Method and apparatus for allocating radio resources

Abstract

A method for allocating radio resources to geographical areas is described, the method comprising: determining a first radio resource demand existing in a first geographical area in a first time period, estimating a second radio resource demand existing in a second geographical area adjacent to the first geographical area in a second time period after the first time period based on the first radio resource demand and based on movement information about a communication terminal that causes the first radio resource demand in the first geographical area, and allocating radio resources to the second geographical area based on the estimation of the second radio resource demand.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The exemplary embodiments described herein generally relate to methods and apparatus for allocating radio resources. Background Art

[0002] Communication services such as V2X (Vehicle to Everything) may be based on shared radio communication resources such as shared frequency bands, i.e. communication resources that may be used by different base stations that may belong to different cellular mobile communication networks, e.g. mobile communication networks of different operators. Since radio communication is restricted, methods are needed that allow efficient (e.g. in terms of the quality of the communication service provided based on the radio resources) allocation of radio resources. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] In the drawings, like reference numerals generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, with emphasis generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the following description, various aspects will be described with reference to the following drawings, in which:

[0004] Figure 1 A communication system is shown.

[0005] Figure 2 An example is shown of a vehicle using radio resources along a portion of a highway at different time periods as the vehicle travels through different sections of the highway.

[0006] Figure 3 Shows Figure 2 Extension of the scenario, where multiple vehicles belong to two different PLMNs (Public Land Mobile Networks).

[0007] Figure 4 An example of radio resource demand estimation is shown for a case where traffic joins a highway via an entrance ramp.

[0008] Figure 5 A communication system architecture is shown including a resource arbitrator responsible for handling the allocation of radio resources between different PLMNs in the same geographical area.

[0009] Figure 6 A flow chart is shown which illustrates a method for allocating radio resources to geographical areas.

[0010] Figure 7 An arrangement for radio resource allocation is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] The detailed description below refers to the accompanying drawings, which show by way of illustration the specific details and aspects of the present disclosure in which the present invention may be practiced. Other aspects may be utilized, and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Various aspects of the present disclosure are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some aspects of the present disclosure may be combined with one or more other aspects of the present disclosure to form new aspects.

[0012] Figure 1 A communication system 100 is shown, for example an LTE (Long Term Evolution) communication system.

[0013] The communication system 100 comprises a radio access network (e.g. E-UTRAN, an evolved UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) terrestrial radio access network according to LTE) 101 and a core network (e.g. EPC, an evolved packet core according to LTE) 102. The radio access network 101 may comprise base stations (transceivers) (e.g. eNodeB, eNB according to LTE) 103. Each base station 103 provides radio coverage for one or more mobile radio cells 104 of the radio access network 101.

[0014] A mobile terminal (also referred to as UE, User Equipment or MS, Mobile Station) 105 located in a mobile radio cell 104 can communicate with the core network 102 and with other mobile terminals 105 via a base station providing coverage (in other words, operating) in the mobile radio cell. In some cases, for example in the case of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, the mobile terminal (UE) 105 can also communicate directly with another mobile terminal that may be attached to a different PLMN, i.e., while bypassing the base station 103. Such direct communication can be carried out on common radio resources (spectrum, frequency, time units) that both network operators can access equally. According to various examples described below, arbitration of this radio resource is resolved. In a given time window, any participating PLMN can claim each unit of this radio resource and each unit of this radio resource is allocated to the UE attached to it.

[0015] Based on a multiple access method, control and user data are transmitted over an air interface 106 between a base station 103 and a mobile terminal 105 located in a mobile radio cell 104 operated by the base station 103 .

[0016] The base stations 103 are connected to each other by means of a first interface 107, such as an X2 interface. The base stations 103 are also connected to the core network by means of a second interface 108, such as an S1 interface, such as an MME (Mobility Management Entity) 109 and a Serving Gateway (S-GW) 110. For example, the MME 109 is responsible for controlling the mobility of mobile terminals located in the coverage area of ​​the E-UTRAN, while the S-GW 110 is responsible for handling the transmission of user data between the mobile terminal 105 and the core network 102.

