Method and apparatus for operations in different frequency bands within a radio device

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for configuring a radio device which is operable in a first carrier and a second carrier. The method comprises determining whether the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier. The method further comprises arranging the operation in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier based at least in part on the determination. According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the operations of the radio device in different frequency bands can be arranged adaptively and flexibly, so that system capacity and energy efficiency can be improved.

This application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national phase filing of International Application No. PCT/CN2018/099553, filed Aug. 9, 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure generally relates to communication networks, and more specifically, to method and apparatus for operations in different frequency bands within a radio device.

BACKGROUND

Mobile broadband may continue to drive some demands for big overall traffic capacity and huge achievable end-user data rates in a wireless communication network. Many scenarios for network services in the future may require data rates of up to 10 Gbps in local areas. These demands for very high system capacity and end-user data rates can be met by networks where distances between access nodes may range from a few meters in indoor deployments up to roughly 50 meters in outdoor deployments, for example, by next generation communication networks with an infrastructure density considerably higher than the densest networks of today. Besides the traditional licensed exclusive spectrum, the next generation communication systems such as fifth generation (5G) and new radio (NR) systems are also expected to be operable on the unlicensed band which may be sharable. It may be possible for a network operator to own a certain amount of licensed carriers while it could use some unlicensed carriers. Thus, it is desirable to arrange operations in different frequency bands such as licensed and unlicensed bands within a radio device efficiently.

SUMMARY

Multi-antenna technology brings significant improvements in system performance and energy efficiency by focusing the transmission and reception of signal energy into certain spatial regions. In a wireless communication network such as 4.5G/5G or NR, radio devices are expected to operate with multiple antennas to obtain large beamforming gains. When the multi-antenna technology is employed in a radio device which is able to support operations in licensed and unlicensed carriers, there may be a need to configure the operations sharing between licensed and unlicensed carriers adaptively.

The present disclosure proposes a solution of operation configurations in different frequency bands within a radio device, which may enable the radio device to be shared between licensed and unlicensed carriers adaptively while mitigating an impact of emission from the adjacent frequency carrier, so as to improve transmission capacity and energy efficiency of the radio device.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented at a radio device which is operable in a first carrier and a second carrier. The method comprises determining whether the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier. The method further comprises arranging the operation in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier based at least in part on the determination.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the determination of whether the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier may comprise: checking data transmission in the first carrier, and determining that the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier, in response that the data transmission in the first carrier is to interfere with detection of availability of the second carrier.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the arrangement of the operation in the at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier based at least in part on the determination may comprise: detecting availability of the second carrier by reducing at least part of interference from the first carrier, in response to the determination that the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the at least part of interference from the first carrier may be reduced by cancelling at least part of intermodulation distortion from the first carrier.

Alternatively or additionally, the at least part of interference from the first carrier may be reduced by enabling data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier to be scheduled adaptively.

Alternatively or additionally, the at least part of interference from the first carrier may be reduced by enabling the availability of the second carrier to be detected in a specified direction.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the radio device may comprise a base station. In this case, enabling the data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier to be scheduled adaptively may comprise: scheduling no data transmission in the first carrier by the base station during detecting the availability of the second carrier.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment where the radio device is operated as a base station, the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure may further comprise keeping the first carrier to be in an idle status at least during transmission of at least one of synchronization signal and system information in the second carrier.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the radio device may comprise a terminal device. In this case, enabling the data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier to be scheduled adaptively may comprise: sending a request to a base station to reschedule the data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier, so as to enable the first carrier to be in an idle status during detecting the availability of the second carrier by the terminal device.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment where the radio device is operated as a terminal device, the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure may further comprise: preventing data from being transmitted in the second carrier until receiving a response to the request from the base station. The received response may indicate the data transmission rescheduled in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier. Optionally, the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure may further comprise: performing data transmission in the second carrier according to the received response.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the first carrier may comprise a licensed carrier and the second carrier may comprise an unlicensed carrier.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus may comprise one or more processors and one or more memories comprising computer program codes. The one or more memories and the computer program codes may be configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable medium having computer program codes embodied thereon which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus may comprise a determining unit and an arranging unit. In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the determining unit may be operable to carry out at least the determining step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure. The arranging unit may be operable to carry out at least the arranging step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented in a communication system which may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may comprise providing user data at the host computer. Optionally, the method may comprise, at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station which may perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system including a host computer. The host computer may comprise processing circuitry configured to provide user data, and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE. The cellular network may comprise a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry. The base station's processing circuitry may be configured to perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented in a communication system which may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may comprise providing user data at the host computer. Optionally, the method may comprise, at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station. The UE may perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system including a host computer. The host computer may comprise processing circuitry configured to provide user data, and a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE. The UE may comprise a radio interface and processing circuitry. The UE's processing circuitry may be configured to perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented in a communication system which may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may comprise, at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE which may perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system including a host computer. The host computer may comprise a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE to a base station. The UE may comprise a radio interface and processing circuitry. The UE's processing circuitry may be configured to perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented in a communication system which may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may comprise, at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE. The base station may perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system which may include a host computer. The host computer may comprise a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE to a base station. The base station may comprise a radio interface and processing circuitry. The base station's processing circuitry may be configured to perform any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as new radio (NR), long term evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA), and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network node in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), 4G, 4.5G, 5G communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future.

