In-band full duplex relay to enhance uplink performance in heterogeneous network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11075688-B2
Application number	US-201616094830-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2016
Priority date	May 19, 2016
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

An apparatus of a base station in a network may include a memory device and a processing device operatively coupled to the memory device. The processing device may process a message received at the base station from a macro-cell base station. The message may include a request to act as a relay for a user equipment (UE). The processing device may then determine that the base station is to act as a relay for the UE. The processing device may then generate a message comprising an indication that the base station accepted the request to act as a relay for the UE.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory device; and
a processing device operatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the processing device is configured to:
process a request message received at a base station from a macro-cell, wherein the request message comprises a request to act as an uplink relay for a user equipment (UE), scheduling information for the UE, and channel state information (CSI) for the UE, and wherein the macro-cell supports downlink transmissions to the UE;
determine that the base station is to act as an uplink relay for the UE based on the scheduling information and CSI for the UE via processing of the request message; and
generate a response message comprising an indication that the base station accepted the request to act as the relay for the UE.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to determine that the base station is to act as the relay for the UE based on an available capacity of the base station.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to determine an amplification and a phase shift to apply to signals received from the UE based on CSI for the UE.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
radio frequency circuitry coupled to the processing device; and
front-end module circuitry coupled to the radio frequency circuitry, wherein the front-end module circuitry is configured to amplify and filter signals received from the UE.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
a full-duplex antenna coupled to the front-end module and configured to transmit the amplified and filtered signals.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processing device is further configured to calibrate the front-end circuitry based on CSI for the UE and CSI for the base station.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the front-end module is further configured to amplify and filter signals received from the UE within a cyclic prefix of a network.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to schedule communications to a second UE at a time and a frequency at which the base station is to receive transmissions from the macro-cell.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to receive the request message through an X2 interface and cause the response message to be transmit through the X2 interface.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to transmit signals to the UE and receive signals from the macro-cell at the same time in a full duplex manner.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processing device is further configured to transmit the signals to the UE through an over the air interface and receive the signals from the macro-cell through the over the air interface.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to receive the request message through an over the air interface and cause the response message to be transmit through the over the air interface.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause a processing device of a base station to:
process a request to enhance communications for a user equipment (UE), wherein the request includes channel state information (CSI) for at least one small-cell in range of the UE, and wherein the base station supports downlink transmissions to the UE;
determine to use a small-cell as an uplink relay based on the request;
generate a first message to transmit to the small-cell, the first message comprising a request to act as the uplink relay for the UE; and
generate, in response to receiving an indication that the small-cell accepted the request to act as the uplink relay for the UE, a second message to transmit to the small-cell, the second message comprising scheduling information for the UE.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the processing device of the base station to:
cause the first message to be transmit to the small-cell;
receive an indication that the small-cell rejected the request to act as the relay for the UE;
determine to use a second small-cell as the relay based on the received request; and
generate a third message to transmit to the second small-cell, the third message comprising a second request to act as the relay for the UE.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to cause the processing device of the base station to determine to use a small-cell as the relay further cause the processing device of the base station to:
determine that the small-cell has full-duplex capabilities; and
determine that the small-cell has a signal strength above a threshold.

16. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory device; and
a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the processing device is configured to:
identify one or more candidate small-cells that may enhance uplink transmission performance of a user equipment (UE) based on a measured signal strength from the one or more candidate small-cells in response to determining that an uplink transmission performance is below a threshold level, wherein the threshold level is based on a measured downlink transmission performance;
determine channel state information (CSI) and a measured signal strength for at least one of the one or more candidate small-cells;
cause the UE to transmit the determined CSI and measured signal strength to a primary point of association for the UE, wherein the primary point of association supports downlink transmissions to the UE;
after a predetermined length of time and in response to an uplink relay not being setup, re-determine CSI and a measured signal strength for at least one of the one or more candidate small-cells; and
cause the UE to transmit the re-determined CSI and measured signal strength to the primary point of association for the UE.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising:
radio frequency circuitry coupled to the processing device;
front-end module circuitry coupled to the radio frequency circuitry; and
an antenna coupled to the front-end module circuitry.

18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause a processing device of a base station to:
process a request message received at the base station from a macro-cell, wherein the request message comprises a request to act as a relay for a user equipment (UE), scheduling information for the UE, and channel state information (CSI) for the UE, and wherein the macro-cell supports downlink transmissions to the UE;
determine that the base station is to act as an uplink relay for the UE based on the scheduling information and CSI for the UE via processing of the request message; and
generate a response message comprising an indication that the base station accepted the request to act as the relay for the UE.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18 , wherein the instructions further cause the processing device to:
determine that the base station is to act as the relay for the UE based on an available capacity of the base station.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18 , wherein the instructions further cause to processing device to:
determine an amplification and a phase shift to apply to

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Aryafar Ehsan
• Wang Ping
• Himayat Nageen
• Talwar Shilpa

Classifications

• H04B17/318

  Received signal strength · CPC title

• H04B7/155 Primary

  Ground-based stations (H04B7/204 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04W84/045

  using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B · CPC title

• H04W36/04

  Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells · CPC title

• H04B7/15592 Primary

  Adapting at the relay station communication parameters for supporting cooperative relaying, i.e. transmission of the same data via direct - and relayed path (cooperative diversity H04B7/024) · CPC title