CN108781149A - Coexistence of unlicensed uplink and scheduled transmissions - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) configured to communicate with an evolved node B (eNB). the UE may include a memory and processing circuitry coupled to the memory.

Description

Coexistence of unlicensed uplink and scheduled transmissions

priority statement

This application claims a US provisional patent application entitled "ENABLING CO-EXISTENCE OFAUTONOMOUS UPLINK TRANSMISSION WITH SCHEDULED TRANSMISSION AT ENB" filed on March 22, 2016 Priority to No. 62/311,698, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

technical field

Embodiments relate to wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to wireless networks, including 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) networks, 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, 3GPP LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) networks, MulteFire networks, and 5G networks, but the scope of the embodiments is within this Aspects are not limited. Some embodiments relate to unlicensed (or autonomous) uplink transmission (GUL) by user equipment (UE). Some embodiments relate to enabling the coexistence of unlicensed (or autonomous) uplink transmissions and scheduled transmissions.

Background technique

With the increase of different types of devices communicating with various network devices, the use of the 3GPP LTE system is also increasing. The penetration of mobile devices (User Equipment or UEs) in modern society continues to drive the need for a wide variety of networked devices in many different environments. The use of connected UEs using the 3GPP LTE system is increasing in various fields of home and work life. Fifth generation (5G) wireless systems are on the horizon and are expected to deliver even greater speeds, connectivity and availability.

LTE and LTE-Advanced are standards for wireless communication of high-speed data for user equipment (UE), such as mobile phones. In LTE-Advanced and various wireless systems, carrier aggregation is a technique in which multiple carrier signals operating on different frequencies can be used to carry communications intended for a single UE, thereby increasing the bandwidth available to a single device. In some embodiments, carrier aggregation may be used where one or more component carriers operate on unlicensed frequencies.

Explosive wireless traffic growth has led to a need for increased rates. With mature physical layer technologies, further improvements in spectral efficiency will be trivial. On the other hand, the lack of licensed spectrum in low frequency bands leads to lack of data rate improvement. Thus, there has been interest in the operation of LTE systems in the unlicensed spectrum. Therefore, a major improvement to LTE in 3GPP Release 13 has allowed its operation in unlicensed spectrum via License Assisted Access (LAA), which extends the system by utilizing the flexible Carrier Aggregation (CA) framework introduced by LTE-Advanced bandwidth. The Rel-13 LAA system focuses on the design of DL operation on unlicensed spectrum via CA, while the Rel-14 Enhanced LAA (eLAA) system focuses on the design of UL operation on unlicensed spectrum via CA. More improved operation of LTE systems in unlicensed spectrum is expected in future releases and 5G systems. Possible LTE operation in unlicensed spectrum includes (and is not limited to) LTE operation in unlicensed spectrum via Dual Connectivity (DC), or DC based LAA and a separate LTE system in unlicensed spectrum where LTE based The technology that operates only in unlicensed spectrum without the need for an "anchor" in licensed spectrum is called MulteFire. MulteFire combines the performance advantages of LTE technology with the simplicity of Wi-Fi-like deployment and is regarded as a very important technical component to meet the ever-increasing wireless traffic.

Description of drawings

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like reference numerals may indicate like components in the different views. Similar reference numerals with different letter suffixes may designate different instances of detailed components. In the following illustrations in the drawings, some embodiments are shown by way of example and not limitation.

As used herein, the terms "autonomous uplink transmission" and "unlicensed uplink transmission" are interchangeable.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system including an evolved Node B (eNB) and a user equipment (UE) operable in a wireless communication network according to some embodiments described herein.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a user equipment (UE) according to some embodiments.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of an evolved Node B (eNB), according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates unlicensed uplink transmission (GUL) according to an example embodiment.

Figure 5 illustrates an example unlicensed UL transmission (GUL) within a restricted timing window according to an example embodiment.

6A and 6B illustrate example downlink (DL) transmissions following unlicensed UL transmissions according to example embodiments.

6C illustrates an example downlink (DL) transmission following an unlicensed UL transmission requesting acknowledgment, according to an example embodiment.

7 and 8 are flowcharts illustrating example functionality for implementing unlicensed uplink transmissions according to some embodiments.

Figure 9 shows a block diagram of a communication device, such as an eNB or UE, according to some embodiments.

Detailed ways

Embodiments relate to systems, devices, apparatus, assemblies, methods, and computer-readable media for improving wireless communications, and more particularly to performing in conjunction with carrier aggregation, authorization assisted access (LAA), enhanced LAA (eLAA), and MulteFire communications operational communication system. The following description and drawings illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Parts and features of some embodiments may be included in or substituted for those of other embodiments, and it is intended to cover all available equivalents of the described elements.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system including an evolved Node B (eNB) and a user equipment (UE) operable in a wireless communication network according to some embodiments described herein. Wireless network system 100 includes UE 104 and eNB 120 connected via air interface 190 . UE 104 and eNB 120 communicate using a system that supports carrier aggregation (CA) and uses unlicensed frequency bands, such that air interface 190 supports multiple frequency carriers as well as licensed and unlicensed frequency bands. Component carrier 180 and component carrier 185 are shown in FIG. 1 . Although two component carriers are shown, various embodiments may include any number of two or more component carriers. Various embodiments may operate with any number of licensed channels and any number of unlicensed channels.

Furthermore, in various embodiments described herein, at least one of the component carriers 180, 185 in the air interface 190 comprises a carrier operating on an unlicensed frequency, referred to herein as an unlicensed carrier. "Unlicensed carrier" or "unlicensed frequency" refers to an area of the radio spectrum that is not reserved exclusively for system use. For example, some frequency ranges may be used by communication systems operating on different communication standards, such as those provided by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (such as "WiFi") and Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards (including LTE and LTE The frequency band used by both Advanced and Enhanced versions of LTE (as discussed below). In contrast, a "licensed channel" or "licensed spectrum" operates under a particular standard, with limited concern that there will be other undesired signals operating under a different standard.

Communication on an LTE network can be divided into 10ms frames, each frame containing ten 1ms subframes. Each subframe may in turn contain two 0.5ms slots. Depending on the system used, each slot may contain 6-7 symbols. A resource block (RB) (may also be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB)) may be a minimum resource unit that can be allocated to a UE. A resource block may be 180 kHz wide in frequency and 1 slot long in time. In frequency, a resource block may be 12 subcarriers of 15 kHz or 24 subcarriers of 7.5 kHz wide. For most channels and signals, 12 subcarriers can be used per resource block. In Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode, the uplink and downlink frames may both be 10 ms and may be separated in frequency (full duplex) or time (half duplex). In Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode, uplink and downlink subframes can be transmitted on the same frequency and can be multiplexed in time domain. A downlink resource grid (grid) may be used for downlink transmission from eNB to UE. The resource grid may be a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. Each column and row of the resource grid may correspond to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of a resource grid in the time domain may correspond to a time slot. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid can be represented by resource elements. Each resource grid may include multiple resource blocks described above, which describe the mapping of specific physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block may include 12 (subcarriers)*14 (symbols)=168 resource elements.