The term “network node” refers to a network device in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses to the network and receives services therefrom. The network node may refer to a base station (BS), an access point (AP), a multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), a controller or any other suitable device in a wireless communication network. The BS may be, for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a next generation NodeB (gNodeB or gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth.

Yet further examples of the network node comprise multi-standard radio (MSR) radio equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, positioning nodes and/or the like. More generally, however, the network node may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a terminal device access to a wireless communication network or to provide some service to a terminal device that has accessed to the wireless communication network.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that can access a communication network and receive services therefrom. By way of example and not limitation, the terminal device may refer to a mobile terminal, a user equipment (UE), or other suitable devices. The UE may be, for example, a subscriber station, a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, portable computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a wearable device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a vehicle, and the like.

As yet another specific example, in an Internet of things (IoT) scenario, a terminal device may also be called an IoT device and represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring, sensing and/or measurements etc., and transmits the results of such monitoring, sensing and/or measurements etc. to another terminal device and/or a network equipment. The terminal device may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) context be referred to as a machine-type communication (MTC) device.

As one particular example, the terminal device may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band Internet of things (NB-IoT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances, e.g. refrigerators, televisions, personal wearables such as watches etc. In other scenarios, a terminal device may represent a vehicle or other equipment, for example, a medical instrument that is capable of monitoring, sensing and/or reporting etc. on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

As used herein, the terms “first”, “second” and so forth refer to different elements. The singular forms “a” and “an” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or “including” as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components and the like, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof. The term “based on” is to be read as “based at least in part on”. The term “one embodiment” and “an embodiment” are to be read as “at least one embodiment”. The term “another embodiment” is to be read as “at least one other embodiment”. Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as voice, video, data, messaging and broadcasts. To meet dramatically increasing network requirements on traffic capacity and data rates, one interesting option for communication technique development is to allow a wireless communication network such as a NR or 5G system to be operable on the unlicensed band, besides the licensed band. By aggregation of licensed and unlicensed carriers, a radio device can benefit from the additional transmission capacity provided by the unlicensed band.

However, regulatory requirements may not permit transmissions in the unlicensed band without performing some type of channel sensing. For example, since the unlicensed band is generally shared with other radios of similar or dissimilar wireless technologies, a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure may need to be applied by a radio device before transmitting on a channel that uses the unlicensed band. The LBT procedure requires the radio device to perform a clear channel assessment to determine if the channel is available. Regulatory requirements, for example, in Europe, specify an energy detection threshold such that if the radio device receives energy greater than this threshold, the radio device assumes that the channel is not available for immediate use. The LBT procedure is vital for fair coexistence of an unlicensed system with other operators and technologies operating in the unlicensed band, such as Wi-Fi and licensed-assisted access (LAA).

FIG. 1Ais a diagram illustrating an example of LAA according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The LAA framework may be built on the carrier aggregation solutions for an LTE network to access the additional bandwidth in the unlicensed band. For simplicity,FIG. 1Aonly depicts some exemplary elements such as a UE101, a primary cell (PCell)102, and a secondary cell (SCell)103. It could be appreciated that LAA technology also may be applicable to other suitable network scenarios in which different numbers of network elements or devices may be involved.

