CN105792220A

CN105792220A - Shared frequency usage method and device

Info

Publication number: CN105792220A
Application number: CN201410795348.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 施小娟
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2014-12-18
Filing date: 2014-12-18
Publication date: 2016-07-20
Anticipated expiration: 2034-12-18
Also published as: CN105792220B; WO2016095483A1

Abstract

The invention provides a shared frequency usage method and device. The method comprises the following steps: UEs under a first base station receive from the first base station configuration information of second cells controlled by a second base station, wherein the second cells use a second carrier, the second carrier is a shared carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are identical or different; after receiving the configuration information of the second cells, the UEs set the corresponding second cells as non-activated; in UE groups formed by the UEs under the first base station, when main UEs detect the availability of the second cells, each main UE sends a channel occupation request in the mobile communication mode and channel occupation signaling in the WLAN mode on the second carrier; each UE group includes only one main UE; each UE in the UE groups, of which the main UEs have sent the channel occupation requests and the channel occupation signaling, activates the corresponding second cell. The shared frequency usage method and device provided by the invention can effectively avoid interferences to sharable frequencies.

Description

Shared frequency using method and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for using a shared frequency.

Background

According to the prediction of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with the continuous increase of the mobile communication demand of users, in 2020, the mobile communication service may increase by more than 500 times, even 1000 times, so that various possible technologies are being discussed in the wireless communication industry to expand the network capability and enhance the network coverage, thereby satisfying the explosive growth situation of the mobile service. One possible direction is to share and use the same frequency resource among multiple cellular wireless communication technologies or one cellular wireless communication technology deployed by multiple operators, so as to break through the way that the traditional cellular wireless communication technology monopolizes an authorized frequency completely or monopolizes an authorized frequency within a certain time and a certain area on an authorized frequency band (license transmitted/license transmitted band), so as to improve the frequency utilization rate, expand the network capacity, and enhance the network coverage. However, it is likely that multiple cellular wireless communication technologies or one cellular wireless communication technology deployed by multiple operators will initiate data transmission on the same frequency at the same time, resulting in a situation where the multiple cellular wireless communication technologies or one cellular wireless communication technology deployed by multiple operators interfere or collide with each other; furthermore, when there are already non-cellular wireless communication systems deployed on the sharable frequency resources, such as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax), etc., the deployment of cellular wireless communication technologies on these sharable frequency resources may also cause interference to these non-cellular wireless communication systems in use. Therefore, there is a need for a solution to the problem of interference between multiple wireless communication technologies (including between cellular wireless communication technologies and non-cellular wireless communication technologies) or between multiple operator-deployed heterogeneous wireless communication technologies on sharable frequency resources.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present invention provides a shared frequency using scheme, which can effectively avoid interference between multiple wireless communication technologies on a sharable frequency and between the same wireless communication technologies deployed by multiple operators.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides a shared frequency using method, which is applicable to a multi-carrier scenario, where a user equipment UE establishes a radio resource control RRC connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell using a first carrier, the UE includes a mobile communication module and a wireless local area network WLAN module that support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the method includes:

each user equipment UE under a first base station receives configuration information of a second cell controlled by a second base station and sent by the first base station, wherein the second cell uses a second carrier wave which is a shared carrier wave, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different;

after receiving the configuration information of the second cell, the UE sets the second cell to be in an inactive state;

in each UE group divided by each UE under the first base station, when the main UE detects that the second cell is available, the main UE respectively sends a channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on the second carrier; there is one and only one master UE in one UE group;

and each UE in the UE group to which the main UE which has sent the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling belongs respectively activates the second cell of the UE.

Optionally, when there is a group representative UE in each UE group, the master UE is the group representative UE; and when the master UE does not exist, the master UE is any UE in the UE group.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and the first base station groups the UE under the base station.

Optionally, the first base station groups the UEs in the base station according to the location of the UE or the uplink timing advance.

Optionally, the step of grouping, by the base station, user equipments UEs in the base station further includes:

the first base station selects a group to represent the UE for each divided UE group;

the first base station respectively sends grouping information to each UE under the base station; the grouping information comprises the grouping identification of the UE group to which the UE belongs and the identification information of the UE represented by the grouping;

and each UE under the first base station receives and stores the grouping information from the first base station.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and each UE under the first base station divides the UE group by itself.

Optionally, the step of the UE self-dividing the UE group further includes:

each UE group respectively selects one group to represent the UE;

and the grouping represents that the UE notifies the first base station of the identification information of each UE in the grouping through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

Optionally, the configuration information of the second cell includes data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station desires the UE to activate on the second cell;

when a packet represents the UE, receiving data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the first base station or a time length which is expected to be activated on the second cell by the first base station by the packet represents the UE by the UE, wherein the data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the first base station is the data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the first base station and represents the packet in which the UE is located, the time length which is expected to be activated on the second cell by the first base station is the time length which is expected to be activated on the second cell by the UE by the first base station, and the time length which is expected to be activated on the second cell by the packet represents the packet in which the UE is located by the first base station;

when there is no packet representing UE, receiving, by each UE, data traffic that the first base station expects to be transmitted on the second cell or a time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell, where the data traffic that the first base station expects to be transmitted on the second cell that the first base station expects the UE to be transmitted on the second cell respectively, and the time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell respectively.

Optionally, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system at least includes information of UE grouping and a channel occupation duration; the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode comprises channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode is equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

when a grouping representative UE exists, the information of the UE grouping is the grouping identification or the identification information of the grouping representative UE;

when no grouping represents the UE, the information of the UE grouping is the identification information of each UE in the UE grouping.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

after receiving a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system sent by a main UE of other UE groups, the WLAN equipment in the UE group does not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation signaling; after receiving a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by a main UE grouped by other UEs under the base station using the second carrier, the second base station does not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request; and after receiving a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by the main UE of other UE groups, the UE in the UE group does not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

Optionally, the channel occupancy request of the mobile communication system of the UE and the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system are sent in a time division multiplexing manner.

Optionally, the second cell may refer to:

the signal quality or signal strength of the second cell exceeds a preset value and the second carrier is idle.

Optionally, activating, by each UE in the UE group to which the primary UE belongs, the second cell of each UE, where the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling are sent, includes:

each UE in the UE group to which the main UE which has sent the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling belongs activates the second cell after receiving a channel occupying response returned by a second base station which controls the second cell;

or,

after the master UE which has sent the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling finishes sending the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system, activating a second cell; and activating the second cell after other UEs in the UE group to which the main UE which has sent the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling belongs receive the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system sent by the main UE in the group to which the main UE belongs.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and after receiving the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system on the second carrier, the second base station activates a second cell of each UE in the UE group according to the information of the UE group contained in the channel occupation request.

The invention also provides a shared frequency using device, which is suitable for a multi-carrier scene, wherein User Equipment (UE) establishes Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE comprises a mobile communication module and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module, the mobile communication module and the WLAN module support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the device comprises:

the second cell configuration management module at the base station side is arranged in the base station;

a terminal side second cell configuration management module, respectively arranged in each user equipment UE under the first base station, and configured to receive configuration information of a second cell controlled by a second base station sent by the base station side second cell configuration management module in the first base station, and set the second cell in an inactive state after receiving the configuration information of the second cell; the second cell uses a second carrier, the second carrier is a shared carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different;

a terminal side second carrier occupation management module, configured to be arranged in a master UE grouped by UEs under the first base station, and configured to send, when detecting that the second cell is available, a channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and a channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system on the second carrier, respectively; there is one and only one master UE in one UE group;

the second cell configuration management module at the terminal side is further configured to activate the second cell of the UE after the main UE grouped by the UE to which the UE belongs sends the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

and the base station side grouping management module is arranged in the first base station and is used for grouping the UE under the base station.

Optionally, the base station side grouping management module groups each UE in the base station according to the location of the UE or the uplink timing advance.

Optionally, the base station side grouping management module is further configured to select one group to represent the UE for each divided UE group after grouping each UE under the base station; respectively sending grouping information to each UE under the base station; the grouping information comprises the grouping identification of the UE group to which the UE belongs and the identification information of the UE represented by the grouping;

the device further comprises:

and the terminal side grouping management module is arranged in each UE under the first base station and is used for receiving and storing the grouping information from the first base station.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

and the terminal side grouping management module is arranged in each UE under the first base station and is used for automatically dividing the UE groups.

Optionally, the terminal-side grouping management module is further configured to select a group representing UE for the UE group to which the terminal-side grouping management module belongs after the UE group is divided by itself; and when the UE represents the UE for the group, notifying the first base station of the identification information of each UE in the group through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

when there exists a packet representing UE, the packet representing UE receives, by a second cell configuration management module on a terminal side, data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station desires to activate the UE on the second cell, where the data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell is data traffic that the packet desired by the first base station to transmit on the second cell represents a packet where the UE is located, the time length that the first base station desires to activate the UE on the second cell is a time length that the packet desired by the first base station represents a packet where the UE is located and is activated on the second cell;

when there is no packet representing UE, the second cell configuration management module at the terminal side in each UE receives data traffic that the first base station expects to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station expects the UE to activate on the second cell, where the data traffic that the first base station expects to transmit on the second cell, which is received by each UE, is data traffic that the first base station expects the UE to transmit on the second cell, respectively, and the time length that the first base station expects the UE to activate on the second cell, which is received by each UE, is time length that the first base station expects the UE to activate on the second cell, which is expected by the first base station to activate on the second cell, respectively.

