Joint scheduling in 5g or other next generation network dynamic spectrum sharing

Abstract

The disclosed technology is directed towards dynamic spread spectrum (DSS) deployments, in which two cells such as an LTE cell and a new radio (NR) cell share available physical resource blocks during a given transmission time interval. The LTE cell and NR cell determine priority values for their user equipments to be scheduled, and both cells provide requested scheduling information including the priority values and requested resource blocks for user equipments in the upcoming transmission time interval. Based on the priority values, a real-time joint scheduler processes the combined scheduling information from both cells to determine how many physical resource blocks of the total available to allocate to the LTE cell and how many to allocate to the NR cell for the next transmission time interval. To avoid collisions, the LTE cell and NR cell modify their respective UE schedules based on their respective number of allocated physical resource blocks.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 determining, by network equipment comprising a processor, joint scheduling information corresponding to an upcoming transmission time interval in a spectrum sharing environment between long term evolution cell equipment with support for a long term evolution network communication protocol and new radio cell equipment with support for a new radio network communication protocol, wherein determining the joint scheduling information comprises:
 merging a first group of long term evolution user equipment identifiers with a second group of new radio user equipment identifiers into a combined group, wherein the long term evolution user equipment identifiers are assigned first respective priority values, and the new radio user equipment identifiers are assigned second respective priority values, and 
 sorting the combined group based on the first respective priority values and the second respective priority values; and 
   based on the joint scheduling information, allocating, by the network equipment, first resource blocks for first data transmissions by the long term evolution cell equipment within the upcoming transmission time interval, and allocating second resource blocks for second data transmissions by the new radio cell equipment within the upcoming transmission time interval.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sending, by the network equipment, to the long term evolution cell equipment, first quantity information corresponding to a first number of the first resource blocks allocated for the first data transmissions; and   sending, by the network equipment, to the new radio cell equipment, second quantity information corresponding to a second number of the second resource blocks allocated for the second data transmissions.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the first quantity information comprises a first allocation map corresponding to first ones of the first resource blocks that are allocated for the first data transmissions. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second quantity information comprises a second allocation map corresponding to second ones of the second resource blocks that are allocated for the second data transmissions. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the long term evolution user equipment identifiers are associated with first respective requested resource blocks, and the new radio user equipment identifiers are associated with second respective requested resource blocks. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein allocating the first resource blocks for the first data transmissions comprises reducing a first quantity of the first resource blocks relative to a second quantity of the first respective requested resource blocks. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the long term evolution user equipment identifiers are assigned the first respective priority values based on respective amounts of data to be transmitted by respective long term evolution user equipment associated with the long term evolution user equipment identifiers. 
     
     
         8 . Network equipment, comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
 generating joint scheduling information corresponding to an upcoming transmission time interval in a spectrum sharing environment between a fourth generation cell configured to communicate according to a fourth generation network communication protocol and a fifth generation cell configured to communicate according to at least a fifth generation network communication protocol, wherein generating the joint scheduling information comprises:
 merging a first group of fourth generation user equipment identifiers with a second group of fifth generation user equipment identifiers into a combined group, wherein the fourth generation user equipment identifiers are assigned first respective priority values, and the fifth generation user equipment identifiers are assigned second respective priority values, and 
 sorting the combined group based on the first respective priority values and the second respective priority values; and 
 
 based on the joint scheduling information, allocating first resource blocks for first data transmissions in the fourth generation cell within the upcoming transmission time interval, and allocating second resource blocks for second data transmissions in the fifth generation cell within the upcoming transmission time interval. 
   
     
     
         9 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 transmitting, to fourth generation cell equipment associated with the fourth generation cell, first scheduling information corresponding to a first number of the first resource blocks allocated for the first data transmissions; and   transmitting, to fifth generation cell equipment associated with the fifth generation cell, second scheduling information corresponding to a second number of the second resource blocks allocated for the second data transmissions.   
     
     
         10 . The network equipment of  claim 9 , wherein the first scheduling information comprises a first allocation map mapping the first resource blocks that to the first data transmissions. 
     
     
         11 . The network equipment of  claim 9 , wherein the second scheduling information comprises a second allocation map mapping the second resource blocks to the second data transmissions. 
     
     
         12 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the fifth generation user equipment identifiers are assigned the first respective priority values based on respective amounts of data to be transmitted by respective fifth generation user equipment associated with the fifth generation user equipment identifiers. 
     
     
         13 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the fifth generation user equipment identifiers are assigned the first respective priority values based on channels conditions associated with respective fifth generation user equipment associated with the fifth generation user equipment identifiers. 
     
     
         14 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the fifth generation user equipment identifiers are assigned the first respective priority values based on respective quality of service parameters associated with the fifth generation user equipment identifiers. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
 determining joint scheduling information corresponding to an upcoming transmission time interval in a spectrum sharing environment between a long term evolution cell and a new radio cell, wherein determining the joint scheduling information comprises:
 merging a first group of long term evolution user equipment identifiers with a second group of new radio user equipment identifiers into a combined group, wherein long term evolution user equipment identifiers are assigned first respective priority values, and the new radio user equipment identifiers are assigned second respective priority values, and 
 sorting the combined group based on the first respective priority values and the second respective priority values; and 
   based on the joint scheduling information, allocating first resource blocks for first data transmissions in the long term evolution cell within the upcoming transmission time interval, and allocating second resource blocks for second data transmissions in the new radio cell within the upcoming transmission time interval.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 transmitting, to long term evolution cell network equipment associated with the long term evolution cell, first scheduling information corresponding to a first number of the first resource blocks allocated for the first data transmissions; and   transmitting, to new radio cell network equipment associated with the new radio cell, second scheduling information corresponding to a second number of the second resource blocks allocated for the second data transmissions.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the first scheduling information comprises a first allocation map mapping the first resource blocks that to the first data transmissions. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the second scheduling information comprises a second allocation map mapping the second resource blocks to the second data transmissions. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the long term evolution user equipment identifiers are assigned the first respective priority values based on respective amounts of data to be transmitted by respective long term evolution user equipment associated with the long term evolution user equipment identifiers. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the long term evolution user equipment identifiers are assigned the first respective priority values based on channels conditions associated with respective long term evolution user equipment associated with the long term evolution user equipment identifiers.