Apparatus and methods for multicarrier unlicensed heterogeneous channel access
AssigneeCharter Communications Operating, LLC
InventorsAmitav Mukherjee, Maulik Vaidya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for multi-carrier or multi-band utilization in an unlicensed wireless network. In one embodiment, the apparatus and methods provide enhanced wireless services which provide enhanced bandwidth capability to 5G NR-U entities such as gNodeB and UE devices across two heterogeneous unlicensed bands having different medium access mechanism and protocols. In one variant, LBT (listen before talk) protocols are used to detect the presence or absence of users within the respective bands of interest. When two or more unoccupied carriers or bands are identified, aggregated operation is used ti enhance the downlink/uplink (DL/UL) transmission bandwidth for the device(s).
Claims20
A method for providing multi-carrier utilization in an unlicensed frequency band, the method comprising:
- performing real-time sensing comprising:
- measuring one or more first channel sensing parameters with respect to a first frequency band;
- and
- measuring one or more second channel sensing parameters with respect to a second frequency band;
- performing threshold comparisons comprising:
- comparing the one or more first channel sensing parameters with one or more first thresholds;
- and
- comparing the one or more second channel sensing parameters with one or more second thresholds;
- based on the comparing of the one or more first channel sensing parameters with the one or more first thresholds, determining an availability of the first frequency band;
- based on the comparing of the one or more second channel sensing parameters with the one or more second thresholds, determining an availability of the second frequency band;
- and
- transmitting data in at least one of the first or the second frequency bands only if the respective band is determined to be available, wherein the transmitting comprises, for each of the first and the second frequency bands, dynamically enabling or disabling transmission in that band based on the real-time sensing and the threshold comparison for that band, such that simultaneous transmission in both of the first and the second frequency bands is performed only if both are available, and selective transmission is performed if only one is available.
A computerized wireless apparatus for use in a wireless infrastructure, the computerized wireless apparatus comprising:
- digital processing apparatus;
- at least one data network interface in data communication with the digital processing apparatus;
- and
- a storage device in data communication with the digital processing apparatus, the storage device comprising a storage medium having at least one computer program, the at least one computer program configured to, when executed on the digital processing apparatus, cause the computerized wireless apparatus to:
- perform availability determinations for a first transmission opportunity, comprising:
- perform a first Listen Before Talk (LBT)-based protocol to determine an availability of one or more first carriers in an unlicensed spectrum in a first frequency band;
- and
- perform a second LBT-based protocol to determine an availability of one or more second carriers in the unlicensed spectrum in a second frequency band;
- perform transmission selections for the first transmission opportunity, comprising:
- based on a determination that both the one or more first carriers and the one or more second carriers are available, concurrently transmit data over both the first frequency band and the second frequency band;
- and
- based on a determination that only one of (i) the one or more first carriers or (ii) the one or more second carriers, is available, transmit data exclusively over one of the first frequency band or the second frequency band which is associated with the available one of (i) the one or more first carriers or (ii) the one or more second carriers and suspend transmission over one of the first frequency band or the second frequency band which is associated with the unavailable one of (i) the one or more first carriers or (ii) the one or more second carriers;
- and
- repeat the availability determinations and the transmission selections prior to each subsequent transmission opportunity.
Computer readable apparatus comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions configured to, when executed on a processing apparatus, cause a wireless user device to:
- identify a first medium access protocol for use to determine an availability of a first unlicensed frequency band;
- identify a second medium access protocol for use to determine an availability of a second unlicensed frequency band, the second unlicensed frequency band having access requirements different from those of the first unlicensed frequency band;
- perform an availability evaluation comprising, prior to each data transmission, independently evaluate a current availability for each of the first and second unlicensed frequency bands via use of their respective medium access protocols;
- perform a transmission selection comprising selection, for each transmission opportunity, to:
- (i) transmit data over both of the first and second unlicensed frequency bands only if both of the first and second unlicensed frequency bands are determined to be available, or (ii) transmit data solely over one of the first unlicensed frequency band or second unlicensed frequency band if only one is available, and to refrain from transmitting over any unlicensed frequency band determined to be unavailable;
- and
- repeat the availability evaluation and the transmission selection for each subsequent transmission opportunity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.