EP3456077A1

EP3456077A1 - Lte-assisted beam acquisition for 60 ghz wlan access

Info

Publication number: EP3456077A1
Application number: EP17796567.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nageen Himayat; Sarabjot SINGH; Jing Z. Zhu; Candy YIU; Umesh PHUYAL; Alexander Sirotkin; Ehsan ARYAFAR
Original assignee: Intel Corp
Current assignee: Intel Corp
Priority date: 2016-05-13
Filing date: 2017-04-28
Publication date: 2019-03-20
Also published as: EP3456077A4; WO2017196564A1

Abstract

One embodiment provides an apparatus of an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The apparatus includes a contention management circuitry to manage a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE). Another embodiment provides an apparatus of a User Equipment (UE). The apparatus includes a beam acquisition circuitry to provide a sector sweep resource request to a Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The sector sweep resource request is related to a communication between the UE and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP).

Description

LTE-ASSISTED BEAM ACQUISITION FOR 60 GHZ WLAN ACCESS

Inventors:

Nageen Himayat

Sarabjot Singh

Jing Zhu

Candy Yiu

Umesh Phuyal

Alexander Sirotkin

Ehsan Aryafar

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/336,447, filed on May 13, 2016, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to beam acquisition, in particular to, LTE (Long-Term Evolution)-assisted beam acquisition for 60 GHz (gigahertz) WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) access.

BACKGROUND

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Std 802.11ad™-2012 is an amendment to IEEE standard IEEE Std 802.11™-2012. IEEE Std 802.1 lad™-2012 is directed to a wireless physical layer (PHY) that operates over a 60 GHz millimeter (mm) wave frequency band. IEEE Std 802.1 lad™-2012 provides for data rates of 7 Gigabits per second (Gbps). Signal propagation in the 60 GHz band generally experiences a relatively greater amount of signal attenuation compared to signal propagation in, for example, the 2.4 and/or 5 GHz bands. For example, 60 GHz signals may suffer a link loss from poor coverage, penetration and/or blockage effects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Features and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments consistent therewith, which description should be considered with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an illustrative example of beamforming training during a beacon interval, consistent with various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication system consistent with several embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a UE (User Equipment) device in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a base station (BS) device in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating operations associated with an LTE-assisted 60 GHz WLAN sector level sweep procedure, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB) operations according to various embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of User Equipment (UE) operations according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to accommodate the relatively more significant signal attenuation, transmission of signals in the 60 GHz frequency band may be directional rather than omnidirectional.

Establishing a communication link between, for example, an access point (AP) and a user equipment (UE) may thus include directional beamforming at both the AP and the UE. An initial beam acquisition and/or access procedure may be utilized to allow both the AP and the UE to determine a best transmit (Tx) beamforming (e.g., strongest signal) direction and a best receive (Rx) beamforming direction in order to achieve an adequate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). FIG. 1 illustrates an illustrative example 100 of beamforming training during a beacon interval, consistent with various embodiments of the present disclosure. Illustrative example 100 illustrates a beacon interval (BI) 102 that includes a beacon header interval (BHI) 104 followed by a data transmission interval (DTI) 106. The BHI 104 includes a beacon transmission interval (BTI) 108, an association beamforming training (A - BFT) interval 110 and an announcement transmission interval (ATI) 112. Illustrative example 100 further includes a Sector Level Sweep (SLS) interval 120 that includes an initiator sector sweep interval 122 and a plurality of responder sector sweep intervals 124 - 1, 124 - 2,... , 124 -M.

IEEE Std 802.1 lad™-2012 specifies a Sector Level Sweep (SLS) procedure to facilitate determination by both the AP and the UE of transmit and receive beam directions and to thus facilitate establishing a communication link. Each beam direction may correspond to a respective sector and each sector may correspond to a respective angular portion of a circular horizontal region centered at the transmitting device. Operations associated with the SLS procedure may be performed during the SLS interval 120. The SLS procedure provides for a coarse acquisition of the beam directions between the AP and the UE to enable an initial communication link to be established. The IEEE Std 802.11ad™-2012 further includes procedures configured to refine the transmit and receive beams at both the AP and the UE to optimize data rates. For example, after the SLS procedure is completed, the UE and the AP may engage in a Beam Refinement Phase (BRP), e.g., BRP 114 - 1, 114 - 2, to further adjust beam directions.

The SLS procedure includes an initiator (e.g., AP) transmitting beacons ("initiator beacon") across a plurality of beam directions. The initiator beacons may be transmitted during the initiator sector sweep interval 122 of the SLS interval 120. The initiator sector sweep interval 122 coincides with the BTI 108. The BTI 108 may be used by the AP to scan across sectors. A responder (e.g., UE and/or STA (station)) is configured to listen using a quasi-omnidirectional beam pattern and to determine (e.g., identify) a best (e.g., strongest signal) AP transmit beam for reception. While the AP performs the transmit SLS, a plurality of UEs may simultaneously listen to the beacons and each may determine its respective best AP transmit beam direction.

Each responder sector sweep interval 124 - 1, 124 - 2,..., 124 -M corresponds to a respective A - BFT slot 126 - 1, 126 - M. Each A - BFT slot 126 - 1, 126 - M, e.g., A - BFT slot 126 - 1, includes a Responder Sector Sweep (SSW) frames interval, e.g., SSW frames interval 130, and an SSW feedback interval, e.g., SSW feedback interval 132. During beamforming training, the UE is configured to select a responder sector sweep interval, i.e., an A

- BFT slot, and to transmit a plurality of SSW frames, e.g., SSW frames 130 - 1,..., 130 - N, during the SSW frames interval 130 of the selected A - BFT slot 126 - 1. The SSW frames 130

- 1,..., 130 -N correspond to a responder sector sweep (SS). Each SSW frame 130 - 1,..., 130 - N includes a UE response related to the best AP transmit beam direction. For example, the response may include a best AP transmit beam direction identifier. The UE is configured to transmit the plurality of SSW frames 130 - 1,..., 130 - N across a plurality of transmit beam directions and the AP is configured to listen, using a quasi-omnidirectional beam pattern, to determine a best UE transmit beam direction. One or more other UEs may also be transmitting SSW frames, without performing carrier sensing that may thus result in contention and/or possible collisions. The AP is then configured to transmit feedback (SSW feedback 132) during the A - BFT slot and following the SSW frames interval 130. The SSW feedback 132 is related to the respective best AP transmit beam direction. The SSW feedback 132 serves as an indicator to the UE whether its transmission was received or was lost, for example, due to contention.

Thus, an AP and a plurality of UEs may perform transmit sector sweep (TXSS) to determine optimal transmit directions for the AP and respective optimal transmit directions for each of the UEs. Subsequent operations may then facilitate beam refinement and alignment of minor beam directions. The subsequent operations may further include aligning AP and UE receive beams. The AP and UEs may thus perform receive sector sweeps (RXSS) to identify an optimal direction for reception for each UE.

Because of the directional nature of the beams, each UE is configured to transmit SSW frames across a plurality of beam directions. Multiuser access, i.e., a plurality of UEs

transmitting, during the responder sector sweep procedure may result in significant contention. Such contention may result in performance degradation, for example, a number of transmissions to achieve successful reception of the response may be increased, system overhead may be increased and/or power consumption may be increased.

Generally, this disclosure relates to LTE-assisted beam acquisition for 60 GHz WLAN access. 3GPP TS (Technical Specification) 36.300, Release 13, includes an LTE (Long Term Evolution) -WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) aggregation (LWA) feature addressing integration of LTE with WLAN at a radio network level. LWA allows an LTE link to serve as a control link for an LWA user. As used herein, "LTE" corresponds to a device and/or radio access network that complies and/or is compatible with one or more 3GPP (3 Generation Partnership Project) Technical Specifications, for example, 3GPP TS 36.300, Release 13. As used herein, "WLAN" corresponds to a device and/or radio access network that complies and/or is compatible with one or more IEEE 802.11™ standards, e.g., IEEE Std 802.1 lad™-2012. An LTE base station (BS), e.g., an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB), a WLAN access point (AP) and a user equipment (UE) may comply and/or be compatible with 3GPP TS 36.300, Release 13, and/or later and/or related versions of this technical specification, as described herein. The LTE BS, e.g., eNB, the WLAN AP and the UE may comply and/or be compatible with IEEE Std 802.11™-2012. and/or later and/or related versions of this standard, e.g., IEEE Std 802.11ad™-2012, as described herein.

An apparatus, method and/or system are configured to utilize LTE assistance to manage a beam acquisition procedure between a WLAN AP and a plurality of UEs. In an embodiment, an LTE BS (e.g., eNB) may be configured to establish the beam acquisition procedure between the WLAN AP and the plurality of UEs. For example, the LTE BS (e.g., eNB) may be configured to control a schedule of UEs allowed to transmit during the responder sector sweep portion of sector level sweep. Thus, contention experienced during random-access may be reduced. An LTE BS, for example, eNB, may be configured to determine a sector sweep schedule for a plurality of UEs. The LTE BS may then be configured to provide a responder sector sweep allocation to a UE in response to a sector sweep resource request from the UE.

Thus, omnidirectional signal transmission and reception between the LTE BS and UE, that complies and/or is compatible with an LTE specification, may be utilized to facilitate allocating responder sector sweeps between a plurality of UEs and the WLAN AP. The LTE BS may thus correspond to an anchor device and the WLAN AP may correspond to a booster device. The anchor device is configured to provide omnidirectional signal transmission and reception. The booster device transmits and receives at higher frequencies compared to the anchor device and may thus accommodate a relatively larger bandwidth.

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication system 200 consistent with several embodiments of the present disclosure. Communication system 200 may include a plurality of user equipments (UE) 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N, an LTE base station (LTE BS) 204 and a WLAN access point (WLAN AP) 206. The LTE BS 204 may correspond to an eNB. In some embodiments, LTE BS 204 and WLAN AP 206 may be co-located. For example, LTE BS 204 and WLAN AP 206 may be integrated into a same device.

In some embodiments, LTE BS 204 and WLAN AP 206 may be non-co-located. In these embodiments, communication system 200 may include a WLAN terminal (WT) 208. WT 208 may be coupled to and/or integrated with WLAN AP 206. LTE BS 204 and WLAN AP 206 may then be configured to communicate via WT 208 and an Xw link 209.

LTE BS 204 is configured to comply and/or be compatible with one or more 3 GPP specifications and/or standards, as described herein. For example, LTE BS 204 may be an eNB. WLAN AP 206 is configured to comply and/or be compatible with one or more IEEE 802.11 specifications and/or standards, as described herein. UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N are configured to comply and/or be compatible with one or more of the 3 GPP specifications and/or standards and one or more of the IEEE 802.11 specifications and/or standards.

UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N may include, but are not limited to, a mobile telephone including, but not limited to a smart phone (e.g., iPhone®, Android®-based phone, Blackberry®, Symbian®-based phone, Palm®-based phone, etc.); a wireless display, a wireless television, a wireless peripheral (e.g., HDD and/or memory stick), a camcorder, a camera, a wearable device (e.g., wearable computer, "smart" watches, smart glasses, smart clothing, etc.) and/or system; an Internet of Things (IoT) networked device including, but not limited to, a sensor system (e.g., environmental, position, motion, etc.) and/or a sensor network (wired and/or wireless); a computing system (e.g., a server, a workstation computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer (e.g., iPad®, GalaxyTab® and the like), an ultraportable computer, an ultramobile computer, a netbook computer and/or a subnotebook computer; etc.

In an embodiment, each UE 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N may be configured to operate in an eLWA mode. For example, each UE 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N may be configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal ("LTE signal") 242 - 1, 242 - 2,..., 242 -N, respectively. Each UE 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N may be further configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal ("WLAN signal") 262 - 1, 262 - 2,..., 262 -N. LTE BS 204 may be configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal ("LTE signal") 243. During communication between LTE BS 204 and a selected UE, e.g., UE 202 - 1, LTE signal 243 may correspond to LTE signal 242 - 1. WLAN AP 206 may be configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal ("WLAN signal") 263. During communication between WLAN AP 206 and a selected UE, e.g., UE 202 - 1, WLAN signal 263 may correspond to WLAN signal 262 - 1. Each LTE signal 242 - 1, 242 - 2,..., 242 -N, 243 may comply and/or be compatible with 3 GPP TS 36.300, Release 13, and/or later and/or related versions of this technical specification. Each WLAN signal 262 - 1, 262 - 2,..., 262 -N, 263 may comply and/or be compatible with IEEE Std 802.1 lad™-2012 and/or later and/or related versions of the standard, e.g., IEEE Std 802.1 lay that may provide for data rates greater than 7 Gbps, e.g., 20 Gbps or greater.

WLAN AP 206 may include a processor circuitry 222, a memory circuitry 224 and an antenna 228. WT 208 and WLAN AP 206 may each include a respective WLAN interface 232 -

2, 232 - 3. WT 208 may include a Xw interface 234. WLAN AP 206 may include a sector sweep circuitry 254. Processor circuitry 222 is configured to perform operations of WLAN 206.

Memory circuitry 224 is configured to provide storage for WLAN 206. Antenna 228 is configured to emit and/or receive electromagnetic signals in one or more frequency ranges. In some embodiments, antenna 228 may include a plurality of antenna elements. For example, the antenna elements may be utilized for beamforming.

Each interface circuitry 232 - 2, 232 - 3 and 234 is configured to transmit and/or receive electromagnetic signals in one or more frequency ranges. For example, WLAN interface circuitry 232 - 2, 232 - 3 may be configured to transmit and receive signals at a center frequency of 60 GHz (Gigahertz). WT 208 is configured to communicate with WLAN AP 206 via WLAN interface 232 - 2 and with LTE BS 204 via Xw interface 234 - 2. WLAN AP 206 is configured to communicate with WT 208 and, for example, UE 202 - 1 via WLAN interface 232 - 3.

In an embodiment, LTE BS 204 may be configured to facilitate beam acquisition, i.e., SLS, operations of WLAN AP 206 and one or more of UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N. For example, LTE BS 204 may be configured to manage the beam acquisition procedure of WLAN AP 206 and one or more of UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N. For example, LTE BS 204 may be configured to establish the beam acquisition procedure between WLAN AP 206 and one or more of UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N. LTE BS 204 is configured to determine a sector sweep schedule. LTE BS 204 is further configured to provide a responder sector sweep allocation to each UE of the UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N. Each UE 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N may be configured to provide a sector sweep resource request to the LTE BS 204 prior to transmitting a response to a WLAN AP 206 transmit SLS (i.e., TXSS). Thus, LTE BS 204 is configured coordinate responses, i.e., transmission of SSW frames, by the plurality of UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N. Thus, LTE BS 204 may be configured to reduce contention between the plurality of UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N during the responder sector sweep of the initial beam acquisition operations.

FIG. 3 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a UE (User Equipment) device 300 in accordance with some embodiments. UE device 300 is one example of UE 202-1, 202-2,..., and/or 202-N of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the UE device 300 may include application circuitry 302, baseband circuitry 304, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 306, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 308, and one or more antennas 310, coupled together at least as shown. In some embodiments, the UE device 300 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage (e.g., memory circuitry 314 and/or storage device 312), display, camera, sensor, and/or input/output (I/O) interface.

FIG. 4 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a base station (BS) device 400 in accordance with some embodiments. BS device 400 is one example of LTE BS (eNB) 204 of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the BS device 400 may include application circuitry 402, baseband circuitry 404, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 406, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 408, and one or more antennas 410, coupled together at least as shown. In some embodiments, the BS device 400 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage (e.g., memory circuitry 414 and/or storage device 412), display, camera, sensor, and/or input/output (I/O) interface.

In the following, like elements of FIGS. 3 and 4 are described together for ease of description. The scopes of the embodiments are not limited in this respect.

The application circuitry 302 and/or 402 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 302 and/or 402 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with and/or may include

memory/storage (e.g., memory circuitry 314 and/or storage device 312 and/or memory circuitry 414 and/or storage device 412) and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

The baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Each baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406, respectively, and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406, respectively. Each baseband processing circuitry 304 and/or 404 may interface with the application circuitry 302 and/or 402, respectively, for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406, respectively. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 304A and/or 404A, third generation (3G) baseband processor 304B and/or 404 B, fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 304C and/or 404C, and/or other baseband processor(s) 304D and/or 404D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 304A-D and/or 404A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an EUTRAN protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or Radio Resource Control (RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 304E and/or 404E of the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 304F and/or 404F. The audio DSP(s) 304F and/or 404F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 and the application circuitry 302 and/or 402 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi- mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. Each RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408, respectively, and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404, respectively. Each RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404, respectively, and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408 for transmission, respectively.

In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A, amplifier circuitry 306B and/or 406B and filter circuitry 306C and/or 406C. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include filter circuitry 306C and/or 406C and mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A. RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may also include synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, each mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408, respectively, based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D, respectively. The amplifier circuitry 306B and/or 406B may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 306C and/or 406C may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, each mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D, respectively, to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408, respectively. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404, respectively, and may be filtered by filter circuitry 306C and/or 406C, respectively. The filter circuitry 306C and/or 406C may include a low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and/or upconversion respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A may be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion,

respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 306A and/or 406A of the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 304 and/or 404 or the applications processor 302 and/or 402 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 302 and/or 402.

Synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D of the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some

embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 306D and/or 406D may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406 may include an IQ/polar converter.

Each FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 310 and/or 410, respectively, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406, respectively for further processing. Each FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406, respectively, for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 310 and/or 410, respectively.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 306 and/or 406, respectively). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 308 and/or 408 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 306 and/or 406, respectively), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 310 and/or 410, respectively.

In some embodiments, the UE device 300 comprises a plurality of power saving mechanisms. If the UE device 300 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the eNB, e.g., BS device 400, as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the UE device 300 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The UE device 300 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device cannot receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state.

An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

In some embodiments, UE device baseband circuitry 304 may include a beam acquisition circuitry 304H. In some embodiments, BS device baseband circuitry 404 may include a contention management circuitry 404H. In some embodiments, UE device baseband circuitry 304 may include a WLAN baseband processor 304J. In some embodiments, BS device baseband circuitry 404 may include an Xw baseband processor 404J.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram 500 illustrating operations associated with an LTE-assisted 60 GHz WLAN sector level sweep (SLS) procedure including responder sector sweep, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 may be best understood when considered in combination with FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. Flow diagram 500 includes UE device 300, BS device 400 and WLAN AP 206. UE device 300 corresponds to UE device 300 of FIG.3 and is one example of any of UE 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N of FIG. 2. A plurality of UEs, e.g., UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N may perform operations described with respect to UE device 300. BS device 400 corresponds of BS device of FIG. 4 and is one example of LTE BS 204 of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, BS device 400 corresponds to an eNB. WLAN AP 206 corresponds to WLAN AP 206 of FIG. 2. In particular, flow diagram 500 illustrates utilizing an LTE BS (e.g., BS baseband circuitry 404) to facilitate scheduling WLAN 60 GHz responder sector sweep allocation to a plurality of UEs in order to reduce contention and/or collisions.

In some embodiments, BS baseband circuitry 404, e.g., contention management circuitry 404H, may be configured to provide a WLAN AP sector level sweep (SLS) schedule 512A to RF circuitry 406 for transmission to UE device 300. For example, the WLAN AP SLS schedule 512A may be provided via BS 4G baseband processor 404C, e.g., via an LTE interface. Of course, other implementations are possible, e.g., the WLAN AP SLS schedule 512A may be provided via other BS baseband processor(s) 404D. The SLS schedule 512A may include an initiator sector sweep schedule. The SLS schedule 512A may be included in or with discovery information that is broadcast and/or unicast to UE device 300. For example, the WLAN AP sector level sweep schedule 512A may be provided via BS 4G baseband processor 404C (e.g., via the LTE interface) and may be received via UE 4G baseband processor 304C, e.g., via an LTE interface. Of course, other implementations are possible, e.g., the WLAN AP SLS schedule 512A may be provided via other BS baseband processor(s) 404D and/or may be received via other UE baseband processor(s) 304D. Thus, the WLAN AP sector level sweep schedule 512A may be transmitted via LTE signal 243 that may be received by one or more UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N as one or more of LTE signals 242 - 1, 242 - 2,..., 242 -N. The SLS schedule 512A may include and/or may correspond to a BTI schedule. For example, the SLS schedule 512A may be provided to the UE device 300 as part of and/or in addition to discovery information. Discovery information may include, for example, timing information and a duration of a beacon header interval. In another example, the SLS schedule 512A may be provided in measurement configuration data.

In an embodiment, SLS schedule 512B may be exchanged between WLAN AP 206 and BS device 400, over the Xw-WT interface. SLS schedule 512B corresponds to SLS schedule 512A. For example, WLAN AP 206, e.g., sector sweep circuitry 254, may be configured to provide SLS schedule 512B to WT 208 via WLAN interfaces 232 - 3 and 232 - 2. WT 208 may then be configured to provide SLS schedule 512B to Xw link 209 via Xw interface 234.

Contention management circuitry 404H may then be configured to receive the SLS schedule 512B via Xw baseband processor 404J, e.g., an Xw interface. Thus, SLS schedule 512B may be provided from WLAN AP 206 to LTE BS 204 via WLAN interfaces 232 - 2, 232 - 3, WT 208 and Xw interfaces 234, 404J.

In an embodiment, the SLS schedule 512A may be known and/or determined by BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H). In other words, in this embodiment the SLS schedule 512A may not be provided by WLAN AP 206. For example, the SLS schedule 512A may be known by contention management circuitry 404H via configuration data. In another example, the SLS schedule 512A may be known by contention management circuitry 404H via crowdsourcing mechanisms, e.g., information provided by other UEs. In other words, one or more other UEs, e.g., UEs 202 - 2,..., and/or 202 -N, may have previously received the SLS schedule 512A and may provide the SLS schedule to BS device 400 via 4G baseband processors 304C and 404C, e.g., respective LTE interfaces, and LTE signal 242 - 1. LTE signal 242 - 1 may then correspond to LTE signal 243. Of course, other implementations are possible, e.g., the SLS schedule may be provided to BS device 400 via other baseband processor(s) 304D and/or 404D.

WLAN AP 206, e.g., sector sweep circuitry 254, is then configured to perform the AP transmit sector sweeps 514 - 1,..., 514 -q across a plurality of sectors. The AP transmit sector sweeps 514 - 1,..., 514 -q may correspond to initiator sector sweeps. For example, the sector sweeps 514 - 1,..., 514 -q may be transmitted via WLAN interface 232 - 3.

UE device 300, e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H, is configured to monitor 516 the AP transmit sector sweeps 514 - 1,..., 514 -q via WLAN baseband processor 304J, e.g., a WLAN interface. Beam acquisition circuitry 304H is further configured to determine, e.g., identify, 517 a relatively best (i.e., strongest signal) AP transmit beam received via WLAN baseband processor 304J. The AP transmit beam may be received as WLAN signal 262 - 1 by UE device 300.

UE baseband circuitry 304, e.g., beam acquisition circuitry 304H is configured to provide a sector sweep resource request 518 to RF circuitry 306 for transmission to BS device 400, e.g., eNB. For example, the sector sweep resource request 518 may be provided via UE 4G baseband processor 304C, e.g., via an LTE interface. Of course, other implementations are possible, e.g., the sector sweep resource request 518 may be provided via other UE baseband processor(s) 304D. For example, the sector sweep resource request 518 may be included in LTE signal 242 - 1. In some embodiments, the sector sweep resource request 518 may be provided and/or transmitted while WLAN AP 206 (and e.g., the sector sweep circuitry 254) are performing the AP transmit sector sweeps 514 - 1,..., 514 -q. Providing the sector sweep resource request 518 prior to WLAN AP 206 completing the AP transmit sector sweeps 514 - 1,..., 514 -q is configured to avoid a delay in initiating a sector sweep response (i.e., a responder sector sweep). For example, the delay may be related to a signal latency on the communication link (e.g., LTE link) between UE device 300 (and UE 4G baseband processor 304C or UE other baseband processor(s) 304D) and BS device 400 (and BS 4G baseband processor 404C or BS other baseband processor(s) 404D) that carries, for example, LTE signal 242 - 1. The sector sweep resource request 518 may be provided via one of plurality of LTE techniques. In one embodiment, the sector sweep resource request may be included in a UE measurement report. For example, the sector sweep resource request may be included in the UE measurement report if WLAN measurements are configured. In another embodiment, the sector sweep resource request may be provided utilizing radio resource control (RRC) signaling. For example, UE baseband circuitry 304 may utilize a status indicator, e.g.,

WLANConnectionStatusIndication with a cause value APSectorSweepComplete or

ResponderSSResourceREQ. In another embodiment, the sector sweep resource request may be provided using in band signaling via PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence

Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units). For example, the sector sweep resource request may be included in a data portion of a message transmitted from UE 202 - 1 (e.g., UE device 300) to the LTE BS 204 (e.g., BS device 400).

In some embodiments, the sector sweep resource request 518 may contain information related to the sectors that the UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) may scan. In an embodiment, the sector sweep resource request 518 may include a number of sectors that the UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) intends to scan. In some embodiments, the sector sweep request 518 may include a respective identifier associated with each sector that the UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) intends to scan.

Providing the number of sectors and/or sector identifiers may facilitate scheduling by the contention management circuitry 252. The sectors scanned by UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) may be related to an expected amount of contention and thus such information may facilitate scheduling by the BS device 400 (e.g., BS baseband circuitry 404 and contention management circuitry 404H).

For example, beam acquisition circuitry 304H may determine the number of sectors and/or sector identifiers based, at least in part, on a history. The history may include sector identifiers corresponding to sectors that the UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) utilized in the past. In another example, UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) may have information related to a location of the WLAN AP 206. Beam acquisition circuitry 304H may then be configured to select one or more sectors based, at least in part, on the location information. In another example, UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) may be configured to perform direction finding utilizing UE 4G baseband processor 304C to possibly determine a coarse direction. Of course, other implementations are possible, e.g., the direction finding may be performed utilizing other UE baseband processor(s) 304D. Beam acquisition circuitry 304H may then be configured to select one or more sectors based, at least in part, on the coarse direction.

In some embodiments, BS baseband circuitry 404, e.g., contention management circuitry 404H, is configured to determine 520 a schedule ("UE responder schedule") for the UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) to perform a corresponding responder sector sweep. In an embodiment, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to determine the UE responder schedule based, at least in part, on a load on the network (i.e., radio access network). In this embodiment, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to determine the load on the network. For example, the load on the network may be determined based, at least in part, on a number of currently connected UEs. In another example, the load on the network may be determined through information exchange with WLAN AP 206 over an Xw interface, e.g., Xw baseband processor 404J, Xw link 209 and Xw interface 234. In another example, the load on the network may be determined through statistics collection over a time period, i.e., statistics collection related to numbers of UEs connected over the time. In another embodiment, the UE responder schedule may be determined based, at least in part, on a random selection.

In some embodiments, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to communicate the sector sweep resource request 518 to WLAN AP 206 via, for example, an Xw interface, e.g., Xw baseband processor 404J, Xw link 209 and Xw interface 234 and WLAN interface 232 - 2. WLAN AP 206 (e.g., sector sweep circuitry 254) may then be configured to determine the UE responder schedule and to provide the UE responder schedule to BS device 400 and BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention

management circuitry 404H) via the Xw baseband processor 404J.

Once the UE responder schedule is determined, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to specify an option for responder sector sweep allocation, e.g., an option for allocating responder sector sweep slots (e.g., A - BFT slots 126 - 1,..., 126 -M). For example, the responder sector sweep allocation may include a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier. The UE device 300, e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H, may then be configured to use the identified selected slot and/or frame for the responder sector sweep. In another example, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may specify, and the responder sector sweep allocation may include, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots. UE device 300, e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H, may then be configured to wait the specified offset before performing the responder sector sweep.

In another example, the responder sector sweep allocation may include a random probability value. The UE device 300, e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H, may then use the random probability value to generate a random number before performing the responder sector sweep. The random probability value may be determined based, at least in part, on a number of UEs in the network, e.g., the number of UEs that are

communicating with LTE BS 204 (e.g., BS device 400). For example, the random probability value may correspond to one over the number of UEs in the network. The random probability value may thus correspond to a likelihood that a selected UE may transmit out of a plurality of UEs with each UE equally likely to transmit. Each UE, e.g., beam acquisition circuitry 304H of UE device 300, may then be configured to determine an individual random probability of transmission. In other words, each UE, e.g., beam acquisition circuitry 304H of UE device 300, may be configured to "toss a coin" where a first side of the coin corresponds to "transmit" and a second side of the coin corresponds to "don't transmit". As used herein, "toss a coin" means to generate a random number that has two equally likely possible outcomes. UE baseband circuitry 304, e.g., beam acquisition circuitry 304H, may be configured to toss the coin a number of times. The individual random probability of transmission may then correspond to a number of coin toss results that correspond to transmit divided by the total number of coin tosses. If the individual random probability of the value is less than, for example, the random probability value, then UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and UE RF circuitry 306) may be configured to transmit.

In another example, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to fix a number and identification of slots allocated to the UEs upon eLWA (i.e., LTE WLAN aggregation) set up. The fixed number and identification of slots may generally be utilized if the number of UEs is expected to be relatively small.

In some embodiments, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to specify more than one option for allocating responder sector sweep slots. For example, the random probability value and determining an individual probability of transmission may be combined with a selected slot and/or frame, an offset of a number of slots and/or frames, and/or the fixed identification of slots.

BS device 400 may then provide a sector sweep resource response 522 to UE device 300. For example, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to provide the sector sweep resource response 522, via BS 4G baseband processor 404C (e.g., LTE interface) to RF circuitry 406 for transmission to UE device 300. Of course, other implementations are possible, e.g., the sector sweep resource response 522 may be provided via other BS baseband processor(s) 404D. In an embodiment, similar to transmission of sector sweep resource request 518, the sector sweep resource response 522 may be transmitted via RRC signaling (e.g., RRC Reconfiguration) and/or in band signaling (PDCP/MAC control PDUs).

In an embodiment, BS device 400 and BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may be configured to utilize broadcast signaling to set the random probability value. Each UE, e.g., UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H), may then be configured to perform a responder sector sweep in a slot based, at least in part, on the random probability value. This example is similar to an LTE Access Class Barring mechanism. The random probability value may be transmitted via a System Information Broadcast. In this embodiment, UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H, may then not perform the sector sweep resource request.

In some embodiments, if BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) has an indication of a UE beam direction, BS baseband circuitry 404 (e.g., contention management circuitry 404H) may specify a range of beam directions that UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H), may then scan in the responder selector sweep. For example, one or more UE beam directions may be determined based, at least in part, on correlation with direction observed over the LTE link, e.g., via LTE signal 242 - 1 and/or LTE signal 243 and BS 4G baseband processor 404C, e.g., LTE interface. Of course, other implementations are possible, e.g., one or more UE beam directions may be determined via other BS baseband processor(s) 404D. In another example, one or more UE beam directions may be determined based, at least in part, on location, as described herein.

UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) may then be configured to prepare 524 for responder sector sweep. UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304 and beam acquisition circuitry 304H) may then be configured to provide UE transmit direction sector sweeps 526 - 1, 526 - 2 via WLAN baseband processor 304J, e.g., a WLAN interface. WLAN AP 206 may be configured to listen to the UE transmit sector sweeps, e.g., via WLAN interface 232-3. WLAN AP 206 (e.g., sector sweep circuitry 254) may be configured to determine 528 a best transmit sector index. WLAN AP 206 (and, e.g., sector sweep circuitry 254) may then be configured to provide sector sweep feedback 530 to UE 202-1 (e.g., UE device 300) via WLAN interface 232 - 3. The sector sweep feedback 530 is configured to communicate to the UE device 300 an optimum sector for transmission to WLAN AP 206.

After the UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304, beam acquisition circuitry 304H and WLAN baseband processor 304J) performs the responder sweep, an IEEE Std

802.1 lad™-2012-compatible call procedure may be utilized to complete the sector sweep procedure.

In an embodiment, an LTE out of band channel may be utilized to schedule transmission, as described herein, during the beam refinement phase, e.g., BRP 114 - 1 and/or 114 - 2 of FIG. 1.

Additionally or alternatively, while the foregoing describes transmit sector sweep (TXSS) during SLS, a similar technique may be applied to receive sector sweep (RXSS).

Additionally or alternatively, while the foregoing describes an LTE assisted 60 GHz WLAN sector sweep procedure, the techniques described herein may be applied to other combinations of radio access technologies, for example, 5G radio access technology, IEEE

802.1 lay, LAA (licensed assisted access), etc. The technique may be further applied to radio access technologies operating in other frequency bands.

Thus, omnidirectional signal transmission and reception between a BS, e.g., an eNB, and a UE, that complies and/or is compatible with an LTE specification, may be utilized to facilitate allocating responder sector sweeps between a plurality of UEs and the WLAN AP. The BS may thus correspond to an anchor device and the WLAN AP may correspond to a booster device. The anchor device is configured to provide omnidirectional signal transmission and reception. The booster device transmits and receives at higher frequencies compared to the anchor device and may thus accommodate a relatively larger bandwidth.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 600 of evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB) operations according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In particular, the flowchart 600 illustrates managing, by an eNB, a beam acquisition procedure between a WLAN AP and a UE. The operations may be performed, for example, by elements of an LTE BS 204, e.g., an eNB, of FIG. 2, e.g., contention management circuitry 404H of baseband circuitry 404 of BS device 400 of FIG. 4. Operations of this embodiment include managing a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE) at operation 602.