Optionally, the terminal-side second carrier occupation management module is further configured to not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by a channel occupation signaling after the WLAN device in the UE group to which the UE belongs receives the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the master UE of another UE group; after receiving a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by a main UE grouped by other UEs, the UE does not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation request;

the device further comprises:

the second carrier occupation management module at the base station side is arranged in the base station;

and the second carrier occupation management module on the base station side of the second base station is used for not initiating data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request after receiving the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system sent by the main UE grouped by other UEs under the base station using the second carrier.

Optionally, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the second carrier occupation management module at the terminal side are sent in a time division multiplexing manner.

Optionally, the second cell may refer to:

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

the second carrier occupation management module at the base station side is arranged in the second base station;

after the primary UE grouped by the UE to which the UE belongs sends the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling, the terminal side second cell configuration management module activates the second cell of the UE by:

after the terminal side second cell configuration management module sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling to the main UE grouped by the UE to which the UE belongs, the terminal side second cell configuration management module activates the second cell after receiving a channel occupation response returned by a base station side second carrier occupation management module in a second base station for controlling the second cell;

or,

when the UE is a main UE grouped by the UE, the terminal side second cell configuration management module activates a second cell after sending the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling; and when the UE is not the main UE of the UE group, activating the second cell after the main UE of the UE group sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling.

Optionally, the second cell configuration management module in the second base station is further configured to activate the second cell of each UE in the UE group according to information of the UE group included in the channel occupation request after receiving the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system on the second carrier.

The invention also provides a shared frequency using method, which is suitable for a multi-carrier scene, wherein User Equipment (UE) establishes Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE comprises a mobile communication module and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module, the mobile communication module and the WLAN module support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the method comprises the following steps:

the UE receives configuration information of a second cell controlled by a second base station, wherein the configuration information is sent by the first base station, the second cell uses a second carrier, the second carrier is a shared carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different; after receiving the configuration information of the second cell, setting the second cell to be in an inactive state;

when the UE is a master UE in the UE group and the second cell is detected to be available, the UE respectively sends a channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on the second carrier; the UE groups are obtained by dividing each UE under the first base station, and one UE group comprises only one main UE;

and the UE activates the second cell of the UE after the main UE grouped by the UE sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

the UE receives and stores grouping information from the first base station; the grouping information comprises the grouping identification of the UE group to which the UE belongs and the identification information of the UE represented by the grouping;

or,

and the UE divides the UE group by itself.

Optionally, the UE further includes, after dividing the UE group by itself:

the UE selects a group representative UE of the UE group; and when the UE is a grouping representative UE, notifying the identification information of each UE in the UE grouping to which the UE belongs to the first base station through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

when the UE represents the UE for the group, the received data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the first base station is the data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the first base station and represents the data traffic of the group where the UE is located; the received time length of the UE which is expected by the first base station to be activated on the second cell is the time length of the group which is expected by the first base station and represents the group in which the UE is positioned to be activated on the second cell; when no packet representing UE exists in the UE packet to which the UE belongs, the received data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the first base station is the data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the UE for the first base station; the received time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell is the time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell.

Optionally, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system at least includes information of UE grouping and a channel occupation duration; the sent channel occupation signaling of the WLAN standard comprises channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode is equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

Optionally, the method further comprises:

when the WLAN equipment in the UE group to which the UE belongs receives a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system sent by main UE of other user equipment groups, data transmission is not initiated on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation signaling;

and after the UE receives a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by main UE grouped by other user equipment, not initiating data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

Optionally, the channel occupancy request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system are sent in a time division multiplexing manner.

Optionally, the second cell may refer to:

Optionally, after the UE sends the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling to a master UE of the UE group to which the UE belongs, activating the second cell of the UE includes:

after the UE sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling to the main UE of the UE group to which the UE belongs, the UE activates the second cell after receiving a channel occupation response returned by the second base station for controlling the second cell;

or,

when the UE is a main UE, activating a second cell after sending the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system; and when the UE is not the main UE, activating a second cell after the main UE in the UE group to which the UE belongs sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling.

The invention also provides a shared frequency using device, which is arranged in User Equipment (UE) and is suitable for a multi-carrier scene, wherein the UE establishes Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE comprises a mobile communication module and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module, the mobile communication module and the WLAN module support to communicate with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the device comprises:

a second cell configuration management module, configured to receive configuration information of a second cell controlled by a second base station and sent by the first base station, where the second cell uses a second carrier, the second carrier is a shared carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different; after receiving the configuration information of the second cell, setting the second cell to be in an inactive state; activating the second cell of the UE after the main UE of the UE group to which the UE belongs sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling;

a second carrier occupation management module, configured to send a channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on the second carrier, respectively, when the UE is a master UE in a UE group to which the UE belongs and it is detected that the second cell is available; the UE groups are obtained by dividing each UE under the first base station, and one UE group has only one main UE.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

the grouping management module is used for receiving and storing grouping information from the first base station; the grouping information comprises grouping identification of the UE group to which the UE belongs and identification information of UE represented by the grouping; or, for partitioning the UE group by itself.

Optionally, the grouping management module is further configured to select a grouping representative UE of the UE group to which the UE belongs after the UE group is divided by itself; and when the UE is a grouping representative UE, notifying the identification information of each UE in the UE grouping to which the UE belongs to the first base station through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

when the UE represents the group UE, the second cell configuration management module receives data traffic that the first base station expects to transmit on the second cell, and the group that the first base station expects to transmit on the second cell represents data traffic of a group where the UE is located; the received time length of the UE which is expected by the first base station to be activated on the second cell is the time length of the group which is expected by the first base station and represents the group in which the UE is positioned to be activated on the second cell; when no packet representing UE exists in the UE packet to which the UE belongs, the received data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the first base station is the data traffic which is expected to be transmitted on the second cell by the UE for the first base station; the received time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell is the time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell.

Optionally, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system sent by the second carrier occupation management module at least includes information of UE grouping and channel occupation duration; the sent channel occupation signaling of the WLAN standard comprises channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode is equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

Optionally, the second carrier occupation management module is further configured to not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by a channel occupation signaling after the WLAN device in the UE group to which the UE belongs receives the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the master UE of the other UE group; and after the UE receives a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by main UE grouped by other user equipment, not initiating data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

Optionally, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the second carrier occupation management module are sent in a time division multiplexing manner.

Optionally, the second cell may refer to:

Optionally, after the second cell configuration management module sends the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling to the master UE grouped by the UE to which the UE belongs, activating the second cell of the UE refers to:

after the second cell configuration management module sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling to the main UE of the UE group to which the UE belongs, the second carrier occupation management module of the UE activates the second cell after receiving a channel occupation response returned by a second base station controlling the second cell;

or,

the second cell configuration management module activates a second cell after sending the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system when the UE is a main UE; and when the UE is not the main UE, activating a second cell after the main UE in the UE group to which the UE belongs sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling.

The invention can avoid the interference among various wireless communication technologies and among the same wireless communication technologies deployed by a plurality of operators when the shared carrier is used.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network topology within a certain area;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for sharing frequency usage according to the present invention;

fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus structure for a ue-side apparatus according to the present invention;

fig. 4 is a diagram showing a structure of an apparatus for a base station side apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a network topology analyzed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a third embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

It should be noted that, if not conflicting, the embodiments of the present invention and the features of the embodiments may be combined with each other within the scope of protection of the present invention. Additionally, while a logical order is shown in the flow diagrams, in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in an order different than here.

The method for using the shared frequency is applicable to a multi-carrier scenario, and a shared frequency (herein, simply referred to as a shared frequency) is used as a second carrier or an auxiliary carrier of the UE (in the present invention, the carrier and the frequency are the same concept and may be used interchangeably), so as to provide additional radio resources for the UE on the basis of a first carrier or a primary carrier of the UE. The ue initially establishes an RRC (radio resource control) connection with a network in a cell, where a carrier used by the cell is a first carrier (primary carrier) of the ue, and the cell is a first cell (primary cell) of the ue. For the first carrier (primary carrier), the user equipment establishes an RRC connection with the network on the cell using the first carrier (primary carrier) until the user equipment disconnects the RRC connection with the network or the user equipment changes the first carrier (primary carrier), when there is a need for data transmission, the user equipment and the network may monopolize the radio resource on the first carrier (host carrier) for transmitting the data to be transmitted to each other, that is, the first carrier (host carrier) is a frequency that is not used in shared mode, such as an authorized carrier that is not allowed to be used in shared mode, or the first carrier (primary carrier), although being a shareable frequency, at least during the time allocated to the user equipment as the first carrier (primary carrier) of the user equipment, when there is a need for data transmission, the user equipment and the network may monopolize the radio resource on the first carrier (the primary carrier) for transmitting the data to be transmitted to each other. The shareable frequency may be a frequency in an unlicensed band (unlicensed spectrum/unlicensed band/license-reject band), such as an industrial scientific medical (ISMband) band of 2.4GHz and 5GHz, or a frequency in a band shared with a system after authorization, such as a frequency in a television white space (TVWS), or even a frequency in a licensed band that allows shared use.

