EP3949559A1

EP3949559A1 - Network node and method performed therin for communicating with a wireless device

Info

Publication number: EP3949559A1
Application number: EP20716977.2A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jörg Huschke; Christian Hoymann; Xingqin LIN
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2019-03-26
Filing date: 2020-03-26
Publication date: 2022-02-09
Also published as: WO2020197481A1

Abstract

A method, system and node are disclosed. In one or more embodiments, a network node configured to communicate with a wireless device is provided. The network node is configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface and/or comprising processing circuitry configured to configure (S134) at least one timeslot of a first 5radio access technology, RAT, to remain unused in a frame, and schedule (S136) at least one signaling and synchronization block, SSB, of a second RAT for time division multiplexing, TDM, based at least in part on the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

Description

NETWORK NODE AND METHOD PERFORMED THERIN FOR COMMUNICATING WITH A WIRELESS DEVICE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to a network node and method performed therein for supporting coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT such as based at least on unused resource(s) associated with the first RAT in communications with wireless devices.

BACKGROUND

The first release of the 5th Generation (5G) system (5GS) (also referred to as New Radio (NR)) was developed in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP, a standardization organization) Release 15. This radio access technology may be able to serve use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) and massive machine type communication

(mMTC). 5G includes the New Radio (NR) access stratum interface and the 5G Core Network (5GC). The NR physical and higher layers may be reusing parts of the LTE specification, and may have added components based on new use cases.

Gradual migration from global system for mobile communication (GSM) to NR may be desired for existing systems. In particular for railway communication, GSM-Railway (GSM-R) is still used in most countries. Some countries want to migrate from GSM-R directly to NR based Future Rail Mobile Communication System (FRMCS). However, the network operator has very limited wireless communication spectrum available for use such that introducing NR in existing spectrum that is fully occupied by GSM-R may be difficult. NR has not been standardized for bands that are allocated to railway communication and used for GSM such that there is no standardized solution for coexistence of NR and GSM.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments advantageously provide methods, systems, and apparatuses for coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT such as based at least on unused resource(s) associated with the first RAT.

In one or more embodiments, coexistence in time/time domain, i.e., time division multiplexing (TDM), is applied instead of or on top of coexistence in frequency domain for migration of one Radio Access Technology (RAT) such as GSM to another RAT such as NR. The instant disclosure advantageously provides migration from GSM to NR that can be performed in a more gradual manner, where NR may initially use, for example, only about 50% of GSM capacity when NR is introduced into the system.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a network node configured to communicate with a wireless device is provided. The network node includes processing circuitry configured to configure at least one timeslot of a first radio access technology, RAT, to remain unused in a frame, and to schedule at least one signaling and synchronization block, SSB, of a second RAT for time division multiplexing, TDM, based at least in part on the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the at least one timeslot of the first RAT that remains unused in the frame is a plurality of timeslots that remain unused in the frame. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the plurality of timeslots correspond to one of all even timeslots and all odd timeslots in the frame where the frame is a time division multiple access, TDMA, frame.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the processing circuitry is further configured to tag resource blocks of the second RAT that overlap timeslots on a carrier of the first RAT and that are scheduled for use by the first RAT as reserved resources when scheduling transmission for the second RAT, and to schedule transmission of a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, for the second RAT at least in part by rate matching the transmission of the PDSCH around the reserved resources.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the scheduled at least one SSB partially overlaps with a timeslot scheduled for a transmission using the first RAT.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the at least one SSB of the second RAT is scheduled in the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT, and the processing circuitry is further configured to schedule at least one other second RAT signal on resource blocks that do not overlap in time and frequency with timeslots used for transmission using the first RAT. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the first RAT and second RAT are scheduled on a same frequency.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the at least one SSB is a plurality of signaling and synchronization blocks, SSBs, and the unused at least one timeslot is a plurality of adjacent timeslots. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the first RAT is provided by a 2nd Generation cellular network and the second RAT is provided by a 5th Generation cellular network. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the first RAT is Global System for Mobile

Communications, GSM.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a method implemented by a network node that is configured to communicate with a wireless device is provided.

At least one timeslot of a first radio access technology, RAT, is configured to remain unused in a frame. At least one signaling and synchronization block, SSB, of a second RAT for time division multiplexing, TDM, is scheduled based at least in part on the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the at least one timeslot of the first RAT that remains unused in the frame is a plurality of timeslots that remain unused in the frame. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the plurality of timeslots correspond to one of all even timeslots and all odd timeslots in the frame, the frame being a time division multiple access, TDMA, frame.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, resource blocks of the second RAT that overlap timeslots on a carrier of the first RAT and that are scheduled for use by the first RAT are tagged as reserved resources when scheduling transmission for the second RAT. Transmission of a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, for the second RAT is scheduled at least in part by rate matching the transmission of the PDSCH around the reserved resources.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the scheduled at least one SSB partially overlaps with a timeslot scheduled for a transmission using the first RAT. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the at least one SSB of the second RAT is scheduled in the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT. At least one other second RAT signal is scheduled on resource blocks that do not overlap in time and frequency with timeslots used for transmission using the first RAT.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the first RAT and second RAT are scheduled on a same frequency.

Communications, GSM.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary network architecture illustrating a communication system connected via an intermediate network to a host computer according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a network node with a wireless device over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node and a wireless device for executing a client application at a wireless device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node and a wireless device for receiving user data at a wireless device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node and a wireless device for receiving user data from the wireless device at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node and a wireless device for receiving user data at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of another exemplary process in a network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a wireless device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As discussed above, NR has not been standardized for bands that are allocated to railway communication and used for GSM such that there is no standardized solution for coexistence of NR and GSM. One possible method of introducing NR, in the case that the spectrum allocation is wide enough, is to operate GSM-R and NR in separate bandwidth such as adjacent bandwidths. However, since the minimum standardized bandwidth for NR is 5 MHz or 10 MHz, a GSM network operator may have to cease many GSM carriers to introduce NR. Therefore, other solutions for introducing NR into existing systems than separate-band coexistence of NR and GSM may be desirable.

