Transmission delay compensation for in-band communications

Abstract

The invention relates to transmission delay compensation for in-band communications. The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for operating transceiver circuitry to transmit or receive signals over various frequency ranges. To this end, an electronic device may determine a reception delay between one or more messages received on different component carriers, and may transmit the reception delay to a base station to update how communications are transmitted on one of the component carriers. Updates to at least one of the component carriers may compensate for reception delays between different component carriers. Compensating the receive delay can improve the operation of delaying downlink communications, the present invention relates to an electronic device to reduce the likelihood of simultaneous downlink and uplink communications or to stop simultaneous downlink and uplink communications by further adjusting the delay perceived at the electronic device when communicating with base stations disposed at different distances from the electronic device.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the invention patent application with application date of February 8, 2021, application number 202110181297.6, and invention name “Transmission delay compensation for in-band communication”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 975,445, filed on February 12, 2020, entitled “OPTIMIZATION OF MAXIMUM ROUND-TRIP DELAY IN HIGH FREQUENCY NR INTER-BAND CARRIERAGGREGATION COMBINATIONS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Background Art

[0004] The present disclosure relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to electronic devices that utilize radio frequency signals, transmitters, and receivers for wireless communications.

[0005] This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of the art that may be relevant to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and / or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light and not as admissions of the prior art. The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smartphones and tablet computers have become increasingly complex and sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating complex and sophisticated applications that utilize these capabilities.

[0006] Transmitters and / or receivers may be included in various electronic devices to enable communication between user equipment (e.g., user electronic devices, transmitting or receiving electronic devices) and the core network on the wireless network, deployed through various technologies, including but not limited to access network base stations, such as eNodeBs (eNBs) for Long Term Evolution (LTE) access networks and / or next-generation NodeBs (gNBs) for 5th Generation (5G) access networks. In some electronic devices, the transmitter and receiver are combined to form a transceiver. The transceiver can transmit and / or receive wireless signals, such as radio frequency (RF) signals indicating data, via an antenna coupled to the transceiver.

[0007] With the introduction of inter-band carrier aggregation for frequency range 2 (FR2), including the 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz band, in Rel-16, a new radio standard release related to 5G communications, network deployments with distributed cells in inter-band carrier aggregation (CA) combinations can result in large signal delay differences between aggregated carriers, as perceived by user equipment. Furthermore, hardware design constraints preclude full-duplex operation of FR2 user equipment, and delays for transitions from receive mode to transmit mode (RX / TX) and / or from transmit mode to receive mode (e.g., TX / RX) can be defined in design specifications for 5G communications and / or LTE communications. In practice, variable signal delay differences between aggregated carriers and RX / TX and TX / RX switching delays can cause the network to undesirably allocate uplink and downlink resources to user equipment.

[0008] In practice, when a wireless network is provided by one or more network access nodes (e.g., access network base stations, base stations) that are physically separated from each other, the combination of base stations with which an electronic device communicates may change as the electronic device physically moves but remains registered to the access network (e.g., wireless network). Any suitable technology may implement the techniques described herein with reference to base stations (e.g., network access nodes). In these cases, one or more transceivers of the electronic device may be used to receive communications from one or more base stations and / or from one or more component carriers. When transmission circuitry is shared between base stations and / or component carriers, simultaneous transmissions, such as simultaneous uplink and downlink communications on a first component carrier and a second component carrier, may not occur. In order to achieve non-simultaneous uplink and downlink communications, the processing circuitry of the base station and / or electronic device may use symbols and the timing of the corresponding symbols to allocate uplink communication periods and downlink communication periods. In this way, the base station and / or electronic device may operate according to a first communication configuration that defines when downlink operations occur and how often downlink operations occur, when uplink operations occur and how often uplink operations occur, how often operations are typically paused to allow another uplink operation to occur, and the like.

[0009] When operating to avoid simultaneous transmissions, the electronic device may transmit a control signal to the first base station and the second base station to indicate an incoming uplink operation to the first base station. In response to receiving the control signal, the first base station may prepare to receive uplink communications, and the second base station may delay ongoing downlink communications. However, delaying downlink communications, as performed by the second base station, ultimately slows downlink communications and may be inefficient.

[0010] Various improvements to the above features may exist with respect to various aspects of the present invention. Other features may also be added to these various aspects. These improvements and additional features may exist alone or in any combination. For example, the various features associated with one or more of the illustrated embodiments discussed below may be incorporated into any of the above aspects of the present invention, alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended to familiarize the reader with the specific aspects and context of the disclosed embodiments and does not limit the claimed subject matter. Summary of the Invention

[0011] The following describes a summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a concise summary of these specific embodiments, and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In fact, the present disclosure may encompass a number of aspects that may not be described below.

[0012] To accommodate communications from multiple base stations (e.g., multiple access nodes) and / or on multiple component carriers, an electronic device (e.g., user equipment) may include a transceiver that can communicate with multiple base stations and / or multiple component carriers. When operating to avoid simultaneous transmissions, the electronic device may transmit a control signal to the first base station and the second base station to indicate incoming uplink operation to the first base station. In response to receiving the control signal, the first base station may prepare to receive uplink communications, and the second base station may delay ongoing downlink communications. Delaying downlink communications may allow uplink communications between the first base station and the electronic device to occur without interfering with downlink communications from the second base station. When the second base station interrupts downlink communications, symbols of the downlink communications may be discarded.

[0013] However, as will be understood and disclosed herein, these operations can be improved by scheduling uplink communications (e.g., scheduling uplink allocations) based on the delay associated with electronic devices receiving communications from different component carriers (such as component carriers associated with different base stations). For example, the electronic device and / or the first base station can determine a time difference between the time the electronic device receives a message from the first base station and the time the electronic device receives a message from the second base station. The first base station can proceed to delay the uplink operation requested by the electronic device by the time difference to compensate for the delay between the two base stations. When operating in this manner, fewer symbols of the downlink communication of the second base station can be discarded, thereby allowing for more efficient operation of the wireless network.

[0014] Various embodiments may be used to deploy the disclosed system. For example, the second base station may delay the uplink operation by the same (e.g., fixed) delay amount as the time difference at each time. In addition, when two or more base stations are communicating with an electronic device, the electronic device may determine the longest delay between each communication and transmit the longest delay to the first base station as the time difference. In some cases, the electronic device may report the time difference as part of a report transmitted to the base station, such as part of a user equipment assistance information report. In addition, in some cases, one or more of the base stations may determine the delay between communications. For example, the first base station may use timing for one or more other base stations based on signals or messages received from one or more other base stations and / or based on a message from the electronic device to determine the delay amount. When delaying communication, the base station may also consider the frequency of the communication (e.g., a parameter set for deploying each base station). In addition, in some cases, the base station may be operable to delay communication based on an indication that the electronic device is capable of performing simultaneous communication.

[0015] In some embodiments, the user equipment may include a transmitter and a receiver. The user equipment may include a processor communicatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver. In addition, the user equipment may include a memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations. The operations performed by the processor may include operating the receiver to receive a first packet at a first time and a second packet at a second time, and may include determining a first difference between the first time and the second time. The operations performed by the processor may include operating the transmitter to transmit an indication of the first difference to the first base station via a first component carrier. The processor may also operate the receiver to receive a communication configuration from the first base station via the first component carrier when performing the operations, wherein the communication configuration may be generated by the first base station based on the first difference between the first time and the second time. The operations performed by the processor may include applying the communication configuration to adjust the operation of the receiver, the transmitter, or both according to parameters specified in the communication configuration, and operating the receiver to receive a third packet via the first component carrier according to the communication configuration.

[0016] In addition, in some embodiments, the method performed as described herein may involve receiving, by a processor of the electronic device, a first packet at a first time via a first component carrier according to a first communication configuration. The method may also involve receiving, by the processor, a second packet at a second time via a second component carrier according to a second communication configuration. In some cases, the method may involve the processor determining a reception delay at least in part by determining a difference between the first time and the second time, and transmitting, by the processor, a first indication of the reception delay via the first component carrier. The method may include receiving, by the processor, via the first component carrier, a third communication configuration generated based on the reception delay, and applying the third communication configuration to replace the first communication configuration corresponding to the first component carrier. In some cases, the method includes receiving, by the processor, via the first component carrier, a third packet according to the third communication configuration.

[0017] Furthermore, in some cases, a method performed as described herein may involve, by a processor of a base station, transmitting a first message on a first component carrier according to a first communication configuration, and receiving, by the processor, a reception delay from an electronic device. The electronic device may determine the reception delay based, at least in part, on a time difference between a first reception time of the first message and a second reception time of the second message. The electronic device may transmit the reception delay on the first component carrier to the base station. The method may include the processor generating a second communication configuration based, at least in part, on the reception delay, and transmitting the second communication configuration to the electronic device on the first component carrier. The method may also include applying, by the processor, the second communication configuration to replace the first communication configuration corresponding to the first component carrier, and transmitting, to the electronic device, a third message on the first component carrier according to the second communication configuration.