As illustrated inFIG. 1A, the LTE network can configure the UE101to aggregate additional SCells (such as the SCell103) using frequency carriers in the unlicensed band. The PCell102may retain the exchange of essential control messages and can provide always-available robust spectrum for real-time or high-value traffics. The PCell102also can provide mobility handling and management for the UE101via the high-quality licensed band in an LTE radio access network with wide coverage. The aggregated SCells in the unlicensed band, when available, may be utilized as a bandwidth booster to serve, for example, best effort traffics. The SCell103in the LAA network may mainly operate in downlink-only (DL-only) mode. According to some exemplary embodiments, 3.5 GHz band and/or 5 GHz band may be used as the operation band for the LAA network.

A wireless communication network such as NR or 5G which can be operable on the licensed and unlicensed bands may employ the multi-antenna technology to obtain more performance gain. Through the use of a large number of service antennas which are operated fully coherently and adaptively, the multi-antenna technology such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) can bring prominent improvements in data throughput and energy efficiency, particularly when MIMO is combined with simultaneous scheduling of a large number of user terminals (e.g., tens or hundreds).

In general, MIMO can be used for the time division duplex (TDD) operation, but it also may be potentially applied in the frequency division duplex (FDD) operation. Many benefits may be achieved by applying MIMO in a wireless communication network, for example, large data throughput, the extensive use of inexpensive low-power components, reduced latency, simplification of the media access control (MAC) layer, and robustness to interference and intentional jamming. The anticipated throughput of the massive MIMO may depend on the propagation environment providing asymptotically orthogonal channels to the terminals.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, a single radio device with multiple antennas or RF chains may be able to support combined operations on the licensed and unlicensed bands according to different configurations. The capacity of hardware (for example, analog-to-digital converter/digital-to-analog converter (ADC/DAC), mixer, transistors and/or the like) used for the radio device may be improved. According to an exemplary embodiment, the licensed and unlicensed operations can be implemented in a single radio chain including transmitter and receiver (TX/RX) which can cover an ultra-wide frequency range. Optionally, the licensed and unlicensed operations also can be implemented in different radio frequency (RF) chains.

FIG. 1Bis a diagram illustrating an exemplary multi-antenna configuration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The example shown inFIG. 1Bmay correspond to an active antenna system (AAS) radio with 64 antennas. For digital beamforming, 64 RF chains may be used where each antenna is connected to one RF chain. According to the exemplary embodiment, the licensed and unlicensed operations can be implemented in different RF chains within a single radio. For example, the left 32 branches can be implemented with the licensed operation, and the right 32 branches can be implemented with the unlicensed operation, as shown inFIG. 1B. It will be appreciated that the multi-antenna configuration shown inFIG. 1Bis just as an example, and in practice the AAS radio may be configured with more or less antennas suitable to support the licensed and unlicensed operations in MIMO communications.

FIG. 2is a diagram illustrating an exemplary communication band according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment shown inFIG. 2illustrates the use of 3.5 GHz band which may be a candidate band for licensed and/or unlicensed communications. It will be appreciated that there may be other candidate bands for licensed and/or unlicensed commnunications, such as 5 GHz, 37 GHz, 60 GHz, etc.FIG. 2only shows some exemplary band operations for communication services, and other appropriate band operations also may be applied according to regulatory requirements.

As shown inFIG. 2, incumbents for Tier 1 band may comprise military radar and fixed satellite service (FSS). Communications in Tier 1 may be protected by the federal communications commission (FCC) from interferences from Tier 2 and Tier 3. A part of Tier 2 band may be used for priority access licenses (PAL) and wireless Internet service providers (WISP) services. In addition, general authorized access (GAA) communications can be supported by Tier 3 band and another part of Tier 2 band. The communications in Tier 1 band may have a higher priority than the communications in Tier 2 band, while the communications in Tier 3 band may have a lower priority than those in Tier 2 band. For example, communications in Tier 2 may be protected from interferences from Tier 3 and have no interference on Tier 1. Communications in Tier 3 may not be protected and will not interfere with Tier 1 or the protected Tier 2.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, some mobile communication systems may be operated in Tier 2 band as the licensed band or Tier 3 band as the unlicensed band. In general, there may be an equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) limit for the communications in the unlicensed band. Similarly, an EIRP limit also may be taken into account in the licensed band, although its influence in the licensed band is not as significant as in the unlicensed band.