In some embodiments, downlink resource cells may be used for downlink transmissions from eNB 120 to UE 104, while uplink transmissions from UE 104 to eNB 120 may utilize similar techniques. The resource grid may be a time-frequency resource grid, called a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in each downlink in each time slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common usage in OFDM systems, making it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and row of the resource grid may correspond to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of a resource grid in the time domain may correspond to one slot of a radio frame frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid can be represented by a resource element (RE). Each resource grid includes a number of resource blocks (RBs), which describe the mapping of specific physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements on the frequency domain and may represent the minimum amount of resources that can be currently allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels transmitted using such resource blocks. Two example physical downlink channels are the physical downlink shared channel and the physical downlink control channel.

There may be several different physical downlink channels transmitted using such resource blocks. Two of these physical downlink channels may be the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). Each subframe can be divided into PDCCH and PDSCH.

A Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data and higher layer signaling to UE 104 . A Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carries information on a transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel, among others. It also informs the UE 104 about the transport format, resource allocation and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (e.g. allocating control and shared channel resources to UE 104 within a cell) can be performed at eNB 120 based on channel quality information fed back from UE 104 to eNB 120, and then the downlink resource allocation information can be in is sent to UE 104 on a control channel (PDCCH) intended for (assigned to) UE 104 .

The PDCCH transmits control information using CCEs (Control Channel Elements). Before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex-valued symbols are first organized into groups of four and then sequenced using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH is transmitted using one or more of these control channel elements (CCEs), where each CCE corresponds to nine sets of four physical resource elements called resource element groups (REGs). Four QPSK symbols are mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and channel conditions, a PDCCH may be sent using one or more CCEs. Four or more different PDCCH formats (eg, aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4 or 8) with different numbers of CCEs can be defined in LTE.

Embodiments described herein may fall within the scope of individual systems in unlicensed spectrum, including but not limited to MulteFire (MF), next version of LAA systems (e.g. eLAA) allowing UL operation, 5G Unlicensed systems and DC-based LAA systems. The unlicensed frequency band of current interest in 3GPP is the 5GHz band, which has a wide frequency spectrum for worldwide use. The 5GHz band in the United States is governed by the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Unauthorized National Information Infrastructure (UNII) rule. The main existing systems in the 5GHz band are wireless local area networks (WLANs), especially communication networks based on IEEE 802.11a/n/ac technology. Since WLAN systems are widely deployed by individuals and operators for carrier-level access services and data offloading, Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) is considered mandatory for Rel-13 LAA and Rel-14 eLAA systems features to achieve good coexistence with existing systems.

LBT is a process in which a radio transmitter senses the medium first and only transmits when the medium is perceived to be idle. In an example, a scheduling-based UL LAA design may include UL PUSCH transmission based on explicit UL grant transmission via PDCCH (eg, via DCI format 0A/0B). The UL grant transmission is performed on the component carrier where the PUSCH transmission is expected after the LBT procedure is completed at the eNB. After receiving the UL grant, the scheduled UE is expected to perform short-term LBT or Type 4 (Cat 4) LBT during the allocated time interval. If the LBT is successful at the scheduled UE, the UE may send PUSCH on the resources indicated by the UL grant.

However, since LBT is required both on the eNB side (e.g. when sending a UL grant) and on the scheduled UE side (e.g. before the UE's transmission), the unlicensed spectrum (e.g. only during MulteFire operation in the unlicensed spectrum) ) may become very poor in UL performance. In cases where a scheduled system (such as an LTE-based system) coexists with an unscheduled autonomous system (ie, Wi-Fi), degradation in performance may often occur. In some instances, LTE-based systems may also use a 4-subframe processing delay such that the first 4 subframes in a transmission burst cannot be allocated to UL because the UL grants for those subframes within the same transmission burst unavailable. The 4-subframe delay requirement may also cause processing delays in LTE systems operating in unlicensed spectrum.

In an example embodiment, in order to improve communication system performance in unlicensed spectrum (for example due to LBT requirements on both sides and 4-subframe processing delay), UE can perform grantless UL transmission (grantless UL transmission), and eNB does not send for UL grant for PUSCH transmission by UE. In view of this, the requirement for LBT on both sides can be reduced when UE's unlicensed UL transmission occurs, since the eNB will not perform LBT and LBT can only be performed by the UE. Since UEs performing unlicensed UL transmissions do not need to wait for UL grants from the eNB, the additional 4-subframe delay for accessing the channel for UL transmissions will also be eliminated, facilitating further performance improvements.

Embodiments of coexistence described herein may work within wireless network system 100 . In wireless network system 100, UE 104 and any other UE in the system may be, for example, a laptop computer, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a printer, a machine-type device such as a smart meter or a dedicated device for health monitoring , remote security monitoring system, intelligent transportation system, or any other wireless device with or without a user interface. eNB 120 provides UE 104 with network connectivity to a larger network (not shown). Connectivity to UE 104 is provided via air interface 190 within an eNB service area provided by eNB 120 . In some embodiments, such a larger network may be a wide area network operated by a cellular network provider, or may be the Internet. Each eNB service area associated with eNB 120 is supported by an antenna integrated with eNB 120 . A service area may be divided into sectors associated with particular antennas. These sectors may be physically associated with fixed antennas, or may be assigned to physical areas, and tunable antennas or antenna settings may be adjusted during the beamforming process used to direct signals to specific sectors. One embodiment such as eNB 120 includes three sectors, each sector covering a 120 degree area with antenna arrays pointing towards each sector to provide 360 degree coverage around eNB 120 .

UE 104 includes control circuitry 105 coupled to transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 115 . The transmitting circuit 110 and the receiving circuit 115 may be respectively coupled to one or more antennas. The control circuit 105 may be adapted to perform operations associated with wireless communication using carrier aggregation. Transmitting circuitry 110 and receiving circuitry 115 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively. The control circuitry 105 may be adapted or configured to perform various operations such as those described elsewhere in this disclosure in relation to the UE. The transmission circuit 110 may transmit a plurality of multiplexed uplink physical channels. A plurality of uplink physical channels may be multiplexed according to time division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) and carrier aggregation. Transmit circuitry 110 may be configured to receive block data from control circuitry 105 for transmission over air interface 190 . Similarly, receive circuitry 115 may receive a plurality of multiplexed downlink physical channels from air interface 190 and relay the physical channels to control circuitry 105 . Uplink physical channels and downlink physical channels may be multiplexed according to FDM. Transmit circuitry 110 and receive circuitry 115 may transmit and receive control data and content data (eg, messages, images, video, etc.) structured within data blocks carried by the physical channel.

Figure 1 also shows eNB 120 in accordance with various embodiments. The eNB 120 circuitry may include control circuitry 155 coupled to transmit circuitry 160 and receive circuitry 165 . Transmit circuitry 160 and receive circuitry 165 may each be coupled to one or more antennas that may be used to enable communication via air interface 190 .