[0018] Various improvements to the above features may exist with respect to various aspects of the present invention. Other features may also be added to these various aspects. These improvements and additional features may exist alone or in any combination. For example, the various features associated with one or more of the illustrated embodiments discussed below may be incorporated into any of the above aspects of the present invention, alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended to familiarize the reader with the specific aspects and context of the disclosed embodiments and does not limit the claimed subject matter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Various aspects of the present disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0020] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic device including a transceiver according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0021] Figure 2 Yes Figure 1 A perspective view of a laptop computer as a first embodiment of the electronic device;

[0022] Figure 3 Yes Figure 1 a front view of a handheld device of a second embodiment of the electronic device;

[0023] Figure 4 Yes Figure 1 A front view of another handheld device of the third embodiment of the electronic device;

[0024] Figure 5 Yes Figure 1 A front view of a desktop computer of a fourth embodiment of the electronic device;

[0025] Figure 6 Yes Figure 1 A front view and a side view of a wearable electronic device according to a fifth embodiment of the electronic device;

[0026] Figure 7 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device such as Figure 1 Illustration of a base station for electronic devices to communicate;

[0027] Figure 8A According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 A timing diagram of a first exemplary communication schedule of a first base station and a second base station;

[0028] Figure 8B According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 a timing diagram of a second exemplary communication schedule for a first base station and a second base station;

[0029] Figure 8C According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 a timing diagram of a third exemplary communication schedule for a first base station and a second base station;

[0030] Figure 9A According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 a timing diagram of a fourth exemplary communication schedule for a first base station and a second base station;

[0031] Figure 9B According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 a timing diagram of a fifth exemplary communication schedule for a first base station and a second base station;

[0032] Figure 9C According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 a timing diagram of a sixth exemplary communication schedule for a first base station and a second base station;

[0033] Figure 10is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 A flowchart of a method for an electronic device to transmit or receive a radio frequency (RF) signal using a communication configuration that is adjusted based on a delay seen by the electronic device;

[0034] Figure 11 is a method for operating a base station such as Figure 7 A flowchart of a method for a base station to transmit or receive RF signals using a communication configuration that is adjusted based on a delay seen by an electronic device 52;

[0035] Figure 12 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 A flowchart of a method for an electronic device to determine a maximum reception delay based on reception delays associated with one or more component carriers;

[0036] Figure 13 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 Electronic devices based on Figure 7 Flowchart of a method for transmitting and / or receiving RF signals using a communication configuration adjusted based on a delay seen by a base station when receiving one or more physical random access channel (PRACH) communications;

[0037] Figure 14 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 The base station uses Figure 7 Flowchart of a method for transmitting or receiving RF signals using a communication configuration adjusted based on a delay seen by a base station when receiving one or more physical random access channel (PRACH) communications;

[0038] Figure 15 is a diagram showing a method for Figure 7 A timing diagram of two exemplary communication configurations of two component carriers associated with a base station;

[0039] Figure 16 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 The base station uses Figure 7 Flowchart of a method for transmitting and / or receiving RF signals using a communication configuration adjusted based on a delay seen by a base station when receiving one or more physical random access channel (PRACH) communications;

[0040] Figure 17 is similar to the embodiment according to the present disclosure Figure 7 An illustration of an electronic device that communicates with a base station using an antenna panel;

[0041] Figure 18According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 Antenna panels of electronic devices to operate Figure 7 electronic devices to determine whether Figure 7 A flowchart of a method for determining which operating mode is appropriate for use when communicating with one or more base stations; and

[0042] Figure 19 According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 Antenna panels of electronic devices to operate Figure 7 base station to determine the Figure 7 A flow chart of a method for determining which operating mode to use when an electronic device communicates. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. These described embodiments are examples of the presently disclosed technology. In addition, in an attempt to provide a brief description of these embodiments, not all features of an actual implementation may be described in this specification. It should be understood that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, decisions specific to many implementations must be made to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints that may vary from one implementation to another. In addition, it should be understood that such development work may be complex and time consuming, but will still be a routine task of design, processing, and manufacturing for those of ordinary skill in the art who benefit from this disclosure.

[0044] When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles "an" and "the" are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms "comprising," "including," and "having" are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements in addition to the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that reference to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" of the present disclosure is not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Also, the phrase A "based on" B is intended to mean that A is based at least in part on B. Moreover, the term "or" is intended to be inclusive (e.g., logical OR) and not exclusive (e.g., logical XOR). In other words, the phrase A "or" B is intended to mean A, B, or both A and B.

[0045] The present invention discloses various methods for adjusting the operating frequency range of an antenna. The process can be applied to various electronic devices. In some embodiments, a control system (e.g., a controller, one or more processors) of an electronic device can couple a power amplifier to an antenna, a transmission path associated with the antenna (e.g., a transmission channel) and / or a reception path associated with the antenna (e.g., a reception channel) or decouple the power amplifier from the antenna, a transmission path associated with the antenna (e.g., a transmission channel) and / or a reception path associated with the antenna (e.g., a reception channel) to change whether the antenna can transmit or receive signals. It should be noted that a channel can be a medium for transmitting information from a transmitter (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that since the characteristics of the term "channel" can vary according to different wireless protocols, the term "channel" used in the present invention can be considered to be used in a manner that conforms to the standard of the type of device to which the term is referenced. In some standards, the channel width can be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions). For example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network can support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4 megahertz (MHz) to 20 MHz. In comparison, a wireless local area network (WLAN) channel can be 22 MHz wide, and A channel may be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. In addition, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, such as different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes, such as data, control information, etc. In addition, as used herein, the term "frequency band" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a section of the spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

[0046] Furthermore, in additional or alternative embodiments, the processor may couple or decouple the inductor circuit to change the operating frequency range of the antenna. As described herein, these processes bring certain advantages to operation. With the foregoing in mind, the following provides a general description of suitable electronic devices that may include such processing circuitry.

[0047] First go to Figure 1 , an electronic device 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include, among other things, one or more of a processor 12, a memory 14, a non-volatile storage device 16, a display 18, input structures 22, an input / output (I / O) interface 24, a network interface 26, a transceiver 28, and a power supply 30. Figure 1The various functional blocks shown in the may include hardware elements (including circuits), software elements (including computer code stored on a computer-readable medium), or a combination of both hardware and software elements. In addition, the combination of elements may be included in a tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium including machine-readable instructions. The instructions may be executed by the processor 12 and may cause the processor 12 to perform the operations described herein. It should be noted that Figure 1 This is merely one example of a particular embodiment and is intended to illustrate the types of elements that may be present in electronic device 10 .

[0048] By way of example, the electronic device 10 may represent Figure 2 The laptop shown in Figure 3 The handheld device shown in Figure 4 The handheld device shown in Figure 5 The desktop computer shown in Figure 6 A block diagram of a wearable electronic device or similar device is shown in FIG. It should be noted that Figure 1 The processor 12 and other related items in the electronic device 10 may be generally referred to herein as "data processing circuitry." Such data processing circuitry may be implemented in whole or in part in software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. Furthermore, the data processing circuitry may be a single processing module or may be fully or partially incorporated into any of the other components within the electronic device 10.

[0049] exist Figure 1 In the electronic device 10, the processor 12 can be operably coupled to the memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16 to execute various algorithms. Such programs or instructions executed by the processor 12 can be stored in any suitable product, which includes one or more tangible computer-readable media that at least collectively store the instructions or routines, such as the memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16. The memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16 may include any suitable product for storing data and executable instructions, such as random access memory, read-only memory, rewritable flash memory, hard drive, and optical disk. In addition, the program encoded on such a computer program product (e.g., an operating system) may also include instructions that can be executed by the processor 12 to enable the electronic device 10 to provide various functions.

[0050] In certain embodiments, display 18 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a digital micromirror display (DMD) that may facilitate a user viewing images generated on electronic device 10. In some embodiments, display 18 may include a touch screen that may facilitate user interaction with a user interface of electronic device 10. Furthermore, it should be understood that in some embodiments, display 18 may include one or more organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, or some combination of LCD and OLED panels.

[0051] In some cases, one or more processors 12 may operate circuitry to input or output data generated by electronic device 10. For example, one or more processors 12 may control and / or operate memory 14, non-volatile storage 16, display 18, input structures 22, input / output (I / O interface) 24, network interface 26, transceiver 28, power supply 29, etc. to perform operations of electronic device 10 and / or facilitate control of the operations of the electronic device. Specifically, one or more processors 12 may generate control signals for operating transceiver 28 to transmit data over one or more communication networks.

[0052] The input structures 22 of the electronic device 10 may enable a user to interact with the electronic device 10 (e.g., pressing a button to increase or decrease the volume level). As with the network interface 26, the I / O interface 24 may enable the electronic device 10 to interact with various other electronic devices. The network interface 26 may, for example, include one or more interfaces for a personal area network (PAN) such as a Network, Local Area Network (LAN) or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) such as 802.11x Networks, and / or wide area networks (WANs) such as 3rd generation (3G) cellular networks, 4th generation (4G) cellular networks, LTE cellular networks, Long Term Evolution Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) cellular networks, 5th generation (5G) cellular networks, or New Radio (NR) cellular networks. The network interface 26 may also include, for example, one or more interfaces for: broadband fixed wireless access networks (e.g., ), mobile broadband wireless network (mobile ), asynchronous digital subscriber lines (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital video terrestrial broadcasting ( ) network and its extended DVB handheld equipment ( ) network, ultra-wideband (UWB) network, alternating current (AC) power line, etc.

[0053] In some embodiments, the electronic device 10 uses the transceiver 28 to communicate with the user via the aforementioned wireless network (e.g., move 4G, 5G, etc.) to communicate. The transceiver 28 may include circuitry, such as a transmitter and / or a receiver, useful in both wireless reception and wireless transmission of signals (e.g., data signals, wireless data signals, wireless carrier signals, RF signals). In fact, in some embodiments, the transceiver 28 may include a transmitter and a receiver combined into a single unit, or in other embodiments, the transceiver 28 may include a transmitter separate from a receiver. The transceiver 28 may transmit and receive RF signals to support wireless applications such as, for example, a PAN network (e.g., ), WLAN networks (e.g., 802.11x ), WAN networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, NR, and and LTE-LAA cellular networks), Web, mobile Network, ADSL and VDSL network, and As further shown, the electronic device 10 may include a power supply 30. The power supply 30 may include any suitable power source, such as a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and / or an alternating current (AC) power converter.

[0054] In some embodiments, the electronic device 10 can take the form of a computer, a portable electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or other types of electronic devices. Such computers can be computers that are generally portable (such as laptops, notebook computers, and tablet computers) and / or computers that are generally used in one location (such as desktop computers, workstations, and / or servers). In some embodiments, the electronic device 10 in the form of a computer can be a computer available from Apple Inc. (Cupertino, California). PRO、MACBOOK mini or MAC By way of example, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, in Figure 2 1 shows an electronic device 10 in the form of a laptop computer 10A. The laptop computer 10A may include a housing or casing 36, a display 18, input structures 22, and ports associated with an I / O interface 24. In one embodiment, the input structures 22 (such as a keyboard and / or touchpad) may enable interaction with the laptop computer 10A, such as launching, controlling, or operating a graphical user interface (GUI) or application running on the laptop computer 10A. For example, the keyboard and / or touchpad may facilitate user interaction with a user interface, GUI, and / or application interface displayed on the display 18.

[0055] Figure 3 A front view of a handheld device 10B is depicted, which represents one embodiment of an electronic device 10. The handheld device 10B may represent, for example, a portable telephone, a media player, a personal data organizer, a handheld gaming platform, or any combination of such devices. For example, the handheld device 10B may be a device available from Apple Inc. (Cupertino, California). or Handheld device 10B may include a housing 36 to protect internal components from physical damage and to shield internal components from electromagnetic interference. Housing 36 may surround display 18. I / O interface 24 may be accessible through housing 36 and may include, for example, an I / O port for a hardwired connection for charging and / or content manipulation using a connector and protocol such as the Lightning connector provided by Apple Inc. (Cupertino, California), a Universal Serial Bus (USB), or other similar connectors and protocols.

