US-12628031-B2 - Methods and apparatus for supporting operator device sharing of time and frequency resources in a band

US12628031B2US 12628031 B2US12628031 B2US 12628031B2US-12628031-B2

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for implementing a spectrum scheduling controller (SSC) are described. The spectrum scheduling controller receives resources requests from operator devices, e.g., access points which can be in the form of base stations. The access points can, and sometimes do, correspond to different operators and/or use different communications technologies. The SSC determines the coverage areas of the operator devices requesting resources and groups them into groups based on the potential for interference, e.g., contour area overlap. Operator devices are synchronized on a frame and/or transmission slot level basis with a frame including multiple slots. A schedule is created allocating slots corresponding to operator devices based on latency and/or data transmission requirements. Device priority can be, and sometimes is, considered when generating a schedule. The schedule allocating resources is communicated to members of an operator device group to which the schedule relates.

Inventors

Rauf HAFEEZ

Assignees

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230222

Claims (17)

1 . A method of operating a spectrum scheduling controller (SSC), the method comprising: receiving from each of a plurality of operator devices seeking to use spectrum a request for uplink resources, a request for downlink resources or a request for both uplink and downlink resources, said plurality of operator devices including a first operator device and a second operator device; grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups based on coverage contour overlap of operator devices, expected interference, or a combination of contour overlap of operator devices and expected interference, said grouping operator devices including grouping at least a first set of operator devices into a first group for resource assignment purposes, said one or more groups including said first group, said first group including the first operator device and the second operator device; determining a device switching guard interval duration based on a distance between the first and second operator devices; generating a first schedule allocating communications resources to operator devices in said first group, said first schedule allocating communication resources to said first and second operator devices, said first schedule allocating uplink slots and downlink slots to said first and second operator devices, said first schedule including a device switching guard interval, of the determined device switching guard interval duration, in a slot, corresponding to a switch between a first slot in the first schedule allocated to the first operator device and another slot in the first schedule allocated to the second operator device; and communicating the first schedule to the first and second operator devices.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said first schedule allocates uplink time-frequency resource blocks and downlink time-frequency resource blocks to said first and second operator devices.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining coverage contours for the operator devices seeking to use spectrum; determining overlapping coverage contour areas; and wherein grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups is based on overlap of determined coverage contours for the operator devices; and wherein operator devices in the first group have overlapping coverage contours.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups includes: comparing coverage contour area overlaps of one or more pairs of spectrum user devices to a first coverage contour overlap threshold; and identifying the first set of operator devices, said first set of operator devices being operator devices which are likely to interfere with each other if using shared resources, said first set of operator devices being a group of operator devices which have coverage contour area overlaps with other devices in the first set of operator devices which exceed said first coverage contour overlap threshold.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: estimating interference in determined overlapping coverage contour areas; and wherein grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups includes: identifying the first set of operator devices, said first set of operator devices being operator devices which are likely to interfere with each other based on the estimates of interference in the overlapping coverage contour areas.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: estimating interference from one operator device to another operator device in a first pair of spectrum user devices; and wherein grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups includes: comparing the estimated interference to a point interference threshold; and identifying, in response to said comparing determining that the estimated interference is above the point interference threshold, the operator devices in the first pair of operator devices as operator devices of the first group.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: estimating multi-device interference from all spectrum user devices in the vicinity of one operator device; and wherein grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups includes: comparing the estimated multi-device interference to a multi-device interference threshold; and identifying, in response to said comparing determining that the estimated multi-device interference is above the multi-device interference level threshold, the operator devices in vicinity of said one operator device along with the one operator device as operator devices which are likely to interfere if they share a first set of resources.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the operator devices in said first group of operator devices are time synchronized at least at slot transmission timing level; and wherein said first schedule allocates slots and corresponding transmission resources to operator devices in said first group.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said first schedule allocates different downlink slots to the first and second operator devices such that the operator devices do not share the same downlink slots.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein said first schedule allocates at least some slots to both the first and second operator devices to be used for uplink transmissions at the same time.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined device switching guard interval duration is longer the greater the distance is between the first and second operator devices, said determined device switching guard interval duration having a first duration when the distance between the first and second operator devices is a first distance and a second duration when the distance between the first and second operator devices, the second distance being greater than said first distance, said second duration being longer than said first duration.
12 . A method of operating a spectrum scheduling controller (SSC), the method comprising: receiving from each of a plurality of operator devices seeking to use spectrum a request for uplink resources, a request for downlink resources or a request for both uplink and downlink resources, said plurality of operator devices including a first operator device and a second operator device; grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups based on coverage contour overlap of operator devices, expected interference, or a combination of contour overlap of operator devices and expected interference, said grouping operator devices including grouping at least a first set of operator devices into a first group for resource assignment purposes, said one or more groups including said first group, said first group including the first operator device and the second operator device; generating a first schedule allocating communications resources to operator devices in said first group, said first schedule allocating communication resources to said first and second operator devices, said step of generating the first schedule allocating resources to operator devices in said first group being based on data transmission requirements of at least one of the first and second operator devices, said first schedule including a series of consecutive slots allocated to the first operator device when the first operator device has a data transmission per unit time period exceeding a first threshold; and communicating the first schedule to the first and second operator devices.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising: generating an updated schedule including more switching between slot to device allocations thereby shorting the time between transmission opportunities in response to a latency requirement change requiring a shorter latency than was required when the first schedule was generated; and communicating the updated schedule to the operator devices in the first group.
14 . A spectrum scheduling controller (SSC) comprising: a receiver; a transmitter; and a processor configured to: operate the SSC to receive from each of a plurality of operator devices seeking to use spectrum a request for uplink resources, a request for downlink resources or a request for both uplink and downlink resources, said plurality of operator devices including a first operator device and a second operator device; group operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups based on coverage contour overlap of operator devices, expected interference, or a combination of contour overlap of operator devices and expected interference, said grouping operator devices including grouping at least a first set of operator devices into a first group for resource assignment purposes, said one or more groups including said first group, said first group including the first operator device and the second operator device; determine a device switching guard interval duration based on a distance between the first and second operator devices; generate a first schedule allocating communications resources to operator devices in said first group, said first schedule allocating communications resources to said first and second operator devices, said first schedule allocating uplink slots and downlink slots to said first and second operator devices, said first schedule including a device switching guard interval, of the determined device switching guard interval duration, in a slot, corresponding to a switch between a first slot in the first schedule allocated to the first operator device and another slot in the first schedule allocated to the second operator device; and operate the SSC to communicate the first schedule to the first and second operator devices.
15 . The spectrum scheduling controller (SSC) of claim 14 , wherein said first schedule allocates uplink time-frequency resource blocks and downlink time-frequency resource blocks to said first and second operator devices.
16 . The spectrum scheduling controller (SSC) of claim 14 , wherein said processor is further configured to: determine coverage contours for the operator devices seeking to use spectrum; determine overlapping coverage contour areas; and wherein grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups is based on overlap of determined coverage contours for the operator devices; and wherein operator devices in the first group have overlapping coverage contours.
17 . A non-transitory machine readable medium including processor executable instructions, which when executed by a processor of a spectrum scheduling controller (SSC), control the SSC to perform the steps of: receiving from each of a plurality of operator devices seeking to use spectrum a request for uplink resources, a request for downlink resources or a request for both uplink and downlink resources, said plurality of operator devices including a first operator device and a second operator device; grouping operator devices seeking to use spectrum into one or more groups based on coverage contour overlap of operator devices, expected interference, or a combination of contour overlap of operator devices and expected interference, said grouping operator devices including grouping at least a first set of operator devices into a first group for resource assignment purposes, said one or more groups including said first group, said first group including the first operator device and the second operator device, determining a device switching guard interval duration based on a distance between the first and second operator devices; generating a first schedule allocating communications resources to operator devices in said first group, said first schedule allocating communications resources to said first and second operator devices, said first schedule allocating uplink slots and downlink slots to said first and second operator devices, said first schedule including a device switching guard interval, of the determined device switching guard interval duration, in a slot, corresponding to a switch between a first slot in the first schedule allocated to the first operator device and another slot in the first schedule allocated to the second operator device; and communicating the first schedule to the first and second operator devices.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent application Ser. No. 63/441,734 which was filed on Jan. 27, 2023 and which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIELD The present application relates to communications systems and more particularly to methods and apparatus for efficient spectrum allocation including time-frequency sharing in a communications band. BACKGROUND Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) band spectrum is shared among three tiers of users by a spectrum access system (SAS) which enables spectrum sharing in the frequency domain. One problem with this approach is that in dense urban areas with many users vying for spectrum, SAS can only go down to a minimum of 10 MHz channel bandwidth for New Radio (NR) technology (5 MHz LTE). In case of higher user density, the is no choice for SAS but to reduce radio transmit powers, i.e., reduce coverage. Another problem with this approach is that users using adjacent frequencies have to use the same Time Division Duplexing (TDD) Uplink-Downlink configuration (along with being frame synchronized) in order to avoid base station to base station adjacent channel interference in the band. 6 GHZ is shared between unlicensed users and incumbent fixed satellite service (FSS) receivers. An automatic frequency controller (AFC) controls access to various frequencies in the band based on propagation modeling. Sharing among unlicensed users in 5 and 6 GHz bands is done by means of channel sensing, aka listen before talk (LBT). This approach, involving the use of LBT, is suitable for a high frequency band. However, for a low or mid frequency band, a LBT approach may not be effective. This approach, involving the use of LBT, is suitable for a high bandwidth band. In a low bandwidth band, such as CBRS or another mid frequency band, LBT results in inefficient channel use due to user contention, especially in a congested environment. Based on the above discussion, there is a need for new methods and apparatus for implementing efficient time—frequency sharing in a band. It would be advantageous if at least some of the new methods and apparatus did not require implementing LBT operations. SUMMARY Methods and apparatus for implementing a spectrum scheduling controller (SSC) are described. In various exemplary embodiments the spectrum scheduling controller receives resources requests from operator devices, e.g., access points which can be in the form of base stations. The access points can be, and in some embodiments are, in a variety of different forms, e.g., macro base stations, femto cells, CBSD devices, small access points, etc. In addition, the access points can correspond to different operators and/or use different communications technologies. Thus, the SSC in some embodiments is a multi-operator control device which controls devices of multiple different operator systems. The SSC receives registration information from individual access points providing information about the type operator device which is registering, the operator device's location, its priority level, resources, e.g., set of frequencies to which a request relates and which can be used by the operator device, transmission technology used or implemented by the operator device, requested transmit power and/or other device characteristics or properties. After or as part of registering, access points seeking communications resources request resource assignments from the SSC. Resource requests from operator devices, e.g., spectrum requests indicating requested uplink resources and/or requested downlink resources are received and processed by the SSC. The resource requests can, and sometimes do, also include information about latency requirements for uplink and downlink communications corresponding to an operator device requesting resources and/or the amount of uplink or downlink data to be communicated using the requested resources. In this way in assigning uplink/downlink resources the SSC can take into consideration latency and/or data transmission requirements in generating resource allocations. By taking into consideration latency requirements when generating resource allocations, e.g., in the form of a schedule which allocates the right to use a frequency band or other set of frequency resources for one or more periods of time to operator devices, the SSC can develop a schedule which is likely to avoid the dropping of data due to latency issues at least with regard to high priority operator devices. As part of the process of granting resource requests the SSC determines coverage contours for the operator devices seeking to use spectrum, e.g., a set of frequencies such as a 20 MHz frequency block which is to be shared, e.g., used, by the requesting devices to which resources are assigned at the same or different times. By taking into consideration the determined coverage contours, e.g., transmission coverage areas of the requesting