Frequency band selection

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a database entity, a-priori channel occupancy rate information of at least one channel from at least one of an entity of a primary system and an entity of a secondary system, wherein a database of the database entity comprises information on white space channels; and

availing the channel occupancy rate information to the secondary users in order to assist the secondary user to select a channel from the database.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises an average channel occupancy rate indicating the likelihood of the channel being occupied by at least one of the primary system and the secondary system at a given time instant.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises a neighbor channel availability rate indicating the likelihood of at least one adjacent channel, in addition to the channel of interest, being occupied by at least one of the primary system and the secondary system at a given time instant.

4. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a secondary user, a-priori channel occupancy rate information of at least one channel with respect to at least one of at least one primary user and at least one secondary user from a database, wherein the database comprises information on white space channels; and

selecting an available channel from the database based at least partly on the obtained channel occupancy rate information.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises an average channel occupancy rate indicating the likelihood of the channel being occupied by at least one of a primary system and a secondary system at a given time instant.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises a neighbor channel availability rate indicating the likelihood of at least one adjacent channel, addition to the channel of interest, being occupied by at least one of the primary system and the secondary system at a given time instant.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

obtaining a-priori channel occupancy rate information of at least one channel with respect to at least one group of secondary users, when the secondary users are categorized into groups based on at least one of the following: the radio access technologies of the secondary users and the priority access information of the secondary users.

8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining the channel occupancy rate information for a specific channel with respect to the secondary user by monitoring, over a certain period of time, each duration the channel is being occupied by the secondary user; and

reporting the channel occupancy rate information to the database.

9. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

selecting a channel from the database when at least one of an average channel occupancy rate and a neighbor channel availability rate of the channel indicates that the channel fulfills criteria set for the secondary user channel usage, wherein at least one of the average channel occupancy rate and the neighbor channel availability rate is comprised in the channel occupancy rate information obtained from the database.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

obtain a-priori channel occupancy rate information of at least one channel from at least one of an entity of a primary system and an entity of a secondary system, wherein a database of the database entity comprises information on white space channels; and

avail the channel occupancy rate information to the secondary users in order to assist the secondary user to select a channel from the database.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises an average channel occupancy rate indicating the likelihood of the channel being occupied by at least one of the primary system and the secondary system at a given time instant.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises a neighbor channel availability rate indicating the likelihood of at least one adjacent channel, in addition to the channel of interest, being occupied by at least one of the primary system and the secondary system at a given time instant.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

obtain a-priori channel occupancy rate information of at least one channel with respect to at least one of at least one primary user and at least one secondary user from a database, wherein the database comprises information on white space channels; and

select an available channel from the database based at least partly on the obtained channel occupancy rate information.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises an average channel occupancy rate indicating the likelihood of the channel being occupied by at least one of a primary system and a secondary system at a given time instant.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the channel occupancy rate information comprises a neighbor channel availability rate indicating the likelihood of at least one adjacent channel, in addition to the channel of interest, being occupied by at least one of the primary system and the secondary system at a given time instant.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

obtain a-priori channel occupancy rate information of at least one channel with respect to at least one group of secondary users, when the secondary users are categorized into groups based on at least one of the following: the radio access technologies of the secondary users and the priority access information of the secondary users.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine the channel occupancy rate information for a specific channel with respect to a secondary user by monitoring, over a certain period of time, each duration the channel is being occupied by the secondary user; and

report the channel occupancy rate information to the database.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

select a channel from the database when at least one of an average channel occupancy rate and a neighbor channel availability rate of the channel indicates that the channel fulfills criteria set for the secondary user channel usage, wherein at least one of the average channel occupancy rate and the neighbor channel availability rate is comprised in the channel occupancy rate information obtained from the database.

19. A computer program product embodied on a Non-transitory computer-readable media and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute the method according to claim 1 .

20. A computer program product embodied on a and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute the method according to claim 4 .