The instant disclosure solves at least a portion of the problem(s) described above by, for example, applying coexistence in time or in the time domain, i.e., time division multiplexing (TDM), instead or on top of (i.e., in addition to) coexistence in the frequency domain. In one or more embodiments, migration from GSM to NR can be performed in a gradual manner, where initially only about 25% of GSM capacity, for example, may be reduced when NR is introduced.

Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT and/or scheduling at least one signal of a second RAT using at least one unused resource (e.g., timeslot) associated with a first RAT. Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

As used herein, relational terms, such as“first” and“second,”“top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms“a”,“an” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,”“comprising,”“includes” and/or“including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In embodiments described herein, the joining term,“in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication. In some embodiments described herein, the term“coupled,”“connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and/or wireless connections.

The term“network node” used herein can be any kind of network node comprised in a radio network which may further comprise any of base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, relay node, donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The network node may also comprise test equipment. The term“radio node” used herein may be used to also denote a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.

In some embodiments, the non-limiting terms wireless device (WD) or user equipment (UE) are used interchangeably. The WD herein can be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a network node or another WD over radio signals, such as wireless device (WD). The WD may also be a radio communication device, target device, device to device (D2D) WD, machine type WD or WD capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity WD, a sensor equipped with WD, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), Universal Serial Bus (USB) dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a Narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) device etc.

Also, in some embodiments the generic term“radio network node” is used. It can be any kind of a radio network node which may comprise any of base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, RNC, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNB, Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entity (MCE), IAB node, relay node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH).

Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, 3GPP LTE and/or New Radio (NR), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.

The term time resource used herein may correspond to any type of physical resource or radio resource expressed in terms of length of time. Examples of time resources are: symbol, time slot, subframe, radio frame, TTI, interleaving time, etc.

An indication generally may explicitly and/or implicitly indicate the information it represents and/or indicates. Implicit indication may for example be based on position and/or resource used for transmission. Explicit indication may for example be based on a parametrization with one or more parameters, and/or one or more index or indices, and/or one or more bit patterns representing the information.

Transmitting in downlink may pertain to transmission from the network or network node to the wireless device or terminal. Transmitting in uplink may pertain to transmission from the wireless device or terminal to the network or network node. Transmitting in sidelink may pertain to (direct) transmission from one wireless device or terminal to another. Uplink, downlink and sidelink (e.g., sidelink transmission and reception) may be considered communication directions. In some variants, uplink and downlink may also be used to described wireless communication between network nodes, e.g. for wireless backhaul and/or relay communication and/or (wireless) network communication for example between base stations or similar network nodes, in particular communication terminating at such. It may be considered that backhaul and/or relay communication and/or network communication is implemented as a form of sidelink or uplink communication or similar thereto.

Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by a wireless device or a network node may be distributed over a plurality of wireless devices and/or network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the network node and wireless device described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Embodiments provide coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) such as GSM and a second RAT such as NR/5G and/or scheduling at least one signal of the second RAT using at least one unused resource (e.g., timeslot) associated with the first RAT.

Referring now to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in FIG. 1 a schematic diagram of a communication system 10, according to an embodiment, such as a 3 GPP -type cellular network that may support wireless communication standards such as LTE and/or NR (5G), which comprises an access network 12, such as a radio access network, and a core network 14. The access network 12 comprises a plurality of network nodes 16a, 16b, 16c (referred to collectively as network nodes 16), such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 18a, 18b, 18c (referred to collectively as coverage areas 18). Each network node 16a, 16b, 16c is connectable to the core network 14 over a wired or wireless connection 20. A first wireless device (WD) 22a located in coverage area 18a is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding network node 16c. A second WD 22b in coverage area 18b is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding network node 16a. While a plurality of WDs 22a, 22b (collectively referred to as wireless devices 22) are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole WD is in the coverage area or where a sole WD is connecting to the corresponding network node 16. Note that although only two WDs 22 and three network nodes 16 are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more WDs 22 and network nodes 16.

Also, it is contemplated that a WD 22 can be in simultaneous communication and/or configured to separately communicate with more than one network node 16 and more than one type of network node 16. For example, a WD 22 can have dual connectivity with a network node 16 that supports LTE and the same or a different network node 16 that supports NR. As an example, WD 22 can be in communication with an eNB for LTE/E-UTRAN and a gNB for NR/NG-RAN.

The communication system 10 may itself be connected to a host computer 24, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 24 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 26, 28 between the communication system 10 and the host computer 24 may extend directly from the core network 14 to the host computer 24 or may extend via an optional intermediate network 30. The intermediate network 30 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network. The intermediate network 30, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet. In some embodiments, the intermediate network 30 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of FIG. 1 as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected WDs 22a, 22b and the host computer 24. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection. The host computer 24 and the connected WDs 22a, 22b are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection, using the access network 12, the core network 14, any intermediate network 30 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection may be transparent in the sense that at least some of the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, a network node 16 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer 24 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected WD 22a. Similarly, the network node 16 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the WD 22a towards the host computer 24.

A network node 16 is configured to include a RAT unit 32 which is configured to perform one or more network node 16 functions as described herein such as with respect to coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the WD 22, network node 16 and host computer 24 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. In a communication system 10, a host computer 24 comprises hardware (HW) 38 including a communication interface 40 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 10. The host computer 24 further comprises processing circuitry 42, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. The processing circuitry 42 may include a processor 44 and memory 46. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 42 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 44 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) memory 46, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read- Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Processing circuitry 42 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by host computer 24. Processor 44 corresponds to one or more processors 44 for performing host computer 24 functions described herein. The host computer 24 includes memory 46 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 48 and/or the host application 50 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 44 and/or processing circuitry 42, causes the processor 44 and/or processing circuitry 42 to perform the processes described herein with respect to host computer 24. The instructions may be software associated with the host computer 24.

The software 48 may be executable by the processing circuitry 42. The software 48 may include a host application 50. The host application 50 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a WD 22 connecting via an OTT connection 52 terminating at the WD 22 and the host computer 24. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application 50 may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 52. The“user data” may be data and information described herein as implementing the described functionality. In one embodiment, the host computer 24 may be configured for providing control and functionality to a service provider and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The processing circuitry 42 of the host computer 24 may enable the host computer 24 to observe, monitor, control, transmit to and/or receive from the network node 16 and/or the wireless device 22. The processing circuitry 42 of the host computer 24 may include an information unit 54 configured to enable the service provider to process, transmit, receive, store, communicate, forward, relay, etc. information related to coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT and/or scheduling at least one signal of the second RAT using at least one unused resource (e.g., timeslot) associated with the first RAT.

