CN105792221B

CN105792221B - Frequency sharing method, user equipment and base station

Info

Publication number: CN105792221B
Application number: CN201410795475.4A
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: 2021-05-11
Anticipated expiration: 2034-12-18
Also published as: CN105792221A; WO2016095459A1

Abstract

A frequency sharing method, user equipment and a base station are suitable for a multi-carrier scene, after UE establishes wireless resource connection with a first base station on a first cell using a first carrier, the first base station configures a second cell under a second base station for the UE, the UE receives configuration information sent by the first base station, the second cell is set to be in an inactive state after the second cell is configured, and if the second carrier is determined to be available, a channel occupation signaling is sent on the second carrier to activate the second cell. The invention realizes the notification of the channel occupation, and can effectively avoid the interference among the same wireless communication technologies deployed by a plurality of operators and/or among a plurality of wireless communication technologies on the shared frequency.

Description

Frequency sharing method, user equipment and base station

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a frequency sharing method, a user equipment and a base station.

Background

According to the prediction of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), with the increasing demand of mobile communications of users, in 2020, mobile communications services may increase by more than 500 times, even 1000 times, so that various possible technologies are being discussed in the wireless communications industry to expand network capacity and enhance network coverage, thereby satisfying the explosive growth situation of mobile services. 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 (licensed spectrum/licensed 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.

In addition, when there are already deployed non-cellular Wireless communication systems in use on the sharable frequency resources, such as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), 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 method for using frequency sharing, which is applicable to a multi-carrier scenario, where a user equipment UE establishes a radio resource connection with a first base station in a first cell using a first carrier, and the method includes:

the UE receives configuration information of a second cell under a second base station, which is sent by a first base station, and the second cell is set to be in an inactive state after the configuration of the second cell is completed, wherein the second cell uses a sharable second carrier, the second carrier is different from the first carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different;

the UE detects a signal on a second carrier, and if the second carrier is determined to be available, a channel occupation signaling is sent on the second carrier;

and the UE activates the second cell and carries out data transmission according to the scheduling of the second base station.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

after the UE completes configuration of the second cell and before sending the channel occupancy signaling on the second carrier, the method further includes: the UE receives a channel occupation request sent by a second base station on a public channel of a second cell, and sends a channel occupation signaling on a second carrier after receiving the channel occupation request and determining that the second carrier is available, wherein the channel occupation request carries identification information of the second cell and information of the occupation duration of a first channel;

the UE sending a channel occupancy signaling on a second carrier, comprising: the UE sends a channel occupation response of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell, and the channel occupation response carries identification information of the UE and information of second channel occupation duration;

the UE activates a second cell, comprising: and the UE activates the second cell after sending the channel occupation response on the second carrier.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the second channel occupancy duration T2 is T1-T1-T2-T3-T4, where T1 is the first channel occupancy duration, T1 is the transmission time of the channel occupancy request on the air interface, T2 is the time when the UE receives and processes the channel occupancy request, T3 is the processing time when the UE sends the channel occupancy response, and T4 is the transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the UE sending a channel occupancy signaling on a second carrier, comprising: the UE sends a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell, and the channel occupation request carries identification information of the UE and information of a third channel occupation duration;

the UE activates a second cell, comprising: the UE activates a second cell after sending the channel occupation request; or, after the UE sends the channel occupying request, receiving a channel occupying response sent by the second base station on a common channel of the second cell, and if the channel occupying response is received, activating the second cell, where the channel occupying response carries identification information of the second cell and information of a fourth channel occupying duration.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the configuration information of the second cell received by the UE includes 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; the UE determines the occupation duration of a third channel according to the data flow or the time length;

the fourth channel occupancy duration T4 is T3-T1 '-T2' -T3 '-T4', where T3 is the third channel occupancy duration, T1 'is the transmission time of the channel occupancy request on the air interface, T2' is the time of the second base station receiving and processing the channel occupancy request, T3 'is the processing time of the second base station sending the channel occupancy response, and T4' is the transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the UE is enabled with WLAN functionality; the UE sending a channel occupancy signaling on a second carrier, comprising: and the UE sends a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system and a channel occupation signaling of a mobile communication system on a second carrier wave in a time division multiplexing mode.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the UE detecting a signal on a second carrier and determining that the second carrier is available, comprising:

the UE determines that the following condition one and condition two are met or determines that the following condition one and condition three are met through detection, and then the UE determines that the second carrier is available:

detecting that the signal quality or the signal strength of the second cell exceeds a preset value under a first condition;

the second condition is that the channel occupation signaling sent by other UE or the base station is not received on the public channel of the second cell;

a third condition is that although the channel occupation signaling sent by other UE or the base station is received on the common channel of the second cell, the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling is passed;

or

The UE, having enabled WLAN functionality, detects a signal on a second carrier and determines that the second carrier is available, comprising:

and the UE determines that the first condition and the second condition are met or the first condition and the third condition are met through detection, and the UE determines that the second carrier is idle by executing idle channel assessment through the WLAN function.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the UE is enabled with WLAN functionality; the UE sending a channel occupancy signaling on a second carrier, comprising: the UE sends a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on a second carrier wave in a time division multiplexing mode, and sends a channel occupation response of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell;

the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system carries information of a fifth channel occupancy duration, where the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T1-T1-T2-T5-T6-T7, T1 is the first channel occupancy duration, T1 is transmission time of the channel occupancy request on an air interface, T2 is time for the UE to receive and process the channel occupancy request, T5 is processing time for the UE to send the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system, T6 is backoff time for contending to use a second carrier, and T7 is transmission time of the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system on the air interface.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the UE is enabled with WLAN functionality; the UE sending a channel occupancy signaling on a second carrier, comprising: the UE sends a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on a second carrier wave in a time division multiplexing mode, and sends a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell;

the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system carries information of a fifth channel occupancy duration, where the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T3, and T3 is a third channel occupancy duration.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

after receiving the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN standard, the WLAN equipment adjacent to the UE does not initiate data transmission on a second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling;

and after receiving the channel occupation signaling of the mobile communication system sent by the UE, other base stations adjacent to the UE do not initiate data transmission with the UE under the base station on a second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the common channel is a common channel dedicated to transmitting and receiving channel occupancy signaling.

In view of the above, the present invention further provides a frequency sharing method, adapted to a multi-carrier scenario, where a first base station establishes a radio resource connection with a user equipment UE on a first cell using a first carrier, and the method includes:

the first base station configures a second cell under a second base station for the UE and sends configuration information of the second cell to the UE; the second cell uses a sharable second carrier, the second carrier is different from the first carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different;

the second base station sets a second cell of the UE to be in an inactive state according to the interaction with the first base station;

and after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the second base station activates a second cell of the UE and schedules the UE on the second cell.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the method further comprises the following steps:

when a second cell with UE is in an inactive state, if the signal intensity of a signal transmitted by adjacent equipment on a second carrier is detected not to exceed a preset value, a second base station sends a channel occupation request on a public channel of the second cell, wherein the channel occupation request carries identification information of the second cell and information of the occupation duration of a first channel;

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the second base station activates the second cell of the UE, including: and after the second base station sends the channel occupation request, receiving a channel occupation response sent by the UE on a public channel of a second cell, and if the channel occupation response is received, activating the second cell of the UE, wherein the channel occupation response carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupation duration of the second channel.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the second base station activates the second cell of the UE, including:

after receiving a channel occupation request sent by the UE on a common channel of a second cell, a second base station activates the second cell of the UE, wherein the channel occupation request carries identification information of the UE and information of a third channel occupation duration; or

