WO2016148629A1 - Dispositif de transmission, dispositif de réception, et leurs procédés, permettant de sélectionner un canal pour une transmission - Google Patents

Dispositif de transmission, dispositif de réception, et leurs procédés, permettant de sélectionner un canal pour une transmission Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2016148629A1
WO2016148629A1 PCT/SE2016/050209 SE2016050209W WO2016148629A1 WO 2016148629 A1 WO2016148629 A1 WO 2016148629A1 SE 2016050209 W SE2016050209 W SE 2016050209W WO 2016148629 A1 WO2016148629 A1 WO 2016148629A1
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Prior art keywords
information
receiving device
channel
wireless communications
radio frequencies
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PCT/SE2016/050209
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English (en)
Inventor
Havish Koorapaty
Jung-Fu Cheng
Daniel Larsson
David Sugirtharaj
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Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ)
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Publication of WO2016148629A1 publication Critical patent/WO2016148629A1/fr

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W16/00—Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
    • H04W16/14—Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W72/00—Local resource management
    • H04W72/20—Control channels or signalling for resource management

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates generally to a receiving device and methods performed thereby for selecting a channel for transmission.
  • the present disclosure also relates generally to a transmitting device and methods performed thereby for sending control information to a receiving device.
  • the present disclosure relates as well to computer programs and computer-readable storage mediums, having stored thereon the computer programs to carry out the aforementioned methods.
  • Communication devices such as wireless devices are also known as e.g. User Equipments (UE), mobile terminals, wireless terminals and/or Mobile Stations (MS).
  • UE User Equipments
  • MS Mobile Stations
  • Wireless devices are enabled to communicate wirelessly in a cellular communications network or wireless communication network, sometimes also referred to as a cellular radio system, cellular system, or cellular network.
  • the communication may be performed e.g. between two wireless devices, between a wireless device and a regular telephone and/or between a wireless device and a server via a Radio Access Network (RAN) and possibly one or more core networks, comprised within the wireless communications network.
  • RAN Radio Access Network
  • Wireless devices may further be referred to as mobile telephones, cellular telephones, laptops, or surf plates with wireless capability, just to mention some further examples.
  • the terminals in the present context may be, for example, portable, pocket- storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the RAN, with another entity, such as another terminal or a server.
  • the wireless communications network covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, each cell area being served by an access node such as a base station, e.g. a Radio Base Station (RBS), which sometimes may be referred to as e.g., evolved Node B ("eNB"), "eNodeB”, “NodeB”, “B node”, or BTS (Base Transceiver Station), depending on the technology and terminology used.
  • a base station e.g., a Radio Base Station (RBS), which sometimes may be referred to as e.g., evolved Node B (“eNB”), "eNodeB", “NodeB”, “B node”, or BTS (Base Transceiver Station), depending on the technology and terminology used.
  • the base stations may be of different classes such as e.g. macro eNodeB, home eNodeB or pico base station, based on transmission power and thereby also cell size.
  • a cell is the geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the base station at a
  • each base station may support one or several communication technologies.
  • the base stations communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with the terminals within range of the base stations.
  • the expression Downlink (DL) is used for the transmission path from the base station to the mobile station.
  • the expression Uplink (UL) is used for the transmission path in the opposite direction i.e. from the mobile station to the base station.
  • base stations which may be referred to as eNodeBs or even eNBs, may be directly connected to one or more core networks.
  • 3GPP LTE radio access standard has been written in order to support high bitrates and low latency both for uplink and downlink traffic. All data transmission is in LTE controlled by the radio base station.
  • the 3GPP initiative "License Assisted Access” (LAA) intends to allow LTE equipment to also operate in the unlicensed 5 GigaHertz (GHz) radio spectrum.
  • the unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum may be used as a complement to the licensed spectrum.
  • devices may connect in the licensed spectrum, e.g., through a primary cell (PCell) and use Carrier Aggregation (CA) to benefit from additional transmission capacity in the unlicensed spectrum, e.g., through a secondary cell (SCell).
  • CA Carrier Aggregation
  • SCell secondary cell
  • the LTE frame timing in the PCell may be simultaneously used in the SCell.
  • LBT Listen-Before- Talk
  • LBT Long Term Evolution
  • LTE may use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in the DL and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)-spread OFDM, also referred to as single-carrier Frequency Division Multiple-Access (SC-FDMA), in the UL.
  • OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
  • SC-FDMA Single-carrier Frequency Division Multiple-Access
  • the basic LTE DL physical resource may thus be seen as a time-frequency grid as illustrated in Figure 1 , where each resource element corresponds to one OFDM subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval.
  • the UL subframe has the same subcarrier spacing as the DL and the same number of SC-FDMA symbols in the time domain as OFDM symbols in the DL.
  • the subcarrier spacing has been chosen to be 15 kiloHertz (kHz), as shown.
  • Each resource element may comprise a so-called cyclic prefix, which is involved in preventing inter- symbol interference.
  • Each subframe comprises two slots of duration 0.5 ms each, and the slot numbering within a frame may range from 0 to 19.
  • one subframe may consist of 14 OFDM symbols. The duration of each symbol is approximately 71.4 microseconds ( ⁇ ).
  • resource allocation in LTE may typically be described in terms of resource blocks, where a resource block corresponds to one slot, 0.5 ms, in the time domain and 12 contiguous subcarriers in the frequency domain.
  • a pair of two adjacent resource blocks in the time direction, 1.0 ms, may be known as a resource block pair.
  • Resource blocks may be numbered in the frequency domain, starting with 0 from one end of the system bandwidth.
  • Downlink transmissions may be dynamically scheduled, i.e., in each subframe the base station may transmit control information about which terminals data is transmitted to and upon which resource blocks the data is transmitted, in the current DL subframe.
  • CFI Control Format Indicator
  • the DL subframe may also contain common reference symbols, which may be known to the receiver, and used for coherent demodulation of e.g., the control information.
  • control region in Figure 3 is shown as comprising control signaling, indicated by black squares, reference symbols, indicated by striped squares, and unused symbols, indicated by checkered squares.
  • the reference symbols shown in the above Figure 3 are the Cell specific Reference Symbols (CRS) and may be used to support multiple functions including fine time and frequency synchronization and channel estimation for certain transmission modes.
  • CRS Cell specific Reference Symbols
  • DL or UL resource assignments may also be scheduled on the enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (EPDCCH).
  • EPDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
  • PDCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
  • the PDCCH and/or EPDCCH may be used to carry DL control information (DCI), such as scheduling decisions and power-control commands. More specifically, the DCI may include:
  • Downlink scheduling assignments including the Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) resource indication, transport format, hybrid-Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) information, and control information related to spatial multiplexing, if applicable.
  • a DL scheduling assignment may also include a command for power control of the Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH) used for transmission of hybrid-ARQ acknowledgements in response to DL scheduling assignments.
  • PUCCH Physical Uplink Control CHannel
  • Uplink scheduling grants including Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) resource indication, transport format, and hybrid-ARQ-related information.
  • PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared CHannel
  • An UL scheduling grant may also include a command for power control of the PUSCH.
  • One PDCCH and/or EPDCCH may carry one DCI message containing one of the groups of information listed above. As multiple terminals may be scheduled
  • each terminal may be scheduled on both DL and UL simultaneously, there may be a possibility to transmit multiple scheduling messages within each subframe.