[0056] The input structures 22, in conjunction with the display 18, can enable the user to control the handheld device 10B. For example, the input structures 22 can activate or deactivate the handheld device 10B, navigate the user interface to the home screen, present a user-editable application screen, and / or activate the voice recognition feature of the handheld device 10B. Other input structures 22 can provide volume control or switch between vibration and ring mode. The input structures 22 can also include a microphone for capturing the user's voice for various voice-related features, and a speaker for enabling audio playback. The input structures 22 can also include a headphone input for enabling input from an external speaker and / or headphones.

[0057] Figure 4 A front view of another handheld device 10C is depicted, which represents another embodiment of the electronic device 10. The handheld device 10C can represent, for example, a tablet computer, or one of various portable computing devices. For example, the handheld device 10C can be a tablet-sized embodiment of the electronic device 10, specifically, a tablet computer available from, for example, Apple Inc. (Cupertino, California). Type handheld device.

[0058] See also Figure 5 , the computer 10D can represent Figure 1The computer 10D may be any computer, such as a desktop computer, a server, or a notebook computer, and / or may be a stand-alone media player or video game console. By way of example, the computer 10D may be a computer from Apple Inc. (Cupertino, California). or other similar devices. It should be noted that the computer 10D may also represent a personal computer (PC) from another manufacturer. The housing 36 may protect and enclose the internal components of the computer 10D, such as the display 18. In some embodiments, a user of the computer 10D may interact with the computer 10D using various peripheral input devices such as a keyboard 22A or a mouse 22B (e.g., input structures 22) that may be operatively coupled to the computer 10D.

[0059] Similarly, Figure 6 Depicted Figure 1 Another embodiment of the electronic device 10 is a wearable electronic device 10E. By way of example, the wearable electronic device 10E that may include the wristband 43 may be an APPLE However, in other embodiments, the wearable electronic device 10E may include any wearable electronic device, such as a wearable motion monitoring device (e.g., a pedometer, an accelerometer, a heart rate monitor), or other device from another manufacturer. The display 18 of the wearable electronic device 10E may include a display 18 (e.g., an LCD, an OLED display, an active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display, etc.) and a touch screen version of the output structure 22, which may facilitate user interaction with the user interface of the wearable electronic device 10E. In some embodiments, as described above, each embodiment of the electronic device 10 (e.g., the laptop 10A, the handheld device 10B, the handheld device 10C, the computer 10D, and the wearable electronic device 10E) may include a transceiver 28.

[0060] Taking the above into consideration, Figure 7is a diagram of an access network node, such as a base station 50 (e.g., base station 50A, base station 50B, base station 50C, base station 50D), and user equipment, such as an electronic device 52, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Each of the base station 50 and / or electronic device 52 may have one or more components similar to the electronic device 10, and thus may include control circuitry (such as processor 12), memory circuitry (such as memory 14 and / or non-volatile storage device 16), which together operate to enable the base station 50 and / or electronic device 52 to perform operations. It should be noted that user equipment capable of communicating with an access node may include any of various types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and perform wireless communication. Examples of user equipment include any suitable portable electronic device, mobile phone, smartphone, portable gaming device, laptop computer, wearable device, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" may be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and / or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) that is easily transportable by a user and capable of wireless communication.

[0061] Each of the base stations 50 may be associated with one or more cells 54. The term "base station" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system. The base stations 50 and electronic devices 52 may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also known as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G New Radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. It should be noted that if a corresponding base station in the base stations 50 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB." It should be noted that if a corresponding base station in the base stations 50 is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB."

[0062] Therefore, although the base station 50 can act as Figure 7The electronic device 52 is shown as a "serving cell" of the electronic device, and the electronic device 52 may also be able to receive signals from one or more other cells, which may be referred to as "neighboring cells" (which may be provided by the base station 50 and / or any other base station) (and may be within the communication range of the cell). Such cells may also be able to facilitate communication between user equipment and / or between user equipment and the network. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or any other variety of other granularity of cells that provide a service area size.

[0063] Each of the cells 54 may be an operating area through which the corresponding base station 50 can communicate. For example, the corresponding base station 50 may communicate with the electronic device 52 disposed in each cell 54 shown as touching the corresponding base station 50. In this manner, when within the boundaries of cell 54A, the electronic device 52 may communicate with the base station 50C, rather than with the base station 50D, which may communicate with the electronic device 52 when within the boundaries of cell 54B.

[0064] When communicating with an electronic device 52, the corresponding base station 50 may transmit messages over a frequency range known as a component carrier. A frequency band, which may include one or more frequency ranges and be bounded by lower and higher frequencies (e.g., representing a radio spectrum), may include one or more component carriers. The frequency range covered by the frequency band may be defined by a standards body (e.g., a standard generated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards body or development group) and may therefore include 3rd Generation (3G), 4th Generation (4G), and 5th Generation (5G) frequency bands. For example, the frequency band may include frequencies between 24 gigahertz (GHz) and 48 GHz. Specifically, messages within the same frequency band on separate component carriers of different frequency ranges may be transmitted (e.g., simultaneously) without cross-interference. In some cases, an electronic device 52 may be coupled to one or more base stations 50 via two or more component carriers. For example, an electronic device 52 may communicate with base station 50C using component carrier 56A and communicate with base station 50B using component carrier 56B. The component carriers 56A, 56B may both be within the same frequency band, such as a new radio (NR) or fifth generation (5G) band, but be associated with different frequency ranges within the same frequency band.

[0065] Hardware, software, or communication standards associated with the operational control of electronic device 52 may restrict concurrent (e.g., simultaneous) uplink and downlink communications between component carriers 56. Specifically, while electronic device 52 may receive many downlink communications individually or simultaneously, electronic device 52 may not receive any downlink communications or send any additional uplink communications while transmitting an uplink communication to one of base stations 50. To reduce the likelihood of concurrent communications occurring while uplinking a message to a base station, electronic device 52 may request an uplink allocation from one of base stations 50 before continuing to uplink transmit a message to the base station. For example, electronic device 52 may receive simultaneous downlink messages from base stations 50 and / or may request uplink allocations from both base stations 50 before uplink transmitting a message to one of base stations 50 (such as base station 50C). However, this operation does not account for the timing delays observed by electronic device 52 when communicating with base stations 50. When electronic device 52 requests uplink allocations from base stations 50 without considering the timing delays between communications, unnecessary delays may occur when downlink operation resumes, resulting in inefficient operation.

[0066] In detail, the base stations 50 can be physically located at a distance 58A (e.g., logical distance, physical distance, temporal distance) from each other. For example, according to 3GPP standard number TR38.803, the maximum inter-site distance (ISD) for FR2 is 300 meters (m), which can correspond to a propagation delay of 1 microsecond (μs) seen by the electronic device 52 when receiving communications sent substantially simultaneously from different base stations 50. Some FR2 network deployments can use a larger ISD, such as up to 1500m, which can correspond to a propagation delay of 5μs. According to 3GPP standard number TS38.104, the maximum allowed timing error between gNBs is 3μs. This corresponds to a maximum receive timing delay difference (MRTD) between distributed carriers (e.g., inter-frequency carriers) at the electronic device 52 of between 4μs and 8μs.

[0067] To account for this, electronic device 52 may be spaced a distance 58B from each corresponding base station in base stations 50. As the distance between electronic device 52 and a base station increases, the communication delay between the devices also increases. Thus, due to the greater distance between base station 50B and electronic device 52, the communication delay between base station 50B and electronic device 52 is greater than the communication delay between base station 50A and electronic device 52. To improve the process of requesting uplink allocations, electronic device 52 may consider the communication delay when requesting uplink allocations, and / or the base station may consider the communication delay when continuing to schedule uplink allocations in response to a request for uplink allocations from electronic device 52. For example, in some cases, one or more of base stations 50 may adjust the communication schedule based on a predetermined adjustment and / or a defined adjustment (e.g., a value stored in a memory or storage device).

[0068] Figure 8A 、 Figure 8B and Figure 8C An example of a base station (e.g., base station 50C) adjusting its communication schedule based on a predetermined adjustment is shown, regardless of the amount of delay between the base station's communications with another base station (e.g., base station 50B). Figure 8A 、 Figure 8B and Figure 8C .

[0069] Figure 8A 1 is a timing diagram of a communication schedule for component carrier 56A (eg, CC1) corresponding to base station 50C and a communication schedule for component carrier 56B (eg, CC2) corresponding to base station 50B according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 8A A first exemplary delay (e.g., maximum receive timing delay (MRTD)) is shown, where electronic device 52 receives downlink message 70 from base station 50C 0.26 microseconds (μs) after receiving downlink message 72 from base station 50B, which was intended to be received simultaneously during a first symbol duration (e.g., Symb 0) of base station 50C. It can be said that the communication from base station 50B is generally synchronized with the communication from base station 50C because 0.26 μs can be considered to be less than a threshold amount of time (where the threshold can be used to assess whether the communication configuration needs to be adjusted, such as when out of synchronization). Figure 8B is a timing diagram of a communication scheduling table for component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B with a second exemplary delay according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the electronic device 52 receives a downlink message 70 from the base station 50C 4 μs after receiving the downlink message 72 from the base station 50B, and the downlink message 72 is intended to be received simultaneously during the first symbol duration of the base station 50C. Figure 8Cis a timing diagram of a communication scheduling table for component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B with a third exemplary delay according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the electronic device 52 receives a downlink message 70 from the base station 50C approximately 8 μs (e.g., duration 71) after receiving the downlink message 72 from the base station 50B, wherein the downlink message 72 is intended to be received simultaneously during the first symbol duration of the base station 50C. Figure 8C A third exemplary delay (eg, 8 μs) may be greater than Figure 8B The second exemplary delay means that the electronic device 52 and Figure 8C The distance between the associated base stations 50B is greater than Figure 8B It should be noted that for ease of explanation, Figures 8A to 8C We can discuss it together.

