Radio resource allocation of unlicensed frequency bands

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560651-B2
Application number	US-201414287612-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2014
Priority date	May 27, 2014
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A network node operates in accordance with a first radio access technology in a frequency band, wherein communication according to a second radio access technology may occupy one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band. A method comprises receiving a beacon signal associated with the second radio access technology and determining whether or not the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, respectively, in accordance with the second radio access technology. The method also comprises determining a communication activity rate of at least one of the radio resources of the frequency band and selecting one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band based on the determined communication activity rate, and allocating one or more of the selected radio resources to communication in accordance with the first radio access technology.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, in a network node adapted to operate in accordance with a first radio access technology, for allocation of radio resources of a frequency band for communication in accordance with the first radio access technology, wherein communication according to a second radio access technology may occupy one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band, the method comprising:
receiving a beacon signal associated with the second radio access technology;
determining whether or not the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, respectively, in accordance with the second radio access technology;
determining a communication activity rate of at least one of the radio resources of the frequency band;
selecting one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band based on the determined communication activity rate, wherein, in the event that the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, the selection is further based on the information; and
allocating one or more of the selected radio resources to communication in accordance with the first radio access technology.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting one or more of the radio resources comprises, in the event that the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, selecting a radio resource used as secondary channel in accordance with the second radio access technology over a radio resource used as primary channel in accordance with the second radio access technology.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication activity rate of a radio resource comprises one or more of a traffic load of the radio resource, a number of users of the radio resource, and whether or not the radio resource is currently used for communication.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein selecting one or more of the radio resources comprises selecting a radio resource determined not to be currently used over a radio resource determined to be currently used.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein selecting one or more of the radio resources comprises selecting a first radio resource over a second radio resource if a traffic load of the first radio resource is lower than a traffic load of the second radio resource.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein selecting one or more of the radio resources comprises selecting a first radio resource over a second radio resource if a number of users of the first radio resource is lower than a number of users of the second radio resource.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first radio access technology is according to an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), and the second radio access technology is according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first radio access technology applies carrier aggregation and wherein the allocated radio resources of the frequency band are for secondary cell communication of the carrier aggregation.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frequency band is one of an unlicensed frequency band and a non-exclusively licensed frequency band.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising program instructions, the computer program being loadable into a data-processing unit in a network node adapted to operate in accordance with a first radio access technology, for allocation of radio resources of a frequency band for communication in accordance with the first radio access technology, wherein communication according to a second radio access technology may occupy one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band,
receive a beacon signal associated with the second radio access technology;
determine whether or not the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, respectively, in accordance with the second radio access technology;
determine a communication activity rate of at least one of the radio resources of the frequency band;
select one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band based on the determined communication activity rate, wherein, in the event that the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, the selection is further based on the information; and
allocate one or more of the selected radio resources to communication in accordance with the first radio access technology.

11. A network node adapted to operate in accordance with a first radio access technology, for allocation of radio resources of a frequency band to communication in accordance with the first radio access technology, wherein communication according to a second radio access technology may occupy one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band, wherein the network node comprises:
a processing circuit comprising a processor and an associated memory circuit storing computer program instructions for execution by the processor, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
determine whether or not a received beacon signal associated with the second radio access technology comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, respectively, in accordance with the second radio access technology;
determine a communication activity rate of at least one of the radio resources of the frequency band;
select one or more of the radio resources of the frequency band based on the determined communication activity rate, wherein, in the event that the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, the selection is further based on the information; and
allocate one or more of the selected radio resources to communication in accordance with the first radio access technology.

12. The network node of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to, in the event that the beacon signal comprises information indicative of which of the radio resources of the frequency band are used as primary and secondary channels, select a radio resource used as secondary channel in accordance with the second radio access technology over a radio resource used as primary channel in accordance with the second radio access technology.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M
• ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M (publ)

Inventors

• Wilhelmsson Leif
• Cheng Jung-Fu
• Koorapaty Havish
• Parkvall Stefan

Classifications

• H04W74/08

  Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA (hybrid access H04W74/02) · CPC title

• H04W16/14 Primary

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title

• H04W72/1215

  for collaboration of different radio technologies · CPC title

• H04W72/0453 Primary

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title

• H04W72/27 Primary

  between access points · CPC title