[0017] The radio access network 101 and the core network 102 may support communications according to various communication technologies such as mobile communication standards. For example, each base station 103 may provide a wireless communication connection via an air interface between itself and the mobile terminal 105 according to LTE, UMTS, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) or 5G (Fifth Generation) radio access. Therefore, the radio access network 102 may be used as an E-UTRAN, UTRAN, GSM radio access network, GERAN (GSM EDGE radio access network) or a 5G radio access network. Similarly, the core network 102 may include the functionality of an EPC, a UMTS core network, a GSM core network or a 5G core network.

[0018] For radio communications via the air interface 106, the mobile terminal 105 includes a communication subsystem 111 and one or more antennas 112 and one or more multiple subscriber identity modules 113. The mobile terminal 105 also includes an application processor 114 for running applications and a main memory 115. The mobile terminal 105 also includes a battery 116 for power supply. The mobile terminal 105 may include other components, such as a display, a speaker, a microphone, etc. The communication subsystem 111 may include a radio frequency transceiver (e.g., including a radio front end) 117 and a baseband processor 118.

[0019] LTE uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) for the downlink (i.e., for transmission from the base station to the terminal). With this technology, data is transmitted on many narrowband carriers of every 180KHz, i.e., OFDM uses a large number of narrow subcarriers for multi-carrier transmission to carry data. OFDM is a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme used as a digital multi-carrier modulation method. It meets LTE's requirements for spectrum flexibility and provides a cost-effective solution for ultra-wide carriers with high peak rates. The basic LTE downlink physical resources can be viewed as a time-frequency grid. OFDM symbols are grouped into resource blocks. The total size of a resource block in the frequency domain is 180kHz and the total size in the time domain is 0.5ms. Each 1ms transmission time interval (TTI) consists of two time slots.

[0020] In the time-frequency grid, a number of so-called resource blocks are allocated to each mobile terminal 105. The more resource blocks a mobile terminal 105 gets, and the higher the modulation used in the resource elements, the higher the bit rate it achieves in the communication. Which resource blocks are allocated and to how many mobile terminals 105 at a given point in time depends on the scheduling mechanism.

[0021] For the uplink, according to LTE, SC-FDMA is typically used, which can be viewed as OFDM with a DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) based precoder.The resource (time-frequency) grid for the uplink is therefore similar to the resource grid for the downlink described above.

[0022] The mobile terminal 105 may be, for example, a portable phone and may include typical communication terminal components such as a transceiver, an antenna, a subscriber identity module, an application processor, memory, a display, a battery, a speaker, a microphone and the like.

[0023] However, according to various embodiments, the mobile terminal 105 is a vehicle UE, i.e. a mobile terminal (or user equipment according to LTE) that is part of a vehicle. This means that the vehicle has its own subscription (and, for example, its own SIM 113). This situation is the basis for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, which involve the transfer of information from a vehicle to any entity that may affect the vehicle (e.g. another vehicle) and vice versa.

[0024] 3GPP has introduced LTE-based V2X services in Release 14. Currently, direct UE-to-UE communication V2X services are defined on a dedicated ITS band (5.9GHz). Typical deployments are 10 or 20MHz carriers on this band, called Band 47 (B47). The UE (vehicle or RSU (roadside unit)) is configured to use the radio interface resources (physical resource blocks per subframe) in this carrier for communication using LTE sidelink channel communication (also known as PC5 interface, which is an interface for direct device-to-device communication). Two types of resource usage have been standardized. In one (autonomous mode or mode 4), the UE autonomously selects the resources. In the second method (eNodeB controlled mode or mode 3), the resources are allocated by the eNB (LTE radio access node) with which the current UE is communicating.

[0025] In any given area, more than one base station (eNB) may be deployed, in this case by different operators. As per the above, eNBs from different operators use the same frequency band for V2X services, so they need to share radio resources. The eNB control mode (mode 3) poses interesting challenges in terms of (radio) resource sharing, since UEs attached to different PLMNs share a 10 or 20 MHz carrier in band 47. Therefore, special techniques are needed to enable the eNB to allocate resources in this shared carrier.

[0026] A straightforward approach to resource sharing (here, sharing the V2X carrier in a B47 PLMN between multiple PLMNs) is to agree on a static resource sharing configuration, with each eNB having its own allocated resource pool. Each eNB then performs resource allocation within its allocated resource pool. However, this approach has the disadvantage of being inefficient. The allocation of vehicles belonging to each PLMN may be different, and a fixed allocation may lead to congestion in the resource pool of a given PLMN, while the resource pool of another PLMN may have too many resources.

