US 12,114,173 B2
User-equipment-coordination set for a wireless network using an unlicensed frequency band
Jibing Wang, San Jose, CA (US); and Erik Richard Stauffer, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/423,836
Filed by Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
PCT Filed Feb. 12, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/017930
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 16, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/172022, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 27, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/808,777, filed on Feb. 21, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0086653 A1, Mar. 17, 2022
Int. Cl. H04W 16/14 (2009.01); H04W 74/0808 (2024.01); H04W 84/12 (2009.01)
CPC H04W 16/14 (2013.01) [H04W 74/0808 (2013.01); H04W 84/12 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
7. A method for coordinating joint-transmission of uplink data to a base station over an unlicensed frequency band, the method comprising:
receiving, using a local wireless network connection and by a user equipment in a user equipment-coordination set, uplink data from a coordinating user equipment in the user equipment-coordination set, the uplink data comprising duplicate uplink signals supplied to another user equipment in the user equipment-coordination set;
performing a clear channel assessment on a channel in the unlicensed frequency band, the clear channel assessment generating results that include a backoff time for the user equipment;
transmitting, using the local wireless network connection and to the coordinating user equipment, the results;
receiving, over the local wireless network connection and from the coordinating user equipment, an indication to initiate the joint-transmission of the uplink data at a specified time that is a different duration of time than the backoff time; and
initiating the joint-transmission of the uplink data to the base station based on the specified time.
 
14. A user equipment apparatus comprising:
at least one wireless transceiver;
a local wireless transceiver;
a processor; and
computer-readable storage media comprising instructions, responsive to execution by the processor, for directing the user equipment apparatus to operations comprising:
receiving, as a first user equipment in a user equipment-coordination set and using a local wireless network connection, uplink data from a second user equipment in the user equipment-coordination set;
distributing, using the local wireless network connection, the uplink data to at least a third user equipment in the user equipment-coordination set by distributing duplicate uplink signals to each user equipment in the user equipment-coordination set;
receiving, using the local wireless network connection and from at least one user equipment in the user equipment-coordination set, results of a clear channel assessment of an unlicensed frequency band performed by the at least one user equipment;
determining, based on the results, a specified time to begin joint-transmission of the uplink data in the unlicensed frequency band; and
coordinating the joint-transmission of the uplink data in the unlicensed frequency band by directing the at least one user equipment to initiate the joint-transmission of the uplink data based on the specified time.