Telecommunications apparatus and methods
A network infrastructure equipment establishes a configuration of radio resources within a second frequency band for use by a terminal device for communications with network infrastructure equipment based on a first radio access technology and communicates an indication of that to the terminal device. The terminal device establishes a configuration of radio resources for use by the terminal device for communications based on a second radio access technology and determines if there is any overlap in radio resources configured for use by two different radio access technologies, and if so communicates an indication of that to the network infrastructure equipment. In response the network infrastructure equipment establishes a replacement configuration of radio resources for communications with the terminal device based on the first radio access technology that avoids the radio resources indicated as subject to overlap, and transmits an indication of the replacement configuration to the terminal device.
1. Circuitry for a terminal device in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating in accordance with a first radio access technology on a primary cell supporting a primary component carrier on radio resources within a first frequency band and a secondary cell supporting a secondary component carrier on radio resources within a second frequency band, wherein the terminal device is configured to use radio resources within the second frequency band for communicating in accordance with a second radio access technology, wherein the circuitry is configured to:
receive an indication of a configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology;
establish a configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology;
determine if there is an overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology and the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology, and if so, transmit 1 to the telecommunication system to indicate a potential for inter-frequency interference arising between different frequencies associated with different radio access technologies supported by the terminal device;
receive an indication of an updated configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the telecommunication system in accordance with the first radio access technology in response to transmitting the IDC message to the telecommunication system; and
determine if the radio resources associated with the updated configuration includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of the overlap is transmitted to the telecommunication system, and if so, classify the updated configuration as an invalid configuration or as an unsupported configuration.
2. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to determine if the radio resources associated with the updated configuration includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of the overlap is transmitted to the telecommunication system, and if so, revert to a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode in respect of the secondary component carrier.
3. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to receive an indication that the configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the telecommunication system in accordance with the first radio access technology is no longer valid.
4. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the IDC message to the telecommunication system is associated with an indication of the radio resources in respect of which the overlap applies.
5. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to use radio resources within the second frequency band for communicating in accordance with a number of different radio access technologies which are different to the first radio access technology, and
the IDC message to the telecommunication system comprises an indication of the second radio access technology in respect of which the overlap has been determined.
6. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the IDC message transmitted to the telecommunication system comprises radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
7. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the IDC message conforms to an IDC message format.
8. The circuitry of claim 5 , wherein
the IDC message transmitted to the telecommunication system comprises a message conforming to the IDC message format with an information element selectively set to a value to indicate whether or not there is an overlap in respect of radio resources identified in the message.
9. The circuitry of claim 8 , wherein
the information element is dedicated to the purpose of indicating whether or not there is an overlap in respect of radio resources identified in the message.
10. The circuitry of claim 8 , wherein
the information element is associated with indicating an aspect of potential inter-frequency interference arising between different frequencies associated with different radio access technologies supported by the terminal device, and in the case of overlap is set to a value which is different from the values used when the information element is used to indicate an aspect of potential inter-frequency interference.
11. The circuitry of claim 10 , wherein
the aspect of potential inter-frequency interference with which the information element is associated in accordance with the predefined inter-frequency IDC message format is an indication of the direction of interference between the different radio access technologies.
12. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the terminal device determines if there is an overlap in radio resources according to the different configurations in accordance with a monitoring schedule which is initiated in response to receiving the indication of the configuration of radio resources for communications with the telecommunication system in accordance with the first radio access technology.
13. The circuitry of claim 1 , further configured to:
receive at least one further indication of at least one further configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the telecommunication system in accordance with the first radio access technology; and
determine if there is an overlap in the radio resources associated with the at least one further configuration and the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology, wherein
the IDC message transmitted to the telecommunication system indicates the configuration of radio resources for communications within the second frequency band in accordance with the first radio access technology to which the overlap applies.
14. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to release the configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the telecommunication system in accordance with the first radio access technology in response to determining there is an overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology and the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology.
15. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein
the second frequency band comprises radio resources which are shared with wireless communication devices that are not part of the wireless telecommunications system.
16. Circuitry for network infrastructure equipment for use in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating with a terminal device in accordance with a first radio access technology on a primary cell supporting a primary component carrier on radio resources within a first frequency band and a secondary cell supporting a secondary component carrier on radio resources within a second frequency band, wherein the terminal device is further operable to use radio resources within the second frequency band for communicating in accordance with a second radio access technology, the circuitry configured to:
establish a configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the network infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first radio access technology;
transmit to the terminal device an indication of the configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the network infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first radio access technology;
receive from the terminal device an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message indicating of an overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology and radio resources which the terminal device has established are needed for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology;
establish a replacement configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the network infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first radio access technology, wherein the replacement configuration is selected to avoid radio resources in respect of which the overlap is indicated; and
transmit to the terminal device an indication of the replacement configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the network infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first radio access technology, wherein the terminal device is configured to revert to a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode in respect of the secondary component carrier in a case that it is determined that the radio resources associated with the updated configuration includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of overlap is indicated in the IDC message.
17. Circuitry for a terminal device in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating in accordance with a first radio access technology on a primary cell supporting a primary component carrier on radio resources within a first frequency band and a secondary cell supporting a secondary component carrier on radio resources within a second frequency band, wherein the terminal device is configured to use radio resources within the second frequency band for communicating in accordance with a second radio access technology, wherein the circuitry is configured to:
receive an indication of a configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology;
establish a configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology;
determine if there is an overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology and the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology, and if so, transmit an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message to the telecommunication system to indicate a potential for inter-frequency interference arising between different frequencies associated with different radio access technologies supported by the terminal device;
receive an indication of an updated configuration of radio resources within the second frequency band for use by the terminal device for communications with the telecommunication system in accordance with the first radio access technology in response to transmitting the IDC message to the telecommunication system; and
determine if the radio resources associated with the updated configuration includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of the overlap is transmitted to the telecommunication system, and if so, revert to a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode in respect of the secondary component carrier.