Granted Patent B2

US 9,094,917 · App. 13/757,499 · Granted Jul 28, 2015

Abstract

Claims (69)

1. A method, comprising:

identifying, by circuitry, a primary component carrier corresponding to a primary communication system and at least one secondary component carrier corresponding to at least one secondary communication system, wherein the at least one secondary component carrier is within a shared band applicable to both the primary and secondary communication systems;

performing periodic component carrier sensing of the at least one secondary component carrier to obtain carrier sensing information corresponding to the at least one secondary component carrier;

determining a carrier aggregation configuration to be implemented in the primary communication system based on the identified primary component carrier and the at least one secondary component carrier, and the carrier sensing information; and

acquiring indication of a transmission power configuration for a communication taking place on the carrier aggregation configuration within the shared band; and

applying the determined carrier aggregation configuration and the indicated transmission power configuration in the communication performed on the carrier aggregation configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring timing of when to apply at least one of the following: the determined carrier aggregation configuration and the transmission power configuration; and

causing to start applying the determined carrier aggregation configuration in accordance with the timing.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting the transmission power configuration based on the carrier sensing information, wherein

the carrier sensing information is related to at least one of the following: a traffic load on any of the component carriers and interference on any of the component carriers.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

acquiring an indication to apply one of the following: a high transmission power configuration combined with a listen-before-talk (LBT) approach when the carrier sensing information indicates the traffic load and/or the interference does not exceed a predetermined load and/or interference threshold, the high transmission power configuration without LBT when the carrier sensing information indicates the traffic load does not exceed the predetermined load threshold and the interference exceeds the predetermined interference threshold, and a low transmission power configuration in all other cases.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the primary communication system is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and

the second system is a WiFi system.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

circuitry configured to

identify a primary component carrier corresponding to a primary communication system and at least one secondary component carrier corresponding to at least one secondary communication system, wherein the at least one secondary component carrier is within a shared band applicable to both the primary and secondary communication systems;

obtain carrier sensing information corresponding to the at least one secondary component carrier;

determine a carrier aggregation configuration to be implemented in the primary communication system based on the identified primary component carrier and the at least one secondary component carrier, and the carrier sensing information;

select a transmission power configuration for a communication taking place on the carrier aggregation configuration within the shared band; and

cause an indication of the selected transmission power configuration and the determined carrier aggregation configuration to at least one user terminal.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein

the primary component carrier is mapped to a gap between two nonoverlapping signals on the shared band and the at least one secondary component carrier comprises carrier segments adjacent to the primary component carrier and is mapped within the two non-overlapping signals on the shared band, and

the circuitry is configured to adjust an operation bandwidth of the carrier aggregation configuration by a size and number of the at least one secondary component carrier.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

determine a timing of when to apply at least one of the following: the determined carrier aggregation configuration and the selected transmission power configuration; and

control transmission of the timing to the at least one of the user terminal and the at least one secondary communication system.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein

the selection of the transmission power is between a low transmission power configuration applying a transmission power below a predetermined power threshold and a high transmission power configuration applying a transmission power of at least the predetermined power threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

control transmission of a notification to the at least one user terminal to perform component carrier sensing; and

acquire the carrier sensing information from at least one user terminal applying the aggregated carrier configuration, wherein

the carrier sensing information is related to at least one of the following: a traffic load on any of the component carriers and interference on any of the component carriers.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

perform one of the following:

select a high transmission power configuration combined with a listen-before-talk (LBT) approach when the acquired carrier sensing information indicates the traffic load and/or the interference does not exceed a predetermined load and interference threshold,

select the high transmission power configuration without the LBT approach when the acquired carrier sensing information indicates the traffic load does not exceed the predetermined load threshold and the interference exceeds the predetermined interference threshold, and

otherwise select the low transmission power configuration; and

upon detecting that the selected transmission power configuration requires a change of the current transmission power configuration, control transmission of a notification of the selected transmission power configuration to the at least one user terminal.

12. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

acquire knowledge of a requirement for utilization rate of a high transmission power in the communication taking place on the component carriers of the carrier aggregation configuration; and

perform one of the following:

define a timing for switching between the high transmission power configuration and a low transmission power configuration in order to fulfill the requirement for the utilization rate, and control transmission of a notification of the timing to the at least one user terminal,

or control transmission of a plurality of notifications to the at least one user terminal and the at least one secondary system, wherein each of the plurality of indications indicates a switch to the high transmission power configuration or to the low transmission power configuration depending on a current transmission power configuration, in order to fulfill the requirement for the utilization rate.

13. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the at least one user terminal comprises all connected user terminals in a cell of the primary communication system, thereby causing each connected user terminal in the cell to apply the selected transmission power configuration when communicating on the component carriers of the carrier aggregation configuration.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

circuitry configured to:

acquire indication of a carrier aggregation configuration comprising a primary component carrier corresponding to a primary communication system and at least one secondary component carrier corresponding to at least one secondary communication system, wherein the component carriers of the carrier aggregation configuration are within the shared band applicable to the first and second communication systems;

acquire indication of a transmission power configuration for the communication taking place on the component carriers of a carrier aggregation configuration within the shared band, wherein the transmission power configuration is either a low transmission power configuration applying a transmission power below a predetermined power threshold or a high transmission power configuration applying a transmission power of at least the predetermined power threshold; and

apply the indicated transmission power configuration in communication over the carrier aggregation configuration.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

acquire a timing that indicates when to apply at least one of the following: the carrier aggregation configuration and the transmission power configuration; and

apply the carrier aggregation configuration at time instant corresponding to the timing.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the predetermined power threshold limits a total transmission power to 10 dBm and to 10 dBm per one MHz bandwidth at maximum, over the bandwidth of the aggregated component carriers.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the circuitry is configured to perform one of the following:

acquire an indication of a timing for switching between the high transmission power configuration and the low transmission power configuration in order to fulfill a requirement for the utilization rate of the high transmission power in the communication taking place on the component carriers of the carrier aggregation configuration,

or acquire a plurality of indications, wherein each of the plurality of indications indicates a switch to the high transmission power configuration or to the low transmission power configuration depending on the current transmission power configuration, in order to fulfill a requirement for the utilization rate of the high transmission power in the communication taking place on the component carriers of the carrier aggregation configuration.

18. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to

acquire indication of a transmission power configuration for a communication taking place on component carriers of a carrier aggregation configuration within a shared band, wherein the transmission power configuration is either a low transmission power configuration applying a transmission power below a predetermined power threshold or a high transmission power configuration applying a transmission power of at least the predetermined power threshold;

apply the indicated transmission power configuration in communication over the carrier aggregation configuration;

acquire an indication to perform a periodic component carrier sensing to obtain carrier sensing information; and

transmit the carrier sensing information to a base station in order to enable selection of a transmission power configuration based on the carrier sensing information, wherein

the carrier sensing information is related to at least one of the following: a traffic load on any of the applied component carriers and interference on any of the applied component carriers.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

acquire an indication to apply one of the following: the high transmission power configuration combined with a listen-before-talk (LBT) approach when the indicated carrier sensing information indicates the traffic load and/or the interference does not exceed a predetermined load and/or interference threshold, the high transmission power configuration without the LBT approach when the acquired carrier sensing information indicates the traffic load does not exceed the predetermined load threshold and the interference exceeds the predetermined interference threshold, and the low transmission power configuration in all other cases.

Assignments (10)