Apparatus and method for inter-band pairing of carriers for time division duplex transmit- and receive-switching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10278178-B2
Application number	US-201414567979-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2014
Priority date	May 19, 2014
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure provide for the pairing of two or more inter-band time division duplex (TDD) carriers. In some examples disclosed herein, a conjugate or inverse carrier may be used such that full duplex, or a close approximation thereto, is achieved. With the introduction of a paired channel and fast control channels, rapid uplink/downlink switching may be achieved for TDD carriers efficiently and effectively. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:
selecting a ratio of uplink time slots to downlink time slots in a first time division duplex (TDD) carrier to provide a ratio of uplink to downlink data rates utilizing the first TDD carrier and a second TDD carrier, wherein the first TDD carrier and the second TDD carrier are a conjugate pair of TDD carriers separated in frequency;
wirelessly communicating over the first time division duplex (TDD) carrier; and
wirelessly communicating over the second TDD carrier, wherein at least a portion of time slots in the first TDD carrier are complementary to time-aligned time slots in the second TDD carrier.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first TDD carrier has a greater bandwidth than the second TDD carrier.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
changing a direction of a first time slot in the first TDD carrier; and
changing a direction of a corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier, wherein the corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier maintains a complementary direction to the direction of the first time slot in the first TDD carrier after the changing.

4. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one processor;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; and
a transceiver communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
select a ratio of uplink time slots to downlink time slots in a first time division duplex (TDD) carrier to provide a ratio of uplink to downlink data rates utilizing the first TDD carrier and a second TDD carrier, wherein the first TDD carrier and the second TDD carrier are a conjugate pair of TDD carriers separated in frequency;
utilize the transceiver to wirelessly communicate over the first time division duplex (TDD) carrier; and
utilize the transceiver to wirelessly communicate over the second TDD carrier, wherein at least a portion of time slots in the first TDD carrier is complementary to time-aligned time slots in the second TDD carrier.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first TDD carrier has a greater bandwidth than the second TDD carrier.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
change a direction of a first time slot in the first TDD carrier; and
change a direction of a corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier, wherein the corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier maintains a complementary direction to the direction of the time slot in the first TDD carrier after the changings.

7. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, comprising:
means for selecting a ratio of uplink time slots to downlink time slots in a first time division duplex (TDD) carrier to provide a ratio of uplink to downlink data rates utilizing the first TDD carrier and a second TDD carrier, wherein the first TDD carrier and the second TDD carrier are a conjugate pair of TDD carriers separated in frequency;
means for wirelessly communicating over the first time division duplex (TDD) carrier; and
means for wirelessly communicating over the second TDD carrier,
wherein at least a portion of time slots in the first TDD carrier is complementary to time-aligned time slots in the second TDD carrier.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first TDD carrier has a greater bandwidth than the second TDD carrier.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising:
means for changing a direction of a first time slot in the first TDD carrier; and
means for changing a direction of a corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier, wherein the corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier maintains a complementary direction to the direction of the first time slot in the first TDD carrier after the changings.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform functions comprising:
selecting a ratio of uplink time slots to downlink time slots in a first time division duplex (TDD) carrier to provide a ratio of uplink to downlink data rates utilizing the first TDD carrier and a second TDD carrier, wherein the first TDD carrier and the second TDD carrier are a conjugate pair of TDD carriers separated in frequency;
wirelessly communicating over the first time division duplex (TDD) carrier; and
wirelessly communicating over the second TDD carrier, wherein at least a portion of time slots in the first TDD carrier is complementary to time-aligned time slots in the second TDD carrier.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the first TDD carrier has a greater bandwidth than the second TDD carrier.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the code which, when executed by a processor, further causes the processor to perform functions comprising:
changing a direction of a first time slot in the first TDD carrier; and
changing a direction of a corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier, wherein the corresponding time slot in the second TDD carrier maintains a complementary direction to the direction of the first time slot in the first TDD carrier after the changings.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Ji Tingfang
• Smee John Edward
• Soriaga Joseph Binamira
• Bhushan Naga
• Gaal Peter
• Gorokhov Alexei Yurievitch
• Mukkavilli Krishna Kiran
• Ang Peter
• Howard Michael Alexander
• Cooper Rotem

Classifications

• H04W72/535

  based on resource usage policies · CPC title

• H04W72/23 Primary

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04W76/15

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title

• H04L5/22

  using time-division multiplexing · CPC title