Some embodiments may include one or more of the following operations (i.e., one or more of operations 604 through 620). Operation 604 includes communicating, via an Xw interface, with a WLAN Terminal (WT) coupled to the WLAN AP. Operation 606 includes determining a responder sector sweep schedule. Operation 608 includes providing a sector sweep resource response, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE. Operation 610 includes providing a WLAN AP sector level sweep (SLS) schedule, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE. Operation 612 includes exchanging the WLAN AP SLS schedule with the WLAN AP over an Xw-WT (WLAN Terminal) interface. Operation 614 includes receiving the SLS schedule, provided from the WLAN AP via the WT and the Xw interface. Operation 616 includes communicating a sector sweep resource request received from the UE to the WLAN AP via an Xw interface. Operation 618 includes specifying at least one option for a responder sector sweep allocation. Operation 620 includes specifying a range of beam directions for the UE to scan in a responder selector sweep.

Thus, an eNB (e.g., contention management circuitry of BS device baseband circuitry) may be configured to manage a beam acquisition procedure between a WLAN AP and a UE. For example, an LTE BS (e.g., eNB) may be configured to establish the beam acquisition procedure between the WLAN AP and the plurality of UEs.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart 700 of User Equipment (UE) operations according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In particular, the flowchart 600 illustrates a beam acquisition procedure by the UE. The operations may be performed, for example, by a UE, e.g., UE 202 - 1 of FIG. 2, e.g., beam acquisition circuitry 304H of baseband circuitry 304 of UE device 300 of FIG. 3. Operations of this embodiment may begin with providing a sector sweep resource request to a Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB) at operation 702. The sector sweep resource request may be related to a communication between the UE and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP).

Some embodiments may include one or more of the following operations (i.e., one or more of operations 704 through 710. Operation 704 includes monitoring at least one transmit sector sweep via a WLAN interface. Operation 706 includes determining a relatively best AP transmit beam received via a WLAN interface. Operation 708 includes determining a responder sector sweep slot based, at least in part, on an option for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB. Operation 710 includes providing at least one UE transmit direction sector sweep via the WLAN interface.

Thus, a UE (e.g., beam acquisition circuitry of UE baseband circuitry) may be configured to perform a beam acquisition procedure.

While the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate operations according various

embodiments, it is to be understood that not all of the operations depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7 are necessary for other embodiments. In addition, it is fully contemplated herein that in other embodiments of the present disclosure, the operations depicted in FIGS. 6 and/or 7 and/or other operations described herein may be combined in a manner not specifically shown in any of the drawings, and such embodiments may include less or more operations than are illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. Thus, claims directed to features and/or operations that are not exactly shown in one drawing are deemed within the scope and content of the present disclosure.

Thus, an apparatus, method and/or system are configured to utilize LTE assistance to control a schedule of UEs allowed to transmit during the responder sector sweep portion of sector level sweep. Thus, contention experienced during random-access may be reduced. An LTE BS, for example, eNB, may be configured to determine a sector sweep schedule for a plurality of UEs. The LTE BS may then be configured to provide a responder sector sweep allocation to a UE in response to a sector sweep resource request from the UE. As used in any embodiment herein, the term "logic" may refer to an app, software, firmware and/or circuitry configured to perform any of the aforementioned operations. Software may be embodied as a software package, code, instructions, instruction sets and/or data recorded on non-transitory computer readable storage medium. Firmware may be embodied as code, instructions or instruction sets and/or data that are hard-coded (e.g., nonvolatile) in memory devices.

"Circuitry," as used in any embodiment herein, may comprise, for example, singly or in any combination, hardwired circuitry, programmable circuitry, state machine circuitry, logic and/or firmware that stores instructions executed by programmable circuitry. The circuitry may be embodied as an integrated circuit, such as an integrated circuit chip. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be formed, at least in part, by a processor executing code and/or instructions sets (e.g., software, firmware, etc.) corresponding to the functionality described herein, thus transforming a general-purpose processor into a specific-purpose processing environment to perform one or more of the operations described herein.

The foregoing provides example system architectures and methodologies, however, modifications to the present disclosure are possible. The processor circuitry may include one or more processor cores and may be configured to execute system software. System software may include, for example, an operating system. Device memory may include I/O memory buffers configured to store one or more data packets that are to be transmitted by, or received by, a network interface.

The operating system (OS) may be configured to manage system resources and control tasks that are run on, e.g., UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N, LTE BS 204 and/or WLAN AP 206. For example, the OS may be implemented using Microsoft® Windows®, HP-UX®, Linux®, or UNIX®, although other operating systems may be used. In another example, the OS may be implemented using Android™, iOS, Windows Phone® or BlackBerry®. In some embodiments, the OS may be replaced by a virtual machine monitor (or hypervisor) which may provide a layer of abstraction for underlying hardware to various operating systems (virtual machines) running on one or more processing units. The operating system and/or virtual machine may implement a protocol stack. A protocol stack may execute one or more programs to process packets. An example of a protocol stack is a TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocol stack comprising one or more programs for handling (e.g., processing or generating) packets to transmit and/or receive over a network.

UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N, LTE BS 204, WLAN AP 206, UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304) and/or BS device 400 (e.g., BS baseband circuitry 404) may comply and/or be compatible with one or more communication specifications, standards and/or protocols.

For example, UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N, LTE BS 204, WLAN AP 206, UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304) and/or BS device 400 (e.g., BS baseband circuitry 404) may comply and/or be compatible with IEEE Std 802.11™-2012 standard titled: IEEE Standard for Information technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems— Local and metropolitan area networks— Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, published in March 2012 and/or earlier and/or later and/or related versions of this standard, including, for example, IEEE Std 802.11ad™-2012, titled IEEE Standard for Information technology— Telecommunications and information exchange between systems, Local and metropolitan area networks— Specific requirements, Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications; Amendment 3: Enhancements for Very High Throughput in the 60 GHz Band, published by the IEEE, December 2012, and/or later and/or related versions of this standard.

UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N, LTE BS 204, WLAN AP 206, UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304) and/or BS device 400 (e.g., BS baseband circuitry 404) may comply and/or be compatible with one or more fourth generation (4G) telecommunication standards, recommendations and/or protocols that may comply and/or be compatible with ITU IMT- Advanced family of standards released beginning in March 2008, and/or later and/or related releases of these standards. For example, UEs 202 - 1, 202 - 2,..., 202 -N, LTE BS 204, WLAN AP 206, UE device 300 (e.g., UE baseband circuitry 304) and/or BS device 400 (e.g., BS baseband circuitry 404) may comply and/or be compatible with Long Term Evolution (LTE), Release 8, released March 2011, by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and/or later and/or related versions of these standards, specifications and releases, for example, 3GPP (3^rd Generation Partnership Project) TS (Technical Specification) 36.300, Release 13 (3GPP TS 36.300 V13.6.0 (2016-12)), titled 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 13), released December 2016 and/or later and/or related versions of these technical specifications, e.g., Release 14.

Memory circuitry 224, 314 and 414 may each include one or more of the following types of memory: semiconductor firmware memory, programmable memory, non-volatile memory, read only memory, electrically programmable memory, random access memory, flash memory, magnetic disk memory, and/or optical disk memory. Either additionally or alternatively system memory may include other and/or later-developed types of computer-readable memory.

Embodiments of the operations described herein may be implemented in a computer- readable storage device having stored thereon instructions that when executed by one or more processors perform the methods. The processor may include, for example, a processing unit and/or programmable circuitry. The storage device may include a machine readable storage device including any type of tangible, non-transitory storage device, for example, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), compact disk rewritables (CD-RWs), and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor devices such as read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs) such as dynamic and static RAMs, erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable

programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), flash memories, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of storage devices suitable for storing electronic instructions.

In some embodiments, a hardware description language (HDL) may be used to specify circuit and/or logic implementation(s) for the various logic and/or circuitry described herein. For example, in one embodiment the hardware description language may comply or be compatible with a very high speed integrated circuits (VHSIC) hardware description language (VHDL) that may enable semiconductor fabrication of one or more circuits and/or logic described herein. The VHDL may comply or be compatible with IEEE Standard 1076-1987, IEEE Standard 1076.2, IEEE 1076.1, IEEE Draft 3.0 of VHDL-2006, IEEE Draft 4.0 of VHDL-2008 and/or other versions of the IEEE VHDL standards and/or other hardware description standards.