The communication system 10 further includes a network node 16 provided in a communication system 10 and including hardware 58 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 24 and with the WD 22. The hardware 58 may include a communication interface 60 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the

communication system 10, as well as a radio interface 62 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 64 with a WD 22 located in a coverage area 18 served by the network node 16. The radio interface 62 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers. The communication interface 60 may be configured to facilitate a connection 66 to the host computer 24. The connection 66 may be direct or it may pass through a core network 14 of the communication system 10 and/or through one or more intermediate networks 30 outside the communication system 10.

In the embodiment shown, the hardware 58 of the network node 16 further includes processing circuitry 68. The processing circuitry 68 may include a processor 70 and a memory 72. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 68 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 70 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 72, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the network node 16 further has software 74 stored internally in, for example, memory 72, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the network node 16 via an external connection. The software 74 may be executable by the processing circuitry 68. The processing circuitry 68 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by network node 16. Processor 70 corresponds to one or more processors 70 for performing network node 16 functions described herein. The memory 72 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 74 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 70 and/or processing circuitry 68, causes the processor 70 and/or processing circuitry 68 to perform the processes described herein with respect to network node 16. For example, processing circuitry 68 of the network node 16 may include RAT unit 32 configured to perform one or more network node 16 functions described herein such as with respect coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT and/or scheduling at least one signal of the second RAT using at least one unused resource (e.g., timeslot) associated with the first RAT. The communication system 10 further includes the WD 22 already referred to. The WD 22 may have hardware 80 that may include a radio interface 82 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 64 with a network node 16 serving a coverage area 18 in which the WD 22 is currently located. The radio interface 82 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers.

The hardware 80 of the WD 22 further includes processing circuitry 84. The processing circuitry 84 may include a processor 86 and memory 88. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 84 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 86 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) memory 88, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the WD 22 may further comprise software 90, which is stored in, for example, memory 88 at the WD 22, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the WD 22. The software 90 may be executable by the processing circuitry 84. The software 90 may include a client application 92. The client application 92 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the WD 22, with the support of the host computer 24. In the host computer 24, an executing host application 50 may communicate with the executing client application 92 via the OTT connection 52 terminating at the WD 22 and the host computer 24. In providing the service to the user, the client application 92 may receive request data from the host application 50 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 52 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 92 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

The processing circuitry 84 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by WD 22. The processor 86 corresponds to one or more processors 86 for performing WD 22 functions described herein. The WD 22 may include memory 88 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 90 and/or the client application 92 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 86 and/or processing circuitry 84, causes the processor 86 and/or processing circuitry 84 to perform the processes described herein with respect to WD 22. For example, the processing circuitry 84 of the wireless device 22 may include a TDM unit 34 configured to perform one or more wireless device 22 functions described herein such as with respect to receiving at least one signal of a second RAT using at least one unused resource (e.g., timeslot) associated with a first RAT.

In some embodiments, the inner workings of the network node 16, WD 22, and host computer 24 may be as shown in FIG. 2 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 2, the OTT connection 52 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer 24 and the wireless device 22 via the network node 16, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from the WD 22 or from the service provider operating the host computer 24, or both. While the OTT connection 52 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or

reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection 64 between the WD 22 and the network node 16 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the WD 22 using the OTT connection 52, in which the wireless connection 64 may form the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of some of these embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime, etc. In some embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 52 between the host computer 24 and WD 22, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 52 may be implemented in the software 48 of the host computer 24 or in the software 90 of the WD 22, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 52 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 48, 90 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 52 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the network node 16, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the network node 16. Some such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary WD signaling facilitating the host computer’s 24 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. In some embodiments, the measurements may be implemented in that the software 48, 90 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 52 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

Thus, in some embodiments, the host computer 24 includes processing circuitry 42 configured to provide user data and a communication interface 40 that is configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to the WD 22. In some embodiments, the cellular network also includes the network node 16 with a radio interface 62. In some embodiments, the network node 16 is configured to, and/or the network node’s 16 processing circuitry 68 is configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for

preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the WD 22, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending reception of a transmission from the WD 22. In some embodiments, the host computer 24 includes processing circuitry 42 and a communication interface 40 that is configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a WD 22 to a network node 16. In some embodiments, the WD 22 is configured to, and/or comprises a radio interface 82 and/or processing circuitry 84 configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the network node 16, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending reception of a transmission from the network node 16.

Although FIGS. 1 and 2 show various“units” such as RAT unit 32 and TDM unit 34 as being within a respective processor, it is contemplated that these units may be implemented such that a portion of the unit is stored in a corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, the units may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIGS. 1 and 2, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be those described with reference to FIG. 2. In a first step of the method, the host computer 24 provides user data (Block SI 00). In an optional substep of the first step, the host computer 24 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 50 (Block SI 02). In a second step, the host computer 24 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the WD 22 (Block SI 04). In an optional third step, the network node 16 transmits to the WD 22 the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer 24 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block SI 06). In an optional fourth step, the WD 22 executes a client application, such as, for example, the client application 92, associated with the host application 50 executed by the host computer 24 (Block SI 08).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In a first step of the method, the host computer 24 provides user data (Block SI 10). In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer 24 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 50. In a second step, the host computer 24 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the WD 22 (Block SI 12). The transmission may pass via the network node 16, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional third step, the WD 22 receives the user data carried in the transmission (Block SI 14).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an optional first step of the method, the WD 22 receives input data provided by the host computer 24 (Block SI 16). In an optional substep of the first step, the WD 22 executes the client application 92, which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer 24 (Block SI 18). Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step, the WD 22 provides user data (Block S120). In an optional substep of the second step, the WD provides the user data by executing a client application, such as, for example, client application 92 (Block S122). In providing the user data, the executed client application 92 may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the WD 22 may initiate, in an optional third substep, transmission of the user data to the host computer 24 (Block S124). In a fourth step of the method, the host computer 24 receives the user data transmitted from the WD 22, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block S126).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In an optional first step of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 16 receives user data from the WD 22 (Block S128). In an optional second step, the network node 16 initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer 24 (Block S130). In a third step, the host computer 24 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the network node 16 (Block SI 32).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node 16 that may be configured to communicate with WD 22 using the first RAT and/or second RAT in accordance with the principles of the disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions performed by network node 16 may be performed by one or more elements of network node 16 such as by RAT unit 32 in processing circuitry 68, processor 70, radio interface 62, etc. In one or more embodiments, network node 16 such as via one or more of processing circuitry 68, processor 70, communication interface 60 and radio interface 62 is configured to configure (Block SI 34) at least one timeslot of a first radio access technology (RAT) to remain unused in a frame, as described herein. In one or more embodiments, network node 16 such as via one or more of processing circuitry 68, processor 70, communication interface 60 and radio interface 62 is configured to schedule (Block SI 36) at least one signaling and synchronization block (SSB) of a second RAT for time division multiplexing (TDM) based at least in part on the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