  • Each scheduling message may be transmitted on separate PDCCH and/or EPDCCH resources, and consequently there may be typically multiple simultaneous PDCCH and/or EPDCCH transmissions within each subframe in each cell.
  • link adaptation may be used, where the code rate of the PDCCH and/or EPDCCH may be selected by adapting the resource usage for the PDCCH and/or EPDCCH, to match the radio-channel conditions.
  • the OFDM symbols in the first slot may be numbered from 0 to 6.
  • the starting OFDM symbol in the first slot of the subframe for EPDCCH may be configured by higher layer signaling and the same may be used for the corresponding scheduled PDSCH. Both sets may have the same EPDCCH starting symbol for these transmission modes. If not configured by higher layers, the start symbol for both PDSCH and EPDCCH may be given by the CFI value signaled in Physical Control Format Indicator CHannel (PCFICH).
  • PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator CHannel
  • Multiple OFDM starting symbol candidates may be achieved by configuring a UE in transmission mode 10, by having multiple EPDCCH Physical Resource Block (PRB) configuration sets, where for each set, the starting OFDM symbol in the first slot in a subframe for EPDCCH may be configured by higher layers to be a value from ⁇ 1 ,2,3,4 ⁇ , independently for each EPDCCH set. If a set is not higher layer configured to have a fixed start symbol, then the EPDCCH start symbol for this set may follow the CFI value received in the PCFICH.
  • PRB Physical Resource Block
  • the LTE Rel-10 standard may support bandwidths larger than 20 MegaHertz (MHz).
  • One requirement on LTE Rel-10 may be to assure backward compatibility with LTE Rel-8. This may also include spectrum compatibility. That may imply that an LTE Rel-10 carrier, wider than 20 MHz, may appear as a number of LTE carriers to an LTE Rel-8 terminal. Each such carrier may be referred to as a Component Carrier (CC).
  • CC Component Carrier
  • CA Carrier Aggregation
  • LTE Rel-10 terminal may receive multiple CC, where the CC have, or at least the possibility to have, the same structure as a Rel-8 carrier.
  • CA is illustrated in the schematic diagram of Figure 4, where 5 carriers of 20 MHz each are aggregated to form a bandwidth of 100 MHz.
  • a CA-capable communication device such as a UE, may be assigned a PCell which is always activated, and one or more secondary cells (SCells) which may be activated or deactivated dynamically.
  • SCells secondary cells
  • the number of aggregated CC as well as the bandwidth of the individual CC may be different for UL and DL.
  • a symmetric configuration refers to the case where the number of CCs in DL and UL is the same, whereas an asymmetric configuration refers to the case that the number of CCs is different.
  • the number of CCs configured in a cell may be different from the number of CCs seen by a terminal: A terminal may for example support more DL CCs than UL CCs, even though the cell is configured with the same number of UL and DL CCs.
  • a feature of carrier aggregation may be the ability to perform cross- carrier scheduling.
  • This mechanism may allow an (E)PDCCH on one CC to schedule data transmissions on another CC by means of a 3-bit Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) inserted at the beginning of the (E)PDCCH messages.
  • CIF Carrier Indicator Field
  • a UE may expect to receive scheduling messages on the (E)PDCCH on just one CC - either the same CC, or a different CC via cross-carrier scheduling; this mapping from (E)PDCCH to PDSCH may also be configured semi-statically.
  • the LAA SCell may not occupy the channel indefinitely.
  • One of the mechanisms for interference avoidance and coordination among small cells is the SCell ON/OFF feature.
  • discovery signals were introduced to provide enhanced support for SCell ON/OFF operations.
  • these signals are introduced to handle a potentially severe interference situation, particularly on the synchronization signals, resulted from dense deployment, as well as to reduce UE inter-frequency measurement complexity.
  • the discovery signals or Discovery Reference Signal (DRS) in a DRS occasion may comprise the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), the Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), the CRS and, when configured, the Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RS).
  • PSS Primary Synchronization Signal
  • SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal
  • CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference Signals
  • the PSS and SSS may be used for coarse synchronization, when needed, and for cell identification.
  • the CRS may be used for fine time and frequency estimation and tracking and may also be used for cell validation, i.e., to confirm the cell Identifier (ID) detected from the PSS and SSS.
  • the CSI-RS is another signal that may be used in dense deployments for cell or transmission point identification.
  • Figure 5 shows the presence of these signals in a DRS occasion of length equal to two subframes, and also shows the transmission of the signals over two different cells or transmission points.
  • the DRS occasion corresponding to transmissions from a particular cell may range in duration from one to five subframes for Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and two to five subframes for Time Division Duplex (TDD).
  • the subframe in which the SSS occurs may mark the starting subframe of the DRS occasion. This subframe is either subframe 0 or subframe 5 in both FDD and TDD.
  • the PSS may appear in subframe 1 and subframe 6, while in FDD, the PSS may appear in the same subframe as the SSS.
  • the CRS may be transmitted in all DL subframes and Downlink Pilot TimeSlot (DwPTS) regions of special subframes.
  • DwPTS Downlink Pilot TimeSlot
  • the discovery signals may be useable by the UE for performing cell identification, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements.
  • RSRP Reference Signal Received Power
  • RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality
  • the RSRP measurement definition based on discovery signals may be the same as in prior releases of LTE.
  • the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) may be defined as an average over all OFDM symbols in the DL parts of the measured subframes within a DRS occasion.
  • the RSRQ may be then defined as
  • DRSRP is the RSRP measurement based on the discovery signals and DRSSI is the RSSI measured over the DRS occasion.
  • discovery signals may be used in a small cell deployment where the cells are being turned off and on, or in a general deployment, where the on/off feature is not being used. For instance, discovery signals may be used to make RSRP measurements on different CSI-RS configurations in the DRS occasion being used within a cell, which enables the detection of different transmission points in a shared cell.
  • the UE may restrict its measurements to a list of candidate cells sent to the UE by the network via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • Each candidate cell in this list may contain a Physical Cell ID (PCID), a Virtual Cell Identity (VCID) and a subframe offset indicating the duration, in number of subframes, between the subframe where the UE may receive the CSI-RS and the subframe carrying the SSS.
  • PCID Physical Cell ID
  • VCID Virtual Cell Identity
  • This information may allow the UE to limit its search.
  • the UE may correlate CSI-RS RSRP measurements to the received candidate cells indicated by the RRC signal and report back any CSI-RS RSRP values that have been found to meet some reporting criterion, e.g., exceeding a threshold value.
  • the UE may need to perform Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements on other cells on the currently used carrier frequencies, intra-frequency measurements, as well as on cells on other carrier frequencies, via inter-frequency measurements. Since the discovery signals are not transmitted continuously, the UE may need to be informed about the timing of the discovery signals, so as to manage its search complexity. Furthermore, when a UE is being served on as many carrier frequencies as it is capable of supporting, and inter-frequency RRM measurements need to be performed on a different carrier frequency that is not currently being used, the UE may be assigned a measurement gap pattern.
  • RRM Radio Resource Management
  • This gap pattern on a serving frequency may allow the UE to retune its receiver for that frequency to the other frequency on which measurements are being performed. During this gap duration, the UE may not be scheduled by the eNB on the current serving frequency. Knowledge of the timing of the discovery signals may be especially important when the use of such measurement gaps is needed. Beyond mitigating UE complexity, this may also ensure that the UE is not unavailable for scheduling for prolonged periods of time on the current serving frequencies, PCell or SCell.
