Method and apparatus for coordinating FDX and TDD communications in a communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11894958-B2
Application number	US-202117514474-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2021
Priority date	Sep 18, 2017
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

Abstract

The method includes transmitting by a first remote communication unit an upstream symbol with a first structure onto a first communication line at a reference time point trf, wherein the reference time point trf is determined based on a time of reception of a downstream symbol with the first structure tFDX_DS_RX and a first propagation delay over the first communication line tPD1, as trf=tFDX_DS_RX−tPD1; transmitting by a second remote communication unit an upstream symbol with a second structure onto the second communication line at tTDD_US_TX=trf−tPD2 during a time interval assigned for upstream transmission on the second communication line, wherein tPD2 is a second propagation delay over the second communication line, so that the upstream symbol with the second structure transmitted by the second remote communication unit arrives at the access node at the reference time point trf.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of coordinating communications in a communication system, the communication system comprising an access node, communicatively coupled to
a first set of remote communication units being configured to operate in a full duplex, FDX, mode via respective ones of a first set of communication lines; and
a second set of remote communication units being configured to operate in a Time Division Duplex, TDD, mode via respective ones of a second set of communication lines;
wherein symbols transmitted on a first communication line connecting a first remote communication unit belonging to the first set of remote communication units to the access node have a first structure and symbols transmitted on a second communication line connecting a second remote communication unit belonging to the second set of remote communication units to the access node have a second structure and the symbol with the first structure and the symbol with the second structure having same symbol duration T symb ; and
wherein said method of coordination comprises:
controlling that an upstream symbol with the second structure is received by the access node from the second communication line at a same time as a downstream symbol with the first structure is transmitted by the access node onto the first communication line such that a start of the upstream symbol with the second structure is aligned in time with respect to a start of the downstream symbol with the first structure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein
a FDX frame comprises a first FDX sub-frame and a second FDX sub-frame, the first FDX sub-frame comprising a first number of symbols with the first structure, the second FDX sub-frame comprises a second number of symbols with the first structure; and
a TDD frame comprises a downstream sub-frame and an upstream sub-frame, the downstream sub-frame comprising the first number of symbols with the second structure, the upstream sub-frame comprising the second number of symbols with the second structure.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining a propagation delay t PD2 over the second communication line, and
controlling a transmission of an upstream TDD sub-frame by the second remote communication unit and a transmission of a second FDX sub-frame by the access node such that the upstream TDD sub-frame is transmitted before the transmission of the second FDX sub-frame by an amount of time equal to the propagation delay t PD2 .

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining a first time gap t g1′_FDX to be applied at said first remote communicate node, said first time gap separating an end of a first FDX subframe received at the first communication unit and a beginning of a subsequent second FDX upstream subframe transmitted onto the first communication line by the first remote communication unit.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining a first propagation delay t PD1 over the first communication line;
determining a second time gap t g2_TDD to be applied at the access node separating an end of a downstream sub-frame transmitted onto the second communication line and a beginning of a subsequent upstream sub-frame received from the second communication line;
determining a second propagation delay t PD2 over the second communication line;
controlling a transmission of an upstream TDD sub-frame by the second remote communication unit and a transmission of a second FDX sub-frame by the access node such that the upstream TDD sub-frame is transmitted before the transmission of the second FDX sub-frame by an amount of time equal to the second propagation delay t PD2 ; and
determining said first time gap t g1′_FDX as t g1′_FDX =t g2_TDD-tPD1 .

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first FDX sub-frame is a downstream priority sub-frame where precedence is given to downstream communications from the access node to the first set of remote communication units, and the second FDX sub-frame is an upstream priority sub-frame where precedence is given to upstream communications from the first set of remote communication units to the access node.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining a third time gap t g1′_TDD to be applied at the second remote communication unit for separating an end of a downstream sub-frame received from the second communication line and a beginning of a subsequent upstream sub-frame transmitted onto the second communication line as t g1′_TDD =t g2_TDD −2t PD2 .

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the method comprises:
determining a first time gap t g1_TDD applied at the access node separating an end of the upstream sub-frame received from the second communication line and a beginning of a subsequent downstream sub-frame transmitted onto the second communication line.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a second time gap t g2_TDD is determined as t g2_TDD =T symb −t g1_TDD , with said second time gap t g2_TDD separates an end of a downstream sub-frame transmitted onto the second communication line and a beginning of a subsequent upstream sub-frame received from the second communication line at the access node.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication line and the second communication line are in a same binder.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
controlling the first remote communication unit and the second remote communication unit such that
the first remote communication unit will transmit an upstream symbol with the first structure onto the first communication line at a reference time point t rf , wherein the reference time point t rf is determined based on a time of reception t FPX_DS_RX of a downstream symbol with the first structure and a first propagation delay t PD1 over the first communication line, as t rf =t FDX_DS_RX −t PD1 ; and
the second remote communication unit will transmit an upstream symbol with the second structure onto the second communication line at t TDD_US_TX =t rf −t PD2 during a time interval assigned for upstream transmission on the second communication line, wherein t PD2 is a second propagation delay over the second communication line.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
controlling the access node to transmit a symbol with the first structure to at least one remote communication unit belonging to the first set of remote communication units at the reference time point t rf .

13. A communication controller for coordinating communications in a communication system, the communication system comprising an access node, communicatively coupled to
a first set of remote communication units being configured to operate in a full duplex, FDX, mode via respective ones of a first set of communication lines;
a second set of remote communication units being configured to operate in a Time Division Duplex, TDD, mode via respective ones of a second set of communication lines;
wherein symbols transmitted on a first communication line connecting a first remote communication unit belonging to the first set of remote communication units to the access node have a first structure and symbols transmitted on a second communication line connecting a second remote communication unit belonging to the second set of remote communication units to the access node have a second structure and the symbol with the first structure and the symbol with the second structure having same symbol duration T symb ; and
the communication controller comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at leas

Assignees

• Nokia Technologies Oy

Inventors

• Maes Jochen
• Lefevre Yannick
• Coomans Werner

Classifications

• H04L25/085 Primary

  Arrangements for reducing interference in line transmission systems, e.g. by differential transmission · CPC title

• H04L5/14

  Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex · CPC title

• H04L27/2607

  Cyclic extensions · CPC title

• H04L5/1461 Primary

  Suppression of signals in the return path, i.e. bidirectional control circuits · CPC title

• H04B3/32

  Reducing cross-talk, e.g. by compensating · CPC title