According to one or more embodiments, the at least one timeslot of the first RAT that remains unused in the frame is a plurality of timeslots that remain unused in the frame. According to one or more embodiments, the plurality of timeslots correspond to one of all even timeslots and all odd timeslots in the frame where the frame is a time division multiple access, TDMA, frame. According to one or more embodiments, the processing circuitry 68 is further configured to tag resource blocks of the second RAT that overlap timeslots on a carrier of the first RAT and that are scheduled for use by the first RAT as reserved resources when scheduling

transmission for the second RAT, and to schedule transmission of a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, for the second RAT at least in part by rate matching the transmission of the PDSCH around the reserved resources.

According to one or more embodiments, the scheduled at least one SSB may partially overlap with a timeslot scheduled for a transmission using the first RAT. According to one or more embodiments, the at least one SSB of the second RAT may be scheduled in the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT. The processing circuitry 68 may further be configured to schedule at least one other second RAT signal on resource blocks that do not overlap in time and frequency with timeslots used for transmission using the first RAT. According to one or more embodiments, the first RAT and second RAT are scheduled on a same frequency.

According to one or more embodiments, the at least one SSB is a plurality of signaling and synchronization blocks, SSBs, and the unused at least one timeslot is a plurality of adjacent timeslots. According to one or more embodiments, the first RAT is provided by a 2nd Generation cellular network and the second RAT is provided by a 5th Generation cellular network. According to one or more embodiments, the first RAT is Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node 16 according to one or more embodiments of the disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions performed by network node 16 may be performed by one or more elements of network node 16 such as by RAT unit 32 in processing circuitry 68, processor 70, radio interface 62, etc. In one or more embodiments, network node 16 such as via one or more of processing circuitry 68, processor 70, communication interface 60 and radio interface 62 is configured to schedule (Block S 138) at least one signal of a second RAT (e.g., NR) using at least one unused timeslot of a first RAT (e.g., GSM).

In one or more embodiments, the processing circuitry 68 is further configured to schedule remaining signals of the second RAT using or in resource blocks of the second RAT that do not overlap used carriers and timeslots of the first RAT. In one or more embodiments, at least one periodic or non-periodic signal of the first RAT is scheduled outside of a bandwidth of the second RAT.

In one or more embodiments, a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), coordinates its transmissions on multiple resources, e.g. GSM carriers, to create time- aligned gaps over a bandwidth that is at least as wide as a second RAT signal that needs to be transmitted. In one or more embodiments, when an SSB has been transmitted in a current slot, a next SSB is transmitted in the last slot that completely falls into a 2 TS GSM-R gap and does not begin later than 20ms after the current slot. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a wireless device 22 according to one or more embodiments of the disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions performed by wireless device 22 may be performed by one or more elements of wireless device 22 such as by TDM unit 34 (e.g., for processing TDM signals) in processing circuitry 84, processor 86, radio interface 82, etc. In one or more embodiments, wireless device 22 such as via one or more of processing circuitry 84, processor 86 and radio interface 82 is configured to receive (Block S140) at least one signal of a second RAT using at least one unused timeslot of a first RAT, as described herein.

In one or more embodiments, the processing circuitry 68, via radio interface 82, is configured to receive remaining signals of the second RAT using resource blocks of the second RAT that do not overlap used carriers and timeslots of the first RAT. In one or more embodiments, at least one periodic or non-periodic signal of the first RAT is scheduled outside of a bandwidth of the second RAT.

In one or more embodiments, a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), coordinates its transmissions on multiple resources, e.g. GSM carriers, to create time- aligned gaps over a bandwidth that is at least as wide as a second RAT signal that needs to be transmitted. In one or more embodiments, when an SSB has been transmitted in a current slot, a next SSB is transmitted in the last slot that completely falls into a 2 TS GSM-R gap and does not begin later than 20ms after the current slot.

Having generally described arrangements for coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT, and/or scheduling and/or receiving and/or processing at least one signal of a second RAT using at least one unused resource (e.g., timeslot) associated with a first RAT details for these arrangements, functions and processes are provided as follows, and which may be implemented by the network node 16, wireless device 22 and/or host computer 24.

Embodiments provide coexistence, in time, of transmission using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT, and/or scheduling and/or receiving and/or processing at least one signal of a second RAT using at least one unused resource (e.g., timeslot) associated with a first RAT. NR has a“lean” design where in the absence of data traffic there may be fewer signals frequently transmitted in the downlink than according to Long Term Evolution (LTE). Therefore, an NR carrier that is not“loaded” or that lacks wireless device data for transmission is most of the time not transmitting, which provides an opportunity to time share the allocated bandwidth. In one or more embodiments, NR or a fifth generation (5G) wireless communication protocol may correspond to a second RAT and GSM or a second generation wireless communication protocol may correspond to a first RAT.

