Fragmented Downlink Carrier Combining for In-Gap Blocker Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
User equipment (UE) processing circuitry faces challenges in handling fragmented spectrum blocks due to hardware limitations when the total bandwidth of carriers exceeds a threshold, leading to issues like in-gap blocking and exceeding maximum carrier bandwidth, which current 5G standards do not support.
Innovation Solution
The UE employs a frequency down-conversion mixer with local oscillators and tunable bandpass filters, followed by analog-to-digital converters, to shift and combine fragmented carriers into a single carrier with a reduced bandwidth below the threshold, effectively removing in-gap blockers and aligning the carriers to be processed by the UE's hardware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the UE processes fragmented carriers with total bandwidth exceeding threshold, then the bandwidth utilization is improved, but the hardware processing capability is exceeded causing in-gap blocking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the frequency gap between fragmented carriers into removable components. By identifying and removing in-gap blockers from the frequency gap, the system maintains the ability to process wide bandwidth carriers while avoiding the harmful effects of in-gap blocking. This segmentation approach allows the UE to handle carriers with total bandwidth exceeding hardware thresholds without sacrificing signal processing reliability.
2Productivity
If the total bandwidth of fragmented carriers exceeds maximum carrier bandwidth, then spectrum efficiency is improved, but hardware limitations prevent proper processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes in-gap blockers from the frequency gap between fragmented carriers. This extraction process enables the UE to process carriers with aggregated bandwidth exceeding maximum carrier bandwidth limits by eliminating the problematic in-gap blocking components, thereby achieving high spectrum efficiency without overwhelming hardware processing capabilities.
3Device complexity
If fragmented carriers are processed separately, then hardware complexity is reduced, but in-gap blocking occurs reducing signal quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful in-gap blocking effect into a beneficial filtering opportunity. By specifically targeting and removing in-gap blockers from the frequency gap, the system transforms what was previously a harmful interference into a selective filtering process. This approach maintains simple separate processing architecture while eliminating the harmful in-gap blocking that degrades signal quality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows the UE to process fragmented carriers efficiently by reducing the total bandwidth and eliminating in-gap blockers, ensuring proper signal demodulation and compliance with 5G standards for carrier bandwidth limits.
Implementation Method 1
The UE employs a frequency down-conversion mixer with local oscillators and tunable bandpass filters, followed by analog-to-digital converters, to shift and combine fragmented carriers into a single carrier with a reduced bandwidth below the threshold
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for described for combining fragmented carriers. An example method can include processing a first analog signal having a first center frequency and a second analog signal having a second center frequency to generate a first digital signal and a second digital signal, wherein the first analog signal is separated from the second analog signal by a frequency offset, the first LO set to the first center frequency. The method can further include downshifting the first digital signal based on the first center frequency of the first analog signal to generate a downshifted digital signal and upshifting the second digital signal based on the second center frequency of the second analog signal to generate an upshifted digital signal. The method can further include combining the downshifted digital signal and the upshifted digital signal to generate a combined digital signal.