Partial subframe transmission in licensed assisted access
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsAbhijeet Bhorkar, Hwan-Joon Kwon, Jeongho Jeon, Qiaoyang Ye
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Abstract
Techniques for communication of a partial subframe and properties related to the partial subframe of a plurality of subframes in licensed assisted access (LAA) for an unlicensed frequency band are discussed. A network device (e.g., an evolved NodeB, or other cell network device) can generate a listen before talk (LBT) protocol in order to determine whether an unlicensed carrier of a secondary cell device is idle or busy. The evolved Node B (eNB) can communicate starting or ending partial subframes in a downlink transmission, and a user equipment (UE) can process partial subframes based on the communications and a scheduling policy.
Claims29
An apparatus of a base station, the apparatus comprising:
- a radio frequency (“RF”) circuitry component configured to process or generate communication signals in an unlicensed spectrum;
- and
- a baseband component, coupled to the RF circuitry component, configured to:
- perform listen before talk (“LBT”) to detect whether a channel of one or more second cells is busy or idle, and
- in response to detecting the channel to be idle,
- perform a downlink transmission via the channel of the unlicensed spectrum,
- wherein
- the downlink transmission includes a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) comprising a four-bit field indicating whether one or more of a current subframe and a next subframe are normal or partial subframes,
- when a partial subframe is indicated,
- the four-bit field indicates a length in symbols for the partial subframe, and
- at least one configuration of the four-bit field enables indication of the current subframe being a normal subframe and an ending subframe of the transmission.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a processor of a base station to perform operations, comprising:
- perform, on a channel of an unlicensed carrier, listen before talk (“LBT”);
- and
- provide a downlink transmission in the unlicensed carrier based on a channel assessment,
- wherein:
- the downlink transmission includes a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) comprising a four-bit field indicating whether one or more of a current subframe and a next subframe are normal or partial subframes,
- when a partial subframe is indicated,
- the four-bit field indicates a length in symbols for the partial subframe, and
- at least one configuration of the four-bit field enables indication of the current subframe being a normal subframe and an ending subframe of the downlink transmission.
An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:
- radio frequency (“RF”) circuitry configured to process or generate communication signals in an unlicensed spectrum;
- and
- a baseband component, coupled to the RF circuitry, configured to:
- receive, via the RF circuitry and unlicensed spectrum, a downlink transmission;
- and
- process the downlink transmission as a communication from a base station, wherein:
- the downlink transmission includes a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) comprising a four-bit field indicating whether one or more of a current subframe and a next subframe are normal or partial subframes,
- when a partial subframe is indicated,
- the four-bit field indicates a length in symbols for the partial subframe, and
- at least one configuration of the four-bit field enables indication of the current subframe being a normal subframe and an ending subframe of the transmission.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.