Periodic transmission may, for example, include NR Signaling and

Synchronization Block (SSB) that may be transmitted with period of 5 ms to 160 ms. For initial cell selection, a wireless device 22 may assume that SSB occurs with a periodicity of 20 ms. NR frames are 10 ms in duration. GSM-R Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) is in every 8th slot of a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) frame of 120 ms / 26=4.615 ms duration. A TDMA slot (e.g., time slot) duration may be Tg=577 us.

In one or more embodiments, GSM-R Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) is in every 8th slot of a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) frame of 4.615ms, which are examples of a transmission characteristic of the first RAT. TDMA slot duration is Tg=577us. A GSM-R Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) carrier may be transmitted continuously, i.e., in all time slots, which is an example of a transmission characteristic of the first RAT. Consequently, no TDM between NR and GSM-R BCCH carrier may be possible. In one or more embodiments, the BCCHs are allocated by processing circuitry 68 on GSM carriers that are outside of the NR SSB bandwidth, thereby allowing for TDM between NR and GSM, for example.

Additionally, for NR wireless device 22, the network/network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 68 can configure the frequency used by GSM-R BCCH as reserved resource, i.e., included to be part of static rate matching pattern resource, so that NR Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) can rate match around the frequency resource used by GSM-R BCCH. For example, processing circuitry 68 may be further configured to tag resource blocks of the second RAT that overlap timeslots on a carrier of the first RAT and that are scheduled for use by the first RAT as reserved resources when scheduling transmission for the second RAT, and schedule transmission of the PDSCH for the second RAT at least in part by rate matching the transmission of the PDSCH around the reserved resources.

Traffic time slots (TS) in GSM-R may be periodically allocated (which may be an example of a transmission characteristic of the first RAT) by network node 16, making scheduling of the traffic time slots around a periodic SSB whose period is not an integer multiple of the TDMA frame period, difficult. An SSB scheduled by network node 16 at a random time in the GSM TDMA frame grid can coincide with 2 adjacent GSM time slots (i.e., an example of a plurality of adjacent time slots) in a frame.

In one or more embodiments, the SSB is four Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols long (i.e., example of a transmission characteristics of the second RAT). For subcarrier spacing (SCS)= 15kHz, the symbol duration is 71.4us (microseconds) such that the SSB duration is Tssb=285.7us. However, since the SSB may have to be transmitted starting with the OFDM symbol, i.e., first OFDM symbol, in a NR. slot of 1ms, two adjacent GSM-R time slots (TSs) may need to be empty (e.g., not in use or configured to remain unused or not carrying data traffic, for example) in a frame in order to help ensure that it is possible to schedule such as via processing circuitry 68 and/or RAT unit 32 an SSB of the second RAT without colliding with a GSM-R transmission (i.e., a first RAT transmission).

In some embodiments, GSM-R carriers can be transmitted in time-aligned TDMA frames. In one or more embodiments, in order to schedule the SSB by network node 16, it may therefore be sufficient to leave the same GSM-R TS empty in all carriers that overlap in frequency domain with the SSB such as to avoid collisions. In one or more embodiments, GSM (i.e., first RAT) and NR (i.e., second RAT) transmissions are scheduled on the same frequency. In some embodiments, the first RAT coordinates its transmissions on multiple resources, e.g. GSM carriers, to create time-aligned gaps over a bandwidth that is at least as wide as the second RAT signal that needs to be transmitted.

The total number of usable TS (e.g., timeslot) for GSM-R on each of these carriers may be 6 such that 25% of TS may need to be sacrificed for NR TDM.

In one or more embodiments, the SSB may be 4 Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols long. For subcarrier spacing (SCS)=15kHz, the symbol duration (66.7 us) plus normal cyclic prefix length (4.7 us) is 71.4 us, so the SSB duration is Tssb=~285.7us.

In one or more embodiments, when the SSB has been transmitted such as via radio interface 62 in a current slot, the next SSB is transmitted in the last slot that falls into a two TS GSM-R gap and does not begin later than 20ms after the current slot. In order to time share while RAT2 (second RAT) and RATI (first RAT) have different time grids, and while RATI cannot dynamically schedule its gaps, as one or more transmission/scheduling can only be periodic, whereas RAT2 has some flexibility in the scheduling of its signal (SSB). If RAT2 were "alone" it would transmit the SSB periodically, whereas in the TDM with RATI, RAT2 would adapt its SSB timing.

For signaling other than the SSB and for data traffic, a scheduler such as RAT unit 32 in the NR network node 16 may be responsible for using NR resources in such a way that NR transmissions do not collide with GSM transmissions. For this reason, as well as for the SSB scheduling described previously, the NR network node 16 may need to be informed about the GSM time slot allocation.

Since the NR network node 16 can schedule one or more signals and data traffic in the frequency domain, the scheduler, i.e., RAT unit 32, in the NR network node 16 can make use of individual GSM carriers’ unused/unoccupied timeslots, or groups of adjacent GSM carriers with aligned unused timeslots. In one or more embodiments, an unused and/or unoccupied timeslot may correspond to a timeslot that does not include user/wireless device data. In one or more embodiments, an unused and/or unoccupied timeslot of a RAT may correspond to a timeslot that is not used for communications associated with the RAT. Additionally, for the NR wireless device 22, the network/network node 16 can configure the frequency used by GSM carriers as reserved resource, i.e., included to be part of dynamic rate matching pattern resource, so that NR PDSCH can dynamically rate match around the frequency resource used by GSM carriers depending on whether there is GSM traffic.

In some embodiments, the time positions of the SSB in NR may not be scheduled completely freely, i.e., may depend on one or more other factors and/or scheduling.

NR supports synchronization signal (SS) burst sets, where each SSB in the burst set may be transmitted on a different beam (i.e., an example of a transmission characteristic of the second RAT). Each SS burst set may be confined to a 5 ms time interval, either in the first or second half of a 10 ms frame (i.e., an example of a transmission characteristic of the second RAT). In some embodiments, the SS burst set may be transmitted periodically with the selected period of 5 ms to 160 ms. In one or more embodiments, if multiple SSBs are to be transmitted such as via radio interface 62 in a SS burst set then more than two adjacent TSs may need to remain unused in GSM, for a lms NR. slot duration. In low spectrum bands, however, beamforming of the SSB is typically not required for achieving the desired coverage such that in one or more embodiments SS burst sets may not be used.