[0027] In the following, an efficient method is described for allocating resources for V2X sidelink communications between eNodeBs (and potentially between PLMNs) sharing the same V2X carrier.

[0028] According to a different approach, a mechanism is provided which involves estimating resource requirements for a given area based on measurements of resource usage in geographically preceding areas (along traffic directions) and in temporally preceding time windows.

[0029] Figure 2 An example is shown of a vehicle (including a UE) 201 using radio resources at different time periods along portions of a highway as the vehicle travels through different sections of the highway, each portion corresponding to an area 202 , 203 , 204 .

[0030] The first graph 205 shows the state in the first time period [T=0 to T=5], the second graph 206 shows the state in the second time period [T=5 to T=10], and the third graph 207 shows the state in the third time period [T=10 to T=15].

[0031] Each of the three zones has a length of 150 m. It takes about 5 seconds for a car to cross each zone at a speed of 100 kmph. V2X resource allocation may utilize the concept of resource allocation for each zone (which is a smaller unit of a radio cell, i.e. a zone (e.g. according to the V2X specification) may be considered a sub-cell).

[0032] As shown in the first figure 205, in the first time period [T=0, t=5], the vehicle (e.g., a car) is in the first area 202 (area A). As shown in the second figure 206, the car moves into the second area 203 (area B) in the second time period [t=5, t=10], and as shown in the third figure 207, moves into the third area 204 (area C) in the third time period [t=10, T=15]. The resource usage in each area 202, 203, 204 in these three time periods is also shown with corresponding shaded boxes 208, 209, 210. For example, the resource usage is a plurality of resource blocks of a fixed period of a subframe. In a portion of the highway without additional traffic in and out, the base station serving the areas 202, 203, 204 can estimate its resource demand for the car 201 based on the resource usage in the areas 202, 203, 204 in the previous time window before the area served by the base station. The base station can, for example, receive information about the resource usage in the previous area from the base station serving the previous area. The base station may perform the action of estimating the required resources, for example, every 100 milliseconds (similar to the resource reselection period defined for Mode 4), since the time at which a zone change occurs typically differs from one car to another.

[0033] Figure 3 Shows Figure 2 Extension of the scenario, where multiple cars 301, 302, 303 belong to two different PLMNs.

[0034] like Figure 2 As shown, the first graph 304 shows the state in the first time period [T=0 to T=5], the second graph 305 shows the state in the second time period [T=5 to T=10], and the third graph 306 shows the state in the third time period [T=10 to T=15].

[0035] Each diagram 304, 305, 306 shows the resource utilization of three areas 307, 308, 309 (referred to as areas A, B and C) by means of a first shaded box 310, 311, 312, 313, 314 for a first PLMN and a second shaded box 315, 316, 317 for a second PLMN. The first car 301 and the third car 303 belong to the first PLMN (PLMN X) and the second car 2 belongs to the second PLMN (PLMN Y).

[0036] like Figure 3 As shown, PLMNs X and Y have different resource requirements in the area in different time periods.

[0037] PLMN X has to serve a first car 301 in area A and a second car 302 in area B during a first time period. In a second time period, this causes corresponding resource requirements in area B and area C. In a third time period, PLMN X has resource requirements only in area C.

[0038] Similarly, for PLMN Y, over the course of three time periods, resource requirements move from region A to region B and to region C, and the base station (or another network component) of the PLMN may estimate resource requirements accordingly.

[0039] According to various examples, components of the PLMN may estimate resource requirements, e.g., for a V2X carrier, for a given area and a given time period based on resource usage observed in geographically previous (in the direction of traffic) areas and temporally previous time periods.

[0040] It should be noted that for simplicity, in this example, traffic flows in only one direction, i.e., each car moves in the same direction, i.e., from left to right. However, it is also possible that a certain percentage of traffic moves in the opposite direction. The component estimating the radio resource requirements (e.g., a base station) can, for example, take this into account, for example, by taking into account a percentage of resource requirements moving to a certain area, or by taking into account individually where each car moves and its resource requirements.

[0041] Figure 4 An example of radio resource demand estimation is shown for a situation where traffic joins a highway via an entrance ramp.

