Partial OFDM Symbol Filtering for ACLR Compliance

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

In 3GPP LTE, 4G, and 5G communication systems, the discontinuity between OFDM symbols leads to out-of-band energy leakage, worsening the adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) and requiring extensive Digital Signal Processing (DSP) resources for full channel filtering, which is inefficient.

Innovation Solution

Implementing partial channel filtering that selectively filters only the time domain samples surrounding the points of discontinuity between OFDM symbols, reducing the DSP resources needed while meeting ACLR specifications.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If full channel filtering is applied to all transmitted time domain samples, then ACLR specification requirements are met, but DSP resources are consumed excessively

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveACLR specification complianceVSAvoidDSP resource consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the continuous stream of time domain samples into discrete groups, where each group contains samples surrounding a specific OFDM symbol boundary discontinuity. The channel filter is applied selectively to each group independently rather than to the entire signal stream, reducing overall DSP resource consumption while maintaining ACLR compliance at each discontinuity point.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies channel filtering only locally around the points of discontinuity (OFDM symbol boundaries) where it is most needed to prevent out-of-band energy leakage. Samples far from discontinuities are not filtered, creating a non-uniform filtering strategy that optimizes the balance between ACLR performance and DSP resource usage.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Object-generated harmful factors

If channel filtering is applied to all time domain samples, then out-of-band energy leakage is reduced, but processing efficiency decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveout-of-band energy leakageVSAvoidprocessing efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-generated harmful factorsVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and identifies the specific portions of the signal that contain discontinuities (OFDM symbol boundaries) and applies filtering only to those extracted segments. By separating the filtering operation from the entire signal processing chain and applying it only where necessary, processing efficiency is improved while still reducing out-of-band energy leakage effectively.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of applying full channel filtering to all samples (excessive action), the patent applies partial filtering only to the minimal necessary portions of the signal surrounding discontinuities. This partial action approach achieves sufficient suppression of out-of-band energy leakage while dramatically improving processing efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP3334113B1Partial OFDM symbol boundaries filtering
Publication Date: 2021.04.14 NOKIA SOLUTIONS & NETWORKS OY
  • EP3334113B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3334113B1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP3334113B1 patent drawingFigure 4~5

AI summary

Various communication systems may benefit from improved radio signaling. For example, communication systems may benefit from selective or partial filtering of a radio signal. A method, in certain embodiments, may include analyze at a network entity a radio signal comprising a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols. The radio signal comprises at least one point of discontinuity between the plurality of symbols. The method may also include filtering a select time domain sample of the radio signal in the plurality of symbols. The select sample surrounds the at least one point of discontinuity. In addition, the method may include replacing the select time domain sample surrounding the at least one point of discontinuity of the radio signal with the filtered sample in the plurality of symbols.