LAA Exclusion for Shared LTE Wi-Fi Receiver Circuitry
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Wi-Fi enabled devices require dual radio front ends for LTE and WLAN communications, increasing size, cost, complexity, and power consumption, as existing specifications do not provide for measurements or access between these domains.
Innovation Solution
Implementing LAA exclusion functionality for temporary deactivation or throttling of LAA Secondary Cells, allowing devices to share radio receiver circuitry between LTE and Wi-Fi, reducing hardware costs and power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dual radio front ends are used for LTE and Wi-Fi communications, then connectivity reliability is improved, but device size, cost, complexity, and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the LTE and Wi-Fi radio front ends into a single shared radio front end. The UE uses one radio front end for both LTE cellular communications and Wi-Fi non-cellular communications, eliminating the need for separate dual radio front ends. This combining approach reduces device complexity, size, cost, and power consumption while maintaining connectivity reliability through coordinated resource sharing between the two radio access technologies.
Solution Approach 2:
The single radio front end is designed to perform multiple functions by supporting both LTE and Wi-Fi radio access technologies. The radio front end can be dynamically configured to operate in different modes (LTE mode, Wi-Fi mode, or time-shared mode) depending on the communication requirements, making it a universal component that replaces the need for dedicated separate radio front ends for each technology.
2Reliability
If dual radio front ends are used for LTE and Wi-Fi communications, then connectivity reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the LTE and Wi-Fi radio front ends into a single shared radio front end. The UE uses one radio front end for both LTE cellular communications and Wi-Fi non-cellular communications, eliminating the need for separate dual radio front ends. This combining approach reduces device complexity, size, cost, and power consumption while maintaining connectivity reliability through coordinated resource sharing between the two radio access technologies.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate radio front ends are used for LTE and Wi-Fi, then measurement and access between domains is enabled, but hardware cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the LTE and Wi-Fi radio front ends into a single shared radio front end. The UE uses one radio front end for both LTE cellular communications and Wi-Fi non-cellular communications, eliminating the need for separate dual radio front ends. This combining approach reduces device complexity, size, cost, and power consumption while maintaining connectivity reliability through coordinated resource sharing between the two radio access technologies.
Data Source
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AI summary
Exclusion functionality for License Assisted Access, LAA, in LTE is defined. LAA exclusion is a temporary deactivation or throttling of scheduling on LAA Secondary Cells (SCells), which allows a requesting UE (11) to periodically, or upon demand, send data or perform measurements on Wi-Fi networks using the same receiver circuitry (18), e.g., radio front end, without risk of losing LAA traffic. A UE sends an exclusion request to its serving base station, eNB (31) and receives an acknowledgement. The UE (11) may include parameters, e.g., duration or periodicity, in the request, and the acknowledgement may include overriding parameters. By the introduction of the exclusion functionality, the UE (11) can share receiver circuitry (18) between Wi-Fi and LAA, hence reducing hardware device size, cost, and power consumption.