HK1160332B - Supporting multiple access technologies in a wireless environment - Google Patents

Description

Supporting multiple access technologies in a wireless environment

Claiming priority based on 35U.S.C. § 119

This patent application claims priority to U.S. provisional application No.61/092,456, entitled "reserve resources FOR transporting LTE-a RELATED INFORMATION," filed on 28.8.2008, assigned to the assignee OF the present application and hereby expressly incorporated by reference.

Technical Field

The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to facilitating multiple radio access technologies over a public land radio access network.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed today to provide various types of communication such as voice, data, and so on. A typical wireless communication system or network may provide multiple users with access to one or more shared resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power. For example, a system may use multiple access techniques such as Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and so on.

Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple access terminals. Each access terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to access terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from access terminals to base stations. Such communication links may be established by single-input single-output, multiple-input single-output, or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems.

Wireless communication systems sometimes employ one or more base stations, each of which provides a certain coverage area. In general, a base station can transmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast services, wherein a data stream is a stream of data that an access terminal is individually interested in receiving. One access terminal within the coverage area of the base station may be used to receive one, more than one, or all of the data streams carried by the combined stream. Likewise, one access terminal can transmit data to a base station or another access terminal.

Many advanced technologies are currently being considered for Long Term Evolution (LTE) advanced systems, such as multi-user MIMO, higher order MIMO (with 8 transmit and receive antennas), network MIMO, femtocells with restricted association, picocells with range extension, larger bandwidths, and so on. LTE-advanced must also support legacy UEs (e.g., LTE release 8 UEs) while providing additional features to new UEs (and legacy UEs as applicable). However, supporting all features in LTE places some restrictions on LTE-advanced design, which limits potential revenue and impacts user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In accordance with one or more embodiments and corresponding disclosure thereof, various aspects are described herein in connection with: frequency-time block radio resources are reserved for transmitting information to a new user terminal (e.g., a user terminal configured for or compatible with a newly emerging access technology such as LTE-a) while mitigating adverse effects on legacy user terminals (e.g., compatible with existing access technologies such as LTE). Information specifying access technology terminals for new emergence may be embedded in predetermined reserved locations, for example: a subset of a set of PHICH resources; a predetermined number of control channel elements; a subset of resource units or resource unit groups in the control segment; some resources in the PDSCH domain; one or more resources in an MBSFN subframe; a subset of resources in a particular subframe of frame structure type 2 in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) wireless system, and/or a combination thereof.

In an aspect, the reserved time-frequency resources may be used for transmitting LTE-a signals, such as control signals or reference signals (e.g., other antenna ports for higher order MIMO or network MIMO applications). According to the related method, a determination is first made as to the resources that need to be reserved, namely: reserved resources are needed for transmitting information to LTE-a capable user terminals (e.g., user terminals configured for LTE or LTE-a access technologies). Such a decision may be based on factors such as: the number of LTE-A user terminals; the amount of control information that needs to be transmitted to the LTE-a user terminal; control resources to be used, etc. These resources may then be reserved and the necessary information subsequently transmitted to the new user terminal.

According to particular aspects, resources reserved for LTE-a user terminals may be selected so as not to conflict with LTE control or data traffic. In this case, the LTE user terminal will ignore the LTE-a control or reference signal as traffic to other terminals. When LTE-a resources conflict with LTE resources, mitigation procedures may be used in order to reduce the performance loss of LTE resources. Suitable mitigation procedures may include: modifying a duty cycle of the LTE-a resources, modifying a signal power or rate control for each LTE or LTE-a signal transmission, modified resource scheduling, and the like, or combinations thereof. Thus, even when LTE-a resource allocation punctures LTE resources, the associated performance loss of legacy user terminals can be mitigated or avoided.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a method for aggregating multiple radio access technologies in a wireless network. The method can comprise the following steps: using a data interface to obtain a radio resource schedule for radio resources of a wireless network; using a data processor to analyze the radio resource schedule and identify radio signal resources used by a baseline radio access technology. In addition, the method further comprises: reserving, using the data processor, a subset of radio resources of the wireless network for control or reference signals of a second radio access technology; transmitting, using a wireless transmitter, a resource schedule for the control or reference signal to an access terminal configured for the second radio access technology.

In other aspects, the invention relates to an apparatus for aggregating multiple radio access technologies. The apparatus includes a memory that stores a set of modules for providing wireless access to access terminals implementing legacy wireless access technologies and access terminals implementing advanced wireless access technologies. The apparatus may also include a data processor for executing the set of modules. Specifically, the set of modules may include: a signal parsing module for analyzing a wireless network resource schedule to identify wireless resources scheduled for the conventional wireless access technology; a selection module that allocates control or Reference Signal (RS) resources for the advanced radio access technology according to a performance loss mitigation strategy. The loss mitigation policy specifies control or RS resources that do not conflict with resource scheduling for the legacy radio access technology, or specifies execution of an arbitration procedure for control or RS resources that conflict with the resource scheduling.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to an apparatus that facilitates wireless communication for multiple radio access technologies. The apparatus may include: means for obtaining a radio resource schedule for radio resources of a wireless network using a data interface; means for identifying, using a data processor, a radio signal resource for use by a baseline radio access technology based on the radio resource schedule. In addition, the apparatus further comprises: means for reserving, using the data processor, a subset of radio resources of the wireless network for control or reference signals of a second radio access technology. In addition, the apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, using a wireless transmitter, a resource schedule for the control or reference signal to an access terminal implementing the second radio access technology.

Another aspect relates to a processor that facilitates wireless communication for multiple radio access technologies. The processor can include a first module that identifies wireless signal resources of a wireless network used by a baseline wireless access technology. The processor can also include a second module that reserves a subset of the wireless signal resources for control or reference signals of a second radio access technology. Further, the processor can include a third module that transmits resource scheduling for the control or reference signal to an access terminal implementing the second radio access technology.

Other aspects relate to a computer program product that includes a computer-readable medium. The computer readable medium includes: a first set of codes for causing a computer to identify wireless signal resources of a wireless network used by a baseline wireless access technology; a second set of codes for causing the computer to reserve a subset of the wireless signal resources for control or reference signals of a second radio access technology. Moreover, the computer-readable medium can comprise a third set of codes for causing the computer to transmit a resource schedule for the control or reference signal to an access terminal implementing the second radio access technology.

According to other aspects disclosed herein, a user terminal may be configured to use multiple types of radio access technologies (e.g., LTE and LTE-a access technologies) when interacting with a radio base station. Such a terminal may identify the existing access protocol used by the baseline access technology and may also identify the supplementary protocol used by the advanced access technology (if supported). The terminal may use the supplemental protocol to decode downlink transmissions or simultaneously transmit signals on the uplink channel to optimize wireless performance.

One such aspect relates to a method of wireless communication. The method can comprise the following steps: receiving, using a wireless receiver, a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology; an additional resource scheduling policy for the second radio access technology is obtained. In addition, the method may further include: using a data processor to analyze the supplemental resource scheduling policy and decode a control or RS transmission of the second radio access technology as specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

Another aspect relates to an apparatus for using a long term evolution advanced (LTE-a) access technology in a wireless network, wherein the wireless network supports both the Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology and the LTE-a access technology. The apparatus may include: a wireless receiver to obtain and decode a scheduling policy of the LTE access technology. Furthermore, the apparatus may further include: a memory storing a set of modules for using LTE-A access technology of the wireless network; a data processor for executing the set of modules. Specifically, the module set includes: the analysis module is used for extracting an LTE-A scheduling strategy from the scheduling message provided by the wireless network; an analysis module to examine the LTE-A scheduling policy and identify a resource schedule for LTE-A traffic associated with the apparatus.

Another aspect relates to an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include: a wireless receiver usage module for using the wireless receiver to receive a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology. Furthermore, the apparatus may further include: an obtaining module for obtaining an augmented resource scheduling policy for a second radio access technology. Furthermore, the apparatus may further include: a data processor usage module for using a data processor to analyze the supplemental resource scheduling policy and decode a control or RS transmission of the second radio access technology as specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

Another aspect of the invention relates to at least one processor for wireless communication. The processor may include: a first module for receiving a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology; a second module for obtaining an augmented resource scheduling policy for a second radio access technology. The processor can also include a third module that analyzes the supplemental resource scheduling policy and decodes control or RS transmissions of the second radio access technology as specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

Other aspects relate to a computer program product that includes a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium can include a first set of codes for causing a computer to receive a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology. The computer-readable medium can further include a second set of codes for causing the computer to obtain an augmented resource scheduling policy for a second radio access technology. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can comprise a third set of codes for causing the computer to analyze the supplemental resource scheduling policy, decode a control or RS transmission of the second radio access technology as specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the one or more embodiments. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various embodiments may be employed and the described embodiments are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

Fig. 1 depicts a block diagram of an example apparatus that supports multiple radio access technologies for a network base station.

Fig. 2 depicts an exemplary time-frequency resource scheduling that allows for multiple radio access technologies, according to an aspect.

Fig. 3 depicts an example time-frequency resource scheduling that allows for multiple radio access technologies, according to another aspect.

Fig. 4 depicts an example time-frequency resource scheduling that enables multiple radio access technologies, according to another aspect.

Fig. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example system that provides dynamic and adaptive resource scheduling for multiple access technologies.

Fig. 6 depicts a block diagram of an example system that includes a base station that supports multiple radio access technologies.

Fig. 7 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary system that includes a User Terminal (UT) that can employ multiple access technologies in wireless communications.

Fig. 8 depicts a flow diagram of an example methodology for supporting multiple access technologies in a wireless communication environment.

Fig. 9 depicts a flow diagram of an example method for providing adaptive resource scheduling to support LTE and LTE-a terminals.

Fig. 10 depicts a flow diagram of an example method for using advanced radio access technologies in an environment that supports legacy terminals.

Fig. 11 and 12 depict block diagrams of example systems that provide and facilitate, respectively, multiple radio access technologies.