For SCS of 15 kHz and carrier frequency below 3 GHz, the SS burst set may correspond to 1 to 4 SSBs where the positions are given by the following NR. OFDM symbols:

Position 1) 2, 3, 4, 5

Position 2) 8, 9, 10, 11

Position 3) (2, 3, 4, 5) + 14

Position 4) (8, 9, 10, 11) + 14

where each row 1-4 is one position (i.e., SSB position) for the 4-symbol SSB and the +14 indicates that the OFDM symbols reside in the subsequent slot, i.e., 1 ms later.

At least one SSB in one of the 4 positions may be transmitted. In low spectrum bands, beamforming of the SSB may not be required for achieving the desired coverage. Without using beamforming, it may be sufficient to transmit one SSB on any of the SS burst positions. From another perspective, a 5 ms grid may be considered for the first SSB in a SS burst set and the above described flexibility for transmitting an SSB on the 4 positions of the set. Since the TDMA frame grid of GSM-R may be 4.615 ms in duration, the TDMA frames and SSB periods slide, timewise, with respect to each other.

Since the TDMA frame grid of GSM-R may be 120 ms/26, if a TDMA frame and an SSB are initially aligned, the TDMA frame and SSB may be aligned again only after a time of 120 ms, which is the least common multiple (LCM) period of 120 ms/26 and 5ms. This implies that the 2 slots of the SS burst set may slide over all TDMA time slots (TS). Since the difference between both periods is (5 - 4.615) ms where .385 ms may be considered a large difference, an SSB slot may overlap with all 8 timeslots of the TDMA frame one after the other within a cycle of approximately 4.615 ms/0.385 ms = ~12 TDMA frames. If the cycle is slower, i.e., extends over many more subframes, then there may be an opportunity to shift the unoccupied time slots fast enough, e.g., by intra-carrier handovers, so that the GSM system, e.g.,

communications, may not interrupt the SSB positions.

Since the cycle may be too short for a handover based solution, another solution is described herein. In one or more embodiments, every other TDMA time slot may be configured to be left unoccupied or unused by network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 68 and/or RAT unit 32. Since the TDMA frame has an even number of time slots, this can be achieved by leaving, for example, either all even or all odd time slots of, for example, the first RAT unoccupied. This configuration leaves 50% of the GSM capacity usable. In one or more embodiments, the SSB may be scheduled by network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 68 and/or RAT unit 32 in one of the 4 positions that does not overlap with an occupied time slot.

In one or more embodiments, by considering all relevant offsets T between the start of an occupied time slot and the start of the first position, the scheduling is possible except for a small fraction of the offset range.

Here Tts=577 us (where“us” may indicate microseconds) is the TDMA timeslot duration and Tos=71.4 us is the OFDM symbol duration.

For 0<=T<(6+14)*Tos-2*Tts=274.8us: No position may be collision free such that no position may be used.

The end of this interval may be determined by the start of the subsequent TS moving behind the end of Position 3.

For (6+14)*Tos-2*Tts <=T<5*Tos=357us: Positions 1, 2 & 4 may not be able to be used, Position 3 may be used.

The end of this interval may be determined by the start of the TS moving behind the end of Position 1.

For 5*Tos<=T<Tts=15*Tos-Tts = 495us: Positions 1 & 3 may be used The end of this interval may be determined by the end of the TS moving into the start of Position 3.

For 15*Tos-Tts <=T<(1 l+14)*Tos-2*Tts = 631us: Position 1 may be used The end of this interval may be determined by the start of the subsequent TS moving behind the end of Position 4.

For Tts=15*Tos-Tts<T<=Tts+Tos=648us: Positions 1 and 4 may be used The end of this interval may be determined by the end of the preceding TS moving into the start of Position 1.

For Tts+Tos <=T<11 *Tos=785us: Position 4 may be used.

The end of this interval may be determined by the start of the TS moving behind the end of Position 2.

For l l*Tos<=T< 21*Tos-Tts=923us: Positions 2 and 4 may be used.

The end of this interval may be determined by the end of the TS moving into the start of Position 4

For 21*Tos-Tts<=T<Tts+7*Tos=1077us: Position 2 may be used.

The end of this interval may be determined by the end of the preceding TS moving into the start of Position 2.

For Tts+7*Tos <=2*Ts=l 154us: No Position of positions 1-4 may be able to be used.

The end of this interval may be determined the end of the cycle. From T=2*Ts the sequence may repeat.

The sequence may have an interval of 274.8us in the beginning and an interval of 77us in the end for a total of 351 8us where there may not be any SSB position that does not overlap with a used timeslot. One approach for this situation may be to schedule the SSB in one or both of the partly overlapping positions. This scheduling may give the SSB a chance that it can be received despite the collision. Since the GSM-TS (e.g., time slot) extends over almost double the time of the SSB, a partial collision (i.e., partial overlap between at least one SSB and a timeslot scheduled for transmission using the first RAT) may have smaller impact on the GSM reception, in particular, if the GSM training sequence in the center of the TS is not colliding.

One or more embodiments may deviate from 3 GPP standard(s) in that the SSB may be configured by network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 68 and/or RAT unit 32 to not be transmitted in any of the 4 positions if there was a collision. This situation may not happen for successive SS burst sets if a period of 5 ms is used. Therefore, it is still possible to schedule, by network node 16, a SSB once every 20 ms. Even though the solution may deviate from 3 GPP standard(s), the effect of the occasional skipping of SBB transmission may be no different from the wireless device 22 being occasionally unable to receive the SSB for one or more reasons such as due to. propagation fading.

In one or more embodiments, more GSM-TS may be configured by network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 68 and/or RAT unit 32 to be left unoccupied and/or unused between occupied TS. For example, using only every 3 GSM-TS may be sufficient to always have one SSB position without collision. However, such a scheme may not be possible with the GSM system of using time slots where the pattern of used timeslots may have to be the same in each TDMA frame that consists of 8 time slots. One solution in this situation is to configure, by network node 16, the use only every 4 GSM time slot, which corresponds to, in each TDMA frame, the timeslots l & 5 or 2 & 6 or 3 & 7 or 4 & 8. This configuration may correspond to only 25% of the GSM capacity is remaining.