In some embodiments, a Verilog hardware description language (HDL) may be used to specify circuit and/or logic implementation(s) for the various logic and/or circuitry described herein. For example, in one embodiment, the HDL may comply or be compatible with IEEE standard 62530-2011: System Verilog - Unified Hardware Design, Specification, and Verification Language, dated July 07, 2011; IEEE Std 1800^1M-2012: IEEE Standard for SystemVerilog- Unified Hardware Design, Specification, and Verification Language, released February 21, 2013; IEEE standard 1364-2005: IEEE Standard for Verilog Hardware Description Language, dated April 18, 2006 and/or other versions of Verilog HDL and/or System Verilog standards.

Examples

Examples of the present disclosure include subject material such as a method, means for performing acts of the method, a device, or of an apparatus or system related to LTE-assisted beam acquisition for 60 GHz WLAN access, as discussed below.

Example 1. According to this example, there is provided an apparatus of an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The apparatus includes a contention management circuitry to manage a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE). Example 2. This example includes the elements of example 1, further including RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry to communicate, via an Xw interface, with a WLAN Terminal (WT) coupled to the WLAN AP.

Example 3. This example includes the elements of example 1, wherein the contention management circuitry is to determine a responder sector sweep schedule. Example 4. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 1 to 3, wherein the contention management circuitry is to provide a sector sweep resource response, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

Example 5. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 1 to 3, wherein the contention management circuitry is to provide a WLAN AP sector level sweep

(SLS) schedule, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE. Example 6. This example includes the elements of example 5, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule includes an initiator sector sweep schedule.

Example 7. This example includes the elements of example 5, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule is included in or with a discovery information that is at least one of broadcast and/or unicast to the UE.

Example 8. This example includes the elements of example 5, wherein the contention management circuitry is to exchange the WLAN AP SLS schedule with the WLAN AP over an Xw-WT (WLAN Terminal) interface.

Example 9. This example includes the elements of example 8, wherein the contention management circuitry is to receive the SLS schedule, provided from the WLAN AP via the WT and the Xw interface.

Example 10. This example includes the elements of example 5, wherein WLAN AP SLS schedule is known to the contention management circuitry via at least one of configuration data and/or a crowdsourcing mechanism.

Example 11. This example includes the elements of example 3, wherein the responder sector sweep schedule is determined based, at least in part, on a load on a radio access network.

Example 12. This example includes the elements of example 3, wherein the contention management circuitry is to determine the load based, at least in part, on one or more of a number of currently connected UEs, through information exchange with the WLAN AP over an Xw interface, through statistics collection over a time period and/or a random selection.

Example 13. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 1 to 3, further including RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry to communicate a sector sweep resource request received from the UE to the WLAN AP via an Xw interface.

Example 14. This example includes the elements of example 13, wherein the contention management circuitry is to receive a UE responder schedule from the WLAN AP via the Xw interface. Example 15. This example includes the elements of example 3, wherein the contention management circuitry is to specify at least one option for a responder sector sweep allocation.

Example 16. This example includes the elements of example 15, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value.

Example 17. This example includes the elements of example 16, wherein the random probability value is determined based, at least in part, on a number of UEs in a radio access network.

Example 18. This example includes the elements of example 3, wherein a number and identification of slots allocated to the UE is fixed.

Example 19. This example includes the elements of example 4, wherein the sector sweep resource response is provided via at least one of RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling and/or in band signaling via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence

Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

Example 20. This example includes the elements of example 16, wherein the contention management circuitry is to utilize broadcast signaling to set the random probability value.

Example 21. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 1 to 3, wherein the contention management circuitry is to specify a range of beam directions for the UE to scan in a responder selector sweep.

Example 22. This example includes the elements of example 21, wherein the range of beam directions is determined based, at least in part, on a correlation with a direction observed over an LTE (Long Term Evolution) link via an LTE interface.

Example 23. According to this example, there is provided a method of a baseband circuitry of an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The method includes managing, by a contention management circuitry, a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE).

Example 24. This example includes the elements of example 23, further including

communicating, by an RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry, via an Xw interface, with a WLAN Terminal (WT) coupled to the WLAN AP.

Example 25. This example includes the elements of example 23, further including determining, by the contention management circuitry, a responder sector sweep schedule.

Example 26. This example includes the elements of example 23, further including providing, by the contention management circuitry, a sector sweep resource response, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

Example 27. This example includes the elements of example 23, further including providing, by the contention management circuitry, a WLAN AP sector level sweep (SLS) schedule, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE. Example 28. This example includes the elements of example 27, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule includes an initiator sector sweep schedule.

Example 29. This example includes the elements of example 27, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule is included in or with a discovery information that is at least one of broadcast and/or unicast to the UE. Example 30. This example includes the elements of example 27, further including exchanging, by the contention management circuitry, the WLAN AP SLS schedule with the WLAN AP over an Xw-WT (WLAN Terminal) interface.

Example 31. This example includes the elements of example 30, further including receiving, by the contention management circuitry, the SLS schedule, provided from the WLAN AP via the WT and the Xw interface. Example 32. This example includes the elements of example 27, wherein WLAN AP SLS schedule is known to the contention management circuitry via at least one of configuration data and/or a crowdsourcing mechanism.

Example 33. This example includes the elements of example 25, wherein the responder sector sweep schedule is determined based, at least in part, on a load on a radio access network.

Example 34. This example includes the elements of example 33, further including determining, by the contention management circuitry, the load based, at least in part, on one or more of a number of currently connected UEs, through information exchange with the WLAN AP over an Xw interface, through statistics collection over a time period and/or a random selection. Example 35. This example includes the elements of example 23, further including

communicating, by an RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry, a sector sweep resource request received from the UE to the WLAN AP via an Xw interface.

Example 36. This example includes the elements of example 35, further including receiving, by the contention management circuitry, a UE responder schedule from the WLAN AP via the Xw interface.

Example 37. This example includes the elements of example 25, further including specifying, by the contention management circuitry, at least one option for a responder sector sweep allocation.

Example 38. This example includes the elements of example 37, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value.

Example 39. This example includes the elements of example 38, wherein the random probability value is determined based, at least in part, on a number of UEs in a radio access network.

Example 40. This example includes the elements of example 25, wherein a number and identification of slots allocated to the UE is fixed. Example 41. This example includes the elements of example 26, wherein the sector sweep resource response is provided via at least one of RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling and/or in band signaling via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence

Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

Example 42. This example includes the elements of example 38, further including utilizing, by the contention management circuitry, broadcast signaling to set the random probability value.

Example 43. This example includes the elements of example 23, further including specifying, by the contention management circuitry, a range of beam directions for the UE to scan in a responder selector sweep.

Example 44. This example includes the elements of example 43, wherein the range of beam directions is determined based, at least in part, on a correlation with a direction observed over an LTE (Long Term Evolution) link via an LTE interface.

Example 45. According to this example, there is provided an apparatus of a User Equipment (UE). The apparatus includes a beam acquisition circuitry to provide a sector sweep resource request to a Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The sector sweep resource request is related to a communication between the UE and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP).

Example 46. This example includes the elements of example 45, wherein the beam acquisition circuitry is to monitor at least one transmit sector sweep via a WLAN interface.

Example 47. This example includes the elements of example 46, wherein the beam acquisition circuitry is to determine a relatively best AP transmit beam received via the WLAN interface.

Example 48. This example includes the elements of example 45 or 46, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided while the WLAN AP is performing AP transmit sector sweeps.

Example 49. This example includes the elements of example 45 or 46, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided via an LTE technique, the LTE technique selected from the group comprising a UE measurement report, a radio resource control (RRC) signal, and/or an in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

Example 50. This example includes the elements of example 49, wherein the LTE technique i is the radio resource control (RRC) signal, the RRC signal includes a status indicator

"WLANConnectionStatusIndication", with a cause value APSectorSweepComplete or

ResponderSSResourceREQ.

Example 51. This example includes the elements of example 49, wherein the LTE technique i is the in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs and the sector sweep resource request is included in a data portion of a message transmitted to the eNB.

Example 52. This example includes the elements of example 45 or 46, wherein the sector sweep resource request contains information related to the sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan.

Example 53. This example includes the elements of example 52, wherein the sector sweep request includes a number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan.

Example 54. This example includes the elements of example 52, wherein the sector sweep request includes a respective identifier associated with each sector that the beam acquisition circuitry intends to scan.

Example 55. This example includes the elements of example 53, wherein the number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan is determined based, at least in part, on one or more of a history, information related to a location of the WLAN AP and/or beam finding via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface to determine a coarse direction.