The control circuit 155 may be adapted to perform operations for managing channels and component carriers used in connection with respective UEs. Transmitting circuitry 160 and receiving circuitry 165 may be adapted to transmit data to and receive data from, respectively, any UE connected to eNB 120 . The transmission circuit 160 may transmit a downlink physical channel including a plurality of downlink subframes. Receiving circuitry 165 may receive a plurality of uplink physical channels from various UEs including UE 104 . The multiple uplink physical channels may be multiplexed according to FDM and using carrier aggregation.

As mentioned above, communication over the air interface 190 may use carrier aggregation, where multiple different component carriers 180 , 185 may be aggregated to carry information between the UE 104 and the eNB 120 . Such component carriers 180, 185 may have different bandwidths and may be used for uplink communications from the UE 104 to the eNB 120, downlink communications from the eNB 120 to the UE 104, or both. Such component carriers 180, 185 may cover similar areas, or may cover different but overlapping sectors. A radio resource control (RRC) connection may only be handled by one of the component carrier units, which may be referred to as a primary component carrier, and the other component carriers may be referred to as secondary component carriers. In some embodiments, the primary component carrier is provided by a primary cell (PCell), and can work in a licensed frequency band to provide efficient and collision-free communication. This primary channel can be used to schedule other channels including unlicensed channels. In this regard, the PCell is the primary cell with which the UE 104 communicates and maintains its connection to the network.

In an example, one or more secondary cells (SCells) may also be activated and assigned to UEs supporting carrier aggregation using licensed and unlicensed frequency bands (eg, eLAA-based UL and DL communications).

In operation, wireless communication network 100 may include the capability to support communication between eNodeB 120 and UE 104 over licensed spectrum. Wireless communication network 100 may also include the capability to support communication between eNodeB 120 and UE 104 over an unlicensed spectrum (eg, one or more 5 GHz frequency bands). In some examples where transmissions are performed simultaneously over licensed and unlicensed spectrum, the licensed spectrum transmission may be a primary cell (PCell) transmission and the unlicensed spectrum transmission may be a secondary cell (SCell) transmission. For communication on PCell and SCell, the wireless communication network 100 may use a self-contained frame structure, where control signaling and data may be transmitted in a time division multiplexed (TDM) manner using a single subframe.

In some embodiments, wireless communication network 100 may include the capability to support eNodeB 120 and UE 104 to communicate only over unlicensed spectrum (eg, MulteFire communication). Additionally, the UE may be configured to perform unlicensed uplink transmissions, as will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4-9 .

As used herein, the term circuit may refer to, include, or be part of a component: an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), or that executes one or Memory (shared, dedicated, or group) of multiple software or firmware programs, combinational logic circuits, or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, a circuit may be implemented in one or more software or firmware modules, or functionality associated with a circuit may be implemented by one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic at least partially operable by hardware. The embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware or software.

Figure 2 is a functional diagram of a user equipment (UE), according to some embodiments. UE 200 may be suitable for use as UE 104 shown in FIG. 1 . In some embodiments, UE 200 may include application circuitry 202, baseband circuitry 204, radio frequency (RF) circuitry 206, front end module (FEM) circuitry 208, and one or more antennas 210A coupled together at least as shown. 210D. In some embodiments, other circuits or arrangements may include one or more elements or components of application circuitry 202, baseband circuitry 204, RF circuitry 206, or FEM circuitry 208, and in some cases may include other elements or components as well. As an example, “processing circuitry” may include one or more elements or components, some or all of which may be included in application circuitry 202 or baseband circuitry 204 . As another example, “transceiver circuitry” may include one or more elements or components, some or all of which may be included in RF circuitry 206 or FEM circuitry 208 . However, these examples are not limiting, as in some cases the processor circuit or transceiver circuit may include other elements or components as well.

Application circuitry 202 may include one or more application processors. For example, application circuitry 202 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general and special purpose processors (eg, graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled with or include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system to Implement one or more of the functions described herein.

Baseband circuitry 204 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Baseband circuitry 204 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of RF circuitry 206 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 206 . Baseband processing circuitry 204 may interface with application circuitry 202 to generate and process baseband signals and to control the operation of RF circuitry 206 . For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 204a, a third generation (3G) baseband processor 204b, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 204c, or for other One or more other baseband processors 204d of an existing generation, in development, or a future generation (eg, fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). Baseband circuitry 204 (eg, one or more of baseband processors 204a - 204d ) may handle various radio control functions that support communication with one or more radio networks via RF circuitry 206 . Radio control functions may include, but are not limited to: signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of baseband circuitry 204 may include FFT, precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 204 may include Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality, and optionally some other techniques such as block codes, convolutional codes, turbo codes etc., these technologies can be used to support legacy protocols. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functionality may be included in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may include elements of a protocol stack, for example, elements of the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) protocol, including, for example: physical (PHY), medium access control (MAC) , Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), or Radio Resource Control (RRC) elements. Central processing unit (CPU) 204e of baseband circuitry 204 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling at the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 204f. The one or more audio DSPs 204f may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and in other embodiments may include other suitable processing elements. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, in a single chipset, or arranged on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuitry 204 and application circuitry 202 may be implemented together, eg, on a system-on-chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may support communications with Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN). Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 204 is configured to support radio communications for multiple wireless protocols may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 206 may support communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation over a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 206 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuitry 206 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry that downconverts the RF signal received from FEM circuitry 208 and provides a baseband signal to baseband circuitry 204 . RF circuitry 206 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry that upconverts the baseband signal provided by baseband circuitry 204 and provides the RF output signal to FEM circuitry 208 for transmission.

In some embodiments, RF circuitry 206 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuit 206 may include a mixer circuit 206a, an amplifier circuit 206b, and a filter circuit 206c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuit 206 may include a filter circuit 206c and a mixer circuit 206a. The RF circuit 206 may also include a synthesizer circuit 206d for synthesizing frequencies for use by the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path may be configured to downconvert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 208 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 206d. Amplifier circuit 206b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and filter circuit 206c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal or Band Pass Filter (BPF). The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 204 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path may comprise a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert the input baseband signal based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 206d to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 208 . The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuitry 204 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 206c. Filter circuit 206c may include a low pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and / or upconversion. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may comprise two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image inhibition). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a and the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuitry 206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and baseband circuitry 204 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuitry 206 . In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 206d may be a fractional N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 206d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider. The synthesizer circuit 206d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuit 206a of the RF circuit 206 based on the frequency input and the frequency divider control input. In some embodiments, combiner circuit 206d may be a fractional N/N+1 combiner. In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), but this is not required. The frequency divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 204 or application processor 202 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the frequency divider control input (eg, N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the applications processor 202 .

The combiner circuit 206d of the RF circuit 206 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-modulus divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (eg, based on a carry out) to provide a fractional divide ratio. In some example embodiments, a DLL may include a cascaded set of tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break up the VCO cycle into at most Nd equal phase groupings, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 206d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency times) and used with quadrature generator and frequency divider circuits to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple phases different from each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be the LO frequency (f _LO ). In some embodiments, RF circuit 206 may include an IQ/polarity converter.

