LOW INTERFERENCE CELLULAR DATA COMMNUNICATION IN UNLICENSED FREQUENCY SPECTRUM

摘要

A cellular base station communicates data using both the licensed and unlicensed frequency spectrums. For each interval of a set of intervals (such as intervals corresponding to communication of LTE frames), the base station first identifies whether signaling is detected on a specified unlicensed frequency channel (UFC). If a signal is detected, the base station communicates data only over a licensed frequency channel (LFC) for the interval, and does not employ the UFC for the interval. If no signal is detected, the base station communicates data over the interval on both the LFC and the UFC. To ensure that other devices have the opportunity to use the UFC in a timely fashion, the base station communicates data over the UFC for only a portion of the interval.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
in response to determining at the cellular base station that an unlicensed frequency channel is available for data communication:
generating a first frame of data including a first portion of the first data targeted to user equipment;communicating the first frame of data via a licensed frequency channel for a first interval;communicating a second portion of the first data via the unlicensed frequency channel for a first subinterval of the first interval; andsubsequently suspending communication of data via the unlicensed frequency channel for a blank subinterval of the first interval.