Increased spectrum efficiency in nomadic or stationary mobility environments

Abstract

Systems and methods presented herein provide for an LTE wireless communication system operating in a Radio Frequency (RF) band with a conflicting wireless system. The LTE system includes an eNodeB operable to detect a plurality of UEs in the RF band, to generate LTE frames for downlink communications to the UEs, and to time-divide each LTE frame into a plurality of subframes. The eNodeB is also operable to condense the downlink communications into a first number of the subframes that frees data from a remaining number of the subframes in each LTE frame, and to burst-transmit the first number of the subframes of each LTE frame in the RF band.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for increasing radio frequency spectrum efficiency in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
 generating first frames for wirelessly transmitting data from a first base station of the wireless communication system to user equipment devices; and   discontinuing transmission of Cell-Specific Reference Signals in the first frames to increase radio frequency spectrum efficiency, while transmitting user equipment (UE)-specific reference signals, in response to a reduction in a number of user equipment devices being served by the first base station.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising including a frame structure message with one or more sub-frames of the first frames, wherein the frame structure message indicates a location of one or more control signals in at least the first frames. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more control signals include one or more synchronization signals. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the frame structure message further indicates a location of at least one of empty subframes and non-transmitted subframes, in at least the first frames. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at a first one of the user equipment devices, calculating a time of arrival difference between a first synchronization signal received from the first base station and a second synchronization signal received from a second base station; and   at the first one of the of user equipment devices, using the time of arrival difference to maintain synchronization while synchronization signals from the first base station are suppressed.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the first base station comprises a small cell, and the second base station comprises a macro cell. 
     
     
         7 . A method for increasing radio frequency spectrum efficiency in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
 detecting a number of user equipment devices being served by a first base station of the wireless communication system;   determining that the detected number of user equipment devices is below a threshold value, and in response thereto, reducing periodicity of one or more control signals wirelessly transmitted from the first base station to the user equipment devices; and   indicating, to the UE devices, a structure of wireless communication frames transmitted by the first base station to the user equipment devices after reducing periodicity of the one or more control signals.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising including a frame structure message with one or more sub-frames of a first frame wirelessly transmitted from the first base station to the user equipment devices, wherein the frame structure message indicates a location of the one or more control signals in at least the first frame wirelessly transmitted from the first base station to the user equipment devices. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more control signals include one or more synchronization signals. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the frame structure message further indicates a location of at least one of empty subframes and non-transmitted subframes, in at least the first frame wirelessly transmitted from the first base station to the user equipment devices. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 at a first one of the of user equipment devices, calculating a time of arrival difference between a first synchronization signal received from the first base station and a second synchronization signal received from a second base station; and   at the first one of the of user equipment devices, using the time of arrival difference to maintain synchronization while synchronization signals from the first base station are suppressed.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first base station comprises a small cell, and the second base station comprises a macro cell. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising eliminating transmission of control signals wirelessly transmitted from the first base station to the user equipment devices, to increase radio frequency spectrum efficiency. 
     
     
         14 . A method for increasing radio frequency spectrum efficiency in a wireless communication system, comprising:
 generating a first series of frames for wirelessly transmitting data from a first base station of the wireless communication system to user equipment devices; and   determining that a number of user equipment devices served by the first base station is below a threshold value, and in response thereto, modifying a structure of the first series of frames by moving at least one synchronization signal from a first subframe of the first series of frames to a second subframe of the first series of frames, to increase radio frequency spectrum efficiency.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising introducing a frame structure message on sub-frames of the first series of frames, wherein the frame structure message indicates how the at least one synchronization signal is configured. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising removing the first subframe from the first series of frames.