
signal (including the intended useful signal) resulting in a
complete disruption of the victim's receiver. The aggressor
receiver may also generate harmonics into the victim's receiver or
even into the victim's transmitter. Another type of unwanted
emissions is spurious emissions in the spurious frequency domain
(e.g., harmonics which occur not necessarily in the adjacent band
but in portions of the spectrum determined by the frequencies of
the mixed signals).
[0122] Embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter
with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of
embodiments of the claimed subject matter are shown. The claimed
subject matter may, however, be embodied in many different forms
and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth
herein. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not
mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly
assumed to be present/used in another embodiment.
[0123] FIGS. 5a-d depict a wireless communications network 500 in
which embodiments herein may be implemented. The wireless
communications network 500 may for example be a network such as a
Long-Term Evolution (LTE), e.g. LTE Frequency Division Duplex
(FDD), LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), LTE Half-Duplex Frequency
Division Duplex (HD-FDD), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
(WCDMA), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) TDD, Global
System for Mobile communications (GSM) network, GSM/Enhanced Data
Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN) network,
EDGE network, network comprising of any combination of Radio Access
Technologies (RATs) such as e.g. Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) base
stations, multi-RAT base stations etc., any 3rd Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular network, Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or any cellular
network or system.
[0124] The wireless communications network 500 comprises a first
node 511, a second node 512, and a third node 513. In the
embodiment of FIG. 5a, and for illustrative purposes only, each of
the first node 511, the second node 512 and the third node 513 may
be network nodes. However, in other embodiments, such as those
depicted in FIGS. 5b-d, any of the first node 511, the second node
512 and the third node 513 may also be any of a wireless device, a
radio network node, or a network node in general, as defined below.
The wireless communications network 500 comprises a first radio
node 514 and a second radio node 515. Each of the first radio node
514 and the second radio node 515 may be, for example, base
stations such as e.g. an eNB, eNodeB, or a Home Node B, a Home
eNode B, femto Base Station, BS, pico BS or any other network unit
capable to serve a device or a machine type communication device in
a wireless communications network 500. In some particular
embodiments, the first radio node 514 or the second radio node 515
may be a stationary relay node or a mobile relay node. The mixed
wireless network 500 covers a geographical area which is divided
into cell areas, wherein each cell area is served by a network
node, although, one network node may serve one or several cells. In
the examples depicted in FIG. 5a-d, the first radio node 514 serves
a first cell 521, and the second radio node 515 serves a second
cell 522. Each of the first radio node 514 and the second radio
node 515 may be of different classes, such as e.g. macro eNodeB,
home eNodeB or pico base station, based on transmission power and
thereby also cell size. Typically, wireless communications network
500 may comprise more cells similar to 521 and 522, served by their
respective network nodes. This is not depicted in FIGS. 5a-d for
the sake of simplicity. Each of the first radio node 514 and the
second radio node 515 may support one or several communication
technologies, and its name may depend on the technology and
terminology used. In 3GPP LTE network nodes, which may be referred
to as eNodeBs or even eNBs, may be directly connected to one or
more core networks.
[0125] In some embodiments, such as in that depicted in FIG. 5a,
the third node 513 may be a network node 516. The network node 516
may be, for example, a "centralized network management node" or
"coordinating node", which as used herein is a network node, which
may also be a radio network node, which coordinates radio resources
with one or more radio network nodes and/or UEs. Some examples of
the coordinating node are network monitoring and configuration
node, Operations Support System (OSS) node, Operations &
Maintenance (O&M) node, Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT) node,
Self-Organizing Network (SON) node, positioning node, a gateway
node such as Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW) or Serving Gateway
(S-GW) network node or femto gateway node, a macro node
coordinating smaller radio nodes associated with it, etc.
[0126] Further detailed information on network node and radio
network node is provided below under the heading
"Generalizations".
[0127] The first radio node 514 may e.g. communicate with the
second radio node 515 over a link 541 and communicate with the
network node 516 over a link 542. The second radio node 515 may
communicate with the network node 516 over a link 543.
[0128] A number of wireless devices are located in the wireless
communications network 500. In the example scenarios of FIGS. 5a-d,
only two wireless devices are shown, first wireless device 531, and
second wireless device 532. The first wireless device 531 may e.g.
communicate with the first radio node 514 over a radio link 544.
The second wireless device 532 may communicate with the second
radio node 515 over a radio link 545.
[0129] Each of the first wireless device 531 and second wireless
device 532 is a wireless communication device such as a UE which is
also known as e.g. mobile terminal, wireless terminal and/or mobile
station. The device is wireless, i.e., it is enabled to communicate
wirelessly in a wireless communication network, sometimes also
referred to as a cellular radio system or cellular network. The
communication may be performed e.g., between two devices, between a
device and a regular telephone and/or between a device and a
server. The communication may be performed e.g., via a RAN and
possibly one or more core networks, comprised within the wireless
network.
[0130] Each of the first wireless device 531 and second wireless
device 532 may further be referred to as a mobile telephone,
cellular telephone, or laptop with wireless capability, just to
mention some further examples. Each of the first wireless device
531 and second wireless device 532 in the present context may be,
for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held,
computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, enabled to
communicate voice and/or data, via the RAN, with another entity,
such as a server, a laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or
a tablet computer, sometimes referred to as a surf plate with
wireless capability, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices, devices
equipped with a wireless interface, such as a printer or a file
storage device or any other radio network unit capable of
communicating over a radio link in a cellular communications
system.
[0131] Further detailed information of the first node 511, second
node 512, third node 513 and the wireless communications network
500 is provided below under the heading "Generalizations".
[0132] As stated earlier, and as it is explained in detail in under
the headings and subheadings following the actions and systems
claimed herein, any of the first node 511, the second node 512 or
the third node 513 may be one of: a first radio node 514, a second
radio node 515, a network node 516, or a wireless device 531,
532.
[0133] Example of embodiments of methods in the first node 511, in
the second node 512 and in the third node 513 for handling a
pattern-based guard band, will now be described in reference to the
embodiments of a pattern-based guard band depicted in FIGS. 6a-c.
Each of FIGS. 6a-c shows a non-limiting example of a pattern-based
guard band 600, as described below in detail under the heading
"Pattern-Based Guard Bands" and the subheading "Information Related
to Guard Band Patterns". The pattern-based guard band 600 in each
of the examples in FIGS. 6a-c shows at least a first guard band
configuration 610. FIG. 6b shows also at least a second guard band
configuration 620. Each of the first guard band configurations 610,
and the second guard band configuration 620 is associated with a
set of time resources, but may also be associated with a set of
frequency resources and/or power levels. As shown in FIGS. 6a-c,
each of the pattern-based guard band 600 has at least a first set
of time resources 630 and a second set of time resources 640, which
are not necessarily first and second in time, as shown for example,
in FIGS. 6a and 6b. The first set of time resources 630 is
associated with the first guard band configuration 610. In some
embodiments, such as those depicted in FIGS. 6a and 6c, the second
set of time resources 640 may be associated with no guard band
configuration. In other embodiments, such as that shown in FIG. 6b,
the second set of time resources 640 may be associated with the
second guard band configuration 620. As can be appreciated in this
example, the second guard band configuration 620 is different from
the first guard band configuration 610. The first guard band
configuration 610 and the second guard band configuration 620 may
be different in any of the characteristics or parameters detailed
below under the heading "Pattern-Based Guard Bands" and the
subheading "Information Related to Guard Band Patterns". For
example, the first guard band configuration 610 and the second
guard band configuration 620 may be different in terms of frequency
resources. As shown in FIGS. 6a-c, each of the pattern-based guard
band 600 may have at least a first set of frequency resources 650
and a second set of frequency resources 660. The first guard band
configurations 610 may be associated with the first set of
frequency resources 650. The second guard band configuration 620
may be associated with the second set of frequency resources 660.
As shown in FIGS. 6a-c, in some embodiments, pattern-based guard
band 600 may have a third configuration 670 associated with a third
set of time resources 680 and a third set of frequency resources
690. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6b, pattern-based guard
band 600 may have a fourth configuration 691 associated with a
fourth set of time resources 692 and a fourth set of frequency
resources 693. These embodiments are not meant to be limiting, as
pattern-based guard band 600 may have more than four configurations
in some embodiments, and each may have its respective set of time
resources and set of frequency resources and/or power levels.
[0134] A method in the first node 511, the second node 512 and the
third node 513 will first be described in a general way, followed
by a more detailed description. Example of embodiments of a method
in the first node 511 for handling a pattern-based guard band 600,
will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in
FIG. 7. The first node 511, the second node 512 and the third node
513 may be comprised in the wireless communications network
500.
[0135] In some embodiments, the first node 511 may be one of: an
aggressor system and a victim system. Information on these and
other embodiments may be found below in further detail under the
subheading "Method Of Signaling Means and Nodes Involved in
Communication of the Information Related to Pattern-Based Guard
Bands".
[0136] In some embodiments, the guard band 600 may comprise at
least one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation. The restricted operation may be typically realized by
allowing the transmitter to transmit at lower power level, i.e.,
below a certain threshold.
[0137] Further detailed information of the pattern-based guard band
is provided below under the heading "Pattern-Based Guard
Bands".
[0138] The method comprises the following actions, which actions
may be taken in any suitable order. Dashed lines of some boxes in
FIG. 7 indicate that the action is not mandatory.
[0139] Action 701
[0140] As a non-limiting illustrating scenario, when an aggressor
system may have unwanted emissions into the operating carrier
frequency of a victim system, the pattern-based guard band 600
described herein may be used to mitigate fully and/or partly this
interference. In some embodiments, the system which is victim to
the aggressor system's interference, may send a request to the
aggressor system to configure such a pattern-based guard band 600.
In other embodiments, another node, such as the third node 513,
e.g., a network node 516, may send this request.
[0141] Thus, in some embodiments, the first node 511 may receive a
request from at least one of the second node 512 and a third node
513 in the wireless communications network 500 to configure one or
more guard band patterns. This is an optional action.
[0142] The action of receiving a request is described below in
further detail under the subheading "Method Of Signaling Means and
Nodes Involved in Communication of the Information Related to
Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0143] Action 702
[0144] Following the illustrating example given, an aggressor may
need information related to the pattern-based guard band 600 in
order to configure the pattern-based guard band 600 and adapt its
transmission activity accordingly. This information related to the
pattern-based guard band 600 may be signalled to the aggressor. For
example, the information may be signaled by a victim such as the
second node 512 in some embodiments, another aggressor, or the
third node 513.
[0145] In some embodiments, the first node 511 may receive
information from at least one of the second node 512 and a third
node 513 in the wireless communications network 500, the
information enabling a configuring of the pattern-based guard band
600.
[0146] Methods of performing the receiving step are described below
in further detail under the subheading "Method of Signaling Means
and Nodes Involved in Communication of the Information Related to
Pattern-Based Guard Bands". This section also contains a
description of examples of the information received in this
step.
[0147] Action 703
[0148] In this action, the first node 511, configures the
pattern-based guard band 600. The pattern-based guard band 600
comprises a pattern. The pattern comprises at least a first set of
time resources 630 and a second set of time resources 640. The
first set of time resources 630 is associated with the first guard
band configuration 610. The second set of time resources 640 is
associated with one of: no guard band configuration and a second
guard band configuration 620, wherein the second guard band
configuration 620 is different from the first guard band
configuration 610. In some embodiments, the second set of time
resources 640 is associated with no guard band configuration. In
other embodiments, the second set of time resources 640 is
associated with the second guard band configuration 620, wherein
the second guard band configuration 620 is different from the first
guard band configuration 610.