[0070] Communication operations can be scheduled according to symbol duration. Symbols (e.g., symb 0, symb 1, symb 2, ..., symb 5) can represent time allocations that can be allocated to downlink communication or uplink communication. When a symbol is allocated to downlink communication, the electronic device 52 can receive simultaneous downlink messages on one or more component carriers 56. However, when a symbol is allocated to uplink communication, the electronic device 52 may not receive simultaneous uplink messages and / or simultaneous downlink messages. Therefore, the base station 50B can use an interrupt command, such as at time 79, to suspend downlink communication while the base station 50C operates to perform uplink transmission of messages from the electronic device 52. In this way, the base station 50B can generate an interrupt command in response to receiving a notification from the electronic device 52 indicating that the electronic device 52 is requesting uplink allocation from the base station 50C (e.g., requesting that one or more future symbols be allocated to uplink communication by the base station 50C).

[0071] Figures 8A to 8C7. The embodiment of the present invention illustrates a method for adjusting the start of an uplink operation initiated by an uplink allocation request by allowing any ongoing downlink operation to complete based on a maximum delay that may occur (e.g., a delay in the start of an uplink message 76 after the end of an ongoing downlink message 78 when the base station 50 generates an interruption command). After the operation of transmitting the downlink message 78 is completed, the maximum delay, and therefore the value of the constant adjustment 74, is equal to or substantially equal to 8 μs, and thus the uplink message 76 is scheduled to occur approximately 8 μs after the downlink message 78 (e.g., between 5 μs and 11 μs). Note that each uplink message 76 and / or downlink message 72, 78 can be associated with a prefix 80. The prefix 80 can be a cyclic prefix that repeats the delivery of a portion of the message 70, 72, 76, 78 (e.g., adding a portion of the end of the message to the front of the message). The cyclic prefix can resist one or more intra-symbol interferences from previously received signals at the electronic device 52. The prefix 80 may additionally or alternatively include information identifying the duration of the communication, the source of the communication (eg, header information), or may include other data that the electronic device 52 may use when processing the communication.

[0072] The base station 50 may also use durations 82 (e.g., labeled durations 82A, 82B) to prepare the electronic device 52 and / or the transmit and / or receive circuitry of the base station 50B for uplink operations. For example, the base station 50 may couple one or more power amplifiers to one or more antennas of the corresponding circuitry during durations 82. The base station 50 may use durations 82 when adjusting the operation of the base station 50 to compensate for the communication delay seen by the electronic device 52, and thus suspend downlink operations early enough in adjusting the circuitry so as not to lose or interfere with the downlink operations.

[0073] Since the constant adjustment 74 is substantially similar to the delay Figure 8C For the maximum delay of communication shown (e.g., 8 μs), the interruption of downlink operation by base station 50B is relatively optimal. However, when the constant adjustment is greater than the communication delay (or less than the communication delay, but not specifically shown), the interruption operation is inefficient. For example, base station 50B interrupts its downlink operation resulting in Figure 8A and Figure 8B The four symbols in symb 1 are discarded (e.g., symb 1 to symb 4 are skipped). The efficiency of the interrupt operation can be improved when the communication schedule takes into account specific delays rather than using globally defined delay values ​​(e.g., the delay value is the same for each adjustment rather than a delay value calculated for the specific arrangement of components at the time of adjustment).

[0074] To explain the variable delay operation, Figure 9A 、 Figure 9B and Figure 9C Variable adjustments 84 (labeled in the figure as adjustment 84A, adjustment 84B, adjustment 84C) to the start of the uplink message 76 are shown. Figure 9A This is a sequence diagram of the communication schedule table for component carrier 56A (for example, CC1) corresponding to base station 50C and the communication schedule table for component carrier 56B (for example, CC2) corresponding to base station 50B. Figure 9A 0.26 μs after receiving downlink message 72 from base station 50B, which is intended to be received simultaneously during the first symbol duration (e.g., symb 0) of base station 50C. It can be said that the communication from base station 50B is generally synchronized with the communication from base station 50C because 0.26 μs can be considered to be less than a threshold amount of time (wherein the threshold can be used to assess whether the communication configuration needs to be adjusted, such as when out of synchronization). The threshold amount of time can be any suitable amount of time, such as between 0.8 μs and 1.1 μs (e.g., 1 μs).

[0075] Figure 9B is a timing diagram of a communication scheduling table for component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B with a second exemplary delay according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the electronic device 52 receives a downlink message 70 from the base station 50C 4 μs after receiving the downlink message 72 from the base station 50B, and the downlink message 72 is intended to be received simultaneously during the first symbol duration of the base station 50C. Figure 9C is a timing diagram of a communication scheduling table for component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B with a third exemplary delay according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the electronic device 52 receives a downlink message 70 from the base station 50C with a maximum delay (e.g., 8 μs) after receiving the downlink message 72 from the base station 50B, the downlink message 72 being intended to be received simultaneously during the first symbol duration of the base station 50C. Figure 9C A third exemplary delay may be greater than Figure 9B The second exemplary delay means that the electronic device 52 and Figure 9B The distance between the associated base stations 50B is less than Figure 9C The distance between the two related ones.

[0076] Adjustment 84A and adjustment 84C are shown as being of substantially similar duration, while adjustment 84B is shown as being of longer duration. In this manner, base station 50C may have adjusted its communication schedule to better align with the delay of communications associated with base station 50B, and thus may have delayed its uplink allocation using a larger adjustment to allow for improved alignment with the allocation of base station 50B. Thus, Figures 9A to 9CThe operation of visualizes a relatively more efficient scheduling operation since the number of symbols dropped per instance is reduced (eg, three symbols at a time).

[0077] The timing advance of downlink allocations and / or uplink allocations can be adjusted for each electronic device 52 communicating with base station 50 based on the communication delay between the corresponding base station and the corresponding electronic device 52. For each possible delay value (e.g., between no delay and maximum delay) and when the frequency of communication transmissions (e.g., the parameter set associated with base station 50) is equal, the interruption period of downlink communication for base station 50C (transmitted using first component carrier 56A (CC1)) can be substantially similar to the interruption period of downlink communication for base station 50B (transmitted using second component carrier 56B (CC2)) and thus include two symbols (e.g., symb 2 and symb 4) rather than just the total number of symbols allocated for uplink communication (e.g., symb 3). A scheduler of a wireless network provider communicatively coupled to base stations 50B and 50C can determine the appropriate timing advance for uplink communication and can adjust the downlink allocations and / or uplink allocations based on the determined delay between base stations 50 to minimize the interruption of communication. However, for ease of discussion, the base station 50 is referred to as determining and applying the adjustment. Figures 8A to 9C The communications shown in the figure represent a snapshot of communications over time and therefore should be understood to be able to extend beyond what is shown in the figure.

[0078] To further clarify the operation of the electronic device 52 when adjusting operation based on one or more delays (e.g., communication delays), Figure 10 is a flow chart of a method 96 for operating an electronic device 52 to transmit and / or receive RF signals using a communication configuration adjusted based on the delay experienced by the electronic device 52, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of the method 96 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, the method 96 is described as being performed by the electronic device 52, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of the method 96, such as one or more processors in the processor 12.

[0079] At block 98, the electronic device 52 may receive a first packet (e.g., a first message) from a first base station in the base stations 50 via a first component carrier at a first time, and a second packet (e.g., a second message) from a second base station in the base stations 50 on a second component carrier at a second time. The first and second times may correspond to the times at which the prefix 80 is received and / or the times at which the first portion of the corresponding message (e.g., downlink message 70, downlink message 72) is received. The first and second times may be stored in a storage device similar to memory 14. These times may be used to determine the current delay and / or may be accessed in the future, in addition or alternatively, to determine how the delay has changed over time (e.g., historical analysis of the delay).

[0080] At block 100, the electronic device 52 may determine a reception delay between a first time and a second time. To do so, the electronic device 52 may determine a duration as the reception delay between the first time and the second time. To determine the reception delay, the electronic device 52 may calculate the difference between the two times. However, in some cases, the electronic device 52 may determine the time difference by using a counter to track the reception delay between receiving the downlink message 70 and receiving the downlink message 72. The counter may count the duration, such as the number of clock cycles, between the electronic device 52 receiving the downlink message 70 and receiving the downlink message 72.

[0081] At block 102, the electronic device 52 may determine whether the reception delay determined at block 100 is greater than or equal to a threshold time amount. The electronic device 52 may determine whether the reception delay, if any, has a sufficient time delay to be corrected. In some cases, the threshold time amount may be used to assess whether adjustments to the communication configuration are necessary, such as when desynchronization occurs. The threshold time amount may vary based on environmental conditions and / or network load conditions, and based on which external factors may adjust the amount of desynchronization that is permissible and / or otherwise appropriate. In some cases, the threshold time amount may be substantially similar to (e.g., approximately) 1 μs (e.g., an amount between 0.5 μs and 1.5 μs), with any reception delay below this threshold typically being ignored and the operation proceeding to block 98. However, if the reception delay is greater than or equal to the threshold, the electronic device 52 may proceed to perform the operations of block 104.

[0082] At block 104, the electronic device 52 may transmit an indication of the reception delay to the first base station, the second base station, or both. Figure 9BFor example, electronic device 52 may determine that the reception delay (e.g., maximum receive timing delay (MRTD)) is equal to (or substantially similar to) 4 μs. Electronic device 52 may then, in response to determining that the reception delay is greater than the threshold, transmit an indication of the reception delay to base station 50B and / or base station 50C. Base station 50B and / or base station 50C may use the indication of the reception delay to generate an updated communication configuration for application by electronic device 52.

[0083] At block 106, the electronic device 52 may receive an updated communication configuration from the first base station to adjust the blackout parameters associated with the first base station. For example, the blackout parameters may be operable to delay associated downlink communications scheduled for transmission on a component carrier used by the first base station. Figure 9B For example, electronic device 52 may receive an updated communication configuration from base station 50C that defines adjustments to communications scheduled for transmission / reception on component carrier 56A. The updated communication configuration may indicate to electronic device 52 that the uplink allocation requested by the electronic device will be delayed for a period of time after downlink message 78.

[0084] At block 108, the electronic device 52 may apply the updated communication configuration to its software and / or hardware (e.g., replacing the previous communication configuration stored in the software and / or affecting the operation of the transceiver circuitry) to prepare for the adjusted communication allocation. Thus, the electronic device 52 may instruct its control and / or scheduling circuitry to delay uplink transmission of uplink messages until a time that compensates for the delay associated with communication between the electronic device 52 and the base station 50B. Furthermore, applying the updated communication configuration to the circuitry of the electronic device 52 may prepare the antenna circuitry 108 of the electronic device 52 to perform uplink operations and / or downlink operations.