Fig. 13 depicts a block diagram of an example wireless transmit-receive chain that facilitates wireless communication, in accordance with some particular aspects.

FIG. 14 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary cellular communication environment that can be employed to support various other disclosed aspects.

FIG. 15 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication environment in accordance with at least one other disclosed aspect.

Detailed Description

Various aspects will now be described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more aspects. It may be evident, however, that such aspect(s) may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing one or more aspects.

Further, it should be apparent that the present disclosure may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure and/or function disclosed herein is merely illustrative. In light of the present disclosure, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that aspects disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented and/or a method may be implemented using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using other structure and/or functionality in addition to or other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. As one example, many of the methods, apparatus, systems, and devices described herein are described in the following background, namely: terminals configured for different radio access technologies are supported in a common wireless communication environment. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that similar techniques may be applied to other communication environments.

In recent years, wireless communication technology has advanced in many ways. Some advances have affected handheld terminals to support greater processing power and memory capacity, more powerful and diverse applications, multiple antennas or antenna types, and so forth. Other advances have affected access network technology to provide higher bandwidth communications, more reliable data rates, multi-user support, and the like. Regardless of the type or nature of these advancements, new software and communication protocols are often required to take full advantage of the additional capabilities. For example, if a base station is equipped with multiple physical antennas and improved signal processing enables lower interference and diversity transmission/reception, then a large increase in data rate can be achieved using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. However, to implement MIMO technology, new software may be required; e.g., to allocate time-frequency resources to MIMO-capable User Terminals (UTs). Further, the software can distinguish between a MIMO-capable UT and a legacy (non-MIMO) UT in order to continue to support legacy UTs in a MIMO-capable wireless environment.

In general, resource reservation can be made without the reserved location affecting legacy terminals, and therefore the associated performance of legacy terminals is generally not compromised. But differs in that, in at least one aspect, the present invention uses the behavior of legacy user terminals when information is expected at a particular location of a set of OFDM symbols. Thus, information can be provided to other user terminals at different resource locations, enabling new standards or protocols to be implemented at these different resource locations, while also mitigating performance degradation of legacy terminals. Thus, a wireless communication device as described herein can accommodate multiple radio access technologies simultaneously.

To take one specific example of the foregoing, assume the following: while legacy terminals are configured for third generation partnership project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology (or LTE access technology), new terminals are configured for LTE-advanced (or LTE-a) access technology. In this case, the LTE-a UT may be informed of the control, Reference Signal (RS) or traffic resources reserved for the LTE-a UT through various mechanisms (e.g., transmission of new SIBs, through a new common channel (e.g., BCH) that the LTE-a terminal may monitor, etc.). Alternatively or additionally, a particular LTE-AUT or a group of such LTE-AUTs may be informed of the reserved resources by unicast transmission.

According to particular aspects, the pattern for the reserved resources may differ in frequency time blocks, or it may be adaptive and time varying. This pattern may vary depending on the number of LTE-a UTs and legacy UTs in the system and their requirements. Furthermore, the pattern may be designed according to different criteria deemed important for the particular signals carried on these resources.

Referring now to the drawings, fig. 1 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary system 100 that facilitates implementing multiple radio access technologies for a public wireless network (e.g., a terrestrial radio access network). System 100 can facilitate wireless communication according to different access technologies depending on capabilities of access terminals served by system (100). In one example, system 100 can be configured to implement a baseline radio access technology for a set of legacy access terminals implementing the baseline radio access technology and an advanced radio access technology for a second set of access terminals implementing the advanced radio access technology. As a particular example, system 100 can provide LTE services to a set of LTE terminals, reserving resources for LTE-a communications for the LTE-a terminals. In general, LTE-a and LTE access terminology are not mixed in a single radio access network, since LTE-a specifies higher bandwidth, data rate, antenna diversity, etc. compared to LTE. Furthermore, the resource specification for LTE-a is not compatible with the resource specification for LTE. System 100 may alleviate many of these problems, enabling LTE and LTE-a activities to be implemented on a single wireless access network, as described in detail below.

The system 100 includes a resource scheduling device 102 coupled to a base station 104. In some aspects, the resource scheduler 102 and the base station 104 are a single physical entity. For example, the resource scheduler 102 may be installed as a hardware and software component of the base station 104. In other aspects, the resource scheduler 102 may be physically remote from the base stations 104, but it may alternatively be located at a central server in order to operate several base stations (104) (e.g., as part of the system controller 1430, see fig. 14, below).

The resource scheduler 102 comprises a memory 112 that stores a set of modules 108, 110 for providing wireless access to Access Terminals (ATs) that implement legacy wireless access technologies (e.g., LTE) and ATs that implement advanced wireless access technologies (e.g., LTE-a). Further, the resource scheduling means 106 may comprise a data processor for executing the set of modules 108, 110. The signal parsing module 108 analyzes the resource scheduling for the conventional radio access technology. Thus, the signal parsing module 108 may be used to identify a mapping of the location or direction of resource blocks in a wireless signal frame, a mapping of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to various control channels, reference channels, or traffic channels, and so forth. Further, the signal parsing module 108 may identify free resources that are not used for conventional wireless access signaling. These mapping cases may be output to the resource schedule file 108A for the legacy access technology and provided to the resource selection module 110.

The resource selection module 110 allocates control or RS resources for the advanced radio access technology. This allocation is typically made according to a performance loss mitigation policy 112A. In general, the policy 112A is used to avoid resource conflicts for legacy access technologies and advanced access technologies. In the event that resource conflicts are not completely avoided, the policy 112A may specify the arbiter 112B to mitigate the performance penalty incurred by the conflict. As used herein, the term "resource conflict" may include direct conflicts, where a single resource or group of resources (e.g., a single channel allocated for LTE functionality and LTE-a functionality) is simultaneously allocated to multiple access technologies, or indirect conflicts, where the allocation of resources for one access technology limits the overall adaptability of resources desired by access terminals using different access technologies. As an example of the latter, also referred to as resource puncturing (resource puncturing), reserving a shared channel Resource Group (RG) for LTE-a terminals suppresses the maximum data rate of LTE terminals using shared channel resources even if the RG is not currently allocated to LTE signaling.

Various resource groups may be allocated or reserved for advanced radio access technologies. The selection of resources depends at least in part on the resource schedule 108A used by the legacy radio access technology. For example, it may be preferable for the mitigation strategy 112A to reserve a subset of resource blocks for advanced access technologies (e.g., including a set of frequency subbands over a set of OFDM symbols in a single signal subframe (see, e.g., fig. 2-4 below)), which resources would not be used by ATs of legacy access technologies. In these reserved resource blocks, a subset of time-frequency resources may be allocated to control signals, RSs, or data traffic of the advanced access technology. In this way, resource conflicts between legacy and advanced radio access technologies are unlikely. In other aspects, resource blocks used by legacy access technologies may be designated as multi-purpose blocks, some of which are allocated to advanced access technologies ATs. In the latter case, indirect resource conflicts (or direct resource conflicts) are more likely to occur. Thus, the mitigation policy 112A may specify an arbiter 112B for this type of resource allocation.

The following description describes specific examples for resource selection and reservation in accordance with various exemplary aspects. The time-frequency resources allocated for advanced access technology use may be located in the control domain or the data domain of one or more subframes of the wireless signal. In some aspects, the reserved time-frequency resources are located in resource blocks allocated for advanced access technologies, but this is not required in all cases. For example, the reserved resources may be allocated to general purpose resource blocks (usable by any AT served by the base station 104), or to control channel resources that are not reserved for any particular AT or any type of AT.

In one aspect of the disclosure, the resource selection module 110 can reserve a subset of physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) resources of the base station 104 as radio resources for advanced access technology ATs. The PHICH resource is used to transmit HARQ acknowledgements corresponding to uplink transmissions of the AT. In this regard, potential performance impacts for legacy ATs may occur. The arbiter 112B may be used to offset this performance impact. In one aspect, the arbitrator 112B can schedule additional sets of PHICH resources for acknowledgment in addition to the set of PHICH resources used by the legacy radio access technology (and possibly the advanced radio access technology), as well as use these additional sets of PHICH resources for control or RS resources of the advanced radio access technology. In other words, the total number of PHICH resource groups scheduled by one possible arbitration procedure (112B) is larger than the number of PHICH resource groups needed to support acknowledgments for both advanced and legacy radio access technologies.

In an alternative aspect, the arbitrator 112B may schedule AT uplink transmissions in a manner that avoids PHICH collisions between legacy and advanced radio access technologies. Typically, uplink transmissions are mapped to specific PHICH resources used to receive feedback related to these uplink transmissions. Thus, as an example, consider mapping uplink resources for data transmission (resource a) to downlink resources for PHICH signaling (resource B). An AT assigned resource a on the uplink will monitor resource B on the downlink. Conversely, upon receiving data from the AT on uplink resource a, the base station 104 will transmit a PHICH signal to the AT on downlink resource B. However, it should be appreciated that in a multiple access technology system, such as system 100, assigning PHICH groups to advanced radio access technologies can degrade the performance of ATs implementing legacy radio access technologies. For example, reducing the number of PHICH groups available to legacy ATs may result in indirect resource collision or resource breakdown. This type of collision may result in performance degradation for ATs that use the PHICH group for acknowledgement.

