Frame Structure for Filter Bank Multi-Carrier (FBMC) Waveforms

Abstract

A unified frame structure for filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) waveforms may allow FBMC and OFDM frames to be communicated over a common channel without significant inter-frame gaps. The unified frame structure may set an FBMC frame duration to an integer multiple of an OFDM frame element duration to enable alignment of FBMC frames and OFDM frames in the time domain. The unified frame structure may also map control channels in the FBMC and OFDM frames to common resource locations so that the respective control channels are aligned in the time and/or frequency domains. The unified frame structure may also share synchronization channels between FBMC and OFDM frames. Additionally, overhead in an FBMC time division duplexed (TDD) communications channel can be reduced by overlapping time windows appended to FBMC blocks.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for communicating, the method comprising:
 communicating, by a wireless device, a filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) frame having a frame duration that is an integer multiple of a duration of one of:   an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame communicated in the wireless network or in a neighboring wireless network,   a transmission time interval (TTI) of the OFDMA frame, or   a slot in the TTI of the OFDMA frame.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the frame duration of the FBMC frame is an integer multiple of the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the frame duration of the FBMC frame is an integer multiple of the TTI of the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the frame duration of the FBMC frame is an integer multiple of the slot in the TTI of the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the FBMC frame includes one or more FBMC blocks, and wherein each of the one or more FBMC blocks include a plurality of FBMC symbols. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the FBMC frame includes an FBMC block and at least a portion of a time window produced from circularly convolved filtering modulation of the FBMC block. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the FBMC frame includes a control channel, the control channel being mapped to resource locations within the FBMC frame that align with control channels in the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the control channel is excluded from resource locations within the FBMC frame that align with resource elements (REs) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         9 . A wireless device comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
 communicate a filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) frame having a frame duration that is an integer multiple of a duration of one of: 
 an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame communicated in the wireless network or in a neighboring wireless network, 
 a transmission time interval (TTI) of the OFDMA frame, or 
 a slot in the TTI of the OFDMA frame. 
   
     
     
         10 . The wireless device of  claim 9 , wherein the frame duration of the FBMC frame is an integer multiple of the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         11 . The wireless device of  claim 9 , wherein the frame duration of the FBMC frame is an integer multiple of the TTI of the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         12 . The wireless device of  claim 9 , wherein the frame duration of the FBMC frame is an integer multiple of the slot in the TTI of the OFDMA frame. 
     
     
         13 . The wireless device of  claim 9 , wherein the wireless device is one of a network Transmit Point and a network relay. 
     
     
         14 . The wireless device of  claim 9  wherein the wireless device is a User Equipment. 
     
     
         15 . A method comprising:
 communicating, by a wireless device, a filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) frame over a wireless network; and   communicating, by the wireless device, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame over the wireless network, the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame being communicated by the same wireless device over the same wireless network, wherein the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame share at least one synchronization channel.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame are communicated in accordance with a frequency division multiplexed (FDM) communications scheme, the FDM communications scheme specifying that the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame are communicated in different frequency bands. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame are communicated in accordance with a time division multiplexed (TDM) communications scheme. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the OFDMA frame is communicated over a cellular interface, and wherein the FBMC frame is communicated over a device-to-device (D2D) interface. 
     
     
         19 . A wireless device comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
 communicate a filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) frame over a wireless network; and 
 communicate an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame over the wireless network, the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame being communicated by the same wireless device over the same wireless network, wherein the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame share at least one synchronization channel. 
   
     
     
         20 . The wireless device of  claim 19 , wherein the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame are communicated in accordance with a frequency division multiplexed (FDM) communications scheme, the FDM communications scheme specifying that the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame are communicated in different frequency bands. 
     
     
         21 . The wireless device of  claim 19 , wherein the FBMC frame and the OFDMA frame are communicated in accordance with a time division multiplexed (TDM) communications scheme. 
     
     
         22 . The wireless device of  claim 19 , wherein the OFDMA frame is communicated over a cellular interface, and wherein the FBMC frame is communicated over a device-to-device (D2D) interface.