Considering an exemplary scenario, a network operator may own certain amount of Tier 2 licensed band (e.g., 3550-3590 MHz) while it could use other band such as Tier 3 unlicensed band (e.g., 3600-3640 MHz). With improvement of hardware capacity, a radio device with multiple antennas and RF chains can operate in the licensed and unlicensed bands which are implemented in the same chain or in different chains separately. When the radio device is shared between adjacent licensed and unlicensed carriers, the operation in the unlicensed carrier may be impacted by emission from the adjacent licensed carrier.

FIG. 3is a diagram illustrating an example of intermodulation distortion (IMD) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment shown inFIG. 3illustrates the simplified correspondence between frequency and power. For example,FIG. 3shows transmission power P,TXm and P,TXn corresponding to carriers in frequencies f,TXm and f,TXn, respectively. According to the exemplary embodiment, the intermodulation product (which is indicated by “f,IMD” inFIG. 3) of carrier in f,TXm and carrier in f,TXn (where indices m and n may have the same or different values) is the same as the unlicensed frequency (which is indicated by “f, listening in unlicensed” inFIG. 3). In this case, the listening performed for the unlicensed frequency to check channel availability is almost impossible, because the IMD falls into the listening receiver through leakage between radio branches or antennas, and the IMD power (which is denoted as P,IMD inFIG. 3) is higher than the threshold of listening.

From the spectrum point of view, combining operations in different frequency bands within a single radio device can enhance spectrum efficiency. However, the emission from a licensed carrier may interfere with an LBT procedure (or simply listening) performed in an adjacent unlicensed carrier. If so, the data transmission in the licensed carrier without LBT will block the transmission in the adjacent unlicensed carrier where the LBT procedure is needed before the transmission. Thus, it may be desirable to introduce an effective solution to configure or arrange operations of the radio device in the licensed and unlicensed bands adaptively.

In the proposed solution according to some exemplary embodiments, a radio device (such as a base station or a terminal device) may be operable in at least two frequency bands (such as licensed and unlicensed bands) simultaneously with multiple antennas or RF chains. According to some exemplary embodiments, the proposed solution can arrange operation of the radio device in at least one frequency band adaptive to interferences between different frequency bands. In this way, the flexibility of operations in different frequency bands may be increased, and the system performance such as capacity and/or throughput may be improved.

It is noted that some embodiments of the present disclosure are mainly described in relation to 5G or NR specifications being used as non-limiting examples for certain exemplary network configurations and system deployments. As such, the description of exemplary embodiments given herein specifically refers to terminology which is directly related thereto. Such terminology is only used in the context of the presented non-limiting examples and embodiments, and does naturally not limit the present disclosure in any way. Rather, any other system configuration or radio technologies may equally be utilized as long as exemplary embodiments described herein are applicable.

FIG. 4is a flowchart illustrating a method400according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method400illustrated inFIG. 4may be performed by an apparatus implemented in a radio device or communicatively coupled to a radio device. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the radio device may comprise a base station such as eNB or gNB. Alternatively, the radio device may comprise a terminal device such as UE. The radio device may be equipped with multiple antennas to apply MIMO technology. Radio resources in different frequency bands such as licensed and unlicensed bands may be utilized by the radio device to support communications in a wireless communication network.

According to the exemplary method400illustrated inFIG. 4, the radio device which is operable in a first carrier and a second carrier can determine whether the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier, as shown in block402. In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the first carrier and the second carrier may refer to carriers in different types of frequency bands for wireless communications. According to an exemplary embodiment, the first carrier may comprise a licensed carrier and the second carrier may comprise an unlicensed carrier.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, in order to determine whether the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier, the radio device can check data transmission in the first carrier. For example, the radio device may check the power emitted from the first carrier to the second carrier. If the emission power of the first carrier is higher than a threshold specified for an LBT procedure in the second carrier, the radio device can determine that the data transmission in the first carrier is to interfere with detection of availability of the second carrier. Alternatively, the radio device may check the status of data scheduling in the first carrier. If there is a potential conflict between the data scheduling in the first carrier and an LBT procedure to be performed in the second carrier, the radio device can determine that the data transmission in the first carrier is to interfere with detection of availability of the second carrier.