[0085] At block 110, electronic device 52 may receive packets on first component carrier 56A according to the updated communication configuration, and may receive packets on second component carrier 56B according to the original communication. Thus, even when communication on second component carrier 56B is delayed (e.g., because base station 50B is located farther away from electronic device 52 than base station 50C), communication on first component carrier 56A from base station 50C may be appropriately delayed (e.g., delayed by an amount equal to or substantially similar to the reception delay) based on the reception delay to improve alignment of communications on the two component carriers 56B. When operating to compensate for variable delays between component carriers 56, electronic device 52 may reduce the amount of delay for downlink communications when scheduling uplink communications (e.g., dropping four symbols when operating to compensate for delays using fixed adjustments, as opposed to dropping three symbols when operating to compensate for delays using variable adjustments). Note that although described as adjusting the communication configuration of the first component carrier 56C based on the reception delay rather than the communication configuration of the second component carrier 56B, the same or similar methods may be applied to adjust either or both of the component carriers 56 , as opposed to only one component carrier 56 (e.g., component carrier 56B).

[0086] Figure 11 For operating a base station such as Figure 9B 1. A flow chart of method 122 for transmitting or receiving RF signals by base station 50C using a communication configuration that is adjusted based on the delay seen by electronic device 52. Note that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of method 122 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, method 122 is described as being performed by base station 50C, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of method 122, such as one or more processors in processor 12. Note that, as described above, base station 50C transmits messages to and / or receives messages from electronic device 52 using frequencies within the frequency range of component carrier 56A, for example.

[0087] At block 124, the base station 50C may transmit the first packet to the electronic device 52 according to a first communication configuration (e.g., the original communication configuration). The first communication configuration may define a frequency range to use when transmitting the first packet, the frequency at which the packet is sent over the frequency range, one or more allocation modes (e.g., when downlink communication is scheduled to occur, when uplink communication is scheduled to occur), etc.

[0088] At block 126, base station 50C may receive an indication of a receive delay from electronic device 52. The receive delay may be determined by electronic device 52, such as by using method 96. The receive delay may convey (e.g., indicate) to base station 50C a delay between the first packet and additional packets from another base station, such as base station 50B.

[0089] By using the reception delay, at block 128, the base station 50C may update the first communication configuration to generate a second communication configuration. The base station 50C may determine that its transmission is ahead of the transmission from the other base station 50B by a specific amount corresponding to the reception delay. In some cases, the base station 50C may analyze the reception delay received from the electronic device 52 and the information received from the base station 50B to determine that the transmission of the base station 50C is ahead of the transmission from the base station 50B. When generating the second communication configuration, the base station 50C may adjust the first communication configuration to compensate for the reception delay. In this way, the base station 50C may adjust the interruption parameters so that after receiving the request for uplink allocation from the electronic device 52, the subsequent allocation operation is delayed by an amount substantially similar to or equal to the reception delay (e.g., greater than or less than the reception delay by 0 to 0.5 μs, equal to the reception delay).

[0090] At block 130, the base station 50C may apply the second communication configuration (e.g., an updated communication configuration) to its software and / or hardware (e.g., replacing the previous communication configuration stored in the software and / or affecting the operation of the transceiver circuitry). Applying the second communication configuration to the base station 50C may enable realignment of downlink and / or uplink operations regardless of communication delays at the electronic device 52 due to the proximity difference between the base station 50 and the electronic device 52.

[0091] At block 132, the base station 50C may transmit a second communication configuration (e.g., an updated communication configuration) to the electronic device 52. The electronic device 52 may apply the second communication configuration in response to receiving the second communication configuration from the base station 50C. Applying the second communication configuration to both the base station 50C and the electronic device 52 may allow synchronous communication to occur between the two devices on the component carrier 56A.

[0092] At block 134, base station 50C may transmit a second packet to electronic device 52 according to the second communication configuration (e.g., the updated communication configuration). Base station 50C may delay some of its uplink allocations to accommodate delays in transmitting packets from base station 50B to component carrier 56B of electronic device 52.

[0093] In some cases, the electronic device 52 may determine and report a maximum delay determined from the plurality of determined reception delays. Figure 121 is a flow chart of a method 146 for operating an electronic device 52 to determine a maximum receive delay from one or more determined receive delays associated with one or more component carriers 56 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Note that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of the method 146 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, the method 146 is described as being performed by the electronic device 52, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of the method 146, such as one or more processors in the processor 12.

[0094] At block 148, the electronic device 52 may receive packets from one or more base stations 50 in accordance with a corresponding communication configuration that defines a schedule for the corresponding component carriers 56. For example, each communication configuration may define interruption parameters for scheduling uplink operations between one or more downlink operations. Thus, the transmission parameters and / or frequency of communications on a first component carrier may differ from the transmission parameters and / or frequency of a second component carrier. Furthermore, how long an uplink message is delayed from the transmission of a downlink message may also differ between component carriers 56 based, at least in part, on the communication configuration associated with each of the base stations 50 and / or each of the component carriers 56.

[0095] At block 150, the electronic device 52 may determine one or more reception delays that indicate relative delays between communications received on the various component carriers 56. The electronic device 52 may use a method similar to Figure 10 The electronic device 52 may determine the reception delay using the method of method 96. After determining the one or more reception delays, at block 152, the electronic device 52 may determine a relatively larger reception delay from the reception delays determined at block 152. In this way, the electronic device 52 may identify the longest delay experienced across each of the component carriers 56.

[0096] Once the longest reception delay is identified, the electronic device 52 may determine whether the reception delay is greater than or equal to a threshold amount of time at block 154. If the duration is not greater than or equal to the threshold amount of time, the electronic device 52 may continue communication operations at block 148.

[0097] However, when the electronic device 52 determines that the reception delay is greater than or equal to the threshold amount of time, then at block 156, the electronic device 52 may transmit an indication of the maximum reception delay to one or more base stations 50 for use in operating compensation and / or to generate additional communication configurations. In some cases, this information may be transmitted to the base station 50 as user equipment (UE) assistance information and / or as part of a device report.

[0098] Considering the above, Figure 12Process 146 shows how the electronic device 52 can estimate the timing difference between each of the component carriers 56 and can report the maximum difference between each timing difference (e.g., as a reception delay seen by the electronic device 52) to one or more of the base stations 50 as assistance information.

[0099] In practice, in some cases, the electronic device 52 may operate its receiver to receive a first packet from the first base station 50 on the first component carrier at a first time, a second packet from the second base station 50 on the second component carrier at a second time, a third packet from the third base station 50 on the third component carrier at a third time, and so on. The electronic device 52 may use Figure 12 Some or all of the operations of method 146 of the present invention may determine that the difference between the first time and the second time corresponds to a maximum receive time delay (MRTD). To this end, the electronic device 52 may select the second time as a reference time and, using the second time as the reference time, may determine a first difference between the first time and the second time and a second difference between the third time and the second time. The electronic device 52 may identify which of the first difference or the second difference corresponds to an MRTD by comparing the two differences to determine which of the differences is greater. For example, in response to determining that the first difference is greater than the second difference, the electronic device 52 may identify the first difference as an MRTD (e.g., representing the worst-case delay observed by the electronic device 52). Furthermore, in some cases, the electronic device 52 verifies whether the difference identified as an MRTD passes a synchronization test. For example, the electronic device 52 determines whether the first difference (e.g., the difference identified as the MRTD) is greater than or equal to a threshold amount of time (e.g., a threshold used to identify whether two component carriers are out of synchronization or desynchronized by an appropriate amount to justify adjustment). In response to determining that the first difference is greater than the time threshold, the electronic device 52 may transmit the first difference as an indication of the maximum reception delay to one or more base stations 50 (e.g., each of the first base station 50, the second base station 50, and the third base station 50). The base station 50 may then adjust the communication configuration based on the indication of the maximum reception delay from the electronic device 52, including, for example, delaying one or more uplink allocations or downlink allocations to better accommodate and / or compensate for the delay experienced by the electronic device 52.

[0100] The wireless network provider may configure the electronic device 52 to provide assistance information as part of the measurement object. The configuration of the electronic device 52 may be associated with an identifier of the component carrier 56 and / or an identifier of the cell 54 associated with each base station 50, such as a physical cell identifier (ID). The electronic device 52 may generate and / or repeatedly determine a maximum receive time delay (MRTD) difference value (interchangeably referred to as a "maximum difference value") in response to a command from one of the base stations 50 and / or in a periodic manner (such as daily, hourly, or any other suitable time condition). In some cases, the electronic device 52 may monitor the delays between the various component carriers 56 and generate and / or redetermine the maximum difference value when one or more delays deviate too far from a certain value (e.g., when the corresponding receive delay is determined to be greater than a threshold amount of delay). Note that the electronic device 52 may additionally or alternatively generate and / or redetermine each receive delay for transmission to the base station 50 in response to a non-periodic condition (e.g., in response to a command from the base station) and / or a periodic condition (e.g., hourly, daily, or other suitable time condition). For example, the determination of the reception delay and / or the determination of the MRTD may be initiated (e.g., repeated) in response to a radio resource control (RRC) protocol message indicating the determination of the reception delay and / or the determination of the MRTD, in response to a medium access control (MAC) protocol message indicating the determination, in response to a message transmitted via physical layer signaling indicating the determination, in response to a control signal according to timing parameters or according to a timing schedule (e.g., a periodic request), etc. In practice, the RRC protocol message, the MAC protocol message, the physical layer signaling, and / or the control signal may be transmitted aperiodically or periodically (e.g., according to a timing-based schedule), respectively. It is also noted that the wireless network provider may trigger a re-determination of one or more reception delays by instructing the base station 50 to instruct the electronic device 52 to repeat the determination.

[0101] In some cases, the electronic device 52 may periodically transmit physical random access channel (PRACH) communications on each of the component carriers 56. The PRACH communications may enable each of the base stations 50 to determine the timing difference seen by the electronic device 52. In some cases, each of the base stations 50 may receive messages transmitted on each of the component carriers 56 and, therefore, may identify a delay in communications when a message is received with a delay (e.g., a delay exceeding a threshold amount of time) between each reception. For example, a base station receiving a first message on a first component carrier at a later time than receiving a second message on a second component carrier may identify that the first component carrier is experiencing a delay relative to the second component carrier.