  • Timing information may be done via a Discovery signal
  • the DMTC may provide a window with a duration of 6 ms occurring with a certain periodicity and timing within which the UE may expect to receive discovery signals.
  • the duration of 6 ms may be the same as the measurement gap duration as defined currently in LTE, and may allow the measurement procedures at the UE for discovery signals to be harmonized regardless of the need for measurement gaps.
  • Only one DMTC may be provided per carrier frequency including the current serving frequencies. The UE may expect that the network will transmit discovery signals so that all cells that are intended to be
  • discoverable on a carrier frequency transmit discovery signals within the DMTCs.
  • the network may ensure sufficient overlap between the configured DMTCs and measurement gaps.
  • WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
  • Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance may be used for medium access.
  • CCA Clear Channel Assessment
  • the transmission may be essentially deferred until the channel is deemed to be Idle.
  • Aps Access Points
  • the frame based LBT framework may allow an equipment to perform a CCA per fixed frame period for a duration of T1 , as illustrated in Figure 6 by a circled 1.
  • CCA may be performed using Energy detection. If the channel is found to be available after the CCA operation, as indicated by a check sign in the Figure, the equipment may transmit immediately up to 10ms where this time is referred to as the channel occupancy time, and denoted by T2 and a circled 2 in Figure 6.
  • T2 data may be transmitted and control signals may be sent without a CCA check during the period denoted by a circled 5.
  • the equipment remains silent for at least 5% of said channel occupancy time, shown as T3 and a circled 3 in Figure 6, and known as the idle period.
  • the equipment may resume CCA for channel access. If the channel is found to be busy after the CCA operation, as indicated by a cross sign, the equipment defers the fixed frame period, denoted by T4 and a circled 4 in Figure 5, and does not transmit during this fixed frame period. The equipment may then start CCA at the end of the prohibited time.
  • LAA Licensed Assisted Access
  • the spectrum used by LTE may be dedicated to LTE. This may have the advantage that the LTE system may not need to care about the coexistence issue and the spectrum efficiency may be maximized.
  • the spectrum allocated to LTE is limited which may not meet the ever increasing demand for larger throughput from
  • Unlicensed spectrum may, by definition, be simultaneously used by multiple different technologies. Therefore, LTE may need to consider the coexistence issue with other systems such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi). Operating LTE in the same manner in unlicensed spectrum as in licensed spectrum may seriously degrade the performance of W-Fi as W ⁇ - Fi may not transmit once it detects the channel is occupied. Furthermore, one way to utilize the unlicensed spectrum reliably may be to transmit essential control signals and channels on a licensed carrier. That is, as shown in Figure 7, a UE may be connected to a PCell in the licensed band and one or more SCells in the unlicensed band. A secondary cell in unlicensed spectrum may be denoted herein as a License Assisted Secondary Cell (LA SCell).
  • LA SCell License Assisted Secondary Cell
  • Data may usually arrive asynchronously at the eNB or a WiFi Access Point (AP), and in the case of WiFi, LBT may be immediately performed and the data may also be transmitted asynchronously.
  • LTE is a synchronous system transmitting on a 1 ms subframe timing.
  • LTE may attempt LBT immediately when data arrives at the eNB and may need to reserve the channel until the 1 ms subframe boundary.
  • the Initial Signal (IS) formerly known as the Reservation signal, may fill the channel after the LBT, and before the data transmission at the subframe boundary.
  • the Initial signal has not been yet defined but it is likely it may resemble the discovery signal in terms of the LTE reference signals it may support.
  • the Initial Signal may support reference signals to help the receiving nodes adjust the receiver parameters.
  • the RS may further contain useful system information if it is transmitted by the eNB. The exact contents of the RS are under further study.
  • LAA For LAA, two options may be considered for starting data transmission:
  • the CCA may start at the beginning of a subframe, e.g., subframe "n".
  • the first 3 OS at the beginning of a subframe may be set aside to accommodate the possible range of CCA times. If the CCA is finished before the 4th OS, the IS may be transmitted until the actual data transmission starts. This is illustrated in Figure 8, which is a schematic diagram of five subframes.
  • CCA starts in the first OS of subframe n, followed by data transmission starting in the fourth OS of subframe n. The channel is released at the end of subframe n+3.
  • the CCA starts before the subframe boundary, e.g., at the end of subframe "n-1".
  • the last 3 OS in a subframe may be set aside to accommodate the possible range of CCA times. That is, CCA may start at OS #11 of a subframe. If the CCA is finished before the subframe boundary, certain RS may be transmitted until the boundary.
  • PDSCH transmission may start at the beginning of the subframes, e.g., subframe "n", in the transmission burst and occupy all 14 OS, except for the last subframe of the transmission burst. In the last subframe, the PDSCH may stop at end of the OS #10, thus leaving 3 OS for other nodes to perform CCA. This is illustrated in Figure 9, which is a schematic diagram of five subframes.
  • Co-existence in the frequency domain may mean scanning channels in the band and selecting one or several of them to carry traffic. Co-existence also may mean sharing the selected channels in the time domain using the LBT procedures.
  • the eNB may monitor those channels over a defined period of time, and assess their suitability to run traffic. Short time periods when measuring the channel noise may not correlate to actual long term usage of the channel. Measuring over long time periods may not be sufficient to deal with the dynamics of the noise in a channel.
  • eNBs may have restrictions on how many concurrent frequencies they may tune and listen to. Even if they are capable, the resources required to do this while conducting traffic on established channels is not negligible.
  • the object is achieved by a method performed by a receiving device.
  • the method is for selecting a channel for transmission.
  • the receiving device operates in a wireless communications network.
  • the receiving device receives one or more control information messages from at least one transmitting device operating in the wireless communications network.
  • the one or more messages comprise at least one of: a) information on currently operating radio
  • the receiving device selects a channel for transmission based on the received one or more control information messages.
  • the object is achieved by a method performed by the transmitting device.
  • the method is for sending the control information to the receiving device.
  • the transmitting device and the receiving device 102 operate in the wireless communications network.
  • the transmitting device obtains information.
  • the information comprises at least one of: a) the information on the currently operating radio frequencies, and the occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) the information on whether the nodes in the wireless communications network 100 are synchronized or not, c) the information on the radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from the same transmitting node, d) the information on whether the unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by the operator of the wireless communications network 100 for uplink traffic or not, e) the information about the detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) the information on the number of wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the transmitting device sends one or more control information messages to the receiving device.
  • the one or more messages comprise the obtained information, thereby enabling the receiving device to select the channel for transmission.
  • the object is achieved by the receiving device.
  • the receiving device is configured to select the channel for
  • the receiving device is further configured to operate in the wireless communications network.
  • the receiving device is also configured to receive the one or more control information messages from at least the one transmitting device 101 configured to operate in the wireless communications network.
  • the one or more messages comprise at least one of: a) the information on the currently operating radio frequencies, and the occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) the information on whether the nodes in the wireless communications network 100 are synchronized or not, c) the information on the radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from the same transmitting node, d) the information on whether the unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by the operator of the wireless communications network 100 for uplink traffic or not, e) the information about the detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) the information on the number of wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the receiving device is also configured to select the channel for transmission based on the received one or more control information messages.
  • the object is achieved by the transmitting device configured to send the control information to the receiving device.