In the sharing frequency using method of the invention, the user equipment UE is provided with the mobile communication module which can communicate with the mobile communication network through the mobile communication technology, and is also provided with the WLAN module which can communicate with the WLAN station through the WLAN technology conforming to the 802.11 protocol definition, and the mobile communication module and the WLAN module can mutually exchange information through the interface in the UE equipment. The base station can be configured with only the mobile communication module and not with the WLAN module. The mobile communication module/technology may be, but is not limited to, an LTE module/technology, which is described as an example hereinafter.

It should be noted that the embodiments in the embodiments of the present invention are only used to illustrate the method for using the shared frequency proposed by the present invention. In the embodiments of the present invention, small cells using shared frequency in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system are taken as examples, and these small cells are implemented by deploying Low Power Node (LPN), but the application scope of the shared frequency using method provided by the present invention is not limited, and it can be understood that the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present invention may be applied to other types of cells in the LTE system, such as a macro cell; but also to various types of cells using other conventional wireless communication technologies, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and the like. In addition, the shared frequency in the embodiment of the present invention refers to a frequency that can be shared and used by multiple wireless communication technologies or multiple operators, and does not limit and consider the regulatory attribute of the shared frequency in the country or region to which the present invention is applied, and the specific frequency may be a frequency authorized to be used by the country or region to which the present invention is applied, or a frequency that can be used for free and does not need to be authorized by the country or region to which the present invention is applied.

Fig. 1 is a schematic network topology diagram in a certain area, in the area shown in fig. 1, 3 LTE low power base station nodes eNB1, eNB2, eNB3, eNB1, eNB2, and eNB3 both support unshared used frequencies (for example, frequencies authorized to be used independently) and shareable used frequencies, where it is assumed that eNB1 supports two frequencies F1 and F2, where F1 is a frequency authorized to be used independently, F2 is a frequency shareable to be used, eNB1 configures a cell1 on F1, configures a cell2 on F2, and the coverage areas of the cell1 and the cell2 are the same (the coverage areas of the cell1 and the cell2 may be completely different when actually deployed); the eNB2 supports two frequencies F3 and F2, where F3 is a frequency authorized to be used independently, the eNB2 configures a cell3 on F3, configures a cell4 on F2, and the coverage areas of the cell3 and the cell4 are the same (the coverage areas of the cell3 and the cell4 may be completely different in actual deployment); the eNB3 supports two frequencies F4 and F2, where F4 is a frequency authorized to be used independently, the eNB3 configures a cell5 on F4, configures a cell6 on F2, and the coverage areas of the cell5 and the cell6 are the same (the coverage areas of the cell5 and the cell6 may be completely different in actual deployment). Of the 3 low power base station nodes, eNB1 and eNB2 are in the coverage area of each other, i.e., eNB1 and eNB2 may listen to each other. Here, for example, the eNB1 may listen to the eNB2 when the other party is listened to, that is, the radio frequency transmission signal of the eNB2 may be received by the radio frequency receiving apparatus of the eNB1, or the radio frequency transmission signal of the eNB2 may be received by the radio frequency receiving apparatus of the eNB1 and the signal strength/signal quality received by the eNB1 is better than a predetermined value. It should be noted that, in fig. 1, it is assumed that eNB1, eNB2, and eNB3 support both a non-shared frequency (e.g., a frequency authorized for independent use) and a sharable frequency, which is only a preferred embodiment, in fact, eNB1, eNB2, and eNB3 may also support only the sharable frequency, such as only the above sharable frequency F2, and in this case, the three base stations are only configured with cell2, cell4, and cell6 on F2, and in this case, eNB1, eNB2, and eNB3 may be connected to an eNB supporting the non-shared frequency (e.g., a frequency authorized for independent use) in a certain manner, for example, by using a wired optical fiber, wireless microwave, or the like.

Fig. 1 also deploys 2 wlan APs (access points), AP1 and AP2, both of which can use shared frequency F2, where the AP1 and eNB1 are in the coverage area of each other, and the AP1 and eNB2 are also in the coverage area of each other, that is, the AP1, eNB1, and eNB2 can listen to each other. There are many UEs in the area, and only UEs 1-5 are shown in the figure. eNB1, eNB2, eNB3, AP1, AP2 may be deployed by the same operator or different operators.

The eNB1, the eNB2, and the AP1 can hear each other, and when the eNB1, the eNB2, and the AP1 all transmit data at the frequency F2, they are likely to interfere with each other. Although eNB1 and eNB3 cannot hear each other, there is overlapping coverage between eNB1 and eNB3, for example UE1 and UE2, UE1 communicates with eNB1, UE2 communicates with eNB3, both of which are located within the overlapping coverage area of eNB1 and eNB3 and are relatively close to each other, and when UE1 and UE2 both communicate with eNB1 and eNB3 using frequency F2, respectively, there is a high probability that the communication links between UE1 and eNB1 and between UE2 and eNB3 will interfere with each other. Similarly, although eNB3 and AP2 cannot hear each other, there is overlapping coverage between eNB3 and AP2, taking UE3 and UE4 as an example, UE3 communicates with AP2, UE4 communicates with eNB3, both of which are located within and relatively close to the overlapping coverage area of AP2 and eNB3, and when UE3 and UE4 both communicate with AP2 and eNB3 using frequency F2, respectively, there is a high probability that the communication links between UE3 and AP2 and between UE4 and eNB3 will interfere with each other.

In order to solve the above interference problem and achieve efficient sharing and use of sharable frequencies among devices using the same or different wireless communication technologies operated by the same operator or different operators, the present application proposes the following sharing frequency use method, as shown in fig. 2, including steps 210 to 260:

step 210, determining User Equipment (UE) groups;

before grouping User Equipment (UE), the grouped UE establishes RRC connection with a base station on a first cell, and the first cell uses a first carrier.

Grouping User Equipment (UE) refers to grouping UE which needs to use the same shared frequency C under the same base station, and the channel environments of the UE in the same group are similar, and the specific grouping method can be one of the following methods:

the method comprises the following steps that 1, a base station groups UE, and the base station groups the UE according to the position of the UE;

the base station determines the position of the UE according to measurement information or positioning information reported by the UE on the first cell, such as GPS (global positioning system) positioning information, and a positioning result of a WLAN module in the UE, and groups the UEs according to the position of the UE, specifically, groups UEs with similar positions in the same group.

Method 2, the base station groups the UE, and the base station groups the UE according to the uplink time advance TA (time advance) of the UE;

the base station calculates the TA of the UE according to the signals of the UE received on the first cell, groups the UE according to the TA, and specifically groups the UE with the same TA value or the UE with the similar TA value into the same group.

In the method for grouping base stations according to methods 1 and 2, after the base stations are grouped, the base stations notify the UE of the grouping result (grouping information), specifically, the base station assigns a group identifier (G-ID) to each group, and the base station notifies each UE of the group identifier of the group to which the UE belongs through a radio access link where the UE and a first cell of the UE are located. In addition, the base station selects one UE in each group as a group representing UE, and the base station informs the group representing UE identification of each UE when respectively informing the group identification of each UE, and in addition, the base station can also inform the group representing UE of the data flow of the group representing UE which the base station expects to transmit on the second cell, or the base station expects the group representing the time length of the activation of the group representing UE on the second cell.

Method 3, UE self-grouping, wherein the UE self-groups by utilizing the communication function between the devices;

the UE uses the inter-device communication function, such as the inter-device communication function (D2D) of the LTE module inside each UE, or uses the inter-WLAN communication function inside each UE to group UEs in a certain area (for example, UEs in the area can see signals transmitted by both parties), and the UEs in the group can obtain the identification information of each UE in the group through the inter-device communication function.

After the UE is grouped, one UE may be selected from the group as a group representative UE of the group, the base station is notified of the identification information of each UE in the group through a wireless access link between the group representative UE and the first cell of the UE, and the base station learns that the UE is the group representative UE of the group through the notification itself, or the UE adds an indication in the notification message, which is used to characterize the UE as the group representative UE of the group. The base station stores the identification information of the respective UEs in each received packet and the identification information of the UEs represented by the packet.

After the step is performed, the user equipments UE under a certain base station are divided into the user equipment group X0, the user equipment group X1, the … … user equipment group Xn, and so on.

Step 220, the UE receives second cell configuration information sent by the base station, where the carrier used by the second cell is a second carrier, and the second carrier is a sharable carrier C.

It should be noted that, the steps 210 and 220 are not limited by the execution sequence, that is, the step 220 may be executed first and then the step 210 may be executed. For the case of grouping performed by the base station, the base station groups the UEs that will use the second carrier C according to method 1 or method 2 in step 210 before configuring the second cell for each UE, or the base station groups the UEs that will use the second carrier C according to method 1 or method 2 in step 210 after configuring the second cell for each UE. For the case where the grouping is performed by the UE itself, the UE may group UEs that are to use the second carrier C according to the method of step 210 after receiving the configuration information of the second cell transmitted by the base station.

After the UE receives and configures the second cell, the second cell is in an inactive state, and the UE and the base station do not transmit data on the second cell except for sending or receiving a channel occupation signaling.

Before the UE receives the configuration information of the second cell, the UE establishes RRC connection with the base station on a first cell, and the first cell uses a first carrier. And the UE receives the configuration information of the second cell sent by the base station on the first cell through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

The second cell configuration information sent by the base station and received by the UE may include data traffic that the base station sends to the UE and is expected to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell. In step 210, for the case that the base station performs grouping (method 1 and method 2), or the UE performs grouping by itself (method 3) and the UE performs grouping, selects a group to represent the UE, and only the configuration information of the second cell received by the group to represent the UE includes the data traffic or the activated time length on the second cell, and the group represents the data traffic that the UE receives and the data traffic that the base station desires to transmit on the second cell, and the group that the base station desires to transmit on the second cell represents the data traffic of the group where the UE is located, in subsequent step 240, the group represents the UE may estimate the channel occupation duration according to the data traffic; the group represents the time length that the base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell, which is received by the UE, and the group that the base station expects represents the time length that the group where the UE is located is activated on the second cell, and in subsequent step 240, the group represents the UE and may set the channel occupancy duration according to the activated time length. For the case that in step 210, the UE performs grouping by itself (method 3) and the UE does not select a group to represent the UE after performing grouping, the second cell configuration information received by each UE includes the data traffic or the time length activated on the second cell, and the data traffic that the base station expects to transmit on the second cell and is expected to receive by the base station is the data traffic that the base station expects to transmit on the second cell and correspondingly received by the base station, in subsequent step 240, the UE-Y sending the channel occupancy signaling may estimate the channel occupancy duration according to the sum of the data traffic that the base station expects each UE to transmit on the second cell and is received by each UE in the group; in subsequent step 240, the UE-Y sending the channel occupancy signaling may set the channel occupancy duration according to the maximum time length in the time lengths, received by each UE in the group, of the time lengths, expected by the base station to activate the UE on the second cell, for the time lengths, expected by the base station to activate the UE on the second cell, expected by the base station to correspondingly receive the time lengths, expected by the base station to activate the UE on the second cell.

It should be noted that, the above description is provided based on the network topology of fig. 1, and the base station supports both the first carrier and the second carrier, that is, both the first cell and the second cell are controlled by the base station. If the first cell and the second cell are controlled by different base stations, the base station controlling the first cell is called a first base station, the base station controlling the second cell is called a second base station, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different; in this implementation step, the base station is a first base station, and the UE receives the configuration information of the second cell sent by the first base station.

Step 230, the UE-Y in the UE group X detects whether the second cell is available;

the user equipment group X is any of the user equipment groups X0, X1, … … and Xn divided in step 210.

For the case that the base station groups the UEs in step 210 (method 1 and method 2), the base station will inform each UE of the group identity of the UE and will inform one of the UEs to represent the UE as a group, in which case UE-Y represents the UE as a group in the group X of user equipments.

For the case of self-grouping by the UE in step 210 (method 3), if a group representing the UE is selected from the group after grouping, in this case, UE-Y represents the UE for the group in the group X of the UE; otherwise, UE-Y may be any UE in user equipment group X. Through the inter-device communication technology, after other UEs in the UE group X know that UE-Y initiates an operation for detecting whether the second cell is available, the UEs no longer initiate an operation for detecting whether the second cell is available.

Since the channel environments of UEs in the same group are similar, UE-Y can detect whether the second cell is available on behalf of each UE in UE group X.

And the UE-Y detects and judges whether the second cell is available or not through the LTE module in the UE-Y to perform measurement monitoring and the WLAN module to perform idle channel assessment (ClearChannelAssociation). And when the LTE module judges that the second cell is available and the WLAN module judges that the second carrier is available, the UE-Y judges that the second cell is available, otherwise, the UE-Y judges that the second cell is unavailable. If UE-Y determines that the second cell is not available, UE-Y continues to perform step 230, or UE-Y continues to perform step 230 after a period of time T according to a preset algorithm. If UE-Y determines that the second cell is available, step 240 is executed.

Specifically, the LTE module determines that the second cell is available when the following two conditions are satisfied:

the LTE module determines that the signal quality or the signal strength of the second cell exceeds a preset value according to measurement of the second cell, such as measurement of a Cell Reference Signal (CRS);

the LTE module does not receive a channel occupying request that the channel occupying time sent by the UE in the other user equipment group (i.e., the other user equipment group other than the user equipment group X) is still valid, i.e., the LTE module determines that the second carrier is idle.

If any one of the above conditions is not met, the LTE module judges that the second cell is unavailable. That is, if the LTE module detects that the signal quality or the signal strength of the second cell is not better than the preset value, or the LTE module receives a channel occupying request indication sent by the UE in another UE group (i.e., another UE group except the UE group X) to occupy the second carrier for T time, it determines that the second carrier is not available within the T time.

And the WLAN module in the UE-Y executes idle channel evaluation, if the second carrier is judged to be idle, the second cell is available, otherwise, the second cell is judged to be unavailable.

Step 240, the UE-Y sends a channel occupation request of an LTE scheme and a channel occupation signaling (CTS-to-self) of a WLAN scheme on the second carrier C, where the channel occupation request of the LTE scheme includes information of the UE group X and a channel occupation duration.

The UE-Y sends the channel occupation request of the LTE system on the second carrier C, which means that the sending of the channel occupation request adopts the techniques of modulation and coding supported by LTE, and is sent in a manner conforming to the LTE protocol standard definition. A common channel dedicated to transmitting/receiving a channel occupying signaling (including a channel occupying request of an LTE scheme, a channel occupying response, and the like) may be set, and the UE-Y transmits the channel occupying request on the common channel. Specific methods for setting the common channel may be different, for example, the central N RBs (resource blocks) of the second carrier of each LTE subframe may be set as the common channel, or the central N RBs of the second carrier of each M LTE subframes may be set as the common channel; for example, the common channel may be set as N-6 RBs excluding the central 6 RBs from the central N RBs of the second carrier of each LTE subframe, or the common channel may be set as N-6 RBs excluding the central 6 RBs from the central N RBs of the second carrier of each M LTE subframes; for example, the whole bandwidth of the second carrier on the first X symbols of each LTE subframe may also be set as a common channel; or a common channel set in another manner.

The channel occupation request of the LTE system sent by the UE-Y at least comprises the information of the user equipment group X and the channel occupation duration. Wherein the information of the user equipment group X is identification information of the UE-Y or a group identification of the user equipment group X for the case that the grouping is performed by the base station in step 210 (method 1 and method 2). For the case that the UE performs grouping by itself in step 210 (method 3), if the UE performs grouping by itself, a grouping representative UE (UE-Y) is selected from the grouping, and the information of the UE grouping X is the identification information of the UE-Y; if a grouping representative is not selected in the group after the UE performs grouping, the UE-Y may be any UE in the user equipment group X, and the information of the user equipment X is identification information of all UEs in the user equipment group X. Wherein the channel occupancy duration, for the case that the base station performs grouping in step 210 (method 1 and method 2), the base station informs that the grouping represents data traffic of a user equipment grouping X that the UE (UE-Y) base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the base station desires the user equipment grouping X to be activated on the second cell, the channel occupancy duration is determined by the UE-Y according to one or more of the received data traffic of the user equipment grouping X that the base station desires to transmit on the second cell or the time length that the base station desires the user equipment grouping X to be activated on the second cell, the signal quality of the second cell, occupancy regulations of sharable carriers by relevant national regulations, and the like. For the case that the grouping is performed by the UE itself in step 210 and a grouping representative UE (UE-Y) is selected after the UE performs the grouping (method 3), the channel occupation duration is determined by the UE-Y according to one or more of the data traffic of the grouping (X) where the UE (UE-Y) is located, which is received by the grouping representative UE (UE-Y) in step 220, which is expected by the base station to transmit on the second cell, the packet representative UE (UE-Y), or the time length of the activation of the grouping (X) where the base station is expected to represent the UE (UE-Y) on the second cell, the signal quality of the second cell, the occupation regulation of the sharable carriers by relevant national regulations, and the like. For the case that the UE performs grouping by itself in step 210, and the UE does not select a group to represent the UE after performing grouping (method 3), the UE-Y may be any UE in the UE group X, the channel occupation duration is determined by the UE-Y according to one or more of the information of the data traffic that the base station expects each UE to transmit on the second cell and the information of the time length that the base station expects each UE to activate on the second cell, which are received by each UE in the group X in step 220 (the UE-Y obtains the information of the data traffic that the base station expects each UE to transmit on the second cell and the information of the time length that the base station expects each UE to activate on the second cell, which are received by each UE, by using an inter-device communication technology), the signal quality of the second cell, the occupation regulation of the sharable carriers by relevant national regulations, and the like.

The UE-Y sends the channel occupying signaling of the WLAN system on the second carrier C, which means that the channel occupying signaling is sent by using the modulation and coding techniques supported by the WLAN, and conforms to the mode defined by the WLAN protocol standard, and here, especially, it refers to the clear to self signaling (CTS-to-self) defined in the WLAN802.11 protocol. And setting the address of a receiving end in the CTS-to-self signaling as the address of the WLAN module in the UE-Y, wherein the CTS-to-self signaling also comprises channel occupation time length which is set to be equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the LTE system.

The LTE module and the WLAN module in the UE-Y both need to send a channel occupation request/signaling on the second carrier C, and in order to avoid interference between the LTE module and the WLAN module, the LTE module and the WLAN module may send the channel occupation request/signaling in a time division multiplexing manner when sending the respective channel occupation request/signaling, for example, after the LTE module sends the channel occupation request in the LTE scheme, the WLAN module sends the channel occupation signaling in the WLAN scheme, and vice versa.