[0102] However, in some cases, the electronic device 52 may send two or more PRACH communications on a component carrier to the base station, where the first PRACH communication may have timing corresponding to the component carrier and the second PRACH communication may have timing corresponding to another component carrier. The reception delay between the first PRACH communication and the second PRACH communication may then be determined by the base station (e.g., base station 50B, base station 50C). Note that the electronic device 52 may additionally or alternatively use PRACH communication to request an uplink allocation from the base station 50. Thus, at a first time, the electronic device 52 may use PRACH communication to request an uplink allocation, and at a second time, the electronic device 52 may transmit an additional PRACH communication to facilitate the base station 50 in determining the reception delay.

[0103] In detail, Figure 13 1 is a flow chart of a method 168 for operating an electronic device 52 to transmit or receive RF signals using a communication configuration that is adjusted based on the delay seen by a base station (such as base station 50C) when receiving one or more PRACH communications in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Note that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of method 168 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, method 168 is described as being performed by base station 50C, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of method 168, such as one or more processors in processor 12. Note that, as described above, base station 50C uses frequencies within the frequency range of component carrier 56A to transmit messages to and / or receive messages from electronic device 52.

[0104] At block 170, the electronic device 52 may transmit a first uplink request and a second uplink request to the base station 50C (e.g., the first base station). The first uplink request and the second uplink request may be PRACH communications and / or may be some other suitable packet transmissions related and / or unrelated to the uplink allocation request operation. The first uplink request may indicate the beam characteristics and / or timing of the base station 50C, while the second uplink request may indicate the beam characteristics and / or timing of an additional base station, such as the base station 50B. In response to receiving the first uplink request and the second uplink request, the base station 50C may use the received beam characteristics and / or timing of the base stations 50B and 50C to determine the receive timing of the first component carrier 56A relative to the second component carrier 56B, and may use the receive timing to update the communication configuration of the electronic device 52.

[0105] At block 172, electronic device 52 may receive an updated communication configuration from base station 50C. The updated communication configuration may adjust blackout parameters associated with component carrier 56A to adjust for any relative delays between communications on component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B. For example, the updated communication configuration may define a communication schedule and / or parameters, such as blackout parameters, that incorporate adjustments made by base station 50C to accommodate and / or compensate for the determined difference seen by electronic device 52 (e.g., a difference or delay between communications received on component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B).

[0106] At block 174, the electronic device 52 may apply the updated communication configuration to its software and / or hardware (e.g., replacing the previous communication configuration stored in the software and / or affecting the operation of the transceiver circuitry). After applying the updated communication configuration, at block 176, the electronic device 52 may communicate with the base station 50C according to the updated communication configuration and may communicate with the base station 50B according to the original communication configuration. The original communication configuration may remain applicable to the second component carrier 56B because the communication configuration used to communicate via the first component carrier 56A was adjusted relative to the detected timing and / or detected communication pattern of the second component carrier 56B.

[0107] To further detail the operation of base station 50C during execution of method 168, Figure 14 Flowchart of method 188 for operating a base station, such as base station 50C, to transmit or receive RF signals using a communication configuration that is adjusted based on the latency seen by the base station, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Note that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of method 188 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, method 188 is described as being performed by base station 50C, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of method 188, such as one or more processors in processor 12. Note that, as described above, base station 50C transmits messages to and / or receives messages from electronic device 52 using frequencies within the frequency range of component carrier 56A.

[0108] At block 190, base station 50C may receive a first uplink request and a second uplink request from electronic device 52. Electronic device 52 may transmit the first uplink request and the second uplink request to base station 50C. The first uplink request and the second uplink request may be PRACH communications and / or may be some other suitable packet transmissions related and / or unrelated to the uplink allocation request operation. The first uplink request may indicate beam characteristics and / or timing of base station 50C, while the second uplink request may indicate beam characteristics and / or timing of an additional base station, such as base station 50B.

[0109] At block 192, the base station 50C may determine a receive timing for the first communication carrier 56A in response to receiving the first uplink request and the second uplink request. The receive timing may be determined by the base station 50C based on beam characteristics and / or timing of the base stations 50B, 50C relative to the second communication carrier 56B. The base station 50C may use the receive timing to update the communication configuration of the electronic device 52.

[0110] At block 194, base station 50C may generate an updated communication configuration (e.g., an updated communication configuration) to be applied to communications with electronic device 52. The updated communication configuration may adjust outage parameters associated with component carrier 56A to adjust any relative delay between communications on component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B.

[0111] At block 196, the base station 50C may apply the updated communication configuration to its software and / or hardware (e.g., replacing the previous communication configuration stored in the software and / or affecting the operation of the transceiver circuitry) for communicating with the electronic device 52 via the component carrier 56A. At block 198, the base station 50C may transmit the updated communication configuration to the electronic device 52 so that the electronic device 52 may also apply the updated communication configuration. The updated communication configuration may be transmitted to the electronic device 52 using transmission parameters associated with the original communication configuration and / or the communication configuration adjusted to generate the updated communication configuration. Furthermore, the base station 50C may apply the updated communication configuration at least in part while transmitting the updated communication configuration to the electronic device 52.

[0112] After applying the updated communication configuration, base station 50C may communicate with electronic device 52 according to the updated communication configuration at block 200. Note that electronic device 52 may communicate with base station 50B according to a different communication configuration, such as a communication configuration that is unchanged from the original communication.

[0113] In some cases, the above-described systems and methods may be applied to systems that use different frequencies for message transmission between component carriers 56. In detail, Figure 15 is a timing diagram illustrating two exemplary communication configurations for two component carriers 56 (such as component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. When transmitting packets to electronic device 52, base station 50 corresponding to component carrier 56 may use different transmission parameter sets, and in this manner, may transmit packets at different frequencies using different frequency ranges within the same frequency band. The transmission parameter sets may be defined in Table 1.

[0114] For each mu value (e.g., μ = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4), a subcarrier frequency may be defined. For example, when the parameter set is equal to 0 (e.g., μ = 0), packets are sent by base station 50C at a rate substantially equal to 15 kilohertz (kHz) over the frequency range corresponding to component carrier 56A.

[0115] Table 1

[0116] Parameter set (μ) <![CDATA[Δf=2 μ *15[kHz]]]> 0 20 1 30 2 60 3 120 4 240

[0117] Note that each parameter set may or may not correspond to the same cyclic prefix length (e.g., the same length of prefix 80). In addition, any of the other examples described may be combined with Figure 15 When the parameter set for communications on component carrier 56 is changed, the time period during which uplink communications on one component carrier overlap with downlink communications on another component carrier may change.

[0118] For example, where component carrier 56A has parameter set 2 (eg, μ=2) and component carrier 56B has parameter set 3 (eg, μ=3). This may correspond to Figure 15 10B, 210C) occurs at a higher repetition rate (e.g., 120 kHz for μ=3) than symbols 210 (e.g., 210D, 210E, 210F) corresponding to component carrier 56A, which has a relatively slower repetition rate (e.g., 60 kHz for μ=2). To reduce the likelihood (e.g., reduce to zero) that an undesirable number of symbols 210 are dropped for any of the component carriers 56, the base station 50 and / or the electronic device 52 may adjust the communication configuration used when transmitting on one or more of the component carriers 56 based on the parameter set associated with the component carrier 56.

[0119] Specifically, the communication configuration may be adjusted to change the adjustment (e.g., variable adjustment 84, constant adjustment 74) used to delay uplink allocation 212 for transmission of uplink message 76. The adjustment of the number of symbols 210 used to suspend downlink operations on component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B may follow the relationships presented in the following Table, Table 2, Table 3, and / or Table 4. Each of Tables 1-4 assumes a receive delay range between 0 μs and 8 μs.

[0120] Table 2

[0121]

[0122] Table 3

[0123]

[0124] Table 4

[0125]

[0126] For example, in Figure 15 76) of component carrier 56A. However, if component carrier 56B belongs to parameter set 4 (e.g., μ=4), downlink communications may be interrupted for five symbols prior to symbol 210F. Component carrier 56B is further shown as continuing to interrupt its downlink communications for two symbols 210 (e.g., symbol 210H, symbol 210I) following symbol 210F. Once the interruption period ends, such as at time 214, substantially simultaneous downlink operations resume on component carrier 56A and / or component carrier 56B, such as with downlink communications 216 and / or downlink communications 218. Note that the transition time for the circuitry of the base station 50C and / or the electronic device 52 to prepare for the uplink message 76 may be included in the symbol 210 as the duration 82 .

[0127] In Table 2, the update to the communication configuration for transmitting signals on component carrier 56A accounts for any delay in resuming downlink operations at base station 50C after the end of symbol 210F, and therefore these parameters are set to zero. However, in some cases, it may be desirable for this delay to be non-zero, so it is noted that any number of symbols 210 after symbol 210F may be deallocated and used to further delay downlink communications, if desired. Furthermore, parameter sets 0 through 4 may correspond to New Radio (NR) and / or 5th Generation (5G) component carriers 56 (e.g., component carriers 56 defined to operate within a frequency range associated with an NR wavelength), while parameter set 0 may correspond to Long Term Evolution (LTE) component carriers and / or 4th Generation (4G) component carriers 56 (e.g., component carriers 56 defined to operate within a frequency range associated with an LTE wavelength). Tables 2, 3, and / or 4 represent one example of parameter sets and symbol outage definitions that may be used when implementing a wireless network, but it should be understood that any suitable combination of symbol delays and / or communication configurations may be used.

[0128] To further detail the operation of base station 50 when considering parameter sets, Figure 161 is a flow chart of a method 230 for operating a base station, such as base station 50C, to transmit and / or receive RF signals using a communication configuration that is adjusted based on the latency seen by the base station and based on a parameter set associated with the base station 50 communicating with the electronic device 52. Note that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of method 230 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, method 230 is described as being performed by base station 50C, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of method 230, such as one or more processors in processor 12. Note that, as described above, base station 50C uses frequencies within the frequency range of component carrier 56A to transmit and / or receive messages to and from electronic device 52.

[0129] At block 232, base station 50C may transmit the first packet to electronic device 52 on component carrier 56A according to the first communication configuration. At block 234, base station 50C may receive from electronic device 52 an indication of a reception delay describing the communication delay experienced by electronic device 52 between communications from at least base station 50C and base station 50B. In this manner, it is noted that electronic device 52 may transmit to base station 50C a maximum reception delay representing the worst-case delay seen by electronic device 52 at a particular time, and / or may transmit to base station 50C each determined reception delay. Furthermore, it is noted that in some cases, base station 50C may receive one or more signals, such as PRACH communications, from electronic device 52 and may use the one or more signals to determine the reception delay between the signals themselves. These described embodiments may align with some or all of the operations described above with reference to other figures.

