NR Resource Element Reservation for LTE Coexistence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for NR radio access technology (RAT) co-carrier co-existence with LTE/NB-IoT face inefficiencies in resource management, particularly in configuring reserved resources, leading to overhead and limited flexibility in avoiding LTE/NB-IoT transmissions, which affects the efficient coexistence and migration towards NR.
Innovation Solution
Configuring reserved resources with specific time/frequency structures matching LTE/NB-IoT signals, allowing NR wireless devices to identify and avoid resource elements used by LTE/NB-IoT transmissions at a finer resolution, enabling more efficient resource sharing and reduced overhead in signaling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If NR configures reserved resources to avoid LTE/NB-IoT transmissions, then coexistence between NR and LTE/NB-IoT is improved, but signaling overhead increases and resource utilization efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the reserved resource configuration into multiple parts: LTE/NB-IoT resource allocation information, resource element level indicators, and resource block level indicators. This segmentation allows efficient signaling by only indicating the necessary granularity level rather than transmitting complete resource maps, thereby reducing signaling overhead while maintaining reliable coexistence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by configuring reserved resources at different granularities in different scenarios. When LTE/NB-IoT transmissions are sparse, resource element level indication is used for precise avoidance. When transmissions are dense or patterns are regular, coarser resource block level indication suffices, reducing signaling overhead. This adaptive approach maintains coexistence reliability while optimizing signaling efficiency.
2Reliability
If NR reserves entire OFDM symbols, slots, or resource blocks for LTE/NB-IoT, then coexistence is ensured, but resource utilization efficiency deteriorates due to excessive blanking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments reserved resources from coarse-granularity units (entire slots or resource blocks) to fine-granularity resource elements. By indicating specific resource elements within resource blocks that need to be reserved, the system avoids blanking entire resource blocks when only a few resource elements are needed for LTE/NB-IoT, thereby improving resource utilization efficiency while ensuring coexistence reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by reserving only the specific resource elements that overlap with LTE/NB-IoT transmissions rather than reserving entire resource blocks. This localized reservation approach allows NR to utilize non-overlapping resource elements within the same resource block, maximizing resource utilization while maintaining reliable coexistence between NR and LTE/NB-IoT.
3Device complexity
If NR uses coarse-granularity reserved resources (entire resource blocks), then signaling complexity is reduced, but resource sharing flexibility between NR and LTE/NB-IoT deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamics by making the resource reservation granularity adaptive rather than fixed. The system dynamically selects between resource element level, resource block level, or hybrid indication based on the actual LTE/NB-IoT transmission pattern and channel conditions. This dynamic approach maintains low signaling complexity in simple scenarios while providing fine-grained flexibility when needed, resolving the contradiction between signaling simplicity and resource sharing adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal reserved resource configuration mechanism that can handle multiple scenarios with a single framework. The same configuration structure supports both coarse-granularity reservations (for simple cases) and fine-granularity reservations (for complex cases), making the system adaptable to various LTE/NB-IoT deployment patterns without requiring multiple specialized configurations, thus maintaining low complexity while providing high flexibility.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and network node for providing support for frequency-overlapping carriers among a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT is provided. Second RAT information to signal to the first RAT wireless device is determined. The second RAT information configured to allow the first RAT wireless device to determine, at a resource element level, resources reserved for second RAT transmissions. The second RAT information is caused to be communicated to the first RAT wireless device.