Narrowband Terminal Dual Carrier Modulation Signal Quality Selection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Dual carrier modulation (DCM) is not well suited for narrowband receivers with limited frequency range and low power, as they often experience data losses due to inferior reception when only able to receive one carrier, and existing solutions do not effectively determine which channel has the largest gain.

Innovation Solution

A method where a narrowband terminal measures signal quality across multiple resource units and selects the one with the highest signal quality for DCM transmission, allowing it to benefit from dual carrier diversity even with a single carrier transceiver, without requiring the access point to know which resource unit is chosen.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If dual carrier modulation is used for narrowband receivers, then frequency diversity gain is achieved, but the receiver experiences data losses due to inferior reception when only able to receive one carrier

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereception qualityVSAvoiddata losses
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The receiver performs preliminary measurements of signal quality on multiple resource units before the actual data transmission. Based on these advance measurements, the receiver identifies and selects the resource unit with the highest signal quality for receiving the DCM transmission, thereby avoiding data losses that would occur if the receiver attempted to process both carriers simultaneously without prior quality assessment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If a narrowband terminal receives both carriers in DCM, then frequency diversity is obtained, but the terminal requires complex dual carrier reception capability which increases power consumption and cost

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefrequency diversityVSAvoidreceiver complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The invention extracts only the essential benefit of DCM (frequency diversity) while removing the complex requirement for dual carrier reception. By measuring signal quality on multiple resource units and selecting only the best one for reception, the system obtains diversity gain without needing to simultaneously receive and process both carriers, thereby simplifying the receiver architecture and reducing power consumption.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Productivity

If the access point transmits DCM to multiple narrowband terminals, then network capacity is increased, but signal overhead and congestion risks increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenetwork capacityVSAvoidsignal overhead
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

Each narrowband terminal independently performs signal quality measurements on multiple resource units and autonomously selects the optimal resource unit for receiving DCM transmissions. This self-service approach eliminates the need for the access point to coordinate and manage resource unit assignments among multiple terminals, thereby reducing signaling overhead and avoiding congestion that would result from centralized resource allocation management.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentEP3446453B1Dual carrier modulation with single carrier reception
Publication Date: 2020.11.25 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
  • EP3446453B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3446453B1 patent drawingFigure 3~5
  • EP3446453B1 patent drawingFigure 6

AI summary

The method comprises a narrowband wireless terminal receiving a trigger from an AP, wherein the trigger comprises an indication of a first resource unit and a second resource unit of a plurality of resource units on which the AP will transmit data intended to the wireless terminal using a dual carrier modulation (DCM) transmission. The wireless terminal measures a signal quality of the first and second resource units, determines which of the first and second resource units has a highest signal quality based on the measured signal quality and receives the DCM-transmission on the resource unit determined to have the highest signal quality.