[0042] like Figure 3 As shown in FIG. 4 , there are multiple cars 401, 402, and 403 on the highway, which belong to two different PLMNs. Figure 3 As shown, the first graph 404 shows the state in the first time period [T=0 to T=5], and the second graph 405 shows the state in the second time period [T=5 to T=10]. And each graph 404, 405 shows the resource utilization of three areas 407, 408, 409 (referred to as areas A, B and C) by means of first shaded boxes 410, 411, 412, 413 for the first PLMN and second shaded boxes 414, 415, 416, 417 for the second PLMN. The first car 401 and the third car 403 belong to the first PLMN (PLMN X), and the second car 2 belongs to the second PLMN (PLMN Y).

[0043] Furthermore, in the second time period [T=0, T=5], PLMN Y has an additional new subscriber joining the highway traffic in the form of a fourth car 418. The corresponding resource demand in the third area 409 in the second time period cannot be predicted by simply observing the resource demand in the first area 408 in the first time period. Similarly, a car leaving the highway at an exit does not contribute to the resource demand in the subsequent traffic area of ​​the PLMN.

[0044] According to various embodiments, for each entry point and exit point in the highway, the component (e.g., base station) that estimates the resource requirements of the area and PLMN additionally considers the incoming and outgoing traffic, respectively. If the component has information about all cars in the neighboring area, it can predict resource usage based on resource usage in the surrounding area.

[0045] Information about the driving speed and direction of each vehicle including a UE subscribed to the PLMN can be determined by sending a control message providing information about the vehicle's driving speed and direction via the vehicle's UE, or by adding such information to the header of the data being sent.

[0046] It should be noted that the required radio resources for each UE are estimated in the next time period based on the resource utilization in the current time period. However, the resource usage requirements may change between time periods, for example because the UE may stop transmitting. A predictive approach can also be used, where the radio resource requirements are estimated based on the size of the Basic Safety Message (BSM) and the typical number of BSM retransmissions (usually 10 times per second is the transmission rate).

[0047] Other information that can be used to estimate the radio resource requirements are requests from the subscriber (UE) to the navigation application server for routing, information from the traffic management entity about possible road congestion and re-routing, periodic location reports from the UE or any other traffic and routing related information.

[0048] Optionally, the component performing the radio resource requirement estimation may use predicted join and leave rates based on geography (close to a city center, an airport), time of day, and positioning information that other components may have about one or more UEs.

[0049] Thus, according to various embodiments, a component (eg, a component of a PLMN) may predict radio resource usage (ie, demand) in an area with traffic entering or leaving a highway based on information other than resource usage in previous areas.

[0050] Based on the above, each PLMN can estimate the amount of radio resources required in the next time period based on the current resource utilization in each geographic area. However, since multiple PLMNs may be sharing all radio resources (e.g., V2X carriers) in a given geographic area, resource allocation between PLMNs can also be coordinated.

[0051] Figure 5 A communication system architecture is shown including a resource arbitrator 501 that is responsible for handling radio resource allocation between different PLMNs 502, 503 in the same geographical area. The resource arbitrator 501 can perform resource usage monitoring, resource usage estimation (prediction) and resource allocation for all PLMNs 502, 503. Optionally, the resource arbitrator 501 can perform resource allocation based on dynamic resource requests 504 from different PLMNs 502, 503 for resource allocation using resource allocation messages 505. A hybrid approach can include allocating a minimum set of resources to each PLMN 502, 503, and if a given PLMN 502, 503 requires more resources, the PLMN sends a request 504 for more resources to the resource arbitrator 501.

[0052] According to another example, each PLMN 502, 503 may have dedicated functionality (provided by components of the PLMN) for performing resource usage monitoring and resource usage estimation (prediction). The PLMN 502, 503 may also estimate resource usage based on one or more other data sources, such as navigation server information about subscriber requests for routing or notifications to traffic management entities about possible congestion and re-routing.

[0053] like Figure 5 As shown, an interface to such a data source 505 may also be provided directly to the resource arbitrator 501 .

[0054] The resource arbitrator 501 may provide resource information in the form of a PRB pool per subframe in a time window to the participating PLMNs 502, 503, the time window being based on, for example, UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). The base stations of the PLMNs 502, 503 may use this resource allocation as an allocated resource pool to configure the UE in mode 3 (controlled by the eNB) of resource allocation in V2X communication.

