Coordination of shared spectrum distribution to remote units in distributed radio communications systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11115866-B2
Application number	US-201916528481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2019
Priority date	Jul 31, 2019
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

Distributed radio communications systems supporting coordination of distribution of shared spectrum from multiple service providers to remote units to be distributed to subscriber devices are disclosed. In examples, the distributed communications system includes a routing circuit that is configured to receive downlink communications signals from signal sources of respective multiple service providers and route the downlink communications signals to a plurality of remote units. The remote unit is configured to distribute the received downlink communications signals for the multiple service providers to subscriber devices such that the distributed communications system supports multiple service providers. The distributed communications system also includes a spectrum usage coordination circuit configured to coordinate the usage of spectrum between the remote units in the distributed communications system. The spectrum usage coordination circuit is configured selectively decide which channels of the shared spectrum are to be routed to specific remote units based on shared spectrum input information.

First claim

I claim:

1. A distributed communications system (DCS) comprising:
a routing circuit configured to:
receive a plurality of downlink communications signals from a respective plurality of service providers, each downlink communications signal among the plurality of downlink communications signals comprising a same plurality of shared spectrum channels in a shared spectrum; and
selectively distribute one or more shared spectrum channels of the plurality of shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to a plurality of remote units based on routing information; and

a spectrum usage coordination circuit communicatively coupled to the routing circuit, the spectrum usage coordination circuit configured to:
receive shared spectrum input information;
determine which shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units based on the shared spectrum input information;
allocate the determined shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to the plurality of remote units based on the determined shared spectrum channels of plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units in the routing information;
communicate the routing information to the routing circuit, wherein:
the shared spectrum input information comprises intra-site interference information in the DCS, the intra-site interference information comprises information about signal interference between at least two remote units among the plurality of remote units;
the spectrum usage coordination circuit is configured determine which shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units based on the intra-site interference information;
the spectrum usage coordination circuit is configured to determine which shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units based on the shared spectrum input information, by being configured to:
determine that a first shared spectrum channel in the shared spectrum in a first downlink communications signal among the plurality of downlink communications signals for a first service provider among the plurality of service providers allocated to a first remote unit among the plurality of remote units interferes with the first shared spectrum channel in the shared spectrum in a second downlink communications signal among the plurality of downlink communications signals for a second service provider among the plurality of service providers allocated to a second remote unit among the plurality of remote units; and

in response to determining the first shared spectrum channel in the first downlink communications signal allocated to the first remote unit interferes with the first shared spectrum channel in the second downlink communications signal allocated to the second remote unit, the spectrum usage coordination circuit is further configured to de-allocate the first shared spectrum channel of the first downlink communications signal from the first remote unit in the routing information.

2. The DCS of claim 1 , wherein the spectrum usage coordination circuit is configured to allocate the determined shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to the plurality of remote units based on the determined shared spectrum channels of plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units in the routing information, such that a same shared spectrum channel for two or more downlink communications signals of the plurality of downlink communications signals is not allocated to a same remote unit among the plurality of remote units.

3. A distributed communications system (DCS) comprising:
a routing circuit configured to:
receive a plurality of downlink communications signals from a respective plurality of service providers, each downlink communications signal among the plurality of downlink communications signals comprising a same plurality of shared spectrum channels in a shared spectrum; and
selectively distribute one or more shared spectrum channels of the plurality of shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to a plurality of remote units based on routing information; and

a spectrum usage coordination circuit communicatively coupled to the routing circuit, the spectrum usage coordination circuit configured to:
receive shared spectrum input information;

determine which shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units based on the shared spectrum input information;
allocate the determined shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to the plurality of remote units based on the determined shared spectrum channels of plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units in the routing information; and
communicate the routing information to the routing circuit, wherein:
the shared spectrum input information comprises inter-site interference information in the DCS, the inter-site interference information comprises information about signal interference between at least one remote unit among the plurality of remote units and another communications signal outside the DCS;
the spectrum usage coordination circuit is configured determine which shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units based on the inter-site interference information;
the spectrum usage coordination circuit is configured to determine which shared spectrum channels of the plurality of downlink communications signals to allocate to the plurality of remote units based on the shared spectrum input information, by being configured to:
determine that a first shared spectrum channel in the shared spectrum in a first downlink communications signal among the plurality of downlink communications signals for a first service provider among the plurality of service providers allocated to a first remote unit among the plurality of remote units interferes with the first shared spectrum channel in the shared spectrum in a communications signal outside the DCS; and
in response to determining that the first shared spectrum channel in the first downlink communications signal allocated to the first remote unit interferes with the first shared spectrum channel in the communications signal outside the DCS, the spectrum usage coordination circuit is further configured to de-allocate the first shared spectrum channel of the first downlink communications signal from the first remote unit in the routing information.

4. The DCS of claim 3 , wherein, in response to determining that the first shared spectrum channel in the first downlink communications signal allocated to the first remote unit interferes with the first shared spectrum channel in the communications signal outside the DCS, the spectrum usage coordination circuit is further configured to:
determine if the first shared spectrum channel of the first downlink communications signal in the first remote unit is a primary channel for the first service provider;
in response to determining that the first shared spectrum channel of the first downlink communications signal in the first remote unit is the primary channel for the first service provider:
allocate a second shared spectrum channel of the first downlink communications signal as the primary channel for the first service provider in the routing information.

5. A distributed communications system (DCS) comprising:
a routing circuit configured to:
receive a plurality of down

Assignees

• Corning Res & Dev Corp

Inventors

• Harel Dror

Classifications

• H04W72/541

  using the level of interference · CPC title

• H04W72/52

  based on load · CPC title

• H04W72/23

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

• H04W28/16 Primary

  Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service] · CPC title

• H04W40/02

  Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing · CPC title