Close loop listen before talk for NR operation in unlicensed spectrum

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12108446-B2
Application number	US-202318299893-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2023
Priority date	Feb 16, 2018
Publication date	Oct 1, 2024
Grant date	Oct 1, 2024

Abstract

Various embodiments disclosed herein provide for a closed loop Listen Before Talk (LBT) which is a coexistence mechanism used by wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, to access unlicensed shared spectrum, such as the ISM UNII bands (5 GHz). The embodiments disclosed herein enable a base station to coordinate the LBT process at both the base station and a receiver in order to avoid hidden node interference where the interfering nodes are outside the sensing range of the transmitting node. The base station device can send an LBT trigger to the receiver to synchronize the clear channel assessments that are performed at each device to determine if there is any activity on the channel. The receiving device can send back a report to the base station device, and if no activity on the channel is detected, the base station device can schedule a transmission on the channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic vehicle, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
in response to receiving a trigger representative of a listen before trigger, initiating a detection process based on a channel, wherein the channel is included in the trigger, and wherein the initiating the detection process comprises:
in response to determining that a listen before talk duration is less than a slot length of the channel, transmitting a result of the detection process in a slot of a control channel; or
in response to determining that the listen before talk duration exceeds the slot length of the channel, transmitting the result of the detection process in a subsequent slot of the control channel,

wherein the subsequent slot is transmitted after the slot.

2. The electronic vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the initiating the detection process further comprises:
in response to the listen before talk duration being greater than the slot length of the channel, commencing the detection process at a defined slot indicated by the trigger.

3. The electronic vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the initiating the detection process further comprises:
in response to the listen before talk duration being greater than the slot length of the channel, commencing the detection process at a symbol offset indicated by the trigger.

4. The electronic vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the initiating the detection process further comprises:
in response to the listen before talk duration being greater than the slot length of the channel, determining, as a function of the listen before talk duration, a time value, and commencing the detection process at the time value.

5. The electronic vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the result of the detection process comprises information associated with a duration of the detection process or a channel occupied indication.

6. The electronic vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the channel uses an unlicensed frequency band, and the control channel uses a licensed frequency band.

7. The electronic vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the channel comprises a group of beams, and the detection process determines that a first beam of the group of beams of the channel is clear and that a second beam of the group of beams of the channel is not clear.

8. A method, comprising:
based on receiving a trigger, initiating, by a consumer appliance device comprising a processor, a detection process based on a channel included in the trigger, wherein the initiating the detection process comprises:
based on a duration being less than a slot length of the channel, transmitting, by the consumer appliance device, a result of the detection process in a first slot of a control channel; or
based on the duration being greater than the slot length of the channel, transmitting, by the consumer appliance device, the result of the detection process in a second slot of the control channel, wherein the second slot is transmitted subsequent to the first slot.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the consumer appliance device is capable of machine type communications.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the consumer appliance device is a first consumer appliance device, and wherein the trigger is received from a second consumer appliance device.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the trigger is received, via a network communication link, from unmanned vehicle equipment.

12. The method of claim 8 , the initiating further comprising, based on the duration being determined to be greater than the slot length of the channel, starting, by the consumer appliance device, the detection process at a defined slot included in the trigger.

13. The method of claim 8 , the initiating further comprising, based on the duration being determined to be greater than the slot length of the channel, starting, by the consumer appliance device, the detection process at a symbol offset included in the trigger.

14. The method of claim 8 , the initiating further comprising, based on the duration being determined to be greater than the slot length of the channel, and based on a determined time value, starting, by the consumer appliance device, the detection process at the determined time value.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining, by the consumer appliance device, the determined time value as a function of the duration included in the trigger.

16. The method of claim 8 , wherein the channel uses an unlicensed frequency band, and the control channel uses a licensed frequency band.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of an unmanned vehicle, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
generating report data representative of a determination that a listen before talk duration is less than a slot length of an unlicensed communications channel, wherein a licensed communications channel conveys, to the unmanned vehicle, a listen before talk trigger comprising the unlicensed communication channel to be assessed; and broadcasting, by the unmanned vehicle, the report data in a slot of the licensed communications channel; or
in response to determining that the listen before talk duration is greater than the slot length of the unlicensed communications channel, generating, by the unmanned vehicle, the report data and broadcasting the report data in a next slot of the licensed communications channel.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , the operations further comprising, in response to the listen before talk duration being greater than the slot length of the unlicensed communications channel, commencing the generating of the report data at a defined slot indicated by the listen before talk trigger.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , the operations further comprising, in response to the listen before talk duration being greater than the slot length of the unlicensed communications channel, commencing the generating of the report data at a symbol offset included in the listen before talk trigger.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , the operations further comprising, in response to the listen before talk duration being greater than the slot length of the unlicensed communications channel, determining, based on the listen before talk duration, a time duration value of a group of time duration values, and commencing the generating of the report data at the time duration value.

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Novlan Thomas
• Ghosh Arunabha
• Hafeez Abdulrauf

Classifications

• H04W72/23

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

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W74/006

  in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal · CPC title

• H04W16/14

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title

• H04W74/0808 Primary

  using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA] · CPC title