  • the transmitting device and the receiving device are configured to operate in the wireless communications network.
  • the transmitting device is further configured to obtain the information.
  • the information comprises at least one of: a) the information on the currently operating radio frequencies, and occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) the information on whether network nodes in the wireless
  • the communications network are synchronized or not, c) information on the radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from a same transmitting node, d) information on whether unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by the operator of the wireless communications network for uplink traffic or not, e) information about detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) information on the number of wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless communications network.
  • the transmitting device is also configured to send the one or more control information messages to the receiving device.
  • the one or more messages comprise the obtained information, thereby enabling the receiving device to select the channel for transmission.
  • the object is achieved by a computer program, comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method performed by the receiving device.
  • the object is achieved by a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program, comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method performed by the receiving device.
  • the object is achieved by a computer program, comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method performed by the transmitting device.
  • the object is achieved by a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program, comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method performed by the transmitting device.
  • the receiving device By the receiving device selecting a channel for transmission based on the received one or more control information messages from at least the transmitting device, the receiving device is able to select a channel for transmission faster, and using fewer resources. This is due to the fact that the information comprised in the one or more control information messages enables the receiving device to perform less frequent scanning to find a better channel to operate on. Furthermore, since the information is broadcasted by the transmitting device itself, it is more accurate in describing the channel usage rather than another device performing measurements on it. Moreover, by the transmitting device sending the one or more control information messages, faster dispersal of information regarding the interference environment is achieved, and for example, co-existence among LAA nodes may be improved.
  • Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of the LTE downlink physical resource.
  • Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the LTE time-domain structure.
  • Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of a normal downlink subframe.
  • Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of a carrier aggregation.
  • Figure 5 is a schematic illustration of small cell on/off via SCell activation/deactivation.
  • Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of listen before talk (LBT).
  • LBT listen before talk
  • FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of Licensed-assisted access (LAA) to unlicensed
  • Figure 8 is a schematic illustration of a short subframe.
  • Figure 9 is a schematic illustration of a normal subframe.
  • Figure 10 is a schematic illustration of the relationship of channel selection and coexistence on a particular frequency.
  • Figure 1 1 is a schematic diagram depicting a wireless communications network
  • Figure 12 is a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method in a transmitting device, according to embodiments herein.
  • Figure 13 is a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method in a receiving device
  • Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of a transmitting device, according to embodiments herein.
  • Figure 15 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of a receiving device, according to embodiments herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
  • Radio network node In some embodiments the non-limiting term radio network node is more commonly used and it refers to any type of network node serving a UE and/or connected to other network node or network element or any radio node from where a UE receives signal.
  • radio network nodes are Node B, Base Station (BS), Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNode B, network controller, Radio Network Controller (RNC), base station controller, relay, donor node controlling relay, Base Transceiver Station (BTS), AP, transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in Distributed Antenna System (DAS) etc.
  • BS Base Station
  • MSR Multi-Standard Radio
  • RNC Radio Network Controller
  • BTS Base Transceiver Station
  • AP transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in Distributed Antenna System (DAS) etc.
  • Network node In some embodiments a more general term "network node” is used and it can correspond to any type of radio network node or any network node, which communicates with at least a radio network node.
  • Examples of network node are any radio network node stated above, core network node, e.g., Mobile Switching Centre (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), etc., Operation and Maintenance (O&M), Operating Support Systems (OSS), Self-Organizing Network (SON), positioning node, e.g., Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC), Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) etc.
  • MSC Mobile Switching Centre
  • MME Mobility Management Entity
  • O&M Operation and Maintenance
  • OSS Operating Support Systems
  • SON Self-Organizing Network
  • positioning node e.g., Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC), Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) etc.
  • E-SMLC Serving Mobile Location Center
  • MDT Minimization of Drive Test
  • UE user equipment
  • UE user equipment
  • target device device to device UE
  • machine type UE machine to machine
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • iPAD Portable Multimedia Subsystem
  • Tablet mobile terminals
  • smart phone laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc.
  • LEE laptop embedded equipped (LEE)
  • LME laptop mounted equipment
  • WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
  • WMax Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
  • UMB Ultra-Mobile Broadband
  • GSM Global System for Mobile communications
  • an eNB is used as an example for each of the transmitting device 101 , such as in relation to broadcasting of information, and the receiving device 102, such as in relation to performing the channel Re-Selection Algorithm described herein.
  • eNodeB and UE should be considered non- limiting and does in particular not imply a certain hierarchical relation between the two; in general "eNodeB” could be considered as device 1 and “UE” device 2, and these two devices communicate with each other over some radio channel.
  • FIG 11 depicts an example of a wireless communications network 100, sometimes also referred to as a cellular radio system, cellular network or wireless communications system, in which embodiments herein may be implemented.
  • the wireless communications network 100 may for example be a network such as a Long- Term Evolution (LTE), e.g. LTE FDD, LTE TDD, LTE Half-Duplex Frequency Division Duplex (HD-FDD), LTE operating in an unlicensed band, WCDMA, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) TDD, UMB, network comprising of any combination of Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as e.g.
  • LTE Long- Term Evolution
  • HD-FDD LTE Half-Duplex Frequency Division Duplex
  • WCDMA Wide Terrestrial Radio Access
  • UTRA Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
  • UMB Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
  • RATs Radio Access Technologies
  • Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) base stations multi-RAT base stations etc., any 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular network, WiFi networks, WiMax, 5G system or any cellular network or system.
  • 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
  • the wireless communications network 100 comprises a transmitting device 101 and a receiving device 102.
  • the transmitting device 101 may be a radio network node, such as a first network node 1 11 described below, or a wireless device such as a first wireless device 131 described below.
  • the receiving device 102 may be a radio network node, such as a second network node 1 12 described below, or a wireless device such as a second wireless device 132 described below.
  • the transmitting device 101 is the first network node 1 11
  • the receiving device is the second network node 112.
  • the transmitting device 101 and the receiving device 102 may be neighboring network nodes.
  • the wireless communications network 100 comprises a plurality of network nodes whereof the first network node 111 and the second network node 112 are depicted in Figure 11.
  • Each of the first network node 11 1 and the second network node 112 may be, for example, a base station such as e.g., an eNB, eNodeB, or a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, femto Base Station, BS, pico BS, or any other network unit capable to serve a wireless device or a machine type communication device in the wireless communications network 100.
  • each of the first network node 11 1 and the second network node 1 12 may be a stationary relay node or a mobile relay node.
  • the wireless communications network 100 covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area is served by a network node, although, one network node may serve one or several cells.
  • the first network node 11 1 serves a first cell 121 and the second network node 1 12 serves a second cell 122.
  • any of the first cell 121 and the second cell 122 may be an LAA cell.
  • Each of the first network node 11 1 and the second network node 112 may be of different classes, such as e.g.
  • the wireless communications network 100 may comprise more cells similar to the first cell 121 and the second cell 122, served by their respective network nodes. This is not depicted in Figure 1 1 for the sake of simplicity.
  • Each of the first network node 1 11 and the second network node 112 may support one or several communication technologies, and its name may
  • network nodes such as the first network node 1 11 and the second network node 112, which may be referred to as eNodeBs, may be directly connected to one or more networks, e.g., core networks or the internet, which are not illustrated in Figure 11.
  • networks e.g., core networks or the internet, which are not illustrated in Figure 11.
  • Each of the first network node 11 1 and the second network node 112 may be any of the nodes in these one or more networks.
  • first network node 1 11 and the second network node 1 12 may communicate with the core network, respectively, over a first link with the core network and a second link with the core network, which are not illustrated in Figure 1 1.
  • a number of wireless devices are located in the wireless communications network
  • first wireless device 131 and a second wireless device 132.
  • Each of the first wireless device 131 and the second wireless device 132 is a wireless communication device such as a UE which is also known as e.g. mobile terminal, wireless terminal and/or mobile station, a mobile telephone, cellular telephone, or laptop with wireless capability, just to
  • a UE which is also known as e.g. mobile terminal, wireless terminal and/or mobile station, a mobile telephone, cellular telephone, or laptop with wireless capability, just to
  • Each of the first wireless device 131 and the second wireless device 132 in the present context may be, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the RAN, with another entity, such as a server, a laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or a tablet computer, sometimes referred to as
  • PDA Personal Digital Assistant
  • M2M Machine-to-Machine
  • devices equipped with a wireless interface, such as a printer or a file storage device, modems, or any other radio network unit capable of communicating over a radio link in a cellular communications system.
  • a wireless interface such as a printer or a file storage device, modems, or any other radio network unit capable of communicating over a radio link in a cellular communications system.
  • Each of the first wireless device 131 and the second wireless device 132 is wireless, i.e., it is enabled to communicate wirelessly in the wireless communication network 100,
  • the communication may be performed e.g., between two devices, such as in Device to Device (D2D) communication, between a device and a regular telephone and/or between a device and a server.
  • the communication may be performed e.g., via a RAN and possibly one or more core networks, comprised within the wireless communications network 100.
  • the first wireless device 131 may communicate with the first network node 11 1 over a first link 141
  • the second wireless device 132 may communicate with the second network node 1 12 over a second link 142.
  • the first network node 1 11 and the second network node 112 may communicate with each other over a third link 143.
  • the first wireless device 131 may communicate with the second wireless device 132 over a fourth 10 link 144.
  • the transmitting device 101 and the receiving device 102 operate in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the transmitting device 101 may be the first network node 1 11 and the receiving device
  • 20 102 may be the second network node 1 12, e.g. a neighboring node. In some other
  • the transmitting device 101 may be a first wireless device 131 and the receiving device 102 may be a second wireless device 132.
  • any of the nodes or devices in the wireless communications network 100 may at 30 some point look for better, or the best, channels to operate on by conducting a process of channel selection.
  • Embodiments herein relate to the idea of improving the process of channel selection for transmission of radio signals by having the nodes, e.g., network nodes, in the wireless communications network 100 share information on the different channels. This may allow a device receiving this information to perform channel selection 35 with information of higher quality, e.g., higher accuracy, more information, that that that may be provided by the receiving device's own measurements of the channels, as well as saving radio as well as computational resources which would otherwise be used for performing and processing measurements on the different channels.
  • the transmitting device 101 obtains information, that it may then provide to the receiving device 102.
  • This information may be some useful control information that may e.g., enable efficient LAA operation in unlicensed spectrum.
  • the information obtained may be for example, useful but not critical information to support inter-operator LAA co-existence.
  • the information comprises at least one of the following:
  • the currently operating radio frequencies may refer to, e.g., a number of currently operating radio frequencies, or all currently operating radio frequencies.
  • the occupancy of each of the radio frequencies may be a planned occupancy by the transmitting device 101 in a future time period. Provision of such information that is pertinent to the future rather than just a measure of past occupancy may be particularly advantageous, since the occupancy in a previous period may be high, but the data buffers may be near empty, and for the next planned period the expected occupancy may be low.
  • the occupancy of each of the radio frequencies may be a previous occupancy, e.g., a DMTC occupancy;
  • Provision of this information may then allow the receiving device 102 to better predict the traffic pattern.
  • radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission from a same transmitting node, such as the transmitting device 101. This may indicate the frequencies that a received power measurement on one frequency may be potentially applied to.
  • time and radio resources may be saved by the receiving device 102 in order to gather information to make a channel selection.
  • the obtaining 1201 the information may be implemented by e.g., performing measurements, or determining the information.
  • the obtaining 1201 the information may also be, for example, received from another node, or retrieved from a memory in the transmitting device 101.
  • the transmitting device 101 sends one or more control information messages to at least a receiving device such as the receiving device 102.
  • the one or more messages comprise the obtained information, thereby enabling the receiving device 102 to select a channel for transmission. That is, by the sending action 1202, the receiving device 102 may be enabled to select a channel for transmission.
  • the obtained information once it may be included in the one or more control information messages, it may be referred to herein as "control information".
  • the information may include one or more of the above, in addition to an operator identifier ID indicating the operator that the transmitting device 101 belongs to.
  • the sending may be performed via e.g., the third link 143.
  • LAA there may be opportunities to transmit control information over the discovery signal, such as the discovery signal specified in 3GPP TS 36.21 1 , V1 1.4.0, or the initial signal by the transmitting device 101.
  • the discovery signal such as the discovery signal specified in 3GPP TS 36.21 1 , V1 1.4.0, or the initial signal by the transmitting device 101.
  • control information in embodiments herein may be transported via the discovery, and potentially partially by any initial signal for LAA that may be transmitted after winning the channel.
  • the sending 1202 may be performed within time and frequency resources occupied by an initial signal or by a discovery signal transmitted by the transmitting device 101 when operating in an unlicensed band, e.g., in or during license assisted access. That is, the information listed above may be sent in the
  • the sending in this Action 1202 may be performed by broadcasting. For example, by broadcasting information on all current operating frequencies, and how occupied each frequency is, not only the receiving device 102, but
  • embodiments herein may thus be understood to relate to broadcasting control information in LAA SCells.
  • embodiments herein may relate to broadcasting on the unlicensed band by eNBs such as the transmitting device 101 some useful control information that may enable efficient LAA
  • the transmitting device 101 may transmit on many Transmission (TX) frequencies simultaneously depending on the traffic load, channel condition and availability.
  • TX Transmission
  • the discovery signal has periodicity which may be 40, 80 or 160 ms.
  • a length of the discovery signal may range from 1 to 5 ms.
  • a Discovery Measurement Timing Configuration (DMTC) may be understood as a defined period where the receiving device
  • the 25 102 may measure discovery signals from other cells.
  • the DMTC may have a duration of 6 ms, so that the discovery signal may be fully measured within the DMTC.
  • the channel usage may be either determined in short periods down to the length of the DMTC, or over a longer period, where the observations over many DMTC durations may be filtered. The longer term measurements may change at a slower rate. Both the short
  • the transmitting device 101 may send multiple control information messages within the subframes occupied by the discovery signal, which may include one or more of the following, as described earlier: a) Information on all current operating frequencies and how occupied each frequency is. Nearby eNBs of other operators, e.g., the receiving device 102, may decode this information and use it in their channel selection algorithms.
  • the information about the detected Wi-Fi nodes may include primary channels used and the bandwidth used by each Wi-Fi network, if available.
  • the information may be transmitted via an EPDCCH.
  • the EPDCCH may reside in a distributed EPDCCH region, since the EPDCCH may be distributed in time and frequency within the subframe.
  • the EPDCCH region may be a fixed region specified in a standard. In another nonlimiting
  • the EPDCCH region may depend on a physical cell ID, e.g., that of the first cell 121.