[0055] exist Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 5 , the resource arbitrator 501 is located outside the participating PLMN cellular network and provides an interface for resource request and resource allocation. The resource arbitrator 501 has interfaces with other data sources 505 such as application servers running navigation applications, traffic management entities, etc. These interfaces can also be connected to PLMNs 501, 502 separately.

[0056] In summary, according to various examples, the following are provided: Figure 6 The method shown.

[0057] Figure 6 A flow chart 600 is shown illustrating a method for allocating radio resources to geographical areas, for example by a resource allocation device.

[0058] In 601, a resource allocation apparatus determines a first radio resource demand existing in a first geographical area in a first time period.

[0059] In 602, the resource allocation device estimates a second radio resource demand existing in a second geographical area adjacent to the first geographical area in a second time period after the first time period based on the first radio resource demand and based on movement information about the communication terminal causing the first radio resource demand in the first geographical area.

[0060] In 603, the resource allocation device allocates radio resources to the second geographical area based on the estimate of the second radio resource requirement.

[0061] According to various examples, in other words, the allocation of radio resources to a geographical area (e.g., an area on V2X) is performed based on an estimate of required radio resources, wherein the estimate is based on required radio resources (i.e., radio resource demands) in one or more neighboring geographical areas and based on information about which radio resource demands move to the geographical area for which radio resources are to be allocated. It can be seen that the radio resource demands move with the communication device demanding the radio resources. Therefore, information about the movement (e.g., including direction and speed, or also including the probability of a certain movement, such as transitioning to another geographical area) allows determining an estimate of future radio resource demands. This can be seen as a future speculation on the current radio resource demand.

[0062] The estimation of the second radio resource requirement may be performed for each of the plurality of cellular communication networks (e.g., PLMNs) in the manner described with reference to Figure 8, and the allocation of radio resources may be performed based on the estimation. In other words, radio resources may be allocated to them based on the estimated radio resource requirements of the cellular communication networks.

[0063] The allocation of communication resources to a geographical area can be understood as the allocation of communication resources to one or more base stations serving communication terminals in the geographical area. The base stations may belong to different cellular communication networks. The base stations may then allocate communication resources to the communication terminals for uplink transmission or downlink transmission or for both.

[0064] The radio resource demand that exists in an area in a time period can be understood as the presence of a communication terminal in the area to be served during the time period, and the communication terminal requires certain radio resources in order to be served, such as for uplink communication, downlink communication, or there may also be direct communication between them. This means that there are one or more communication terminals to which communication resources need to be allocated to allow them to use communication services. Therefore, it can be seen that these one or more communication terminals cause radio resource demand in the area and in the time period (i.e., during the time period).

[0065] For example, Figure 6 The method shown can be performed by a radio resource allocation device, such as Figure 7 The shown may consist of one or more communication system components.

[0066] Figure 7 An apparatus 700 for radio resource allocation is shown.

[0067] The apparatus 700 comprises a determiner 701 configured to determine a first radio resource demand existing in a first geographical area during a first time period.

[0068] In addition, the device 700 includes an estimator 702, which is configured to estimate a second radio resource demand existing in a second geographical area adjacent to the first geographical area in a second time period after the first time period based on the first radio resource demand and based on movement information of the communication terminal causing the first radio resource demand in the first geographical area.

[0069] The apparatus 700 further comprises an allocator 703 configured to allocate radio resources to the second geographical area based on the estimate of the second radio resource requirement.

[0070] The apparatus 700 (e.g., determiner, estimator, and allocator) may be implemented, for example, by one or more processors. A "processor" may be understood as any kind of logic implementation entity, which may be a dedicated circuit or processor that executes software stored in a memory, firmware, or any combination thereof. Thus, a "processor" may be a hardwired logic processor or a programmable logic processor such as a programmable processor, such as a microprocessor. A "processor" may also be a processor that executes software such as any kind of computer program. Any other kind of implementation of the various functions described in more detail below may also be understood as a "processor."

[0071] Each communication terminal may be implemented at least in part by a transceiver, for example, may be implemented at least in part by a modem (e.g., an LTE modem), a baseband processor or other transceiver components, or may also be implemented by an application processor. A communication terminal may include typical communication terminal equipment, such as a transceiver (including, for example, a baseband processor, one or more filters, a transmission chain, a reception chain, an amplifier, etc.), an antenna, a user identification module, an application processor, etc.