In response to determining that the data transmission in the first carrier is to interfere with the availability detection of the second carrier, the radio device can determine that the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier. It can be appreciated that other suitable parameters, conditions and/or events also may be considered by the radio device to determine whether there may be interferences between operations in the first carrier and the second carrier.

Based at least in part on the determination made in block402, the radio device can arrange the operation in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier, as shown in block404. For example, the radio device may decide to operate in either or both of the first and second carriers according to the interference between the two carriers. The arrangement of the operation may be performed by adjusting one or more current operations and/or applying one or more new operations in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier. In the case that there is no interference between the two carriers or the interference can be ignored, the radio device may select to make no additional processing of the interference.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the arrangement of the operation in block404may comprise detecting availability of the second carrier by reducing at least part of interference from the first carrier, in response to the determination that the operation in the first carrier is to interfere with the operation in the second carrier. For example, the availability of the second carrier may be detected by performing an LBT procedure in the second carrier. An example of the operation in the first carrier interfering with the operation in the second carrier is that the emission from the first carrier makes the LBT procedure in the second carrier impossible. In order to implement the availability detection for the second carrier and the corresponding data transmission, the radio device needs to mitigate the emission from the first carrier.

In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, there are many possible techniques for mitigating the emission from the first carrier to the second carrier, for example, including but not limited to IMD cancellation, adaptive scheduling, and directional detection. The radio device can use any combination of these techniques to reduce at least part of interference from the first carrier to the second carrier. Specifically, the radio device may cancel at least part of IMD from the first carrier, enable data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier to be scheduled adaptively, and/or enable the availability of the second carrier to be detected in a specified direction.

In the case that the IMD cancellation technique is used for emission mitigation, the IMD falling into the listening receiver can be cancelled, for example, based on a certain cancellation principle. According to an exemplary embodiment, the radio device can cancel the IMD in the listening receiver baseband when performing the listening, for example, by using a training cancellation model based on a training process. Alternatively or additionally, the radio device can use the directional detection technique according to an IMD radiation pattern.

FIG. 5is a diagram illustrating an example of directional detection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The diagram inFIG. 5may represent the typical baseband and TX/RX structure in a radio device which can support directional detection. The term “directional detection” mentioned here may refer to performing channel listening/sensing in a specified direction to detect availability of a channel. For simplicity,FIG. 5only depicts some exemplary components such as a baseband, a TX low level block, a power amplifier (PA), a filter unit (FU), an antenna reference point (ARP), a transmitter receiver (TR) switch, a RF low noise amplifier (LNA) block, a RX block and a transmitter observation receiver (TOR) module. It will be appreciated that the structure and components shown inFIG. 5are just as examples, and more or less alternative components and connections may be deployed in the same or different structure of the exemplary implementation.

In the embodiment where directional detection is supported, for example, in high gain beamforming case, the radio device can perform the listening on the transmission of another radio device with null direction of IMD. The IMD radiation pattern can be gotten by implementing a suitable solution in the radio baseband to get a draft IMD. According to an exemplary embodiment, the TOR module and the RX block as shown inFIG. 5can be assumed to have the same phase interface. For example, the phase change between the TOR module and the RX block can be minimized by hardware or compensated by calibration. In this case, the TOR module can receive an output signal from the TX block through the PA (as denoted by the dotted arrow inFIG. 5), and the IMD can be extracted. Through matrix calculation based on the IMD from all transmitter branches, the IMD radiation pattern can be obtained. According to the IMD radiation pattern, the directional detection can be performed through the RX block (as denoted by the solid arrow inFIG. 5) with null direction of IMD. The directional detection can avoid the high-power radiation direction based on reciprocity property.

In the case that the adaptive scheduling technique is used for emission mitigation, the radio device may adjust transmission configurations for at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier as required. In an exemplary embodiment where the radio device is operated as a base station, enabling the data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier to be scheduled adaptively may comprise scheduling no data transmission in the first carrier by the base station during detecting the availability of the second carrier. For example, the data transmission in the first carrier may be set to an idle status when the base station performs the listening in the second carrier. Specifically, the base station may implement signaling between baseband processing parts for the two carriers. When the base station has a chance to start a LBT procedure for the second carrier, a request may be sent to the baseband processing part for the first carrier to schedule or define an empty time slot. Once the empty time slot is defined, the feedback signaling may be return to the baseband processing part for the second carrier to synchronize up the empty time slot. Then the defined time slot may be used to run the LBT procedure for the second carrier.