  • the region may additionally depend on the carrier frequency of the LAA SCell, e.g., the center frequency of the LAA SCell.
  • the information may be transmitted via a PDSCH.
  • the transmission parameters of said PDSCH may be provided in a PDCCH or an EPDCCH.
  • the transmission parameters may include at least the PRB allocation and information payload size.
  • the transmission region of said EPDCCH may follow any of the above teachings.
  • the information may be transmitted via a dedicated physical channel specifically defined for carrying said information.
  • the transmitting device 101 may send a list of used frequencies, as well as the occupancy of the channel as broadcast control information within the subframes occupied by the discovery signal.
  • the occupancy may, for example be defined by a percentage of time the transmitting device 101 is planning to use the channel in the next forward looking time period. Provision of such information that is pertinent to the future rather than just a measure of past occupancy is a key advantage of providing such information since the occupancy in the last DMTC period may be high but the data buffers may be near empty and for the next planned period the expected occupancy may be low. It may be noted also that the planned occupancy in the next period may also be subject to LBT, so the usage by the transmitting device 101 of the channel may not be the same value as planned.
  • Such an algorithm in the transmitting device 101 may benefit from self-learning by comparing planned vs actual usage, and comparing it to other metrics measured by the eNB, or reported by UEs.
  • the previous DMTC occupancy metric may also be transmitted via the obtained information, that is, Channel Usage metric.
  • the type of metric may be indicated in the broadcast.
  • control information that may be sent along with the discovery signals may also include information on synchronization aspects of the different eNBs, e.g., in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the synchronization aspects may include the synchronization status of each node and what the stratum number of the node is, i.e., the number of hops the node is away from the eNB that has access to the synchronization reference, if radio-interface based synchronization of eNBs is being used.
  • control information may also include whether the wireless communications network 100 to which the transmitting device 101 and/or eNBs belong has configured the receiving device 102 and/or other devices such as UEs to use UL transmissions on the unlicensed carrier. This may provide some information to the eNBs of other operators about the type of interference that may be expected, particularly the number of devices that may be contending for the channel.
  • the control information may also include information regarding the Wi-Fi network, such as the number of known networks with distinct Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) that may be using the same channel.
  • SSID Service Set Identifiers
  • An SSID may be understood as a name assigned to a Wi-Fi network. If information regarding the use of this carrier as a primary channel by Wi- Fi networks is available, such information may also be sent as part of the control information along with the discovery signals.
  • Some of the information that may be broadcasted may also be included in the initialization seed for the sequence generation for some or several of the reference signals. That is, instead of including the payload explicitly, it is used to scramble the existing information.
  • PLMN ID Public Land Mobile Net Identifier
  • an operator specific ID may be included in generating the sequence for one of the signals that the receiving device 102, or, a UE such as the first wireless device 131 , may measure RSRP on, within the DRS. This signal may for example either be the CRS or the CSI-RS.
  • a UE such as e.g., the first wireless device 131 or the receiving device 102 may determine which PLMN ID may be being used by what is transmitted on the primary cell in the licensed spectrum. Another alternative is that the UE may be configured with the PLMN ID to assume with a dedicated RRC signal. For the latter case, it may also be so that the transmitting device 101 may configure the UE to perform RSRP measurements for other cells than those belonging to its own operator. The reason for this may be that the transmitting device 101 may use this information to find out if two cells from different operators may have selected the same Physical Cell Identity (PCI) for a cell. If it is indicated by the RSRP measurement from the receiving device 102 that a cell of operator A has the same PCI as of a cell of operator B, Operator A may reconfigure the PCI for the identified cell.
  • PCI Physical Cell Identity
  • FIG. 13 depicts a flowchart of the actions that are performed by the receiving device 102 in embodiments herein.
  • Action 1301 is a first step in some embodiments. In some embodiments, all the actions may be performed. In some embodiments, one or more actions may be performed. One or more embodiments may be combined, where applicable. All possible combinations are not described to simplify the description. In Figure 13, optional actions are represented with dashed boxes. Action 1301
  • the receiving device 102 receives the one or more control information messages from at least one transmitting device, such as the transmitting device 101 operating in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the one or more control information messages being received from one transmitting device, i.e., the transmitting device 101.
  • the receiving device 102 may receive equivalent one or more control information messages from other transmitting devices in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the one or more messages comprise at least one of: a) the information on the currently operating radio frequencies, and the occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) the information on whether the nodes in the wireless communications network 100 are synchronized, e.g., with each other, or not, c) the information on the radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from the same transmitting node, d) the information on whether the unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by the operator of the wireless communications network 100 for uplink traffic or not, e) the information about the detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) the information on the number of wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the information on the currently operating radio frequencies may be, e.g., the number of currently operating radio frequencies, or all the currently operating radio frequencies.
  • the one or more control information messages may have been sent by the at least one transmitting device 101 within time and frequency resources occupied by an initial signal or by a discovery signal when operating in an unlicensed band, e.g., in or during license assisted access.
  • the occupancy of each of the radio frequencies may be a planned occupancy by the at least one transmitting device 101 in a future time period.
  • the receiving device 102 may create a channel list based on the control information comprised in the received one or more control information messages from the at least one transmitting device 101.
  • the created channel list may also be referred to herein as the Channel Usage list or a list of available channels for transmission.
  • the receiving device 102 may then prune, that is, shorten, the created channel list based on the received one or more control information messages. This may be performed by selecting a subset of channels from the created channel list.
  • the receiving device 102 may then compare the control information comprised in the received one or more control information messages received from the at least one transmitting device 101 with information obtained by the receiving device 102, such as measurements performed by the receiving device 102.
  • the type of information may be the same, with the difference being that the information may have been collected by the receiving device 102 itself.
  • the information obtained by the receiving device 102 may comprise at least one of: a) information on currently operating radio frequencies, e.g., a number of currently operating radio frequencies, or all currently operating radio frequencies, and occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) information on whether network nodes in the wireless communications network 100 are synchronized, e.g., with each other, or not, c) information on radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from a same transmitting node , d) information on whether unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by an operator of the wireless communications network 100 for uplink traffic or not, e) information about detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) information on a number of wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless communications network 100.
  • a) information on currently operating radio frequencies e.g., a number of currently operating radio frequencies, or all currently operating radio frequencies, and occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies
  • the receiving device 102 may repeat the Action 1304 for different transmitting devices in the wireless communications network 100, comparing information it may have itself collected with that provided by other transmitting devices in the wireless communications network 100, e.g., other neighboring network nodes.
  • embodiments herein describe the receiving device 102 comparing the control information comprised in the received one or more control information messages received from the at least one transmitting device 101 with that obtained by itself.
  • the receiving device 102 may select the channel for transmission based on the received one or more control information messages, that is, based on the information comprised in the received one or more control information messages from e.g., Action 1301 , or from any other transmitting devices in the wireless communications network 100 it may have received equivalent information from.
  • the selection may be performed according to a channel re-selection algorithm, as described below.
  • the selecting the channel for transmission may be based on measurements received from at least a first wireless device 131 in the wireless
  • a typical channel selection algorithm may be invoked periodically or based on current channel quality metrics to start looking for better, or the best, channels to operate on.
  • the ongoing traffic on currently used channels may be suspended in order to find the best operating channels in the band.
  • Another typical implementation may be to scan for better channels during smaller idle periods during traffic or during traffic, if allowed by the capability of the receiver.