[0130] At block 236, base station 50C may receive a first parameter set for base station 50B and a second parameter set for base station 50C (e.g., by retrieving its own parameter set from memory). As described above, each respective parameter set may determine a respective frequency at which packet transmissions occur for sending packets on signals within a frequency range corresponding to a component carrier of the respective base station 50. In this manner, each of base stations 50 may operate according to two frequencies: a first frequency associated with the frequency range used to transmit signals, and a second frequency associated with the speed at which additional messages are scheduled for transmission and / or the number of occurrences of symbol 210 within a set duration.

[0131] At block 238, base station 50C may generate a second communication configuration (e.g., may update the first communication configuration) based on the reception delay, the first parameter set, and the second parameter set. When generating the second communication configuration, base station 50C may reference a lookup table stored in a memory, similar to memory 14 and / or non-volatile storage 16, indicating the information shown in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, and / or Table 4. In some cases, base station 50C may include a processor, similar to processor 12, that executes code stored in a memory, similar to memory 14 and / or non-volatile storage 16, to traverse logical conditions to determine an appropriate schedule for symbols 210 for component carrier 56A and / or component carrier 56B. Note that base station 50C may determine the second communication configuration such that the second communication configuration defines operations for communicating on component carrier 56A and / or component carrier 56B. However, in some cases, base station 50B may determine its own communication configuration based at least in part on the parameter set and / or reception delay of base station 50.

[0132] Once the second communication configuration is generated, the base station 50C may transmit the second communication configuration to the electronic device 52 at block 242. The electronic device 52 and / or the base station 50C may apply the second communication configuration to prepare for communication without interfering with downlink operations associated with the base station 50B. After applying the second communication configuration to the electronic device 52 and / or the base station 50C, at block 244, the base station 50C may transmit a second packet to the electronic device 52 in accordance with the second communication configuration.

[0133] In some cases, the electronic device 52 may include multiple antenna panels. Each antenna panel of the electronic device 52 may include an antenna element, an array of antenna elements, or multiple antenna arrays. Having two or more antenna panels may mean that the electronic device 52 is able to perform uplink operations on a first component carrier while performing downlink operations on a second component carrier, or vice versa, without interruption of operation (e.g., performing uplink operations and downlink operations at least partially simultaneously). Therefore, the previous embodiments may be performed on electronic devices 52 having one or more antenna panels (including electronic devices 52 having only one antenna panel), while the following embodiments may be performed on electronic devices 52 having more than one antenna panel. When the electronic device 52 does not include multiple antenna panels, or when the electronic device 52 receives two or more component channels 56 using the same antenna panel, it can be said that the electronic device 52 supports non-simultaneous uplink and downlink operations, and can operate with consideration given to delaying downlink communications in response to incoming uplink communications.

[0134] Figure 17 An example of this operation is provided. Figure 17is an illustration of a first electronic device 52A and a second electronic device 52B according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Electronic devices 52A, 52B each include at least two antenna panels. Electronic device 52A illustrates exemplary operation in which electronic device 52A receives communications on two component carriers 56 (e.g., component carrier 56C, component carrier 56D) on the same panel, while electronic device 52B illustrates exemplary operation in which electronic device 52B receives communications on a first component carrier (e.g., component carrier 56A) that may be concurrent with communications on a second component carrier (e.g., component carrier 56B). Electronic device 52B is capable of receiving simultaneous uplink and downlink communications, at least in part, because electronic device 52B receives signals on component carrier 56A on a different antenna panel than the antenna panel used to receive signals on component carrier 56B.

[0135] Note that the assignment of which antenna panels receive signals from which component carriers 56 may change when electronic device 52A and / or electronic device 52B physically moves and, therefore, receives signals at different angles and / or at different amplitudes. For example, electronic device 52 may operate according to the exemplary use case corresponding to electronic device 52A, but may move position and, at a second time, operate according to the exemplary use case corresponding to electronic device 52B.

[0136] To account for changes in the operating mode of electronic device 52, such as from a simultaneous operating mode to a non-simultaneous operating mode, or vice versa, electronic device 52 may indicate to one or more base stations 50 whether it is capable of receiving overlapping uplink and downlink communications from different component carriers. For example, electronic device 52A may provide an indication to base station 50A that electronic device 52A is unable to receive overlapping uplink and downlink communications from component carrier 56C and from a second component carrier 56D. However, electronic device 52B may provide an indication to base station 50B and / or base station 50C that electronic device 52B is capable of receiving at least partially overlapping uplink and downlink communications from component carrier 56A and component carrier 56B because packets on these subsets of component carriers 56 can be received on corresponding antenna panels.

[0137] In some cases, the electronic device 52 may allow simultaneous communication on a frequency band without allowing simultaneous communication between one or more component carriers of the frequency band. Although not specifically described, other combinations of considerations between frequency bands and / or component carriers may also be allowed. Note that these methods may be combined with any of the other methods described herein. For example, with at least Figure 17 The associated description can be Figure 12 The combination of operations is enhanced to further improve Figure 1252, such as allowing simultaneous transmit and receive operations while also accounting for receive delays (e.g., MRTD) between communications from different base stations 50 or on different component carriers 56. In practice, the user equipment (UE) assistance information discussed herein, including receive time difference information (e.g., an indication of the MRTD seen by the electronic device 52), may also be combined with the capability of the electronic device 52 for simultaneous transmit and receive operations. Such as when the electronic device 52 includes an appropriate number of antenna circuits to simultaneously transmit and receive communications. The combined operation may be with respect to at least Figure 18 and Figure 19 Let’s discuss.

[0138] Thus, the electronic device 52 can indicate which component carriers 56 can be activated for simultaneous transmit and receive operations (e.g., simultaneous uplink and downlink operations) and / or can indicate which frequency bands including one or more component carriers 56 can be activated for simultaneous transmit and receive operations, and can indicate when the electronic device 52 can no longer support simultaneous transmit and receive operations. In addition, the electronic device 52 can provide an indication to the base station 50 of which combination of component carriers 56 and / or frequency bands can be used to support simultaneous transmit and receive operations. The indication provided from the electronic device 52 to the base station 50 can be a flag, a message, a control signal, etc.

[0139] To further explain the operation of the electronic device 52 in these circumstances, Figure 18 1 is a flow chart of a method 256 for operating an electronic device 52 to determine which operating mode is appropriate to use when communicating with one or more base stations 50 based at least in part on an antenna panel of the electronic device 52, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of the method 256 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, the method 256 is described as being performed by the electronic device 52, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of the method 256, such as one or more processors in the processor 12.

[0140] At block 258, the electronic device 52 may determine the signal strength and / or amplitude of signals received on one or more component carriers 56 and / or the frequency band used by one or more base stations 50 to communicate with the electronic device 52. Signal quality, thresholds (e.g., whether the signal strength is greater than a threshold amount), signal power, signal strength, other monitoring parameters, etc. may be determined by the electronic device 52 to support simultaneous transmit and receive operations within a specific frequency range at a specific antenna panel. In this way, the electronic device may monitor the component carriers 56 to determine the panel to use for communication on one or more of the component carriers 56 (and determine which base station 50 to communicate with). The geometry of the antenna panels may limit and / or adjust the range or geographic boundaries of each antenna panel. For example, the geometry of the antenna panels may include the number and / or type of antennas, the number and / or type of antenna amplifiers, etc.

[0141] At block 260, the electronic device 52 may determine that the detected signal is greater than or equal to a threshold signal strength, thereby ensuring that the frequency range of the signal to the antenna of the electronic device 52 is classified. The value of the threshold signal strength may be based on the sensitivity of the antenna circuit of the antenna panel, and / or may be taken so that signals having an amplitude or detected signal strength that is detectable noise are ignored. For example, a signal characterized by a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 0 decibels (dB) or greater may include a sufficiently low level of noise to be detected (e.g., the threshold signal strength is equal to approximately 0 dB). In some cases, a signal characterized by an SNR between -20 dB and 0 dB may be considered greater than or equal to the threshold signal strength (e.g., where the threshold signal strength is equal to approximately -20 dB). Once classified and / or identified as having an appropriate strength, the electronic device 52 may further communicate with its corresponding base station using the component carrier carrying the signal.

[0142] When the signal is not greater than or equal to the threshold signal strength, at block 258, the electronic device 52 may repeatedly determine the signal strength to attempt to identify a component carrier for communication. However, when the signal is greater than or equal to the threshold signal strength, at block 262, the electronic device 52 may assign one or more antenna panels to a component carrier (e.g., a frequency range) corresponding to the detected signal of suitable strength. The electronic device 52 may assign component carriers 56 to one or more antenna panels using any suitable method, such as by tuning the antenna panels and / or supporting communication circuitry to the frequency range of one or more component carriers 56. The electronic device 52 may maintain a log indicating which antenna panels are tuned to which component carriers. The log may be stored in a memory (such as the memory 14 and / or the non-volatile storage device 16) and may be accessed later, such as to determine which antenna panels are assigned to a plurality of component carriers 56.

[0143] Once one or more antenna panels are assigned, at block 264, the electronic device 52 may determine whether any of the assigned antenna panels are shared between one or more component carriers 56 and / or frequency bands of the base station 50. In this way, the electronic device 52 may determine whether the antenna panel is assigned to a first component carrier and a second component carrier.

[0144] When the electronic device 52 determines that one or more antenna panels are not shared, the electronic device 52 may generate and transmit an indication to one or more base stations 50 that simultaneous communication is supported at block 266. The base stations 50 receiving the indication may each communicate on a frequency range not received at the same antenna panel.

[0145] However, when the electronic device 52 determines at box 264 that one or more antenna panels are shared, the electronic device 52 may transmit an indication to one or more base stations 50 at box 268 that the electronic device 52 cannot receive simultaneous communications at each corresponding shared antenna panel. The electronic device 52 may transmit the indication to each base station that expects to communicate using the component carrier received by the shared antenna panel. In some cases, the electronic device 52 may identify the frequency range of the packet received when determining the signal strength at box 258 and may use the identified frequency range to transmit the indication to the base station. The base station 50 and / or the electronic device 52 may continue to operate in accordance with the methods described herein, wherein the reception delay is taken into account when delaying downlink operations and / or allocating uplink allocations, such as at least Figures 9 and / or Figure 10 Taking reception delay into account may allow the base station 50 to transmit packets on a frequency range to an antenna panel shared by another frequency range to reduce the likelihood of overlap of downlink and uplink operations, thereby improving communication operations of the wireless network.

