Spectrum allocation using a distributed ledger network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12302117-B2
Application number	US-202217873464-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2022
Priority date	Aug 22, 2018
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

A method and a spectrum owner system are described. The spectrum owner system records, in a distributed ledger network, a list of spectrum resources licensed from a regulatory authority system to the spectrum owner system. The spectrum owner system receives an authorization request for a spectrum allocation of spectrum resources, where the spectrum allocation includes at least a desired interval of time for usage of the spectrum resources by a radio access network of a spectrum renter, a desired location for usage of the spectrum resources by the radio access network, and additional characteristics of the spectrum resources. The spectrum owner system negotiates agreement terms for the desired spectrum allocation; and records, in the distributed ledger network, a hash of the spectrum allocation, where the spectrum allocation enables the radio access network of the spectrum renter to provide radio access services to wireless network devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network device comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store instructions; and
a processor coupled with the non-transitory computer readable storage medium to process the stored instructions to perform:
sending, an authorization request for a spectrum allocation of spectrum resources, wherein the spectrum allocation includes at least a desired interval of time for usage of the spectrum resources by a radio access network of a spectrum renter, a desired location for usage of the spectrum resources by the radio access network, and one or more additional characteristics of the spectrum resources, and
negotiating agreement terms for the spectrum allocation through a private transaction channel in a distributed ledger network between a spectrum owner system and a spectrum renter system that sent the authorization request, wherein a hash of the spectrum allocation is recorded in a distributed ledger network that includes a list of spectrum resources licensed from a regulatory authority system to the spectrum owner system, the list of spectrum resources available to rent to one or more potential customers, wherein the spectrum allocation enables the radio access network of the spectrum renter to provide radio access services to one or more wireless network devices according to the characteristics of the spectrum resources for the desired interval of time and the desired location.

2. The network device of claim 1 , wherein negotiating the agreement terms for the spectrum allocation includes to perform:
establishing, with the spectrum owner system, the private transaction channel in the distributed ledger network;
receiving, through the private transaction channel, proposed agreement terms for the spectrum allocation; and
transmitting, to the spectrum owner system, accepted agreement terms for the spectrum allocation, wherein the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms for the spectrum allocation are securely stored, and wherein the spectrum allocation includes a set of spectrum allocation parameters including the desired interval of time, the desired location, and the characteristics of the spectrum resources to be used for the desired interval of time and the desired location.

3. The network device of claim 2 , wherein securely storing the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms includes to encrypt, based on a cryptographic key that is shared by the spectrum renter system and the spectrum owner system, the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms.

4. The network device of claim 2 , wherein securely storing the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms further includes to store, the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms, in a storage that is separate from the distributed ledger network.

5. The network device of claim 2 , wherein securely storing the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms further includes to record in the distributed ledger network the spectrum allocation and the agreement terms.

6. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the spectrum allocation includes a set of spectrum allocation parameters including a width of a frequency of the allocated spectrum resources, starting and ending frequencies, the desired location, a geographical area that is to be covered by the spectrum allocation, the desired time interval, and a mission profile that indicates coverage objectives of deployment of the radio access network.

7. The network device of claim 6 , wherein the spectrum allocation parameters further include protection boundary elements that define geographical areas in which the spectrum usage of the radio access network is to decrease below a predetermined threshold to comply with the spectrum allocation.

8. A method comprising:
sending, an authorization request for a spectrum allocation of spectrum resources, wherein the spectrum allocation includes at least a desired interval of time for usage of the spectrum resources by a radio access network of a spectrum renter, a desired location for usage of the spectrum resources by the radio access network, and one or more additional characteristics of the spectrum resources; and
negotiating agreement terms for the spectrum allocation through a private transaction channel in a distributed ledger network between a spectrum owner system and a spectrum renter system that sent the authorization request, wherein a hash of the spectrum allocation is recorded in a distributed ledger network that includes a list of spectrum resources licensed from a regulatory authority system to the spectrum owner system, the list of spectrum resources available to rent to one or more potential customers, wherein the spectrum allocation enables the radio access network of the spectrum renter to provide radio access services to one or more wireless network devices according to the characteristics of the spectrum resources for the desired interval of time and the desired location.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein negotiating the agreement terms for the spectrum allocation includes to perform:
establishing, with the spectrum owner system, the private transaction channel in the distributed ledger network;
receiving, through the private transaction channel, proposed agreement terms for the spectrum allocation; and
transmitting, to the spectrum owner system, accepted agreement terms for the spectrum allocation, wherein the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms for the spectrum allocation are securely stored, and wherein the spectrum allocation includes a set of spectrum allocation parameters including the desired interval of time, the desired location, and the characteristics of the spectrum resources to be used for the desired interval of time and the desired location.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein securely storing the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms includes to encrypt, based on a cryptographic key that is shared by the spectrum renter system and the spectrum owner system, the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein securely storing the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms further includes to store, the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms, in a storage that is separate from the distributed ledger network.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein securely storing the spectrum allocation and the accepted agreement terms further includes to record in the distributed ledger network the spectrum allocation and the agreement terms.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the spectrum allocation includes a set of spectrum allocation parameters including a width of a frequency of the allocated spectrum resources, starting and ending frequencies, the desired location, a geographical area that is to be covered by the spectrum allocation, the desired time interval, and a mission profile that indicates coverage objectives of deployment of the radio access network.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the spectrum allocation parameters further include protection boundary elements that define geographical areas in which the spectrum usage of the radio access network is to decrease below a predetermined threshold to comply with the spectrum allocation.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising computer program code which when executed by a processor carries out operations comprising:
sending, an authorization request for a spectrum allocation of spectrum resources, wherein the spectrum allocation includes at least a desired interval of time for usage of the sp

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Kempf James
• Balachandran Kumar

Classifications

• H04W28/18

  Negotiating wireless communication parameters · CPC title

• H04W12/04

  Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA] · CPC title

• H04W12/037

  of the control plane, e.g. signalling traffic · CPC title

• H04W16/14 Primary

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title