UE Coexistence Manager for Multi-Radio Interference
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional LTE systems face coexistence issues due to interference with other radios in multi-radio devices, such as Bluetooth and WLAN, where the evolved NodeB (eNB) is not aware of interference on the User Equipment (UE) side, leading to unresolved uplink coexistence problems and performance degradation.
Innovation Solution
The UE actively communicates on a first radio access technology (RAT), maintains a second potentially interfering RAT in an inactive state, yields interfering resources from the first RAT to the second RAT, and receives an activity indicator using those resources to autonomously address coexistence issues by declaring a Radio Link Failure and switching to a new channel or RAT, informing the eNB of the interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the UE unilaterally moves the uplink signal to a different channel to avoid interference, then the interference to Bluetooth/WLAN is reduced, but the eNB may handover the UE back to the original frequency channel, causing ping-pong effects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the UE reports uplink coexistence issues to the eNB through measurement reports. The eNB uses this feedback information to make informed handover decisions and avoid repeatedly handovering the UE back to interfering channels, thereby resolving the ping-pong effect while maintaining interference avoidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by having the UE proactively report detected uplink coexistence issues to the eNB before the interference causes significant degradation. This allows the eNB to take preventive measures by adjusting handover parameters or allocating resources in advance, avoiding the ping-pong effect and ensuring channel stability.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the UE stops uplink communications to avoid interference with Bluetooth/WLAN, then interference is reduced, but power loop malfunctions occur at the eNB
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses feedback mechanisms where the UE reports uplink coexistence issues to the eNB. The eNB receives this feedback and adjusts its power loop operations accordingly, coordinating uplink transmissions with Bluetooth/WLAN activities to avoid interference while preventing power loop malfunctions through informed control decisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies dynamics by making the uplink transmission schedule adaptive and flexible. The UE dynamically adjusts its uplink transmission timing based on real-time detection of Bluetooth/WLAN activities and eNB power loop status, allowing the system to avoid interference and power loop malfunctions through dynamic coordination rather than static operation.
3Ease of operation
If the eNB uses RSRP reports to make handover decisions, then channel selection is automated, but channels corrupted by in-device interference may be selected due to higher desired signal strength
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enhances the feedback mechanism by having the UE report not only downlink conditions but also uplink coexistence issues and detected interference to the eNB. The eNB uses this comprehensive feedback to supplement RSRP reports, enabling automated handover decisions that consider both signal strength and interference conditions, thereby avoiding selection of corrupted channels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the handover decision criteria from solely RSRP-based to a multi-parameter approach that includes uplink interference levels, Bluetooth/WLAN activity status, and coexistence issue reports. This changes the decision parameters to reflect actual channel quality considering interference, preventing automated selection of corrupted channels while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
Interference between potentially conflicting radio access technologies (RATs) in a wireless device may be managed through a coexistence manager. The coexistence manager allows a first active RAT to yield conflicting resources to a second idle RAT for purposes of receiving signals to allow proper operation by the second RAT. These signals may be, for example, paging signals to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio or beacons to a wireless local area network (WLAN) radio.