And the second base station sends a channel occupation response on the public channel of the second cell after receiving the channel occupation request sent by the UE on the public channel of the second cell, and activates the second cell of the UE after sending the channel occupation response, wherein the channel occupation request carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupation duration of the third channel, and the channel occupation response carries the identification information of the second cell and the information of the occupation duration of the fourth channel.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the configuration information of the second cell, which is sent to the UE by the first base station, includes 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, so that the UE determines the third channel occupancy duration;

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

and after the adjacent base station of the UE and the adjacent base station of the second base station receive the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE or the second base station, the adjacent base station of the UE does not initiate communication with the UE under the base station on the second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

In view of the above, the present invention also provides a user equipment, including a mobile communication module for communicating with a base station in a multi-carrier scenario, where the mobile communication module includes:

a first carrier processing unit, configured to establish a radio resource connection with a first base station on a first cell using a first carrier in a multi-carrier scenario;

a second carrier processing unit comprising:

a cell configuration subunit, configured to receive configuration information of a second cell in a second base station sent by a first base station, and notify a channel occupation subunit and a data transmission subunit after configuration of the second cell is completed, where the second cell uses a sharable second carrier, the second carrier is different from the first carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different;

a channel occupation subunit, configured to detect a signal on the second carrier after receiving the notification of the cell configuration subunit, and if it is determined that the second carrier is available, send a channel occupation signaling on the second carrier, and trigger the data transmission subunit;

a data transmission subunit, configured to set the second cell in an inactive state after receiving the notification from the cell configuration unit; and after being triggered, activating the second cell and transmitting data according to the scheduling of the second base station.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

after receiving the notification of the cell configuration subunit, the channel occupying subunit further includes: receiving a channel occupation request sent by a second base station on a common channel of a second cell; if the channel occupation request is received and the availability of a second carrier is determined, then a channel occupation signaling is sent on the second carrier, wherein the channel occupation request carries the identification information of a second cell and the information of the occupation duration of a first channel;

the channel occupying subunit sends a channel occupying signaling on the second carrier and triggers the data transmission subunit, including: sending a channel occupancy response of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell, and triggering the data transmission subunit after sending, where the channel occupancy response carries identification information of the UE and information of a second channel occupancy duration, where the second channel occupancy duration T2 is T1-T1-T2-T3-T4, T1 is a first channel occupancy duration, T1 is transmission time of the channel occupancy request on an air interface, T2 is time of receiving and processing the channel occupancy request by the UE, T3 is processing time of sending the channel occupancy response by the UE, and T4 is transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the channel occupying subunit sends a channel occupying signaling on a second carrier, including: sending a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell, wherein the channel occupation request carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupation duration of a third channel;

the channel occupying subunit triggers the data transmitting subunit, including: triggering the data transmission subunit after sending the channel occupation request; or after the channel occupation request is sent, receiving a channel occupation response sent by the second base station on a common channel of the second cell, and if the channel occupation response is received, triggering the data transmission subunit, wherein the channel occupation response carries the identification information of the second cell and the information of the occupation duration of the fourth channel.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the configuration information of the second cell received by the cell configuration subunit includes 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 be activated on the second cell;

and the occupied channel subunit determines the occupied time of the third channel according to the data flow or the time length.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the user equipment further comprises a WLAN module;

and the mobile communication module and the WLAN module send channel occupation signaling of a mobile communication system and channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on a second carrier in a time division multiplexing mode.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the user equipment also comprises a WLAN module, wherein when the mobile communication module sends a channel occupation response of a mobile communication mode on a public channel of a second cell, the WLAN module sends a channel occupation signaling of the WLAN mode on a second carrier wave in a time division multiplexing mode; the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system carries information of a fifth channel occupancy duration, where the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T1-T1-T2-T5-T6-T7, where T1 is the first channel occupancy duration, T1 is transmission time of the channel occupancy request on an air interface, T2 is time for the UE to receive and process the channel occupancy request, T5 is processing time for the UE to send the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system, T6 is backoff time for contending to use a second carrier, and T7 is transmission time of the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system on the air interface.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the user equipment also comprises a WLAN module, and when the mobile communication module sends a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system on a public channel of a second cell, the WLAN module sends a channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system on a second carrier wave in a time division multiplexing mode; the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system carries information of a fifth channel occupancy duration, where the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T3, and T3 is a third channel occupancy duration.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the channel occupying subunit detects a signal on the second carrier and determines that the second carrier is available, including: and when the channel occupying subunit determines that the following condition one and condition two are met or determines that the condition one and condition three are met, determining that the second carrier is available:

the first condition is as follows: detecting that the signal quality or the signal strength of the second cell exceeds a preset value;

and a second condition: the channel occupation signaling sent by other UE or base station is not received on the public channel of the second cell;

or

The UE further comprises a WLAN module communicating with the mobile communication module through an internal interface;

the channel occupation subunit of the mobile communication module is further configured to notify the WLAN module to detect whether the second carrier is idle when detecting the signal on the second carrier; when the two conditions I and II are determined to be met through detection or the conditions I and III are determined to be met, and the detection result returned by the WLAN module is that the second carrier is idle, determining that the second carrier is available and informing the WLAN module of sending a channel occupation signaling;

the WLAN module comprises:

a carrier evaluation unit, configured to perform idle channel evaluation after receiving the notification of detecting whether the second carrier is idle, determine whether the second carrier is idle, and return a detection result;

and the carrier occupation unit is used for sending the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system on the second carrier after receiving the notification of sending the channel occupation signaling.

In view of this, the present invention further provides a base station, including a first carrier processing module and a second carrier processing module, which communicate with a UE in a multi-carrier scenario, wherein:

the first carrier processing module includes:

a connection establishing unit, configured to establish a radio resource connection with a user equipment UE on a first cell using a first carrier in a multi-carrier scenario;

a cell configuration unit, configured to configure a second cell under a second base station for the UE when the base station is used as a first base station of the UE, and send configuration information of the second cell to the UE; the second cell uses a sharable second carrier, the second carrier is different from the first carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different;

the second carrier processing module includes:

a data transmission unit, configured to set a second cell of the UE in an inactive state according to interaction with a first base station of the UE when a base station is used as the second base station of the UE; and after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, activating a second cell of the UE, and scheduling the UE on the second cell.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the second carrier processing module also comprises a channel occupying unit; wherein:

the channel occupying unit is configured to, when a second cell with the UE is in an inactive state, send a channel occupying request on a common channel of the second cell if it is detected that a signal strength of a signal transmitted by the neighboring device on a second carrier does not exceed a preset value, where the channel occupying request carries identification information of the second cell and information of a first channel occupying duration;

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the data transmission unit activates the second cell of the UE, including: and after the channel occupying unit sends the channel occupying request, receiving a channel occupying response sent by the UE on a public channel of a second cell, and if the channel occupying response is received, activating the second cell of the UE, wherein the channel occupying response carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupying duration of the second channel.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the data transmission unit activates the second cell of the UE, including: and activating the second cell of the UE after receiving a channel occupation request sent by the UE on a common channel of the second cell, wherein the channel occupation request carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupation duration of a third channel.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the second carrier processing module further comprises: a channel occupying unit; wherein:

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the data transmission unit activates the second cell of the UE, including: after receiving a channel occupation request sent by the UE on a common channel of a second cell, informing a channel occupation unit to send a channel occupation response, and then activating the second cell of the UE, wherein the channel occupation request carries identification information of the UE and information of a third channel occupation duration;

and the channel occupying unit is used for sending a channel occupying response on a public channel of the second cell according to the notification of the data transmission unit, wherein the channel occupying response carries the identification information of the second cell and the information of the occupying duration of the fourth channel.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the configuration information of the second cell sent by the cell configuration unit includes 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, so that the UE determines the third channel occupation duration based on the data traffic or the time length;

the channel occupancy response sent by the channel occupancy unit carries information of a fourth channel occupancy duration, where the fourth channel occupancy duration T4 is T3-T1 '-T2' -T3 '-T4', where T3 is a third channel occupancy duration, T1 'is transmission time of the channel occupancy request on an air interface, T2' is time of receiving and processing the channel occupancy request by the second base station, T3 'is processing time of sending the channel occupancy response by the second base station, and T4' is transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the data transmission unit is further configured to not initiate communication with the UE in the base station on the second carrier within the channel occupying time indicated by the channel occupying signaling after receiving the channel occupying signaling sent by the neighboring base station or the UE in the neighboring base station.

The embodiment sends the channel occupation signaling on the second carrier, so that the notification of the channel occupation is realized, and the adjacent equipment can know the occupation condition of the second carrier, thereby effectively avoiding the interference among the same wireless communication technologies deployed by a plurality of operators and/or among a plurality of wireless communication technologies on the shared used frequency, and realizing the efficient shared use of the sharable frequency among the same operator or different operators and the equipment of the same or different wireless communication technologies.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a carrier sharing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a UE according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a two-carrier sharing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a second base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a three-carrier sharing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a four-carrier sharing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary network topology within an area;

fig. 8 is a signaling flow diagram illustrating a frequency sharing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 9 is a signaling flow diagram illustrating an exemplary two-one frequency sharing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be arbitrarily combined with each other without conflict.

The frequency sharing method of this embodiment is applicable to a multi-carrier scenario, where, at a UE side, the UE establishes a radio resource connection with a first base station in a first cell using a first carrier, as shown in fig. 1, the method includes:

step 110, the UE receives configuration information of a second cell under a second base station, which is sent by a first base station, and sets the second cell in an inactive state after the configuration of the second cell is completed;

in this step, the second cell uses a sharable second carrier, the second carrier is different from the first carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different.

Step 120, the UE detects a signal on the second carrier, and if it is determined that the second carrier is available, sends a channel occupation signaling on the second carrier;

the UE of this embodiment sends the channel occupancy signaling on the second carrier, including: and the UE sends a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system (including WiFi) and a channel occupation signaling of a mobile communication system on a second carrier in a time division multiplexing mode. The channel occupation signaling of the mobile communication system may be transmitted on a common channel of the second cell, and preferably, the common channel is a common channel dedicated for transmitting and receiving the channel occupation signaling.

In this step, the UE detects a signal on the second carrier and determines that the second carrier is available, including:

and the UE determines that the following condition I and condition II are met or determines that the condition I and condition III are met through detection, and the UE executes idle channel assessment through the WLAN function to determine that the second carrier is idle, and then the UE determines that the second carrier is available.

and in the third condition, although the channel occupation signaling sent by other UE or the base station is received on the common channel of the second cell, the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling is passed.

For the present invention, the UE may also only include the mobile communication module, and at this time, for example, the mobile communication module of the UE determines that the first condition and the second condition are satisfied or determines that the first condition and the third condition are satisfied by detection, the UE may determine that the second carrier is available, and send the channel occupancy signaling of the mobile communication system on the second carrier through the mobile communication module.

Step 130, the UE activates the second cell and performs data transmission according to the scheduling of the second base station.

The process realizes the notification of the channel occupation. After receiving the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN standard, the WLAN equipment adjacent to the UE does not initiate data transmission on a second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling; meanwhile, after receiving the channel occupation signaling of the mobile communication system sent by the UE, other base stations adjacent to the UE do not initiate data transmission with the UE under the base station on a second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling. Interference between multiple wireless communication technologies deployed by multiple operators and/or between multiple wireless communication technologies on a shared frequency of use may thus be avoided.

The method of the present embodiment can be implemented by, but not limited to, the following two implementations.

The first method is as follows:

in this way, after the UE completes configuration of the second cell, it needs to receive a channel occupation request sent by the second base station on a common channel of the second cell, and send a channel occupation signaling on the second carrier if the channel occupation request is received and it is determined that the second carrier is available; and activating the second cell after the channel occupation signaling is sent. The detection of the signal on the second carrier may be started after the configuration of the second cell is completed, or may be started after the channel occupying request is received.

In this way, if the UE starts the WLAN function, the UE sends the channel occupation signaling on the second carrier, including: and the UE sends a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on a second carrier wave in a time division multiplexing mode, and sends a channel occupation response of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell.

Preferably, the channel occupying request sent by the second base station carries the identifier information of the second cell and the information of the first channel occupying duration, the channel occupying response sent by the UE carries the identifier information of the UE and the information of the second channel occupying duration, and the channel occupying signaling of the WLAN system sent by the UE carries the information of the fifth channel occupying duration. The channel occupation time is determined by the sender of the message.

Preferably, the second channel occupancy duration T2 is T1-T1-T2-T3-T4, where T1 is the first channel occupancy duration, T1 is the transmission time of the channel occupancy request on the air interface, T2 is the time when the UE receives and processes the channel occupancy request, T3 is the processing time when the UE sends the channel occupancy response, and T4 is the transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

Preferably, the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T1-T1-T2-T5-T6-T7, T1 is the first channel occupancy duration, T1 is the transmission time of the channel occupancy request on the air interface, T2 is the time for the UE to receive and process the channel occupancy request, T5 is the processing time for the UE to send the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN scheme, T6 is the back-off time for contending to use the second carrier, and T7 is the transmission time of the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN scheme on the air interface.

The above-described calculation of the channel occupancy period may have other equivalent alternatives. Taking the channel occupying request sent by the second base station as an example, if the second base station calculates the first channel occupying time length and considers the transmission time of the channel occupying request on the air interface, the UE calculates the second channel occupying time length according to T2-T1-T2-T3-T4, calculates the fifth channel occupying time length according to T5-T1-T2-T5-T6-T7, and the other base stations receive the channel occupying request, and takes the time when the channel occupying request is received plus the first channel occupying time length as the channel occupying time indicated by the first channel occupying time length. If the second base station calculates the first channel occupation time, without considering the transmission time of the channel occupation request on the air interface, the UE calculates the second channel occupation time and the fifth channel occupation time according to the formula of the above embodiment, and when the other base stations receive the channel occupation request, the UE adds the first channel occupation time to the time when the channel occupation request is received, and subtracts the transmission time of the channel occupation request on the air interface to obtain a value as the channel occupation time indicated by the value. By analogy, if the UE calculates the second channel occupancy duration without considering the transmission time of the channel occupancy response over the air interface, T4 need not be subtracted from the calculation formula for T2, and so on. Such equivalent variations are intended to be within the scope of the present invention.

The second method comprises the following steps:

in this way, the base station does not send a channel occupancy response to the UE, and after the UE completes configuration of the second cell, if it is determined by detection that the second carrier is available, the base station may send a channel occupancy signaling on the second carrier, including: and sending a channel occupation signaling of a WLAN system on the second carrier wave in a time division multiplexing mode, and sending a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system on a public channel of the second cell. The UE may activate the second cell upon sending the channel occupancy request; the UE may also receive a channel occupancy response sent by the second base station on the common channel of the second cell after sending the channel occupancy request, and if the channel occupancy response is received, reactivate the second cell, where the channel occupancy response carries identification information of the second cell and information of a fourth channel occupancy duration.

Preferably, the channel occupation request of the mobile communication system sent by the UE carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the third channel occupation duration, the channel occupation response sent by the second base station carries the identification information of the second cell and the information of the fourth channel occupation duration, and the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the UE carries the information of the fifth channel occupation duration.

Preferably, the configuration information of the second cell received by the UE 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 to activate the UE on the second cell; and the UE determines the occupation duration of a third channel according to the data flow or the time length.

Preferably, the fourth channel occupancy duration T4 is T3-T1 '-T2' -T3 '-T4', where T3 is the third channel occupancy duration, T1 'is the transmission time of the channel occupancy request on the air interface, T2' is the time of the second base station receiving and processing the channel occupancy request, T3 'is the processing time of the second base station sending the channel occupancy response, and T4' is the transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface. Similar to the second channel occupation duration in the first mode, the fourth channel occupation duration also has other equivalent calculation modes, which are not described herein again.

Preferably, the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T3, where T3 is the third channel occupancy duration.

Accordingly, the UE of the present embodiment includes, as shown in fig. 2, a mobile communication module 10 communicating with a base station in a multi-carrier scenario, where:

the mobile communication module 10 includes:

a first carrier processing unit 101, configured to establish a radio resource connection with a first base station on a first cell using a first carrier in a multi-carrier scenario;

the second carrier processing unit 103 includes:

a cell configuration subunit 1011, configured to receive configuration information of a second cell in the second base station, which is sent by the first base station, and notify the channel occupation subunit and the data transmission subunit after the configuration of the second cell is completed;

a channel occupying subunit 1013, configured to detect, after receiving the notification of the cell configuring subunit, a signal on the second carrier, and if it is determined that the second carrier is available, send a channel occupying signaling on the second carrier, and trigger the data transmitting subunit;

a data transmission subunit 1015, configured to set the second cell in an inactive state after receiving the notification of the cell configuration unit; and after being triggered, activating the second cell and transmitting data according to the scheduling of the second base station.

Preferably, the channel occupying subunit 1013 detects a signal on the second carrier and determines that the second carrier is available, including: and when the channel occupying subunit determines that the following condition one and condition two are met or determines that the condition one and condition three are met, determining that the second carrier is available:

in this embodiment, the UE further includes a WLAN module 20 (optional to the present invention) communicating with the mobile communication module through an internal interface, where the mobile communication module and the WLAN module send a channel occupancy signaling of a mobile communication system and a channel occupancy signaling of a WLAN system on a second carrier in a time division multiplexing manner.

Correspondingly, the channel occupying subunit 1013 is further configured to, when detecting a signal on the second carrier, notify the WLAN module to detect whether the second carrier is idle; when the two conditions I and II are determined to be met or the conditions I and III are determined to be met through detection and the detection result returned by the WLAN module is that the second carrier is idle, determining that the second carrier is available and informing the WLAN module of sending a channel occupation signaling;

as shown in fig. 2, the WLAN module 20 includes:

a carrier evaluation unit 201, configured to perform idle channel evaluation after receiving the notification of detecting whether the second carrier is idle, determine whether the second carrier is idle, and return a detection result;

a carrier occupation unit 203, configured to send the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system on the second carrier after receiving the notification of sending the channel occupation signaling.

Corresponding to the two implementation manners of the method, the UE further implements the following functions by the above modules.

Corresponds to the mode one

The channel occupying subunit 1013, after receiving the notification of the cell configuring subunit, further includes: receiving a channel occupation request sent by a second base station on a common channel of a second cell; if the channel occupation request is received and the availability of a second carrier is determined, then a channel occupation signaling is sent on the second carrier, wherein the channel occupation request carries the identification information of a second cell and the information of the occupation duration of a first channel;

the channel occupying subunit 1013 sends the channel occupying signaling on the second carrier and triggers the data transmitting subunit, including: sending a channel occupancy response of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell, and triggering the data transmission subunit after sending, where the channel occupancy response carries identification information of the UE and information of a second channel occupancy duration, where the second channel occupancy duration T2 is T1-T1-T2-T3-T4, T1 is a first channel occupancy duration, T1 is transmission time of the channel occupancy request on an air interface, T2 is time of receiving and processing the channel occupancy request by the UE, T3 is processing time of sending the channel occupancy response by the UE, and T4 is transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

When the mobile communication module 10 sends a channel occupancy response of the mobile communication system on the common channel of the second cell, the WLAN module 20 sends a channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system on the second carrier in a time division multiplexing manner; the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system carries information of a fifth channel occupancy duration, where the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T1-T1-T2-T5-T6-T7, where T1 is the first channel occupancy duration, T1 is transmission time of the channel occupancy request on an air interface, T2 is time for the UE to receive and process the channel occupancy request, T5 is processing time for the UE to send the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system, T6 is backoff time for contending to use a second carrier, and T7 is transmission time of the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system on the air interface.

Corresponding to the second mode

Channel occupying subunit 1013 transmits channel occupying signaling on the second carrier, comprising: sending a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell, wherein the channel occupation request carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupation duration of a third channel;

channel occupying subunit 1013 triggers a data transmission subunit, comprising: triggering the data transmission subunit after sending the channel occupation request; or after the channel occupation request is sent, receiving a channel occupation response sent by the second base station on a common channel of the second cell, and if the channel occupation response is received, triggering the data transmission subunit, wherein the channel occupation response carries the identification information of the second cell and the information of the occupation duration of the fourth channel.

Preferably, the configuration information of the second cell received by the cell configuration subunit 1011 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 to activate the UE on the second cell; the channel occupying subunit 1013 determines the third channel occupying duration according to the data traffic or the time length.

When the mobile communication module 10 sends a channel occupation request of a mobile communication system on a common channel of a second cell, the WLAN module 20 sends a channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system on a second carrier in a time division multiplexing manner; the channel occupancy signaling of the WLAN system carries information of a fifth channel occupancy duration, where the fifth channel occupancy duration T5 is T3, and T3 is a third channel occupancy duration.

Example two

The frequency sharing method of this embodiment is applicable to a multi-carrier scenario, where, on a network side, a first base station establishes a radio resource connection with a UE in a first cell using a first carrier, as shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

step 210, a first base station configures a second cell under a second base station for the UE, and sends configuration information of the second cell to the UE;

the second cell uses a sharable second carrier, the second carrier is different from the first carrier, and the first base station and the second base station are the same or different.

Step 220, the second base station sets the second cell of the UE to an inactive state according to the interaction with the first base station;

in this step, the first base station may interact with the second base station before or after configuring the second cell for the UE, and notify the second base station of information of the UE to be configured with the second cell.

Step 230, after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the second base station activates the second cell of the UE, and schedules the UE in the second cell.

In order to avoid interference, after the neighboring base station of the UE and the neighboring base station of the second base station receive the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE or the second base station, the UE does not initiate communication with the UE in the second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling.

The first method is as follows:

in this way, when a second cell with the UE is in an inactive state, if it is detected that the signal strength of a signal transmitted by the neighboring device on a second carrier does not exceed a preset value, the second base station sends a channel occupation request on a common channel of the second cell, where the channel occupation request carries identification information of the second cell and information of a first channel occupation duration; and after the channel occupation request is sent, receiving a channel occupation response sent by the UE on a public channel of a second cell, and if the channel occupation response is received, activating the second cell of the UE, wherein the channel occupation response carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupation duration of the second channel. Wherein, in addition to detecting that the signal strength of the signal transmitted by the neighboring device on the second carrier does not exceed the preset value, there may be other conditions to be satisfied for sending the channel occupying request.

Preferably, the common channel is a common channel dedicated to sending and receiving channel occupancy signaling.

Mode two

In this way, after receiving the channel occupancy signaling sent by the UE, the second base station activates the second cell of the UE, including:

Preferably, the configuration information of the second cell sent by the first base station to the UE includes a 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, so that the UE determines the third channel occupancy duration; the fourth channel occupancy duration T4 is T3-T1 '-T2' -T3 '-T4', where T3 is the third channel occupancy duration, T1 'is the transmission time of the channel occupancy request on the air interface, T2' is the time of the second base station receiving and processing the channel occupancy request, T3 'is the processing time of the second base station sending the channel occupancy response, and T4' is the transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

Correspondingly, the base station of the present embodiment includes, as shown in fig. 4, a first carrier processing module 50 and a second carrier processing module 60 for communicating with the UE in a multi-carrier scenario, where:

the first carrier processing module 50 includes:

a connection establishing unit 501, configured to establish a radio resource connection with a user equipment UE on a first cell using a first carrier in a multi-carrier scenario;

a cell configuration unit 503, configured to configure a second cell under a second base station for the UE when the base station is used as a first base station of the UE, and send configuration information of the second cell to the UE;

the second carrier processing module 60 includes:

a data transmission unit 601, configured to set a second cell of the UE in an inactive state according to interaction with a first base station of the UE when a base station is used as the second base station of the UE; and after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, activating a second cell of the UE, and scheduling the UE on the second cell. Preferably, the data transmission unit 601 is further configured to not initiate communication with the UE in the base station on the second carrier within the channel occupying time indicated by the channel occupying signaling after receiving the channel occupying signaling sent by the neighboring base station or the UE in the neighboring base station.

An optional channel occupying unit 603 is also shown.

Corresponding to the two implementation manners of the method, the UE also implements the following specific functions.

Corresponds to the mode one

The second carrier processing module 60 further includes a channel occupying unit 603; wherein:

the channel occupying unit 603 is configured to, when a second cell with the UE is in an inactive state, send a channel occupying request on a common channel of the second cell if it is detected that the signal strength of a signal transmitted by a neighboring device on a second carrier does not exceed a preset value, where the channel occupying request carries identification information of the second cell and information of a duration of first channel occupation;

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the data transmission unit 601 activates the second cell of the UE, including: and after the channel occupying unit sends the channel occupying request, receiving a channel occupying response sent by the UE on a public channel of a second cell, and if the channel occupying response is received, activating the second cell of the UE, wherein the channel occupying response carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupying duration of the second channel.

Corresponding to the second mode

In the second mode, after receiving the channel occupying request sent by the UE, the second base station may send a channel occupying response, or may not send the channel occupying response.

In the case of transmission:

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the data transmission unit 601 activates the second cell of the UE, including: and activating the second cell of the UE after receiving a channel occupation request sent by the UE on a common channel of the second cell, wherein the channel occupation request carries the identification information of the UE and the information of the occupation duration of a third channel.

In case of no transmission:

the second carrier processing module 60 further includes: a channel occupying unit 603; wherein:

after receiving the channel occupation signaling sent by the UE, the data transmission unit 601 activates the second cell of the UE, including: after receiving a channel occupying request sent by the UE on a common channel of a second cell, notifying the channel occupying unit 603 to send a channel occupying response, and then activating the second cell of the UE, where the channel occupying request carries identification information of the UE and information of a third channel occupying duration;

the channel occupying unit 603 is configured to send a channel occupying response on a common channel of the second cell according to the notification of the data transmission unit, where the channel occupying response carries the identifier information of the second cell and the information of the fourth channel occupying duration.

In this case, preferably, the configuration information of the second cell sent by the cell configuration unit 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 to activate the UE on the second cell, so that the UE determines the third channel occupation duration based on the data traffic or the time length; the fourth channel occupancy duration T4 is T3-T1 '-T2' -T3 '-T4', where T3 is the third channel occupancy duration, T1 'is the transmission time of the channel occupancy request on the air interface, T2' is the time of the second base station receiving and processing the channel occupancy request, T3 'is the processing time of the second base station sending the channel occupancy response, and T4' is the transmission time of the channel occupancy response on the air interface.

EXAMPLE III

The present embodiment corresponds to the first mode of the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and describes the frequency sharing scheme from the two aspects of transceiving,

this embodiment provides a frequency sharing method, which is applicable to a multi-carrier scenario, where a UE establishes an RRC connection with a first base station in a first cell using a first carrier, as shown in fig. 5, where the method includes:

step 310, the first base station configures a second cell under a second base station for the UE, where a second carrier used by the second cell is a sharable carrier;

the first base station configures a second cell for the UE through a wireless access link between the first cell and the UE. After the first base station configures the second cell for the UE, the UE and the second base station set the second cell in an inactive state, and data is not transmitted between the second base station and the UE in the second cell, but the second base station may send and receive a channel occupying signaling, such as a channel occupying request, a channel occupying response, and the like, on the second carrier through a common channel of the second cell.

The base station may support a first carrier and a second carrier, where the first base station and the second base station are the same base station, and the first cell and the second cell are controlled by the base station. However, there is another scenario, where the first cell and the second cell may also be controlled by different base stations, that is, the first base station and the second base station are different base stations, and at this time, the first base station and the second base station may connect in a certain manner, and exchange information of the first cell, the second cell, and the UE on the connection, for example, in this step, before the first base station configures the second cell for the UE, the first base station and the second base station exchange on the connection of the first base station and the second base station and negotiate configuration information of the second cell, such as which UEs should be configured with the second cell, so in this step, through the above exchange negotiation process, the second base station knows that the first base station configures the second cell for the UE.

Step 320, the second base station determines whether the second cell is available by detection, if so, step 330 is executed, otherwise, the detection is continued;

the second base station receives signals transmitted by the neighboring devices on the second carrier, such as Cell Reference Signals (CRS) transmitted by the neighboring base stations, or other measurement signals transmitted by the neighboring base stations serving Cell measurements, such as signals transmitted by neighboring WLAN APs.

And if the second base station receives the signal transmitted by the adjacent equipment on the second carrier wave, judging whether the signal intensity of the signal is higher than a preset value, if so, judging that the second cell is unavailable, otherwise, judging that the second cell is available.

And if the base station judges that the second cell is unavailable, the base station continues to detect or continues to detect after a period of time T according to a preset algorithm.

Step 330, the second base station sends a channel occupation request of an LTE system on a second carrier;

the channel occupation signaling of the LTE system is that the transmission of the channel occupation signaling adopts the modulation, coding and other technologies supported by the LTE, and is transmitted in a mode conforming to the definition of the LTE protocol standard. The channel occupation request at least comprises identification information of the second cell and channel occupation duration. The second base station may determine the channel occupation duration according to one or more of data traffic expected to be transmitted on the second cell, the load of the second cell, the signal quality of the second cell, occupation regulations of sharable carriers by relevant national regulations, and policies of an operator.

The second base station may transmit the channel occupying request on a common channel specifically set for transmitting and receiving channel occupying signaling. Specific setting may have different methods, 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 set as the common channel 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.

When the base stations capable of monitoring each other set their respective common channels, they may also use network configuration or negotiation between each other (for example, direct negotiation between the base stations or negotiation through an intermediate coordinating device) to make the common channels mutually staggered on the frequency domain resources or the time domain resources.

And after receiving the channel occupation request sent by the second base station, the adjacent base station of the second base station does not initiate communication with the UE under the base station on the second carrier used by the second cell within the channel occupation time indicated in the channel occupation request.

Step 340, after receiving the channel occupying request, the UE detects a signal on the second carrier, and if it is determined that the second carrier is available, sends a channel occupying response of an LTE scheme and a channel occupying signaling (CTS-to-self) of a WLAN scheme on the second carrier, and activates the second cell.

And the LTE module and the WLAN module in the UE respectively judge whether the second carrier is available.

If the following condition one and condition two or the following condition one and condition three are met, the LTE module determines that the second carrier is available, otherwise, determines that the second carrier is unavailable:

detecting that the signal quality or the signal strength of the second cell exceeds a preset value under a first condition; for example, by measuring the CRS of the second cell, it is determined that the signal quality or signal strength of the second cell exceeds a preset value;

And if the LTE module detects that the signal quality or the signal strength of the second cell is not better than a preset value, or the LTE module receives a channel occupation request indication from other UE or base stations on the common channel to occupy the T time of the second carrier, judging that the second carrier is unavailable in the T time when the UE or the base stations occupy the second carrier.

After receiving the channel occupation request, the LTE module sends the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request to the WLAN module through an interface between the LTE module and the WLAN module in the UE.

And the WLAN module executes idle channel evaluation to judge whether the second carrier is idle, and if the second carrier is idle, the WLAN module judges that the second carrier is available.

And when the LTE module judges that the second carrier is available and the WLAN module judges that the second carrier is available, the UE determines that the second carrier is available and sends the channel occupation response of the LTE system and the CTS-to-self of the WLAN system on the second carrier.

The channel occupation response at least comprises identification information of the UE and channel occupation time, the value of the channel occupation time can be obtained by subtracting the transmission time of the channel occupation request on the air interface from the value of the channel occupation time in the channel occupation request, the time of the UE for receiving and processing the channel occupation request, and the signaling processing time of the channel occupation response sent by the UE and the transmission time of the channel occupation response on 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/agreed by the factors such as the specific communication mode of the channel occupation request on the air interface, the average transmission times of the communication mode on the air interface under the specific air interface signal quality during the air interface transmission and the like, and the time for sending data on the air interface is different due to the difference of the technologies of different communication modes. 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 UE sends the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system on the second carrier, which means that the signaling is sent in a manner that conforms to the WLAN protocol standard definition by using the techniques such as modulation and coding supported by the WLAN. The channel occupation signaling is especially self-channel clear (CTS-to-self) signaling defined in the WLAN 802.11 protocol, where a receiving end address is set as an address of a WLAN module in the UE in the CTS-to-self signaling, and the CTS-to-self signaling further includes a channel occupation duration, where the channel occupation duration is a value of the channel occupation duration in the channel occupation request obtained by the WLAN module from the LTE module, and is subtracted from a transmission time of the channel occupation request on an air interface, a time for the UE to receive and process the channel occupation request (including a transmission time of an internal interface), a signaling processing time for the UE to send the CTS-to-self, a back-off time (backoff) for the UE to use a second carrier, and a difference obtained after the transmission time of the CTS-to-self on the air interface.

The LTE module and the WLAN module both need to send a channel occupancy response on the second carrier, 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 occupancy response in a time division multiplexing manner when sending the respective channel occupancy response, for example, after the LTE module sends the channel occupancy response of the LTE scheme, the WLAN module sends the channel occupancy response of the WLAN scheme, and vice versa.

After the UE sends the LTE channel occupancy response and the WLAN CTS-to-self on the second carrier, the UE activates the second cell of the UE, that is, the UE starts to monitor the scheduling from the second base station on the second cell, and sends uplink data or receives downlink data according to the scheduling of the second base station, and the UE may also send some control signaling on the second cell.

After receiving the channel occupation signaling of the WLAN system sent by the UE, the WLAN device adjacent to the UE does not initiate data transmission on the second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the WLAN device. And after receiving the channel occupation response of the LTE system sent by the UE, other base stations adjacent to the UE do not initiate data transmission with the UE under the base station on the second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation response.

And step 350, after receiving the channel occupation response of the LTE system sent by the UE, the second base station activates the second cell of the UE.

After activating the second cell of the UE, the second base station may schedule the UE on the second cell, send downlink data to the UE or receive uplink data sent by the UE, and send some control signaling to the UE on the second cell. Meanwhile, the second base station may also inform the first base station that the second cell has been activated.

Example four

This embodiment corresponds to the manner of the first and second embodiments, and the processing of the UE and the base station is described at the same time.

In this embodiment, another frequency sharing method is provided, which is suitable for a multi-carrier scenario, where a UE establishes an RRC connection with a first base station in a first cell using a first carrier, as shown in fig. 6, the frequency sharing method in this embodiment includes:

step 410, the UE receives configuration information of a second cell sent by the first base station and configures the second cell, where the second cell uses a sharable second carrier;

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

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 to activate the UE on the second cell. The UE may estimate a channel occupancy duration according to the data traffic, or set the channel occupancy duration according to the activated time length.

Step 420, the UE detects a signal on the second carrier, and determines whether the second carrier is available, if yes, step 430 is executed, otherwise, the detection is continued;

and the LTE module and the WLAN module in the UE respectively judge whether the second carrier is available. The specific determination method is the same as that in the embodiment, and is not described again.

If the UE judges that the second cell is unavailable, the UE continues to detect or continues to detect after a period of time T according to a preset algorithm.

Step 430, the UE sends a channel occupying request of LTE system and a channel occupying request of WLAN system (CTS-to-self) on the second carrier, respectively;

a common channel dedicated to sending and receiving channel occupancy signalling may be set, on which the UE sends the channel occupancy request.

The channel occupation request of the LTE system sent by the UE at least comprises identification information of the UE and channel occupation duration. The duration of channel occupancy is determined by the UE according to the received data traffic that the first base station expects to transmit on the second cell or the time length that the first base station expects that the UE activates on the second cell in step 410, and may be determined by combining one or more of the uplink data traffic that the UE needs to transmit on the second cell, the signal quality of the second cell, and the occupancy regulation of the sharable carrier by the relevant national regulation.

The UE sends channel occupancy signaling, here in particular self channel clear signaling (CTS-to-self), in WLAN format on the second carrier. And setting the address of a receiving end in the CTS-to-self signaling as the address of a WLAN module in the UE, 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.

In order to avoid interference between the LTE module and the WLAN module, the LTE module and the WLAN module may send the channel occupancy request in a time division multiplexing manner when sending the respective channel occupancy request, for example, after the LTE module sends the channel occupancy request in the LTE scheme, the WLAN module sends the channel occupancy 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, the WLAN equipment adjacent to the UE does not initiate data transmission on a second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation signaling; after other LTE base stations and other UE adjacent to the UE receive the channel occupation request of the LTE system sent by the UE, data transmission is not initiated on the second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated by the channel occupation request.