After receiving a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN (wireless local area network) system sent by the UE-Y, the WLAN equipment in the UE-Y adjacent to the UE-Y and not in the UE-Y user equipment group X receives the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system, data transmission is not initiated on the second carrier C within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation signaling; and after receiving the channel occupation request of the LTE system sent by the UE-Y, the UE in the other LTE base stations adjacent to the UE-Y and the UE in the other user equipment groups adjacent to the UE-Y do not initiate data transmission on the second carrier C within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

Therefore, after receiving a channel occupation request of an LTE system sent by a master UE grouped by UEs under other base stations using the second carrier, the second base station does not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

Step 250, the UE receives a channel occupation response of an LTE system sent by the base station on the second carrier C;

this step is an optional step, after receiving a channel occupancy request of LTE system sent by UE-Y, the base station may send a channel occupancy response, where the channel occupancy response may be sent on a dedicated common channel for sending/receiving a channel occupancy signaling, and the channel occupancy response includes a cell identifier of the second cell, information of a UE group X, and a channel occupancy duration, where the information of the UE group X is specifically, when UE-Y is a group representative of the UE group X in step 240, and the information of the UE group X included in the channel occupancy request of LTE system sent by UE-Y received by the base station is a group identifier or a group representative of UE-Y identification information, and the information of the UE group X sent by the base station is information of the UE group X included in the channel occupancy request of LTE system sent by UE-Y received by the base station (a group identifier or a group representative of UE-Y) Table UE identification information), or when the UE-Y is any UE in the UE group X in step 240, and the information of the UE group X included in the LTE system channel occupation request received by the base station from the UE-Y is the identification information of all UEs in the UE group X, the information of the UE group X sent by the base station may be the identification information of any UE in the received identification information of all UEs. The channel occupation duration is the time length obtained by subtracting the transmission time of the channel occupation request in the air interface from the channel occupation duration in the channel occupation request received by the base station, the time for the base station to receive and process the channel occupation request, the signaling processing time for the base station to send the channel occupation response, and the transmission time of the channel occupation response in the air interface. The transmission time of the channel occupation request on the air interface and the transmission time of the channel occupation response on the air interface can be determined according to which communication system (such as an LTE system) the channel occupation request is transmitted on the air interface, the average transmission times of the communication system under the specific air interface signal quality when the communication system is used for transmitting on the air interface and other factors, and the time for transmitting data on the air interface is different due to the difference of the technologies of different communication systems. The time for the UE to receive and process the channel occupation request is regulated by the communication standard protocol according to the technical indexes of various chips and processors in the UE for a certain period of time. The signaling processing time of the UE sending the channel occupation response is determined by a communication standard protocol, the technical indexes of various chips and processors in the UE in a certain period are comprehensively considered, and the longest time of signaling processing is specified by the signaling processing mode of a specific communication system used for sending the channel occupation response, and the like. The base station may send the channel occupying response on the common channel dedicated to sending the channel occupying signaling in step 240, and each UE under the base station receives the channel occupying response on the common channel.

After receiving a channel occupation request of an LTE system sent by UE-Y, a base station activates the second cell of each UE in the UE group X according to information of the UE group X included in the channel occupation request, that is, sets the second cell of each UE in the UE group X to an activated state, and the base station may schedule each UE in the UE group X on the second cell, send downlink data to each UE or receive uplink data sent by each UE, and send some control signaling to each UE on the second cell. Specifically, if the information of the user equipment group X contained in the channel occupation request is identification information of the UE-Y or a group identifier of the user equipment group X, the base station determines the user equipment group X according to the identification information of the UE-Y or the group identifier of the user equipment group X, and activates the second cell of each UE in the user equipment group X; and if the information of the user equipment group X contained in the channel occupation request is the identification information of all the UE in the user equipment group X, the base station directly activates the second cells of the UE.

And after receiving the channel occupation response sent by the base station, the adjacent base station of the base station initiates communication with the UE under the adjacent base station on a second carrier which is not used by the second cell within the channel occupation duration indicated in the channel occupation response.

It should be noted that, if the first cell and the second cell are controlled by the first base station and the second base station, respectively, the base station in this implementation step is the second base station.

Step 260, the UE in the UE group X activates the second cell;

according to specific implementation, if step 250 is not executed, for UE-Y, after the UE-Y sends the channel occupying request of LTE scheme and the CTS-to-self of WLAN scheme in step 240, the second cell is activated. And for other UE in the user equipment group X, activating the second cell after receiving the channel occupation request of the LTE system sent by the UE-Y. Specifically, other UEs in the UE group X except for the UE-Y determine, according to the information of the UE group X in the received channel occupancy request, that the UE in the UE group is sending a channel occupancy request, which may occupy the second carrier C, thereby activating the second cell of the UE, where if the information of the UE group X in the channel occupancy request is a case that the group selected by the base station represents the identifier of the UE-Y, in step 210, the base station further needs to notify the identifier of the group representing UE to each UE when notifying the group identifier of the group of each UE in the group. And after the UE activates the second cell, deactivating the second cell after the channel occupying time length in the channel occupying request is over.

If step 250 is executed, the UE in the UE group X activates the second cell after receiving the channel occupation response sent by the base station on the second carrier C. Specifically, the UE in the UE group X determines that the UE group can occupy the second carrier C according to the information of the UE group X in the received channel occupancy response, and thus activates its second cell. The UEs in the UE group X may start to listen to the schedule from the base station on the second cell, transmit uplink data or receive downlink data according to the schedule of the base station, and may transmit some control signaling on the second cell. And after the UE activates the second cell, deactivating the second cell after the channel occupying duration in the channel occupying response is over. It should be noted that, when the first cell and the second cell are controlled by the first base station and the second base station, respectively, the base station herein refers to the second base station.

By the shared frequency using method provided by the invention, the UE is grouped, only one UE (the group represents the UE or any UE in the group) in the group is enabled to detect whether the second cell (the second carrier) is available and initiate a request for occupying the second carrier, the UE is internally provided with the WLAN module and the LTE module, and the LTE module and the WLAN module cooperate together to complete the detection of whether the second cell is available and initiate the situation of occupying the second carrier, so that the shared frequency can be efficiently shared and used between the devices which are operated by the same operator or different operators and use the same or different wireless communication technologies, and the signaling overhead, contention conflict and UE power consumption caused by enabling all the UE to participate in the availability detection of the second cell and initiate the request for occupying the second carrier can be effectively reduced.

Corresponding to the above method for using the shared frequency, the present invention also provides an apparatus, which is applied to the UE side, and fig. 3 is a structural diagram of the apparatus, including: the second cell configuration management module 320, the second carrier occupation management module 330, and the second carrier occupation management module 330 includes 3 sub-modules, which are respectively a detection and judgment module 3301, a channel occupation signaling sending module 3302, and a channel occupation signaling receiving module 3303. Wherein,

a grouping management module 310 for determining UE groups. The method specifically comprises the following steps:

and the grouping management module 310 is configured to receive and store grouping information notified by the base station, where the grouping information refers to a grouping identifier of a group to which the UE belongs. If the UE represents the UE for the packet of the group to which the UE belongs, the packet information further includes an indication that the UE notified by the base station represents the UE for the packet of the group to which the UE belongs, and may further include data traffic of the packet of the UE that the base station notified by the base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the base station desires to activate the packet of the UE on the second cell. Or,

the grouping management module 310 is configured to perform UE grouping, and further configured to notify a base station of identification information of each UE in a group through a radio access link between the UE and a first cell of the UE, after the UE grouping is performed, if the UE is selected as a group representative UE to which the UE belongs.

A second cell configuration management module 320, configured to receive second cell configuration information sent by the base station, where a carrier used by the second cell is a second carrier, and the second carrier is a sharable carrier C.

The second cell configuration management module 320 is further configured to receive the configuration information of the second cell and configure the second cell, and then set the second cell in an inactive state.

The second cell configuration management module 320 is further configured to activate the second cell after the channel occupancy signaling receiving module 3303 of the UE receives a channel occupancy response sent by the base station on the second carrier C, where information of the UE group X included in the channel occupancy response is a group identifier of a group to which the UE belongs, or a group to which the UE belongs represents an identifier of the UE, or an identifier of a certain UE in the group to which the UE belongs. Or, the second cell configuration management module 320 is further configured to, when the channel occupancy signaling receiving module 3303 of the UE is configured not to receive the channel occupancy response sent by the base station on the second carrier C, according to the information of the group management module 310 of the UE, activate the second cell after the channel occupancy signaling sending module 3302 of the UE sends the channel occupancy request in the LTE scheme and the CTS-to-self in the WLAN scheme, when the UE is UE-Y (a group represents a UE or the UE is not a group representing a UE of the group to which the UE belongs, but the UE is currently selected in the group in which the UE is located to detect whether the second cell is available and send the channel occupancy signaling in the second cell). Or, the second cell configuration management module 320 is further configured to, when the channel occupancy signaling receiving module 3303 of the UE is configured not to receive a channel occupancy response sent by the base station on the second carrier C, activate the second cell after the channel occupancy signaling receiving module 3303 of the UE receives a channel occupancy request of an LTE system sent by a group representing the UE or a certain UE in the group to which the UE belongs, according to the information of the group management module 310 of the UE, when the UE is not the UE-Y of the group to which the UE belongs.