FEM circuitry 208 may include a receive signal path that may include RF signals configured to manipulate received RF signals from one or more antennas 210A-D, amplify the received signals, and convert an amplified version of the received signals to Circuitry provided to RF circuitry 206 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 208 may also include a transmit signal path that may include a signal configured to amplify the signal for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 206 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 210A-D. circuit.

In some embodiments, FEM circuit 208 may include a transmit/receive (TX/RX) switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (eg, to RF circuit 206 ). The transmit signal path of FEM circuitry 208 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 206) and for generating One or more filters for RF signals from one or more antennas). In some embodiments, UE 200 may include additional elements such as memory/storage, display, cameras, sensors and/or input/output (I/O) interfaces.

Figure 3 is a functional diagram of an evolved Node B (eNB), according to some embodiments. It should be noted that in some embodiments, eNB 300 may be a stationary, non-mobile device. eNB 300 may be suitable for use as eNB 120 as shown in FIG. 1 . Components of eNB 300 may be included in a single device or multiple devices. The eNB 300 may include physical layer (PHY) circuitry 302 and a transceiver 305, one or both of which may allow for communication with UE 200, other eNBs, Other UEs or other devices transmit signals to and receive signals from these devices. For example, physical layer circuitry 302 may perform various encoding and decoding functions, which may include formatting of baseband signals for transmission and decoding of received signals. For example, physical layer circuitry 302 may include LDPC encoder/decoder functionality, and optionally some other techniques, such as block codes, convolutional codes, turbo codes, etc., which may be used to support legacy protocols. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functionality may be included in other embodiments. As another example, the transceiver 305 may perform various transmit and receive functions, such as converting signals between baseband range and radio frequency (RF) range. Accordingly, physical layer circuitry 302 and transceiver 305 may be separate components or may be part of a combined component. In addition, some of the described functions related to the transmission and reception of signals may be implemented by a combination including one, any one or all of the physical layer circuit 302, the transceiver 305 and other components or layers. The eNB 300 may also include Medium Access Control layer (MAC) circuitry for controlling access to the wireless medium. The eNB 300 may also include processing circuitry 306 and memory 308 arranged to perform the operations described herein. eNB 300 may also include one or more interfaces 310, which may enable communication with other components, including other eNBs 104 (FIG. 1), components in EPC 120 (FIG. 1), or other network components. Additionally, interface 310 may allow for communication with other components that may not be shown in FIG. 1 , including components external to the network. Interface 310 may be wired or wireless or a combination thereof.

Antennas 210A-D (in the UE) and antennas 301A-B (in the eNB) may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip Antenna or other type of antenna suitable for RF signal transmission. In some multiple input or output (MIMO) embodiments, antennas 210A-D, 301A-B may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and possibly resulting different channel characteristics.

In some embodiments, UE 200 or eNB 300 may be a mobile device and may be a portable wireless communication device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capabilities, a netbook, a wireless phone, a smart phone , wireless headsets, pagers, instant messaging devices, digital cameras, access points, televisions, wearable devices such as medical devices (e.g., heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors, etc.), or other devices that can receive or send information wirelessly equipment. In some embodiments, UE 200 or eNB 300 may be configured to operate according to 3GPP standards, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. A mobile device or other device in some embodiments may be configured to operate according to other protocols or standards, including IEEE 802.11 or other IEEE standards. In some embodiments, UE 200, eNB 300 or other device may include one or more of a keyboard, display, non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, graphics processor, application processor, speakers and other mobile many. The display can be an LCD screen including a touch screen.

Although both the UE 200 and the eNB 300 are shown as having separate functional elements, one or more of these functional elements may be combined and may be configured by software (eg, including a digital signal processor). (DSP) processing element) or a combination of other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and A combination of various hardware and logic circuits. In some embodiments, a functional element may refer to one or more processes running on one or more processing elements.

Embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware and software. Embodiments can also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which can be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (eg, a computer). For example, a computer readable storage device may include read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, and other storage devices and media. Some embodiments may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

It should be noted that in some embodiments, the apparatus used by UE 200 or eNB 300 may include various components of UE 200 or eNB 300 as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 . Accordingly, techniques and operations described herein involving UE 200 (or 104) may be applied to apparatus for the UE. Furthermore, techniques and operations described herein involving eNB 300 (or 120) may be applied to apparatus for an eNB.

Although specific durations (eg, time interval durations, transmission times, etc.) and specific bit sequence sizes are mentioned herein, the disclosure is not limited in this regard, and specific sequence number designations are for illustrative purposes only.

FIG. 4 illustrates unlicensed uplink transmission (GUL) according to an example embodiment. Referring to FIG. 4 , communication 400 may occur in a MulteFire system, such as between UE 104 and eNB 120 . UE 104 and eNB 120 can communicate over one or more communication bands in the unlicensed spectrum, which can be shared with Wi-Fi stations (eg, access points) 402 .

In an example, UE 104 may be configured to communicate using scheduled transmissions. For example, eNB 120 may transmit a downlink (DL) burst 404 (eg, on a PUSCH in an unlicensed spectrum). DL burst 404 may include a UL grant for the UE's scheduled transmission. The UE may then perform the scheduled transmission 406 of the UL burst.

In an example, UE 104 may perform unlicensed UL transmission (GUL) 410 using a PUSCH of unlicensed spectrum. Before performing GUL, UE 104 may perform channel contention (eg, listen before talk or LBT 408 ) without explicit instruction from eNB 120 . The LBT may be a Type 4 LBT or a single shot LBT. After LBT is performed, UE 104 may send data and/or UL control information via GUL 410 on PUSCH. The UL control information may include UE identification (UEID) information, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used by the UE, redundancy version (RV) and/or new data indicator (NDI). In response, eNB 120 may transmit downlink (DL) control information 412, which may include acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) for GUL 410, UL channel state information (CSI), and/or MCS indication for UE .

In an example, the eNB may send DL control information 412A after the GUL 410 and within the time interval reserved for transmission by the UE as a result of the LBT 408 . In another example, the eNB may send the DL control information 412 in subsequent subframes (eg, before the scheduled DL burst transmission 414 after performing LBT).

Figure 4 also shows an eNB DL transmission burst 414 with a UL grant and a subsequent UL transmission burst 416 as a result of the grant. A second UE (UE2) may perform the LBT procedure 418 and GUL 420, followed by DL control information transmission 422 by the eNB.

In an example, eNB 120 may be associated with a cell that includes UEs that may perform unlicensed UL transmissions as well as scheduled DL/UL transmissions. One or more techniques described herein may be used to control the impact of unlicensed uplink transmissions on scheduled transmissions.

In an example, eNB 120 may use L1/L2 signaling to control which UEs are allowed to transmit autonomously. More specifically, eNB 120 may send downlink control information (DCI) as L1 signaling or radio resource control (RRC) information as L2 signaling to one or more UEs to indicate unlicensed uplink transmission Is it allowed. For example, L1/L2 signaling may be sent on a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) to all UEs associated with the eNB's cell. In case L1/L2 signaling is sent on cPDCCH or as system information, all UEs are informed whether to allow unlicensed uplink transmission. In another example, L1 or L2 signaling may be sent to a specific UE via Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or UE-specific RRC signaling to inform the specific UE whether to allow unlicensed uplink transmission. Furthermore, L1 or L2 signaling sent on the PDCCH can be used to inform a group of UEs whether unlicensed uplink transmissions are allowed.

In an example, eNB 120 may control the possible number of UEs based on various indications from the UEs. In cases where the UE has UL data to send, the UE 104 may transmit a buffer status report (BSR) indicating the traffic status at the UE. The eNB 120 may then send L1 or L2 signaling to the UE to allow BSR-based unlicensed uplink transmission.

In another example, eNB 120 may determine whether a UE requires an unlicensed transmission based on congestion experience at the UE. In cases where UEs experience severe congestion during channel access, the eNB can improve UL transmission opportunities by allowing UEs to make unlicensed uplink transmissions. For example, the congestion status may be based on the rate of UL grant failures. More specifically, the eNB may signal the UE to perform unlicensed uplink transmissions in the event that the UE is unable to send a scheduled PUSCH transmission for a certain number of UL grants. In view of this, unlicensed uplink transmissions can increase the chance of UL contention. In an example, the eNB may signal the UE to perform an unlicensed uplink transmission after its scheduled uplink transmission fails a certain number of times.

In an example, the UE may monitor communications on the CPDCCH from the eNB to determine any ongoing or upcoming scheduled DL or UL transmissions. The UE may then defer its unlicensed uplink transmission to avoid concurrently with the scheduled transmission.

Figure 5 illustrates an example unlicensed UL transmission (GUL) within a restricted timing window according to an example embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, a communication 500 illustrates how an eNB can limit the operation of unscheduled communications (eg, unlicensed uplink transmissions) to a certain known time period. More specifically, the eNB may inform the UE of the DTxW period 502A of the Repeat Discovery Reference Signal (DRS) Transmission Window (DTxW) 504 . DTxW 504 may be a time interval for sending a DRS (eg, DRS 508). In an example, paging signal 510 may also be sent based on eNB initiated paging occasions. DRS 508 may include, for example, a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), system information communicated on a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). The eNB may inform the UE of the allowed unlicensed transmission interval 506A, which is outside the restricted DTxW 504 (eg, 504A). In another example, the eNB may indicate available time domain resources, eg, in the form of a set of subframes available for GUL. RRC signaling may be used for such indication. A set of subframes available for GUL may be indicated by an N-bit bitmap, and the pattern may repeat every N milliseconds (ms). In one example, N=40.

As shown in FIG. 5, scheduled downlink and uplink transmissions 512 and unlicensed uplink transmissions 514 may occur within allowed unlicensed transmission interval 506A. Similarly, the eNB may transmit DRS 516 and a portion of scheduled downlink transmissions 518 during DTxW 504B within DTxW period 502B. Unlicensed uplink transmission 520 may be performed outside of DTxW 504B. In view of this, by restricting unlicensed uplink transmissions to time intervals outside DTxW, eNBs can minimize the impact of unlicensed uplink transmissions on critical downlink transmissions (such as DRS transmissions).

In an example, the maximum duration of unlicensed UL transmissions may be limited. For example, the eNB may indicate to the UE that the maximum duration for unlicensed UL transmissions is 4ms, and the UE may transmit in 4ms intervals after which the UE needs to re-compete for the channel (and perform LBT).

In an example, the eNB and/or UE may sense the availability (or absence) of Wi-Fi stations and may activate or deactivate unlicensed UL transmissions based on such availability. For example, the eNB can deactivate the unlicensed UL transmission when there is no Wi-Fi station working in the unlicensed spectrum in the eNB cell.

6A and 6B illustrate example downlink (DL) transmissions following unlicensed UL transmissions according to example embodiments.

In a communication environment where scheduled transmissions from eNBs and Wi-Fi stations dominate, performance of unlicensed UL transmissions may be poor because there are fewer opportunities to transmit HARQ ACK/NACK feedback from eNB in response to unlicensed UL transmissions , UL CSI and/or MCS information. In order to increase the transmission chance of DL control information, DL control information may follow GUL and after eNB performs single interval LBT. In an example, the eNB does not perform LBT for the DL control information if the DL control information is within a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) initialized by the UE associated with the eNB. For example and referring to communication 600A in FIG. 6A, unlicensed uplink transmission 606A may occur before unlicensed uplink transmission 608A. Downlink control information 610A including ACK/NACK, UL CSI and/or MCS in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 606A may occur after unlicensed uplink transmission 608A. Furthermore, downlink control information 614A in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 608A may be delayed 620A and may be transmitted after unlicensed uplink transmission 612A. Similarly, downlink control information 616A in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 612A may be delayed 622A and may be transmitted after the scheduled (or Wi-Fi) transmission, as shown in FIG. 6A. In case the DL control information is transmitted outside the TxOP (eg, 616A in FIG. 6A ), type 4 LBT is performed for the DL control information transmission.

Referring to communication 600B in FIG. 6B, unlicensed uplink transmission 602B may occur prior to unlicensed uplink transmission 604B. Downlink control information 606B including ACK/NACK, UL CSI and/or MCS in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 602B may occur after unlicensed uplink transmission 604B. Furthermore, the downlink control information 610B in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission 604B may be delayed and may be transmitted after the unlicensed uplink transmission 608B. Similarly, downlink control information 614B in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission 608B may be delayed and transmitted during the scheduled DL burst 612B. In these examples, the DL control information 606B and 610B can be single interval LBT if within the MCOT initiated by the UE transmitting the 602B/604B/608B GUL, or if within, for example, 16us from the end of the previous UL transmission and Within MCOT initiated by UE with GUL transmission, LBT may not be performed. In the example of DL control information 614B, since the eNB has performed Type 4 LBT for DL burst 612B, no LBT or single interval LBT is performed to send DL control information 614B. In case DL control information (eg 614B) is transmitted outside of a transmit opportunity (TxOP), type 4 LBT is performed for DL control information transmission.

In an example, to reduce the delay in receiving DL control information from the eNB, the UE may autonomously perform an LBT procedure (e.g. type 4 LBT) to request feedback for pending HARQ processing (e.g. unacknowledged unlicensed UL transmission) . This contention can be used to send ACK/NACK feedback in addition to type 4 LBT contention of eNBs. Immediately after the UE performs an unlicensed UL transmission requesting DL control information, the eNB may send a HARQ ACK/NACK with a very short LBT process (or without a LBT process), as shown in communication 600C in Figure 6C.

6C illustrates an example downlink (DL) transmission following an unlicensed UL transmission requesting acknowledgment, according to an example embodiment.

Referring to communication 600C in FIG. 6C, unlicensed uplink transmission 608C may occur prior to unlicensed uplink transmission 610C. Downlink control information 612C including ACK/NACK, UL CSI and/or MCS in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 608 may occur after unlicensed uplink transmission 610C. Furthermore, downlink control information 616C in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 610C may be delayed and may be transmitted after unlicensed uplink transmission 614C. Similarly, downlink control information in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 614C may be delayed 626C and may be transmitted after scheduled transmissions 618C and 624C. In an example, to reduce delays in receiving downlink control information in response to unlicensed uplink transmission 614C, the UE may perform LBT and unlicensed UL transmission 620C, requesting DL control information (including ACK/NACK of 614C, UL CSI and/or MCS). Then, following the unlicensed UL transmission 620C, DL control information 622C is transmitted in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission 614C.

