Mitigating cross-link interference when using reconfigurable TDD

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9686050-B2
Application number	US-201314652540-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2013
Priority date	Jan 4, 2013
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for mitigating cross-link interference. The method is implemented by a base station of a wireless communication system, the base station serving user terminals in a first cell. The method comprises selecting ( 610 ) a primary time division duplex, TDD, configuration designating uplink and downlink subframes for communication with the user terminals in the first cell, and determining ( 620 ) uplink subframes of the primary TDD configuration that are overlapping in time with downlink subframes of a TDD configuration used in a second cell. The method also comprises transmitting ( 630 ), to a user terminal in the first cell, a request to use a supplemental TDD configuration for transmitting uplink control information, wherein uplink subframes of the supplemental TDD configuration are not overlapping in time with downlink subframes of the TDD configuration used in the second cell.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for mitigating cross-link interference, the method being implemented by a base station of a wireless communication system, the base station serving user terminals in a first cell, the method comprising the base station:
selecting a primary time division duplex (TDD) configuration designating uplink and downlink subframes for communication with the user terminals in the first cell;
determining uplink subframes of the primary TDD configuration that are overlapping in time with downlink subframes of a TDD configuration used in a second cell;
identifying a user terminal in the first cell scheduled to transmit uplink control information in the determined uplink subframes of the primary TDD configuration that are overlapping in time with downlink subframes of the TDD configuration used in the second cell;
transmitting, to the identified user terminal in the first cell, a request to use a supplemental TDD configuration for transmitting uplink control information, wherein uplink subframes of the supplemental TDD configuration are not overlapping in time with downlink subframes of the TDD configuration used in the second cell; and
transmitting, to the identified user terminal in the first cell, a time value related to the request to use the supplemental TDD configuration, wherein the time value defines a time duration for the requested use of the supplemental TDD configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the TDD configuration used in the second cell is a different TDD configuration than the primary TDD configuration.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the supplemental TDD configuration is the same as the TDD configuration used in the second cell.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental TDD configuration is a time shifted version of the primary TDD configuration.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time value is derived based on radio resource control configuration time windows of the first and the second cell respectively.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the uplink control information is a hybrid automatic repeat request response.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time duration is based on a range of time spanning a plurality of subframes configured with the primary TDD configuration.

8. A method for mitigating cross-link interference, the method being implemented by a user terminal in a first cell, served by a base station of a wireless communication system, wherein the user terminal is configured to use a primary time division duplex (TDD) configuration designating uplink and downlink subframes for communication with the base station, the method comprising the user terminal:
receiving a scheduling to transmit uplink control information in uplink subframes of the primary TDD configuration that are overlapping in time with downlink subframes of the TDD configuration used in a second cell;
receiving, from the base station, a request to use a supplemental TDD configuration different from the primary TDD configuration for transmitting uplink control information;
adopting the supplemental TDD configuration for transmission of uplink control information in response to the received request;
receiving, from the base station, a time value related to the request to use the supplemental TDD configuration, wherein the time value defines a time duration for the requested use of the supplemental TDD configuration; and
transmitting control information to the base station in uplink subframes according to the supplemental TDD configuration.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the supplemental TDD configuration is different from the primary TDD configuration with regards to the type of TDD configuration.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the supplemental TDD configuration is a time shifted version of the primary TDD configuration.

11. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the supplemental TDD configuration is adopted only during the time duration defined by the received time value.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the uplink control information is a hybrid automatic repeat request response.

13. A base station of a wireless communication system configured to mitigate cross-link interference and to serve user terminals in a first cell, the base station comprising:
a processor;
a transmitter;
memory containing instructions executable by the processor to cause the base station to be operative to:
select a primary time division duplex (TDD) configuration designating uplink and downlink subframes for communication with the user terminals in the first cell;
determine uplink subframes of the primary TDD configuration that are overlapping in time with downlink subframes of a TDD configuration used in a second cell;
identify a user terminal in the first cell scheduled to transmit uplink control information in the determined uplink subframes of the primary TDD configuration that are overlapping in time with downlink subframes of the TDD configuration used in the second cell;
transmit, via the transmitter and to the identified user terminal in the first cell, a request to use a supplemental TDD configuration for transmitting uplink control information; wherein uplink subframes of the supplemental TDD configuration are not overlapping in time with downlink subframes of the TDD configuration used in the second cell; and
transmit, via the transmitter and to the identified user terminal in the first cell, a time value related to the request to use a supplemental TDD configuration, wherein the time value defines a time duration for the requested use of the supplemental TDD configuration.

14. The base station of claim 13 , wherein the TDD configuration used in the second cell is a different TDD configuration than the primary TDD configuration.

15. The base station of claim 14 , wherein the supplemental TDD configuration is the same as the TDD configuration used in the second cell.

16. The base station of claim 13 , wherein the supplemental TDD configuration is a time shifted version of the primary TDD configuration.

17. The base station of claim 13 , wherein the instructions executable by the processor further cause the base station to be operative to derive the time value based on radio resource control configuration time windows of the first and the second cell respectively.

18. The base station of claim 13 , wherein the uplink control information is a hybrid automatic repeat request response.

19. A user terminal configured to mitigate cross-link interference, the user terminal configured to be served in a first cell by a base station of a wireless communication system and to use a primary time division duplex (TDD) configuration designating uplink and downlink subframes for communication with the base station; the user terminal comprising:
a processor;
a receiver;
a transmitter;
memory containing instructions executable by the processor to cause the user terminal to be operative to:
be scheduled to transmit uplink control information in uplink subframes of the primary TDD configuration that are overlapping in time with downlink subframes of the TDD configuration used in a second cell;
receive, via the receiver and from the base station, a request to use a supplemental TDD configuration different from the primary TDD configuration for transmitting uplink control information;
adopt the supplemental TDD configuration for transmission of uplink control information in response to the received request;
receive via the receiver and from the base station, a time value related to the request to

Assignees

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

Inventors

• Rahman Imadur
• Eriksson Erik
• Semaan Eliane

Classifications

• H04W72/541 Primary

  using the level of interference · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

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

• H04L1/1812

  Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ] · CPC title

• H04L5/14

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

• H04W72/082

  Electricity · mapped topic