Granted Patent B2

US 12,369,041 · App. 18/144,857 · Granted Jul 22, 2025

Inventor: Brian Alexander Martin (Basingstoke, GB)

Assignee: SONY GROUP CORPORATION

H04W16/14H04W72/0453H04W72/1215H04W76/16

Abstract

Claims (61)

1. A method of operating a terminal device in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating with network infrastructure equipment 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 also operable to use radio resources within the second frequency band for communicating in accordance with a second radio access technology, wherein the method comprises:

receiving from the network infrastructure equipment an indication of 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;

establishing 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;

determining 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, transmitting signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap; and

determining if radio resources associated with an updated 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 in response to transmitting the signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of the overlap is transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment, and if so, reverting to a radio resource control, RRC, idle mode in respect of the secondary component carrier, wherein

the signalling transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap comprises a channel quality indicator COI message in respect of the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology, and

a predefined value for the COI message is selected to indicate there is an overlap in respect of the radio resources to which the COI message applies.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining 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 network infrastructure equipment, and if so, classifying the updated configuration as an invalid configuration or as an unsupported configuration.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving from the network infrastructure equipment an indication that 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 is no longer valid.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap is associated with an indication of the radio resources in respect of which the overlap applies.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the terminal device is operable 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 signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap further comprises an indication of the second radio access technology in respect of which the overlap has been determined.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the signalling transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap comprises radio resource control (RRC) signalling.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the terminal device is operable to transmit signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate a potential for inter-frequency interference arising between different frequencies associated with different radio access technologies supported by the terminal device using an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message having a predefined format, and

the signalling transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap conforms to the IDC message format.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the signalling transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap comprises a channel quality indicator COL message in respect of the radio resources configured for use by the terminal device for communications in accordance with the first radio access technology, and

a predefined value for the CQI message is selected to indicate there is an overlap in respect of the radio resources to which the CQI message applies.

9. The method 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 from the network infrastructure equipment the indication of the configuration of radio resources for communications with the network infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first radio access technology.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving from the network infrastructure equipment 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 network infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first radio access technology; and

determining 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 signalling transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap further 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.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

the terminal device releasing 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 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.

12. The method 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.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the second radio access technology is a non-cellular telecommunications radio access technology.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the second radio access technology is selected from the group comprising:

a wireless local area network (WLAN) radio access technology;

a Bluetooth radio access technology; and

a global navigation satellite system (GNSSL) radio access technology.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving from the network infrastructure equipment an indication of an updated configuration of radio resources for use by the terminal device in accordance with the first radio access technology in response to transmitting the signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap; and

transmitting signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate a potential for inter-frequency interference arising between different frequencies associated with different radio access technologies supported by the terminal device using an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message having a predefined format.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein

the signalling transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap conforms to the IDC message format.

17. Circuitry for a terminal device in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating with network infrastructure equipment 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, wherein the circuitry comprises:

a controller and a transceiver configured to operate together to:

receive from the network infrastructure equipment an indication of 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;

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 signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap; and

receive from the network infrastructure equipment an indication of an updated 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 in response to transmitting the signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap, wherein

the determination regarding whether there is an overlap in radio resources according to the different configurations is performed in accordance with a monitoring schedule which is initiated in response to receiving from the network infrastructure equipment the indication of the configuration of radio resources for communications with the network infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first radio access technology,

the circuitry of the terminal device is operable to transmit signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate a potential for inter-frequency interference arising between different frequencies associated with different radio access technologies supported by the terminal device using an inter-frequency in-device coexistence (IDC) message having a predefined format, and

the signalling transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap conforms to the IDC message format.

18. A method of operating a terminal device in a wireless telecommunications system for communicating with network infrastructure equipment 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 also operable to use radio resources within the second frequency band for communicating in accordance with a second radio access technology, wherein the method comprises:

receiving from the network infrastructure equipment an indication of 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;

establishing 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;

determining 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, transmitting signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap;

determining if radio resources associated with an updated 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 in response to transmitting the signalling to the network infrastructure equipment to indicate there is an overlap includes radio resources in respect of which the indication of the overlap is transmitted to the network infrastructure equipment, and if so, reverting to a radio resource control, RRC, idle mode in respect of the secondary component carrier; and

releasing 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 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.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (87)