# US 10,873,941 B2 · System and method for joint transmission over licensed and unlicensed bands using fountain codes > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,873,941 B2 - Document ID: US10873941B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/662,017 - Filed: 2015-03-18 - Published: 2015-11-19 - Granted: 2020-12-22 - Earliest claimed: 2014-05-16 - Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Amine Maaref; Jianglei Ma - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10873941B2 ## CPC - H04W 72/0453: Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA - H04L 1/0002: {by adapting the transmission rate} - H04L 1/0009: {by adapting the channel coding (H04L1/1812 takes precedence)} - H04L 1/004: {by using forward error control (H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00)} - H04L 1/0057: {Block codes (H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence)} - H04L 1/04: using frequency diversity - H04L 1/1819: {with retransmission of additional or different redundancy} - H04W 28/22: Negotiating communication rate - H04W 48/18: Selecting a network or a communication service - H04W 88/06: adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals - Y02D 30/50: in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE ## Abstract Transporting different sets of encoded packets generated from the same traffic flow over the respective licensed and unlicensed bands may provide bandwidth utilization efficiencies in addition to enabling more robust data streaming. More specifically, a transmit point may encode a traffic flow using a fountain code to obtain encoded packets, and then transmit different subsets of the encoded packets over the respective licensed and unlicensed bands. The fountain code may be applied at the physical layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, or the application layer. The respective subsets of packets may be transmitted over the licensed and unlicensed bands at different rates. Different coding rates may be used over the respective bands. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for wireless transmission, the method comprising: encoding a traffic flow using a rate-less code to obtain rate-less-encoded packets; and simultaneously transmitting, by a transmit point, a first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets to a receive point over a licensed band of a unified air interface operating in accordance with a common cellular radio access technology (RAT), and a second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets to the receive point over an unlicensed band of the unified air interface operating in accordance with the common cellular RAT, the unified air interface providing a common physical and medium access control (MAC) connection between the receive point and the transmit point; and wherein the method further comprises: dynamically adjusting a rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band from a first transmission rate to a second transmission rate in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) metric of the unlicensed band. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein both the first transmission rate and the second transmission rate are non-zero transmission rates, and the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets and the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted at different rates. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically adjusting the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band from the first transmission rate to the second transmission rate in accordance with the QoS metric of the unlicensed band comprises: increasing the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band, and decreasing a rate in which the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the unlicensed band, when a packet loss rate on the unlicensed band exceeds a threshold, an increase in the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band at least partially compensating for a decrease in the rate in which the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the unlicensed band. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically adjusting the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band from the first transmission rate to the second transmission rate in accordance with the QoS metric of the unlicensed band comprises: decreasing the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band, and increasing a rate in which the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the unlicensed band, when a packet loss rate on the unlicensed band falls below a threshold, an increase in the rate in which the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the unlicensed band at least partially compensating for a decrease in the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein increase in the rate in which the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the unlicensed band is proportional to decrease in the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically adjusting the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band from the first transmission rate to the second transmission rate in accordance with the QoS metric of the unlicensed band comprises: increasing the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band, and decreasing a rate in which the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the unlicensed band, when a contention level or latency of the unlicensed band exceeds an upper threshold; and decreasing the rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band, and increasing the rate in which the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the unlicensed band, when the contention level or latency of the unlicensed band falls below a lower threshold. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: dynamically adjusting rates in which the rate-less-encoded packets are communicated over at least one of the licensed band and the unlicensed band in accordance with a characteristic of the traffic flow. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein dynamically adjusting the rates in which the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over at least one of the licensed band and the unlicensed band in accordance with the characteristic of the traffic flow comprises: determining rates for the licensed band and the unlicensed band in accordance with a QoS or a priority level of the traffic flow; and transmitting the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets over the licensed band and the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets over the unlicensed band in accordance with the determined rates. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the rate-less code is applied at a physical layer. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein encoding the traffic flow using the rate-less code to obtain the rate-less-encoded packets comprises applying the rate-less code at a MAC layer. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein encoding the traffic flow using the rate-less code to obtain the rate-less-encoded packets comprises applying the rate-less code at a radio link control (RLC) layer. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, encoding the traffic flow using the rate-less code to obtain the rate-less-encoded packets comprises applying the rate-less code at an application layer. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein automatic repeat request (ARQ) signaling is excluded from a radio link control (RLC) layer and a media access control (MAC) layer. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets over the licensed band and the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets over the unlicensed band comprises: transmitting the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets and the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets directly to the receive point in accordance with a common telecommunication protocol. ### Claim 15 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the QoS metric of the unlicensed band includes a packet loss rate, contention level, or latency of the unlicensed band. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets is transmitted at a rate that is based on a quality of service (QoS) of the unlicensed band. ### Claim 17 A wireless multi-band transmitter comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to: encode a traffic flow using a rate-less code to obtain rate-less-encoded packets; and transmit a first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets to a receive point over a licensed band of a unified air interface operating in accordance with a common cellular radio access technology (RAT), and a second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets to the receive point over an unlicensed band of the unified air interface operating in accordance with the common cellular RAT, the unified air interface providing a common physical and medium access control (MAC) connection between the receive point and the wireless multi-band transmitter; and wherein the programming further includes instructions to: dynamically adjust a rate in which the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted over the licensed band from a first transmission rate to a second transmission rate in accordance with a quality of service (QoS) metric of the unlicensed band. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The wireless multi-band transmitter of claim 17, wherein both the first transmission rate and the second transmission rate are non-zero transmission rates, and the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets and the second subset of the rate-less-encoded packets are transmitted at different rates. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The wireless multi-band transmitter of claim 18, wherein the QoS metric of the unlicensed band includes a packet loss rate, contention level, or latency of the unlicensed band. ### Claim 20 A method for receiving wireless transmissions, the method comprising: receiving, by a receive point, a wireless transmission from a single transmit point carrying a first subset of rate-less-encoded packets of a single traffic flow over a licensed band of a unified air interface operating in accordance with a common cellular radio access technology (RAT), and a second subset of rate-less-encoded packets of the single traffic flow over an unlicensed band of the unified air interface operating in accordance with the common cellular RAT, the unified air interface providing a common physical and medium access control (MAC) connection between the receive point and the single transmit point; and jointly decoding both the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the licensed band and the second subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the unlicensed band in accordance with a same rate-less code to obtain the single traffic flow, the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets and the second subset of rate-less-encoded packets having been generated from the single traffic flow using the same rate-less code by the single transmit point, wherein a common physical or MAC layer processing entity of the receive point jointly decodes the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the licensed band and the second subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the unlicensed band in accordance with the same rate-less code; and wherein the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets is received at a rate that is dynamically adjustable based on a quality of service (QoS) of the unlicensed band. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the first subset of the rate-less-encoded packets is and the second subset of rate-less-encoded packets are received at different rates. ### Claim 22 A wireless multi-band receiver comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to: receive a wireless transmission carrying a first subset of rate-less-encoded packets of a single traffic flow over a licensed band of a unified air interface operating in accordance with a common cellular radio access technology (RAT), and a second subset of rate-less-encoded packets of the single traffic flow over a unlicensed band of the unified air interface operating in accordance with the common cellular RAT, the unified air interface providing a common physical and medium access control (MAC) connection between the wireless multi-band receiver and a single transmit point; and jointly decode both the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the licensed band and the second subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the unlicensed band in accordance with a same rate-less code to obtain the single traffic flow, the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets and the second subset of rate-less-encoded packets having been generated from the single traffic flow using the same rate-less code by the single transmit point, wherein a common physical or MAC layer processing entity of the wireless multi-band receiver jointly decodes the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the licensed band and the second subset of rate-less-encoded packets received over the unlicensed band in accordance with the same rate-less code; and wherein the first subset of rate-less-encoded packets is received at a rate that is dynamically adjustable based on a quality of service (QoS) metric of the unlicensed band.