EP-4738715-A1 - APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SELF-INTERFERENCE MITIGATION IN BLUETOOTH SYSTEMS

EP4738715A1EP 4738715 A1EP4738715 A1EP 4738715A1EP-4738715-A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an apparatus, method, and non-transitory computer readable medium for self-interference mitigation in bluetooth (BT) systems. The apparatus comprises a cellular modem for a cellular communication; a first controller for a general purpose; and a second controller for a BT communication. The first controller receives information about self-interference from the cellular modem, the information about self-interference comprises one or more frequency ranges of one or more transmission of the apparatus in frequency bands of the cellular communication and one or both of one or more related frequency ranges of a potential intermodulation distortion product or a related potential harmonic product of the one or more transmissions of the apparatus affecting the BT communication. The first controller determines BT channels affected by the one or more transmissions of the apparatus in the frequency bands of the cellular communication based on the information on self-interference. The first controller transmits controller, information about the determined BT channels to the second controller and the second controller is configured to control the BT communication with a slave BT device based on the information about the determined BT channels.

Inventors

DHERE, Amol
NIELSEN, KIM

Assignees

Nokia Technologies Oy

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20251008

Claims (15)

An apparatus, comprising: a cellular modem for a cellular communication; a first controller for a general purpose; and a second controller for a bluetooth, BT, communication, wherein the first controller is configured to: receive information about self-interference from the cellular modem, wherein the information about self-interference comprises one or more frequency ranges of one or more transmission of the apparatus in frequency bands of the cellular communication and one or both of one or more related frequency ranges of a potential intermodulation distortion product or a related potential harmonic product of the one or more transmissions of the apparatus affecting the BT communication; determine BT channels affected by the one or more transmissions of the apparatus in the frequency bands of the cellular communication based on the information about self-interference; and transmit, information about the determined BT channels to the second controller, wherein the second controller is configured to control the BT communication with a slave BT device based on the information about the determined BT channels.
The apparatus of Claim 1, wherein the second controller is further caused to estimate channel quality between the apparatus and the slave BT device based on only a part of the determined BT channels; and wherein the controlling, by the second controller, the BT transmission based on the information on the determined BT channels comprises: scheduling the second controller's reception from the slave BT device on the determined BT channels when the estimated channel quality is above a predetermined threshold.
The apparatus of Claim 2, wherein the predetermined threshold is indicated by a self-interference level per BT channel; wherein the self-interference level per BT channel is determined, by the first controller, based on information on a maximum self-interference level when the apparatus is transmitting with the maximum output power on transmission in cellular bands; and wherein the self-interference level per BT channel is transmitted, by the first controller, to the second controller when a number of determined BT channels is higher than a predetermined minimum number for BT channels marked as unknown.
The apparatus of Claim 2 or 3, wherein the self-interference level per BT channel is transmitted by a first custom command in BT host controller interface, HCI, and wherein the first custom command has a predetermined opcode with group filed, OGF, value and an operation code command, OCF, field for providing information on self-interference level per BT channel.
The apparatus of any Claims 1 to 4, wherein the controlling, by the second controller, the BT transmission based on the information on the determined BT channels comprises: scheduling the second controller's transmission to the slave BT device on any of BT channels while scheduling transmission from the slave BT device on the BT channels marked as bad are restricted.
The apparatus of any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the first controller is further configured to: transmit, a permission command to the second controller, wherein the permission command allows transmission only from a BT master device of the apparatus in any of: BT channels marked as bad; or BT channels identified in the permission command, comprising remaining BT channels in the determined BT channels other than BT channels marked as bad.
The apparatus of Claim 6, wherein the permission command comprises a second custom command in BT HCI, and wherein the second custom command has a predetermined opcode with group filed, OGF, value and an operation code command, OCF, field for permission of transmission.
The apparatus of any of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the information on the determined BT channels affected by the transmission of the apparatus comprises information on BT channels marked as bad with an amount not greater than a predetermined minimum number for BT channels marked as unknown.
The apparatus of Claims 1 to 8, wherein the information on the determined BT channels affected by the active bands is transmitted to the second controller through an HCI_Set_AFH_Host_Channel_Classification command provided by an HCI protocol.
The apparatus of any of Claims 1 to 9, wherein the apparatus has a frequency band combination table stored in the cellular modem, and wherein the band combination table comprises band combinations of supported cellular communication system creating intermodulation distortion products or harmonic products inside an operation frequency range of BT communication and information indicating a maximum self-interference level when the apparatus is transmitting with a maximum output power on the transmission of the apparatus in cellular bands.
The apparatus of any of Claims 1 to 10, wherein the apparatus has an equation for calculating intermodulation distortion or harmonic products of operation band combinations stored therein, and wherein the intermodulation distortion or harmonic products may be calculated based on the one or more frequency ranges of the one or more transmission of the apparatus in the frequency bands of the cellular communication and central frequencies thereof.
The apparatus of any of Claims 1 to 11, wherein the apparatus is further caused to transmit, by the first controller, a frame configuration information on cellular communication to the second controller, wherein the frame configuration information comprises one or more of frame duration, timings of uplink, timings of downlink and guard periods, wherein the frame configuration information is transmitted to the second controller by a HCI_Set_External_Frame_Configuration command provided by an HCI protocol.
The apparatus of any of Claims 1 to 12, wherein the apparatus is user equipment (UE) or is implemented in user equipment.
A method implemented by an apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises: a cellular modem for a cellular communication; a first controller for a general purpose; and a second controller for a bluetooth, BT, communication, the method comprising: receive, by the first controller, information about self-interference from the cellular modem, wherein the information about self-interference comprises one or more frequency ranges of one or more transmission of the apparatus in frequency bands of the cellular communication and one or both of one or more related frequency ranges of a potential intermodulation distortion product or a related potential harmonic product of the one or more transmissions of the apparatus affecting the BT communication; determine, by the first controller, BT channels affected by the one or more transmissions of the apparatus in the frequency bands of the cellular communication based on the information about self-interference; and transmit, by the first controller, information about the determined BT channels to the second controller, wherein the second controller is configured to control the BT communication with a slave BT device based on the information about the determined BT channels.
A computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of Claim 14.

Description

FIELD Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of wireless communication, and in particular to devices, methods, and a non-transitory computer readable medium for self-interference mitigation in bluetooth (BT) systems. BACKGROUND In modern wireless communication devices such as user equipment (UE), the device can simultaneously manage multiple wireless connections to achieve efficient data transmission and enhanced network performance. Although the wireless connection to the cellular network can provide high-throughput data services, the realization of such high throughput relies on the collaborative operation of multiple wireless links. Consequently, technologies such as carrier aggregation (CA) and dual connectivity (DC) are widely implemented to optimize the utilization of wireless signals, thereby meeting users' demands for high-speed data transmission. When UE is operated with more than one transceiver active at different spectrum allocations, typically happening in the implementation of technologies such as carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, the UE's radio hardware is potentially subject to cause self-interference, which refers to the UE's transmitter having spectrum content, harmonic response, or harmonic products that create interference inside an active receive frequency band of the same UE. Currently, as one of the popular short range communication technologies, BT is widely used by users, and the BT data connection with nearby devices is continually increasing. The BT communication typically operates within an industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band. The ISM band is radio frequencies reserved for unlicensed communication, typically ranging from 2.4 GHz to 2.483 GHz. Due to its open nature, the ISM band is widely used for various wireless communication technologies, including bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and other short-range wireless devices. Since the BT connection may operate concurrently with multiple cellular network connections in the same UE, cellular frequency bands, such as fifth generation (5G) or sixth generation (6G) frequency bands might generate interferences affecting bluetooth signals, causing self-interference in bluetooth systems. However, issues related to the self-interference in the bluetooth systems are not sufficiently handled but still to be further addressed. SUMMARY In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide devices, methods and a computer readable medium for self-interference mitigation in bluetooth (BT) systems. In a first aspect, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises a cellular modem for a cellular communication, a first controller for a general purpose, and a second controller for a bluetooth, BT, communication. The first controller is configured to: receive information about self-interference from the cellular modem, wherein the information about self-interference comprises one or more frequency ranges of one or more transmission of the apparatus in frequency bands of the cellular communication and one or both of one or more related frequency ranges of a potential intermodulation distortion product or a related potential harmonic product of the one or more transmissions of the apparatus affecting the BT communication. The first controller is further configured to determine BT channels affected by the one or more transmissions of the apparatus in the frequency bands of the cellular communication based on the information about self-interference. The first controller is also configured to transmit information about the determined BT channels to the second controller, wherein the second controller is configured to control the BT communication with a slave BT device based on the information about the determined BT channels. In some embodiments, the second controller is further caused to estimate channel quality between the apparatus and the slave BT device based on only a part of the determined BT channels; and the controlling, by the second controller, the BT transmission based on the information on the determined BT channels comprises: scheduling the second controller's reception from the slave BT device on the determined BT channels when the estimated channel quality is above a predetermined threshold. In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold is indicated by a self-interference level per BT channel; the self-interference level per BT channel is determined, by the first controller, based on information on a maximum self-interference level when the apparatus is transmitting with the maximum output power on transmission in cellular bands; and the self-interference level per BT channel is transmitted, by the first controller, to the second controller when a number of determined BT channels is higher than a predetermined minimum number for BT channels marked as unknown. In some embodiments, the self-interference level per BT channel is transmitted by a first custom command in BT host co