Mixed-access mode communication for standalone operation on a shared communication medium

A communication method, comprising:

• communicating, by a device associated with an operator, over a contention-free partition of a shared communication medium that is reserved for the operator;
• and
• communicating, by the device associated with the operator in accordance with an Over-the-Air (OTA) coexistence mechanism, over a contention-based partition of the shared communication medium that is shared with a plurality of operators,
• wherein the contention-free partition and the contention-based partition each correspond at least in part to an unlicensed communication medium,
• wherein the communicating over the contention-free partition communicates as an anchor carrier for a Primary Cell (PCell) of the operator, and
• wherein the communicating over the contention-based partition communicates as one or more Secondary Cell (SCells).

A central coordination server for a shared communication medium, comprising:

• a controller coupled to a network communication interface and configured to:
• partition the shared communication medium into a contention-free partition where the shared communication medium is reserved for first devices associated with a first set of operators and a contention-based partition where second devices associated with a second set of operators contend for access to the shared communication medium in accordance with an Over-the-Air (OTA) coexistence mechanism, at least one operator belonging to both the first and second sets of operators;
• and
• notify the first and second devices of the partitioning,
• wherein the contention-free partition and the contention-based partition each correspond at least in part to an unlicensed communication medium,
• wherein at least one dedicated sub-partition in the contention-free partition is reserved as at least one anchor carrier for at least one Primary Cell (PCell) of the at least one operator, and
• wherein at least one Secondary Cell (SCell) of the at least one operator is supported by contention-based resources among the contention-based partition.

A device associated with an operator, comprising:

• at least one communication controller coupled to at least one transceiver and configured to:
• communicate over a contention-free partition of a shared communication medium that is reserved for the operator;
• and
• communicate, in accordance with an Over-the-Air (OTA) coexistence mechanism, over a contention-based partition of the shared communication medium that is shared with a plurality of operators,
• wherein the contention-free partition and the contention-based partition each correspond at least in part to an unlicensed communication medium,
• wherein the at least one communication controller is configured to communicate over the contention-free partition as an anchor carrier for a Primary Cell (PCell) of the operator, and
• wherein the at least one communication controller is configured to communicate over the contention-based partition communicates as one or more Secondary Cell (SCells).