Optionally, the base station may keep the first carrier to be in an idle status at least during transmission of at least one of synchronization signal and system information in the second carrier. According to an exemplary embodiment, the base station such as eNB/gNB needs to guarantee that the subframe/slot in a licensed carrier is empty before transmission of synchronization signal and/or system information in an unlicensed carrier. In this way, the key transmission in the unlicensed carrier can be guaranteed for normal operations.

In an exemplary embodiment where the radio device is operated as a terminal device, enabling the data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier to be scheduled adaptively may comprise sending a request to a base station to reschedule the data transmission in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier, so as to enable the first carrier to be in an idle status during detecting the availability of the second carrier by the terminal device. Optionally, the terminal device may prevent data from being transmitted in the second carrier until receiving a response to the request from the base station. The received response may indicate the data transmission rescheduled in at least one of the first carrier and the second carrier. The terminal device can perform data transmission in the second carrier according to the received response. In this way, the terminal device such as UE can request its serving base station such as eNB/gNB to perform smart scheduling of UL data transmissions in licensed and unlicensed carriers, so that no emission from the licensed carrier impacts the LBT procedure for the unlicensed carrier.

FIG. 6Ais a flowchart illustrating an exemplary operation configuration procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary operation configuration procedure illustrated inFIG. 6Amay be performed by a base station such as eNB/gNB which can support MIMO operations in licensed and unlicensed bands. According to the exemplary procedure shown inFIG. 6A, the base station can make adaptive operation configurations of the licensed and unlicensed bands, for example, according to the method as described in connection withFIG. 4.

According to the procedure shown inFIG. 6A, the eNB/gNB which is operating in a licensed carrier may want to start operation in an unlicensed carrier, as shown in block612. The licensed carrier is adjacent to the unlicensed carrier within the same radio. The eNB/gNB can check an operation status in the adjacent licensed carrier, as shown in block614. If the emission power from the adjacent licensed carrier to the unlicensed carrier is not higher than a certain threshold (i.e., “NO” branch of block616), the eNB/gNB can start operation in the unlicensed carrier as normal, as shown in block618.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the threshold in block616may be a threshold predefined for an LBT procedure performed in the unlicensed carrier. In the case that the emission power from the adjacent licensed carrier to the unlicensed carrier is not higher than this threshold, the eNB/gNB can perform the operation in the unlicensed carrier without an impact of the emission from the licensed carrier. Accordingly, there is no need to change the current configuration of operation in the licensed carrier.

Alternatively, if the emission power from the adjacent licensed carrier to the unlicensed carrier is higher than the certain threshold (i.e., “YES” branch of block616), the eNB/gNB can start operation in the unlicensed carrier with emission being mitigated when performing the LBT procedure, as shown in block620. For example, the emission can be mitigated by applying one or more emission mitigation techniques as described in connection withFIG. 4, including but not limited to IMD cancellation, adaptive scheduling and/or directional detection.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, synchronization signal and/or system information may be periodically transmitted by the eNB/gNB in the unlicensed carrier. In order to guarantee that the synchronization signal and/or system information in the unlicensed carrier could be transmitted successfully, the eNB/gNB may decide not to schedule data transmission in the licensed carrier during the transmission of synchronization signal and/or system information in the unlicensed carrier.

FIG. 6Bis a flowchart illustrating another exemplary operation configuration procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary operation configuration procedure illustrated inFIG. 6Bmay be performed by a terminal device such as UE which can support MIMO operations in licensed and unlicensed bands. According to the exemplary procedure shown inFIG. 6B, the terminal device can make adaptive operation configurations of the licensed and unlicensed bands, for example, according to the method as described in connection withFIG. 4.

According to the procedure shown inFIG. 6B, the UE may perform cell search and find adjacent licensed and unlicensed carriers within the same radio, as shown in block632. The UE can determine whether to connect both licensed and unlicensed carriers simultaneously, as shown in block634. The determination may be made by the UE, for example, according to UL data transmission requirement and device capability. In the case that the UE determine to connect only one of the licensed and unlicensed carriers (i.e., “NO” branch of block634), the UE can start operation in the unlicensed carrier or the licensed carrier as normal, as shown in block636.