To mitigate this problem, the arbitration policy 112B can consolidate the mapping of uplink transmissions to PHICH resources to mitigate the impact of collisions between PHICH groups used by legacy radio access technologies (e.g., for acknowledgements) and PHICHs reserved for advanced radio access technologies. That is, it is unlikely that a PHICH group mapped to uplink resources used by a legacy AT (an AT configured for a legacy radio access technology) will collide with a PHICH group reserved for an advanced radio access technology or a PHICH group used by an advanced AT (an AT configured for an advanced radio access technology). As a result, the legacy ATs served by the base station 104 transmit signals on uplink resources mapped to PHICH groups (which are different from the set of PHICH resources reserved for advanced radio access technologies). This is possible in, for example, LTE, since the PHICH group used by an LTE AT depends on the uplink resources scheduled to the AT (as described above) and other AT-specific parameters that can be configured by the base station 104. In the latter aspect, collisions between PHICH groups monitored by legacy ATs for acknowledgements and PHICH groups reserved for advanced radio access technologies (for acknowledgements, for control signal or RS transmissions, for data transmissions, etc.) may be mitigated or avoided by arbitration policy 112B. Thus, in at least one aspect of the subject innovation, the arbitration procedure includes mapping access terminals configured for legacy radio access technologies to uplink resources corresponding to a set of PHICH groups (which are different from the set of PHICH resources reserved for advanced radio access technologies).

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the resource selection module 110 can allocate a subset of the Control Channel Elements (CCEs) used by the wireless network (and base station 104) to control or RS signals of the advanced radio access technology. In at least one aspect, the resource selection module 110 ensures that these resources are not used for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmissions of legacy radio access technologies (e.g., at least when these resources are reserved for advanced radio access technologies). To illustrate the use of CCEs and PDCCHs, we consider the LTE system. In LTE, a CCE is a set of nine Resource Element Groups (REGs) in the control domain of a radio subframe (e.g., see the control resources of fig. 2 below). The PDCCH signal is transmitted on an aggregate of 1, 2,4 or 8 CCEs. In each subframe, CCEs may be ordered as specified in the LTE standard (e.g., LTE release 8), with PDCCHs allocated to 1, 2,4, or 8 consecutive CCEs with such ordering.

According to the aforementioned structure, the resource selection module 110 can select the first CCE and the overall size (e.g., 1, 2,4, or 8 CCEs) of the PDCCH to be used for the legacy AT to avoid collision with CCE groups reserved for advanced radio access technologies. In this way, the base station 104 can continue to serve the PDCCH of the legacy AT while providing some CCE resources for advanced radio access technologies. Thus, in the context of LTE systems, a subset of CCEs may be reserved for LTE-a, and the remaining CCEs may be used to implement PDCCH signals for ATs of LTE release 8 or some other release of LTE. For an AT of LTE rel-8, the CCEs reserved for LTE-a appear as PDCCH resources allocated to other ATs (e.g., other ATs of LTE rel-8). Thus, the AT of LTE release 8 is not affected by this reservation of CCEs for LTE-a. It should be understood that this example may be applicable to other combinations of conventional and advanced radio access technologies combined in a terrestrial radio access network.

While the resource selection module 110 may attempt to avoid collisions on CCE transmissions as described above, there may still be performance loss during, for example, high traffic peaks or high loads. To mitigate the performance loss of ATs configured for the baseline wireless access technology due to reserving CCEs for advanced wireless access technologies, an arbitration policy 112B may be used. In this case, the arbitration policy 112B may specify at least one of: modifying a PDCCH signal power of an AT configured for a baseline wireless access technology; modifying the number of REs allocated for PDCCH transmission for the terminals; or to optimize PDCCH-to-CCE mapping for these access terminals. In the latter case, the arbitration policy 112B specifies the organization of CCEs used to transmit PDCCH to legacy ATs in a manner that optimizes performance (or avoids collisions with CCEs reserved for advanced wireless technologies).

In another aspect, the resource selection module 110 can allocate control segment Resource Elements (REs) for advanced radio access technology signals that are not used by legacy radio access technologies for RS, PHICH, or Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) transmissions. In other words, the reserved REs may be part of a CCE for advanced radio access technology signals. Also, control symbols RE that are not part of the CCE and are not used for PHICH, PCFICH or RS transmission may be used for this purpose as well.

If the PDCCH signals are mapped to CCEs including some reserved REs, the reserved REs break down the PDCCH used by the base station 104 (resulting in indirect resource collision). An AT implementing an advanced radio access technology may be used to identify this type of PDCCH collision and decode the PDCCH to compensate for the collision. The legacy AT is unable to recognize such PDCCH collisions and thus it observes a performance loss. In this case, the arbitration procedure 112B can instruct the base station 104 to adjust the power control for the legacy AT in order to compensate for this performance loss. Alternatively or additionally, the arbitrator 112B may instruct the base station 104 to optimize the PDCCH-to-CCE mapping to minimize this performance loss. Alternatively or additionally, arbitrator 112B may instruct base station 104 to increase the PDCCH overall size to improve PDCCH performance or decrease the PDCCH overall size to avoid collision with reserved REs.

In other aspects, the resource selection module 110 may allocate Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) resources for an advanced radio access technology, AT. In one example, the resource selection module 110 allocates control or RS resources to PDSCH REs that conflict, at least in part, with data allocations for legacy radio access technologies. Similar to the control segment RE discussed above, the advanced access technology AT may identify the collision to decode the PDSCH in a manner that mitigates the performance loss. For legacy ATs that are not able to identify the collision, the arbitration procedure 112B can instruct the base station 104 to refrain from scheduling ATs that are in a portion of the frequency band in which the reserved REs are located. In addition, the arbitrator 112B may instruct the base station 104 to use power and rate control to compensate for the conflict, or to use appropriate resource scheduling to minimize the impact of the conflict.

As an alternative example, the resource selection module 110 allocates control or RS resources to PDSCH REs reserved for advanced radio access technologies. In this case, the PDSCH REs may be used, AT least in part, for data transmission, and control signals or RSs for ATs implementing advanced radio access technologies. Reserving PDSCH REs for advanced radio access technologies may impact legacy ATs. In this case, the arbiter 112B may specify a reduced duty cycle to reserve resources for advanced radio access technology purposes to offset the impact on the legacy AT.

According to at least one other aspect, the resource selection module 110 can allocate advanced access technology control or RS resources to non-control symbols of one or more multicast/broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) subframes of a wireless signal. In LTE, for example, MBSFN subframes include one or more control symbols, while the remaining symbols of these subframes are not allocated a delegated transmission. Typically, a legacy AT only monitors control symbols on MBSFN subframes. Thus, the non-control OFDM symbols of the MBSFN subframe may be reserved for advanced access technology ATs without affecting legacy ATs.

In another aspect, the resource selection module 110 can identify other unreserved radio resources specified by the resource schedule 108A to be used for the advanced access technology AT. For example, a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system includes a specific subframe having a frame structure type 2. The frame structure type 2 specifies a Guard Period (GP) field, and a downlink portion (DwPTS) of the specific subframe. In one example, the resource selection module 110 can configure different subframe-specific resource allocations for legacy ATs and advanced access technology ATs. As another example, the resource selection module 110 may specify a larger GP domain for legacy ATs than for advanced access technology ATs. Since the AT typically ignores the GP field, the enlarged portion of the GP field used for advanced access technology signaling has little or no impact on the performance of the legacy AT. Further, the advanced access technology AT may be notified of the change of GP by broadcasting a new System Information Block (SIB) for advanced radio access technology information that the legacy AT ignores. Thus, the resource selection module 110 can allocate control or RS resources (or traffic resources) to particular downlink or GP domain symbols that are ignored by ATs implementing legacy radio access technologies in TDD wireless systems, or to similarly ignored symbols in other systems.

It should be understood that the various REs, CCEs, channels, control symbols and subframes that may be used to reserve radio resources for advanced radio access technologies are not exhaustive. Other resources not specifically listed in this application may also be used. Furthermore, combinations of these resources may also be used consistent with the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the resource scheduler 102 may use a time-varying pattern of resource reservations, which will be discussed in more detail below. For example, a set of resources (e.g., CCE subsets) may be reserved for advanced radio access technology transmissions every N subframes, where N is an integer. As another example, the frequency location of the reserved resource can cycle through different frequency sub-bands in the subframe that includes the reserved resource (e.g., where a sub-band corresponds to a set of consecutive resource blocks RB). For example, odd and even indices may be assigned to different RBs, odd indexed Resource Blocks (RBs) in one subframe may be reserved for advanced radio access technology transmissions, and even indexed RBs may be reserved in a subsequent subframe (see fig. 2 below). As another example, the reserved resources can be cycled through different subbands on different subframes. In another example, distributed virtual resource block mapping may be used in subframes used for transmitting advanced access technology signals. This example enables good frequency sampling (with minimal overhead) of RS symbols that can be used for transmission of different antenna ports. The latter example may also provide good frequency diversity for the transmission of the control signal.

Fig. 2 depicts an exemplary time-frequency resource schedule 200 that allows for multiple radio access technologies, according to one aspect. Resource scheduling 200 depicts a segment of a wireless signal that is divided in time in the horizontal direction and divided in frequency in the vertical direction. Each time-frequency partition is a single radio resource. Further, blocks of consecutive time and frequency partitions are referred to as subframes (202A, 202B) and RBs (204A, 204B, 204C), respectively.

In particular, the resource schedule 200 includes two time subframes 202A and 202B. Each subframe 202A, 202B comprises 14 OFDM symbols, the first three being control symbol resources (white blocks) and the remaining 11 being resources (dotted or shaded blocks) that can be used for control, reference or traffic transmission. Further, each subframe 202A, 202B includes three RBs 204A, 204B, 204C, each of which includes 12 consecutive frequency tones, respectively. RB 204A, 204B, 204C are numbered as follows: RB 204A has index 1, RB 204B has index 2, and RB 204C has index 3.

In one aspect of the invention, subframes 202A, 202B may be dedicated to PDSCH signals, referred to as PDSCH subframes 202A, 202B. Further, as shown, in the first PDSCH subframe 202A, odd indexed RBs 204A and 204C are reserved for transmission of advanced radio access technology signals (e.g., LTE-a signals, as indicated by dark shading), while even indexed RB 204B may be used for transmission of signals for ATs using any type of access technology (e.g., LTE or LTE-a, as indicated by light shading). In the even subframe 202B, the opposite pattern is observed, where odd numbered RBs 204A, 204C are available to any AT, while even numbered RBs 204B are reserved for advanced radio access technology ATs.

Furthermore, the four time-frequency resources reserved for advanced radio access technology signaling (e.g., odd RBs 204A, 204B in subframe 202A and even RBs 204B in subframe 202B) may be specifically selected for use in Reference Signals (RSs). These RS resources are described using time-frequency resources with 'X' inside. As shown in resource scheduling 200, the same-located resource (in the last non-control OFDM symbol) is selected in the odd-indexed RBs 204A, 204B for RS transmission. However, the resources in the even RB 204B of subframe 202B are located in a different position (in the first non-control OFDM symbol). However, this selection of RS resources is merely exemplary; other patterns of RS resources can also be used, and different numbers of resources can be selected for RS transmission. However, this selection of RS transmission enables the RS of the advanced radio access technology signal to span the entire frequency range (all three RBs 204A, 204B, 204C), and therefore, legacy radio access technology transmissions can be scheduled on all subframes without direct collision with the advanced access technology RS signal.

Fig. 3 depicts another exemplary resource scheduling 300 in a radio access network that allows for multiple radio access technologies. In contrast to the resource scheduling 200 of fig. 2 above, the resource scheduling 300 comprises a different time-frequency resource partitioning. In particular, resource schedule 300 depicts a single time subframe 302A having 14 OFDM symbols and four frequency RBs 304A, 304B, 304C, 304D, where each frequency RB 304A, 304B, 304C, 304D includes 12 consecutive frequency tones, respectively. Further, the time subframe 302A is divided into 3 OFDM symbol groups, which are respectively: the control resources in the first three OFDM symbols (white blocks) have two sets of generic resources of 4 and 7 OFDM symbols respectively (shaded blocks, containing light and dark colors). In addition, resource scheduling 300 extends to a larger frequency band, which includes four RBs of 12 frequency tones each.

The non-control symbols of the resource schedule 300 are numbered 1 to 4 along the RB from top to bottom. Specifically, RB 204A has index 1, RB 204B has index 2, RB 204C has index 3, and RB204D has index 4. Furthermore, a first set (comprising four non-control OFDM symbols) of odd indexed RBs is reserved for the advanced radio access technology AT, while a second set (comprising seven non-control OFDM symbols) of even indexed RBs is reserved for the advanced radio access technology AT. In each RB reserved for these ATs, a set of time-frequency symbols is also reserved for RS transmission. It should be noted that although these RS resources are located in consecutive OFDM symbols (the seventh and eighth symbols), they may also be in non-consecutive OFDM symbols. As shown in fig. 2, the advanced access technology RS resources of the resource scheduling 300 span the entire frequency range of the radio signal. When scheduled in frequency hopping mode, the legacy ATs occupy odd (or even) RBs in the first half of subframe 302A and even (or odd) RBs in the second half of subframe 302A. Accordingly, legacy ATs may be scheduled with a frequency hopping pattern in subframe 302A without suffering from these RS resource breakdown. In other words, the resources for the legacy AT may also span the entire frequency range. This enables optimum performance to be achieved with little or no performance loss to the legacy ATs in general.

Fig. 4 depicts another exemplary resource scheduling 400 that allows multiple radio access technologies in accordance with another aspect. Resource scheduling 400 depicts a single time subframe 402A that includes three frequency RBs 404A, 404B, 404C. In this case, the dark shaded time-frequency resource blocks are reserved for transmission of advanced radio access technology RS (e.g., LTE-ARS), while the light shaded time-frequency resource blocks are reserved for transmission of legacy radio access technology RS (e.g., LTE RS). In this case, the white block is a time-frequency resource available to any AT.

Unlike resource scheduling 200 and 300, advanced access technology RS transmissions puncture PDSCH transmissions for legacy access technologies since these RS transmissions span the entire frequency band. A non-legacy AT may be configured to recognize this condition and decode the data transmission accordingly to mitigate performance loss. However, in general, a legacy AT is not configured to recognize this condition, and thus may have a significant performance penalty. To mitigate this performance penalty, an arbitration procedure may be performed (e.g., see 112B of fig. 1 above). The arbitration procedure may include: modifying (e.g., increasing) transmit power, modifying resource scheduling or modifying rate control for legacy access technology transmissions, modifying duty cycle for advanced access technology resources, and the like, or combinations thereof. For example, a low rate legacy AT may experience less performance loss than a high rate legacy AT due to breakdown. In this case, the scheduler (e.g., resource selection module 110 above) may preferentially schedule low-rate legacy ATs on subframes with this puncture and schedule high-rate legacy ATs on other subframes where the puncture is not observed.

Fig. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example system 500 that implements dynamic and adaptive resource scheduling, in accordance with some aspects of the invention. In particular, system 500 can adapt to changing radio conditions and adjust resource scheduling patterns based on such conditions. Thus, system 500 can optimize AT performance over time in various dynamic wireless conditions.

System 500 includes a set of ATs 502A, 502B wirelessly coupled with a base station 504. The set of ATs 502A, 502B includes AT 502B for implementing a baseline radio access technology and AT502A for implementing a second radio access technology. Each AT502A, 502B communicates with the base station 504 via a protocol that implements the access technology used by the respective AT. These protocols indicate which resources the ATs 502A, 502B are to use for various transmission signals (e.g., reference, control, or traffic signals).

In particular, the base station 504 can include a selection module 506 that allocates resources among the various types of ATs 502A, 502B in a similar manner as described above with respect to the resource selection module 110 of fig. 1. In AT least one aspect of the subject disclosure, the resource allocation can be based AT least in part on existing radio conditions observed by the ATs and reported to base station 504. These conditions may be stored in a radio condition file 514B in a database 512 communicatively coupled to the base station 504.

Depending on the type of resource allocation used by the selection module 506, the AT 502B may incur a performance penalty for the baseline access technology. In one example, this performance loss would occur if the selection module 506 reserved RS signals for the second radio access technology in PDSCH subframes spanning the entire frequency band used by the base station 504 (e.g., see resource scheduling 400 above). While AT502A may be configured to detect this type of resource allocation and modify signal decoding to compensate, AT 502B may not have this capability. Thus, due to this resource scheduling, AT 502B may observe some performance loss. To mitigate or avoid such performance loss, the base station 504 may include a compensation module 508. In particular, the compensation module 508 may use power control, rate control, or dynamic scheduling according to an arbitration procedure to mitigate such performance loss, as described herein. In addition, the compensation module 508 can reference existing radio conditions 514B (or historical radio conditions derived from updates stored by the database 512 over time) to determine the appropriate manner in which to apply the arbitration procedure to optimize performance loss mitigation.

According to other aspects of the invention, the base station 504 may include an adaptation module 510 that dynamically modifies the allocation of resources or resource patterns based on network loading or prevailing radio conditions. For example, the adaptation module 510 may reference the scheduling and rules 514A of the reservation mode 514C to implement different resource modes. Exemplary resource reservation modes may include: alternating the reserved resource blocks every N subframes (e.g., see fig. 2 above) or segments of subframes (e.g., see fig. 3 above), cycling through different frequency bands of reserved RBs, or cycling the reserved resources through different subframes, using virtual resource block mapping in the reserved subframes (e.g., see fig. 4 above), or the like, or a suitable combination thereof. The rules 514A for implementing the various resource reservation modes 514C may be based on network loading conditions, e.g., the number of advanced access technology ATs (502A) served by the base station 504, traffic demands of these ATs (502A), resources for these ATs (502A), and so on. Alternatively or additionally, a rule 514A may specify a particular resource reservation mode 514C based on radio conditions 514B, which include channel interference, throughput or data rate, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or other measure of radio channel strength or quality reported by the ATs 502A, 502B. The adaptation module 510 may modify or maintain the resource schedule depending on the current load or radio conditions.

In addition, adaptation module 510 may dynamically monitor network load or radio conditions (514B) to identify changes over time. Once the threshold change specified by rule 514A occurs, a new resource reservation mode may be executed. In this manner, the adaptation module 510 may provide an optimized dynamic resource environment for the needs of the existing ATs 502A, 502B and for prevailing radio conditions.

Fig. 6 depicts a block diagram of an example system 600 that includes a wireless base station 602 configured for some aspects of the present invention. In one example, the system 600 can include a base station 602 that supports ATs 604 that utilize different radio access technologies. As another example, the base station 602 can be configured to provide dynamic and adaptive resource reservation based on changing loading or radio conditions to accommodate these radio access technologies, as described herein.

A base station 602 (e.g., access point, etc.) can comprise a receiver 610 and a transmitter 630, wherein receiver 610 obtains wireless signals from one or more ATs 604 via one or more receive antennas 606 and transmitter 630 transmits encoded/modulated wireless signals provided by modulators 628 to ATs 604 via transmit antennas 608. Receiver 610 can obtain information from receive antennas 606, and receiver 610 can further comprise a signal receiver (not shown) that receives uplink data transmitted by AT 604. Further, receiver 610 is operatively associated with a demodulator 612 that demodulates received signals. The demodulated symbols are analyzed by a data processor 614. The data processor 614 is coupled to a memory 616, the memory 616 holding information related to the functions provided or implemented by the base station 602. In one example, the stored information can include a preconfigured pattern for reserving a subset of radio resources between different radio access technologies. In addition to the foregoing, the memory 616 may include rules or protocols for selecting between these preconfigured modes. The selection may be based on network load or current traffic demand of the AT 604.

In a particular aspect, the base station 602 can include a parsing module 618 that analyzes resource scheduling for legacy wireless access technologies. Further, the base station 602 can include a selection module 620 that allocates control or RS resources for the advanced radio access technology based on a performance loss mitigation strategy (not shown). In one aspect, the performance loss mitigation strategy specifies (e.g., from the analyzed resource scheduling) control or RS resources that do not conflict with the resource scheduling of the legacy radio access technology, or for control or reference signal resources that conflict with the resource scheduling described above, execution of an arbitration procedure. The arbitration procedure can be performed by the compensation module 624, wherein the compensation module 624 employs power control, rate control, or dynamic scheduling to mitigate the performance penalty incurred by resource scheduling for the AT 604. In AT least one particular aspect, the performance loss mitigation strategy specifies an adaptive resource allocation pattern to mitigate performance loss of the legacy AT when resources reserved for the advanced radio access technology puncture the resource reservation of the legacy AT. The adaptive resource allocation pattern may include at least one of: reserving control or RS resources (for advanced radio access technologies) every N subframes (where N is an integer); cycling a reservation of control or RS resources through different parts of a frequency band; cycling a reservation of control or RS resources through different sub-bands on different sub-frames; or distributed virtual resource block mapping is used in subframes for control or RS resources.

In another aspect, the base station 602 includes a scheduling module 622 that sends a message to the AT 604 implementing the advanced radio access technology to specify the location of the control or RS resource allocated by the selection module 620. In one configuration, the scheduling module 622 broadcasts the message through an AT 604-specific SIB that implements the advanced radio access technology. In another configuration, the scheduling module 622 broadcasts the message over a common channel dedicated to the ATs 604. In an alternative configuration, however, the scheduling module 622 unicasts the message to one or more of the ATs 604. In another alternative configuration, the scheduling module 622 broadcasts or unicasts the message on the resources used by the legacy radio access technology.

In accordance with at least one aspect, base station 602 can include an adaptation module 626. In one example, the adaptation module 626 dynamically modifies the allocation of control or RS resources provided by the selection module 620 based on network loading or prevailing radio conditions. In one particular example, the network load for resource modification includes the number of access terminals served by the base station 602 or the amount of control information to be transmitted to the AT 604. As another specific example, the radio conditions for resource modification include channel performance estimates submitted by the AT 604 (which may include ATs implementing legacy radio access technologies or ATs implementing advanced radio access technologies). In addition, the adaptation module 626 can monitor network loading or radio conditions and update the allocation of control or RS resources based on threshold changes in these conditions.

Fig. 7 depicts a block diagram of an example system 700 that includes an AT 702 for wirelessly communicating, in accordance with some aspects of the invention. The AT 702 may be configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more base stations 704 (e.g., access points) of a wireless network. According to this configuration, an AT 702 can receive wireless signals from a base station (704) on a forward link (or downlink) channel and respond to wireless signals on a reverse link (or uplink) channel. Further, the AT 702 can include instructions stored in the memory 714 to analyze received wireless signals, and in particular, to identify resource conflicts in wireless resource allocations, decode signals in a manner that mitigates performance loss due to resource conflicts, sample existing wireless conditions, and submit reports of the sampled conditions, and the like, as will be described in detail below.

The AT 702 includes AT least one antenna 706 (e.g., a wireless transmit/receive interface including an input/output interface or a set of such interfaces) for receiving signals and a receiver 708, where the receiver 708 performs typical actions (e.g., filters, amplifies, downconverts, etc.) on the received signals. In general, the antenna 706 and the modulator 724 and transmitter 726 can be used to transmit wireless data to the base station 704.

The antenna 706 and the receiver 708 can also be coupled to a demodulator 710, where the demodulator 710 can demodulate received symbols and provide the signals to a data processor 712 for evaluation. It is to be appreciated that the data processor 712 can control and/or reference one or more components (706, 708, 710, 714, 716, 718, 720, 722) of the AT 702. Further, data processor 712 can execute one or more modules, applications, engines, etc. (716, 718, 720, 722) that include information or control commands related to performing the functions of AT 702. For example, these functions may include: receive and decode wireless signals, identify resource assignments from these signals, analyze observed conditions of the wireless channel, submit channel information to the base station 704, perform resource optimization based on these statistics, and so forth.

Further, a memory 714 of the AT 702 is operatively coupled to the data processor 712. Memory 714 may store data to be transmitted, received, etc., as well as instructions suitable for wireless communication with a remote device (804). In particular, the instructions may be used to implement various functions described above or elsewhere in this application. Further, memory 714 may store modules, applications, engines, and the like (716, 718, 720, 722) that are executed by data processor 712.

According to one exemplary operation of the AT 702, the wireless receiver 708 obtains a scheduling policy for the LTE access technology, which is decoded by the demodulator 710 for the data processor 712. Further, the data processor 712 can execute a set of modules (716, 718, 720, 722) for implementing LTE-a access technologies and LTE technologies. In particular, parsing module 716 is performed to extract the LTE-a scheduling policy from the scheduling message provided by base station 704. Further, the analysis module 718 is executed to check the LTE-a scheduling policy. Further, the analysis module 718 identifies a resource schedule for LTE-a traffic associated with the AT 702.

The LTE-a scheduling policy may use one of a set of resource reservation patterns for control or RS resources. In one example, the LTE-a scheduling policy includes allocating LTE-a control or RS resources to at least one of: every N subframes of a wireless signal, a series of different frequency sub-bands in different signal subframes containing LTE-a transmissions, a series of different portions of one frequency sub-band, or a distributed virtual resource block containing at least one of the different signal subframes containing LTE-a transmissions. It should be appreciated that combinations of the above-described resource reservation modes may also be used.

In one aspect of the invention, the parsing module 716 obtains the scheduling message in a unicast message sent by the base station 704 to the AT 702. In another aspect, the scheduling message is sent on a SIB or control channel dedicated for LTE-a services, or alternatively, the scheduling message may be sent on at least one resource for LTE services. In an alternative aspect, the AT 702 is preloaded with the LTE-a scheduling policy, and the parsing module 716 obtains the LTE-a scheduling policy from a preconfigured memory setting (714). In another aspect, the parsing module 716 also obtains periodic or triggered updates to the LTE-a scheduling policy. These updates may be based on current network load or prevailing radio conditions. Further, the data processor 712 updates the LTE-a scheduling policy to coordinate resource scheduling between the AT 702 and the base station 704 to take full advantage of resource optimizations generated for current network loading and prevailing radio conditions.

In addition, the AT 702 can also include a sampling module 720 that estimates radio conditions AT the radio receiver 708. Based on this estimate, the sampling module 720 submits the radio condition estimate to the base station 704 to facilitate dynamic and adaptive LTE-a scheduling. The submission may also be used to trigger an updated resource reservation mode, for example, based on radio conditions indicated in the estimates described above.

In AT least one other aspect, the AT 702 can include a compensation module 722. The compensation module 722 can be employed to identify resource allocation conflicts resulting from multiple access technology implementations utilized by the base station 704. Upon discovering these conflicts, the compensation module may attempt to mitigate the performance loss caused by these conflicts. In one illustrative example, the compensation module 722 identifies LTE-a control or RS transmissions that AT least partially interfere with data traffic associated with the AT 702. Such interference may be identified by contrasting LTE-a scheduling with LTE scheduling policies. In addition, the compensation module 722 adjusts signal decoding to mitigate performance loss based on the partial interference.

The above-described system is described in terms of interaction between components, modules, and/or communication interfaces. It should be understood that these systems and components/modules/interfaces may include those components/modules or sub-modules illustrated herein, some of the illustrated components/modules or sub-modules, and/or other modules. For example, the system can include the AT 702, the base station 602, the resource scheduling device 102, or various combinations of these or other modules. The sub-modules may also be implemented as modules communicatively coupled to other modules rather than included in a parent module. Further, it should be noted that one or more modules may be combined into a single module providing all of the functionality. For example, the signal parsing module 108 may include a selection module 110 (or vice versa) to facilitate determining a baseline access technology schedule and establishing an advanced access technology schedule by way of a single component. These components may also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but known by those of ordinary skill in the art.

Further, it is to be understood that portions of the above systems and below methods disclosed may include or incorporate artificial intelligence or knowledge or rules (e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems, bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines, classifiers) based on components, subcomponents, processes, modules, methods, or mechanisms. In particular, such components, and components other than those already described herein, may automate certain mechanisms or processes performed thereby to make portions of the systems and methods described herein more adaptive as well as efficient and intelligent.

With an understanding of the example systems described above, reference to the flow charts of fig. 8-10 will help to better understand methods implemented in accordance with the invention disclosed herein. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the present invention is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies described hereinafter. Moreover, it should be further appreciated that the methodologies disclosed hereinafter and throughout this specification are capable of being stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate transporting and transferring such methodologies to computers. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, device incorporating a carrier, or storage media.

Fig. 8 depicts a flow diagram of an example method for providing multiple access technologies over a public wireless access network. At 802, method 800 may obtain a radio resource schedule for radio resources of a wireless network using a data interface. The data interface may be any suitable wired or wireless communication interface. The radio resources correspond to all radio communication resources available to the radio network. These resources may include time-frequency resources in an OFDM network, coding and spreading factor resources in a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, time slots and sub-slots in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) network, and so forth. The radio resource schedule corresponds to an existing allocation of resources for the wireless network. For example, the radio resource scheduling may be for a baseline (or existing) radio access technology (e.g., LTE release 8).

At 804, method 800 may include analyzing, using a data processor, the radio resource schedule and identifying radio signal resources used by a baseline radio access technology. Further, at 806, the method 800 can include using the data processor to reserve a subset of radio resources of the wireless network for control or Reference Signals (RSs) of a second radio access technology (e.g., LTE-advanced technology or after release 8 of LTE). In one aspect, reserving resources may specifically include: all radio signal resources of the wireless network are reserved for the second radio access technology for a selected duration (e.g., one subframe) or a selected periodic duration (e.g., selected odd or even numbered subframes, as shown in fig. 3 above). In this regard, the method 800 may use remaining wireless signal resources (e.g., outside of these wireless signal subframes or other even or odd numbered subframes, etc.) to serve the baseline wireless access technology.

Further, reserving a subset of the radio resources using the data processor may further comprise: for the reserved radio resources, at least one of the following is used: a subset of a set of PHICH resources used by the wireless network; a subset of CCEs used by the wireless network; a subset of control segment REs used by the wireless network; a subset of PDSCH resources used by the wireless network; or a subset of MBSFN resources used by the wireless network (e.g., scheduling the subset of MBSFN resources to non-control symbols of an MBSFN subframe). In at least one alternative aspect, reserving a subset of the radio resources using the data processor may further comprise: for the reserved subset of radio resources, using a downlink portion or a GP zone of a particular TDD subframe. In this aspect, the method 800 may further include: setting the GP domain of the TDD subframe used by the access terminal implementing the baseline access technology to a larger value than the GP domain of the TDD subframe used by the access terminal implementing the second radio access technology; different numbers of GP symbols are advertised to access terminals implementing the baseline radio access technology and the second radio access technology. Subsequently, reserving the subset of radio resources may include: access terminals implementing the second radio access technology are reserved with GP domain symbols that are ignored by the access terminals by using the additional GP domain symbols set for the baseline access technology as the radio resource subset.

With respect to reserving a subset of the PHICH resource group, the method 800 may further include mitigating performance loss of ATs implementing the baseline radio access technology. The performance loss may be mitigated by one of the following: establishing different PHICH resource groups aiming AT the AT realizing the baseline wireless access technology and the AT realizing the second wireless access technology; or schedules ATs implementing a baseline access technique for uplink resources mapped to PHICH groups other than the reserved subset of PHICH resource groups. In other words, the uplink resources scheduled by the AT implementing the baseline radio access technology have a corresponding PHICH group that does not conflict with the PHICH group reserved for the second radio access technology. This helps mitigate collisions on the PHICH group, thereby mitigating the performance penalty resulting from these collisions.

With respect to reserving CCE subsets, the method 800 may further comprise: CCE subsets for the reserved radio resource subsets are separated from CCEs of the PDCCH signal for the baseline radio access technology. This may also mitigate performance loss due to refusal of the CCE subset to be used for ATs implementing the baseline wireless access technology. As an alternative example, method 800 may include: for the subset of radio resources, one or more REs reserved for PDCCH in a control segment are used. In the latter aspect, mitigating performance loss of an access terminal for implementing the baseline wireless access technology may include at least one of: modifying the PDCCH signal power for the access terminals; or the number of REs allocated for the PDCCH for transmitting these terminals.

With respect to reserving the PDSCH resource subset, the method 800 may also include mitigating performance loss for ATs implementing the baseline access technology. For example, if the PDSCH resource subset is used for a reserved radio resource subset of the wireless network, resource conflicts may occur on the PDSCH, thereby reducing performance. Mitigating the performance loss may include at least one of: increasing the signal power; or modifying rate control of an access terminal implementing the baseline access technology; performing a scheduling decision for at least one access terminal implementing a baseline access technology based on an expected performance loss for the at least one access terminal; or modifying a duty cycle of a PDSCH resource subset used as the radio resource subset.

In addition to the foregoing, at 808, method 800 can include transmitting, using a wireless transmitter, a resource schedule for a control or reference signal of a second radio access technology on a subset of other wireless signal resources not used by an access terminal implementing the baseline radio access technology. In one example, the scheduling of transmission resources further comprises: establishing a SIB for said other subset of radio signal resources, in which SIB the resource schedule is transmitted. In another example, the transmission resource scheduling further comprises at least one of: reserving a common channel of the wireless network for the second radio access technology; scheduling a subset of other wireless signal resources on the common channel; or transmitting the resource schedule on at least one resource used by a baseline radio access technology. In at least one other example, the transmission resource scheduling further comprises: reserving a subset of the radio resources in different radio signal subframes from the radio signal resources.

Fig. 9 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 900 that enables multiple radio access technologies for a common radio access network. At 902, method 900 may include: a radio resource schedule for a baseline radio access technology is obtained. At 904, methodology 900 identifies resources utilized by the baseline access technology based on the wireless resource schedule. Further, at 906, methodology 900 can obtain prevailing radio conditions or network loading data for the radio access network. At 908, method 900 can access a resource scheduling policy. At 910, using this resource scheduling policy and the prevailing radio conditions or network load data, methodology 900 can reserve a subset of radio resources of the wireless network for the second radio access technology, as described herein.

According to an aspect, reserving a subset of radio resources may further include: the scheduling mode for reserving the subset of radio resources is dynamically adjusted. In an aspect, these dynamically adjusting scheduling modes may be based on a number of access terminals implementing the second radio access technology. In another aspect, the scheduling mode can be based on an amount of control information that needs to be transmitted to the access terminals. In another aspect, the scheduling mode may be based on a particular control resource used to transmit the control information.

In further aspects, the method 900 may further include reserving resources for the second radio access technology using the scheduling mode. For example, at least one of the following scheduling patterns may be used: scheduling the subset of radio resources every N subframes; cycling through different portions of a frequency band on a subframe for a second radio access technology; cycling through different sub-bands on different sub-frames; or using distributed virtual resource block mapping in a subframe for the second radio access technology.

AT 912, methodology 900 can determine whether there is a resource conflict that would result in a performance loss for one or more sets of ATs. If there is a resource conflict, the method 900 may proceed to 914; otherwise method 900 proceeds to 918.

At 914, the methodology 900 can determine an appropriate arbitration operation to mitigate performance loss due to resource conflicts. At 916, the method 900 may execute the determined procedure. As one example, a suitable arbitration procedure may include: modifying the signal power; scheduling rate control of the AT implementing the baseline radio access technology; alternatively, the duty cycle of the resource for the second radio access technology is modified. Other arbitration program examples (e.g., as described above for method 800) may also be used, either alone or in appropriate combinations, for various resource types or scheduling modes.

At 918, method 900 may generate a transmission message for the selected resource of marker 910. Further, AT 920, methodology 900 can transmit the transmission message to the AT implementing the second radio access technology. The message may be broadcast on a dedicated channel or SIB, or may be unicast to one such AT or a group of such ATs.

Fig. 10 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 1000 for participating in a multiple access technology wireless network. At 1002, the method 1000 may include receiving, using a wireless receiver, a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology. Further, at 1004, method 1000 may include: an augmented resource scheduling policy for the second radio access technology is obtained. In some aspects, obtaining the augmented resource scheduling policy further comprises: obtaining a unicast message indicating a scheduling policy or receiving the policy on a SIB or a control channel dedicated to the second radio access technology. In other aspects, obtaining the supplemental resource scheduling policy further comprises: the appended resource scheduling policy is obtained from pre-configured settings stored in memory.

At 1006, method 1000 may include: the appended resource scheduling policy is analyzed using a data processor to decode control or RS transmissions of the second radio access technology as specified by the appended resource scheduling. In at least one aspect, the specified resources are scheduled based at least in part on the appended resources, which may decode data transmissions as well as control or RS transmissions.

At 1008, method 1000 may include: generating an estimate of radio conditions measured by the radio receiver; the estimate is submitted to a serving base station to trigger an update to the supplemental resource scheduling policy. In at least one particular aspect, at 1010, method 1000 can include: obtaining periodic or triggered updates to the supplemental resource scheduling policy (e.g., as a result of multiple estimator submissions); the control or RS transmission decoding for the second radio access technology is updated accordingly. The latter aspect facilitates dynamic and adaptive resource provisioning optionally depending on the submitted radio conditions. At 1012, the method 1000 may also optionally include: control or RS assignments are identified that at least partially interfere with data traffic scheduling. Additionally, method 1000 may also include adjusting signal decoding to mitigate performance loss due to the interference.

Fig. 11 and 12 depict block diagrams of example systems 1100, 1200, respectively, for providing and facilitating multiple radio access technologies. For example, systems 1100 and 1200 can reside at least partially within a wireless communication network and/or within a transmitter such as a node, base station, access point, user terminal, personal computer coupled to a mobile interface card, etc. It is to be appreciated that systems 1100 and 1200 are represented as including functional blocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functions implemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware).

System 1100 can comprise a module 1102 that facilitates utilizing a data interface to obtain a radio resource schedule. The module 1102 may include software or hardware controls or drivers for data interfaces, which may include any suitable wired or wireless communication interfaces. Additionally, system 1100 can include a module 1104 that employs a data processor to identify wireless signal resources utilized by a baseline radio access technology based upon a radio resource schedule. In at least one aspect, system 1100 can include a module 1106 that employs a data processor to reserve a subset of radio signal resources of a wireless network for a control or RS of a second radio access technology. In some aspects, a subset of radio resources may be selected from a particular type of resource (e.g., a PHICH resource, a subset of CCEs, a subset of control segment REs, a subset of PDCCH resources, a subset of PDSCH resources, a subset of MBSFN subframes, a particular TDD resource, etc.). Further, wireless resources may be reserved according to a particular resource pattern (e.g., every nth subframe, cycling through different sub-bands or subframes, according to distributed virtual resource block mapping, etc.).

Further, system 1100 can comprise a module 1108 that transmits a resource schedule for a control or RS of a second radio access technology over a subset of the subset of radio signal resources using a radio transmitter. In particular, the subset may include resources that are not used by the baseline access technology ATs to avoid collisions of these ATs.

System 1200 can include a module 1202 for receiving a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology using a wireless receiver. Further, system 1200 can include a module 1204 for obtaining an augmented resource scheduling policy for the second radio access technology. In addition to the foregoing, system 1200 can also include a module 1206 that employs a data processor to analyze an augmented resource scheduling policy and decode a control or RS transmission of a second radio access technology as specified by the augmented resource scheduling.

Fig. 13 depicts a block diagram of an example system 1300 that can facilitate wireless communication in accordance with some aspects disclosed herein. On the downlink, at access point 1305, a Transmit (TX) data processor 1310 receives, formats, codes, interleaves, and modulates (or symbol maps) traffic data and provides modulation symbols ("data symbols"). A symbol modulator 1313 receives and processes the data symbols and pilot symbols and provides a stream of symbols. A symbol modulator 1320 multiplexes data and pilot symbols and provides them to a transmitter unit (TMTR) 1320. Each transmit symbol may be a data symbol, a pilot symbol, or a signal value of zero. The pilot symbols may be sent continuously in each symbol period. These pilot symbols may be Frequency Division Multiplexed (FDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM), Time Division Multiplexed (TDM), Code Division Multiplexed (CDM), or suitable combinations thereof or with similar modulation and/or transmission techniques.