[0072] The following examples relate to further exemplary embodiments.

[0073] Example 1 is as follows Figure 6 A method for allocating radio resources to geographical areas is shown.

[0074] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 may optionally include that the communication terminal corresponds to the vehicle.

[0075] In Example 3, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-2 may optionally include: the communication terminal is a vehicle user equipment.

[0076] In Example 4, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-3 may optionally include that the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for direct UE-to-UE communication.

[0077] In Example 5, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4 may optionally include that the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for vehicle communication.

[0078] In Example 6, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5 may optionally include: the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared among a plurality of base stations.

[0079] In Example 7, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-6 may optionally include that the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared among a plurality of cellular communication networks.

[0080] In Example 8, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-7 may optionally include that the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared between a plurality of cellular communication networks of different operators.

[0081] In Example 9, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-8 may optionally include, for each of a plurality of cellular communication networks, estimating a second radio resource demand present in a second geographical area in a second time period based on movement information about a communication terminal causing a first radio demand in a first geographical area, and optionally including allocating radio resources to the cellular communication network based on the estimate of the second radio resource demand.

[0082] In Example 10, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-9 may optionally include that the first time period is a current time period and the second time period is a future time period.

[0083] In Example 11, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-10 may optionally include that the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for vehicle-to-all object communications.

[0084] In Example 12, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-11 may optionally include: the motion information includes road network information.

[0085] In Example 13, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-12 may optionally include that the motion information includes travel speed information of the communication terminal.

[0086] In Example 14, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-13 may optionally include: the motion information includes travel direction information of the communication terminal.

[0087] In Example 15, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-14 may optionally include: the movement information includes traffic flow information.

[0088] In Example 16, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-15 may optionally include estimating the second radio resource requirement further based on an expected size of messages transmitted by the communication terminal and an expected frequency of transmissions occurring.

[0089] In Example 17, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-16 can optionally include the message being a vehicle-to-all object message.

[0090] Example 18 is a method for allocating radio resources to Figure 7 Devices in the geographical area shown.

[0091] In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 18 may optionally include: the communication terminal corresponds to the vehicle.

[0092] In Example 20, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-19 may optionally include: the communication terminal is a vehicle user equipment.

[0093] In Example 21, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-20 may optionally include: the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for direct UE-to-UE communication.

[0094] In Example 22, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-21 may optionally include: the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for vehicle communication.

[0095] In Example 23, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-22 may optionally include: the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared among multiple base stations.

[0096] In Example 24, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-23 may optionally include: the first radio resource demand and the second radio resource demand are demands for radio resources shared between a plurality of cellular communication networks.

[0097] In Example 25, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-24 may optionally include the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement being requirements for radio resources shared between a plurality of cellular communication networks of different operators.

[0098] In Example 26, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-25 may optionally include, for each of a plurality of cellular communication networks, estimating a second radio resource demand present in a second geographical area in a second time period based on movement information about a communication terminal causing the first radio demand in the first geographical area, and the allocator is configured to allocate radio resources to the cellular communication network based on the estimate of the second radio resource demand.

[0099] In Example 27, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-26 may optionally include: the first time period is a current time period, and the second time period is a future time period.

[0100] In Example 28, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-27 may optionally include: the first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for vehicle-to-all object communications.

[0101] In Example 29, the subject matter of any of Examples 18-28 may optionally include: the motion information includes road network information.

[0102] In Example 30, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-29 may optionally include that the motion information includes travel speed information of the communication terminal.

[0103] In Example 31, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-30 may optionally include: the motion information includes travel direction information of the communication terminal.

[0104] In Example 32, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-31 may optionally include: the movement information includes traffic flow information.

[0105] In Example 33, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-32 may optionally include: an estimator further configured to estimate the second radio resource based also on an expected size of messages transmitted by the communication terminal and an expected frequency of transmissions occurring.

[0106] In Example 34, the subject matter of any one of Examples 18-33 can optionally include: the message is a vehicle-to-all-object message.

[0107] According to other examples, a method (and corresponding device) for allocating radio resources to one or more communication terminals is provided, wherein the method includes: determining a group of communication terminals expected to enter a coverage area of ​​a cellular mobile communication network based on movement information of the communication terminals, determining current radio resource requirements of the group of communication terminals, determining future radio resource requirements in the coverage area based on the determined current radio resource requirements, and allocating radio resources to the coverage area based on the determined future radio resource requirements.