Alternatively, if the amount of UL data is large, the UE may determine to connect both licensed and unlicensed carriers simultaneously (i.e., “YES” branch of block634), for example, via dual cell/carrier aggregation (DC/CA). Then the UE may check the UL data scheduling status for both licensed and unlicensed carriers. If there is no data scheduled in the licensed carrier during an LBT procedure for data scheduled in the unlicensed carrier (i.e., “NO” branch of block638), the UE can follow the data scheduling without interference from the licensed carrier to the unlicensed carrier, as shown in block640.

In the case that there is data scheduled in the licensed carrier during the LBT procedure for the data scheduled in the unlicensed carrier (i.e., “YES” branch of block638), the UE may start operation in the unlicensed carrier with the emission from the licensed carrier being mitigated when performing the LBT procedure for the unlicensed carrier, as shown in block642. For example, the emission can be mitigated by applying one or more emission mitigation techniques as described in connection withFIG. 4, including but not limited to IMD cancellation, adaptive scheduling and/or directional detection.

FIGS. 7A-7Bare diagrams illustrating exemplary data scheduling according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The data scheduling shown inFIGS. 7A-7Bmay be configured for UL transmissions of a UE in licensed and unlicensed carriers by an eNB/gNB. The configurations of data scheduling shown inFIGS. 7A-7Bare just as examples. It will be appreciated that other suitable scheduling configurations also may be applicable to the UE which can support combined operations in licensed and unlicensed bands.

According to the exemplary data scheduling shown inFIG. 7A, UL data transmission of the UE in the licensed carrier is in an idle status during scheduling of UL data transmission of the UE in the unlicensed carrier. Thus the data transmission scheduled in the licensed carrier has no impact on a LBT procedure for the scheduled data transmission in the unlicensed carrier. Accordingly, the UE can follow the configured UL data transmissions in the licensed and unlicensed carriers without any change of the data scheduling.

According to the exemplary data scheduling shown inFIG. 7B, UL data transmission in the licensed carrier is scheduled during the UE performs a LBT procedure for UL data transmission to be scheduled in the unlicensed carrier. In this case, emission from the licensed carrier may block the LBT procedure in the unlicensed carrier. Thus, the UE may need to adjust operation in at least one of the licensed and unlicensed carriers, so as to mitigate the impact of emission from the licensed carrier on the LBT procedure to be performed in the unlicensed carrier.

The proposed solution according to one or more exemplary embodiments can be applied to a radio device which is able to support operations in licensed and unlicensed bands simultaneously with multiple antennas and RF chains. Taking the advantage of the proposed adaptive configuration mechanism for operations in adjacent licensed and unlicensed carriers makes it possible to mitigate the impact of emission from the licensed carrier to the unlicensed carrier. In this way, radio resources may be efficiently utilized at the eNb/gNB side and/or the UE side to improve the total system capacity, and the bottleneck of licensed and unlicensed operations in single radio realization can be solved accordingly.

The various blocks shown inFIG. 4andFIGS. 6A-6Bmay be viewed as method steps, and/or as operations that result from operation of computer program code, and/or as a plurality of coupled logic circuit elements constructed to carry out the associated function(s). The schematic flow chart diagrams described above are generally set forth as logical flow chart diagrams. As such, the depicted order and labeled steps are indicative of specific embodiments of the presented methods. Other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalent in function, logic, or effect to one or more steps, or portions thereof, of the illustrated methods. Additionally, the order in which a particular method occurs may or may not strictly adhere to the order of the corresponding steps shown.

FIG. 8Ais a block diagram illustrating an apparatus810according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 8A, the apparatus810may comprise one or more processors such as processor811and one or more memories such as memory812storing computer program codes813. The memory812may be non-transitory machine/processor/computer readable storage medium. In accordance with some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus810may be implemented as an integrated circuit chip or module that can be plugged or installed into a radio device as described with respect toFIG. 4.