The detection and judgment module 3301, according to the information of the group management module 310 of the UE, when the UE represents a UE for the group to which the UE belongs, or according to the information of the group management module of the UE, the UE is not a group representative UE for the group to which the UE belongs, but the UE is selected in the group of the UE for detecting whether a second cell is available through an inter-device communication technology, the detection and judgment module 3301 is enabled. The detection and judgment module 3301 includes 2 sub-modules, an LTE detection and judgment sub-module and a WLAN detection and judgment sub-module, and is configured to detect and judge whether the second cell is available. The LTE detection and judgment submodule is used for executing measurement and judging whether the second cell is available, and the WLAN detection and judgment submodule is used for executing idle channel evaluation and judging whether the second carrier C is available. The detection and judgment module 3301 judges that the second cell is available when the LTE detection and judgment sub-module judges that the second cell is available and the WLAN detection and judgment sub-module judges that the second carrier C is available, otherwise, judges that the second cell is not available.

A channel occupation signaling sending module 3302, configured to send a channel occupation request in an LTE scheme and a channel occupation signaling (CTS-to-self) in a WLAN scheme on the second carrier C when the detection and determination module 3301 determines that the second cell is available. The channel occupation signaling sending module 3302 may include a WLAN channel occupation signaling sending sub-module and an LTE channel occupation signaling sending sub-module, which are respectively used for sending CTS-to-self and LTE channel occupation requests.

A channel occupation signaling receiving module 3303, configured to, when it is not required to receive a channel occupation response sent by the base station on the second carrier C, receive, according to the information of the group management module 310 of the UE, a channel occupation request of an LTE scheme sent by the UE-Y in the group to which the UE belongs, when the UE is not UE-Y of the group to which the UE belongs (UE-Y is a group representative UE or the UE is not a group representative UE of the group to which the UE belongs, but the UE is currently selected in the group to which the UE belongs to detect whether a second cell is available and send channel occupation signaling in the second cell). Or, when configured to need to receive a channel occupancy response transmitted by the base station on the second carrier C, for receiving the channel occupancy response.

In response to the above method for using the shared frequency, the present invention further provides another apparatus, which is applied to a base station side, and fig. 4 is a structural diagram of the apparatus, including: the system comprises a grouping management module 410, a second cell configuration management module 420 and a second carrier occupation management module 430, wherein the second carrier occupation management module 430 comprises a channel occupation signaling receiving module 4301, and the optimized system further comprises a channel occupation signaling sending module 4302. Wherein,

a grouping management module 410, configured to perform UE grouping, group UEs according to their locations or TAs of the UEs, assign a grouping identifier to each group, and notify the UE of the grouping result (grouping information). The specific base station notifies each UE of the grouping information through a wireless access link where each UE and the first cell of each UE are located. The grouping information includes a grouping identification of a group to which the UE belongs. If the UE represents the UE for the packet of the packet to which the UE belongs, the packet information further includes an indication that the UE notified by the base station represents the UE for the packet of the packet to which the UE belongs, and may further include data traffic of the packet that the base station notified by the base station desires to transmit on the second cell and represents the packet to which the UE belongs, or a time length that the base station desires the packet to represent the activation of the packet to which the UE belongs on the second cell. Or,

the group management module 410 is configured to receive and store group information notified by a UE, specifically, the UE represents a group UE, and a base station receives the group information through a radio access link where the UE and a first cell of the UE are located. The grouping information includes identification information of each UE in a group representing the UE by the UE.

A second cell configuration management module 420, configured to configure a second cell for the UE, where a carrier used by the second cell is a second carrier, and the second carrier is a sharable carrier C.

The second cell configuration management module 420 is further configured to set the second cell to an inactive state after the second cell is configured for the UE.

The second cell configuration management module 420 is further configured to, after the channel occupancy signaling receiving module 4301 receives a channel occupancy request of an LTE scheme, which is sent by the UE on the second carrier C, activate the second cell of each UE in the UE group according to information of the UE group included in the channel occupancy request. Specifically, if the information of the UE group included in the channel occupancy request is the identification information of the UE (UE-Y, where UE-Y is a group representing UE) that sends the channel occupancy request of the LTE scheme on the second carrier C or the group identification of the UE group (UE group X) to which the UE-Y belongs, the base station determines the UE group X according to the identification information of the UE-Y or the group identification of the UE group X, and activates the second cell of each UE in the UE group X; and if the information of the user equipment group contained in the channel occupation request is the identification information of all the UE in a certain user equipment group, the base station directly activates the second cells of the UE.

A channel occupation signaling receiving module 4301, configured to receive a channel occupation request of an LTE scheme sent by the UE on the second carrier C.

The channel occupation signaling sending module 4302 is an optional module, and is configured to send a channel occupation response of an LTE scheme on the second carrier C after the channel occupation signaling receiving module 4301 receives the channel occupation request.

Corresponding to the above shared frequency using method, the present invention further provides a shared frequency using apparatus, which is suitable for a multi-carrier scenario, where a user equipment UE establishes a radio resource control RRC connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE includes a mobile communication module and a wireless local area network WLAN module, which support communications with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the apparatus includes:

When there is a group representative UE in each UE group, the master UE may be the group representative UE; in the absence, the master UE may be any UE in the UE group.

Wherein, the device can also include:

The base station side grouping management module may group UEs in the base station according to the location of the UE or the uplink timing advance.

The base station side grouping management module can be further used for selecting one grouping representative UE for each divided UE grouping after grouping each user equipment UE under the base station; respectively sending grouping information to each UE under the base station; the grouping information comprises the grouping identification of the UE group to which the UE belongs and the identification information of the UE represented by the grouping;

the apparatus may further include:

Wherein, the device can also include:

The terminal side grouping management module can be further used for selecting a group to represent the UE for the belonged UE group after the UE group is divided by self; and when the UE represents the UE for the group, notifying the first base station of the identification information of each UE in the group through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

The configuration information of the second cell may include data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station desires the UE to activate on the second cell;

when there exists a packet representing UE, the packet representing UE receives, by a second cell configuration management module on a terminal side in the UE, data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station desires to activate the UE on the second cell, where the data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell may be data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell and that the packet representing UE belongs to, the time length that the first base station desires to activate the UE on the second cell may be the time length that the packet representing UE belongs to and that the first base station desires to activate on the second cell;

when there is no packet representing UE, the terminal-side second cell configuration management module in each UE receives data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station desires to activate the UE on the second cell, where the data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell and the data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell that each UE receives may be respectively a data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell and the time length that the first base station desires to activate the UE on the second cell that the first base station desires to activate on the second cell.

Wherein, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system may at least include information of UE grouping and channel occupation duration; the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system may include a channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode can be equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

when there is a group representing UE, the information of the UE group can be the group identification or the identification information of the group representing UE;

when there is no group representing UE, the information of the UE group may be identification information of each UE in the UE group.

The terminal side second carrier occupation management module may be further configured to not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by a channel occupation signaling after the WLAN device in the UE group to which the UE belongs receives the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the master UE of another UE group; after the UE receives a channel occupation request of the mobile communication system sent by the main UE grouped by other UEs, data transmission is not initiated on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request;

the apparatus may further include:

The channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the second carrier occupation management module at the terminal side may be sent in a time division multiplexing manner.

The second cell availability may specifically be:

Wherein, the device can also include:

or,

The second cell configuration management module in the second base station may be further configured to activate the second cell of each UE in the UE group according to information of the UE group included in the channel occupation request after receiving the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system on the second carrier.

The functional modules of the user equipment and the base station equipment provided by the invention can be realized by combining hardware and software including a processor, a memory, a program running on the processor and the like.

In the following, taking the partial areas in the network topology diagram shown in fig. 1, that is, the areas covered by the eNB1, the eNB2, and the AP2 and some UEs in the coverage area thereof as examples (fig. 5), the technical solution of the shared frequency using method proposed in the present invention is clearly and completely described with reference to the specific implementation flowchart in the scenario shown in fig. 5.

As described above with reference to fig. 1, in fig. 5, eNB1, eNB2, and AP1 may monitor each other, where eNB1 configures cell1 in F1, cell2 in F2, eNB2 configures cell3 in F3, and cell4 in F2. In the following embodiments, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 resides in cell3 and establishes an RRC connection with eNB2 in cell3, and UE9 to UE11 reside in cell1 and establish an RRC connection with eNB1 in cell 1.

Example one

Taking the shared frequency F2 used by the eNB2 and the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 in the area shown in fig. 5 as an example, fig. 6 shows a flowchart of a first embodiment of the shared frequency using method provided by the present application, where the eNB2 performs grouping on UEs in this embodiment, including:

in this embodiment, before using the shared frequency F2, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 has already established an RRC connection with eNB2 on cell3, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 communicates with eNB2 on a radio access link established with cell3, similarly, UE9/UE10/UE11 establishes an RRC connection with eNB1 on cell1, and UE9/UE10/UE11 communicates with eNB1 on a radio access link established with cell 1. I.e., step 600 as shown in fig. 6.

Step 610, the eNB2 configures a second cell4 for the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE 12.

The eNB2 configures the second cell4 for the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12, the cell4 uses the frequency F2 and the frequency F2 is shareable to use according to the traffic demand and the load of the cell3, for example, the eNB2 expects that the traffic flow of the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 increases after a period of time, while the load of the current cell3 is already high and is not enough to meet the newly increased traffic demand of the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12, the eNB2 configures the second cell4 for the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE 12.