For any other signaling than the SSB and for data traffic, the NR network node 16 scheduler implemented in processing circuitry 68, for example, may be responsible for using NR resources in such a way that transmissions do not collide with GSM transmissions. For this reason, as well as for the SSB scheduling, the NR scheduler may need to be informed about the GSM timeslot allocation.

Since the NR network node 16 can schedule, via processing circuitry 68, most signals and data traffic in the frequency domain, the NR scheduler of the network node 16 can make use of unused timeslots in and/or associated with individual GSM carriers, or groups of adjacent GSM carriers with aligned unused timeslots.

In one or more embodiments, the network node 16 may leave and/or determine that there are consecutive GSM timeslots unused and/or scheduled to be unused where one or more carriers are time aligned with each other, such that the network node 16 schedules such as via processing circuitry 68 and/or RAT unit 32 NR SSBs into and/or using the unused GSM timeslots in a non-colliding manner. In one or more embodiments, the remaining NR signals may be scheduled by processing circuitry 68 and/or RAT unit 32, only in NR resource blocks that do not overlap used GSM carriers and timeslots such as in time and frequency.

Therefore, in one or more embodiments, consecutive GSM timeslots are left unused and time aligned among carriers, and NR SSBs are scheduled into the unused timeslots in a non-colliding manner. In one or more embodiments, scheduling the remaining NR signals may occur only in NR resource blocks that do not overlap used GSM carriers and timeslots such as in time and frequency.

Some Examples

Example A1. A network node 16 configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD) 22, the network node 16 configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface 62 and/or comprising processing circuitry 68 configured to:

configure at least one timeslot of a first radio access technology (RAT) to remain unoccupied for communication in a frame; and

schedule at least one signaling and synchronization block (SSB) of a second RAT for time division multiplexing (TDM) based at least in part on the unoccupied at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

Example A2. The network node 16 of Example Al, wherein the at least one timeslot that is configured to remain unoccupied is a plurality of time division multiplexing access (TDMA) timeslots, the plurality of TDMA timeslots

corresponding to even or odd numbered TDMA timeslots.

Example A3. The network node 16 of Example Al, wherein the at least one SSB is scheduled in a SSB position that does not overlap an occupied timeslot.

Example A4. The network node 16 of Example Al, wherein an end of a timeslot or an SSB is determined based at least in part on a timeslot movement relative to at least one SSB position.

Example A5. The network node 16 of Example Al, wherein the at least one timeslot of the first RAT that is configured to remain unoccupied is positioned, in time, between a plurality of occupied timeslots of the first RAT.

Example A6. The network node 16 of Example Al, wherein the first RAT is Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and the second RAT is New Radio (NR). Example B 1. A method implemented by a network node 16 configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD) 22, the method comprising:

configuring at least one timeslot of a first radio access technology (RAT) to remain unoccupied for communication in a frame; and

scheduling at least one signaling and synchronization block (SSB) of a second RAT for time division multiplexing (TDM) based at least in part on the unoccupied at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

Example B2. The method of Example Bl, wherein the at least one timeslot that is configured to remain unoccupied is a plurality of time division multiplexing access (TDMA) timeslots, the plurality of TDMA timeslots corresponding to even or odd numbered TDMA timeslots.

Example B3. The method of Example Bl, wherein the at least one SSB is scheduled in a SSB position that does not overlap an occupied timeslot.

Example B4. The method of Example B 1, wherein an end of a timeslot or an SSB is determined based at least in part on a timeslot movement relative to at least one SSB position.

Example B5. The method of Example Bl, wherein the at least one timeslot of the first RAT that is configured to remain unoccupied is positioned, in time, between a plurality of occupied timeslots of the first RAT.

Example B6. The method of Example Bl, wherein the first RAT is Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and the second RAT is New Radio (NR).

Example Cl . A network node 16 configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD) 22, the network node 16 configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface 62 and/or comprising processing circuitry 68 configured to schedule at least one signal of a second Radio Access Technology (RAT) using at least one unused timeslot of a first RAT.

Example C2. The network node 16 of Example Cl, the processing circuitry 68 is further configured to schedule remaining signals of the second RAT using in resource blocks of the second RAT that do not overlap used carriers and timeslots of the first RAT. Example C3. The network node of Example Cl, wherein at least one periodic or non-periodic signal of the first RAT is scheduled outside of a bandwidth of the second RAT.

Example C4. The network node of Example Cl, wherein a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), coordinates its transmissions on multiple resources, e.g. GSM carriers, to create time-aligned gaps over a bandwidth that is at least as wide as a second RAT signals that needs to be transmitted.

Example C5. The network node of Example Cl, wherein when an SSB has been transmitted in a current slot, a next SSB is transmitted in the last slot that completely falls into a 2 TS GSM-R gap and does not begin later than 20ms after the current slot.

Example D1. A method implemented in a network node, the method comprising scheduling at least one signal of a second Radio Access Technology (RAT) using at least one unused timeslot of a first RAT.

Example D2. The method of Example Dl, schedule remaining signals of the second RAT using in resource blocks of the second RAT that do not overlap used carriers and timeslots of the first RAT.

Example D3. The method of Example Dl, wherein at least one periodic or non-periodic signal of the first RAT is scheduled outside of a bandwidth of the second RAT.

Example D4. The method of Example Dl, wherein a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), coordinates its transmissions on multiple resources, e.g. GSM carriers, to create time-aligned gaps over a bandwidth that is at least as wide as a second RAT signals that needs to be transmitted.

Example D5. The method of Example Dl, wherein when an SSB has been transmitted in a current slot, a next SSB is transmitted in the last slot that completely falls into a 2 TS GSM-R gap and does not begin later than 20ms after the current slot.

Example El . A wireless device (WD) 22 configured to communicate with a network node 16, the WD 22 configured to, and/or comprising a radio interface 82 and/or processing circuitry 84 configured to receive at least one signal of a second RAT using at least one unused timeslot of a first RAT. Example E2. The WD 22 of Example El, wherein the processing circuitry 84 and/or radio interface 82 is further configured to receive remaining signals of the second RAT using in resource blocks of the second RAT that do not overlap used carriers and timeslots of the first RAT.

