Telecommunications apparatus and methods
A terminal device and network infrastructure equipment communicate 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. The terminal device is also operable to use radio resources within the second frequency band for communicating in accordance with a second radio access technology, e.g. Wi-Fi. The network infrastructure equipment establishes 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 and communicates an indication of this to the terminal device. The terminal device establishes a configuration of radio resources for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second radio access technology and determines if there is any overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the two different radio access technologies, and if so communicates an indication of this to the network infrastructure equipment. In response the network infrastructure equipment establishes a replacement configuration of radio resources for communications with the terminal device in accordance with the first radio access technology, wherein the replacement configuration avoids the radio resources indicated as being subject to overlap, and transmits an indication of the replacement configuration to the terminal device.
1. A method of operating network infrastructure equipment in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating with a terminal device in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT) 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 RAT, wherein the method comprises:
establishing 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 RAT;
transmitting 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 RAT;
receiving from the terminal device an indication of an overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first RAT and radio resources for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second RAT;
establishing 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 RAT, wherein the replacement configuration is selected to avoid radio resources in respect of which the overlap is indicated; and
transmitting 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 RAT, wherein
the indication of the overlap received from the terminal device is an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message,
the IDC message conforms to an IDC message format, and
the IDC message received from the terminal device comprises radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
2. Network infrastructure equipment for use in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating with a terminal device in accordance with a first radio access technology (RAT) 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 RAT, and wherein the network infrastructure equipment comprises a controller and a transceiver configured to operate together 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 RAT;
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 RAT;
receive from the terminal device an indication of an overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first RAT and radio resources for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second RAT;
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 RAT, 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 RAT, wherein
the indication of the overlap received from the terminal device is an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message,
the IDC message conforms to an IDC message format, and
the IDC message received from the terminal device comprises radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
3. 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 (RAT) 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 RAT, and wherein the circuitry is 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 RAT;
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 RAT;
receive from the terminal device an indication of an overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first RAT and radio resources for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second RAT;
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 RAT, 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 RAT, wherein
the indication of the overlap received from the terminal device is an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message,
the IDC message conforms to an IDC message format, and
the IDC message received from the terminal device comprises radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
4. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the terminal device is configured to determine if the radio resources associated with the replacement configuration includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of the overlap is transmitted, and if so, classify the replacement configuration as an invalid configuration or as an unsupported configuration.
5. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to transmit, to the terminal device, 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 RAT is no longer valid.
6. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the IDC message received from the terminal device is associated with an indication of the radio resources in respect of which the overlap applies.
7. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the terminal device 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 RAT, and
the IDC message received from the terminal device comprises an indication of the second RAT in respect of which the overlap has been determined.
8. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the IDC message received from the terminal device 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 RATs 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 RATs.
12. The circuitry of claim 3 , 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 in accordance with the first RAT.
13. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to transmit 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 infrastructure in accordance with the first RAT.
14. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the second frequency band comprises radio resources which are shared with wireless communication devices that are not part of the wireless telecommunications system.
15. The circuitry of claim 3 , 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 replacement configuration includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of overlap is indicated.
16. The circuitry of claim 3 , 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. The circuitry of claim 3 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to receive from the terminal device the indication of the overlap in the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first RAT and radio resources which the terminal device has established are needed for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the second RAT.