[0146] In response to transmitting the indication at block 266 and / or block 268, the electronic device 52 may receive an updated communication configuration from the one or more base stations 50 at block 270 to reconfigure the electronic device 52 for communicating with the one or more base stations 50. Similar to as described above, the electronic device 52 may communicate with the base station 50 after applying the updated communication configuration to avoid any impermissible simultaneous uplink and downlink communications, thereby improving communication operations between the electronic device 52 and the base station 50. When applying the updated communication configuration, the electronic device 52 may adjust the operation of its receiver and / or its transmitter.

[0147] To further detail the operation of the base station 50 when considering an indication from the electronic device 52 regarding whether simultaneous (eg, overlapping) communications between the component carriers 56 are permitted, Figure 191 is a flow chart of a method 282 for operating a base station, such as base station 50C, to communicate with electronic device 52 based at least in part on an antenna panel of electronic device 52, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Note that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of method 282 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, method 282 is described as being performed by base station 50C, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry may perform some or all of the operations of method 282, such as one or more processors in processor 12. Note that, as described above, base station 50C transmits messages to and / or receives messages from electronic device 52 using frequencies within the frequency range of component carrier 56A.

[0148] At block 284, the base station 50C receives an indication from the electronic device 52 associated with communications on one or more component carriers 56 (e.g., a first component carrier, a second component carrier). The indication may be the same indication generated by the electronic device 52 at blocks 266 and / or 268 of the method 256. At block 286, the base station 50C may determine whether simultaneous transmission and / or reception is supported. In other words, the base station 50C may determine whether uplink operations and downlink operations can occur at least partially simultaneously with each other. The base station 50C may interpret the transmitted voltage levels and / or data as an indication to determine whether the electronic device 52 is operating to allow simultaneous communications from the one or more component carriers 56.

[0149] When the base station 50C determines that the indication conveys that the electronic device 52 is capable of handling simultaneous downlink and uplink operations, the base station 50C may transmit one or more packets on the component carrier 56A according to the original communication configuration (e.g., the unupdated first communication configuration) at block 288, without regard to whether overlapping downlink and uplink operations are expected to occur, and / or without regard to transmission delays associated with at least one other component carrier. However, when the base station 50C determines that the indication conveys that the electronic device 52 is unable to handle simultaneous downlink and uplink operations, the base station 50C may transmit one or more packets according to the updated communication configuration at block 290. The updated communication configuration may be generated using one or more of the above-described systems and / or methods and, therefore, may account for transmission delays when generated and applied.

[0150] With the foregoing in mind, in some cases, one or more base stations 50 may estimate the reception delay and / or have access to an indication of the reception delay for application to the communication configuration. For example, the reception delay may be hard-coded when one or more of the base stations 50 is installed and thus accessible in memory to the one or more processors 12 of the base station 50. In other cases, the base station 50 may include independent transceiver circuitry for transmitting signals to and / or receiving signals from neighboring base stations 50. Inter-base station communication may enable the base station 50 to determine the reception delay expected to be seen by the electronic device 52. This process may involve a triangulation process and / or analysis of Global Positioning Service (GPS) data associated with the physical location of the electronic device 52 relative to the physical location of the base station 50 to determine the reception delay.

[0151] Furthermore, it is noted that the component carriers 56 may operate contiguously in the same frequency band (e.g., referred to as intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation), discontinuously in the same frequency band but separated by one or more frequency gaps (e.g., referred to as intra-band non-contiguous carrier aggregation), and / or contiguously in different frequency bands (e.g., inter-band carrier aggregation). The base station 50 may receive and / or transmit downlink control information (DCI) to downlink control information (DCI). The DCI may include information for scheduling downlink data channels (e.g., physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)) and / or scheduling uplink data channels (e.g., physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)). Additionally or alternatively, the base station 50 may receive a media access control protocol address (MAC address) that uniquely identifies a network interface controller (NIC), and the MAC address may be used as a network address in communications within the network segment, such as to identify communications to and / or from the electronic device 52. The base station 50 may use processes such as radio resource control (RRC) protocol processes to transmit messages between base stations 50 of a radio network (e.g., a wireless network provided by the base station 50) and / or between electronic devices 52. In addition, the base station 50 may include an access management device that performs operations associated with the deployment of a radio network (e.g., a wireless network of a cellular service provider, a cellular network, a core network), such as an access and mobility management function (AMF). The access management device may also perform operations associated with registration and / or maintain information associated with user equipment accessing and / or attempting to access the radio network, such as a user plane function (UPF). In this way, when an electronic device 52 is registered with the wireless network, the access management device of each base station 50 may access the permissions associated with the SIM card of the electronic device 52.

[0152] The technical effects of the present disclosure include systems and methods for operating transceiver circuits to transmit or receive signals within various frequency ranges. Frequency ranges can be used to define component carriers, and some electronic devices may not be able to perform simultaneous uplink and downlink operations. This operation of delaying the execution of downlink operations when an uplink operation is to be performed can be improved by taking into account the delay experienced by the electronic device when receiving messages (e.g., packets) from base stations located at different distances from the electronic device on different component carriers. For example, an uplink operation allocation can be scheduled to occur at a later time than the time allowed for the previous downlink operation to improve the alignment of the uplink operation allocation with the downlink operation allocation for different component carriers.

[0153] The above specific embodiments have been shown by way of example, and it should be understood that these embodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should also be understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives that fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0154] The technology described and claimed herein is cited and applied to specific examples of a tangible and practical nature that significantly advance the art and is therefore not abstract, intangible, or purely theoretical. Furthermore, if any claim appended to the end of this specification contains one or more elements designated as "means for [performing] [the function]..." or "a step for [performing] [the function]...", then those elements will be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). However, for any claim containing elements designated in any other manner, those elements will not be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f).

Claims

1. A user equipment comprising: Antenna circuit; as well as a processing circuit communicatively coupled to the antenna circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to assign a first component carrier from a first network node and a second component carrier from a second network node to different portions of the antenna circuit, operating the antenna circuitry to transmit an indication to the first network node via the first component carrier that simultaneous uplink and downlink operation is allowed, and The antenna circuit is operated to receive a first signal via the first component carrier while transmitting a second signal via the second component carrier.

2. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to operate the antenna circuit to receive the first signal via the first component carrier while transmitting the second signal via the second component carrier at least in part by: operating, via the processing circuitry, the antenna circuitry to receive, over a first duration, the first signal from the first network node via the first component carrier; and The antenna circuitry is operated, via the processing circuitry, to transmit the second signal to the second network node via the second component carrier over a second duration, wherein the first duration overlaps with the second duration.

3. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to assign the first component carrier and the second component carrier to the different portions of the antenna circuit at least in part by assigning a first portion of the antenna circuit to the first component carrier and assigning a second portion of the antenna circuit to the second component carrier. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the different portions of the antenna circuitry comprise different antenna panels.

5. The user equipment of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to, based on allocating the first portion of the antenna circuit to the first component carrier and allocating the second portion of the antenna circuit to the second component carrier, operate the first portion of the antenna circuit to transmit an indication to the first network node that simultaneous uplink operation and downlink operation using the antenna circuit is permitted. 6 . The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to allocate the first component carrier and the second component carrier to the different portions of the antenna circuitry based on signal strength. 7 . The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the first component carrier and the second component carrier correspond to different frequency ranges.

8. A method comprising: receiving, via processing circuitry configured to operate antenna circuitry, an indication of a first network node via a first component carrier and an indication of a second network node via a second component carrier; allocating, via the processing circuitry, the first component carrier and the second component carrier to different portions of the antenna circuitry; operating, via the processing circuitry, the antenna circuitry to receive at least a first signal from the first network node via the first component carrier at a first time; as well as The antenna circuitry is operated, via the processing circuitry, to transmit at least a second signal to the second network node via the second component carrier at the first time.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising receiving a first communication configuration configured to cause the processing circuit to operate the antenna circuit continuously in the same frequency band, discontinuously in the same frequency band, or in different frequency bands in the first component carrier and the second component carrier.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising determining to allow simultaneous uplink and downlink operation based on allocating the first component carrier and the second component carrier to different portions of the antenna circuitry.

11. A method according to claim 10, comprising operating the antenna circuitry to transmit an indication of allowed simultaneous uplink and downlink operation to the first network node via the first component carrier.

12. The method of claim 8, comprising allocating, via the processing circuitry, the first and second component carriers to the different portions of the antenna circuitry based on signal strength.

13. The method according to claim 12, comprising: determining that the signal strength exceeds a threshold amount of signal strength; and Based on determining that the signal strength exceeds the threshold amount of signal strength, the first component carrier and the second component carrier are assigned to the different portions of the antenna circuitry.

14. The method of claim 8, comprising tuning the corresponding portion of the antenna circuitry from a third component carrier to the first component carrier based on assigning the corresponding portion of the antenna circuitry to the first component carrier.

15. A method comprising: transmitting, by a transmitter of the first network node, a first signal to the electronic device on a first frequency band according to a first communication configuration; receiving, by a receiver of the first network node, an indication from the electronic device; determining, by processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, based on the indication, that simultaneous uplink and downlink operations are allowed on the first frequency band from the first network node and the second frequency band from the second network node; as well as A second signal is transmitted by the transmitter to the electronic device on the first frequency band according to the first communication configuration based on the indication.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the indication comprises an indication that different portions of antenna circuitry of the electronic device are allocated to the first frequency band and the second frequency band.

17. The method of claim 15, comprising transmitting, by the transmitter, a third signal to the electronic device on the second frequency band according to a second communication configuration based on an additional indication that non-simultaneous uplink and downlink operations are to be used.

18. The method of claim 15, comprising generating the first communication configuration, the first communication configuration being configured to cause the transmitter to operate the first frequency band and the second frequency band continuously in the same frequency band, to operate the first frequency band and the second frequency band discontinuously in the same frequency band, or to operate the first frequency band and the second frequency band in different frequency bands.

19. The method of claim 15, comprising assigning the first frequency band to a first antenna panel opposite a second antenna panel based on a signal strength of the first signal.

20. The method of claim 15, comprising allocating the first frequency band to a first component carrier and allocating the second frequency band to a second component carrier.

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