After the eNB2 configures cell4 for UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12, set cell4 to be in an inactive state, except that the eNB2 sends channel occupancy signaling to UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 on F2 when needed, and the base station does not schedule UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 on cell 4. After the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 receives the configuration information of the cell4, the cell4 is configured, but the cell4 is not activated, the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 sends channel occupancy signaling to the eNB2 on F2 except when needed, and the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 does not monitor scheduling from the eNB2 on the cell 4.

In step 620, the eNB2 groups the UEs 5/UEs 6/UEs 7/UEs 8/UEs 12, wherein the UEs 5/UEs 6/UEs 7/UEs 8 are grouped into one group (group 1), the UEs 12 are independently grouped into another group (group 2), the eNB2 selects the UEs 5 as the group representing the UEs in group 1, the eNB2 assigns a group identification G-ID1 to group 1, and the eNB2 assigns a group identification G-ID2 to group 2.

Specifically, the base station determines the positions of the UEs 5/6/UE 7/UE8/UE12 according to measurement information or positioning information, such as GPS positioning information, reported by the UEs 5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 on the cell3, and groups the UEs 5/UE6/UE7/UE8 adjacent to the positions into one group. Or, the base station calculates their TA according to signals of the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 received on the cell3, and divides the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 with similar TA values into one group.

Step 630, the eNB2 informs the UE5 on cell3 that its group identification of the group is G-ID1, for which group UE5 represents a UE.

Step 640, the eNB2 informs the UE6/UE7/UE8 on the cell3 that the group identifier of the group is G-ID1, informs the UE12 that the group identifier of the group is G-ID2, and informs the UE12 that the group of the group represents the UE.

In the above steps, the implementation order of steps 610 and 620 is not limited by the illustration, that is, step 620 may be implemented before step 610. Further, in step 630, eNB2, in addition to informing UE5 of its packet identity of the packet and informing UE5 to represent the UE for its grouped packet, eNB2 may also inform UE5 of the sum of the data traffic for each UE on packet 1 that the base station expects to transmit on cell 4. The eNB2 informs the UE6/UE7/UE8, respectively, that the grouping thereof, which may also be the grouping thereof, represents the UE identity of the UE.

Correspondingly, for the eNB1, the eNB1 may also implement the similar steps 610 to 630, that is, the eNB1 configures the second cell2 for the UEs 9 to UE11, the eNB1 groups the UEs 9 to UE11 into the same group, allocates group identifiers to the groups, and notifies the UE9 to UE11 of the group result, where the UE9 represents the UEs for the group of the group.

In step 650, the grouping representative UE5 measures and determines that the cell4 is available.

The group represents the UE5, and the UE12 measures and determines whether the cell4 is available, specifically, the LTE modules in the UE5 and the UE12 perform measurement, for example, measure the CRS of the cell4, determine whether the signal quality or the signal strength of the cell4 exceeds a preset value, and determine whether a channel occupying request sent by the UE in other groups is received by the LTE module, and the channel occupying duration in the channel occupying request is still valid. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the UE5 determines that the signal quality of the cell4 exceeds the preset value and the UE5 does not receive the channel occupation request sent by the UE in another group (in this embodiment, the UE5 and the UE12 cannot receive the signal of the other party, and the UE5 detects that the cell4 is available and initiates the channel occupation process, and the UEs 9 to 11 do not send the channel occupation requests), so that the cell4 is available. UE5, the WLAN module in UE12 performs idle channel assessment on F2, if F2 is determined to be idle, cell4 is available, otherwise cell4 is not available, and this embodiment assumes that the WLAN module determines cell4 to be available. If the UE5 and the UE12 judge that the cell4 is not available, the UE5 and the UE12 continue to detect, or the UE5 and the UE12 continue to detect whether the cell4 is available after a period of time T according to a preset algorithm.

Step 660, the UE5 sends a channel occupancy request (CTS-to-self) for the LTE scheme and a channel occupancy request (CTS-to-self) for the WLAN scheme on the frequency F2 where the cell4 is located.

The UE5 sends a channel occupying request on a common channel dedicated to send a channel occupying signaling on F2, where the channel occupying request may be sent in a physical layer signaling manner, a media access layer signaling manner, or a higher protocol layer radio resource management layer signaling manner, and the channel occupying request includes a group ID G-ID1 of a group 1 and a channel occupying duration, or may be a UE ID and a channel occupying duration of the UE 5. The UE5 first sends the channel occupancy request of the LTE scheme and then sends the CTS-to-self on F2, and the UE5 sets the channel occupancy duration in the CTS-to-self to be equal to the channel occupancy duration in the channel occupancy request of the LTE scheme.

After the AP2 and the UE9, which may receive the UE5 signal, receive the CTS-to-self sent by the UE5, data transmission is not initiated on F2 for the channel occupancy duration indicated in the CTS-to-self. After receiving the channel occupation request of the LTE scheme sent by the UE5, the eNB1 that may receive the UE5 signal does not initiate data transmission on the F2 for the channel occupation duration indicated in the channel occupation request.

Step 670, the eNB2 sends a channel occupancy response of the LTE scheme on F2;

after receiving the channel occupation request sent by the UE5, the eNB sends a channel occupation response of the LTE scheme on F2. The channel occupation response includes the cell identifier of the second cell, the identification information of the G-ID1 or the UE5, and the channel occupation duration.

In step 680, the eNB2 locally activates the second cell4 of all UEs (UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8) in the group 1 where the UE5 is located, and the eNB2 can schedule UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 on the cell4 to communicate with UE5/UE6/UE7/UE 8.

It should be noted that the implementation order of step 670 and step 680 is not limited by the illustration, that is, step 680 may be implemented before step 670.

After receiving the channel occupancy request of the LTE scheme sent by the UE5, the eNB2 determines that the request is the channel occupancy request initiated by the group 1 according to the G-ID1 or the identification information of the UE5 included in the channel occupancy request, and thus activates the second cells of all UEs (UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8) in the group 1.

Step 690, after receiving the channel occupancy response sent by the eNB2, the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 determines that it can use F2 according to the G-ID1 or the identification information of the group representative UE5 included in the channel occupancy response, thereby locally activating the respective second cell4 and monitoring the scheduling from the cell 4.

Example two

Taking the shared frequency F2 used by the eNB2 and the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 in the area shown in fig. 5 as an example, fig. 7 shows a flowchart of a second embodiment of the shared frequency using method provided by the present application, where the UE performs grouping by itself in this embodiment, including:

in this embodiment, before using the shared frequency F2, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 has already established an RRC connection with eNB2 on cell3, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 communicates with eNB2 on a radio access link established with cell3, similarly, UE9/UE10/UE11 establishes an RRC connection with eNB1 on cell1, and UE9/UE10/UE11 communicates with eNB1 on a radio access link established with cell 1. I.e. step 700 as shown in fig. 7.

Step 710, the eNB2 configures a second cell4 for the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE 12.

Step 720, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 implement grouping, wherein UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 are divided into one group (group 1), UE12 is independently divided into another group (group 2), and UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 selects UE5 as the group representative of the UE in group 1.

In this embodiment, the UEs 5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 communicate using D2D to perform grouping themselves, for example, UE5 performs monitoring on signals transmitted by surrounding UEs, and UE5 can monitor UE6/UE7UE8, thereby dividing UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 into one group. And the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 obtain the UE identities of each other through D2D communication, and the UE5 is selected as a grouping representative UE.

Step 730, the UE5 informs the eNB2 of the UE identities of the various UEs (UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8) in its group on the cell 3.

Step 740, the UE12 informs the eNB2 of the group identity of the individual UEs (UE12) in its group on the cell 3.

Steps 750-790 are performed as in steps 650-690 of the example. In step 760, the channel occupancy request of the LTE scheme sent by the UE5 on the frequency F2 of the cell4 includes the identification information of the UE and the channel occupancy duration. In step 790, after receiving the channel occupancy response sent by the eNB2, the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 determines that the UE5 can use F2 according to the identification information of the group represented UE5 included in the channel occupancy response, thereby locally activating the respective second cell4 and monitoring the scheduling from the cell 4.

Example III,

Taking the shared frequency F2 used by the eNB2 and the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 in the area shown in fig. 5 as an example, fig. 8 shows a flowchart of a third embodiment of the shared frequency using method provided by the present application, where the UE performs grouping by itself in this embodiment, including:

in this embodiment, before using the shared frequency F2, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 has already established an RRC connection with eNB2 on cell3, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 communicates with eNB2 on a radio access link established with cell3, similarly, UE9/UE10/UE11 establishes an RRC connection with eNB1 on cell1, and UE9/UE10/UE11 communicates with eNB1 on a radio access link established with cell 1. I.e., step 800 as shown in fig. 8.

Step 810, the eNB2 configures a second cell4 for the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE 12.

Step 820, UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 implement grouping, wherein UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 are divided into one group (group 1), UE12 is independently divided into another group (group 2), and UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 select and UE5 check whether cell4 is available and initiate a channel occupying request.

In this embodiment, the UEs 5/UE6/UE7/UE8/UE12 communicate using D2D to perform grouping themselves, for example, UE5 performs monitoring on signals transmitted by surrounding UEs, and UE5 can monitor UE6/UE7/UE8, thereby dividing UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 into one group. And, the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 obtain UE identities of each other through D2D communication with each other, and the UE5 selected from the UE identities performs detecting whether the cell4 is available and initiates a channel occupation request.

Step 830 to step 870 are the same as step 650 to step 690 in the embodiment, respectively, in step 840, the channel occupancy request of the LTE scheme sent by the UE5 on the frequency F2 where the cell4 is located includes the identification information and the channel occupancy duration of all UEs (UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8) in the group 1. In step 850, after receiving the LTE channel occupancy request sent by UE5, eNB2 sends a channel occupancy response, where the channel occupancy response includes the cell identifier of the two cells, the identifier information of any UE among UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8, and the channel occupancy duration. In step 860, after receiving the channel occupancy request of the LTE scheme sent by the UE5, the eNB2 activates the second cell4 of the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 according to the identification information of the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 included in the channel occupancy request. In step 870, after receiving the channel occupancy response sent by the eNB2, the UE5/UE6/UE7/UE8 determines that the packet may occupy F2 according to the identification information of the UE included in the channel occupancy response, thereby activating the respective second cell F4.

The invention also provides a shared frequency using method of a terminal side, which is suitable for a multi-carrier scene, wherein UE establishes Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE comprises a mobile communication module and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module, the mobile communication module and the WLAN module support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the method comprises the following steps:

Wherein, the method can also comprise the following steps:

or,

and the UE divides the UE group by itself.

Wherein, the UE may further divide the UE group into the UE groups by itself:

The configuration information of the second cell may specifically include data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station desires to activate the UE on the second cell;

when the UE represents the packet, the received data traffic that the first base station expects to be transmitted on the second cell may represent the data traffic of the packet where the UE is located, where the packet that the first base station expects to be transmitted on the second cell; the received time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell may be the time length that the packet expected by the first base station represents the time length that the packet in which the UE is located is activated on the second cell; when there is no packet representing the UE in the UE packet to which the UE belongs, the received data traffic that the first base station expects to be transmitted on the second cell may be the data traffic that the first base station expects the UE to be transmitted on the second cell; the received time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell may be the time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell.

Wherein, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system may at least include information of UE grouping and channel occupation duration; the sent channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system may include a channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode can be equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

Wherein, the method can also comprise the following steps:

and after the UE receives a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by main UE grouped by other UEs, not initiating data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

The channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system may be sent in a time division multiplexing manner.

Wherein the second cell availability may refer to:

After the UE sends the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling to the master UE grouped by the UE, activating the second cell of the UE may specifically include:

or,

Corresponding to the above method for using the shared frequency at the terminal side, the present invention further provides a device for using the shared frequency, which is disposed in a user equipment UE and is suitable for a multi-carrier scenario, wherein the UE establishes a radio resource control RRC connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE includes a mobile communication module and a wireless local area network WLAN module, which support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the device includes:

Wherein the apparatus may further comprise:

The grouping management module can be further used for selecting a grouping representative UE of the UE grouping to which the UE belongs after the UE grouping is divided by self; and when the UE represents the grouping UE, notifying the identification information of each UE in the grouping of the UE to the first base station through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

when the UE represents the group UE, the second cell configuration management module may be configured to receive data traffic that the first base station expects to transmit on the second cell, and may represent data traffic of a group where the UE is located, where the group that the first base station expects to transmit on the second cell; the received time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell may be the time length that the packet expected by the first base station represents the time length that the packet in which the UE is located is activated on the second cell; when there is no packet representing the UE in the UE packet to which the UE belongs, the received data traffic that the first base station expects to be transmitted on the second cell may be the data traffic that the first base station expects the UE to be transmitted on the second cell; the received time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell may be the time length that the first base station expects the UE to be activated on the second cell.

Wherein, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system sent by the second carrier occupation management module may at least include information of UE grouping and channel occupation duration; the sent channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system may include a channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode can be equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

The second carrier occupation management module may be further configured to not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by a channel occupation signaling after the WLAN device in the UE group to which the UE belongs receives the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the master UE of the other user equipment group; and after the UE receives a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by main UE grouped by other UEs, not initiating data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

The channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the second carrier occupation management module may be sent in a time division multiplexing manner.

The second cell availability may specifically be:

The activating the second cell of the UE after the second cell configuration management module sends the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling to the master UE grouped by the UE to which the UE belongs may specifically be:

after the second cell configuration management module sends the channel occupation request and the channel occupation signaling to the main UE of the UE group, the second carrier occupation management module of the UE activates the second cell after receiving a channel occupation response returned by a second base station controlling the second cell;

or,

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A shared frequency using method is suitable for a multi-carrier scenario, a User Equipment (UE) establishes a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE comprises a mobile communication module and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module which support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the method comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

when a group representative UE exists in each UE group, the master UE is the group representative UE; and when the master UE does not exist, the master UE is any UE in the UE group.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

and the first base station groups the UE under the base station.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

and the first base station groups the UE under the base station according to the position of the UE or the uplink time advance.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of grouping the user equipments UEs under the base station by the base station further comprises:

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

and each UE under the first base station divides the UE group by itself.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of the UE self-partitioning the UE group further comprises:

each UE group respectively selects one group to represent the UE;

8. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the configuration information of the second cell includes data traffic that the first base station desires to transmit on the second cell or a time length that the first base station desires the UE to activate on the second cell;

9. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system at least comprises UE grouping information and channel occupation duration; the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode comprises channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode is equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

and the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode of the UE and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode are sent in a time division multiplexing mode.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second cell being available means:

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each UE in the UE group to which the primary UE that has sent the channel occupying request and channel occupying signaling belongs activates the second cell of the UE comprises:

or,

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

15. A shared frequency usage apparatus, adapted to a multi-carrier scenario, wherein a user equipment UE establishes a radio resource control, RRC, connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell using a first carrier, the UE comprising a mobile communication module and a wireless local area network, WLAN, module that support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, the apparatus comprising:

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

and the base station side grouping management module groups the UE under the base station according to the position of the UE or the uplink time advance.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

the base station side grouping management module is also used for selecting a grouping representative UE for each divided UE group after grouping each user equipment UE under the base station; respectively sending grouping information to each UE under the base station; the grouping information comprises the grouping identification of the UE group to which the UE belongs and the identification information of the UE represented by the grouping;

the device further comprises:

20. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein:

the terminal side grouping management module is also used for selecting a grouping representative UE for the belonged UE grouping after the UE grouping is automatically divided; and when the UE represents the UE for the group, notifying the first base station of the identification information of each UE in the group through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

24. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

the terminal side second carrier occupation management module is further configured to not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by a channel occupation signaling after the WLAN device in the UE group to which the UE belongs receives the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the master UE of the other UE group; after receiving a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by a main UE grouped by other UEs, the UE does not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation request;

the device further comprises:

25. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

and the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system which are sent by the second carrier occupation management module at the terminal side are sent in a time division multiplexing mode.

26. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second cell is available to be:

27. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

or,

28. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

the second cell configuration management module in the second base station is further configured to activate the second cell of each UE in the UE group according to information of the UE group included in the channel occupation request after receiving the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system on the second carrier.

29. A shared frequency using method is suitable for a multi-carrier scenario, a User Equipment (UE) establishes a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, the UE comprises a mobile communication module and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module which support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, and the method comprises the following steps:

30. The method of claim 29, wherein:

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

or,

and the UE divides the UE group by itself.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the UE self-partitions the UE group further comprising:

33. The method of claim 30, wherein:

34. The method of claim 30, wherein:

the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system at least comprises UE grouping information and channel occupation duration; the sent channel occupation signaling of the WLAN standard comprises channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode is equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

36. The method of claim 29, wherein:

and the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system are sent in a time division multiplexing mode.

37. The method of claim 29, wherein the second cell being available means:

38. The method of claim 29, wherein activating the second cell of the UE after the UE sends the channel occupying request and channel occupying signaling to a master UE of the UE group to which the UE belongs comprises:

or,

39. A shared frequency using apparatus, configured in a user equipment UE, and adapted to a multi-carrier scenario, where the UE establishes a radio resource control RRC connection with a first base station on a first cell controlled by the first base station, the first cell uses a first carrier, and the UE includes a mobile communication module and a wireless local area network WLAN module that support communication with the first base station and at least one second base station, the apparatus comprising:

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein:

41. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising:

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein:

the grouping management module is also used for selecting the grouping representative UE of the UE grouping to which the UE belongs after the UE grouping is divided by self; and when the UE is a grouping representative UE, notifying the identification information of each UE in the UE grouping to which the UE belongs to the first base station through a wireless access link between the UE and the first cell.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein:

44. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein:

the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system sent by the second carrier occupation management module at least comprises UE grouping information and channel occupation duration; the sent channel occupation signaling of the WLAN standard comprises channel occupation duration; the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode is equal to the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request of the mobile communication mode;

45. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein:

the second carrier occupation management module is further configured to not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within a channel occupation duration indicated by a channel occupation signaling after the WLAN device in the UE group to which the UE belongs receives the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the master UE of the other UE group; and after the UE receives a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system sent by main UE grouped by other user equipment, not initiating data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation duration indicated by the channel occupation request.

46. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein:

and the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the second carrier occupation management module are sent in a time division multiplexing mode.

47. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the second cell is available to be:

48. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the second cell configuration management module activates the second cell of the UE after the primary UE of the UE group to which the UE belongs sends the channel occupying request and the channel occupying signaling by:

or,