Coordination of uplink radio transmissions on unlicensed carriers

1. A method of controlling radio transmission in a wireless communication network, the method comprising a radio device:

controlling a first uplink radio transmission on a first carrier from an unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a first access scheme, wherein the first access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a first type of grant, and wherein the first type of grant is a first grant that is valid for a limited number of subframes;

controlling a second uplink radio transmission on a second carrier from the unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a second access scheme, wherein the second access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a second type of grant, and wherein the second type of grant is a second grant that is valid in a recurring manner in a sequence of subframes until the second grant is released; and

coordinating a timing of the second uplink radio transmission relative to the first uplink radio transmission.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the radio device:

receiving a grant allocating radio resources of the first carrier to the radio device;

performing channel sensing on the first carrier before starting to perform the first uplink radio transmission on the allocated radio resources; and

performing the second uplink radio transmission in at least one time window which is non-overlapping with the channel sensing on the first carrier.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one time window comprises a time window starting after the channel sensing on the first carrier.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one time window comprises a time window starting after the first radio transmission.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one time window comprises a time window ending before the channel sensing on the first carrier.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

the radio device performing channel sensing on the second carrier before starting to perform the second uplink radio transmission;

wherein the at least one time window comprises a time window between the channel sensing on the second carrier and the channel sensing on the first carrier.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the radio device performing channel sensing on the second carrier during the channel sensing on the first carrier.

8. The method of claim 2 :

wherein the radio resources allocated by the received grant define an end time of the first uplink radio transmission; and

further comprising the radio device ending the second uplink radio transmission at the end time of the first uplink radio transmission.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, after ending the first uplink radio transmission and the second uplink radio transmission, the radio device receiving a further grant allocating radio resources of the first carrier to the radio device.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the radio device:

performing channel sensing on the first carrier and, in response to detecting that the first carrier is unoccupied, initiating a backoff period;

upon expiry of the backoff period, performing further channel sensing on the first carrier and starting the first uplink radio transmission in response to the further channel sensing on the first carrier indicating that the first carrier is unoccupied; and

upon expiry of the backoff period, performing channel sensing on the second carrier and starting the second uplink radio transmission in response to the channel sensing on the second carrier indicating that the second carrier is unoccupied.

11. The method of claim 1

wherein the second type of grant has a longer validity than the first type of grant.

12. The method of claim 1 :

wherein the first access scheme involves that radio resources of the first carrier are allocated to the radio device in response to a request from the radio device; and

wherein the second access scheme involves that radio resources of the second carrier are allocated to the radio device without request from the radio device.

13. The method of claim 1 :

wherein the first access scheme involves that radio resources radio resources of the first carrier are allocated to the radio device by a grant from the wireless communication network; and

wherein the second access scheme does not require allocation of radio resources to the radio device by a grant from the wireless communication network.

14. A radio device for a wireless communication network, the radio device comprising:

processing circuitry;

memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the radio device is operative to:

control a first uplink radio transmission on a first carrier from an unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a first access scheme, wherein the first access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a first type of grant, and wherein the first type of grant is a first grant that is valid for a limited number of subframes;

control a second uplink radio transmission on a second carrier from the unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a second access scheme, wherein the second access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a second type of want, and wherein the second type of grant is a second grant that is valid in a recurring manner in a sequence of subframes until the second grant is released; and

coordinate a timing of the second uplink radio transmission relative to the first uplink radio transmission.

15. The radio device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions are such that the radio device is operative to:

receive a grant allocating radio resources of the first carrier to the radio device;

perform channel sensing on the first carrier before starting to perform the first uplink radio transmission on the allocated radio resources; and

perform the second uplink radio transmission in at least one time window which is non-overlapping with the channel sensing on the first carrier.

16. A system, comprising:

an access node of a wireless communication network;

a radio device comprising:

processing circuitry; and

memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the radio device is operative to:

control a first uplink radio transmission on a first carrier from an unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a first access scheme, wherein the first access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a first type of grant, and wherein the first type of grant is a first grant that is valid for a limited number of subframes;

control a second uplink radio transmission on a second carrier from the unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a second access scheme, scheme wherein the second access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a second type of grant, and wherein the second type of grant is a second grant that is valid in a recurring manner in a sequence of subframes until the second grant is released; and

coordinate a timing of the second uplink radio transmission relative to the first uplink radio transmission; and

wherein the access node is configured to receive the first uplink radio transmission and the second uplink radio transmission.

17. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing a computer program product for of controlling radio transmission in a wireless communication network, the computer program product comprising software instructions which, when run on processing circuitry of a radio device, causes the radio device to:

control a first uplink radio transmission on a first carrier from an unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a first access scheme, wherein the first access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a first type of grant, and wherein the first type of grant is a first grant that is valid for a limited number of subframes;

control a second uplink radio transmission on a second carrier from the unlicensed frequency spectrum based on a second access scheme, wherein the second access scheme is associated with radio resources allocated to the radio device by a second type of grant, and wherein the second type of grant is a second grant that is valid in a recurring manner in a sequence of subframes until the second grant is released; and

coordinate a timing of the second uplink radio transmission relative to the first uplink radio transmission.