Method and system for joint coordination and coexistence in unlicensed spectrum

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9451612-B2
Application number	US-201414568703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2014
Priority date	Dec 12, 2014
Publication date	Sep 20, 2016
Grant date	Sep 20, 2016

Abstract

A method and system at a network element for providing a soft airtime share of unlicensed spectrum to at least one transmission point. The method includes receiving, from a plurality of transmission points, sensing results, selecting a group of candidate channels, grouping subsets of transmission points into radio access clusters, receiving, from each radio access cluster, a report, and allocating a soft airtime share to a radio access cluster for a channel at a time. Also, at a transmission point, a method and system for obtaining a soft airtime share of a channel in unlicensed spectrum. The method includes sensing a plurality of channels, providing a report, receiving a message assigning at least one radio access cluster, contending with other radio access clusters to send a beacon, receiving coordination beacons from neighboring clusters, self-scheduling and reporting in accordance with the received coordination beacons, and receiving an airtime share.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method at a transmission point for obtaining resources of a channel in an unlicensed spectrum band, the method comprising:
Performing sensing on a plurality of channels;
providing a report to a network element in accordance with results of the sensing;
receiving a message providing at least one radio access cluster for the transmission point per channel;
contending, on behalf of the at least one radio access cluster, with other radio access clusters to send a coordination beacon on a channel;
receiving coordination beacons from neighboring radio access clusters on the channel;
reporting information from the coordination beacons to the network element; and
receiving an allocation of resources for the channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contending to send a coordination beacon is performed jointly with other transmission points in the radio access cluster.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contending to send a coordination beacon is performed sequentially with other transmission points in the radio access cluster.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contending to send a coordination beacon is preceded by a fake wireless local area network clear to send message.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending the coordination beacon includes sending information including at least one of: an operator identifier, a controller identifier, a radio access cluster identifier, a beacon order, a remaining time in an active sensing phase, the controller's updated actual airtime allocation, a short term wireless local area network average spectral utilization, and statistical quality of service measure of the radio access cluster traffic.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contending to send includes waiting a random backoff time from a last detected sequence to send the coordination beacon.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving an allocation of resources includes a flexible portion of resources for other users of the channel in the unlicensed spectrum.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the other users utilize resources for wireless local area networks and wherein the flexible proportion of resources includes a proportion of the time slot for the channel to the radio access cluster of the transmission point and a proportion of the channel to the wireless local area network.

9. A transmission point receiving resources of an unlicensed spectrum band, the transmission point comprising a processor configured to:
perform sensing on a plurality of channels;
provide a report to a network element in accordance with results of the sensing;
receive a message providing at least one radio access cluster for the transmission point per channel;
contend, on behalf of the at least one radio access cluster, with other radio access clusters to send a coordination beacon on a channel;
receive coordination beacons from neighboring radio access clusters on the channel;
report information from the coordination beacons to the network element; and
receive an allocation of resources for the channel.

10. The transmission point of claim 9 , wherein the transmission point is configured to contend to send a coordination beacon jointly with other transmission points in the radio access cluster.

11. The transmission point of claim 9 , the transmission point is configured to contend to send a coordination beacon sequentially with other transmission points in the radio access cluster.

12. The transmission point of claim 9 , wherein the transmission point is configured to contend to send a coordination beacon preceded by a fake wireless local area network clear to send message.

13. The transmission point of claim 9 , wherein the coordination beacon includes information selected from: an operator identifier, a controller identifier, a radio access cluster identifier, a beacon order, a remaining time in an active sensing phase, the controller's updated actual airtime allocation, a short term wireless local area network average spectral utilization, and statistical quality of service measure of the radio access cluster traffic.

14. The transmission point of claim 9 , wherein the transmission point is configured to contend to send by waiting a random backoff time from a last detected sequence to send the coordination beacon.

15. The transmission point of claim 9 , wherein the flexible proportion of resources accounts for other users of the channel in the unlicensed spectrum.

16. The transmission point of claim 9 , wherein the other users utilize resources for wireless local area networks and wherein the flexible proportion of resources includes a proportion of the time slot for the channel to the radio access cluster of the transmission point and a proportion of the channel to the wireless local area network.

17. A method at a transmission point for obtaining resources of a channel in an unlicensed spectrum band, the method comprising:
performing sensing on a plurality of channels;
providing a report to a network element in accordance with results of the sensing;
receiving a message providing at least one radio access cluster for the transmission point per channel;
contending with other radio access clusters to send a coordination beacon on a channel;
receiving coordination beacons from neighboring radio access clusters on the channel;
reporting information from the coordination beacons to the network element; and
receiving an allocation of resources for the channel,
wherein the contending to send a coordination beacon is preceded by a fake wireless local area network clear to send message.

18. A transmission point receiving resources of an unlicensed spectrum band, the transmission point comprising a processor configured to:
perform sensing on a plurality of channels;
provide a report to a network element in accordance with results of the sensing;
receive a message providing at least one radio access cluster for the transmission point per channel;
contend with other radio access clusters to send a coordination beacon on a channel;
receive coordination beacons from neighboring radio access clusters on the channel;
report information from the coordination beacons to the network element; and
receive an allocation of resources for the channel,
wherein the transmission point is configured to contend to send a coordination beacon preceded by a fake wireless local area network clear to send message.

Assignees

• Salem Mohamed
• Maaref Amine
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Salem Mohamed
• Maaref Amine

Classifications

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W72/0446 Primary

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04W16/14 Primary

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title

• H04B17/26

  using historical data, averaging values or statistics · CPC title

• H04W72/04

  Wireless resource allocation · CPC title