US 8,509,105 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for device-to-device network coordination

AssigneeNokia Corporation

InventorsJarkko Lauri Sakari Kneckt, Klaus Franz Doppler, Mika Petri Olavi Rinne

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Abstract

In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method comprises broadcasting from a user equipment (UE) having means for device to device (D2D) communication a beacon comprising an OFDM beacon frame comprising a plurality of beacon fields; receiving at least one random access request from at least one neighbor device to trigger handshake signaling for establishment of a D2D connection; responding to one of the at least one random access request with an acknowledgement beacon including at least an identifier of the UE to confirm the D2D connection with the selected neighbor device; discovering available resources; and exchanging said resource information in the handshake signaling with the neighbor devices.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

broadcasting from a user equipment (UE) a beacon comprising a beacon flame comprising a plurality of beacon fields;
receiving in response to the beacon at least one request from at least one neighbor device to trigger handshake signaling to establish a device to device (D2D) connection;
responding to one of the at least one request including at least an identifier of the UE to confirm the D2D connection with the neighbor device;
discovering available resources from the beacon;
obtaining from the beacon at least one of a spectrum usage status and a priority for the available resources;
and
exchanging information on the discovered available resources in the handshake signaling with the neighbor device,
wherein the available resource is an FSU resource and further comprising:
receiving a flexible spectrum usage (FSU) beacon from the neighbor device;
and
decoding the received FSU beacon if a periodicity of the FSU beacon is unknown, and
wherein discovering the available resources further comprises:
a) selecting a supported frequency band;
b) scanning each of frequency channels within the selected frequency band;
c) measuring an interference for the selected channel;
d) identifying the selected channel as an available FSU candidate channel if the measured interference meets a specified criterion;
and
e) repeating steps a) though d) until a termination criterion is met;
wherein exchanging with the neighbor device the information of the discovered available resources further comprises exchanging network type information.

16 more elements

A method comprising:

broadcasting from a user equipment (UE) a beacon comprising a beacon frame comprising a plurality of beacon fields;
receiving in response to the beacon at least one request from at least one neighbor device to trigger handshake signaling to establish a device to device (D2D) connection;
responding to one of the at least one request including at least an identifier of the UE to confirm the D2D connection with the neighbor device;
discovering available resources from the beacon;
obtaining from the beacon at least one of a spectrum usage status and a priority for the available resources;
and
exchanging information on the discovered available resources in the handshake signaling with the neighbor device,
wherein the available resource is an FSU resource and further comprising:
receiving a flexible spectrum usage (FSU) beacon from the neighbor device;
and
decoding the received FSU beacon if a periodicity of the FSU beacon is unknown, and
wherein the beacon frame comprises a beacon type field, a plurality of uplink beacon fields and a plurality of downlink beacon fields, each of the uplink beacon fields and downlink beacon fields comprises one or more beacon subframes, and the plurality of uplink beacon fields and the plurality of downlink beacon fields are interleaved in such a way that a number of the uplink beacon subframes is followed immediately by an equal number of downlink beacon subframes.

9 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;
and
at least one memory including computer program code,
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
broadcasting from a device to device (D2D) user equipment (UE) a beacon comprising a beacon frame comprising a plurality of beacon fields;
discovering available flexible spectrum usage (FSU) resources;
exchanging with the neighbor device information of the discovered available FSU resources;
receiving in response to the beacon at least one request from at least one neighbor device to trigger a handshake signaling session to establish a D2D connection;
and
responding to one of the at least one request including at least its own identifier to establish the D2D connection with the neighbor device,
wherein the beacon frame comprises a beacon type field, a plurality of uplink beacon fields and a plurality of downlink beacon fields.

8 more elements

A method comprising:

broadcasting from a device to device (D2D) user equipment (UE) a beacon comprising a beacon frame comprising a plurality of beacon fields;
discovering available flexible spectrum usage (FSU) resources;
exchanging with the neighbor device information of the discovered available FSU resources;
receiving in response to the beacon at least one request from at least one neighbor device to trigger a handshake signaling session to establish a D2D connection;
and
responding to one of the at least one request including at least its own identifier to establish the D2D connection with the neighbor device,
wherein the beacon frame comprises a beacon type field, a plurality of uplink beacon fields and a plurality of downlink beacon fields.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/821,966Filed 23 Jun 2010
Published: US 2011/0317569 A129 Dec 2011
Granted: 13 Aug 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04W 74/0833
Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA: random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
H04L 5/0091
Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path: signalling for the administration of the divided path, e.g. signalling of…
H04W 8/005
Network data management: discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
H04W 16/14
Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures: spectrum sharing…