7 and 8 are flowcharts illustrating example functions for performing unlicensed uplink transmissions, according to some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 7, example methodology 700 can begin at 702, when control information received on one or more channels of an unlicensed spectrum can be decoded. The control information may include an indicator that unlicensed uplink (UL) transmissions are allowed without prior UL grants. For example, eNB 120 may use physical layer (ie, L1) signaling or higher layer signaling (eg, DCI or RRC signaling) to indicate to UEs that unlicensed UL transmissions are allowed within certain resources. At 704, a listen-before-talk (LBT) process is performed on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum to determine whether one of the unlicensed spectrum channels is available. For example, UE 104 may perform LBT process 408 . At 706, once the channel is determined to be available, UL control information and data may be encoded to use unlicensed UL transmission on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), short physical uplink control channel (sPUCCH) and/or extended transmission on the PUCCH (ePUCCH). For example, GUL 410 may be performed by the UE without prior UL grant from the eNB. In view of this, an unlicensed uplink transmission 410 is an unscheduled unlicensed transmission performed on an available channel of the unlicensed spectrum without a UL grant.

Referring to FIG. 8, an example method 800 can begin at 802, when control information can be encoded for transmission on one or more channels of an unlicensed spectrum. For example, the eNB 120 may encode physical layer or higher layer signaling (such as DCI or RRC signaling), which may include information on allowing unlicensed uplinks without prior UL grants within certain resources ( UL) transmission indication. At 804, UL control information and data can be decoded. Control information and data may be received on the sPUCCH/ePUCCH and/or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) using unlicensed UL transmissions. For example, control information and data may be received from a UE via an unlicensed uplink transmission, which is an unscheduled, unscheduled, unlicensed transmission performed on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum without a UL grant. Authorize transfer. At 806, acknowledgment (ACK) feedback or negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback can be encoded in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission. For example, the eNB may encode DL control information 412A, including ACK/NACK indication, UL CSI and/or MCS information, for transmission to the UE.

Figure 9 shows a block diagram of a communication device (eg eNB or UE) according to some embodiments. In alternative embodiments, communications device 900 may operate as a standalone device, or may be connected (eg, networked) to other communications devices. In a networked deployment, the communications device 900 may operate as a server communications device, a client communications device, or both in a server-client network environment. In an example, communication device 900 may function as a peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment as a peer-to-peer communication device. The communication device 900 may be a UE, eNB, PC, tablet PC, STB, PDA, mobile phone, smart phone, network equipment, network router, switch or bridge, or be capable of performing (sequentially or otherwise) the communication device Any communication device that provides instructions for actions to be taken. Additionally, while a single communications device is shown, the term "communications device" shall also be taken to include instructions that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to implement any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. (such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations) any collection of communication devices.

Examples as described herein may comprise, or be operable on, logic or a plurality of components, modules, or mechanisms. A module is a tangible entity (eg, hardware) capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain way. In an example, circuits may be arranged in a specified manner (eg, internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) as modules. In an example, all or a portion of one or more computer systems (e.g., stand-alone, client or server computer systems) or one or more hardware processors may be programmed by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, application program) is configured to operate as a module that performs a specified operation. In an example, software may reside on a communication device readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform specified operations.

Accordingly, the term "module" is understood to include tangible entities that are physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., temporarily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or an entity that performs some or all of any of the operations described herein. Consider the example where modules are temporarily configured, each module need not be instantiated at any point. For example, where a module includes a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured at different times as corresponding different modules. Software may configure a hardware processor accordingly, eg, to constitute a particular module at one time, and another module at another time.

A communication device (e.g., UE) 900 may include a hardware processor 902 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 904, and a static memory 906, Some or all of them may communicate with each other via an interconnect (eg, bus) 908 . The communication device 900 may also include a display unit 910, an alphanumeric input device 912 (eg, a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 914 (eg, a mouse). In an example, the display unit 910, the input device 912 and the UI navigation device 914 may be a touch screen display. The communication device 900 may also include a storage device (i.e., a drive unit) 916, a signal generating device 918 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 920, and one or more sensors 921 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensors). The communication device 900 may include an output controller 928, such as a serial (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB)), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to Communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (eg, printers, card readers, etc.).

Storage device 916 may include a communication device-readable medium 922 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions (e.g., software) 924 embodied or utilized by any one or more of the technologies or functions described herein . The instructions 924 may also reside partially or fully within the main memory 904 , within the static memory 906 , or within the hardware processor 902 during execution by the communication device 900 . In an example, one or any combination of hardware processor 902, main memory 904, static memory 906, or storage device 916 may constitute a communication device-readable medium.

Although communication device readable medium 922 is shown as a single medium, the term "communication device readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media configured to store one or more instructions 924 (e.g., a centralized or distributed database , and/or associated caches and servers).

The term "communication device-readable medium" may include any medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions executed by the communication device 900 and causing the communication device 900 to perform any one or more techniques of the present disclosure, or capable of storing, encoding, or any medium that carries the data structures used by or associated with these instructions. Non-limiting examples of communication device readable media may include solid-state memory, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of communication device-readable media may include nonvolatile memories such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks , such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; random access memory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples, communication device-readable media may comprise non-transitory communication device-readable media. In some examples, a communication device-readable medium may comprise a communication device-readable medium that is not a transitory propagating signal.

Instructions 924 may also be sent or received over a communications network 926 using a transmission medium by utilizing a number of transmission protocols (e.g., Frame Relay, Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.) network interface device 920. Exemplary communication networks may include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), packet data networks (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g., know as The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards, known as IEEE 802.16 series standards), IEEE 802.15.4 standard series, Long Term Evolution (LTE) series standards, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) series standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, etc. In an example, network interface device 920 may include one or more physical jacks (eg, Ethernet, coaxial, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to communication network 926 . In an example, the network interface device 920 may include multiple antennas to communicate wirelessly using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, network interface device 920 may communicate wirelessly using multi-user MIMO technology. The term "transmission medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by communication device 900, and includes digital or analog communication signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of the software.

Additional notes and examples:

Example 1 is an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry configured to: decode control information received on one or more channels of an unlicensed spectrum, Control information includes indications to allow unlicensed UL transmission (GUL) without prior uplink (UL) grant; perform a listen before talk (LBT) procedure on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum , to determine whether there is an available channel in the channel; and when the channel is determined to be available, encode UL control information and data for transmission using unlicensed UL transmission, wherein the unlicensed uplink transmission is without a UL grant Unscheduled transmissions performed on channels in unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 optionally includes wherein the control information is downlink control information (DCI) received on a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) within the unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 3, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-2 optionally includes wherein the memory stores UL control information and data for transmission using the unlicensed UL transmission.

In Example 4, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-3 optionally includes wherein the control information is radio resource control received on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) within the unlicensed spectrum (RRC) information.

In Example 5, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-4 optionally includes: wherein the UL control information includes at least one of: a UE identification (UEID) of the UE; a modulation and coding scheme used by the UE (MCS); the redundancy version (RV) used by the UE for data transmission; the new data indicator (NDI) associated with the data transmission; the length of the UL burst conveying the UL control information; and reserved by the LBT performed The maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) of .

In Example 6, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-5 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to: encode a buffer status report (BSR) for transmission to an evolved Node B (eNB) , the BSR indicates transmission congestion for the UE's scheduled UL transmission.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Example 6 optionally includes the control information including the indicator that the unlicensed UL transmission is allowed is received in response to the BSR.

In Example 8, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-7 optionally includes: wherein the processing circuit is configured to: monitor common physical downlink controls within the unlicensed spectrum used for the scheduled transmission channel (cPDCCH); and detecting the presence of burst information indicated by the cPDCCH for scheduled downlink (DL) transmissions by the evolved Node B (eNB) and/or for scheduled UL transmissions in the unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Example 8 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to defer the unlicensed uplink transmission to avoid concurrence with the scheduled DL transmission and/or the scheduled UL transmission.

In Example 10, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-9 optionally includes: wherein the processing circuit is configured to: The second DL control information includes acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) signaling in response to unlicensed uplink transmissions.

In Example 11, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 9-10 optionally includes wherein the second control information is received during a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) reserved by the UE during the LBT procedure.

In Example 12, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-11 optionally includes: wherein the processing circuit is configured to: decode signaling indicating periodicity of DRS transmissions within the DTxW; Authorized UL transmissions are restricted to time intervals other than DTxW.

In Example 13, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-12 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to decode the indication of available time domain resources available for unlicensed UL transmission.

In Example 14, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-13 optionally includes: wherein the available time domain resources include a set of available subframes, and wherein the indication is a bitmap of N bits, a pattern of N bits Repeat every N ms.

In Example 15, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-14 optionally includes wherein the control information includes an indication of a maximum UL transmission duration and the processing circuit is configured to: The time limit is within the maximum UL transmission duration.

Example 16 is an evolved Node B (eNB) apparatus comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry configured to: encode control information for transmission on one or more channels of an unlicensed spectrum, Control information includes an indication that unlicensed UL transmissions are allowed without prior uplink (UL) grants; decodes UL control information and data received using unlicensed UL transmissions, where unlicensed uplink The transmission is an unscheduled transmission performed on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum; and encoding acknowledgment (ACK) feedback or negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Example 16 optionally includes: wherein the processing circuit is configured to: encode a UL grant for transmission to the UE, the UL grant being associated with the scheduled UL transmission; and detecting the scheduled UL transmission number of failures.

In Example 18, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 16-17 optionally includes wherein the memory stores control information for transmission on the one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 19, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 17-18 optionally includes: wherein the processing circuit is configured to: encode control information indicating that the scheduled UL in response to the detected The number of failed transmissions allowed for unlicensed UL transmissions.

In Example 20, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 16-19 optionally includes: wherein to encode the control information, the processing circuit is configured to: encode downlink control information (DCI), The downlink control information includes an indicator that unlicensed UL transmissions are allowed to be transmitted on a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) within the unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 21, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 16-20 optionally includes: wherein to encode the control information, the processing circuit is configured to: encode radio resource control (RRC) information, RRC The information includes an indicator that unlicensed UL transmissions are allowed to be transmitted on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) within the unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 22, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 16-21 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to: decode a buffer status report (BSR) from a user equipment (UE), the BSR indicating Transmission congestion for scheduled UL transmissions of the UE.

In Example 23, the subject matter of Example 22 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to: control with an indication that unlicensed UL transmissions are allowed to transmit on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum in response to the BSR information is encoded.

In Example 24, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 22-23 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to: decode a second unlicensed UL transmission comprising the Request for acknowledgment of unlicensed UL transmissions.

In Example 25, the subject matter of Example 24 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to, in response to the second unlicensed UL transmission, respond to a second acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment ( NACK) feedback is encoded.

Example 26 is a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), the one or more processors configured to configure the UE to: ) decoding an indication of the transmission window (DTxW) period, which indicates the periodicity of DRS transmissions within the DTxW; decoding control information received on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the control information including information about when there is no An indication that unlicensed UL transmissions are allowed in the event of a prior uplink (UL) grant; performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum; and using unlicensed UL transmissions in unlicensed UL transmissions The encoded UL control information and data are transmitted on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), short physical uplink control channel (sPUCCH) and/or extended PUCCH (ePUCCH) of the licensed spectrum, where the unlicensed uplink Transmissions are performed in time intervals other than DTxW without UL grants.

In Example 27, the subject matter of Example 26 optionally includes wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: monitor a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) within the unlicensed spectrum for the scheduled transmission and detecting the presence of burst information for an evolved Node B (eNB) scheduled downlink (DL) transmission indicated by a cPDCCH and/or a scheduled UL transmission in an unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 28, the subject matter of Example 27 optionally includes wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: defer unlicensed uplink transmissions to avoid conflicts with scheduled DL transmissions scheduled by the associated eNB and /or the scheduled UL transmissions exist concurrently.

In Example 29, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 27-28 optionally includes wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: receive the first Two control information, the second control information includes acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission.

In Example 30, the subject matter of Example 29 optionally includes wherein the second control information is received during a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) reserved by the UE during the LBT procedure.

In Example 31, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 26-30 optionally includes wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: detect receipt of a first Acknowledgment (ACK)/Negative Acknowledgment (NACK) signaling failed.

In Example 32, the subject matter of Example 31 optionally includes wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: in response to a detection failure, encode a request for acknowledgment of an unlicensed UL transmission; use a second unlicensed UL transmission UL transmission to send a request for acknowledgment.

In Example 33, the subject matter of Example 32 optionally includes wherein the processing circuit is configured to: decode a second acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback associated with the unlicensed uplink transmission, the second ACK /NACK signaling is received in response to the second unlicensed UL transmission.

Example 34 is an apparatus for a user equipment (UE) comprising means for decoding an indication of a discovery reference signal (DRS) transmission window (DTxW) period, the DTxW period indicating periodicity of DRS transmissions within the DTxW ; means for decoding control information received on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the control information including information on allowing unlicensed UL transmissions without prior uplink (UL) grants indication; means for performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure on one or more channels of an unlicensed spectrum; and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) on an unlicensed spectrum using unlicensed UL transmissions, Means for transmitting coded UL control information and data on the short physical uplink control channel (sPUCCH) and/or extended PUCCH (ePUCCH), where unlicensed uplink transmissions are between DTxW without UL grant Execute in an outside time interval.

In Example 35, the subject matter of Example 34 optionally includes: means for monitoring a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) within the unlicensed spectrum for scheduled transmissions; Means for the presence of burst information for evolved Node B (eNB) scheduled downlink (DL) transmissions and/or scheduled UL transmissions in unlicensed spectrum.

In Example 36, the subject matter of Example 35 optionally includes means for deferring unlicensed uplink transmissions to avoid concurrence with scheduled DL transmissions and/or scheduled UL transmissions scheduled by the associated eNB .