In some implementations, the one or more memories812and the computer program codes813may be configured to, with the one or more processors811, cause the apparatus810at least to perform any operation of the method as described in connection withFIG. 4. Alternatively or additionally, the one or more memories812and the computer program codes813may be configured to, with the one or more processors811, cause the apparatus810at least to perform more or less operations to implement the proposed methods according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8Bis a block diagram illustrating an apparatus820according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 8B, the apparatus820may comprise a determining unit821and an arranging unit822. In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus820may be implemented in a radio device such as eNB/gNB. In other exemplary embodiments, the apparatus820may be implemented in a radio device such as UE. The determining unit821may be operable to carry out the operation in block402, and the arranging unit822may be operable to carry out the operation in block404. Optionally, the determining unit821and/or the arranging unit822may be operable to carry out more or less operations to implement the proposed methods according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9is a block diagram illustrating a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

With reference toFIG. 9, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network910, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises an access network911, such as a radio access network, and a core network914. The access network911comprises a plurality of base stations912a,912b,912c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area913a,913b,913c. Each base station912a,912b,912cis connectable to the core network914over a wired or wireless connection915. A first UE991located in a coverage area913cis configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station912c. A second UE992in a coverage area913ais wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station912a. While a plurality of UEs991,992are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station912.

The telecommunication network910is itself connected to a host computer930, 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 computer930may 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. Connections921and922between the telecommunication network910and the host computer930may extend directly from the core network914to the host computer930or may go via an optional intermediate network920. An intermediate network920may be one of or a combination of more than one of a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network920, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network920may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system ofFIG. 9as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs991,992and the host computer930. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection950. The host computer930and the connected UEs991,992are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection950, using the access network911, the core network914, any intermediate network920and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection950may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection950passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station912may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from the host computer930to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE991. Similarly, the base station912need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE991towards the host computer930.

FIG. 10is a block diagram illustrating a host computer communicating via a base station with a UE over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference toFIG. 10. In a communication system1000, a host computer1010comprises hardware1015including a communication interface1016configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system1000. The host computer1010further comprises a processing circuitry1018, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry1018may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer1010further comprises software1011, which is stored in or accessible by the host computer1010and executable by the processing circuitry1018. The software1011includes a host application1012. The host application1012may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE1030connecting via an OTT connection1050terminating at the UE1030and the host computer1010. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application1012may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection1050.

The communication system1000further includes a base station1020provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware1025enabling it to communicate with the host computer1010and with the UE1030. The hardware1025may include a communication interface1026for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system1000, as well as a radio interface1027for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection1070with the UE1030located in a coverage area (not shown inFIG. 10) served by the base station1020. The communication interface1026may be configured to facilitate a connection1060to the host computer1010. The connection1060may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown inFIG. 10) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, the hardware1025of the base station1020further includes a processing circuitry1028, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station1020further has software1021stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

The communication system1000further includes the UE1030already referred to. Its hardware1035may include a radio interface1037configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection1070with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE1030is currently located. The hardware1035of the UE1030further includes a processing circuitry1038, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE1030further comprises software1031, which is stored in or accessible by the UE1030and executable by the processing circuitry1038. The software1031includes a client application1032. The client application1032may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE1030, with the support of the host computer1010. In the host computer1010, an executing host application1012may communicate with the executing client application1032via the OTT connection1050terminating at the UE1030and the host computer1010. In providing the service to the user, the client application1032may receive request data from the host application1012and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection1050may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application1032may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that the host computer1010, the base station1020and the UE1030illustrated inFIG. 10may be similar or identical to the host computer930, one of base stations912a,912b,912cand one of UEs991,992ofFIG. 9, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown inFIG. 10and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that ofFIG. 9.

InFIG. 10, the OTT connection1050has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer1010and the UE1030via the base station1020, 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 UE1030or from the service provider operating the host computer1010, or both. While the OTT connection1050is 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).

Wireless connection1070between the UE1030and the base station1020is 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 UE1030using the OTT connection1050, in which the wireless connection1070forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the latency and the power consumption, and thereby provide benefits such as lower complexity, reduced time required to access a cell, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime, etc.

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 connection1050between the host computer1010and the UE1030, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection1050may be implemented in software1011and hardware1015of the host computer1010or in software1031and hardware1035of the UE1030, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection1050passes; 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 the software1011,1031may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection1050may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station1020, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station1020. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer1010's measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software1011and1031causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection1050while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIG. 11is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with an embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference toFIG. 9andFIG. 10. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG. 11will be included in this section. In step1110, the host computer provides user data. In substep1111(which may be optional) of step1110, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step1120, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step1130(which may be optional), the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step1140(which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

FIG. 14is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with an embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference toFIG. 9andFIG. 10. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG. 14will be included in this section. In step1410(which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step1420(which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step1430(which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.