Methods for efficient operation of LTE cells on unlicensed spectrum

1. A method for efficient data transmissions in a wireless communication system, the method comprises:

dynamically configuring, by an access point (AP), at least one period cycle (P-CYCLE) pattern for a long term evolution in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) carrier comprising a period-on (P-ON) duration of the LTE-U carrier when the LTE-U carrier is activated having a first length and a period-off (P-OFF) duration of the LTE-U carrier when the LTE-U carrier is not activated having a second length, the first length and the second length dynamically adjusted based on a number of LTE-U transmissions in a shared band spectrum, wherein the number of LTE-U transmissions comprises a number of successful LTE-U transmissions or a number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions occurring during the P-ON duration;

counting the number of successful LTE-U transmissions on the LTE-U carrier received from user equipment (UEs) occurring during the P-ON duration after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern including the P-ON duration and the P-OFF duration to the UEs operating with the AP;

updating the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration included in the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier based on the number of successful LTE-U transmissions occurring during the P-ON duration from the UEs operating with the AP;

transmitting the at least one P-CYCLE pattern including the updated first length of the P-ON duration and the updated second length of the P-OFF duration to at least one UE using a higher layer signaling or a physical layer signaling; and

receiving, from the at least one UE, data in at least one LTE-U transmission occurring during the P-ON duration of the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the updated first length of the P-ON duration and the updated second length of the P-OFF duration.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein dynamically configuring the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier comprises the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration that are adjusted in accordance with a number of LTE-U transmissions in a shared band spectrum further comprises selecting an initial maximum P-ON duration in accordance with a pre-configured value.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein counting the number of successful LTE-U transmissions received from the UEs after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier including the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration to the UEs operating in the AP does not include a number of successful LTE-U re-transmissions from the UEs, the UEs performing a back-off operation based on listen-before-talk (LBT) requirements.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the updating the first length of the P-ON duration included in the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier in accordance with the number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP comprises obtaining an updated first length of P-ON duration in accordance with the following equation:

updated P-ON duration=2 c (initial P-ON duration)

where c is the number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein dynamically configuring the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier comprises the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration that are adjusted in accordance with a number of LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in a shared band spectrum further comprises:

selecting an initial maximum first length of the P-ON duration in accordance with a pre-configured value;

counting the number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions received from the UEs after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the P-ON duration of the first length and the P-OFF duration of the second length to the UEs operating in the AP; and

updating the first length of the P-ON duration included in the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier in accordance with the number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein counting the number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions received from the UEs after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration to the UEs operating in the AP does not include a number of unsuccessful LTE-U re-transmission from the UEs, the UEs performing a back-off operation based on listen-before-talk (LBT) requirements.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting at least one neighbor AP that performs a discontinuous transmission and reception in the wireless communication system, wherein the AP and the at least one neighbor AP use a same radio access technology deployed in the shared band spectrum; and

coordinating the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier with the at least one neighbor AP through an inter-network communication path, wherein the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier comprises the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration.

8. An access point (AP) comprising:

at least one processor configured to:

configure at least one period cycle (P-CYCLE) pattern for a long term evolution in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) carrier comprising a period-on (P-ON) duration of the LTE-U carrier when the LTE-U carrier is activated having a first length and a period-off (P-OFF) duration of the LTE-U carrier when the LTE-U carrier is not activated having a second length, the first length and the second length dynamically adjusted based on a number of LTE-U transmissions in a shared band spectrum, wherein the number of LTE-U transmissions comprises a number of successful LTE-U transmissions or a number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions;

count the number of successful LTE-U transmissions on the LTE-U carrier received from user equipment (UEs) occurring during the P-ON duration after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration to the UEs operating with the AP;

update the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration included in the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier based on the number of successful LTE-U transmissions occurring during the P-ON duration from the UEs operating with the AP; and

at least one transceiver configured to:

transmit the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the updated first length of the P-ON duration and the updated second length of the P-OFF duration to at least one UE using a higher layer signaling or a physical layer signaling; and

receive, from the at least one UE, data in at least one LTE-U transmission occurring during the P-ON duration of the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the updated first length of the P-ON duration and the updated second length of the P-OFF duration.

9. The AP of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor further configured to select an initial maximum first length P-ON duration in accordance with a pre-configured value.

10. The AP of claim 9 , wherein counting the number of successful LTE-U transmissions received from the UEs after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern including the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration to the UEs operating in the AP does not include a number of successful LTE-U re-transmissions from the UEs, the UEs performing a back-off operation based on listen-before-talk (LBT) requirements.

11. The AP of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to update the first length of the P-ON duration included in the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier in accordance with the number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP by obtaining an updated first length of the P-ON duration in accordance with the following equation:

updated P-ON duration=2 c (initial P-ON duration)

where c is the number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

12. The AP of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to dynamically:

select an initial maximum first length of the P-ON duration in accordance with a pre-configured value;

count the number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions received from the UEs after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier including the P-ON duration of the first length of the LTE-U carrier and the P-OFF duration of the second length to the UEs operating in the AP; and

update the first length of the P-ON duration included in the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier in accordance with the number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

13. The AP of claim 12 , wherein counting the number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions received from the UEs after transmitting the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier including the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration to the UEs operating in the AP does not include a number of unsuccessful LTE-U re-transmission from the UEs, the UEs performing a back-off operation based on listen-before-talk (LBT) requirements.

14. The AP of claim 8 , the at least one processor further configured to:

detect at least one neighbor AP that performs a discontinuous transmission and reception in a wireless communication system, wherein the AP and the at least one neighbor AP use a same radio access technology deployed in the shared band spectrum; and

coordinate the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier with the at least one neighbor AP through an inter-network communication path, wherein the at least one P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier comprises the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration.

15. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

at least one transceiver configured to:

receive at least one P-CYCLE pattern for a long term evolution in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) carrier including a period-on (P-ON) duration of the LTE-U carrier when the LTE-U carrier is activated having a first length and a period-off (P-OFF) duration of the LTE-U carrier when the LTE-U carrier is not activated having a second length from an access point (AP) using a higher layer signaling or a physical layer signaling;

transmit an uplink signal in accordance with the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the P-ON duration of the LTE-U carrier having the first length and the P-OFF duration of the LTE-U carrier having a second length to the AP using an uplink channel over a shared band spectrum;

receive an updated P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including an updated first length of the P-ON duration and an updated second length of the P-OFF duration from the AP using a downlink channel over the shared band spectrum, wherein the downlink channel comprises a higher layer signal or a physical layer signal, and wherein the updated first length of the P-ON duration and the updated second length of the P-OFF duration are based on a number of LTE-U transmissions comprising a number of successful LTE-U transmissions or a number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions occurring during the P-ON duration; and

transmit an uplink signal in accordance with the updated P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier including the updated first length of the P-ON duration and the updated second length of the P-OFF duration to the AP using an uplink channel over the shared band spectrum.

16. The UE of claim 15 , wherein the updated first length of the P-ON duration included in the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE-U carrier is determined in accordance with the following equation:

updated P-ON duration=2 c (initial P-ON duration)

where c is a number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

17. The UE of claim 15 , wherein the updated first length of the P-ON duration included in the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier is determined in accordance with the following equation:

updated P-ON duration=2 c −1(initial P-ON duration)

where c is a number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

18. The UE of claim 15 , wherein the updated first length of the P-ON duration included in the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier is determined in accordance with the following equation:

updated P-ON duration= c+ 1

where c is a number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

19. The UE of claim 15 , wherein the updated first length of the P-ON duration included in the P-CYCLE pattern of the LTE carrier is determined in accordance with the following equation:

updated P-ON duration=floor(log( c+ 1))(initial P-ON duration)

where c is a number of successful LTE-U transmissions from the UEs operating in the AP.

20. The UE of claim 15 , wherein the first length of the P-ON duration and the second length of the P-OFF duration are dynamically adjusted based on the number of LTE-U transmissions comprising the number of successful LTE-U transmissions or the number of unsuccessful LTE-U transmissions occurring during the P-ON duration in the shared band spectrum.