In Example 37, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 35-36 optionally includes: means for receiving second control information on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the second control information comprising Acknowledgment (ACK)/Negative Acknowledgment (NACK) feedback in response to unlicensed uplink transmissions.

In Example 38, the subject matter of Example 37 optionally includes wherein the second control information is received during a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) reserved by the UE during the LBT procedure.

In Example 39, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 34-38 optionally includes detecting receipt of a first acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) signal in response to an unlicensed uplink transmission device that fails.

In Example 40, the subject matter of Example 39 optionally includes: means for encoding a request for an acknowledgment for an unlicensed UL transmission in response to detecting a failure; for sending a request for an acknowledgment using a second unlicensed UL transmission The requested device.

In Example 41, the subject matter of Example 40 optionally includes means for decoding a second acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback associated with an unlicensed uplink transmission, the second ACK/NACK signal order is received in response to the second unlicensed UL transmission.

The publications, patents, and patent documents referenced in this document are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety as if individually incorporated by reference. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) is complementary to the usage in this document; For compatible inconsistencies, follow the usage in this document.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, not restrictive. For example, the examples described above (and one or more aspects thereof) may be used in conjunction with other examples. For example, other embodiments may be used by those skilled in the art after reviewing the above description. The purpose of the abstract is to enable the reader to quickly ascertain the essence of the technical disclosure. The Abstract will not be used with the understanding to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Furthermore, in the above Detailed Description section, various features can be combined together to constitute the present disclosure. However, the claims may not feature every feature disclosed herein, since an embodiment may embody a subset of the features. Additionally, an embodiment may include fewer features than those disclosed in a particular example. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with the claims standing on their own as separate embodiments. The scope of the embodiments disclosed herein is to be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which the claims are entitled.

Claims (27)

1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: a memory; and a processing circuit configured to: decoding control information received on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the control information including information on allowing unlicensed UL transmissions (GUL) without prior uplink (UL) grants instruct; performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure on the one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum to determine whether one of the channels is available; and encoding UL control information and data for transmission using the unlicensed UL transmission when the channel is determined to be available, wherein the unlicensed uplink transmission is in the unlicensed spectrum without a UL grant unscheduled transmissions performed on the channel. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control information is downlink control information (DCI) received on a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) within the unlicensed spectrum. 3. The apparatus of any of claims 1-2, wherein the memory stores the UL control information and the data for transmission using the unlicensed UL transmission. 4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1-2, wherein the control information is a radio resource control ( RRC) information. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UL control information comprises at least one of: UE identification (UEID) of the UE; the modulation coding scheme (MCS) used by the UE; the redundancy version (RV) used by the UE for data transmission; a New Data Indicator (NDI) associated with said data transmission; the length of the UL burst that conveys the UL control information; and The maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) reserved by the implemented LBT. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: A buffer status report (BSR) is encoded for transmission to an evolved Node B (eNB), the BSR indicating transmission congestion for the UE's scheduled UL transmission. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control information comprising an indicator to allow the unlicensed UL transmission is received in response to the BSR. 8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 or 7, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: monitoring a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) within said unlicensed spectrum for scheduled transmissions; and The presence of burst information for scheduled downlink (DL) transmissions of an evolved Node B (eNB) indicated by the cPDCCH and/or for scheduled UL transmissions in the unlicensed spectrum is detected. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: The unlicensed uplink transmission is postponed to avoid concurrence with the scheduled DL transmission and/or the scheduled UL transmission. 10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: decoding second downlink (DL) control information received on the one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the second DL control information including Acknowledgment (ACK)/Negative Acknowledgment (NACK) signaling. 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second control information is received during a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) reserved by the UE during the LBT procedure. 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: decoding signaling indicating periodicity of DRS transmissions within the DTxW; and Restricting the unlicensed UL transmissions to time intervals outside the DTxW. 13. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 or 12, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: An indication of available time domain resources available for unlicensed UL transmission is decoded. 14. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 or 12, wherein the available time domain resources comprise a set of available subframes, and wherein the indication is an N-bit bitmap, the N-bit The pattern repeats every N ms. 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control information includes an indication of a maximum UL transmission duration, and the processing circuit is configured to: Limiting the duration of the unlicensed UL transmission to within the maximum UL transmission duration. 16. An evolved Node B (eNB) apparatus comprising: a memory; and a processing circuit configured to: encoding control information for transmission on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the control information including an indication that unlicensed UL transmissions are permitted without prior uplink (UL) grants; decoding UL control information and data received using the unlicensed UL transmission, wherein the unlicensed uplink transmission is an unscheduled transmission performed on the one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum ;as well as Acknowledgment (ACK) feedback or negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback is encoded in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: encoding a UL grant for transmission to the UE, the UL grant being associated with the scheduled UL transmission; and Detecting the number of failed scheduled UL transmissions. 18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory stores the control information for transmission on the one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum. 19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: The control information is encoded, the control information indicating that the unlicensed UL transmission is allowed in response to the detected number of failed scheduled UL transmissions. 20. The apparatus of any of claims 16-19, wherein for encoding the control information, the processing circuit is configured to: encoding downlink control information (DCI) including information on the common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) that the unlicensed UL transmission is allowed to transmit within the unlicensed spectrum indicator. 21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein to encode the control information, the processing circuit is configured to: Encoding radio resource control (RRC) information including an indicator that the unlicensed UL transmissions are permitted to be transmitted on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) within the unlicensed spectrum. 22. The apparatus of any one of claims 16 or 21, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: A buffer status report (BSR) from a user equipment (UE) indicating transmission congestion for a scheduled UL transmission of the UE is decoded. 23. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), the one or more processors configured to configure the UE to: decoding an indication of a discovery reference signal (DRS) transmission window (DTxW) period, the DTxW period indicating the periodicity of DRS transmissions within the DTxW; decoding control information received on one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the control information including an indication that unlicensed UL transmissions are permitted without a prior uplink (UL) grant; performing a listen before talk (LBT) procedure on the one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum; and Using the unlicensed UL transmission to transmit the coded UL on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), short physical uplink control channel (sPUCCH) and/or extended PUCCH (ePUCCH) of the unlicensed spectrum control information and data, wherein said unlicensed uplink transmission is performed in a time interval outside said DTxW without a UL grant. 24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: monitoring a common physical downlink control channel (cPDCCH) within said unlicensed spectrum for scheduled transmissions; and The presence of burst information for scheduled downlink (DL) transmissions of an evolved Node B (eNB) indicated by the cPDCCH and/or for scheduled UL transmissions in the unlicensed spectrum is detected. 25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: The unlicensed uplink transmission is postponed to avoid concurrence with a scheduled DL transmission and/or a scheduled UL transmission scheduled by the associated eNB. 26. The computer-readable storage medium of any one of claims 24-25, wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to: receiving second control information on the one or more channels of the unlicensed spectrum, the second control information including acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback in response to the unlicensed uplink transmission . 27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the second control information is received during a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) reserved by the UE during the LBT procedure.