[0149] In some of these embodiments, at least one of the first set
of time resources 630 and the second set of time resources 640
comprises at least one of: a time slot, a subframe and a radio
frame.
[0150] In some embodiments, the pattern may be adaptively
configured based on at least one of: time- and/or frequency-varying
aggressor interference from an aggressor system, amount of impact
on a victim system of different transmissions in the aggressor
system, time- and/or frequency-varying victim signal receptions in
the victim system, and sensitivity to the aggressor interference of
different victim signal receptions in the victim system.
[0151] In some embodiments, the pattern may be associated with at
least one of: a DownLink, DL, or UpLink, UL, transmission, a duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim, a UL-DL Time Division Duplex
configuration, a transmit activity pattern in an aggressor or a
victim, a receive pattern in a victim, and a specific signal of a
victim or an aggressor.
[0152] In some embodiments, the pattern may further comprise
information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
[0153] In some embodiments, the configuring is based on information
regarding a capability of supporting guard band patterns of at
least one of: the second node 512 and a third node 513 in the
wireless communications network 500.
[0154] In some embodiments, the configuring is performed at least
one of: periodically, on a request from another node 512, 513, upon
being triggered by an event, triggered by a condition, and upon
expiry of a timer and after certain time duration.
[0155] Different embodiments of the configuring action 703 are
described below in further detail under the headings "Pattern-Based
Guard Bands", "Methods in a Node of an Aggressor System to
Configure Pattern-Based Guard Bands", and the subheadings
"Information Related to Guard Band Patterns" and "Method of
Signaling Means and Nodes Involved in Communication of the
Information Related to Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0156] Action 704
[0157] Following the illustrating example given, in some
embodiments, the aggressor system may signal the configured
pattern-based guard band 600 to another node, which may then apply
the configured pattern-based guard band 600.
[0158] Thus, in some embodiments, the first node 511 may comprise
signalling the configured pattern-based guard band 600 to a second
node 512 in the wireless communication network 500. This is an
optional action.
[0159] This action is described below in further detail under the
heading "Methods in a Node of an Aggressor System to Configure
Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0160] Action 705
[0161] As the capability to handle, implement or configure a guard
band pattern may vary among different nodes, as described later, in
some embodiments, the first node 511 may report a capability of
handling, implementing or configuring, a guard band pattern to one
of: the second node 512 and the third node 513 in the wireless
communications network 500. This is an optional action. This action
may allow, for example, the receiving node to adapt its operation
or the sending node to use guard band patterns or indicate to
another node its capability associated with a guard band
pattern.
[0162] Capability of handling, implementing or configuring, a guard
band pattern is described below in further detail under the
subheading "UE and Network Node Capabilities Related to Guard Band
Patterns".
[0163] Action 706
[0164] Following the illustrating example given, in some
embodiments, the aggressor system may adapt its own actions
according to the configured pattern-based guard band 600 in order
to mitigate fully and/or partly this interference on the operating
carrier frequency of the victim system. In other embodiments, the
aggressor system may configure the victim system instead to adapt
at least one of its transmission and its reception to the
configured pattern-based guard band 600.
[0165] Thus, in this action, the first node 511 may configure one
of the second node 512 and the third node 513 to adapt at least one
of its transmission and its reception to the configured
pattern-based guard band 600. This is an optional action.
[0166] This action is described below in further detail under the
heading "Methods in a Node of an Aggressor System to Configure
Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0167] Example of embodiments of a method in the second node 512
for handling a pattern-based guard band 600, will now be described
with reference to a flowchart depicted in FIG. 8. The first node
511, the second node 512 and the third node 513 may be comprised in
the wireless communications network 500.
[0168] In some embodiments, each of the first node 511 and the
second node 512 may be one of: an aggressor system and a victim
system.
[0169] The detailed description of some of the following actions,
which are mirror actions to those described in 701-706 for the
first node 511, corresponds to the same references provided above,
and will thus not be repeated here. For example, further detailed
information of the pattern-based guard band is provided below under
the heading "Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0170] In some embodiments, the guard band 600 may comprise at
least one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation. The restricted operation may be typically realized by
allowing the transmitter to transmit at lower power level, i.e.,
below a certain threshold.
[0171] As stated earlier, any of the first node 511, the second
node 512 or the third node 513 may be one of: a first radio node
514, a second radio node 515, a network node 516, or a wireless
device 531, 532.
[0172] The method comprises the following actions, which actions
may be taken in any suitable order. Dashed lines of some boxes in
FIG. 8 indicate that the action is not mandatory.
[0173] Action 801
[0174] The second node 512 may report a capability of handling,
implementing or configuring, a guard band pattern to one of the
first node 511 and the third node 513. This is an optional
action.
[0175] Action 802
[0176] In some embodiments, the second node 512 sends a request to
the first node 511 to configure one or more guard band patterns.
This is an optional action.
[0177] Action 803
[0178] The second node 512 may send information to the first node
511, the information enabling the configuring of the pattern-based
guard band 600. This is an optional action.
[0179] Action 804
[0180] In some embodiments, the second node 512 may obtain
information related to the pattern-based guard band 600 from at
least one of: the first node 511, measurements or sensing radio
signals or total interferences, a wireless device 531, 532, a
network node 514, 515, 516, an aggressor node, the third node 513,
a node serving the second node 512, a pre-defined rule, and a
configuration.
[0181] This action is described below in further detail under the
heading "Methods in a Node or a UE of a Victim System to
Adaptivelly Configure Transmissions and/or Receptions Responsive to
a Pattern-Based Guard Band".
[0182] Action 805
[0183] In this action, the second node 512 obtains the
pattern-based guard band 600 configured by the first node 511 in
the wireless communications network 500. The pattern-based guard
band 600 comprises a pattern. The pattern comprises at least a
first set of time resources 630 and a second set of time resources
640. The first set of time resources 630 is associated with the
first guard band configuration 610. The second set of time
resources 640 is associated with one of: no guard band
configuration and a second guard band configuration 620, wherein
the second guard band configuration 620 is different from the first
guard band configuration 610. In some embodiments, the second set
of time resources 640 is associated with no guard band
configuration. In other embodiments, the second set of time
resources 640 is associated with the second guard band
configuration 620, wherein the second guard band configuration 620
is different from the first guard band configuration 610.
[0184] In some of these embodiments, at least one of the first set
of time resources 630 and the second set of time resources 640
comprises at least one of: a time slot, a subframe and a radio
frame.
[0185] In some embodiments, the pattern may be adaptively
configured based on at least one of: time- and/or frequency-varying
aggressor interference from an aggressor system, amount of impact
on a victim system of different transmissions in the aggressor
system, time- and/or frequency-varying victim signal receptions in
the victim system, and sensitivity to the aggressor interference of
different victim signal receptions in the victim system.
[0186] In some embodiments, the pattern may be associated with at
least one of: a DownLink, DL, or UpLink, UL, transmission, a duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim, a UL-DL Time Division Duplex
configuration, a transmit activity pattern in an aggressor or a
victim, a receive pattern in a victim, and a specific signal of a
victim or an aggressor.
[0187] In some embodiments, the pattern may further comprise
information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
[0188] In some embodiments, the pattern-based guard band 600 is
configured based on information regarding a capability of
supporting guard band patterns of the second node 512 or a third
node 513 in the wireless communications network 500.
[0189] In some embodiments, the pattern-based guard band 600 is
configured at least one of: periodically, on a request from another
node 512, 513, upon being triggered by an event, triggered by a
condition, and upon expiry of a timer or after certain time
duration.
[0190] In some embodiments, the obtaining may comprise receiving a
configuration from the first node 511. This is an optional
action.
[0191] Action 806
[0192] In this action, the second node 512 adaptively configures
one more actions in response to the obtained pattern-based guard
band 600.
[0193] In some embodiments, the one or more actions may comprise at
least one of: selection of a carrier for operation, operation of a
victim carrier, adaptation of a bandwidth of a victim carrier,
performing load balancing or traffic adaptation to move traffic
between different carriers, a reception, a transmission, and
enabling low-interference measurement occasions.
[0194] In some of these embodiments, enabling low-interference
measurement occasions may comprise configuring a restricted
measurement pattern.
[0195] In some embodiments, the adaptation of a reception or a
transmission may be performed one of: periodically, upon a request
from another node, triggered by an event, triggered by a condition,
upon configuration by the first node 511, upon expiration of a
timer, and after certain time duration.
[0196] In some embodiments, the adaptively configuring may be done
so a requirement is met.
[0197] Example of embodiments of a method in a third node 513 for
handling a pattern-based guard band 600, will now be described with
reference to a flowchart depicted in FIG. 9. The third node 513 is
comprised in the wireless communications network 500.
[0198] In some embodiments, the third node 513 may be one of an
aggressor system and a victim system.
[0199] The detailed description of some of the following actions,
which are mirror actions to those described in 701-706 for the
first node 511, corresponds to the same references provided above,
and will thus not be repeated here. For example, further detailed
information of the pattern-based guard band is provided below under
the heading "Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0200] In some embodiments, the guard band 600 may comprise at
least one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation.
[0201] As stated earlier, any of the first node 511, the second
node 512 or the third node 513 is one of: a first radio node 514, a
second radio node 515, a network node 516, or a wireless device
531, 532.
[0202] The method comprises the following actions, which actions
may be taken in any suitable order. Dashed lines of some boxes in
FIG. 9 indicate that the action is not mandatory.
[0203] Action 901
[0204] In this action, the third node 513 may report a capability
of handling, implementing or configuring, a guard band pattern to
one of the second node 512 and the first node 511 in the wireless
communications network 500. This is an optional action.
[0205] Action 902
[0206] In this action, the third node 513 sends a request to a
first node 511 in the wireless communications network 500 to
configure a pattern-based guard band 600. The pattern-based guard
band 600 comprises a pattern. The pattern comprises at least a
first set of time resources 630 and a second set of time resources
640. The first set of time resources 630 is associated with the
first guard band configuration 610. The second set of time
resources 640 is associated with one of: no guard band
configuration and a second guard band configuration 620, wherein
the second guard band configuration 620 is different from the first
guard band configuration 610. In some embodiments, the second set
of time resources 640 is associated with no guard band
configuration. In other embodiments, the second set of time
resources 640 is associated with the second guard band
configuration 620, wherein the second guard band configuration 620
is different from the first guard band configuration 610.
[0207] In some embodiments, the guard band 600 may comprise at
least one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation.
[0208] In some embodiments, at least one of the first set of time
resources 630 and the second set of time resources 640 may comprise
at least one of: a time slot, a subframe and a radio frame.
[0209] In some embodiments, the pattern may be adaptively
configured based on at least one of: time- and/or frequency-varying
aggressor interference from an aggressor system, amount of impact
on a victim system of different transmissions in the aggressor
system, time- and/or frequency-varying victim signal receptions in
the victim system, and sensitivity to the aggressor interference of
different victim signal receptions in the victim system.
[0210] In some embodiments, the pattern may be associated with at
least one of: a DownLink, DL, or UpLink, UL, transmission, a duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim, a UL-DL Time Division Duplex
configuration, a transmit activity pattern in an aggressor or a
victim, a receive pattern in a victim, and a specific signal of a
victim or an aggressor.
[0211] In some embodiments, the pattern may further comprise
information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
[0212] Action 903
[0213] This is an optional action. In some embodiments, the third
node 513 may send information to the first node 511, the
information enabling the configuring of the pattern-based guard
band 600.
[0214] Action 904
[0215] This is an optional action. In some embodiments, the third
node 513 may obtain information related to the pattern-based guard
band 600 from at least one of: the first node 511, measurements or
sensing radio signals or total interferences, a wireless device
531, 532, a network node 514, 515, 516, an aggressor node, the
third node 513, a node serving the second node 512, a pre-defined
rule, and a configuration.
[0216] Action 905
[0217] This is an optional action. In some embodiments, the third
node 513 may receive a configuration from the first node 511 to
adapt at least one of transmission and reception to the configured
pattern-based guard band 600.
[0218] Action 906
[0219] This is an optional action. In some embodiments, the third
node 513 may signal the configured pattern-based guard band 600 to
a second node 512 in the wireless communication network 500.
[0220] This action is described below in further detail under the
heading "Methods in a Node of an Aggressor System to Configure
Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0221] Action 907
[0222] This is an optional action. In some embodiments, the third
node 513 may apply the configured pattern-based guard band 600.
[0223] To perform the method actions in the first node 511
described above in relation to FIG. 7 for handling a pattern-based
guard band 600, the first node 511 comprises the following
arrangement depicted in FIG. 10. The first node 511 is adapted to
be comprised in the wireless communications network 500.
[0224] In some embodiments, the first node 511 may be one of: an
aggressor system and a victim system.
[0225] The detailed description of some of the following
corresponds to the same references provided above, in relation to
the actions described for the first node 511, and will thus not be
repeated here. For example, further detailed information of the
pattern-based guard band is provided below under the heading
"Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0226] Any of the first node 511, the second node 512 or the third
node 513 is one of: a first radio node 514, a second radio node
515, a network node 516, or a wireless device 531, 532.
[0227] The first node 511 comprises a configuring circuit 1001
configured to configure the pattern-based guard band 600, the
pattern-based guard band 600 comprising a pattern, the pattern
comprising at least a first set of time resources 630 and a second
set of time resources 640, wherein the first set of time resources
630 is associated with a first guard band configuration 610 and the
second set of time resources 640 is associated with one of: no
guard band configuration and a second guard band configuration 620,
wherein the second guard band configuration 620 is different from
the first guard band configuration 610.
[0228] In some embodiments, the configuring 1001 circuit may be
further configured to adaptively configure the pattern based on at
least one of: time- and/or frequency-varying aggressor interference
from an aggressor system, amount of impact on a victim system of
different transmissions in the aggressor system, time- and/or
frequency-varying victim signal receptions in the victim system,
and sensitivity to the aggressor interference of different victim
signal receptions in the victim system.
[0229] In some embodiments, the configuring 1001 circuit may be
further configured to configure based on information regarding a
capability of supporting guard band patterns of at least one of:
the second node 512 and a third node 513, the third node 513 being
adapted to be comprised in the wireless communications network
500.
[0230] In some embodiments, the configuring 1001 circuit may be
further configured to configure at least one of: periodically, on a
request from another node 512, 513, upon being triggered by an
event, triggered by a condition, and upon expiry of a timer and
after certain time duration.
[0231] In some embodiments, the configuring 1001 circuit may be
further configured to configure one of the second node 512 and a
third node 513 adapted to be comprised in the wireless
communications network 500 to adapt at least one of its
transmission and its reception to the configured pattern-based
guard band 600.
[0232] In some embodiments, the guard band 600 may comprise at
least one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation.
[0233] In some embodiments, at least one of the first set of time
resources 630 and the second set of time resources 640 may comprise
at least one of: a time slot, a subframe and a radio frame.
[0234] In some embodiments, the pattern may be associated with at
least one of: a DownLink, DL, or UpLink, UL, transmission, a duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim, a UL-DL Time Division Duplex
configuration, a transmit activity pattern in an aggressor or a
victim, a receive pattern in a victim, and a specific signal of a
victim or an aggressor.
[0235] In some embodiments, the pattern may further comprise
information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
[0236] In some embodiments, the first node 511 may also comprise a
signaling circuit 1002 configured to signal the configured
pattern-based guard band 600 to a second node 512 adapted to be
comprised in the wireless communication network 500.
[0237] In some embodiments, the first node 511 may also comprise a
reporting circuit 1003 configured to report a capability of
handling, implementing or configuring, a guard band pattern to one
of: the second node 512 and a third node 513 adapted to be
comprised in the wireless communications network 500.
[0238] In some embodiments, the first node 511 may also comprise a
receiving circuit 1004 configured to receive a request from at
least one of the second node 512 and a third node 513 adapted to be
comprised in the wireless communications network 500 to configure
one or more guard band patterns.
[0239] In some embodiments, the receiving circuit 1004 may be
further configured to receive information from at least one of the
second node 512 and a third node 513 adapted to be comprised in the
wireless communications network 500, the information enabling the
configuring of the pattern-based guard band 600.
[0240] The embodiments herein for handling a pattern-based guard
band 600 may be implemented through one or more processors, such as
a processing circuit 1005 in the first node 511 depicted in FIG.
10, together with computer program code for performing the
functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code
mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product,
for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer
program code for performing the embodiments herein when being
loaded into the in the first node 511. One such carrier may be in
the form of a CD ROM disc. It may be however feasible with other
data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may
furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and
downloaded to the first node 511.
[0241] The first node 511 may further comprise a memory circuit
1006 comprising one or more memory units. The memory circuit 1006
may be arranged to be used to store data such as, the information
obtained, determined, received, sent, signalled or adapted by the
processing circuit 1005 in relation to applications to perform the
methods herein when being executed in the first node 511. Memory
circuit 1006 may be in communication with the processing circuit
1005. Any of the other information processed by the processing
circuit 1005 may also be stored in the memory circuit 1006.
[0242] In some embodiments, information such as information from
the second or third nodes 512, 513 may be received through a
receiving port 1007. In some embodiments, the receiving port 1007
may be, for example, connected to the one or more antennas in the
first node 511. In other embodiments, the first node 511 may
receive information from another structure in the wireless
communications network 500 through the receiving port 1007. Since
the receiving port 1007 may be in communication with the processing
circuit 1005, the receiving port 1007 may then send the received
information to the processing circuit 1005. The receiving port 1007
may also be configured to receive other information.
[0243] The information configured, signalled, reported or received
by the processing circuit 1005 in relation to the pattern-based
guard band 600, may be stored in the memory circuit 1006 which, as
stated earlier, may be in communication with the processing circuit
1005 and the receiving port 1007.
[0244] The processing circuit 1005 may be further configured to
send, report or signal information, such as information on
capability to handle the information related to a guard band
pattern, to the second node 512 or to the third node 513, through a
sending port 1008, which may be in communication with the
processing circuit 1005, and the memory circuit 1006.
[0245] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the
configuring circuit 1001, the signalling circuit 1002, the
reporting circuit 1003, and the receiving circuit 1004 described
above may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits,
and/or one or more processors configured with software and/or
firmware (e.g., stored in memory) that, when executed by the one or
more processors such as the processing circuit 1005, perform as
described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the
other digital hardware, may be included in a single
application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or several
processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among
several separate components, whether individually packaged or
assembled into a system-on-a-chip (SoC).
[0246] To perform the method actions in the second node 512
described above in relation to FIG. 8 for handling a pattern-based
guard band 600, the second node 512 comprises the following
arrangement depicted in FIG. 11. The second node 512 is adapted to
be comprised in the wireless communications network 500.
[0247] In some embodiments, each of the first node 511 and the
second node 512 may be one of: an aggressor system and a victim
system.
[0248] The detailed description of some of the following
corresponds to the same references provided above, in relation to
the actions described for the first node 511, and will thus not be
repeated here. For example, further detailed information of the
pattern-based guard band is provided below under the heading
"Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0249] Any of the first node 511, the second node 512 or the third
node 513 is one of: a first radio node 514, a second radio node
515, a network node 516, or a wireless device 531, 532.
[0250] The second node 512 comprises an obtaining circuit 1101
configured to obtain a configured pattern-based guard band 600, the
pattern-based guard band 600 comprising a pattern, the pattern
comprising at least a first set of time resources 630 and a second
set of time resources 640, wherein the first set of time resources
630 is associated with a first guard band configuration 610 and the
second set of time resources 640 is associated with one of: no
guard band configuration and a second guard band configuration 620,
wherein the second guard band configuration 620 is different from
the first guard band configuration 610, wherein the pattern-based
guard band 600 is configured by a first node 511 adapted to be
comprised in the wireless communications network 500.
[0251] In some embodiments, the guard band 600 may comprise at
least one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation.
[0252] In some embodiments, at least one of the first set of time
resources 630 and the second set of time resources 640 may comprise
at least one of: a time slot, a subframe and a radio frame.
[0253] In some embodiments, the pattern may be associated with at
least one of: a DownLink, DL, or UpLink, UL, transmission, a duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim, a UL-DL Time Division Duplex
configuration, a transmit activity pattern in an aggressor or a
victim, a receive pattern in a victim, and a specific signal of a
victim or an aggressor.
[0254] In some embodiments, the pattern may further comprise
information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
[0255] In some embodiments, the obtaining 1101 circuit may be
further configured to receive a configuration from the first node
511.
[0256] In some embodiments, the obtaining 1101 circuit may be
further configured to obtain information related to the
pattern-based guard band 600 from at least one of: the first node
511, measurements or sensing radio signals or total interferences,
a wireless device 531, 532, a network node 514, 515, 516, an
aggressor node, the third node 513, a node serving the second node
512, a pre-defined rule, and a configuration.
[0257] The second node 512 comprises a configuring circuit 1102
configured to adaptively configure one more actions in response to
the obtained pattern-based guard band 600.
[0258] In some embodiments, the one or more actions may comprise at
least one of: selection of a carrier for operation, operation of a
victim carrier, adaptation of a bandwidth of a victim carrier,
performing load balancing or traffic adaptation to move traffic
between different carriers, a reception, a transmission, and
enabling low-interference measurement occasions.
[0259] In some of these embodiments, enabling low-interference
measurement occasions may comprise configuring a restricted
measurement pattern.
[0260] In some embodiments, the adaptation of a reception or a
transmission may be performed one of: periodically, upon a request
from another node, triggered by an event, triggered by a condition,
upon configuration by the first node 511, upon expiration of a
timer, and after certain time duration.
[0261] In some embodiments, the configuring 1102 circuit may be
further configured to adaptively configure the pattern based on at
least one of: time- and/or frequency-varying aggressor interference
from an aggressor system, amount of impact on a victim system of
different transmissions in the aggressor system, time- and/or
frequency-varying victim signal receptions in the victim system,
and sensitivity to the aggressor interference of different victim
signal receptions in the victim system.
[0262] In some embodiments, the configuring 1102 circuit may be
further configured to configure based on information regarding a
capability of supporting guard band patterns of the second node 512
or a third node 513 adapted to be comprised in the wireless
communications network 500.
[0263] In some embodiments, the configuring 1102 circuit may be
further configured to configure at least one of: periodically, on a
request from another node 512, 513, upon being triggered by an
event, triggered by a condition, and upon expiry of a timer or
after certain time duration.
[0264] In some embodiments, the configuring 1102 circuit may be
further configured to adaptively configure so a requirement is
met.
[0265] In some embodiments, the second node 512 may also comprise a
reporting circuit 903 configured to report a capability of
handling, implementing or configuring, a guard band pattern to one
of the first node 511 and the third node 513.
[0266] In some embodiments, the second node 512 may also comprise a
sending circuit 904 configured to send a request to the first node
511 to configure one or more guard band patterns.
[0267] In some embodiments, the sending 1104 circuit may be further
configured to send information to the first node 511, the
information enabling the configuring of the pattern-based guard
band 600.
[0268] The embodiments herein for handling a pattern-based guard
band 600 may be implemented through one or more processors, such as
a processing circuit 1105 in the second node 512 depicted in FIG.
11, together with computer program code for performing the
functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code
mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product,
for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer
program code for performing the embodiments herein when being
loaded into the in the second node 512. One such carrier may be in
the form of a CD ROM disc. It may be however feasible with other
data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may
furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and
downloaded to the second node 512.
[0269] The second node 512 may further comprise a memory circuit
1106 comprising one or more memory units. The memory circuit 1106
may be arranged to be used to store data such as, the information
obtained, configured, reported, or sent by the processing circuit
1105 in relation to applications to perform the methods herein when
being executed in the second node 512. Memory circuit 1106 may be
in communication with the processing circuit 1105. Any of the other
information processed by the processing circuit 1105 may also be
stored in the memory circuit 1106.
[0270] In some embodiments, information from the first or third
nodes 511, 513 may be received through a receiving port 1107. In
some embodiments, the receiving port 1107 may be, for example,
connected to the one or more antennas in the second node 512. In
other embodiments, the second node 512 may receive information from
another structure in the wireless communications network 500
through the receiving port 1107. Since the receiving port 1107 may
be in communication with the processing circuit 1105, the receiving
port 1107 may then send the received information to the processing
circuit 1105. The receiving port 1107 may also be configured to
receive other information.
[0271] The information obtained, configured, reported, or sent by
the processing circuit 1105 in relation to, the information related
to the pattern-based guard band 600, may be stored in the memory
circuit 1106 which, as stated earlier, may be in communication with
the processing circuit 1105 and the receiving port 1107.
[0272] The processing circuit 1105 may be further configured to
send or signal information, such as information on capability to
handle the information related to the guard band, to the first node
511 or to the third node 513, through a sending port 1108, which
may be in communication with the processing circuit 1105, and the
memory circuit 1106.
[0273] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the
obtaining circuit 1101, the configuring circuit 1102, the reporting
circuit 1103 and the sending circuit 1104 described above may refer
to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and/or one or more
processors configured with software and/or firmware (e.g., stored
in memory) that, when executed by the one or more processors such
as the processing circuit 1105, perform as described above. One or
more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware,
may be included in a single application-specific integrated circuit
(ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be
distributed among several separate components, whether individually
packaged or assembled into a system-on-a-chip (SoC).
[0274] To perform the method actions in the third node 513
described above in relation to FIG. 9 for handling a pattern-based
guard band 600, the third node 513 comprises the following
arrangement depicted in FIG. 12. The third node 513 is adapted to
be comprised in the wireless communications network 500.
[0275] In some embodiments, the third node 513 may be one of an
aggressor system and a victim system.
[0276] The detailed description of some of the following
corresponds to the same references provided above, in relation to
the actions described for the first node 511, and will thus not be
repeated here. For example, further detailed information of the
pattern-based guard band is provided below under the heading
"Pattern-Based Guard Bands".
[0277] Any of the first node 511, the second node 512 or the third
node 513 is one of: a first radio node 514, a second radio node
515, a network node 516, or a wireless device 531, 532.
[0278] The third node 513 comprises an sending circuit 1201
configured to send a request to a first node 511 adapted to be
comprised in the wireless communications network 500, to configure
a pattern-based guard band 600, the pattern-based guard band 600
comprising a pattern, the pattern comprising at least a first set
of time resources 630 and a second set of time resources 640
wherein the first set of time resources 630 is associated with a
first guard band configuration 610 and the second set of time
resources 640 is associated with one of: no guard band
configuration and a second guard band configuration 620, wherein
the second guard band configuration 620 is different from the first
guard band configuration 610.
[0279] In some embodiments, the guard band 600 may comprise at
least one of: an unused spectrum and spectrum with restricted
operation.
[0280] In some embodiments, at least one of the first set of time
resources 630 and the second set of time resources 640 may comprise
at least one of: a time slot, a subframe and a radio frame.
[0281] In some embodiments, the pattern may be associated with at
least one of: a DownLink, DL, or UpLink, UL, transmission, a duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim, a UL-DL Time Division Duplex
configuration, a transmit activity pattern in an aggressor or a
victim, a receive pattern in a victim, and a specific signal of a
victim or an aggressor.
[0282] In some embodiments, the pattern may further comprise
information on at least one of: pattern length, frequency
information of an aggressor, multi-level pattern sequence, time
unit and granularity of pattern sequence, pattern repetition type,
periodicity or repetition period, reference time point from where a
sequence is calculated or derived, starting time point from when
the pattern applies, ending time point until which the pattern
applies, duration of pattern, modification time, starting
condition, ending condition, modification condition, transmit power
level in aggressor system, direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, and location information where guard band pattern is
applied.
[0283] In some embodiments, the sending circuit 1201 may be further
configured to send information to the first node 511, the
information enabling the configuring of the pattern-based guard
band 600.
[0284] In some embodiments, the third node 513 may also comprise an
applying circuit 1202 configured to apply the configured
pattern-based guard band 600.
[0285] In some embodiments, the third node 513 may also comprise a
signalling circuit 1203 configured to signal the configured
pattern-based guard band 600 to a second node 512 adapted to be
comprised in the wireless communication network 500.
[0286] In some embodiments, the third node 513 may also comprise a
reporting circuit 1304 configured to report a capability of
handling, implementing or configuring, a guard band pattern to one
of the second node 512 and the first node 511 adapted to be
comprised in the wireless communications network 500.
[0287] In some embodiments, the third node 513 may also comprise a
receiving circuit 1205 configured to receive a configuration from
the first node 511 to adapt at least one of transmission and
reception to the configured pattern-based guard band 600.
[0288] In some embodiments, the third node 513 may also comprise an
obtaining circuit 1206 configured to obtain information related to
the pattern-based guard band 600 from at least one of: the first
node 511, measurements or sensing radio signals or total
interferences, a wireless device 531, 532, a network node 514, 515,
516, an aggressor node, the third node 513, a node serving the
second node 512, a pre-defined rule, and a configuration.
[0289] The embodiments herein for handling a pattern-based guard
band 600 may be implemented through one or more processors, such as
a processing circuit 1207 in the third node 513 depicted in FIG.
10, together with computer program code for performing the
functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code
mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product,
for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer
program code for performing the embodiments herein when being
loaded into the in the third node 513. One such carrier may be in
the form of a CD ROM disc. It may be however feasible with other
data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may
furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and
downloaded to the third node 513.
[0290] The third node 513 may further comprise a memory circuit
1208 comprising one or more memory units. The memory circuit 1208
may be arranged to be used to store data such as, the information
requested, received, sent, or adapted by the processing circuit
1207 in relation to applications to perform the methods herein when
being executed in the third node 513. Memory circuit 1208 may be in
communication with the processing circuit 1207. Any of the other
information processed by the processing circuit 1207 may also be
stored in the memory circuit 1208.
[0291] In some embodiments, information from the first or second
nodes 511, 512 may be received through a receiving port 1209. In
other embodiments, the third node 513 may receive information from
another structure in the wireless communications network 500
through the receiving port 1209. Since the receiving port 1209 may
be in communication with the processing circuit 1207, the receiving
port 1209 may then send the received information to the processing
circuit 1207. The receiving port 1209 may also be configured to
receive other information.
[0292] The information sent, applied, signalled, reported,
received, and obtained by the processing circuit 1207 in relation
to, the information related to the pattern-based guard band 600,
may be stored in the memory circuit 1208 which, as stated earlier,
may be in communication with the processing circuit 1207 and the
receiving port 1209.
[0293] The processing circuit 1207 may be further configured to
send or signal information, such as information on capability to
handle the information related to the guard band, to the first node
511 or to the second node 512, through a sending port 1210, which
may be in communication with the processing circuit 1207, and the
memory circuit 1208.
[0294] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the
sending circuit 1201, the applying circuit 1202, the signalling
circuit 1203, the reporting circuit 1304, the receiving circuit
1205 and the obtaining circuit 1206 described above may refer to a
combination of analog and digital circuits, and/or one or more
processors configured with software and/or firmware (e.g., stored
in memory) that, when executed by the one or more processors such
as the processing circuit 1207, perform as described above. One or
more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware,
may be included in a single application-specific integrated circuit
(ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be
distributed among several separate components, whether individually
packaged or assembled into a system-on-a-chip (SoC).
[0295] When using the word "comprise" or "comprising" it shall be
interpreted as non-limiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least
of".
[0296] The embodiments herein are not limited to the above
described preferred embodiments. Various alternatives,
modifications and equivalents may be used. Therefore, the above
embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the
invention, which is defined by the appending claims.
[0297] According to some embodiments discussed herein, methods in a
node, such as the first node 511, of an aggressor system may
configure at least one pattern-based guard band, such as
pattern-based guard band 600, which includes at least a pattern
sequence and a guard band used in the aggressor system, a victim
system, such as the second node 512, or both the aggressor and
victim systems. Moreover, the pattern-based guard band, such as
pattern-based guard band 600, may be used to mitigate fully and/or
partly interference due to the aggressor system's unwanted
emissions into the operating carrier frequency of a victim system.
The configuration in an aggressor node, such as the first node 511,
may be based on: [0298] (1) A pre-defined set of parameters, rules,
etc. associated with pattern-based guard bands, such as
pattern-based guard band 600; and/or [0299] (2) Received
information from another node, such as the second node 512 or the
third node 513, or a U E, such as the first wireless device 531 or
the second wireless device 532.
[0300] According to some other embodiments, methods in a node or UE
of a victim system, such as the second node 512, may adaptively
configure signal transmissions and/or receptions responsive to a
pattern-based guard band, such as pattern-based guard band 600,
used in the corresponding aggressor system, such as the first node
511. The configuration in a victim node such as the second node
512, may be based on: [0301] (1) A pre-defined set of parameters,
rules, etc. associated with signal transmissions and/or receptions
responsive to a pattern-based guard band, such as pattern-based
guard band 600; and/or [0302] (2) Received information from another
node, such as the second node 512 or the third node 513, or a UE,
such as the first wireless device 531 or the second wireless device
532.
[0303] According to some other embodiment, methods in a node or UE
of an aggressor system, such as the first node 511, may include
reporting a capability (of the node or UE, such as the first node
511, of the aggressor system) of handling and implementing to
another node, such as the second node 512 or the third node 513,
(e.g., a serving node, a neighboring node, etc.), which reporting
is performed proactively or based on a request from another node,
such as the second node 512 or the third node 513.
[0304] According to still other embodiments, methods in a node or
UE of an aggressor system, such as the first node 511, may include
reporting a capability (of the node or UE, such as the first node
511, of the aggressor system) in terms of `handling, implementing
or configuring a guard band pattern` to another node, such as the
second node 512 or the third node 513, (e.g., a serving node, a
neighboring node, etc.), which reporting is performed proactively
or based on a request from another node.
[0305] According to yet other embodiments, methods in a node or UE,
such as the second node 512 or the third node 513, of a victim
system may include reporting a capability (of the node or UE of the
victim system) in terms of `handling, implementing or configuring a
pattern based signal transmission and/or reception in a victim
system responsive to a aggressor node's guard band pattern` to
another node, such as the first node 511, the second node 512 or
the third node 513, (e.g., serving node, neighboring node, etc.),
which reporting is performed proactively or based on a request from
another node, such as the first node 511, the second node 512 or
the third node 513.
Generalizations
[0306] Definitions explained in sections below may apply to any
embodiment described in the current specification, including the
Detailed Description herein, as well as in the associated Claims,
Figures and Summary sections.
[0307] As used herein, a wireless communications system, such as
wireless communications network 500, refers to any system capable
of sending and/or receiving wireless signals (e.g., a cellular,
radio, or/or satellite system). In a co-existence scenario, a
wireless communications system may be a victim or an aggressor
system. A victim or an aggressor system may include all or a subset
of radio nodes of a radio network. In another example, a victim or
an aggressor system may include all or a subset of UEs
communicating with the respective radio network. In yet another
example, an LTE network may be regarded as a victim system
including an eNodeB (also referred to as a base station), LTE UE,
and other nodes, and an HSPA network may be regarded as an
aggressor system including NodeBs, RNCs, HSPA UEs, etc. Any
reference to a wireless communications system herein, is to be
understood to apply to wireless communications network 500.
[0308] A guard band as used herein may alternatively be referred to
as a protection band. A guard band may be configured statically,
semi-statically, or dynamically. In the description that follows, a
guard band is used indistinctively as a pattern-based guard band,
such as pattern-based guard band 600. Any reference in the
description below to a guard band or a pattern-based guard band is
to be understood to apply as well to pattern-based guard band
600.
[0309] The terms wireless terminal/device, such as the first
wireless device 531 and the second wireless device 532, and UE may
be used interchangeably in the following description. Any reference
to a wireless device (or UE) herein, is to be understood to apply
to any of the first wireless device 531 and the second wireless
device 532. A UE may include any device equipped with a radio
interface that is capable of at least generating and transmitting a
radio signal to a radio network node. Note that even some radio
network nodes (e.g., a femto B, also referred to as a home BS) may
also be equipped with a UE-like interface.
[0310] A radio network node herein, such as the first radio node
514 and the second radio node 515 depicted in FIGS. 5a-d, may
include a radio node operating or at least transmitting RF signals
to a UE or performing UL measurements in one or more frequencies,
carrier frequencies, and/or frequency bands. Any reference to a
radio network node herein, is to be understood to apply to any of
the first radio node 514 and the second radio node 515. More
particularly, the radio node may be capable of CA (carrier
aggregation), and it may also be a single-RAT (single Radio Access
Technology) or multi-RAT (multi RAT) or multi-standard node (e.g.,
using the same or different base band modules for different RATs).
Some examples of radio nodes include: a radio base station (e.g.,
an LTE eNodeB); a measurement unit performing measurements on UL
signals (e.g., a Location Measurement Unit (LMU) or location
measurement unit that is used for positioning) and/or DL signals; a
radio node transmitting DL signals (e.g., a beacon device); and/or
UL signals, relays, mobile relays, repeaters, sensors, etc.
[0311] Typically, a radio node may have an associated cell, such as
the first cell 521 and the second cell 522, or may create one or
more of its own cells. A radio node, however, may also be a radio
node which does not create its own cell (e.g., a measurement unit
or a node receiving signals such as a relay or repeater). The radio
node may also be a radio node (e.g., eNodeB, RRU, relay, etc.)
sharing the cell Identifier (ID) with another radio node (e.g., an
eNodeB, RRU, relay, etc.).
[0312] Any reference to a radio node herein, is to be understood to
apply to any of the first wireless device 531, the second wireless
device 532, the first radio node 514 and the second radio node 515,
unless otherwise noted.
[0313] A cell serving a UE is the serving cell for that UE.
Multiple serving cells are possible with carrier aggregation, so "a
serving cell" may be, in general, used throughout the present
specification for CA and non-CA systems. Wth CA, a primary cell
(PCell) is one example of a serving cell, and another example is a
secondary cell (SCell).
[0314] As used herein, the terms "centralized network management
node" and "coordinating node" refer to network node, such as the
network node 516 depicted in FIGS. 5a-d, which may also be a radio
network node, which coordinates radio resources with one or more
radio network nodes and/or UEs. Some examples of a coordinating
node include a network monitoring and configuration node, an OSS
(operation and support system) node, O&M (operation and
maintenance) node, MDT (Minimization of Drive Tests) node, SON
(Semantic Overlay Network) node, positioning node, a gateway node
(e.g., a Packet Data Network Gateway or P-GW), or Serving Gateway
(S-GW) network node, or a femto gateway node, a macro node
coordinating smaller radio nodes associated with it, etc.
[0315] A network node used herein, such as the first radio node
514, the second radio node 515, and the network node 516 depicted
in FIGS. 5a-d, may refer to a radio node (as described above, such
as the first radio node 514 and the second radio node 515 depicted
in FIGS. 5a-d, and such as the first wireless device 531 and the
second wireless device 532 depicted in FIGS. 5a-d), a radio network
node in general (e.g., RNC or radio network controller), a core
network node, or any node in the network such as a positioning node
(e.g., an E-SMLC also referred to as a Serving Mobile Location
Center, or an SLC), MDT node, O&M, SON node, a gateway node,
MME (Mobility Management Node), any coordinating node, such as the
network node 516 depicted in FIGS. 5a-d, etc. Any reference to a
network node herein, is to be understood to apply to any of the
first wireless device 531, the second wireless device 531, the
first radio node 514, the second radio node 515, and the network
node 516, unless otherwise noted.
[0316] A network node or a UE or wireless device, as described
above, are commonly referred to as a node.
[0317] Any reference to a third node, such as the third node 513,
herein, is to be understood to apply to the third node 513, unless
otherwise noted.
[0318] The term signaling described herein is either via direct
links or logical links (e.g., via higher layer protocols and/or via
one or more network nodes, radio nodes, and/or UEs). The term
signaling may mean signaling via radio links and/or fixed
connection. For example, signaling from a coordinating node may
pass another network node, e.g., a radio node. The signaling from
one radio node to another radio node may also include signaling via
user equipment or another radio node or another network node.
[0319] Embodiments of the present invention discussed herein are
not limited to LTE. An aggressor and/or a victim system may be a
cellular network system, a satellite system (e.g., Global
Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS), etc.), an ad hoc network, a sensor network, or any wireless
communications in general. A wireless communications system may
also include any Radio Access Network (RAN), either single-RAT or
multi-RAT. A RAT may include LTE, LTE-Advanced, UMTS, GSM, Code
Division Multiple Access 2000 (cdma2000), Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and/or WiFi.
[0320] Embodiments (sections) described herein may be considered as
independent embodiments or may be considered in any combination
with each other to describe non-limiting examples of the current
invention.
First Embodiments
Pattern-Based Guard Bands
[0321] (Pattern-Based Guard Band embodiments may also use, fully or
in parts, embodiments described in other sections and/or elements
thereof.)
[0322] According to some embodiments presented herein, dynamic
guard band configuration follows a certain pattern indicating time
resources (e.g., subframes in LTE), frequency resources (e.g.,
subbands), or both time and frequency resources. The guard band may
be configured in an aggressor system, in a victim system, or in
both aggressor and victim systems (e.g., shared in a way that both
systems configure a part, e.g., in frequency and/or in time, of the
guard band, and this sharing may be based e.g. on operators
agreement).
[0323] A purpose of the guard band is to protect the victim system
from unwanted emissions (e.g., out-of-band emissions or spurious
emissions such as harmonics) generated by the frequencies used by
the aggressor system into the frequencies used by the receiver of
the victim system. Both aggressor and victim systems operate using
different carrier frequencies, typically in adjacent or closely
located carriers.
[0324] The guard band pattern may be: pre-defined (e.g., by
requirements or certain rules); statically, semi-statically, or
dynamically configured; and/or received from another node. The
guard band pattern may be adaptively configured to account for any
one or more of: [0325] (1) Time-varying and/or frequency-varying
aggressor interference from the aggressor system (e.g., configuring
a guard band when high interference is expected from the aggressor
system); [0326] (2) The amount of impact on a victim system of
different transmissions in the aggressor system (e.g., different
signals or different channels may have relatively lower or
relatively higher impact); [0327] (3) Time- and/or
frequency-varying victim signal receptions in the victim system;
and/or [0328] (4) Sensitivity to the aggressor interference of
different victim signal receptions in the victim system (e.g., some
received signals such as signals received at very low power may be
more sensitive to the aggressor interference, and some examples of
such signals are weak neighbor cell signals from distant sites or
GPS signals measured for positioning purposes).
[0329] Some examples of an aggressor system include a radar system,
a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), a cellular system, a
WiFi system, etc. Some examples of a victim system include a
satellite system, a radar system, a cellular system, a WiFi system,
etc. The pattern may be configured for downlink transmissions, for
uplink transmissions, or for both downlink and uplink
transmissions. Some examples of pattern-based guard bands are shown
in FIGS. 6a, 6b, and 6c, as mentioned earlier. Although the guard
bands are configured in the aggressor system bandwidth in
embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 6a-c, guard bands may
also/alternatively be configured, at least in part, in the victim
system.
[0330] Information Related to Guard Band Patterns
[0331] Some examples of general pattern characteristics include:
pattern sequence (e.g., a string of bits); pattern length (e.g.,
the bit string length); pattern periodicity (may be the same as or
different from pattern length); reference time point from where the
pattern shall be calculated (e.g., subframe #0 of SFN 0 of a
reference cell); and/or applicability time point (e.g., from a
specific time or immediately upon receiving). A guard band pattern
may be described, for example, using: a pattern sequence indicative
of signal transmission or activity levels; and/or minimum
information associated with the guard band used in the
frequency(ies) over which the aggressor system operates to protect
the frequency(ies) over which the victim system operates.
[0332] The pattern may also include additional parameters and more
detailed information. Examples of such parameters and detailed
information include: frequency information of the aggressor system;
pattern sequence; pattern repetition type; periodicity or
repetition period; reference time point from where the sequence is
calculated or derived; starting time point from when the pattern
applies; ending time point until which the pattern applies;
duration of the pattern (e.g., a total time period over which the
pattern applies); modification time; starting condition; ending
condition; modification condition; transmit power level in
aggressor system; direction of applicability of guard band pattern;
and/or location information where guard band pattern is applied.
These parameters are discussed in greater detail below.
[0333] Frequency information of aggressor system may include one or
more of the following: [0334] (1) Carrier frequency, component
carrier frequency or range of frequencies over which a guard band
pattern(s) is applied, such as an ARFCN (Absolute RF Channel
Number) number or range of ARFNC numbers of carriers; [0335] (2)
Bandwidth type of guard band in a pattern, which may be a
homogeneous bandwidth type with a same guard band over the entire
pattern sequence (e.g., always 5 MHz), or a heterogeneous bandwidth
type where a guard band varies at least twice in a pattern sequence
(e.g., 5 MHz in first and last sets of resources and 10 MHz on the
remaining sets of resources); [0336] (3) Bandwidth(s) of a guard
band(s) (e.g., one bandwidth value if the guard band is homogeneous
or more than one bandwidth value if the guard band is
heterogeneous); [0337] (4) Frequency band indicator(s) of frequency
band(s) in which a guard band pattern(s) shall apply; and/or [0338]
(5) Duplex mode of aggressor system, such as, TDD (Time Division
Duplex), FDD (Frequency Division Duplex), HD-FDD (Half Duplex FDD),
and/or variable duplex FDD.
[0339] A pattern sequence may define subframes and/or radio frames
where guard bands are and are not applied. For example, `0101` may
indicate different subframe or radio frames where `0` means no
guard band in the indicated period, and `1` means use a guard band
in the indicated period. The pattern sequence may be determined
autonomously by the aggressor system, may be pre-defined by a
requirement or defined according to a rule, may be pre-configured
by the network operator or a computer program, may be determined
based on the information about the victim system, etc. Multiple
pattern sequences may exist, for example, associated with different
times, time and/or frequency resources, conditions, triggering
events, frequencies, etc. Multi-level pattern sequences may exist,
for example, `029021 . . . ` where `0` may indicate no band, `1`
may indicate a first transmission level or activity level, and `2`
may indicate a second transmission level or activity level. A time
unit and granularity of a pattern sequence(s) may be defined as
follows: [0340] (1) A time unit and granularity can be pre-defined
or signaled to the aggressor radio node (e.g., each bit in a
sequence can be pre-defined in terms of subframes, multiple of
subframes, frame, multiple of frames etc.); [0341] (2) A time unit
and granularity can be the same as a time unit of the victim system
(e.g., a subframe in LTE) or it may be the same as a time unit of
the aggressor system (e.g., a radio frame in UMTS), or it may be
simply a time period (e.g., a pattern consisting of a sequence of
units of 10 ms); [0342] (3) A homogeneous time unit may mean that a
same time unit applies to all the elements of the pattern sequence
(e.g. each bit is expressed in terms of frame); and [0343] (4) A
heterogeneous time unit may mean that different time units apply to
at least two elements of the pattern sequence, for example, so that
one frame applies when a guard band is applied (i.e. one frame
corresponding to `1`) and 5 frames are applied when no guard band
(i.e. five frames corresponding to `0`) is applied by the aggressor
radio node.
[0344] A pattern repetition type may be periodic or aperiodic. With
a periodic repetition type, the pattern repeats after a period over
which the pattern sequence is defined. With an aperiodic repetition
type, one or more characteristics of the guard band pattern may
change after a duration over which a pattern sequence is defined.
In one example, at certain times the pattern sequence 101010 may
change to a pattern sequence 1000100. In another example, the
pattern sequence 101010 may be triggered based on a condition (e.g.
transmit power in aggressor system exceeds a threshold) and may
stops after one repetition.
[0345] The pattern, which may be periodic or aperiodic, may
autonomously change after a pre-defined or configurable
modification time period. The modification time may include
multiple periodic or aperiodic pattern durations. For example, two
periodic patterns (10101010 and 9010010) can be configured at the
aggressor radio node. The configured periodic pattern, 10101010,
for example, may be changed by the aggressor radio node to 9010010
after a modification time period of 5 seconds.
[0346] With a starting condition, a pattern may start when one or
more conditions are met (e.g., if output power of the aggressor
radio node exceeds a threshold and/or traffic intensity is above a
threshold, etc.). With an ending condition, a pattern may stop when
one or more condition is met (e.g., if output power of the
aggressor radio node falls below a threshold and/or traffic
intensity is below a threshold etc.).
[0347] With a modification condition, the pattern (which may be
periodic or aperiodic) may autonomously change after a pre-defined
or configurable condition is met. For example, two periodic
patterns (10101010 and 9010010) can be configured, and the
configured periodic pattern, 10101010, may be changed by the
aggressor radio node to 9010010 provided the output power of an
aggressor radio node falls below a threshold and/or traffic
intensity falls below a threshold, etc.
[0348] Considering a transmit power level in the aggressor system,
for example, no power during a guard period and normal power
otherwise in the aggressor system may be represented by on/off
signaling, and/or reduced power during a guard period and normal
power otherwise in the aggressor system may be represented by a
certain transmit power offset with respect to power of a certain
signal.
[0349] Considering direction of applicability of guard band
pattern, for example, a pattern may apply to transmission on an UL
carrier frequency in FDD or HD-FDD or on a DL carrier frequency in
FDD or HD-FDD or both, and/or a pattern may apply to UL
transmission or DL transmission or both in TDD.
[0350] Considering location information where guard band pattern is
applied, for example, a guard band pattern may be applied by an
aggressor system (e.g., a BS or UE) only if located in a certain
area or region as indicated by location information or an area
indicator (e.g., tracking area ID, location area ID, a set of cell
IDs, etc.), and/or a guard band pattern may be applied by an
aggressor system (e.g., a BS or UE) provided aggressor and victim
systems are within a certain area or region or distance (e.g., if
an inter-site distance between the aggressor and victim base
stations is less than 1 km or the path loss is above a
threshold).
[0351] The guard band pattern may also be associated, e.g., with
any of the following: DL and/or UL transmissions; duplex
configuration in aggressor or victim (e.g., TDD, FDD, HD-FDD,
variable duplex); UL-DL TDD configuration (e.g., TDD UL-DL subframe
configuration, TDD special subframe configuration, etc.); transmit
activity pattern in the aggressor or victim system/node; receive
patterns in the victim system/node; and/or a specific signal(s) of
the victim and/or aggressor system(s)/node(s).
[0352] A transmit activity pattern in the aggressor and/or victim
system/node may be used so that a guard band pattern associated
with a transmit pattern of the aggressor follows exactly or
partially a transmit activity pattern in aggressor system (e.g., a
guard band is configured in time periods when activity exceeds a
certain amount). In addition or in an alternative, a guard band
pattern associated with a transmit pattern of the victim may follow
exactly or partially a transmit activity pattern in the victim
system/node (e.g., a guard band is configured in time occasions
when victim system UEs are transmitting and the UL transmissions
need protection).
[0353] Receive patterns in a victim system/node may be used so that
a guard band pattern associated with a receive pattern may follows
exactly or partially a receive activity pattern in the victim
system/node (e.g., a guard band may be configured at time occasions
when receiving weak signals is expected). Using specific signal of
a victim system/node, for example, the guard band may be designed
to protect a specific signal or channel type(s) in the victim
system/node. Using specific signal of an aggressor, for example,
the guard band may be designed to protect from a specific signal or
channel type(s) transmitted in the aggressor system.
[0354] UE and Network Node Capabilities Related to Guard Band
Patterns
[0355] All UEs and radio network nodes may or may not be capable of
handling, configuring, and/or implementing guard band patterns.
Some examples of radio network nodes include eNodeBs, Node B's,
base stations, relays, access points, LMUs (Location Measurement
Units), etc. For example, all UEs and radio nodes may not be
capable of dynamically or semi-statically creating a guard band
pattern based on received information or based on pre-defined
rules. Alternatively, a UE or a radio node may be capable of
handling certain type(s) and/or characteristic(s) of guard band
pattern capability.
[0356] A UE may thus indicate its capability in terms of handling
the guard band pattern and associated configuration information for
creation of a pattern based guard band to a network node (e.g., a
serving network node, a positioning node, a core network node,
etc.) or to another UE (e.g., to support a device to device, D2D,
operation mode). Similarly, a radio node may indicate its
capability in terms of handling the guard band pattern and
associated configuration information for creation of a
pattern-based guard band to another network node (e.g., a
neighboring network node, a positioning node, a coordinating node,
a relay node, a core network node, etc.)
[0357] In general, a UE or a radio node may signal its `pattern
based guard band handling` capability to the relevant target
network node or UE indicating that it is capable of creating a
guard band pattern according to the received instructions and/or
when one or more pre-defined rules or conditions are fulfilled. The
guard band capability information may also include additional
information. Examples of guard band pattern supporting capability
are described in greater detail below. [0358] (1) In one example, a
UE or a radio node may not be capable of handling any guard band
pattern related configuration information described in the previous
section (entitled "INFORMATION RELATED TO GUARD BAND PATTERNS").
[0359] (2) In another example, a UE or a radio node may be capable
of handling only partial or a subset of the guard band pattern
related configuration information described above. For example, a
UE or a radio node may be capable of creating an aperiodic guard
band pattern (e.g., configuring the pattern only once upon a
triggering condition) with no transmission (i.e., 0 watt power).
Yet another UE or a radio node may be capable of creating guard
band pattern only periodically or aperiodically with no
transmission or with low power transmission. [0360] (3) In another
example, a UE or a radio node may be capable of handling a guard
band pattern(s) for a certain frequency band(s) and/or co-existence
scenario, such as a duplex mode, etc. [0361] (4) In another
example, a UE or a radio node may be capable of handling a guard
band(s) based on the location or geographical area information (see
the section above entitled "INFORMATION RELATED TO GUARD BAND
PATTERNS"). [0362] (5) In yet another example, a UE or a radio node
may be fully capable of handling all the guard band pattern(s)
related configuration information described above. [0363] (6) In
yet another example, a UE or a radio node may be capable of
handling the guard band pattern related to a specific signal type
(e.g., GPS signals, radar signals, etc.). [0364] (7) In yet another
example, a UE or a radio node may indicate the number of guard band
patterns which they can activate or operate in parallel. It may
also indicate additional information such as carrier frequency
range and/or supported bands for parallel operation. For example, a
UE may indicate that it can create 2 guard band patterns: one on
band A and another one on band B when operating in multi-carrier,
CoMP, etc. Multiple guard band patterns may also be supported
(e.g., to protect different signals). Multiple guard band patterns
may be associated with different pattern sequences, or may also be
used in the same band. The multiple patterns may have at least one
different characteristic.
[0365] Method of Signaling Means and Nodes Involved in
Communication of the Information Related to Pattern-Based Guard
Bands
[0366] Information related to pattern-based guard bands may include
any one or a combination of: information related to guard band
pattern described in the section above entitled "INFORMATION
RELATED TO GUARD BAND PATTERNS"; information enabling configuring a
pattern-based guard band (e.g., a transmit or receive pattern of
the victim or a transmit pattern of the aggressor); information
related to UE and network node capabilities of supporting guard
band patterns; and/or indication of activation/deactivation or
using a pattern-based guard band. Any information related to
pattern-based guard bands may be signaled in either direction
between: UE and a network node (e.g., a radio network node or a
core network node); two UEs; and/or two network nodes (e.g., where
any of the two network nodes may be a radio network node or a core
network node, or where two network nodes are core network nodes,
each of which may be a positioning node, a coordinating node,
and/or an O&M node).
[0367] In the disclosure provided above, the network node may also
be a radio network node serving and/or controlling the victim UE or
the aggressor UE. The information may be signaled as uncast,
multicast, and/or broadcast, and the information may be signaled
via higher-layer signaling and/or lower layer signaling.
[0368] The information may be signaled to one or more of aggressors
(nodes or UE) or in general to a third node or UE to enable the
aggressor to configure the pattern-based guard band and adapt its
transmission activity accordingly. The information may be signaled
by a victim, another aggressor, or a third node. The information
may be signaled to one or more of victims (nodes or UE) or in
general to a third node or UE to enable the victim to adapt
victim's transmission and/or receiving accordingly. The information
may be signaled by an aggressor, another victim, or a third
node.
[0369] As disclosed earlier in the present specification, the
pattern-based guard band may be configured in the aggressor and/or
victim band.
[0370] A victim network node may also send a request to an
aggressor UE or an aggressor radio network node to configure one or
more guard band patterns. The configuration request may also be
sent by a third node which neither belongs to a victim or to an
aggressor system (e.g., a coordinating node in a core network). The
request may also include partial or full information described in
the section entitled INFORMATION RELATED TO GUARD BAND PATTERNS.
Alternatively, if only a request indication is sent, then the
victim UE or network node may use pre-defined information
associated with the guard band pattern. The victim UE or radio node
may use a combination of signaled information and pre-defined
information when configuring the guard band pattern(s).
[0371] A victim system or a third node sending a request to the
aggressor system to configure the guard band pattern may also
provide information enabling configuration of the pattern-based
guard band. Such information may include frequency-related
information used in the victim system. Such information may also
provide information related to signal activity used in the victim
system. This may assist the aggressor system (UE or a radio node)
to create the guard band pattern(s), which may be orthogonal or
quasi-orthogonal. Examples of frequency information and signal
transmit patterns used in a victim system may include frequency
information of the victim system and/or a signal activity pattern
using in the victim system. Frequency information of victim system,
for example, may include one or more of: [0372] (1) a carrier
frequency or range of frequencies, which are to be protected from
the aggressor system (e.g., an ARFCN number or range of ARFCN
numbers of carriers to be protected); [0373] (2) channel
bandwidth(s) of carrier(s); [0374] (3) measurement bandwidth(s) on
the carriers; [0375] (4) a frequency band indicator(s) of a
frequency band(s) which needs to be protected from the aggressor
system; and/or [0376] (5) duplex mode of the victim system (e.g.,
TDD, FDD, HD-FDD, variable duplex FDD).
[0377] A signal activity pattern used in the victim system may
include information such as timing and/or pattern sequences of any
one or more of: a pattern used in DL, a pattern used in UL, a
signal transmit pattern, and/or a signal receive pattern.
Second Embodiments
Methods in a Node of an Aggressor System to Configure Pattern-Based
Guard Bands
[0378] (Aggressor system node embodiments may also use, fully or in
parts, embodiments described in other sections and/or elements
thereof.)
[0379] A network node or a UE (commonly referred to as a node) may
configure a pattern-based guard band (such as a pattern-based guard
band described above with respect to First Embodiments of
pattern-based guard bands) periodically, responsive to a request
from another node or UE (e.g., a request from a victim system or a
third node), responsive to an event trigger (e.g., determining a
potential victim node or a need to perform certain measurements
that may potentially suffer from the aggressor interference),
and/or responsive to a condition trigger (e.g., related to
interference or performance estimation).
[0380] A pattern-based guard band may be configured based on a
pre-defined rule, autonomously (e.g., based on own measurements and
the available information), based on the information received from
a UE or network node (e.g., an eNodeB and/or coordinating node)
such as described above in the section entitled "METHODS OF
SIGNALING MEANS AND NODES INVOLVED IN COMMUNICATION OF THE
INFORMATION RELATED TO PATTERN-BASED GUARD BANDS," or a combination
thereof.
[0381] The configured pattern-based guard band may be applied by
the configuring node (e.g., the aggressor node) or the configuring
node (e.g., a coordinating node or another aggressor node) may
signal the configured pattern information to another network node
or UE which would apply the configured pattern. Here, and also in
some other embodiments discussed herein, a node may also mean a
radio node or UE.
[0382] A victim node may further adapt its transmissions (e.g.,
scheduling, transmit patterns such as ABS pattern, DTX), and/or
reception (e.g., measurement pattern configured by eNodeB of the
victim LTE system for its LTE UE receiving in DL while protecting
it from radar transmissions, DRX, etc.), or the victim node be
configured to do so to the configured pattern-based guard band.
Third Embodiments
Methods in a Node of a UE of a Victim System to Adaptivelly
Configure Transmissions and/or Receptions Responsive to a
Pattern-Based Guard Band
[0383] (Victim System UE embodiments may also use, fully or in
parts, embodiments described in other sections and/or elements
thereof.)
[0384] According to third embodiments, the UE or the network node
may obtain information about a pattern-based guard band (see
sections relating to First Embodiments), and the information may be
obtained, for example: using measurements or sensing radio signals
or total interferences; from another UE or network node; from an
aggressor node or a third node; from the serving node; and/or using
a pre-defined rule or by configuration.
[0385] The node (e.g., a victim node, a coordinating node, or a
serving node) or UE in a victim system may perform one or more
actions while taking into account the guard band pattern used in an
aggressor system. Examples of such actions include: selection of
the carriers for operation of victim and non-victim
devices/nodes/systems to accommodate a required or target traffic
load in a system; operation of victim carriers or normal operation
during a time period(s) when the aggressor system creates a guard
band; and/or adaptation of the bandwidth of victim carriers (e.g.,
measurement bandwidth) depending upon guard band bandwidth.
Adaptation of the bandwidth of victim carriers depending on guard
band bandwidth may include: [0386] (1) configuring a measurement
bandwidth(s) responsive to the pattern-based guard band (e.g., up
to a channel bandwidth if the aggressor guard band is sufficient or
smaller than the channel bandwidth or a reference bandwidth if the
aggressor guard band is not sufficient) where the configured
measurement bandwidth may also be adaptively used when aggressor
interference is expected or at time occasions when guard bands are
configured; [0387] (2) configuring a measurement bandwidth(s) when
the guard bands are not used (e.g., up to channel bandwidth if no
aggressor interference is expected); and/or [0388] (3) Changing the
measurement bandwidth to be different at time occasions when the
pattern-based guard band is used in the aggressor system and when
the guard band is not used in the aggressor system.
[0389] Further examples of actions performed while taking into
account the guard band pattern used in an aggressor system may
include: [0390] (1) Performing load balancing or traffic adaptation
to move traffic between different carriers depending upon traffic
characteristics etc. For example, high data rate traffic may be
moved to a non-victim carrier and/or time instances protected by
the pattern-based guard band. [0391] (2) Transmissions that may be
adaptively configured responsive to the information about
pattern-based guard band may include data scheduling, physical
signal transmissions, control channel transmissions,
low-interference subframe pattern receive pattern or ABS pattern
configuration in the victim node, transmit activity pattern or
states in the victim node, etc. [0392] (3) Reception that may be
adaptively configured responsive to the information about
pattern-based guard band may include receiving data channels,
control channels, system information, physical signals, receive or
measurement pattern, receive activity states such as DRX, etc.
[0393] (4) Adaption for transmissions by and/or receptions at the
victim node may even be performed using a pattern based approach.
More specifically, the victim system may transmit and/or receive
signals according to a pattern which is orthogonal to the guard
band pattern used in the corresponding aggressor system. Such a
signal transmit/receive pattern in a victim system responsive to
guard band based pattern used in an aggressor system may also
include at least a pattern sequence and reduced/minimum information
related to signal transmission/reception bandwidth. For example,
assuming the aggressor system uses a guard band pattern of 1010101.
In response, the victim system may transmit and/or receive signals
using a pattern 0101010, which is fully orthogonal to the guard
band pattern used in the aggressor system. In another example, if
the victim system has lower activity or traffic, the aggressor and
victim systems may use a guard band based pattern of 1010101 and a
transmit/receive pattern of 100001, respectively.
[0394] The adaptation for transmissions by and/or receptions at a
victim system/node may be performed, for example, periodically,
upon a request from another node or UE, triggered by an event,
triggered by a condition, in accordance with Embodiments 1 and/or
2, and/or upon expiration of a timer or after certain time duration
(e.g., a timer value or a time duration can be pre-defined or
configured by another node).
[0395] UE and Network Node Capabilities Related to Pattern Based
Signal Transmission and/or Reception
[0396] As described above, in response to pattern-based guard band,
the victim system may transmit and/or receive signal also in the
form of a pattern. But all UEs and radio network nodes may or may
not be capable of handling and implementing pattern based signal
transmission and/or reception pattern in general or in response to
pattern-based guard band.
[0397] When acting as victim, for example, all UEs and radio nodes
may not be capable of dynamically or semi-statically creating a
pattern based signal transmission and/or reception based on
received information or based on pre-defined rules. Alternatively,
a UE or a radio node may be capable of handling a certain type(s)
and/or characteristic(s) of pattern(s) based signal transmission
and/or reception capability. Therefore a UE may indicate its
capability in terms of handling pattern based signal transmission
and/or reception and associated configuration information for
creation of a pattern based signal transmission and/or reception to
a network node (e.g. serving network node, a positioning node, a
core network node, etc.) or to another UE (e.g., to support device
to device or D2D operation mode). Similarly, a radio node may
indicate its capability in terms of handling the pattern based
signal transmission and/or reception and associated configuration
information for creation of a pattern based signal transmission
and/or reception to another network node (e.g., neighboring network
node, positioning node, a coordinating node, relay node, core
network node, etc.)
[0398] The remaining description and examples provided above in the
section entitled "UE AND NETWORK NODE CAPABILITIES RELATED TO GUARD
BAND PATTERNS" also apply for UE and radio node capability in terms
of handling of the pattern based signal transmission and/or
reception.
Fourth Embodiments
Using Pattern-Based Guard Bands to Enable Low-Interference
Measurement Occasions (Co-Existence Enabled Elcic)
[0399] (Embodiment using pattern-based guard bands to enable
low-interference measurement occasions may also use, fully or
partially, embodiments described in other sections and/or elements
thereof.)
[0400] According to fourth embodiments, a pattern-based guard band
may be used to enable low-interference conditions for measurements,
channel reception, and/or scheduling occasions on the entire or at
least a portion of a victim bandwidth at specific time occasions,
for all or a subset of radio nodes or UEs. An example scenario is
illustrated in FIG. 13 (which is an example of co-existence enabled
Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination or eICIC). The
example of FIG. 13 is for DL, but embodiments of the invention are
not limited to DL co-existence and DL patterns. Note that although
3 patterns are shown in FIG. 13, configuring the restricted
measurement pattern and/or ABS pattern may be unused in some
embodiments. Furthermore, at least some of the 3 patterns may be
different. In this example, and the pattern-based guard bands may
be an efficient way to allow improved/better performance for
cell-edge UEs suffering from high interference. These UEs may
perform measurements or receive DL transmissions when pattern-based
guard bands are indicated/used. At the same time, scheduling of
center UEs with better interference conditions may be prioritized
when pattern-based guard bands are not indicated and/or not
used.
[0401] This configuration may be resource-efficient (e.g., when
only some transmitted/received signals need protection and/or when
the aggressor cell radio resources are scarce and are needed to
serve high-load traffic in the aggressor system). A wireless device
(e.g., a UE) can be requested to perform measurement on victim
system and/or receive data from a victim system during low
interference measurement occasions. These measurement/scheduling
occasions can fully overlap with or can be a subset of the low
interference occasions in aggressor system, meaning that a
restricted pattern for measurement/scheduling may need to be
indicated to the wireless device. Such restricted measurement
patterns may be the same or different from restricted measurement
patterns used for intra-system communication.
[0402] In some embodiments, a restricted measurement pattern (DL or
UL) may be configured in a victim system in response and/or
adaptively to a guard band pattern in the aggressor system, or in
another embodiment a guard band pattern may be adaptively
configured in response to one or more measurement patterns used in
the victim system. The two patterns may or may not use the same
time units (e.g., subframes or radio frames or a fixed-time unit
for a guard band pattern), and the two patterns may or may not be
the same or exactly the same. In one example, however, the two
patterns fully overlap (no more resources are wasted/not used for
transmissions in the aggressor system than needed and no more
resources demanding low-interference conditions are allocated in
the victim UE).
[0403] In some other embodiments, restricted measurement patterns
for co-existence scenarios may be adapted to overlap with
intra-system restricted measurement patterns used for the
standardized eICIC and FeICIC (Frequency enhanced Inter-Cell
Interference Coordination). The adaptation may be performed (e.g.,
according to a rule or a requirement) by a third node, autonomously
by a victim node, or by a victim system in general, using a
coordinating node. The overlap may be a full overlap or a partial
overlap, e.g., at least X % or in X subframes out of Y, etc. The
overlap may also be specified in terms of a subset or a superset
(e.g., the intra-band measurement pattern may be a subset/superset
of the measurement pattern for co-existence.
[0404] In still other embodiments, transmit patterns (e.g., with
ABS or almost blank subframes which are a type of low power and/or
low activity time periods) which may be used for intra-band
inter-cell interference coordination, are adaptively configured to
account for pattern-based guard bands, or the other way around
(i.e., pattern-based guard bands are adaptively configured to
account for ABS). The pattern-based guard bands may thus be
interpreted as inter-system ABS enabling co-existence of two or
more systems. The adaptation may be performed (e.g., according to a
rule or a requirement) by the victim or aggressor system, or by a
third node. The adaptation may include controlling an overlap
between low power/activity time periods and pattern-based guard
bands. For example, the overlap between pattern-based guard bands
and low power/activity patterns may be increased/maximized, to
efficiently use aggressor system resources if the aggressor system
uses ABS for intra-band eICIC.
[0405] Compared to statically configured guard bands, pattern-based
guard bands may reduce a number of measurement occasions with
preferred interference conditions which may impact the measurement
accuracy and/or measurement period and/or performance target and/or
measurement configuration (e.g., a large bandwidth may only be
configured in time occasions protected by the pattern-based guard
bands).
[0406] The pattern based guard bands to enable low-interference
measurement and/or scheduling occasions may in particular be very
useful for low cost devices such as those used for MTC (Machine
Type Communications) or M2M (Machine to Machine) communication or
for D2D (Device to Device) communication. For these devices, the
occasional data reception/transmission and infrequent measurement
sampling are still beneficial. This is because they may have
generally very low data reception/transmission activity and can
also afford to have lower measurement performance, e.g., longer
measurement period due to guard band patterns.
[0407] Pattern-based guard bands may also be beneficial with D2D
communications where devices are also capable of operating in
different systems, for example, to enhance UE-to-UE co-existence,
or to improve, for example, neighbor device detection.
Fifth Embodiments
Relation to Requirements and Testing
[0408] (Embodiments relating to requirements and testing may also
use, fully or partially, embodiments described in other sections
and/or elements thereof.)
[0409] Requirements may be set depending on the pattern-based guard
band configuration or to test the nodes' ability to configure a
pattern-based guard band. A victim UE or a network node may adapt
its behavior (e.g., transmissions and/or measurements) so that a
requirement is met, where the requirement may be an RF requirement
such as out-of-band emission requirement, an RRM (Radio Resource
Management) requirement such as an accuracy or measurement period
requirement (a measurement following the pattern-based guard band
may require longer time), or a UE performance requirement such as
CSI (Channel State Information) or demodulation requirement. An
aggressor UE or node may need to adapt its behavior, for example,
for transmissions and retransmissions scheduling, transmit activity
patterns, UE scheduling, measurement configuration (e.g., for
two-way measurements such as RTT or Rx-Tx, DTX, etc.), etc.
[0410] A test equipment (TE) or a test system (TS) (e.g., a system
simulator (SS), emulator, test nodes, etc.) may configure
pattern-based guard band patterns that mimic pattern-based guard
bands, and may implement, at least in part, any one or more of
Embodiments 1, 2, 3, or 4 discussed above.
[0411] The TE or TS may implement the signaling protocol,
pre-defined rules, and/or pre-defined requirements associated with
the pattern based guard band described in preceding sections.
[0412] The TE or TS may configure the device under test (DUT)
(e.g., a UE or a base station) with the test procedure associated
with the pattern based guard band. The TE or TS may receive
measurement results, data, and/or signaling messages from the DUT
as part of the test procedures. The TE or TS may interpret results
or feedback information from DUT and compare with the pre-defined
results or behavior. As a consequence, the TE or TS can determine
whether the DUT is capable of implementing procedures, signaling
protocols, pre-defined behavior, pre-defined requirements, etc.
associated with the pattern based guard band described in preceding
sections.
[0413] A test equipment (TE) or a test system (TS) (e.g., a system
simulator or SS, an emulator, test nodes, etc.) may also configure
pattern-based OCNG (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing or
OFDM Channel Noise Generator) patterns that mimic generation of
interference similar to that by the pattern-based guard bands. In
prior systems, the OCNG patterns may be used to model allocations
to virtual UEs (which are not under test) in LTE. The OCNG patterns
generate noise to model interference for the UE which is under
test. The generated noise is Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple
Access (OFDMA) based signal. In prior systems, OCNG patterns may be
used to generate noise in contiguous units of resources in
frequency domain and the remaining contiguous unit may be used for
allocation to the UE (e.g. Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)
transmission for configuration, reference measurement channel,
etc). The OCNG patterns may be implemented in test equipment (e.g.,
a system simulator or emulator) and also in a real network node
(e.g., an eNodeB) which is used for the testing of the UE or relay
or similar devices.
[0414] The TE or TS may require a control unit, a processing until
and a memory unit to perform different types of tests or
verification or generation of noise by virtue of pattern based OCNG
patterns described above.
ABBREVIATIONS
[0415] 3GPP 3.sup.1d Generation Partnership Project [0416] BS Base
Station [0417] CRS Cell-specific Reference Signal [0418] DUT Device
under test [0419] eICIC enhanced ICIC [0420] eNodeB evolved Node B
[0421] ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination [0422] LTE
Long-Term Evolution [0423] OCNG OFDM Channel Noise Generator [0424]
PCI Physical Cell Identity [0425] RAT Radio Access Technology
[0426] RRC Radio Resource Control [0427] SINR
Signal-to-Interference Ratio [0428] UE User Equipment [0429] UMTS
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
Further Definitions and Embodiments
[0430] In the above-description of various embodiments of the
present invention, it is to be understood that the terminology used
herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only
and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Unless
otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific
terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by
one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.
It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in
commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a
meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of
this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted
in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined
herein.
[0431] When an element is referred to as being "connected",
"coupled", "responsive", or variants thereof to another element, it
can be directly connected, coupled, or responsive to the other
element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when
an element is referred to as being "directly connected", "directly
coupled", "directly responsive", or variants thereof to another
element, there are no intervening elements present. Like numbers
refer to like elements throughout. Furthermore, "coupled",
"connected", "responsive", or variants thereof as used herein may
include wirelessly coupled, connected, or responsive. As used
herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to
include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise. Well-known functions or constructions may not
be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity. The term
"and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the
associated listed items.
[0432] As used herein, the terms "comprise", "comprising",
"comprises", "include", "including", "includes", "have", "has",
"having", or variants thereof are open-ended, and include one or
more stated features, integers, elements, steps, components or
functions but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or
more other features, integers, elements, steps, components,
functions or groups thereof. Furthermore, as used herein, the
common abbreviation "e.g.", which derives from the Latin phrase
"exempli gratia," may be used to introduce or specify a general
example or examples of a previously mentioned item, and is not
intended to be limiting of such item. The common abbreviation
"i.e.", which derives from the Latin phrase "id est," may be used
to specify a particular item from a more general recitation.
[0433] Example embodiments are described herein with reference to
block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of
computer-implemented methods, apparatus (systems and/or devices)
and/or computer program products. It is understood that a block of
the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations
of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can
be implemented by computer program instructions that are performed
by one or more computer circuits. These computer program
instructions may be provided to a processor circuit of a general
purpose computer circuit, special purpose computer circuit, and/or
other programmable data processing circuit to produce a machine,
such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the
computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus,
transform and control transistors, values stored in memory
locations, and other hardware components within such circuitry to
implement functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or
flowchart block or blocks, and thereby create means, functionality,
and/or structure to implement functions/acts specified in the block
diagrams and/or flowchart block(s).
[0434] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a
tangible computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or
other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a
particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the
computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture
including instructions which implement the functions/acts specified
in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.
[0435] A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium may
include an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or
semiconductor data storage system, apparatus, or device. More
specific examples of the computer-readable medium would include the
following: a portable computer diskette, a random access memory
(RAM) circuit, a read-only memory (ROM) circuit, an erasable
programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) circuit, a
portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and a portable
digital video disc read-only memory (DVD/BlueRay).
[0436] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a
computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to
cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer
and/or other programmable apparatus to produce a
computer-implemented process such that the instructions which
execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide
steps to implement the functions/acts specified in the block
diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks. Accordingly, embodiments
of the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or in
software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.)
that runs on a processor such as a digital signal processor, which
may collectively be referred to as "circuitry," "a module" or
variants thereof.
[0437] It should also be noted that in some alternate
implementations, the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur
out of the order noted in the flowcharts. For example, two blocks
shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially
concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse
order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Moreover,
the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts and/or block
diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or the
functionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or block
diagrams may be at least partially integrated. Finally, other
blocks may be added/inserted between the blocks that are
illustrated, and/or blocks/operations may be omitted without
departing from the scope of the invention. Moreover, although some
of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a
primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that
communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted
arrows.
[0438] Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in
connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be
understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to
literally describe and illustrate every combination and
subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, the present
specification, including the drawings, shall be construed to
constitute a complete written description of various example
combinations and subcombinations of embodiments and of the manner
and process of making and using them, and shall support claims to
any such combination or subcombination.
[0439] Many variations and modifications can be made to the
embodiments without substantially departing from the principles of
the present invention. All such variations and modifications are
intended to be included herein within the scope of the present
invention. Accordingly, the above disclosed subject matter is to be
considered illustrative, and not restrictive.
* * * * *