TMTR 1320 receives and converts the stream of symbols into one or more analog signals that are further conditioned (e.g., amplified, filtered, and upconverted) to generate a downlink signal suitable for transmission over the wireless channel. The downlink signal is then transmitted through an antenna 1325 to the terminals. At terminal 1330, an antenna 1335 receives the downlink signal and provides a received signal to a receiver unit (RCVR) 1340. Receiver unit 1340 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, and frequency downconverts) the received signal and digitizes the conditioned signal to obtain samples. A symbol demodulator 1345 demodulates and provides received pilot symbols to a processor 1350 for channel estimation. Symbol demodulator 1345 also receives a frequency response estimate for the downlink from processor 1350, performs data demodulation on the received data symbols to obtain data symbol estimates (which are estimates of the transmitted data symbols), provides data symbol estimates to an RX data processor 1355, and RX data processor 1355 demodulates (i.e., symbol demaps), deinterleaves, and decodes the data symbol estimates to recover the transmitted traffic data. The processing by symbol demodulator 1345 and RX data processor 1355 is complementary to the processing by symbol modulator 1313 and TX data processor 1310, respectively, at access point 1305.

On the uplink, a TX data processor 1360 processes traffic data and provides data symbols. A symbol modulator 1365 receives the data symbols, multiplexes the data symbols with pilot symbols, performs modulation, and provides a stream of symbols. A transmitter unit 1370 then receives and processes the stream of symbols to generate an uplink signal, which is transmitted by the antenna 1335 to the access point 1305. In particular, the uplink signal may be in accordance with SC-FDMA requirements, which may include a frequency hopping mechanism as described herein.

At access point 1305, the uplink signal from terminal 1330 is received by the antenna 1325 and processed by a receiver unit 1375 to obtain samples. A symbol demodulator 1380 then processes the samples to provide received pilot symbols and data symbol estimates for the uplink. An RX data processor 1385 processes the data symbol estimates to recover the traffic data transmitted by terminal 1330. A processor 1390 performs channel estimation for each active terminal transmitting on the uplink. Multiple terminals may transmit pilot concurrently on the uplink on their respective assigned sets of pilot subbands, where the pilot subband sets may be interlaced.

Processors 1390 and 1350 direct (e.g., control, coordinate, manage, etc.) operation at access point 1305 and terminal 1330, respectively. Respective processors 1390 and 1350 are associated with memory units (not shown) that store program codes and data. Processors 1390 and 1350 can also perform computations to derive frequency and impulse response estimates for the uplink and downlink, respectively.

For a multiple-access system (e.g., SC-FDMA, OFDMA, CDMA, TDMA, etc.), multiple terminals can transmit simultaneously on the uplink. For such a system, the pilot subbands may be shared among different terminals. The channel estimation techniques may be used in cases where the pilot subbands for each terminal span the entire operating band (which may be except for the band edges). It is desirable to use this pilot subband structure to obtain frequency diversity for each terminal. The techniques described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For a hardware implementation that may be digital, analog, or both, the processing units used for channel estimation may be implemented within one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For a software implementation, the functions described herein may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in memory unit and executed by the processors 1390 and 1350.

Fig. 14 depicts a wireless communication system 1400 with multiple Base Stations (BSs) 1410 (e.g., wireless access points, wireless communication devices) and multiple terminals 1420 (e.g., ATs), such as may be used in connection with one or more aspects. A BS (1410) is generally a fixed station that communicates with the terminals and may also be referred to as an access point, a node B, or some other terminology. Each BS 1410 provides communication coverage for a particular geographic area or coverage area (shown as three geographic areas labeled 1402a, 1402b, and 1402c in fig. 14). The term "cell" may refer to a BS or its coverage area depending on the context in which the term is used. To improve system capacity, the BS geographic area/coverage area may be divided into a plurality of smaller areas (e.g., three smaller areas according to cell 1402a in fig. 14), 1404a, 1404b, and 1404 c. Each smaller area (1404a, 1404b, 1404c) may be served by a respective Base Transceiver Subsystem (BTS). The term "sector" can refer to a BTS or its coverage area depending on the context in which the term is used. For a sectorized cell, the BTSs for all sectors of the cell are typically uniformly located within the base station for the cell. The transmission techniques described herein may be used for systems with sectorized cells as well as systems with non-sectorized cells. For simplicity, in the present disclosure, unless otherwise noted, the term "base station" generally refers to a fixed station that serves a sector as well as a fixed station that serves a cell.

Terminals 1420 are generally dispersed throughout the system, and each terminal 1420 can be fixed or mobile. Terminal 1420 may also be referred to as a mobile station, user equipment, a wireless communication device, an access terminal, a user terminal, or some other terminology. Terminal 1420 may be a wireless device, a cellular telephone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem card, or the like. Each terminal 1420 can communicate with zero, one, or multiple BSs 1410 on the downlink (e.g., FL) and uplink (e.g., RL) at any given moment. The downlink refers to the communication link from the base station to the terminal, and the uplink refers to the communication link from the terminal to the base station.

For a centralized architecture, a system controller 1430 is coupled to base stations 1410 and coordinates and controls the BSs 1410. For a distributed architecture, the BSs 1410 can communicate with each other as needed (e.g., by way of a wired or wireless backhaul network communicatively coupled to the BSs 1410). Data transmission on the forward link typically occurs from one access point to one access terminal at a rate that is equal to or close to the maximum data rate that can be supported by the forward link or communication system. Other channels of the forward link (e.g., control channels) may be transmitted from multiple access points to an access terminal. Reverse link data communication may occur from one access terminal to one or more access points.

Fig. 15 depicts a planned or semi-planned wireless communication environment 1500 in accordance with various aspects of the subject application. System 1500 can comprise one or more BSs 1502 in one or more cells and/or sectors that receive, transmit, relay, etc., wireless communication signals to each other and/or to one or more mobile devices 1504. As shown, each BS1502 can provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area (as shown by the four geographic areas labeled 1506a, 1506b, 1506c, and 1506 d). Each BS1502 can comprise a transmitter chain and a receiver chain, each of which can in turn comprise a plurality of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, antennas, etc., see fig. 7 above), as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art. The mobile device 1504 can be, for example, a cellular phone, smart phone, laptop, handheld communication device, handheld computing device, satellite radio, global positioning system, PDA, or any other suitable device operable to communicate in the wireless communication environment 1500. System 1500 may be employed in conjunction with various aspects set forth herein to facilitate improved resource management in wireless communications, as set forth herein.

As used in this disclosure, the terms "component," "system," "module," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, software in execution, firmware, middle ware, microcode, and/or any combination thereof. For example, a module may be, but is not limited to being: a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, a device, and/or a computer. One or more modules may reside within a process or thread of execution; a module may be located in one electronic device or distributed between two or more electronic devices. Further, these modules can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures thereon. The modules may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal). Further, components or modules of systems described herein may be rearranged, or other components/modules/systems may be complemented by components or modules of systems described herein in order to facilitate achieving the various aspects, goals, advantages, etc., described with regard thereto, and are not limited to the precise configurations described in a given figure, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

Moreover, various aspects are described herein in connection with a User Equipment (UE). A UE may also be called a system, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile communication device, mobile device, remote station, remote terminal, Access Terminal (AT), User Agent (UA), user device, or User Equipment (UE). A subscriber station may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem or similar apparatus that facilitates wireless communication with a processing device.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any physical media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer storage media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, smart cards and flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, key drives, etc.), or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes Compact Disc (CD), laser video disc, optical disc, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks (disks) usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs (discs) reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

For a hardware implementation, the various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the processing unit disclosed herein may be implemented or performed in one or more ASICs, DSPs, DSPDs, PLDs, FPGAs, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, general-purpose processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Further, at least one processor includes one or more modules operable to perform one or more of the steps and/or actions described herein.

Moreover, various aspects or features described herein can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. Further, the steps and/or actions of a method or algorithm described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Further, in some aspects, the steps or actions of a method or algorithm may reside as at least one or any combination or set of codes or instructions on a machine readable medium or computer readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any suitable computer-readable device or media.

Furthermore, the term "exemplary" as used herein is intended to serve as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, the use of the exemplary word is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used herein, the term "or" means an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, "X employs a or B" means any normal or permutation unless stated otherwise or clear from context. That is, if X employs A; b is used as X; or X employs A and B, then "X employs A or B" is satisfied in any of the above examples. In addition, the articles "a" and "an" as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.

The above description includes examples of some aspects of the present invention. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the present invention, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the present invention are possible. Accordingly, the disclosure is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "includes," "has," or "having" are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

Claims (48)

1. A method for aggregating multiple radio access technologies in a wireless network, comprising:

obtaining a radio resource schedule of radio resources of the wireless network using a data interface;

analyzing, using a data processor, the radio resource schedule and identifying radio signal resources used by a baseline radio access technology;

reserving, using the data processor, a subset of radio resources of the wireless network for control or reference signals of a second radio access technology;

transmitting, using a wireless transmitter, a resource schedule of the control or reference signal to an access terminal configured for the second radio access technology.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a System Information Block (SIB) for the subset of radio resources;

transmitting the resource schedule in the SIB.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

transmitting the resource schedule on at least one resource used by the baseline radio access technology; or

Reserving a common channel of the wireless network for the second radio access technology and transmitting the resource schedule on the common channel.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reserving all wireless signal resources of the wireless network for the second radio access technology for a selected duration or a selected periodic duration.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: for the subset of radio resources, using at least one of:

a subset of a set of physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) resources used by the wireless network;

a subset of Control Channel Elements (CCEs) used by the wireless network;

a subset of control segment Resource Elements (REs) used by the wireless network;

a subset of Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) resources used by the wireless network; or

A subset of multicast/broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) resources used by the wireless network.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

if the PHICH group subset is used for the radio resource subset, mapping uplink transmissions for access terminals configured for the baseline radio access technology such that respective PHICH groups for these access terminals do not conflict with the PHICH group subset reserved for the second radio access technology.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

separating a subset of CCEs used for the subset of radio resources from CCEs used for a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) signal.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

for the subset of radio resources, one or more REs reserved for PDCCH in a control segment are used.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

mitigating performance loss for access terminals configured for the baseline radio access technology if at least one of the subset of control segment REs punctures PDCCH transmissions for those access terminals by at least one of:

modifying the PDCCH signal power for the access terminals;

modifying the number of REs allocated for PDCCH transmission for these terminals; or

The PDCCH-to-CCE mapping for these access terminals is optimized.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

mitigating a performance penalty of an access terminal configured for the baseline radio access technology if the PDSCH resource subset is used for the radio resource subset by at least one of:

increasing a signal power or modifying a rate control of an access terminal configured for the baseline radio access technology;

making a scheduling decision for at least one access terminal configured for the baseline wireless access technology based on an expected performance loss for the at least one access terminal; or

Modifying a duty cycle of a PDSCH resource subset for the subset of radio resources.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

reserving non-control symbols of the MBSFN subframe for the subset of radio resources.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

for the subset of radio resources, using a downlink portion of a particular Time Division Duplex (TDD) subframe; or

For the subset of radio resources, a Guard Period (GP) field of the particular TDD subframe is used and different numbers of GP symbols are advertised for access terminals configured for the baseline radio access technology and for access terminals configured for the second radio access technology.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a GP zone of a particular TDD subframe used by an access terminal configured for the baseline radio access technology to a greater value than a GP zone of a particular TDD subframe used by an access terminal configured for the second radio access technology;

for the subset of radio resources, using an additional GP zone symbol set for the baseline radio access technology.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reserving the subset of radio resources using at least one of the following scheduling modes:

scheduling the subset of radio resources every N subframes, wherein N is an integer;

cycling through different portions of a frequency band on a subframe used by the second radio access technology;

cycling through different sub-bands on different sub-frames; or

In a subframe used by the second radio access technology, distributed virtual resource block mapping is used.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dynamically adjusting a scheduling mode for reserving the subset of radio resources according to:

a number of access terminals configured for the second radio access technology;

the amount of control information that needs to be transmitted to these access terminals; or

Control resources for transmitting control information.

16. An apparatus for aggregating multiple radio access technologies, comprising:

a memory storing a set of modules to provide wireless access to an access terminal configured for a legacy wireless access technology and an access terminal configured for an advanced wireless access technology;

a data processor for executing the set of modules, the set comprising:

a signal analysis module for analyzing the wireless network resource scheduling to identify the wireless resource scheduled by the traditional wireless access technology;

a selection module that allocates control or Reference Signal (RS) resources for the advanced radio access technology according to a performance loss mitigation policy, wherein the policy specifies control or RS resources that do not conflict with a radio network resource schedule of the legacy radio access technology or specifies execution of an arbitration procedure for control or reference signal resources that conflict with the radio network resource schedule.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

a scheduling module to send a message to an access terminal configured for the advanced radio access technology, wherein the message specifies a location of the control or RS resource.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the scheduling module broadcasts the message via an SIB or common channel specific to an access terminal configured for the advanced radio access technology.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the scheduling module unicasts the message to one or more of the access terminals configured for the advanced radio access technology.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for selecting allocates the control or RS resources to a PHICH resource group reserved for the advanced radio access technology.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the arbitration procedure comprises:

mapping access terminals configured for the legacy radio access technology to uplink resources corresponding to a group of PHICH resource groups different from the PHICH resource groups reserved for the advanced radio access technology.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the selection module allocates the control or RS resource to at least one of:

one CCE subset defined for PDCCH transmission of said legacy radio access technology; or

Control segment REs not used by the legacy radio access technology for RS, PHICH, or Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) transmission.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the arbitration procedure increases a transmit power of access terminals configured for the legacy radio access technology or modifies a number of REs allocated for PDCCH transmission for the access terminals in order to reduce performance loss for those terminals.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at least one of:

the selection module allocates the control or RS resources to control PDSCH REs that at least partially conflict with data allocations of the legacy radio access technology; or

The selection module allocates the control or RS resources to control PDSCH REs reserved for the advanced radio access technology, and further wherein the control PDSCH REs may be used at least in part for data transmissions for access terminals configured for the advanced radio access technology.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

a compensation module to implement at least one of the following actions to mitigate performance loss for an access terminal configured for the legacy wireless access technology:

increasing the signal power or modifying the rate control of the access terminals;

making a scheduling decision for at least one of the access terminals based on an expected performance loss for the at least one of the access terminals; or

Modifying a duty cycle of a PDSCH resource subset for the subset of radio resources.

26. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the selection module allocates the control or RS resources to non-control symbols of an MBSFN subframe.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the selection module allocates the control or RS resource to at least one of:

a downlink portion of a particular TDD subframe;

a GP zone symbol in the specific TDD subframe, which is ignored by an access terminal configured for the legacy radio access technology; or

An additional GP zone symbol scheduled for the legacy radio access technology in the specific TDD subframe.

28. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

an adaptation module for dynamically modifying the allocation of the control or RS resources depending on network load or prevailing radio conditions.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein:

the network load comprises: a number of access terminals served by the apparatus or an amount of control information to transmit to access terminals configured for the advanced radio access technology; or

The major radio conditions include: channel performance estimates submitted by access terminals configured for the legacy radio access technology or access terminals configured for the advanced radio access technology.

30. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the performance loss mitigation policy specifies an adaptive resource allocation pattern comprising at least one of:

reserving the control or RS resource every N subframes;

cycling the reservation of the control or RS resource through different portions of a frequency band;

cycling the reservation of the control or RS resources through different sub-bands on different sub-frames; or

In a subframe for the control or RS resource, distributed virtual resource block mapping is used.

31. An apparatus that facilitates wireless communication for a plurality of radio access technologies, comprising:

a module for obtaining a radio resource schedule of a radio resource of a wireless network using a data interface;

means for identifying, using a data processor, a wireless signal resource for use by a baseline radio access technology based on the radio resource schedule;

means for reserving, using the data processor, a subset of radio resources of the wireless network for control or reference signals of a second radio access technology;

means for transmitting, using a wireless transmitter, a resource schedule of the control or reference signal to an access terminal configured for the second radio access technology.

32. At least one processor that facilitates wireless communication for a plurality of radio access technologies, comprising:

a first module that identifies wireless signal resources of a wireless network used by a baseline wireless access technology;

a second module that reserves a subset of the radio signal resources for control or reference signals of a second radio access technology;

a third module that transmits resource scheduling of the control or reference signal to an access terminal configured for the second radio access technology.

33. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving, using a wireless receiver, a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology;

obtaining an augmented resource scheduling policy for a second radio access technology;

analyzing, using a data processor, the supplemental resource scheduling policy and decoding control or RS transmissions of the second radio access technology as specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

obtaining the supplemental resource scheduling policy in a unicast message or on a SIB or a control channel dedicated to the second radio access technology.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

the supplemental resource scheduling policy is obtained according to pre-configured settings stored in a memory.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

obtaining a periodic or triggered update to the supplemental resource scheduling policy,

updating control or RS transmission decoding of the second radio access technology accordingly.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

generating an estimate of radio conditions measured at the radio receiver;

submitting the estimate to a serving base station to trigger an update to the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

38. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

decoding a data transmission based at least in part on the resources specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

39. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

identifying a control or RS assignment that at least partially interferes with data traffic scheduling;

signal decoding is adjusted to mitigate performance loss.

40. An apparatus for using a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-a) access technology in a wireless network, wherein the wireless network supports both the Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology and the LTE-a access technology, the apparatus comprising:

a wireless receiver to obtain and decode a scheduling policy of the LTE access technology;

a memory storing a set of modules configured for using LTE-A access technology of the wireless network;

a data processor for executing the set of modules, the set comprising:

the analysis module extracts an LTE-A scheduling strategy from the scheduling message provided by the wireless network;

an analysis module that examines the LTE-A scheduling policy and identifies a resource schedule for LTE-A traffic associated with the apparatus.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the parsing module obtains the scheduling message in a unicast message sent by the wireless network to the apparatus or on an LTE-A specific SIB or control channel.

42. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the parsing module obtains the LTE-A scheduling policy according to a pre-configured memory setting.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein:

the parsing module further obtains periodic or triggered updates to the LTE-A scheduling policy based on current network load or prevailing radio conditions;

further wherein the data processor updates the LTE-A scheduling policy.

44. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the LTE-A scheduling policy comprises allocating LTE-A control or RS resources for at least one of:

every N subframes;

a sequence of different frequency sub-bands in different signal sub-frames containing LTE-A transmissions;

a sequence of different parts of a frequency sub-band; or

Distributed virtual resource blocks in at least one of the different signal subframes containing LTE-a transmissions.

45. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising:

a sampling module to estimate radio conditions at the radio receiver and submit the radio condition estimate to the wireless network to facilitate dynamic and adaptive LTE-A scheduling.

46. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising:

a compensation module to identify LTE-A control or RS transmissions that at least partially interfere with data traffic associated with the apparatus and adjust signal decoding to mitigate performance loss.

47. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, comprising:

a wireless receiver usage module that receives, using a wireless receiver, a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology;

an obtaining module that obtains an augmented resource scheduling policy for a second radio access technology;

a data processor usage module, using a data processor, to analyze the supplemental resource scheduling policy and decode a control or RS transmission of the second radio access technology as specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.

48. At least one processor configured for wireless communication, comprising:

a first module that receives a resource scheduling policy for a first radio access technology;

a second module to obtain an augmented resource scheduling policy for a second radio access technology;

a third module that analyzes the supplemental resource scheduling policy and decodes control or RS transmission of the second radio access technology as specified by the supplemental resource scheduling policy.