  • DFS Dynamic Frequency Selection
  • MegaHertz (MHz) channels may be expected to be in the order of 30. It may be noted that enhanced Carrier Aggregation in Rel-13 is targeting 32 carriers.
  • the Channel Re-Selection algorithm may be understood to comprise one or more of the Actions 1301-1305 described above.
  • the selecting the channel for transmission may comprise selecting the channel for transmission out of the created channel list.
  • the channel selection algorithm in the receiving device 102 which may be a nearby operator's eNB to the transmitting device 101 , may take the Channel Usage list/s of Action 1302 and use it/them in two ways.
  • the created channel list may be used to prune the available channel list according to Action 1303, and avoid busy channels.
  • the UL receiver may only be tasked to scan attractive channels for re-selection, thus reducing the resources used. That is, in some embodiments, the selecting the channel for transmission may be performed out of the pruned created channel list, that is, out of the selected subset of channels.
  • an eNBs scheduler may compare the measured occupancy figures with the ones gleaned from the transmitting device 101 , e.g., the neighbor eNB which may be broadcasting the Channel Usage list. That is, in some embodiments, the selecting the channel for transmission may be based on a result of the comparing in Action 1304.
  • the channel re-selection algorithm may take the Channel Usage list from all neighboring network nodes, e.g., eNB, and create an overall combined view of the channel usage according to Action 1304. For instance, if two eNBs plan to use a percentage of the channel in the next DMTC period, the percentages may be added. Additionally, the metrics signaled via the discovery signal on neighbor cells may be compared with measurements directly done by the eNB, that is, the receiving device 102. This may very likely be in a busy period when there are no obviously free channels, that the signaled channel usage list may be compared with measurements from other channels. In this case, to avoid re-tuning the eNB to measure some of the previously pruned channels, the format of the channel metric may be comparable to the normal eNB channel occupancy measurements.
  • the channel selection algorithm may also take into account if the channel usage metric is from the previous DMTC, or equivalent period, or the planned occupancy of the next DMTC period. When the metric is from the past DMTC period, a predictive type algorithm may be applied. When combining channel usage from different eNBs it may be important for it to know which type of metric it is. Combining metrics in this manner may require the channel re-selection algorithm to perform equalization/weighting prior to combining.
  • Embodiments herein may affect Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 3 (L3).
  • the Channel Usage metric to support inter-operator LAA co-existence.
  • Broadcast information by the own first cell 121 which may contain information regarding the planned schedule in the next defined period. The planned information may never be measured directly by a neighbor eNB, such as the receiving device 102.
  • An advantage of embodiments herein is that less frequent scanning may need to be performed by the receiving device 102 to find a better channel to operate on. This means both, improved traffic handling on the current channels, and faster detection of available idle or less frequently used channels.
  • Another advantage of embodiments herein is that since the information may be broadcasted by the cell itself, that is, by the transmitting device 101 itself, it will be more accurate in describing the channel usage rather than another device, e.g., another eNB, performing measurements on it.
  • Yet another advantage of embodiments herein is a faster dispersal of information regarding the interference environment among the LAA nodes, so that co-existence, e.g. of network nodes, may be improved.
  • the transmitting device 101 is configured to send control information to the receiving device 102.
  • the transmitting device 101 may comprise the following arrangement depicted in Figure 14.
  • the transmitting device 101 and the receiving device 102 are configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the transmitting device 101 is further configured to, e.g., by means of an obtaining module 1401 configured to, obtain information, the information comprising at least one of: a) the information on the currently operating radio frequencies, and the occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) the information on whether the nodes in 5 the wireless communications network 100 are synchronized or not, c) the information on the radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from the same transmitting node, d) the information on whether the unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by the operator of the wireless communications network 100 for uplink traffic or not, e) the information about the detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) the information on the number of 10 wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless
  • the obtaining module 1401 may be a processor 1404 of the transmitting device 101 , or an application running on such processor.
  • the occupancy of each of the radio frequencies is the 15 planned occupancy by the transmitting device 101 in the future time period.
  • the transmitting device 101 is further configured to, e.g., by means of a sending module 1402 configured to, send the one or more control information messages to the receiving device 102, the one or more messages comprising the obtained information, 20 thereby enabling the receiving device 102 to select the channel for transmission.
  • a sending module 1402 configured to, send the one or more control information messages to the receiving device 102, the one or more messages comprising the obtained information, 20 thereby enabling the receiving device 102 to select the channel for transmission.
  • the sending module 1402 may be the processor 1404 of the transmitting device 101 , or an application running on such processor.
  • to send may be configured to be performed within time and frequency resources occupied by the initial signal or by the discovery signal when
  • the transmitting device 101 may be configured to perform other actions with other modules 1403 configured to perform these actions within the transmitting device 101.
  • Each of the other modules 1403 may be the processor 1404 of the transmitting device 30 101 , or an application running on such processor.
  • the embodiments herein may be implemented through one or more processors, such as the processor 1404 in the transmitting device 101 depicted in Figure 14, together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the 35 embodiments herein.
  • the program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the in the transmitting device 101.
  • a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the in the transmitting device 101.
  • One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick.
  • the computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the transmitting device 101.
  • the transmitting device 101 and the receiving device 102 may further comprise a memory 1405, comprising one or more memory units.
  • the memory 1405 is arranged to be used to store obtained information, store data, configurations, schedulings, and applications etc. to perform the methods herein when being executed in the transmitting device 101.
  • the transmitting device 101 may receive information, e.g., from other network nodes in the wireless communications network 100, through a receiving port 1406.
  • the receiving port 1406 may be, for example, connected to the two or more antennas in transmitting device 101.
  • the transmitting device 101 may receive information from another structure in the wireless communications network 100 through the receiving port 1406. Since the receiving port 1406 may be in communication with the processor 1404, the receiving port 1406 may then send the received information to the processor 1404.
  • the receiving port 1406 may also be configured to receive other information.
  • the processor 1404 in the transmitting device 101 may be further configured to transmit or send information to e.g., the receiving device 102, respectively, through a sending port 1407, which may be in communication with the processor 1404, and the memory 1405.
  • the transmitting device 101 may comprise an interface unit to facilitate
  • the interface may, for example, include a transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals over an air interface in accordance with a suitable standard.
  • the obtaining module 1401 , the sending module 1402, and the other modules 1403, described above may refer to a combination of analog and digital modules, and/or one or more processors configured with software and/or firmware, e.g., stored in memory, that, when executed by the one or more processors such as the processor 1404, perform as described above.
  • processors as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a System-on-a-Chip (SoC).
  • ASIC Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
  • SoC System-on-a-Chip
  • the different modules 1401-1403 described above may be implemented as one or more applications running on one or more processors such as the processor 1404.
  • the methods according to the embodiments described herein for the transmitting device 101 may be respectively implemented by means of a computer program 1408 product, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, such as the processor 1404, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the transmitting device 101.
  • the computer program 1408 product may be stored on a computer- readable storage medium 1409.
  • the computer-readable storage medium 1409, having stored thereon the computer program 1408, may comprise instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, such as the processor 1404, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by transmitting device 101.
  • the computer-readable storage medium 1409 may be a non- transitory computer-readable storage medium 1409, such as a CD ROM disc, or a memory stick.
  • the computer program 1408 product may be stored on a carrier containing the computer program 1408 just described, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or the computer-readable storage medium 1409, as described above.
  • the receiving device 102 is configured to select the channel for transmission.
  • the transmitting device 101 may comprise the following arrangement depicted in Figure 15.
  • the receiving device 102 is further configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the detailed description of some of the following corresponds to the same references provided above, in relation to the actions described for the receiving device 102, and will thus not be repeated here.
  • the receiving device 102 is further configured to, e.g., by means of a receiving module 1501 configured to, receive the one or more control information messages from at least the one transmitting device 101 configured to operate in the wireless
  • the one or more messages comprising at least one of: a) the information on the currently operating radio frequencies, and the occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) the information on whether the nodes in the wireless communications network 100 are synchronized or not, c) the information on the radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from the same transmitting node, d) the information on whether the unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by the operator of the wireless communications network 100 for uplink traffic or not, e) the information about the detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) the information on the number of wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless
  • the receiving module 1201 may be a processor 1507 of the receiving device 102, or an application running on such processor.
  • the one or more control information messages may be configured to be received from the at least one transmitting device 101 within time and frequency resources occupied by the initial signal or by the discovery signal when operating in an unlicensed band.
  • the occupancy of each of the radio frequencies is the planned occupancy by the at least one transmitting device 101 in the future time period.
  • the receiving device 102 is further configured to, e.g., by means of a selecting module 1502 configured to, select the channel for transmission based on the received one or more control information messages.
  • the selecting module 1502 may be the processor 1507 of the receiving device 102, or an application running on such processor.
  • to select the channel for transmission is configured to be based on measurements received from at least the first wireless device 131 in the wireless communications network 100.
  • the receiving device 102 may be further configured to, e.g., by means of a creating module 1503 configured to, create the channel list based on control information comprised in the received one or more control information messages from the at least one transmitting device 101.
  • the creating module 1503 may be the processor 1507 of the receiving device 102, or an application running on such processor.
  • To select the channel for transmission may comprise to select the channel for transmission out of the created channel list.
  • the receiving device 102 may be further configured to, e.g., by means of a pruning module 1504 configured to, prune the created channel list based on the received one or more control information messages by selecting a subset of channels from the created channel list.
  • To select the channel for transmission may be configured to be performed out of the pruned created channel list.
  • the pruning module 1504 may be the processor 1507 of the receiving device 102, or an application running on such processor.
  • the receiving device 102 may be further configured to, e.g., by means of a
  • comparing module 1505 configured to, compare the control information comprised in the received one or more control information messages received from the at least one transmitting device 101 with information obtained by the receiving device 102, the information obtained by the receiving device 102 comprising at least one of: a) information on currently operating radio frequencies, and occupancy of each of the currently operating radio frequencies, b) information on whether network nodes in the wireless
  • communications network 100 are synchronized or not, c) information on radio frequencies that are utilized for transmission, from a same transmitting node , d) information on whether unlicensed carriers or radio frequencies are being used by an operator of the wireless communications network 100 for uplink traffic or not, e) information about detected Wi-Fi nodes, and f) information on a number of wireless devices that are served by cell or per network node in the wireless communications network 100.
  • To select the channel for transmission may be configured to be based on the result of the comparing.
  • the comparing module 1505 may be the processor 1507 of the receiving device 102, or an application running on such processor.
  • the receiving device 102 may be configured to perform other actions with other modules 1506 configured to perform these actions within the receiving device 102.
  • Each of the other modules 1506 may be the processor 1507 of the receiving device 102, or an application running on such processor.
  • the embodiments herein may be implemented through one or more processors, such as the processor 1507 in the receiving device 102 depicted in Figure 15, together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein.
  • the program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program
  • a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the in the receiving device 102.
  • One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick.
  • the computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the receiving device
  • the receiving device 102 may further comprise a memory 1508 comprising one or more memory units.
  • the memory 1508 is arranged to be used to store obtained information, store data, configurations, schedulings, and applications etc. to perform the 20 methods herein when being executed in the receiving device 102.
  • the receiving device 102 may receive information, e.g., from the transmitting device 101 , through a receiving port 1509.
  • the receiving port 1509 may be, for example, connected to the two or more antennas in the
  • the receiving device 102 may receive
  • the receiving port 1509 may also be configured to receive other
  • the processor 1507 in the receiving device 102 may be further configured to transmit or send information to e.g., to the transmitting device 101 , through a sending port 1510, which may be in communication with the processor 1507, and the memory 35 1508.
  • the receiving device 102 may comprise an interface unit to facilitate
  • the interface may, for example, include a transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals over an air interface in accordance with a suitable standard.
  • the receiving module 1501 , the selecting module 1502, the creating module 1503, the pruning module 1504, the comparing module 1504, and the other modules 1506, described above may refer to a combination of analog and digital modules, and/or one or more processors configured with software and/or firmware, e.g., stored in memory, that, when executed by the one or more processors such as the processor 1507, perform as described above.
  • processors as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a System-on-a-Chip (SoC).
  • ASIC Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
  • SoC System-on-a-Chip
  • the different modules 1501-1506 described above may be implemented as one or more applications running on one or more processors such as the processor 1507.
  • the methods according to the embodiments described herein for the receiving device 102 may be implemented by means of a computer program 1511 product, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, such as the processor 1507, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the receiving device 102.
  • the computer program 1511 product may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 1512.
  • the computer-readable storage medium 1512, having stored thereon the computer program 1511 may comprise instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, such as the processor 1507, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the receiving device 102, respectively.
  • the computer-readable storage medium 1512 may be a non- transitory computer-readable storage medium 1512, such as a CD ROM disc, or a memory stick.
  • the computer program 151 1 product may be stored on a carrier containing the computer program 1511 just described, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or the computer-readable storage medium 1512, as described above.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé, réalisé par un dispositif de réception (102), permettant de sélectionner un canal pour une transmission. Le dispositif de réception (102) reçoit (1301) un ou plusieurs messages d'informations de commande provenant d'au moins un dispositif de transmission (101). Le ou les messages comprennent au moins un élément parmi les suivants : a) des informations sur des fréquences radio en cours d'exploitation, et l'affectation de chacune d'elles, b) des informations sur la synchronisation ou non de nœuds de réseau, c) des informations sur des fréquences radio qui sont utilisées pour une transmission, provenant d'un même noeud de transmission, d) des informations sur l'utilisation ou non de porteuses ou de fréquences radio sans licence par un opérateur pour un trafic en liaison montante, e) des informations concernant des nœuds Wi-Fi détectés, et f) des informations sur un certain nombre de dispositifs sans fil qui sont desservis par une cellule ou par noeud de réseau. Le dispositif de réception (102) sélectionne (1305) le canal d'après le ou les messages d'informations de commande reçus. L'invention concerne également un procédé réalisé par le dispositif de transmission (101).
PCT/SE2016/050209 2015-03-17 2016-03-15 Dispositif de transmission, dispositif de réception, et leurs procédés, permettant de sélectionner un canal pour une transmission WO2016148629A1 (fr)

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CN113557680A (zh) * 2019-03-21 2021-10-26 瑞典爱立信有限公司 用于在正在进行的媒体会话期间处置媒体信道的网络节点和其中执行的方法
CN113557680B (zh) * 2019-03-21 2023-09-29 瑞典爱立信有限公司 用于在正在进行的媒体会话期间处置媒体信道的网络节点和其中执行的方法
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