Example 56. This example includes the elements of example 45 or 46, wherein the beam acquisition circuitry is to determine a responder sector sweep slot based, at least in part, on an option for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB.

Example 57. This example includes the elements of example 56, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value.

Example 58. This example includes the elements of example 57, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is the random probability value and the beam acquisition circuitry is to toss a coin to determine an individual random probability of transmission.

Example 59. This example includes the elements of example 56, wherein the responder sector sweep slot is determined based, at least in part, on a plurality of options for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB. Example 60. This example includes the elements of example 45 or 46, wherein the beam acquisition circuitry is to transmit at least one UE transmit direction sector sweep via the WLAN interface.

Example 61. According to this example, there is provided a method of a baseband circuitry of a user equipment (UE). The method includes providing, by a beam acquisition circuitry, a sector sweep resource request to a Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The sector sweep resource request is related to a communication between the UE and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP).

Example 62. This example includes the elements of example 61, further including monitoring, by the beam acquisition circuitry, at least one transmit sector sweep via a WLAN interface.

Example 63. This example includes the elements of example 62, further including determining, by the beam acquisition circuitry, a relatively best AP transmit beam received via the WLAN interface.

Example 64. This example includes the elements of example 61, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided while the WLAN AP is performing AP transmit sector sweeps.

Example 65. This example includes the elements of example 61, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided via an LTE technique, the LTE technique selected from the group comprising a UE measurement report, a radio resource control (RRC) signal, and/or an in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

Example 66. This example includes the elements of example 65, wherein the LTE technique is the radio resource control (RRC) signal, the RRC signal includes a status indicator

"WLANConnectionStatusIndication", with a cause value APSectorSweepComplete or

ResponderSSResourceREQ.

Example 67. This example includes the elements of example 65, wherein the LTE technique is the in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs and the sector sweep resource request is included in a data portion of a message transmitted to the eNB.

Example 68. This example includes the elements of example 61, wherein the sector sweep resource request contains information related to the sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan.

Example 69. This example includes the elements of example 68, wherein the sector sweep request includes a number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan.

Example 70. This example includes the elements of example 68, wherein the sector sweep request includes a respective identifier associated with each sector that the beam acquisition circuitry intends to scan.

Example 71. This example includes the elements of example 69, wherein the number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan is determined based, at least in part, on one or more of a history, information related to a location of the WLAN AP and/or beam finding via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface to determine a coarse direction.

Example 72. This example includes the elements of example 61, further including determining, by the beam acquisition circuitry, a responder sector sweep slot based, at least in part, on an option for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB.

Example 73. This example includes the elements of example 72, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value.

Example 74. This example includes the elements of example 73, further including tossing, by the beam acquisition circuitry, a coin to determine an individual random probability of transmission wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is the random probability value.

Example 75. This example includes the elements of example 72, wherein the responder sector sweep slot is determined based, at least in part, on a plurality of options for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB. Example 76. This example includes the elements of example 61, further including providing, by the beam acquisition circuitry, at least one UE transmit direction sector sweep via the WLAN interface.

Example 77. According to this example, there is provided a computer readable storage device. The device has stored thereon instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations including communicating with a user equipment (UE); and managing a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE).

Example 78. This example includes the elements of example 77, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including communicating, via an Xw interface, with a WLAN Terminal (WT) coupled to the WLAN AP.

Example 79. This example includes the elements of example 77, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including determining a responder sector sweep schedule.

Example 80. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 77 to 79, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including providing a sector sweep resource response, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE. Example 81. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 77 to 79, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including providing a WLAN AP sector level sweep (SLS) schedule, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

Example 82. This example includes the elements of example 81, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule includes an initiator sector sweep schedule.

Example 83. This example includes the elements of example 81, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule is included in or with a discovery information that is at least one of broadcast and/or unicast to the UE.

Example 84. This example includes the elements of example 81, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including exchanging the WLAN AP SLS schedule with the WLAN AP over an Xw-WT (WLAN

Terminal) interface. Example 85. This example includes the elements of example 84, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including receiving the SLS schedule, provided from the WLAN AP via the WT and the Xw interface.

Example 86. This example includes the elements of example 81, wherein WLAN AP SLS schedule is known to the contention management circuitry via at least one of configuration data and/or a crowdsourcing mechanism.

Example 87. This example includes the elements of example 79, wherein the responder sector sweep schedule is determined based, at least in part, on a load on a radio access network.

Example 88. This example includes the elements of example 87, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including determining the load based, at least in part, on one or more of a number of currently connected UEs, through information exchange with the WLAN AP over an Xw interface, through statistics collection over a time period and/or a random selection. Example 89. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 77 to 79, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including communicating a sector sweep resource request received from the UE to the WLAN AP via an Xw interface. Example 90. This example includes the elements of example 89, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including receiving a UE responder schedule from the WLAN AP via the Xw interface.

Example 91. This example includes the elements of example 79, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including specifying at least one option for a responder sector sweep allocation.

Example 92. This example includes the elements of example 91, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value. Example 93. This example includes the elements of example 92, wherein the random probability value is determined based, at least in part, on a number of UEs in a radio access network.

Example 94. This example includes the elements of example 79, wherein a number and identification of slots allocated to the UE is fixed. Example 95. This example includes the elements of example 80, wherein the sector sweep resource response is provided via at least one of RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling and/or in band signaling via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence

Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

Example 96. This example includes the elements of example 92, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including utilizing broadcast signaling to set the random probability value. Example 97. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 77 to 79, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including specifying a range of beam directions for the UE to scan in a responder selector sweep. Example 98. This example includes the elements of example 97, wherein the range of beam directions is determined based, at least in part, on a correlation with a direction observed over an LTE (Long Term Evolution) link via an LTE interface.

Example 99. According to this example, there is provided a device of an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The device includes means for establishing a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE).

Example 100. This example includes the elements of example 99, further including means for communicating via an Xw interface, with a WLAN Terminal (WT) coupled to the WLAN AP.

Example 101. This example includes the elements of example 99, further including means for determining a responder sector sweep schedule.

Example 102. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 99 to 101, further including means for providing a sector sweep resource response, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

Example 103. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 99 to 101, further including means for providing a WLAN AP sector level sweep (SLS) schedule, via a

Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

Example 104. This example includes the elements of example 103, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule includes an initiator sector sweep schedule. Example 105. This example includes the elements of example 103, wherein the WLAN AP SLS schedule is included in or with a discovery information that is at least one of broadcast and/or unicast to the UE. Example 106. This example includes the elements of example 103, further including means for exchanging the WLAN AP SLS schedule with the WLAN AP over an Xw-WT (WLAN

Terminal) interface.

Example 107. This example includes the elements of example 106, further including means for receiving the SLS schedule, provided from the WLAN AP via the WT and the Xw interface.

Example 108. This example includes the elements of example 103, wherein WLAN AP SLS schedule is known to the contention management circuitry via at least one of configuration data and/or a crowdsourcing mechanism.

Example 109. This example includes the elements of example 101, wherein the responder sector sweep schedule is determined based, at least in part, on a load on a radio access network.

Example 110. This example includes the elements of example 109, further including means for determining the load based, at least in part, on one or more of a number of currently connected UEs, through information exchange with the WLAN AP over an Xw interface, through statistics collection over a time period and/or a random selection. Example 111. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 99 to 101, further including means for communicating a sector sweep resource request received from the UE to the WLAN AP via an Xw interface.

Example 112. This example includes the elements of example 111, further including means for receiving a UE responder schedule from the WLAN AP via the Xw interface. Example 113. This example includes the elements of example 101, further including means for specifying at least one option for a responder sector sweep allocation.

Example 114. This example includes the elements of example 113, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value. Example 115. This example includes the elements of example 114, wherein the random probability value is determined based, at least in part, on a number of UEs in a radio access network.

Example 116. This example includes the elements of example 101, wherein a number and identification of slots allocated to the UE is fixed.

Example 117. This example includes the elements of example 102, wherein the sector sweep resource response is provided via at least one of RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling and/or in band signaling via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence

Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units). Example 118. This example includes the elements of example 114, further including means for utilizing broadcast signaling to set the random probability value.

Example 119. This example includes the elements according to any one of examples 99 to 101, further including means for specifying a range of beam directions for the UE to scan in a responder selector sweep. Example 120. This example includes the elements of example 119, wherein the range of beam directions is determined based, at least in part, on a correlation with a direction observed over an LTE (Long Term Evolution) link via an LTE interface.

