Interference mitigation for narrowband devices in wideband environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11197311-B2
Application number	US-201716479867-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2017
Priority date	Mar 1, 2017
Publication date	Dec 7, 2021
Grant date	Dec 7, 2021

Abstract

Methods of a wireless communication node are disclosed. The methods are for mitigating interference caused during an upcoming downlink transmission by a second wireless communication access point to a first wireless communication station by one or more second wireless communication stations served by a first (neighboring) wireless communication access point, wherein the first wireless communication station is served by the second wireless communication access point. The one or more second wireless communication stations are adapted to communicate using a second frequency interval and the first wireless communication station is adapted to communicate using a first (smaller) frequency interval, comprised within the second frequency interval. In one aspect, a method of the first wireless communication access point comprises receiving (from the first wireless communication station) an indication signal indicative of the upcoming downlink transmission.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of a first wireless communication access point for mitigating interference caused to a first wireless communication station by one or more second wireless communication stations,
wherein the one or more second wireless communication stations are served by the first wireless communication access point and the first wireless communication station is served by a second wireless communication access point, the second and first wireless communication access points being neighboring wireless communication access points, and
wherein the first wireless communication station is adapted to communicate using a first frequency interval and the one or more second wireless communication stations are adapted to communicate using a second frequency interval, the first frequency interval being smaller than the second frequency interval and comprised within the second frequency interval,
the method comprising:
receiving, from the first wireless communication station, an indication signal indicative of an upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point intended for the first wireless communication station, wherein transmission of the indication signal by the first wireless communication station was triggered by reception at the first wireless communication station of a request signal, from the second wireless communication access point, requesting approval for the upcoming downlink transmission; and
transmitting, to the one or more second wireless communication stations, an instruction signal inferring the one or more second wireless communication stations to avoid uplink transmissions in the first frequency interval during the upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point.

2. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising avoiding downlink transmissions in the first frequency interval during the upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein avoiding transmissions in the first frequency interval comprises avoiding transmissions in the second frequency interval.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein avoiding transmissions in the first frequency interval comprises avoiding transmissions in the first frequency interval only and allowing transmissions in parts of the second frequency interval that have no overlap with the first frequency interval.

5. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising transmitting, to the first wireless communicator station, an acknowledgement signal responsive to receiving the indication signal.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the acknowledgement signal is for triggering, at the first wireless communication station, transmission of an approval signal to the second wireless communication access point, approving the upcoming downlink transmission.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication signal transmitted by the first wireless communication station is also an approval signal to the second wireless communication access point, approving the upcoming downlink transmission.

8. A method of a first wireless communication station for mitigating interference caused to the first wireless communication station by one or more second wireless communication stations,
wherein the one or more second wireless communication stations are served by a first wireless communication access point and the first wireless communication station is served by a second wireless communication access point, the second and first wireless communication access points being neighboring wireless communication access points, and
wherein the first wireless communication station is adapted to communicate using a first frequency interval and the one or more second wireless communication stations are adapted to communicate using a second frequency interval, the first frequency interval being smaller than the second frequency interval and comprised within the second frequency interval,
the method comprising:
receiving, from the second wireless communication access point, a request signal requesting approval for an upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point intended for the first wireless communication station; and
transmitting, to the first wireless communication access point, an indication signal indicative of the upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point, wherein transmission of the indication signal is for triggering transmission, by the first wireless communication access point to the one or more second wireless communication stations, of an instruction signal inferring the one or more second wireless communication stations to avoid uplink transmissions in the first frequency interval during the upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point.

9. The method of claim 8 , the method further comprising receiving, from the first wireless communicator access point, an acknowledgement signal responsive to transmitting the indication signal.

10. The method of claim 9 , the method further comprising, responsive to receiving the acknowledgement signal, transmitting an approval signal to the second wireless communication access point, approving the upcoming downlink transmission.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the indication signal is also an approval signal to the second wireless communication access point, approving the upcoming downlink transmission.

12. A method of a wireless communication node, for mitigating interference caused to a first wireless communication station by one or more second wireless communication stations,
wherein the one or more second wireless communication stations are served by a first wireless communication access point and the first wireless communication station is served by a second wireless communication access point, the second and first wireless communication access points being neighboring wireless communication access points, and
wherein the first wireless communication station is adapted to communicate using a first frequency interval and the one or more second wireless communication stations are adapted to communicate using a second frequency interval, the first frequency interval being smaller than the second frequency interval and comprised within the second frequency interval,
the method comprising:
transmitting, in preparation for an upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point intended for the first wireless communication station, an assignment signal to one or more third wireless communication stations served by the second wireless communication access point and adapted to communicate using the second frequency interval,
wherein the assignment signal comprises an uplink transmission duration indication that extends over the upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point, and
wherein the assignment signal is adapted to cause the one or more third wireless communication stations to transmit respective uplink preambles based on the uplink transmission duration indication and to avoid uplink transmissions during the upcoming downlink transmission by the second wireless communication access point.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the wireless communication node is the second wireless communication access point.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the assignment signal is an uplink trigger signal.

15. The method of claim 13 , the method further comprising selecting the one or more third wireless communication stations among wireless comm

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Kapetanovic Dzevdan
• Nilsson Thomas

Classifications

• H04W72/27

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W72/541

  using the level of interference · CPC title

• H04W74/0816

  with collision avoidance · CPC title

• H04W72/1268 Primary

  of uplink data flows · CPC title

• H04W72/1273

  of downlink data flows · CPC title