[0108] According to another example, a first entity in a network providing a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) service and a second entity that divides a given geographic area into different areas based on a road configuration may be provided, the second entity using one or more of the following parameters to predict resource requirements for a given area in a next time period:

[0109] - Resource usage information in a given area during the current time period;

[0110] - Resource usage information in areas adjacent to the given area during the current time period;

[0111] -Road configuration in a given area and its adjacent areas;

[0112] - Traffic information in a given area and its adjacent areas; and

[0113] - The speed and direction of vehicles in a given area and its adjacent areas.

[0114] The first entity may be an eNB or a resource arbitrator or a MEC (mobile edge computing) device. The second entity may also be an eNB or a resource arbitrator or a MEC device.

[0115] For example, the second entity may be aware of the road configuration via a detailed map.

[0116] For example, the speed and direction of travel of each vehicle may be determined via a message transmitted from the vehicle UE to the eNB containing this information.

[0117] The resource usage information is, for example, the resource demand in the current time period.

[0118] Resource usage information may be a function of the size of the V2X message and the typical number of V2X retransmissions (typically 10 times per second is the transmission rate).

[0119] The V2X message is, for example, a Basic Safety Message (BSM).

[0120] For example, the traffic information may be received from an ITS (Intelligent Transport System) server via an interface between a corresponding node (eg, corresponding to the second entity) and the ITS server.

[0121] It should be noted that one or more features in any of the above examples may be combined with any of the features in the other examples.

[0122] Although specific aspects have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the aspects of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims. Therefore, the scope is indicated by the appended claims, and all changes falling within the equivalent meaning and range of the claims are therefore intended to be encompassed.

Claims

1. A method for allocating radio resources to a geographical area, comprising: determining a first radio resource demand present in a first geographic area during a first time period; estimating, based on the first radio resource demand and based on movement information about the communication terminal causing the first radio resource demand in the first geographical area, a second radio resource demand existing in a second geographical area adjacent to the first geographical area in a second time period after the first time period; as well as allocating radio resources to the second geographical area based on the estimate of the second radio resource requirement; Therein, estimating the second radio resource requirement is further based on an expected size of messages transmitted by the communication terminal and an expected frequency of transmissions occurring.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The communication terminal corresponds to the vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The communication terminal is a vehicle user equipment.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for direct UE-to-UE communication.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements of radio resources for vehicle communication.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared among a plurality of base stations.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared among a plurality of cellular communication networks.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared between a plurality of cellular communication networks of different operators.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: For each of a plurality of cellular communication networks, a second radio resource demand existing in a second geographical area during a second time period is estimated based on movement information about a communication terminal causing a first radio demand in the first geographical area, and the method comprises allocating radio resources to the cellular communication network based on the estimate of the second radio resource demand.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first time period is a current time period, and the second time period is a future time period.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for vehicle-to-all-object communications.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The movement information includes road network information.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The movement information includes travel speed information of the communication terminal.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The movement information includes the moving direction information of the communication terminal.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The movement information includes traffic flow information.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The message is a message from the vehicle to all objects.

17. An apparatus for allocating radio resources to a geographical area, comprising: a determiner configured to determine a first radio resource demand present in a first geographical area during a first time period; an estimator configured to estimate, based on the first radio resource demand and based on movement information about the communication terminal causing the first radio resource demand in the first geographical area, a second radio resource demand existing in a second geographical area adjacent to the first geographical area in a second time period after the first time period; as well as an allocator configured to allocate radio resources to the second geographical area based on the estimate of the second radio resource requirement; The estimator is further configured to estimate the second radio resource requirement based also on an expected size of messages transmitted by the communication terminal and an expected frequency of transmissions occurring.

18. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The communication terminal corresponds to the vehicle.

19. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The communication terminal is a vehicle user equipment.

20. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources for direct UE-to-UE communication.

21. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements of radio resources for vehicle communication.

22. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared among a plurality of base stations.

23. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared among a plurality of cellular communication networks.

24. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The first radio resource requirement and the second radio resource requirement are requirements for radio resources shared between a plurality of cellular communication networks of different operators.

Images