Example 121. According to this example, there is provided a computer readable storage device. The device has stored thereon instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations including providing a sector sweep resource request to a Radio

Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e- UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The sector sweep resource request is related to a

communication between a user equipment (UE) and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP). Example 122. This example includes the elements of example 121, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including monitoring at least one transmit sector sweep via a WLAN interface. Example 123. This example includes the elements of example 122, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including determining a relatively best AP transmit beam received via the WLAN interface.

Example 124. This example includes the elements of example 121 or 122, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided while the WLAN AP is performing AP transmit sector sweeps.

Example 125. This example includes the elements of example 121 or 122, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided via an LTE (Long Term Evolution) technique, the LTE technique selected from the group comprising a UE measurement report, a radio resource control (RRC) signal, and/or an in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data

Convergence Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

Example 126. This example includes the elements of example 125, wherein the LTE technique is the radio resource control (RRC) signal, the RRC signal includes a status indicator

"WLANConnectionStatusIndication", with a cause value APSectorSweepComplete or

ResponderSSResourceREQ.

Example 127. This example includes the elements of example 125, wherein the LTE technique is the in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs and the sector sweep resource request is included in a data portion of a message transmitted to the eNB.

Example 128. This example includes the elements of example 121 or 122, wherein the sector sweep resource request contains information related to the sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan.

Example 129. This example includes the elements of example 128, wherein the sector sweep request includes a number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan.

Example 130. This example includes the elements of example 128, wherein the sector sweep request includes a respective identifier associated with each sector that the beam acquisition circuitry intends to scan. Example 131. This example includes the elements of example 129, wherein the number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan is determined based, at least in part, on one or more of a history, information related to a location of the WLAN AP and/or beam finding via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface to determine a coarse direction. Example 132. This example includes the elements of example 121 or 122, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including determining a responder sector sweep slot based, at least in part, on an option for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB.

Example 133. This example includes the elements of example 132, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value.

Example 134. This example includes the elements of example 133, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including tossing a coin to determine an individual random probability of transmission wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is the random probability value.

Example 135. This example includes the elements of example 132, wherein the responder sector sweep slot is determined based, at least in part, on a plurality of options for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB. Example 136. This example includes the elements of example 121 or 122, wherein the instructions that when executed by one or more processors results in the following additional operations including providing at least one UE transmit direction sector sweep via the WLAN interface.

Example 137. According to this example, there is provided a device of a user equipment (UE). The device includes means for providing a sector sweep resource request to a Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB). The sector sweep resource request related to a communication between the UE and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP). Example 138. This example includes the elements of example 137, further including means for monitoring at least one transmit sector sweep via a WLAN interface.

Example 139. This example includes the elements of example 138, further including means for determining a relatively best AP transmit beam received via the WLAN interface. Example 140. This example includes the elements of example 137 or 138, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided while the WLAN AP is performing AP transmit sector sweeps.

Example 141. This example includes the elements of example 137 or 138, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided via an LTE technique, the LTE technique selected from the group comprising a UE measurement report, a radio resource control (RRC) signal, and/or an in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

Example 142. This example includes the elements of example 141, wherein the LTE technique is the radio resource control (RRC) signal, the RRC signal includes a status indicator

"WLANConnectionStatusIndication", with a cause value APSectorSweepComplete or

ResponderSSResourceREQ.

Example 143. This example includes the elements of example 141, wherein the LTE technique is the in band signal via one or more PDCP/MAC PDUs and the sector sweep resource request is included in a data portion of a message transmitted to the eNB. Example 144. This example includes the elements of example 137 or 138, wherein the sector sweep resource request contains information related to the sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan.

Example 145. This example includes the elements of example 144, wherein the sector sweep request includes a number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan. Example 146. This example includes the elements of example 144, wherein the sector sweep request includes a respective identifier associated with each sector that the beam acquisition circuitry intends to scan. Example 147. This example includes the elements of example 145, wherein the number of sectors that the beam acquisition circuitry is to scan is determined based, at least in part, on one or more of a history, information related to a location of the WLAN AP and/or beam finding via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface to determine a coarse direction. Example 148. This example includes the elements of example 137 or 138, further including means for determining a responder sector sweep slot based, at least in part, on an option for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB.

Example 149. This example includes the elements of example 148, wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is selected from the group including a selected slot identifier and/or a frame identifier, an offset of a number of frames and/or a number of slots and/or a random probability value.

Example 150. This example includes the elements of example 149, further including means for tossing a coin to determine an individual random probability of transmission wherein the option for the responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB is the random probability value. Example 151. This example includes the elements of example 148, wherein the responder sector sweep slot is determined based, at least in part, on a plurality of options for a responder sector sweep allocation received from the eNB.

Example 152. This example includes the elements of example 137 or 138, further including means for providing at least one UE transmit direction sector sweep via the WLAN interface. Example 153. According to this example, there is provided a system. The system includes at least one device arranged to perform the method of any one of examples 23 to 44.

Example 154. According to this example, there is provided a device. The device includes means to perform the method of any one of examples 23 to 44.

Example 155. According to this example, there is provided a computer readable storage device. The device has stored thereon instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations including the method according to any one of examples 23 to 44. Example 156. According to this example, there is provided a system. The system includes at least one device arranged to perform the method of any one of examples 61 to 76.

Example 157. According to this example, there is provided a device. The device includes means to perform the method of any one of examples 61 to 76.

Example 158. According to this example, there is provided a computer readable storage device. The device has stored thereon instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations including: the method according to any one of examples 61 to 76.

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described (or portions thereof), and it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. Accordingly, the claims are intended to cover all such equivalents.

Various features, aspects, and embodiments have been described herein. The features, aspects, and embodiments are susceptible to combination with one another as well as to variation and modification, as will be understood by those having skill in the art. The present disclosure should, therefore, be considered to encompass such combinations, variations, and modifications.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB), the apparatus comprising:

a contention management circuitry to manage a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE).

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry to communicate, via an Xw interface, with a WLAN Terminal (WT) coupled to the WLAN AP.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the contention management circuitry is to determine a responder sector sweep schedule.

4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contention management circuitry is to provide a sector sweep resource response, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contention management circuitry is to provide a WLAN AP sector level sweep (SLS) schedule, via a Long Term

Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry to communicate a sector sweep resource request received from the UE to the WLAN AP via an Xw interface.

7. A method of a baseband circuitry of an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e- UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB), the method comprising:

managing, by a contention management circuitry, a beam acquisition procedure between a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) and a user equipment (UE).

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising communicating, by an RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry, via an Xw interface, with a WLAN Terminal (WT) coupled to the WLAN AP.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining, by the contention management circuitry, a responder sector sweep schedule.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing, by the contention management circuitry, a sector sweep resource response, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing, by the contention management circuitry, a WLAN AP sector level sweep (SLS) schedule, via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, to a radio frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to the UE.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising communicating, by an RF (Radio Frequency) circuitry, a sector sweep resource request received from the UE to the WLAN AP via an Xw interface.

13. An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

a beam acquisition circuitry to provide a sector sweep resource request to a Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e- UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB), the sector sweep resource request related to a communication between the UE and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP).

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the beam acquisition circuitry is to monitor at least one transmit sector sweep via a WLAN interface.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the beam acquisition circuitry is to determine a relatively best AP transmit beam received via the WLAN interface.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided while the WLAN AP is performing AP transmit sector sweeps.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided via an LTE technique, the LTE technique selected from the group comprising a UE measurement report, a radio resource control (RRC) signal, and/or an in band signal via one or more

PDCP/MAC PDUs (Packet Data Convergence Protocol/Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units).

18. A method of a baseband circuitry of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing, by a beam acquisition circuitry, a sector sweep resource request to a Radio

Frequency (RF) circuitry for transmission to an evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e- UTRAN) Network Node B (eNB), the sector sweep resource request related to a communication between the UE and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP).

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising monitoring, by the beam acquisition circuitry, at least one transmit sector sweep via a WLAN interface.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining, by the beam acquisition circuitry, a relatively best AP transmit beam received via the WLAN interface.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided while the WLAN AP is performing AP transmit sector sweeps.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the sector sweep resource request is provided via an LTE technique, the LTE technique selected from the group comprising a UE measurement report, a radio resource control (RRC) signal, and/or an in band signal via one or more

23. A device comprising means to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 12 or 18 to 22.

24. A computer readable storage device having stored thereon instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations comprising: the method according to any one of claims 7 to 12 or 18 to 22.