US-12621090-B2 - Physical layer designs for carrier aggregation-based radio unit sharing

US12621090B2US 12621090 B2US12621090 B2US 12621090B2US-12621090-B2

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. In wireless communications, operators may coordinate resource sharing over respective carriers. A user interface may receive, by a first network entity associated with a first carrier from a second network entity associated with a second carrier, an indication of a first set of time intervals when the second carrier is available for communications from the first network entity. The first network entity may be associated with a first operator and the second network entity may be associated with a second operator. Both the first network entity and the second network entity may be coupled to a single radio unit. The first network entity may transmit based on receiving the indication, control signaling indicating a carrier aggregation mode associated with the first carrier and the second carrier for one or more user equipment.

Inventors

Jing Sun
Aleksandar Damnjanovic
Xiaoxia Zhang

Assignees

QUALCOMM INCORPORATED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220927

Claims (20)

1 . An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; memory coupled with the at least one processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, via a central unit or a distributed unit of a first network entity associated with a first carrier from a central unit or a distributed unit of a second network entity associated with a second carrier, an indication of a first set of time intervals during which the second carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the first network entity, wherein the first network entity is associated with a first operator and the second network entity is associated with a second operator, and wherein both the first network entity and the second network entity are coupled to a single radio unit; transmit, based at least in part on receiving the indication, control signaling indicating a carrier aggregation mode associated with the first carrier and the second carrier for one or more user equipments (UE); and communicate, via the radio unit, with the one or more UEs during the first set of time intervals via the first carrier and the second carrier according to the indication of the carrier aggregation mode.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to receive the indication are executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive an indication of a configuration of the first set of time intervals and a second set of time intervals during which the second carrier is unavailable for wireless communications performed by the first network entity and is occupied by wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit.
3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the configuration further indicates that the first carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit during one or more time intervals of the second set of time intervals.
4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit a coordination message indicating an availability of the first carrier for the wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit during the second set of time intervals, wherein receiving the indication of the configuration is based at least in part on the coordination message.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to receive the indication are executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive an indication of the first set of time intervals, a second set of time intervals during which the second carrier is unavailable for wireless communications performed by the first network entity and is occupied by wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit, and a shared third set of time intervals during which the second carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the first network entity or the second network entity.
6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit, to the second network entity at least a threshold amount of time prior to a first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals, a resource sharing message indicating the first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals; and communicate, via the first carrier and the second carrier and based at least in part on the resource sharing message, with the one or more UEs during the first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals.
7 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, from the second network entity at least a threshold amount of time prior to a first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals, a resource sharing message indicating the first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals; and refrain from communicating with the one or more UEs via the first carrier and the second carrier during the first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals based at least in part on receiving the resource sharing message.
8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, from the second network entity, an indication of transmission parameters for common signaling associated with the first operator and the second operator; and transmit, during the first set of time intervals, the common signaling according to the transmission parameters.
9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein: the common signaling comprises synchronization signals, channel state information reference signals, or a combination thereof.
10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, from the second network entity, an indication of first subset of frequency resources of the first carrier reserved for transmitting common signaling associated with the second operator; and refrain from communicating with the one or more UEs via the first subset of frequency resources during the first set of time intervals.
11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit, to the second network entity, an indication of a second subset of frequency resources of the second carrier reserved for common signaling associated with the first operator; and transmit the common signaling via the second subset of frequency resources of the first carrier during a second set of time intervals during which the second carrier is otherwise unavailable for wireless communications performed by the first network entity.
12 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein: the common signaling comprises synchronization signals, channel state information reference signals, system information, automatic neighbor relation information, or any combination thereof.
13 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to receive the indication are executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive the indication via a third network entity relaying the indication from the second network entity.
14 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to communicate with the one or more UEs are executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit control signaling via the first carrier, the first carrier comprising a primary cell of the carrier aggregation mode; and transmit data signaling, common signaling, or both, via the second carrier, the second carrier comprising a secondary cell of the carrier aggregation mode.
15 . A method for wireless communications comprising: receiving, via a central unit or a distributed unit of a first network entity associated with a first carrier from a central unit or a distributed unit of a second network entity associated with a second carrier, an indication of a first set of time intervals during which the second carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the first network entity, wherein the first network entity is associated with a first operator and the second network entity is associated with a second operator, and wherein both the first network entity and the second network entity are coupled to a single radio unit; transmitting, based at least in part on receiving the indication, control signaling indicating a carrier aggregation mode associated with the first carrier and the second carrier for one or more user equipments (UE); and communicating, via the radio unit, with the one or more UEs during the first set of time intervals via the first carrier and the second carrier according to the indication of the carrier aggregation mode.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein receiving the indication comprises: receiving an indication of a configuration of the first set of time intervals and a second set of time intervals during which the second carrier is unavailable for wireless communications performed by the first network entity and is occupied by wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the configuration further indicates that the first carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit during one or more time intervals of the second set of time intervals.
18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising: transmitting a coordination message indicating an availability of the first carrier for the wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit during the second set of time intervals, wherein receiving the indication of the configuration is based at least in part on the coordination message.
19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein receiving the indication comprises: receiving an indication of the first set of time intervals, a second set of time intervals during which the second carrier is unavailable for wireless communications performed by the first network entity and is occupied by wireless communications performed by the second network entity via the radio unit, and a shared third set of time intervals during which the second carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the first network entity or the second network entity.
20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising: transmitting, to the second network entity at least a threshold amount of time prior to a first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals, a resource sharing message indicating the first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals; and communicating, via the first carrier and the second carrier and based at least in part on the resource sharing message, with the one or more UEs during the first time interval of the shared third set of time intervals.

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY The following relates to wireless communications, including physical layer designs for carrier aggregation-based radio unit (RU) sharing. BACKGROUND Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include one or more base stations, each supporting wireless communication for communication devices, which may be known as user equipment (UE). SUMMARY The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices, and apparatuses that support physical layer designs for carrier aggregation-based radio unit (RU) sharing. Multiple operators may use individual RUs to serve the same area. This may result in multiple operators expending significant deployment and operational costs to serve user equipments (UEs) in the same or overlapping coverage areas. The described techniques provide for the multiple operators that are associated with different entities to coordinate sharing of their carriers. By way of example, a first operator may share a time (e.g., time slot or duration) in which it is not using its carrier so that a second operator may utilize the available carrier. In this manner, coordination between operators may facilitate efficient use of resources, such as use of carriers associated with various operators via a single RU. The operators may coordinate use of their carriers according to a semi-static configuration where a time domain pattern is pre-negotiated between operators for carrier usage. Additionally or alternatively, operators may coordinate use of their carriers according to a dynamic configuration where the owning operator may dynamically indicate if a resource is shareable, for example, by delaying the decision to share or not share the resource. A method is described. The method may include receiving, by a first network entity associated with a first carrier from a second network entity associated with a second carrier, an indication of a first set of time intervals during which the second carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the first network entity, where the first network entity is associated with a first operator and the second network entity is associated with a second operator, and where both the first network entity and the second network entity are coupled to a single RU, transmitting, based on receiving the indication, control signaling indicating a carrier aggregation mode associated with the first carrier and the second carrier for one or more UEs, and communicating, via the RU, with the one or more UEs during the first set of time intervals via the first carrier and the second carrier according to the indication of the carrier aggregation mode. An apparatus is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory coupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to receive, by a first network entity associated with a first carrier from a second network entity associated with a second carrier, an indication of a first set of time intervals during which the second carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the first network entity, where the first network entity is associated with a first operator and the second network entity is associated with a second operator, and where both the first network entity and the second network entity are coupled to a single RU, transmit, based on receiving the indication, control signaling indicating a carrier aggregation mode associated with the first carrier and the second carrier for one or more UEs, and communicate, via the RU, with the one or more UEs during the first set of time intervals via the first carrier and the second carrier according to the indication of the carrier aggregation mode. Another apparatus is described. The apparatus may include means for receiving, by a first network entity associated with a first carrier from a second network entity associated with a second carrier, an indication of a first set of time intervals during which the second carrier is available for wireless communications performed by the fi