Example E3. The WD 22 of Example El, wherein at least one periodic or non-periodic signal of the first RAT is scheduled outside of a bandwidth of the second RAT.

Example E4. The wireless device 22 of Example El, wherein a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), coordinates its transmissions on multiple resources, e.g. GSM carriers, to create time-aligned gaps over a bandwidth that is at least as wide as a second RAT signals that needs to be transmitted.

Example E5. The wireless device 22 of Example El, wherein when an SSB has been transmitted in a current slot, a next SSB is transmitted in the last slot that completely falls into a 2 TS GSM-R gap and does not begin later than 20ms after the current slot.

Example FI. A method implemented in a wireless device (WD) 22, the method comprising receiving at least one signal of a second RAT using at least one unused timeslot of a first RAT

Example F2. The method of Example FI, receiving remaining signals of the second RAT using in resource blocks of the second RAT that do not overlap used carriers and timeslots of the first RAT.

Example F3. The method of Example FI, wherein at least one periodic or non-periodic signal of the first RAT is scheduled outside of a bandwidth of the second RAT.

Example F4. The method of Example FI, wherein a first Radio Access Technology (RAT), coordinates its transmissions on multiple resources, e.g. GSM carriers, to create time-aligned gaps over a bandwidth that is at least as wide as a second RAT signals that needs to be transmitted.

Example F5. The method of Example FI, wherein when an SSB has been transmitted in a current slot, a next SSB is transmitted in the last slot that completely falls into a 2 TS GSM-R gap and does not begin later than 20ms after the current slot. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system, computer program product and/or computer storage media storing an executable computer program. Accordingly, the concepts described herein may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a“circuit” or“module.” Any process, step, action and/or functionality described herein may be performed by, and/or associated to, a corresponding module, which may be implemented in software and/or firmware and/or hardware. Furthermore, the disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium that can be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, electronic storage devices, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer (to thereby create a special purpose computer), special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage medium that can direct a computer or other

programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It is to be understood that the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that

communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe and illustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and/or combination, and the present specification, including the drawings, shall be construed to constitute a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shall support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope of the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A network node (16) configured to communicate with a wireless device (22), the network node (16) comprising:

processing circuitry (68) configured to:

configure at least one timeslot of a first radio access technology, RAT, to remain unused in a frame; and

schedule at least one signaling and synchronization block, SSB, of a second RAT for time division multiplexing, TDM, based at least in part on the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

2. The network node (16) of Claim 1, wherein the at least one timeslot of the first RAT that remains unused in the frame is a plurality of timeslots that remain unused in the frame.

3. The network node (16) of Claim 2, wherein the plurality of timeslots correspond to one of all even timeslots and all odd timeslots in the frame, the frame being a time division multiple access, TDMA, frame.

4. The network node (16) of any one of Claims 1-3, wherein the processing circuitry (68) is further configured to:

tag resource blocks of the second RAT that overlap timeslots on a carrier of the first RAT and that are scheduled for use by the first RAT as reserved resources when scheduling transmission for the second RAT; and

schedule transmission of a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, for the second RAT at least in part by rate matching the transmission of the PDSCH around the reserved resources.

5. The network node (16) of Claim 1, wherein the scheduled at least one SSB partially overlaps with a timeslot scheduled for a transmission using the first RAT.

6. The network node (16) of any one of Claims 1-5, wherein the at least one SSB of the second RAT is scheduled in the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT; and

the processing circuitry (68) is further configured to schedule at least one other second RAT signal on resource blocks that do not overlap in time and frequency with timeslots used for transmission using the first RAT.

7. The network node (16) of any one of Claims 1-6, wherein the first RAT and second RAT are scheduled on a same frequency.

8. The network node (16) of any one of Claims 1-7, wherein the at least one SSB is a plurality of signaling and synchronization blocks, SSBs, and the unused at least one timeslot is a plurality of adjacent timeslots.

9. The network node (16) of any one of Claims 1-8, wherein the first RAT is provided by a 2^nd Generation cellular network and the second RAT is provided by a 5^th Generation cellular network.

10. The network node (16) of Claim 9, wherein the first RAT is Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM.

11. A method implemented by a network node (16) that is configured to communicate with a wireless device (22), the method comprising:

configuring (SI 34) at least one timeslot of a first radio access technology, RAT, to remain unused in a frame; and

scheduling (SI 36) at least one signaling and synchronization block, SSB, of a second RAT for time division multiplexing, TDM, based at least in part on the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT.

12. The method of Claim 11, wherein the at least one timeslot of the first RAT that remains unused in the frame is a plurality of timeslots that remain unused in the frame.

13. The method of Claim 12, wherein the plurality of timeslots correspond to one of all even timeslots and all odd timeslots in the frame, the frame being a time division multiple access, TDMA, frame.

14. The method of any one of Claims 11-13, further comprising:

tagging resource blocks of the second RAT that overlap timeslots on a carrier of the first RAT and that are scheduled for use by the first RAT as reserved resources when scheduling transmission for the second RAT; and

scheduling transmission of a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, for the second RAT at least in part by rate matching the transmission of the PDSCH around the reserved resources.

15. The method of Claim 11, wherein the scheduled at least one SSB partially overlaps with a timeslot scheduled for a transmission using the first RAT.

16. The method of any one of Claims 11-15, wherein the at least one SSB of the second RAT is scheduled in the unused at least one timeslot of the first RAT; and

the method further comprising scheduling at least one other second RAT signal on resource blocks that do not overlap in time and frequency with timeslots used for transmission using the first RAT.

17. The method of any one of Claims 11-16, wherein the first RAT and second RAT are scheduled on a same frequency.

18. The method of any one of Claims 11-17, wherein the at least one SSB is a plurality of signaling and synchronization blocks, SSBs, and the unused at least one timeslot is a plurality of adjacent timeslots.

19. The method of any one of Claims 11-18, wherein the first RAT is provided by a 2^nd Generation cellular network and the second RAT is provided by a 5^th Generation cellular network.

20. The method of Claim 19, wherein the first RAT is Global System for

Mobile Communications, GSM.