Listen before talk protocol selection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10129908-B2
Application number	US-201515124953-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2015
Priority date	Apr 28, 2014
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe apparatuses and methods for determining a listen before talk (LBT) protocol to be used in a long term evolution unlicensed spectrum environment, wherein the LBT protocol is based at least in part on a transmitter-based LBT protocol or a receiver-aided LBT protocol. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:
a processing circuitry to select a current listen before talk (LBT) protocol to be used in a long term evolution unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) environment, wherein the current LBT protocol is to be selected from a plurality of LBT protocols that includes a transmitter-based LBT protocol and a receiver-aided LBT protocol; and
a radio control circuitry, coupled with the processing circuitry, the radio control circuitry to generate a signal based at least in part on the current LBT protocol and to control transceiver circuitry to send the signal from a user equipment (UE) to a wireless communication device, wherein the processing circuitry is to select the current LBT protocol based at least in part on a first sense result and a second sense result, wherein the first sense result includes an indication of whether an unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the apparatus at a first set of time intervals, and wherein the second sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the wireless communication device at a second set of time intervals.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first set of time intervals and the second set of time intervals are the same.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is to:
determine a correlation level between the first sense result and the second sense result; and
select the current LBT protocol based at least in part on the correlation level.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium as sensed by the apparatus is idle or busy due to LTE-U transmissions, WiFi transmissions, or both LTE-U and WiFi transmissions, and wherein the second sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium as sensed by the wireless communication device is idle or busy due to LTE-U transmissions, WiFi transmissions, or both LTE-U and WiFi transmissions.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the current LBT protocol is a first current LBT protocol, wherein the processing circuitry is to select a second current LBT protocol based at least in part on a third sense result and a fourth sense result, wherein the third sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the apparatus at a third set of time intervals, wherein the fourth sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the wireless communication device at a fourth set of time intervals, and wherein the processing circuitry is to select the second current LBT protocol after a predetermined period of time has elapsed following determination of the first current LBT protocol.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication device is an evolved node B (eNB).

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication device is another UE, and wherein the radio control circuitry is to control the transceiver circuitry to send the signal using device-to-device (D2D) communication.

8. An evolved node B (eNB) comprising:
a processing circuitry to:
determine a current listen before talk (LBT) protocol to be used in a long term evolution unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) environment, wherein the current LBT protocol is a transmitter-based LBT protocol or a receiver-aided LBT protocol, wherein the processing circuitry is to determine the current LBT protocol based at least in part on a first sense result and a second sense result, wherein the first sense result includes an indication of whether an unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the eNB at a first set of time intervals, and wherein the second sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by a User Equipment (UE) at a second set of time intervals; and
generate a signal for transmission to the UE based at least in part on the current LBT protocol; and

a radio control circuitry, coupled with the processing circuitry, to send the signal to the UE.

9. The eNB of claim 8 , wherein the first set of time intervals and the second set of time intervals are the same.

10. The eNB of claim 8 , wherein the processing circuitry is to:
determine a correlation level between the first sense result and the second sense result; and
determine the current LBT protocol based at least in part on the correlation level.

11. The eNB of claim 8 , wherein the current LBT protocol is a first current LBT protocol, wherein the processing circuitry is to determine a second current LBT protocol based at least in part on a third sense result and a fourth sense result, wherein the third sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the eNB at a third set of time intervals, wherein the fourth sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the UE at a fourth set of time intervals, and wherein the processing circuitry is to determine the second current LBT protocol after a predetermined period of time has elapsed following determination of the first current LBT protocol.

12. The eNB of claim 8 , wherein the first sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium as sensed by the eNB is idle or busy due to LTE-U transmissions, WiFi transmissions, or both LTE-U and WiFi transmissions, and wherein the second sense result includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium as sensed by the UE is idle or busy due to LTE-U transmissions, WiFi transmissions, or both LTE-U and WiFi transmissions.

13. The eNB of claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is to categorize the UE into one of a regular group or a hidden node group, and wherein the processing circuitry is to determine the current LBT protocol based at least in part on whether the UE is in the regular group or the hidden node group.

14. The eNB of claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is to determine the current LBT protocol based at least in part on a location of the UE.

15. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution of the instructions by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) cause the UE to:
sense an unlicensed radio communication medium to generate a first sense result including an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle;
receive a second sense result from an evolved node B (eNB) that includes an indication of whether the unlicensed radio communication medium is idle as sensed by the eNB; and
determine whether the UE is part of a correlated group based at least in part on the first sense result and the second sense result, wherein the UE is further caused to determine a correlation level between the first sense result and the second sense result, wherein the UE is to determine whether it is part of the correlated group based at least in part on the correlation level.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the UE is to determine that it is part of the correlated group in response to the correlation level determined to be greater than or equal to a predefined threshold value.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the UE is further ca

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Kwon Hwan-Joon
• Jeon Jeongho
• Fwu Jong-Kae
• Xiong Gang
• Bashar Shafi

Classifications

• H04W74/0808 Primary

  using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA] · CPC title

• H04W16/14

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title

• H04W74/002

  Transmission of channel access control information · CPC title