Step 440, the UE receives a channel occupation response sent by the second base station on the second carrier;

this step is an optional step.

The second base station can send a channel occupation response of an LTE system after receiving the channel occupation request of the LTE system sent by the UE, wherein the channel occupation response can be sent on a special public channel, the channel occupation response at least comprises a cell identifier of a second cell and a channel occupation time length, and the value of the channel occupation time length is equal to the difference value obtained by subtracting the transmission time of the channel occupation request on an air interface from the value of the channel occupation time length in the channel occupation request, the time for receiving and processing the channel occupation request by the second base station, the signaling processing time for sending the channel occupation response by the second base station and the transmission time of the channel occupation response on the air interface. If the second base station receives the channel occupation requests sent by the multiple UEs at the same time, the sent channel occupation response includes the identification information of the second cell, the identification information of the multiple UEs, and the respective channel occupation durations. When the second cell is activated to perform data transmission, the second base station can schedule the plurality of UEs by adopting the current LTE centralized scheduling mode, so that the transmission between the plurality of UEs on the second cell can not generate interference.

After receiving the channel occupation request, the second base station activates a second cell of the UE; or activating the second cell of the UE after sending the channel occupation response. After activation, the second base station may schedule the UE on the second cell, send downlink data to the UE or receive uplink data sent by the UE, and send some control signaling to the UE on the second cell.

And after receiving the channel occupation response sent by the second base station, the adjacent base station of the second base station does not initiate the communication with the UE under the base station on the second carrier within the channel occupation time indicated in the channel occupation response.

Step 450, the UE activates a second cell;

if step 440 is not executed, the UE activates the second cell after sending the channel occupying request of the LTE scheme and the channel occupying signaling of the WLAN scheme on the second carrier; if step 440 is executed, the UE activates the second cell after receiving the channel occupancy response sent by the second base station on the second carrier. After activating the second cell, the UE may start to monitor the scheduling from the second base station on the second cell, and transmit uplink data or receive downlink data according to the scheduling of the second base station, and the UE may transmit some control signaling on the second cell.

The above scheme is described below with reference to a specific network topology by way of example of a specific application.

Fig. 7 shows a network topology in a certain area, which illustrates low power base station nodes eNB1, eNB2, and eNB3 deployed with 3 LTE in the area. eNB1, eNB2, and eNB3 support both non-shared frequencies (e.g., authorized independent frequencies) and shareable frequencies, assuming that:

the eNB1 supports two frequencies F1 and F2, where F1 is an authorized frequency for independent use, F2 is a frequency that can be shared for use, 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 in actual deployment);

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 all 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 respectively configured with only cell2, cell4, and cell6 on F2, and in this case, eNB1, eNB2, and eNB3 are connected to the eNB supporting the non-shared frequency (e.g., the frequency authorized for independent use) in a certain manner, for example, by means of optical fiber cables, wireless microwaves, and the like.

Fig. 5 also deploys 2 WLAN APs (Access points, APs), 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.

Example 1

Taking the base station eNB2 and the UE5 in the network topology diagram in a certain area shown in fig. 7 as an example, which use the shared frequency F2, fig. 8 shows a signaling flow diagram of the frequency sharing method proposed by this example, which includes:

in this embodiment, before the eNB2 and the UE5 use the shared frequency F2, the UE5 has already established an RRC connection with the eNB2 on the cell3 configured by the eNB2, that is, the cell3 is a first cell of the UE5, and the frequency F3 used by the cell3 is a first carrier of the UE 5. The UE5 communicates with the eNB2 over the cell3, i.e., step 500 of fig. 8 the UE5 establishes an RRC connection with the eNB2 over the cell3 and the UE5 communicates with the eNB2 over the radio access link established with the cell 3.

Step 510, the eNB2 configures a second cell4 for the UE 5;

the eNB2, according to the service requirement and the load of the cell3, for example, the current service flow of the UE5 increases, and the load of the current cell3 is already high and is not enough to meet the newly increased service requirement of the UE5, the eNB2 configures a second cell4 for the UE5, and the cell4 uses the frequency F2, and the frequency F2 is a sharable frequency.

After eNB2 configures cell4 for UE5, the initial state of cell4 is inactive, except that eNB2 sends a channel occupancy request to UE5 on F2 when needed, and the base station does not schedule UE5 on cell 4. After receiving the configuration information of the cell4, the UE5 configures the cell4, but does not activate the cell4, the UE5 sends a channel occupancy signaling to the eNB2 on F2 except when needed, and the UE5 does not monitor the scheduling from the eNB2 on the cell 4.

Step 520, the eNB2 measures and judges whether the cell4 is available;

the eNB2 determines whether the cell4 is available through measurement. Specifically, the eNB2 listens to signals sent by a neighboring base station or a neighboring device on the F2, in this embodiment, the eNB2 may listen to signals from the neighboring eNB1 and the AP1, and if the signal strength of the neighboring base station/device on the F2 received by the eNB2 is higher than a preset value, it is determined that the cell4 is unavailable, otherwise, it is determined that the cell4 is available.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the eNB2 determines that the cell4 is available. For the case that the cell4 is unavailable, the eNB2 may continue to check whether the cell4 is available, or the eNB2 may continue to check whether the cell4 is available after a period of time T according to a preset algorithm.

Step 530, eNB2 sends a channel occupying request on frequency F2 of cell 4.

The eNB2 sends a channel occupying request of an LTE scheme on F2, specifically, the eNB2 sends the channel occupying request on a dedicated common channel for sending/receiving the channel occupying request, and 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. The channel occupancy request includes a Cell identifier of the Cell4, such as a Physical Cell Identity (PCI) Cell Global Identity (CGI), or another type of Cell identifier that can uniquely identify the Cell4 in the area shown in fig. 7, and the channel occupancy duration.

After receiving the channel occupying request transmitted by the eNB2, the eNB1 adjacent to the eNB2 does not initiate communication with UEs under the eNB2 on the F2 for the channel occupying time indicated in the channel occupying request.

Step 540, after receiving the channel occupying request sent by the eNB2, the UE5 sends a channel occupying response of the LTE scheme and a channel occupying signaling CTS-to-self of the WLAN scheme on F2, and activates the cell 4.

After receiving the channel occupation request sent by the eNB2, the LTE module in the UE5 notifies the WLAN module in the UE to notify the WLAN module F2 of the duration of the occupied channel. The UE5 then transmits a channel occupancy response for the LTE scheme and a channel occupancy signaling for the WLAN scheme on F2. The channel occupation response of the LTE scheme is sent on a dedicated common channel for sending/receiving a channel occupation signaling on F2, and the channel occupation response may be sent in a physical layer signaling manner, a medium access layer signaling manner, or a higher protocol layer radio resource management layer signaling manner. The channel occupancy response contains identification information of the UE5 and the channel occupancy duration. The UE5 first sends the channel occupancy response of the LTE scheme and then sends the CTS-to-self on F2.

After the UE5 finishes sending the channel occupation signaling, the cell4 is activated, and the UE5 starts to monitor the scheduling from the eNB2 in the cell 4.

It should be noted that, before the UE5 receives the channel occupancy request sent by the eNB2, and sends the channel occupancy response of the LTE scheme and the channel occupancy signaling CTS-to-self of the WLAN scheme on the F2, the UE5 needs to detect whether the F2 is available (whether the UE5 is idle), that is, the UE5 needs to detect whether the F2 is used by other UEs, WLAN devices, or base station devices in its radio frequency receiving range, and a specific UE5 can detect whether the F2 is available through an LTE module and a WLAN module inside the UE5, in this embodiment, the LTE module inside the UE5 performs measurement on the second cell4 using the frequency F2, and determines that the signal quality or signal strength of the cell4 is better than a preset value, then the cell4(F2) is available/idle, and the UE5 does not detect the channel occupancy signaling of other UEs or the eNB1 on the F2 or detects the channel occupancy of other UEs or the eNB1 but the indicated occupancy time has elapsed. In addition, the WLAN module inside the UE5 also detects that the AP1 does not occupy F2, and thus determines that F2 is available. In this embodiment, if other UEs that cannot receive the transmission signal of the UE5 under the eNB2 are also configured with the second cell using F2, after receiving the channel occupancy request sent by the eNB2, if it is determined that the F2 is idle, the UE may also send a channel occupancy response of the LTE scheme and a channel occupancy signaling CTS-to-self of the WLAN scheme on F2.

In step 550, after the eNB2 receives the channel occupancy response sent by the UE5, the eNB2 locally activates the cell4, that is, the eNB2 sets the cell4 to be in an activated state, and the eNB2 may start scheduling the UE5 on the cell4 to communicate with the UE 5.

After the AP1 receives 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.

Through the method, in step 530, after receiving the channel occupation request sent by eNB2, eNB1 in the vicinity of eNB2 does not initiate communication with UEs under eNB2 on F2 within the channel occupation time indicated in the channel occupation request, and in step 550, after receiving CTS-to-self sent by UE5, AP1 does not initiate data transmission on F2 within the channel occupation time duration indicated in the CTS-to-self, which can effectively solve the problem of avoiding interference of eNB1, UE5, AP1 to eNB2 and UE5 when eNB2 and UE5 communicate on sharable frequency F2, and finally realize shared use of sharable frequency F2 between different devices and different links.

Example two

Taking the example that the base station eNB3 and the UE4 in the network topology diagram in a certain area shown in fig. 7 use the shared frequency F2, fig. 9 shows a signaling flow diagram of another frequency sharing method, which includes:

in this embodiment, before the eNB3 and the UE4 use the shared frequency F2, the UE4 has already established an RRC connection with the eNB3 on the cell5 configured by the eNB3, that is, the cell5 is a first cell of the UE4, and the frequency F4 used by the cell5 is a first carrier of the UE 4. The UE4 communicates with the eNB3 over the cell5, i.e., step 600 of fig. 1 UE4 establishes an RRC connection with the eNB3 over the cell5 and UE4 communicates with the eNB3 over the radio access link established with the cell 5.

Step 610, eNB3 configures a second cell6 for UE 4. The eNB3 configures a second cell6 for the UE4 according to the traffic needs and the load of the cell 5.

After eNB3 configures cell6 for UE4, the initial state of cell6 is inactive.

The eNB3 may send data traffic that the eNB3 expects to communicate with the UE4 on the cell6 in a message configuring the cell 6.

Step 620, the UE4 detects whether the cell6 is available.

In this embodiment, the LTE module in the UE performs measurement, for example, measures CRS of the cell6, determines that signal quality or signal strength of the cell6 is better than a preset value, and the UE6 does not detect the UE3 or the channel occupancy signaling that can be monitored by the UE3 on the F2 or detects the channel occupancy signaling but indicates that the occupancy time has elapsed, and in addition, the WLAN module in the UE6 also detects that the AP2 does not occupy the F2, thereby determining that the cell6(F2) is available. If the UE4 determines that the cell6 is not available, the UE4 continues the test, or the UE4 continues to test whether the cell6 is available after a period of time T according to a preset algorithm.

Step 630, the UE4 sends a channel occupancy request of LTE scheme and a channel occupancy signaling CTS-to-self of WLAN scheme on the frequency F2 of the cell6, and activates the cell 6.

The UE4 sends a channel occupying request on a common channel dedicated to send/receive 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 identification information of the UE4 and a channel occupying duration. 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 UE4 finishes sending the channel occupation signaling, the cell6 is activated, and the UE4 starts to monitor the scheduling from the eNB3 in the cell 6.

After the AP2 and the UE3, which may receive the UE4 signal, receive the CTS-to-self sent by the UE4, data transmission is not initiated on F2 for the channel occupancy time indicated in the CTS-to-self.

In step 640, after the eNB3 receives the channel occupancy request sent by the UE4, the eNB3 locally activates the cell6, that is, the eNB3 sets the cell6 to be in an activated state, and the eNB3 may start scheduling the UE4 on the cell6 to communicate with the UE 4.

Through the method, in step 630, after receiving the CTS-to-self sent by the UE4, the AP2 and the UE3, which may receive the UE4 signal, do not initiate data transmission on the F2 within the channel occupation time indicated in the CTS-to-self, so that interference of the AP2 and the UE3 on the eNB3 and the UE4 may be avoided when the eNB3 and the UE4 communicate on the sharable frequency F2, and shared use of the sharable frequency F2 among different devices and different links is finally achieved.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps of the above methods may be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a program, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as a read-only memory, a magnetic or optical disk, and the like. Alternatively, all or part of the steps of the foregoing embodiments may also be implemented by using one or more integrated circuits, and accordingly, each module/unit in the foregoing embodiments may be implemented in the form of hardware, and may also be implemented in the form of a software functional module. The present invention is not limited to any specific form of combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A frequency sharing method is suitable for a multi-carrier scenario, and a User Equipment (UE) establishes a radio resource connection with a first base station on a first cell using a first carrier, and the method comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

7. The method of claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, wherein:

or

8. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized by:

9. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein:

10. The method of claim 6, wherein:

11. The method of claim 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, wherein:

12. A frequency sharing method is suitable for a multi-carrier scenario, a first base station establishes a radio resource connection with a User Equipment (UE) on a first cell using a first carrier, and the method comprises the following steps:

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the method further comprises the following steps:

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

15. The method of claim 12, wherein:

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

17. The method of claim 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 or 16, wherein:

18. The method of claim 13 or 14 or 15 or 16, wherein:

19. A user equipment, UE, comprising a mobile communication module for communicating with a base station in a multi-carrier scenario, wherein the mobile communication module comprises:

a second carrier processing unit comprising:

20. The user equipment of claim 19, wherein:

21. The user equipment of claim 19, wherein:

22. The user equipment of claim 21, wherein:

23. The user equipment of claim 19, wherein:

the user equipment further comprises a WLAN module;

24. The user equipment of claim 20, wherein:

25. The user equipment of claim 21, wherein:

26. The user equipment according to any of claims 19 to 25, characterized by:

or

the channel occupation subunit of the mobile communication module is further configured to notify the WLAN module to detect whether the second carrier is idle when detecting the signal on the second carrier; when the first condition and the second condition are determined to be met or the first condition and the third condition are determined to be met through detection and the detection result returned by the WLAN module is idle, determining that the second carrier is available and informing the WLAN module of sending a channel occupation signaling;

the WLAN module comprises:

27. A base station, comprising a first carrier processing module and a second carrier processing module for communicating with a user equipment, UE, in a multi-carrier scenario, wherein:

the first carrier processing module includes:

the second carrier processing module includes:

28. The base station of claim 27, wherein:

29. The base station of claim 27, wherein:

30. The base station of claim 27, wherein:

31. The base station of claim 30, wherein:

32. The base station of any of claims 27 to 31, wherein: