CN106941397B

CN106941397B - Method and apparatus for communicating over unlicensed frequency bands

Info

Publication number: CN106941397B
Application number: CN201610003950.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘壮
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2016-01-04
Filing date: 2016-01-04
Publication date: 2020-04-24
Anticipated expiration: 2036-01-04
Also published as: CN106941397A; WO2017118142A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a device for communication on an unauthorized frequency band, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the base station and the user equipment establish a data service borne on an unauthorized carrier; in the process of data transmission between the base station and the user equipment, the base station judges whether the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion or not; when the non-authorized carrier generates competition congestion, the base station increases the maximum retransmission times of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or increases the timing length of an RLC retransmission polling timer. Therefore, the retransmission adopts the quick retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible, the tolerance of the RLC retransmission is enhanced, the excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by that the unauthorized carrier resources are not obtained in time is avoided, the HARQ and RLC retransmission problems generated during the communication on the unauthorized frequency band are solved, the user time delay is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

Description

Method and apparatus for communicating over unlicensed frequency bands

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for communicating in an unlicensed frequency band.

Background

With the rapid increase of the traffic of the mobile internet, the load of the existing 3G and 4G networks of operators is continuously increased, and the network capacity needs to be increased urgently. However, the existing spectrum resources are seriously short, and for the related authorized frequency bands, especially the low frequency band resources with higher value are not only limited, but also rapidly consumed by the rapidly growing user groups and mobile internet services.

Currently, the 5GHz unlicensed band also has a significant portion of available spectrum, and operators and equipment manufacturers seek methods to fully utilize the band to increase the capacity of the entire network. In the R13(Release 13) standard developed by the third generation partnership Project (3rd 3GPP), an LAA (Licensed-Assisted to Unlicensed Spectrum) technology for operating LTE in an Unlicensed frequency band is defined, and the LAA technology is an authorized frequency band for assisting Access to the Unlicensed frequency band. Considering that a plurality of systems such as WIFI (wireless fidelity) and the like operate in the existing unlicensed frequency band, the design rule of the LAA technology is to ensure that the LAA and the existing Wi-Fi and other devices coexist fairly and use the unlicensed frequency band equally.

Due to the fact that LAA must consider WIFI and other system fair coexistence using an unlicensed frequency band, LAA cannot monopolize the unlicensed frequency band, which causes performance problems in data retransmission mechanisms such as Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ), Radio Link Control (RLC) and the like which operate well in the original LTE system.

The relevant LAA technology is currently defined by 3GPP in TR 36.889. LAA also expects LTE-compatible carrier aggregation techniques, where a Primary Cell (PCell) operates on a licensed Primary band and a Secondary Cell (SCell) operates on a Secondary band, and if the Secondary band is an unlicensed band, the SCell is also an unlicensed carrier (LAASCell). The 3GPP has specified in TR36.889 two strategies for HARQ retransmission on unlicensed carriers: one strategy is that HARQ retransmission occurs in the data transmission process of a certain unauthorized carrier, and HARQ retransmission data of the unauthorized carrier can be scheduled to a primary carrier (PCell) for transmission by cross-carrier scheduling, and the strategy is not recommended in the 3GPP standard because the method is not compatible with carrier aggregation of the current LTE; another strategy recommended by 3GPP is to follow a protocol agreement of carrier aggregation, where data transmission and retransmission can only be performed on one same carrier, and when HARQ data retransmission occurs on an unlicensed carrier, HARQ retransmission data still uses the same unlicensed carrier for transmission, and if several HARQ retransmissions exceed the maximum channel occupancy duration of the unlicensed carrier, only waiting for a listen-before-talk (LBT) contention for the unlicensed carrier resource before the next session, and then restarting an HARQ process to complete retransmission on the unlicensed carrier.

In the HARQ retransmission policy of the unlicensed carrier recommended by 3GPP, data first transmission and retransmission are limited on the same carrier resource, and due to the need to use the unlicensed carrier fairly with other systems such as WIFI and the like, the base station may not always successfully compete to the unlicensed carrier resource through the LBT process in time, and if the RLC retransmission polling timer of the RLC (AM RLC) configured in the acknowledged mode is overtime, and the HARQ still fails to complete transmission of retransmission data, the AM RLC layer may start RLC retransmission. This strategy is compatible with the carrier aggregation architecture of the 3GPP standard. However, if data is retransmitted continuously on the same unlicensed carrier, the LAA system is more prone to timeout retransmission than the RLC in the LTE system due to the uncertainty of obtaining only the unlicensed carrier resources, and a larger delay and retransmission cost are generated, even the RLC is reset.

Because RLC retransmission is slow retransmission, the cost is higher than that of HARQ retransmission, the time delay of data transmission of a user is greatly increased, and the data throughput rate of the user is reduced. Under the carrier aggregation framework, for one user, each carrier has an independent HARQ entity, and each HARQ entity contains multiple HARQ process sets. The TB blocks received by HARQ on multiple carriers of a user are all sent to the RLC layer and reordered by the RLC. RLC is not visible for carrier aggregation, and the TB block received by RLC may come from HARQ entities of multiple carriers. Therefore, in the unlicensed carrier HARQ retransmission policy recommended by 3GPP, if unlicensed carriers of multiple scells are configured for User Equipment (User Equipment, UE), as long as HARQ retransmission carrier resources on a certain unlicensed carrier are not obtained in time, it is easy to cause an AM RLC layer of the User to perform retransmission even if RLC retransmission reaches the maximum number of times, which causes RLC layer reset, so that RLC layer retransmission caused only by that bottom layer transmission resources are not obtained in time (instead of air interface quality) is against the original purpose of RLC protocol design, and data transmission efficiency is also greatly reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention mainly aims to provide a method and a device for communication in an unauthorized frequency band, which aim to solve the problems of HARQ and RLC retransmission generated during communication in the unauthorized frequency band and improve the data transmission efficiency.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for communicating in an unlicensed frequency band, comprising:

the base station and the user equipment establish a data service borne on an unauthorized carrier;

in the process of data transmission between the base station and the user equipment, the base station judges whether the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion or not;

when the non-authorized carrier generates competition congestion, the base station increases the maximum retransmission times of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or increases the timing length of an RLC retransmission polling timer.

Further, in the process of data transmission between the base station and the user equipment, the determining, by the base station, whether contention congestion occurs in the unlicensed carrier by the base station includes:

when the base station sends downlink data to the user equipment, the base station monitors LBT to compete for the unauthorized carrier resources before initiating a downlink session on the unauthorized carrier, and when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unauthorized carrier resources, the base station sends the downlink data to the user equipment through the unauthorized carrier;

the base station counts the number of times of downlink LBT initiated before the downlink data successfully contend to the unlicensed carrier resources for sending the downlink data or/and the time spent for initiating the downlink LBT before the downlink data successfully contend to the unlicensed carrier resources for sending the downlink data;

and when the times or/and the time exceed a threshold value, the base station judges that the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion, otherwise, the base station judges that the unauthorized carrier does not generate the competition congestion.

when the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station, the base station sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through a main carrier; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before sending the downlink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

and the base station acquires a measurement report reported by the user equipment, judges that the unauthorized carrier generates competitive congestion when the measurement report indicates that the times or/and the time exceed a threshold value, and judges that the unauthorized carrier does not generate the competitive congestion otherwise.

when the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station, the base station initiates downlink LBT on the unauthorized carrier to compete for the unauthorized carrier resource, and when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unauthorized carrier resource, an uplink scheduling command is sent to the user equipment through the unauthorized carrier; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before sending the downlink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

the base station counts the number of times of downlink LBT initiated before successfully competing to the non-authorized carrier resources for sending the uplink scheduling command or/and the time spent for initiating the downlink LBT before successfully competing to the non-authorized carrier resources for sending the uplink scheduling command;

the base station obtains the uplink LBT times or/and the time spent by the uplink LBT reported by the user equipment, when the sum of the uplink LBT times and the downlink LBT times or/and the sum of the time spent by the uplink LBT and the time spent by the downlink LBT exceeds a threshold value, the base station judges that the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion, otherwise, the base station judges that the unauthorized carrier does not generate the competition congestion.

Further, the method further comprises:

before the base station sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment or in the process of establishing data service carried by the base station and the user equipment on an unauthorized carrier, the base station initiates measurement control to the user equipment, requires the user equipment to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before the user equipment successfully competes for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT before the user equipment successfully competes for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource, and configures a corresponding reporting event according to the measurement result.

Further, the method further comprises:

before the base station sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment or in the process of establishing data service carried by the base station and the user equipment on an unlicensed carrier, the base station initiates measurement control to the user equipment, requires the user equipment to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing to the unlicensed carrier resources for sending the uplink data or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing to the unlicensed carrier resources for sending the uplink data, and configures a measurement result into a periodic measurement report.

The invention also provides a device for communication on the unauthorized frequency band, which is applied to a base station and comprises a service establishing module, a congestion judging module and a parameter adjusting module, wherein:

the service establishing module is used for establishing a data service borne on an unauthorized carrier with user equipment;

the congestion decision module is configured to decide whether the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion or not in a data transmission process between the base station and the user equipment;

the parameter adjusting module is configured to increase the maximum retransmission times of a hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ when the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion or increase the timing length of an RLC retransmission polling timer when a radio link control layer protocol RLC is configured in an acknowledged mode.

Further, the congestion decision module comprises:

a sending unit, configured to monitor LBT to compete for the unlicensed carrier resource before initiating a downlink session on the unlicensed carrier when downlink data is sent to the user equipment, and send the downlink data to the user equipment through the unlicensed carrier when downlink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resource;

a counting unit, configured to count a number of downlink LBTs initiated before successfully contending for the non-authorized carrier resource for sending the downlink data or/and a time taken for initiating downlink LBTs before successfully contending for the non-authorized carrier resource for sending the downlink data;

and the judging unit is used for judging that the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion when the times or/and the time exceed a threshold value, and otherwise, judging that the unauthorized carrier does not generate the competition congestion.

Further, the congestion decision module comprises:

a sending unit, configured to send an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through a primary carrier when the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before sending the downlink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

and the judging unit is used for acquiring the measurement report reported by the user equipment, judging that the unauthorized carrier generates competitive congestion when the measurement report indicates that the times or/and the time exceed a threshold value, and otherwise judging that the unauthorized carrier does not generate the competitive congestion.

Further, the congestion decision module comprises:

a sending unit, configured to initiate a downlink LBT on the unlicensed carrier to compete for the unlicensed carrier resource when the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station, and send an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through the unlicensed carrier when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resource; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before sending the downlink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

a counting unit, configured to count a number of downlink LBTs initiated before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for sending the uplink scheduling command or/and a time taken for initiating downlink LBTs before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for sending the uplink scheduling command;

a determining unit, configured to obtain the uplink LBT number reported by the user equipment or/and time spent by the uplink LBT, and when a sum of the uplink LBT number and the downlink LBT number or/and a sum of the time spent by the uplink LBT and the time spent by the downlink LBT exceeds a threshold value, determine that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, otherwise determine that the unlicensed carrier does not generate contention congestion.

Further, the apparatus further comprises a measurement control module, the measurement control module is configured to:

before the sending unit sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment or in the process of establishing the data service carried on the unauthorized carrier by the service establishing module and the user equipment, initiating measurement control to the user equipment to require the user equipment to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before the user equipment successfully competes for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT before the user equipment successfully competes for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource, and configuring a corresponding reporting event according to the measurement result.

before the sending unit sends an uplink scheduling command to the ue or during a process of establishing a data service carried on an unlicensed carrier by the service establishment module and the ue, initiating measurement control to the ue, requiring the ue to measure uplink LBT times initiated before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for sending the uplink data or/and time spent by initiating uplink LBT before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for sending the uplink data, and configuring a measurement result as a periodic measurement report.

The method for communicating on the unauthorized carrier wave provided by the invention carries out competition congestion judgment on the unauthorized carrier wave, when certain competition congestion of the unauthorized carrier wave carried by a service is detected, the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ is properly increased or the RLC retransmission polling timer is prolonged, so that the retransmission adopts the rapid retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible, the tolerance of the RLC retransmission is enhanced, the excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by that the unauthorized carrier wave resources are not obtained in time is avoided, the problems of the HARQ and the RLC retransmission generated when the communication is carried out on the unauthorized frequency band are solved, the user time delay is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a method for communication over an unlicensed frequency band according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for communication over an unlicensed frequency band according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram of a method for communication over an unlicensed frequency band according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for communication in an unlicensed frequency band according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram of a method for communication over an unlicensed frequency band according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method for communication over an unlicensed frequency band according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram of a method for communication on an unlicensed frequency band according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a block diagram of a system for communication in an unlicensed frequency band according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for communication in an unlicensed frequency band according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a block diagram of the congestion decision module of fig. 9.

The implementation, functional features and advantages of the objects of the present invention will be further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Detailed Description

It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

The main inventive concept of the present invention is that in the process of communication in the unlicensed frequency band, when the base station detects that the unlicensed carrier has certain contention congestion, the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ of the user is properly increased or the timing length of the AM RLC retransmission polling timer is extended, so that the retransmission occurs in the HARQ layer as much as possible, and the influence of too many unnecessary retransmissions of the AM RLC layer on the system performance is avoided. Since the unauthorized carrier can bear the uplink service and the downlink service, the invention simultaneously comprises a method for adjusting the HARQ or RLC parameters in the uplink service and a method for adjusting the HARQ or RLC parameters in the downlink service. The following is a detailed description of specific examples.

Example one

Referring to fig. 1, a method for communication in an unlicensed frequency band according to a first embodiment of the present invention is provided, including the following steps:

s11, the base station and the user equipment establish the data service carried on the unauthorized carrier.

The base station is preferably an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN), and the user equipment is preferably a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone and a tablet computer. The process of establishing the data service carried on the unlicensed carrier by the base station and the user equipment is the same as that in the prior art, and is not described herein again.

And S12, the base station and the user equipment perform data transmission. In the data transmission process, the base station determines whether contention congestion occurs in the unlicensed carrier, and when the contention congestion occurs, step S13 is performed.

The data service includes an uplink service and a downlink service, and correspondingly, the data transmission process includes a process in which the base station sends downlink data to the user equipment and a process in which the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station.

When a base station sends downlink data to user equipment, the base station initiates downlink LBT on an unauthorized carrier to compete for unauthorized carrier resources, and when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unauthorized carrier resources, the base station sends the downlink data to the user equipment through the unauthorized carrier; meanwhile, the base station counts the number of times of downlink LBT initiated before successfully competing to the unauthorized carrier resources for sending the downlink data or/and the time spent on initiating the downlink LBT before successfully competing to the unauthorized carrier resources for sending the downlink data, and carries out layer three filtering on the statistical result; when the number of initiated downlink LBT times or/and the time spent for initiating the downlink LBT exceed a threshold value, the base station judges that the non-authorized carrier generates competition congestion, otherwise, the base station judges that the non-authorized carrier does not generate the competition congestion. This process of downlink data transmission over the unlicensed carrier will be described in more detail in the following embodiments.

When uplink data transmission is performed through an unlicensed carrier, there are two main scheduling methods. One is main carrier scheduling, a base station sends an uplink scheduling command (PDCCH UL Grant) on a PCell main carrier, and user equipment sends uplink data on a designated unauthorized carrier when receiving the scheduling command; the other is the same carrier scheduling, the base station issues an uplink scheduling command (UL Grant) on the same unlicensed carrier, and the user equipment sends uplink data on the carrier when receiving the scheduling command. The two scheduling methods will be described in detail below.

A main carrier scheduling mode: when user equipment sends uplink data to a base station, the base station sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through a main carrier; after receiving the scheduling command, the user equipment initiates an uplink LBT on an unauthorized carrier to compete for an unauthorized carrier resource before uplink data occurs, when the uplink LBT successfully competes for the unauthorized carrier resource, the user equipment sends downlink data to the base station through the unauthorized carrier, measures the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource, and sends a measurement report to the base station after performing layer three filtering on a measurement result; the base station obtains a measurement report (such as a specific measurement value) reported by the user equipment, when the measurement report indicates that the number of times of initiating the uplink LBT or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT exceeds a threshold value, the base station judges that the unauthorized carrier generates the competitive congestion, otherwise, the base station judges that the unauthorized carrier does not generate the competitive congestion. This process of uplink data transmission by the unlicensed carrier in the primary carrier scheduling manner will be described in more detail in the following embodiments.

Further, before the base station sends the uplink scheduling command to the ue or during the process of establishing the data service carried by the base station and the ue on the unlicensed carrier, the base station initiates measurement control to the ue, requires the ue to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource or/and the time spent on initiating uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource, and configures corresponding filtering parameters of layer three, and requires the ue to configure a corresponding reporting event according to the measurement result, for example, when the number of times of the initiated uplink LBT or/and the time spent on initiating uplink LBT exceeds a threshold, requires the ue to report a first event to the base station, otherwise, reports a second event to the base station. At this time, the measurement report reported by the ue is reported as the event information.

The same carrier scheduling mode: when user equipment sends uplink data to a base station, the base station initiates downlink LBT on an unauthorized carrier to compete for unauthorized carrier resources, and when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unauthorized carrier resources, an uplink scheduling command is sent to the user equipment through the unauthorized carrier; after receiving an uplink scheduling command, user equipment initiates an uplink LBT on an unauthorized carrier to compete for an unauthorized carrier resource before uplink data occurs, when the uplink LBT successfully competes for the unauthorized carrier resource, downlink data is sent to a base station through the unauthorized carrier, the number of times of the initiated uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unauthorized carrier resource are measured, and measurement results are sent to the base station after layer three filtering; the base station counts the number of times of downlink LBT initiated before successfully competing to the unauthorized carrier resources for sending the uplink scheduling command or/and the time spent on initiating the downlink LBT before successfully competing to the unauthorized carrier resources for sending the uplink scheduling command; the base station obtains the uplink LBT times or/and the time spent by the uplink LBT reported by the user equipment, when the sum of the uplink LBT times and the downlink LBT times or/and the sum of the time spent by the uplink LBT and the time spent by the downlink LBT exceeds a threshold value, the non-authorized carrier is judged to generate competitive congestion, otherwise, the non-authorized carrier is judged not to generate the competitive congestion. The procedure of uplink data transmission by using unlicensed carriers in the same carrier scheduling manner will be described in more detail in the following embodiments.

Further, before the base station sends the uplink scheduling command to the ue or during the process of establishing the data service carried by the base station and the ue on the unlicensed carrier, the base station initiates measurement control to the ue, requires the ue to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource or/and the time taken to initiate uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource, configures corresponding filtering parameters of layer three, and requires the ue to configure the measurement result as a periodic measurement report, for example, requires the ue to send the number of times or/and the time measurement result to the base station at every preset time.

S13, the base station increases the maximum number of retransmissions for HARQ or increases the timing length of the RLC retransmission poll timer.

Specifically, when the base station determines that contention congestion occurs to the unlicensed carrier in the process of sending downlink data to the ue, the HARQ or RLC parameter is adjusted at the base station side. Such as: the maximum retransmission times of the downlink HARQ of the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the user equipment at the base station side are increased (the user equipment does not need to know the maximum retransmission times of the downlink HARQ and only needs to decide to perform soft combining (retransmission) or clear the HARQ buffer according to the received NDI), so that the retransmission adopts the fast retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible; if the user downlink service RLC is configured in an Acknowledged (AM) mode, the timing length of a downlink RLC retransmission polling timer (such as t-PollRecransmit) carried by the user service at the base station side is increased so as to enhance the tolerance of RLC retransmission and avoid excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by untimely acquisition of unauthorized carrier resources.

When the base station judges that the contention congestion occurs to the unauthorized carrier in the process of sending the uplink data to the base station by the user equipment, the base station initiates an RRC Connection Reconfiguration process to adjust the uplink HARQ or RLC parameters of the user. Such as: the maximum retransmission times of the uplink HARQ of the MAC layer at the user equipment side are increased, so that the retransmission adopts the quick retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible; if the user side uplink RLC is configured on the AM mode, the timing length of the uplink RLC retransmission polling timer configured by the service RB is increased so as to enhance the tolerance of RLC retransmission and avoid excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by untimely acquisition of the unauthorized carrier resources.

Further, after the maximum number of retransmissions of the HARQ is increased or the timing length of the RLC retransmission polling timer is increased, when the base station detects that contention congestion of the unlicensed carrier is released (for example, the aforementioned LBT number or/and LBT time is less than or equal to the threshold value), the initial parameters of the HARQ or the RLC are recovered. For example, the maximum retransmission number for recovering the HARQ is set as an initial value, or the timing length of the RLC retransmission polling timer is set as an initial value.

Example two

Referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3, a method for communication in an unlicensed frequency band according to a second embodiment of the present invention is provided, where in this embodiment, for example, downlink data is transmitted through an unlicensed carrier, in this embodiment, a base station is preferably EUTRAN, and a UE represents a user equipment, where the method includes the following steps:

and S21, EUTRAN and UE establish data service carried on the unauthorized carrier.

In step S21, the UE and EUTRAN establish a downlink service bearer on the unlicensed carrier.

S22, before EUTRAN sends downlink data to UE, initiate downlink LBT on the unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources. When the downlink LBT successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier resource, step S23 is performed.

The downlink data to be transmitted may be new data received by EUTRAN and required to be transmitted to the UE, or may be HARQ retransmission data.

S23, EUTRAN sends downlink data to the UE through the unlicensed carrier.

And when the downlink LBT successfully competes to the unauthorized carrier resources, the EUTRAN sends downlink data to the UE on the unauthorized carrier.

S24, EUTRAN statistics NumLBT_DLFailureOr/and LBT_DLTime。

When the downlink LBT successfully competes to the unauthorized carrier resource, the ETURAN counts the NumLBT_DLFailureOr statistical LBT_DLTimeOr simultaneously counting NumLBT_DLFailureAnd LBT_DLTimeAnd performing layer three filtering on the statistical data. Wherein:

NumLBT_DLFailure: the number of LBT failures before downlink LBT is initiated for EUTRAN to send downlink data and successfully contend for the unlicensed carrier, in other words, the number of downlink LBT failures initiated before EUTRAN successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier resource for sending downlink data.

LBT_DLTime: the time required for EUTRAN to initiate downlink LBT for transmitting downlink data and successfully contend before the unlicensed carrier, in other words, the time taken for EUTRAN to initiate downlink LBT before successfully contending for transmitting downlink data before the unlicensed carrier resource.

The process of performing layer three filtering on the statistical data may refer to a layer three filtering process described in the 3GPP TS36.331 protocol, which is not described herein again.

Steps S23 and S24 may also be performed simultaneously.

S25, EUTRAN according to NumLBT_DLFailureOr/and LBT_DLTimeAnd carrying out competition congestion judgment. When it is determined that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, performing step S26; and when the unauthorized carrier is judged not to generate the competition congestion, ending the process.

Specifically, the determination condition for determining the congestion condition of the unlicensed carrier set carried by the downlink data by the EUTRAN is as follows:

congestion decision condition 1:

NumLBT_DLFailure-HysLBT_DLFailure>LBT_DLFailureThresh；

wherein, NumLBT_DLFailureInitiating downlink LBT for EUTRAN due to downlink data transmission and successfully competing for LBT failure times before unauthorized carrier, HysLBT_DLFailureFor a hysteresis parameter of a set downlink LBT failure count, LBT_DLFailureThresh is a threshold value (i.e., a maximum threshold parameter) of the set downlink LBT failure times.

Congestion decision condition 2:

LBT_DLTime-HysLBT_DLTime>LBT_DLTimeThresh；

wherein, LBT_DLTimeThe time required for EUTRAN to initiate downlink LBT and successfully compete to the front of an unauthorized carrier, HysLBT, due to the transmission of downlink data_DLTimeHysteresis parameter, LBT, for time statistic required for successful contention of set downlink LBT to resource_DLTimeThresh is the threshold value (i.e. the maximum threshold parameter) of the time statistic required for successful contention of the downlink LBT to the resource.

EUTRAN may consider either or both of the congestion decision conditions 1 and 2 according to a specific Quality of Service (QOS) when making a congestion decision. For example: when the congestion judgment condition 1 is met, judging that the competitive congestion is generated; or when the congestion judgment condition 2 is satisfied, judging that the competitive congestion is generated; or when the congestion decision conditions 1 and 2 are satisfied at the same time, it is decided that the competitive congestion is generated.

S26, EUTRAN increases the maximum number of HARQ retransmissions or increases the timing length of the RLC retransmission poll timer.

Specifically, when EUTRAN determines that contention congestion occurs when uplink data of a user is transmitted through an unlicensed carrier, EUTRAN determines that the maximum retransmission times of downlink HARQ of the user at the MAC layer of the EUTRAN end are from the maximum retransmission times of the downlink HARQ of the user at the MAC layer of the EUTRAN end

(initial value at service establishment, in generalIs 4) adjusted to

Based on the quality of service QOS,

generally, the configuration is slightly larger than the initial value, for example, 6, 8, and the like, and mainly increases the contention tolerance to the unlicensed carrier to a certain extent, reduces the data packet loss, and allows the data retransmission to occur in the HARQ layer as much as possible.

If the RLC of the downlink data is configured on the AM mode, EUTRAN transfers the timing length of the downlink RLC retransmission polling timer in the service RB bearer from

(initial value of configuration at RB establishment) is adjusted to

The adjusted value can be larger than the initial value, and can be set according to the service QOS, mainly increasing the competition tolerance to the unauthorized carrier wave to a certain extent, and avoiding unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer.

Further, after the maximum number of retransmissions of the HARQ is increased or the timing length of the RLC retransmission polling timer is increased, when EUTRAN detects that contention congestion for transmitting downlink data of the user through an unlicensed carrier is released, EUTRAN recovers the initial parameters of the HARQ or the RLC.

The condition for deciding congestion relief on the unauthorized carrier set carried by the downlink data is as follows:

congestion relief decision condition 1:

NumLBT_DLFailure+HysLBT_DLFailure<LBT_DLFailureThresh；

congestion relief decision condition 2:

LBT_DLTime+HysLBT_DLTime<LBT_DLTimeThresh。

and when the congestion relief judgment condition 1 is met, the congestion relief judgment condition 2 is met or the congestion relief judgment conditions 1 and 2 are met simultaneously, the EUTRAN judges that the congestion on the unauthorized carrier set carried by the UE downlink data is relieved.

The initial parameters of the EUTRAN recovery HARQ or RLC are specifically: EUTRAN transmits the maximum number of times of downlink HARQ of the user at the MAC layer of the EUTRAN end

Is adjusted to

(i.e., an initial value); if the downlink data RLC is configured on the AM mode, EUTRAN retransmits the downlink RLC in the service RB load to the polling timer

Is adjusted to

(i.e., an initial value).

EXAMPLE III

Referring to fig. 4 and fig. 5, a method for communication in an unlicensed frequency band according to a third embodiment of the present invention is provided, where in this embodiment, for example, uplink data transmission is performed in a primary carrier scheduling manner through an unlicensed carrier, in this embodiment, a base station is preferably EUTRAN, and a UE represents a user equipment, where the method includes the following steps:

and S31, EUTRAN and UE establish data service carried on the unauthorized carrier.

In step S31, the UE and EUTRAN establish an uplink service bearer on the unlicensed carrier.

S32, EUTRAN initiates measurement control to UE, and requires UE to measure NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeAnd configuring a corresponding reporting event according to the measurement result.

Specifically, the EUTRAN initiates measurement control to the UE side, and the EUTRAN sends an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to the UE, where the measConfig cell carried in the message requests the UE to perform NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeMeasuring the data, configuring corresponding three-layer filtering parameters, and measuringAnd configuring a corresponding reporting event. After receiving the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message, the UE configures the corresponding measurement parameters and returns an RRCConnectionReconfiguration complet to the EUTRAN terminal. Wherein:

NumLBT_ULFailure: the number of LBT failures before the UE initiates uplink LBT for sending uplink data and successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier, in other words, the number of downlink LBT failures before the UE successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier resource for sending downlink data.

LBT_ULTime: the time required for the UE to initiate the uplink LBT for transmitting the uplink data and successfully contend before the unlicensed carrier, in other words, the time taken for the UE to initiate the downlink LBT before successfully contending for the unlicensed carrier resources for transmitting the downlink data.

It should be understood that, in addition to separately initiating the RRCConnectionReconfiguration procedure to configure the measurement parameters like step S32 of the present embodiment, the measurement parameters may also be configured in the RRCConnectionSetup procedure when the data traffic is established in step S31, and the two processes are similar.

S33, EUTRAN sends uplink scheduling command to UE through main carrier.

Specifically, EUTRAN sends an uplink scheduling command UL Grant to the UE on the PCell primary carrier.

S34, after receiving the uplink scheduling command, the UE initiates an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources before sending uplink data. When the uplink LBT successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier resource, step S35 is performed.

And S35, the UE sends uplink data to the EUTRAN through the unlicensed carrier.

In step S35, the UE sends uplink service data to EUTRAN on the unlicensed carrier.

S36, UE measures NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTime. Judging whether an event triggering condition is met; when the event trigger condition is satisfied, performing step S37; and when the event trigger condition is not met, ending the process.

Specifically, the UE measures Num according to the measurement parameters configured in step S32LBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeAnd performing layer three filtering on the measurement result.

When the following event triggering conditions are met, the UE reports a measurement report to the EUTRAN terminal.

A1 event triggers condition 1:

NumLBT_ULFailure-HysLBT_ULFailure>LBT_ULFailureThresh

wherein, NumLBT_ULFailureInitiating uplink LBT for UE due to sending uplink data and successfully competing for LBT failure times before an unauthorized carrier, HysLBT_ULFailureHysteresis parameter for measuring uplink LBT failure times statistic configured for UE in control command, LBT_ULFailureThresh is an uplink LBT failure time threshold value configured for the UE in the measurement control command.

A1 event triggers condition 2:

LBT_ULTime-HysLBT_ULTime>LBT_ULTimeThresh

wherein, LBT_ULTimeThe time required for UE to initiate uplink LBT and successfully compete to the front of the unlicensed carrier wave due to the transmission of uplink data, HysLBT_ULTimeHysteresis parameter, LBT, for measuring time statistic required for successful contention to resource of uplink LBT configured for UE in control command_ULTimeThresh is a threshold value of time required for successfully competing the uplink LBT configured for the UE in the measurement control command to the resource.

When the A1 event triggering condition 1 is met, the UE reports NumLBT to the EUTRAN terminal_ULFailureThe a1 event of the measurement; or/and when the A1 event trigger condition 2 is met, the UE reports the LBT to the EUTRAN terminal_ULTimeMeasured a1 event.

S37, the UE reports the measurement report to EUTRAN.

In this embodiment, the measurement report is NumLBT_ULFailureMeasured A1 event or/and LBT_ULTimeMeasured a1 event.

And S38, EUTRAN judges the competition congestion according to the measurement report. When it is determined that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, performing step S39; and when the unauthorized carrier is judged not to generate the competition congestion, ending the process.

Specifically, EUTRAN may receive NumLBT reported by UE according to the service QOS requirement_ULFailureMeasured A1 event or LBT_ULTimeAt the event of a1 of the measurement, or simultaneous receipt of NumLBT within a time period_ULFailureAnd LBT_ULTimeWhen the a1 event report of two measurement values, it is determined that contention congestion occurs when the UE transmits uplink data through an unlicensed carrier.

S39, EUTRAN increases the maximum number of HARQ retransmissions or increases the timing length of the RLC retransmission poll timer.

In step S39, when it is determined that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, EUTRAN adjusts the maximum number of uplink HARQ retransmissions or the RLC retransmission polling timer on the UE side through the RRC reconfiguration process.

Specifically, assume that the maximum number of uplink HARQ retransmissions of the current UE side is an initial value

(initial value at service establishment, generally 4), the timing length of the RLC retransmission poll timer is the initial value for service establishment

(for the uplink AM RLC mode), the EUTRAN sends an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to the UE, and the UE is informed of configuring the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ of the uplink service into the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ of the uplink service by carrying a MAC-MainConfig cell in the message

Or by carrying an RLC-Config cell (for uplink AM RLC mode) in this message to inform the UE to adjust the timing length of the RLC timer for uplink traffic to

Therefore, the competition tolerance of the unauthorized carrier is increased to a certain extent, the data packet loss is reduced, the data retransmission is carried out on the HARQ layer as much as possible, and the unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer is avoided.

Further, after the maximum number of retransmissions of the HARQ is increased or the timing length of the RLC retransmission polling timer is increased, when EUTRAN detects that contention congestion for transmitting uplink data of the user through an unlicensed carrier is released, EUTRAN recovers the initial parameters of the HARQ or the RLC.

Specifically, when EUTRAN receives NumLBT reported by UE_ULFailureMeasured A2 event or LBT_ULTimeAt the event of a2 of the measurement, or simultaneous receipt of NumLBT within a time period_ULFailureAnd LBT_ULTimeWhen the A2 event of the two measured values is reported, the contention congestion of the UE for sending the uplink data through the unauthorized carrier is determined to be relieved. When the following event triggering conditions are met, the UE reports a measurement report of an A2 event to the EUTRAN terminal.

A2 event triggers condition 1:

NumLBT_ULFailure+HysLBT_ULFailure<LBT_ULFailureThresh

a2 event triggers condition 2:

LBT_ULTime+HysLBT_ULTime<LBT_ULTimeThresh

when the A2 event triggering condition 1 is met, the UE reports NumLBT to the EUTRAN terminal_ULFailureThe a2 event of the measurement; or/and when the A2 event trigger condition 2 is met, the UE reports the LBT to the EUTRAN terminal_ULTimeMeasured a2 event.

The initial parameters of the EUTRAN recovery HARQ or RLC are specifically: EUTRAN sends RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to UE, and informs UE to configure the maximum retransmission times of HARQ of uplink service as initial value by carrying MAC-MainConfig cell in the message

Or the UE is informed to configure the timing length of the RLC timer of the uplink service to an initial value by carrying an RLC-Config information element (aiming at the uplink AM RLC mode) in the message

In some embodiments, the UE sends measurement reports to EUTRANOr directly NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeMeasured by EUTRAN according to NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeThe congestion decision is made, and the specific decision process is similar to step S25 in the second embodiment.

In some embodiments, step S32 may be omitted, and instead, in step S33, the uplink scheduling command sent by EUTRAN to UE via primary carrier carries the requirement for UE to measure NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeThe information of (1). Subsequent UE sends NumLBT to EUTRAN_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeIs reported by EUTRAN according to NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeThe congestion decision is made, and the specific decision process is similar to step S25 in the second embodiment.

Referring to fig. 6 and fig. 7, a method for communicating on an unlicensed frequency band according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention is provided, where in this embodiment, an example is taken that uplink data transmission is performed in a same-carrier scheduling manner through an unlicensed carrier, in this embodiment, a base station is preferably EUTRAN, and a UE represents a user equipment, where the method includes the following steps:

and S41, EUTRAN and UE establish data service carried on the unauthorized carrier.

In step S41, the UE and EUTRAN establish an uplink service bearer on the unlicensed carrier.

S42, EUTRAN initiates measurement control to UE, and requires UE to measure NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeAnd configures a periodic measurement report according to the measurement result.

Specifically, the EUTRAN initiates measurement control to the UE side, and the EUTRAN sends an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to the UE, where the measConfig cell carried in the message requests the UE to perform NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeAnd measuring the data, configuring corresponding layer three filtering parameters, and configuring the measurement result into a periodic measurement report. After receiving the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message, the UE configures the corresponding measurement parameters and returns an RRCConnectionReconfiguration complet to the EUTRAN terminal. Wherein:

It should be understood that, in addition to separately initiating the RRCConnectionReconfiguration procedure to configure the measurement parameters like step S42 of the present embodiment, the measurement parameters may also be configured in the RRCConnectionSetup procedure when the data traffic is established in step S41, and the two processes are similar.

S43, before EUTRAN sends uplink scheduling command to UE, downlink LBT is initiated on the unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources. When the downlink LBT successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier resource, step S44 is performed.

Since the present embodiment adopts the uplink same carrier scheduling manner, before the EUTRAN sends the uplink scheduling command on the unlicensed carrier, it needs to perform downlink LBT on the unlicensed carrier to compete for the carrier resource.

S44, EUTRAN sends uplink scheduling command to UE through unlicensed carrier.

When the downlink LBT successfully competes to the unlicensed carrier, EUTRAN sends an uplink scheduling command (UL Grant) to the UE on the unlicensed carrier.

S45, after receiving the uplink scheduling command, the UE initiates an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources before sending uplink data. When the uplink LBT successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier resource, step S46 is performed.

The unlicensed carrier contended by the UE and the unlicensed carrier of the uplink scheduling command sent by the EUTRAN are the same carrier.

And S46, the UE sends uplink data to the EUTRAN through the unlicensed carrier.

S47, UE measurementNumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTime。

Specifically, the UE measures NumLBT according to the configured measurement parameters in step S42_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeAnd performing layer three filtering on the measurement result.

S48, EUTRAN statistics

Or/and

in particular, EUTRAN pairs

Or/and

and carrying out statistics, and carrying out layer three filtering on the statistical result. Wherein:

the number of LBT failures before the EUTRAN initiates uplink LBT due to sending the uplink scheduling command and successfully contends to the unlicensed carrier is the EUTRAN, in other words, the number of downlink LBT failures before the EUTRAN successfully contends to the unlicensed carrier resource for sending the uplink scheduling command is the EUTRAN.

The time required for EUTRAN to initiate uplink LBT due to sending the uplink scheduling command and successfully contend before the unlicensed carrier, in other words, the time taken for EUTRAN to initiate downlink LBT before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for sending the uplink scheduling command.

Step S48 may be performed simultaneously with step S44, or before or simultaneously with any of steps S45-S47.

S49, the UE reports the periodic measurement report to EUTRAN.

In step S49, the UE reports NumLBT to EUTRAN_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimePeriodic measurement reports.

S50, EUTRAN according to NumLBT_ULFailureAnd

sum, or/and LBT_ULTimeAnd

and the sum is used for carrying out competition congestion judgment. When it is determined that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, performing step S51; and when the unauthorized carrier is judged not to generate the competition congestion, ending the process.

Specifically, the determination condition for determining the congestion condition of the unlicensed carrier set carried by the uplink data by the EUTRAN is as follows:

congestion decision condition 1:

wherein, NumLBT_ULFailureFor the LBT failure times before the UE initiates uplink LBT for sending uplink data and successfully contends for an unlicensed carrier,

for the number of LBT failures before the EUTRAN initiates uplink LBT due to sending the uplink scheduling command and successfully contends to the unlicensed carrier,

for a hysteresis parameter set about the statistics of the number of LBT failures involved in uplink traffic,

the method is a threshold value of the number of LBT failures related to the set uplink service.

Congestion decision condition 2:

wherein, LBT_ULTimeIn order to provide the UE with the time required to initiate uplink LBT for transmitting uplink data and successfully contend for the unlicensed carrier front,

for the time required for EUTRAN to initiate uplink LBT due to sending uplink scheduling command and successfully contend to the front of the unlicensed carrier,

for a given hysteresis parameter regarding the time statistics needed for LBT involved in uplink traffic,

the time statistic threshold value is set for LBT related to uplink service.

When performing congestion decision, EUTRAN may consider either or both of congestion decision conditions 1 and 2 according to the specific traffic QOS. For example: when the congestion judgment condition 1 is met, judging that the competitive congestion is generated; or when the congestion judgment condition 2 is satisfied, judging that the competitive congestion is generated; or when the congestion decision conditions 1 and 2 are satisfied at the same time, it is decided that the competitive congestion is generated.

S51, EUTRAN increases the maximum number of HARQ retransmissions or increases the timing length of the RLC retransmission poll timer.

In step S51, when it is determined that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, EUTRAN adjusts the maximum number of uplink HARQ retransmissions or the RLC retransmission polling timer on the UE side through the RRC reconfiguration process.

The condition for deciding congestion relief on the unlicensed carrier set carried by the uplink data is as follows:

congestion relief decision condition 1:

congestion relief decision condition 2:

The initial parameters of the EUTRAN recovery HARQ or RLC are specifically: EUTRAN transmitting RRCConThe connectionReconfiguration message is sent to the UE, and the MAC-MainConfig cell is carried in the message to inform the UE to configure the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ of the uplink service as an initial value

In some embodiments, step S42 may be omitted, and instead, in step S44, the uplink scheduling command sent by EUTRAN to UE via unlicensed carrier carries the requirement for UE to measure NumLBT_ULFailureOr/and LBT_ULTimeThe information of (1).

The method for communicating on the unauthorized carrier wave of the invention carries out competition congestion judgment on the unauthorized carrier wave, when certain competition congestion of the unauthorized carrier wave carried by the service is detected, the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ is properly increased or the RLC retransmission polling timer is prolonged, so that the retransmission adopts the rapid retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible, the tolerance of the RLC retransmission is enhanced, the excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by not obtaining the unauthorized carrier wave resource in time is avoided, the HARQ and RLC retransmission problems generated during the communication on the unauthorized frequency band are solved, the user time delay is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

EXAMPLE five

Referring to fig. 8, a system for communicating on an unlicensed frequency band according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention is provided, where the system includes a base station 100 and a user equipment 200, where the base station 100 is preferably EUTRAN, and the user equipment 200 is preferably a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone and a tablet computer, and may also be other terminal equipment.

Base station 100: for establishing a data service carried on an unlicensed carrier with the user equipment 200; in the process of data transmission with the user equipment 200, judging whether the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion; when contention congestion occurs on an unlicensed carrier, the maximum number of retransmissions of HARQ is increased or the timing length of the RLC retransmission poll timer is increased (when RLC is configured in acknowledged mode).

The user equipment 200: the method is used for establishing a data service carried on an unlicensed carrier with the base station 100, and performing data transmission with the base station 100, including sending uplink data to the base station 100 and receiving downlink data sent by the base station 100.

The data service includes an uplink service and a downlink service, which will be discussed separately below.

For downlink service, before the base station 100 sends downlink data to the user equipment 200, the base station 100 initiates downlink LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources, and when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resources, sends the downlink data to the user equipment 200 through the unlicensed carrier; meanwhile, the base station 100 counts the number of downlink LBT times initiated before successfully competing to the unlicensed carrier resources for transmitting downlink data or/and the time spent by initiating downlink LBT before successfully competing to the unlicensed carrier resources for transmitting downlink data, and performs layer three filtering on the counted result; when the number of times of initiating downlink LBT or/and the time spent initiating downlink LBT exceeds a threshold value, the base station 100 determines that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, otherwise, determines that the unlicensed carrier does not generate contention congestion.

When the base station 100 decides that contention congestion occurs for an unlicensed carrier, the parameters of HARQ or RLC are adjusted on the base station 100 side. Such as: the maximum retransmission times of the downlink HARQ of the MAC address of the ue 200 at the base station 100 side are increased (the ue 200 does not need to know the maximum retransmission times of the downlink HARQ, and only needs to determine whether to perform soft combining (retransmission) or clear the HARQ buffer according to the received NDI), so that the retransmission is as fast as possible using HARQ; if the user downlink service RLC is configured in an Acknowledged (AM) mode, the timing length of the downlink RLC retransmission polling timer carried by the user service at the base station 100 side is increased to enhance the RLC retransmission tolerance, thereby avoiding excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused only by non-timely acquisition of the unlicensed carrier resources.

There are two main scheduling modes for uplink data transmission through an unlicensed carrier in an uplink service. One is primary carrier scheduling, the base station 100 sends an uplink scheduling command on its PCell primary carrier, and the user equipment 200 sends uplink data on a designated unlicensed carrier upon receiving the scheduling command; the other is the same carrier scheduling, the base station 100 sends an uplink scheduling command on the same unlicensed carrier, and the user equipment 200 sends uplink data on the carrier when receiving the scheduling command. The two scheduling methods will be described in detail below.

A main carrier scheduling mode: the base station 100 sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment 200 through the primary carrier; after receiving the uplink scheduling command, the user equipment 200 initiates an uplink LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources before uplink data occurs, when the uplink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resources, downlink data is sent to the base station 100 through the unlicensed carrier, and simultaneously, the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending the uplink data for the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time spent for sending the uplink data to initiate the uplink LBT before successfully competing for the unlicensed carrier resources for sending the uplink data are measured, and a measurement report is sent to the base station 100 after performing layer three filtering on a measurement result; the base station 100 obtains the measurement report reported by the user equipment 200, when the measurement report indicates that the number of times of initiating the uplink LBT or/and the time spent initiating the uplink LBT exceeds a threshold value, it determines that the unauthorized carrier generates contention congestion, otherwise, it determines that the unauthorized carrier does not generate contention congestion.

Further, before the base station 100 sends the uplink scheduling command to the ue 200 or during the process of establishing the data service carried by the base station 100 and the ue 200 on the unlicensed carrier, the base station 100 initiates measurement control to the ue 200, and requires the ue 200 to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource or/and the time spent on initiating uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource, and configure corresponding layer three filtering parameters, and require the ue 200 to configure a corresponding reporting event according to the measurement result, for example, when the number of times of the initiated uplink LBT or/and the time spent on initiating uplink LBT exceed a threshold, require the ue 200 to report the first event to the base station 100, or report the second event to the base station 100; the user equipment 200 configures measurement parameters according to the measurement control. At this time, the measurement report reported by the ue 200 reports the event information.

The same carrier scheduling mode: the base station 100 initiates downlink LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources, and when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resources, sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through the unlicensed carrier; after receiving the uplink scheduling command, the user equipment 200 initiates an uplink LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources before uplink data occurs, when the uplink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resources, the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station 100 through the unlicensed carrier, measures the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending the uplink data for the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time spent by initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data for the unlicensed carrier resources, and sends the measurement results to the base station 100 after performing layer three filtering; the base station 100 counts the number of downlink LBT times initiated before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for transmitting the uplink scheduling command or/and the time spent for initiating the downlink LBT before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for transmitting the uplink scheduling command; the base station 100 obtains the measurement result reported by the user equipment 200, thereby obtaining the uplink LBT times or/and the time spent by the uplink LBT, when the sum of the uplink LBT times and the downlink LBT times or/and the sum of the time spent by the uplink LBT and the time spent by the downlink LBT exceeds a threshold value, it is determined that the unauthorized carrier generates contention congestion, otherwise, it is determined that the unauthorized carrier does not generate contention congestion.

Further, before the base station 100 sends the uplink scheduling command to the ue 200 or during the process of establishing the data service carried by the base station 100 and the ue 200 on the unlicensed carrier, the base station 100 initiates measurement control to the ue 200, and requires the ue 200 to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource or/and the time taken to initiate uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource, configure corresponding layer three filtering parameters, and require the ue 200 to configure the measurement result as a periodic measurement report, for example, require the ue 200 to send the number of times or/and the time measurement result to the base station at preset intervals; the user equipment 200 configures measurement parameters according to the measurement control.

When the base station 100 determines that contention congestion occurs in an unlicensed carrier during the uplink data transmission process from the ue 200 to the base station 100, the base station 100 initiates an RRC Connection Reconfiguration process to adjust the uplink HARQ or RLC parameters of the user, that is, notifies the ue 200 to adjust the uplink HARQ or RLC parameters. Such as: the maximum retransmission times of the uplink HARQ of the MAC layer at the user equipment 200 side are increased, so that the retransmission adopts the quick retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible; if the uplink RLC at the user equipment 200 side is configured in the AM mode, the timing length of the uplink RLC retransmission polling timer configured by the service RB is increased so as to enhance the tolerance of RLC retransmission and avoid excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by untimely acquisition of the unauthorized carrier resources.

Further, after the maximum number of retransmissions of the HARQ is increased or the timing length of the RLC retransmission polling timer is increased, when the base station 100 detects that the contention congestion of the unlicensed carrier is released (for example, the aforementioned LBT number or/and LBT time is less than or equal to the threshold value), the initial parameter of the HARQ or the RLC is recovered. For example, the maximum retransmission number of the HARQ is recovered as an initial value, or the timing length of the LC retransmission poll timer is recovered as an initial value.

It should be understood that the system for communicating on the unlicensed frequency band and the method embodiment for communicating on the unlicensed frequency band provided in the foregoing embodiments belong to the same concept, and specific implementation processes thereof are detailed in the method embodiment, and technical features in the method embodiment are applicable to all system embodiments, and are not described herein again.

The system for communication on the unauthorized carrier wave judges the competitive congestion of the unauthorized carrier wave, when the unauthorized carrier wave carried by the service is detected to have certain competitive congestion, the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ is properly increased or the RLC retransmission polling timer is prolonged, so that the retransmission adopts the rapid retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible, the tolerance of the RLC retransmission is enhanced, the excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by the fact that the unauthorized carrier wave resource is not obtained in time is avoided, the problems of the HARQ and the RLC retransmission generated when the communication is carried out on the unauthorized frequency band are solved, the user time delay is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

EXAMPLE six

Referring to fig. 9, a device for communicating on an unlicensed frequency band according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention is proposed, where the device is applied to the foregoing base station, and the device includes a traffic establishing module 110, a congestion determining module 120, and a parameter adjusting module 130, where:

the service establishing module 110: the method is used for establishing data service loaded on an unauthorized carrier with user equipment, and the data service comprises uplink service and downlink service.

The congestion decision module 120: the method is used for judging whether the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion or not in the process of data transmission between the base station and the user equipment.

As shown in fig. 10, the congestion decision module 120 includes a transmission unit 121, a statistic unit 122, and a decision unit 123.

In the downlink service process:

a sending unit 121, configured to initiate LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources when sending downlink data to a user equipment, and send downlink data to the user equipment through the unlicensed carrier when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resources;

a counting unit 122, configured to count a number of downlink LBTs initiated before successfully contending for sending downlink data to an unlicensed carrier resource or/and a time taken for initiating downlink LBTs before successfully contending for sending downlink data to an unlicensed carrier resource;

a deciding unit 123, configured to decide that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion when the number of times or/and the time counted by the counting unit exceeds a threshold value, and otherwise decide that the unlicensed carrier does not generate contention congestion.

In the uplink service process, when uplink data transmission is performed through an unauthorized carrier, there are two main scheduling modes. One is main carrier scheduling, a base station sends an uplink scheduling command on a PCell main carrier, and user equipment sends uplink data on a designated unauthorized carrier after receiving the scheduling command; and the other is same carrier scheduling, the base station sends uplink scheduling commands on the same unlicensed carrier, and the user equipment sends uplink data on the carrier after receiving the scheduling commands. The two scheduling methods will be described in detail below.

When main carrier scheduling is carried out in uplink service:

a sending unit 121, configured to send an uplink scheduling command to the ue through a primary carrier; initiating uplink LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources before user equipment sends downlink data, and measuring the number of times of the initiated uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

the determining unit 122 is configured to obtain a measurement report reported by the ue, determine that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion when the measurement report indicates that the number of times of uplink LBT and/or the time spent by the uplink LBT exceeds a threshold, and otherwise determine that the unlicensed carrier does not generate contention congestion.

When the same carrier scheduling is carried out in the uplink service:

a sending unit 121, configured to initiate a downlink LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources when user equipment sends uplink data to a base station, and send an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through the unlicensed carrier when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unlicensed carrier resources; initiating uplink LBT on an unlicensed carrier to compete for unlicensed carrier resources before sending downlink data by user equipment, and measuring the number of times of the initiated uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time spent on initiating the uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

a counting unit 122, configured to count a number of downlink LBTs initiated before successfully contending to an unlicensed carrier resource for sending an uplink scheduling command or/and a time taken for initiating downlink LBTs before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource for sending the uplink scheduling command;

a deciding unit 123, configured to obtain the uplink LBT number reported by the ue or/and the time spent by the uplink LBT, and when a sum of the uplink LBT number and the downlink LBT number or/and a sum of the time spent by the uplink LBT and the time spent by the downlink LBT exceeds a threshold, decide that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, otherwise, decide that the unlicensed carrier does not generate contention congestion.

The parameter adjustment module 130: for increasing the maximum number of retransmissions of HARQ or increasing the timing length of the RLC retransmission poll timer (when RLC is configured in acknowledged mode) when contention congestion occurs by an unlicensed carrier.

Specifically, when the congestion determining module 120 determines that contention congestion occurs in an unauthorized carrier during a next service, the parameter adjusting module 130 adjusts the HARQ or RLC parameters at the base station side. Such as: the maximum retransmission times of the downlink HARQ of the MAC address of the user equipment at the base station side are increased, so that the retransmission adopts the quick retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible; if the user downlink service RLC is configured in the confirmation mode, the timing length of the downlink RLC retransmission polling timer carried by the user service at the base station side is increased so as to enhance the tolerance of RLC retransmission and avoid excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by untimely acquisition of the unauthorized carrier resources.

When the congestion determining module 120 determines that contention congestion occurs in an unlicensed carrier in an uplink service process, the parameter adjusting module 130 initiates an RRC Connection Reconfiguration process to adjust an uplink HARQ or RLC parameter of the user. Such as: the maximum retransmission times of the uplink HARQ of the MAC layer at the user equipment side are increased, so that the retransmission adopts the quick retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible; if the uplink RLC of the user equipment side is configured in the confirmation mode, the timing length of the uplink RLC retransmission polling timer configured by the service RB is increased so as to enhance the tolerance of RLC retransmission and avoid excessive unnecessary retransmission of an RLC layer caused by untimely acquisition of the unauthorized carrier resources.

Further, the apparatus further includes a measurement control module 140, specifically:

when the primary carrier scheduling is adopted in the uplink service process, the measurement control module 140 is configured to: before a sending unit 121 of the congestion determining module 120 sends an uplink scheduling command to the ue or during a process of establishing a data service carried on an unlicensed carrier by the service establishing module 110 and the ue, measurement control is initiated to the ue to request the ue to measure an uplink LBT number initiated before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource or/and a time spent for sending uplink data before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource, and a corresponding reporting event is configured according to a measurement result. For example, when the number of times of initiating the uplink LBT or/and the time taken to initiate the uplink LBT exceeds a threshold, the user equipment is required to report a first event to the base station, otherwise, a second event is reported to the base station. At this time, the measurement report reported by the ue is reported as the event information.

When the same carrier scheduling is adopted in the uplink service process, the measurement control module 140 is configured to: before the sending unit 121 of the congestion determining module 120 sends the uplink scheduling command to the ue or during the process of establishing the data service carried on the unlicensed carrier by the service establishing module 110 and the ue, measurement control is initiated to the ue, so as to require the ue to measure the number of times of uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource or/and the time taken to initiate uplink LBT before successfully competing for sending uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resource, and configure the measurement result as a periodic measurement report.

Further, after the parameter adjusting module 130 increases the maximum number of retransmissions of the HARQ or increases the timing length of the RLC retransmission polling timer, when the congestion determining module 120 detects that the contention congestion of the unlicensed carrier is released (for example, the aforementioned LBT number or/and LBT time is less than or equal to the threshold value), the parameter adjusting module 120 recovers the initial parameters of the HARQ or the RLC. For example, the maximum retransmission number for recovering the HARQ is set as an initial value, or the timing length of the RLC retransmission polling timer is set as an initial value.

The device for communication on the unauthorized carrier wave judges the competitive congestion of the unauthorized carrier wave, when the unauthorized carrier wave carried by the service is detected to have certain competitive congestion, the maximum retransmission times of the HARQ is properly increased or the RLC retransmission polling timer is prolonged, so that the retransmission adopts the rapid retransmission of the HARQ as much as possible, the tolerance of the RLC retransmission is enhanced, the excessive unnecessary retransmission of the RLC layer caused by the fact that the unauthorized carrier wave resource is not obtained in time is avoided, the problems of the HARQ and the RLC retransmission generated when the communication is carried out on the unauthorized frequency band are solved, the time delay of a user is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

It should be understood that the apparatus for communicating on the unlicensed frequency band and the method embodiment for communicating on the unlicensed frequency band provided in the foregoing embodiments belong to the same concept, and specific implementation processes thereof are detailed in the method embodiment, and technical features in the method embodiment are applicable in the apparatus embodiment, and are not described herein again.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps in the method for implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by controlling the relevant hardware through a program, and the program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, where the storage medium may be ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, and the like.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art can implement the invention in various modifications, such as features from one embodiment can be used in another embodiment to yield yet a further embodiment, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement and improvement made within the technical idea of using the present invention should be within the scope of the right of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for communicating over an unlicensed frequency band, comprising the steps of:

when the unauthorized carrier generates competition congestion, the base station increases the maximum retransmission times of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or increases the timing length of an RLC retransmission polling timer;

wherein, in the process of data transmission between the base station and the user equipment, the base station determines whether the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, and includes:

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein during the data transmission between the base station and the user equipment, the base station determines whether contention congestion occurs to the unlicensed carrier, and further comprising:

when the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station, the base station sends an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through a main carrier; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before transmitting the uplink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for the uplink LBT to be initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the base station, whether the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion during data transmission between the base station and the user equipment, comprises:

when the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station, the base station initiates downlink LBT on the unauthorized carrier to compete for the unauthorized carrier resource, and when the downlink LBT successfully competes for the unauthorized carrier resource, an uplink scheduling command is sent to the user equipment through the unauthorized carrier; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before transmitting the uplink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for the uplink LBT to be initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

6. A device for communication in an unlicensed frequency band is applied to a base station, and is characterized by comprising a service establishing module, a congestion judging module and a parameter adjusting module, wherein:

the parameter adjusting module is used for increasing the maximum retransmission times of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or increasing the timing length of a Radio Link Control (RLC) retransmission polling timer when the RLC is configured in an acknowledged mode when the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion;

wherein the congestion decision module comprises:

7. The apparatus for communicating over an unlicensed frequency band as claimed in claim 6,

the sending unit is further configured to send an uplink scheduling command to the user equipment through a primary carrier when the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before transmitting the uplink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for the uplink LBT to be initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

the determining unit is further configured to obtain a measurement report reported by the ue, determine that contention congestion occurs in the unlicensed carrier when the measurement report indicates that the number of times or/and the time exceeds a threshold, and otherwise determine that contention congestion does not occur in the unlicensed carrier.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the transmitting unit is further configured to initiate downlink LBT on the unlicensed carrier to contend for the unlicensed carrier resource when the ue transmits uplink data to the base station, and transmit an uplink scheduling command to the ue through the unlicensed carrier when the downlink LBT successfully contends for the unlicensed carrier resource; enabling the UE to initiate an uplink LBT on the unlicensed carrier before transmitting the uplink data to compete for the unlicensed carrier resources, and measuring the number of times of the uplink LBT initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources or/and the time taken for the uplink LBT to be initiated before successfully competing for transmitting the uplink data to the unlicensed carrier resources;

the counting unit is further configured to sum up, for sending the uplink scheduling command, a number of downlink LBTs initiated before successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource or/and a time taken for sending the uplink scheduling command, successfully contending to the unlicensed carrier resource, and initiating the downlink LBT;

the determining unit is further configured to obtain the number of uplink LBT times or/and time spent by the uplink LBT, which is reported by the user equipment, and when a sum of the number of uplink LBT times and the number of downlink LBT times or/and a sum of the time spent by the uplink LBT and the time spent by the downlink LBT exceeds a threshold value, determine that the unlicensed carrier generates contention congestion, otherwise, determine that the unlicensed carrier does not generate contention congestion.

9. The apparatus for communicating over an unlicensed frequency band as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a measurement control module configured to:

10. The apparatus for communicating over an unlicensed frequency band as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a measurement control module configured to: