Enhanced discovery channel for interworking between a cellular wide-area communication system and a wireless local-area communication system

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods, apparatuses and a computer program product for an enhanced discovery channel for interworking between a cellular wide-area communication system and a wireless local-area communication system. The present invention includes inserting, in a discovery channel, information indicating an interworking capability of a small cell base station between a cellular wide-area communication system and a wireless local-area communication system, and transmitting, by the base station, the discovery channel including the information to a user equipment located in the small cell.

1 .- 6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . A method, comprising:
 transmitting, from a base station, a discovery channel and an access point beacon of a wireless local area communication system,   wherein a transmission timing and a transmission interval of the access point beacon of the wireless local area communication system are set based on a transmission timing and a transmission interval of the discovery channel of the wireless local area communication system.   
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the relative transmission timing of the access point beacon and the transmission timing of the discovery channel are predefined. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 7 , further comprising:
 receiving, by a user equipment, the discovery channel from the base station, and   after reception of the discovery channel, initializing a search for the access point beacon of the wireless local-area communication system.   
     
     
         10 .- 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the method is implemented in a base station located in a Long Term Evolution or Long Term Evolution Advanced based cellular communication network. 
     
     
         18 .- 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . An apparatus, comprising:
 at least one processor, and   at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory storing computer program code, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:   transmit a discovery channel and an access point beacon of a wireless local area communication system,   wherein a transmission timing and a transmission interval of the access point beacon of the wireless local area communication system are set based on a transmission timing and a transmission interval of the discovery channel of the wireless local area communication system.   
     
     
         26 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the relative transmission timing of the access point beacon and the transmission timing of the discovery channel are predefined. 
     
     
         27 . An apparatus, comprising:
 at least one processor, and   at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory storing computer program code, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:   receive a discovery channel from a small cell base station, and   after reception of the discovery channel, initialize a search for an access point beacon of a wireless local-area communication system,   wherein a transmission timing and a transmission interval of the access point beacon of the wireless local area communication system are set based on a transmission timing and a transmission interval of the discovery channel of the wireless local area communication system.   
     
     
         28 .- 34 . (canceled) 
     
     
         35 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the apparatus is implemented in a base station located in a Long Term Evolution or Long Term Evolution Advanced based cellular communication network. 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus according to  claim 27 , wherein the apparatus is implemented in a user equipment located in a Long Term Evolution or Long Term Evolution Advanced based cellular communication network. 
     
     
         37 .- 43 . (canceled) 
     
     
         44 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the transmission interval of the access point beacon of the wireless local area communication system is adjusted based on a discovery channel duty cycle. 
     
     
         45 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the discovery channel comprises a predefined sequence part and a signaling content part. 
     
     
         46 . The method according to  claim 45 , wherein a timing and frequency resource of the signaling content part of the discovery channel is linked to the sequence part of the discovery channel by a predefined offset. 
     
     
         47 . The method according to  claim 45 , wherein the signaling content part of the discovery channel uses a modulation and coding scheme as a transmission scheme. 
     
     
         48 . The method according to  claim 45 , wherein the signaling content part of the discovery channel uses a transmission diversity as a transmission scheme. 
     
     
         49 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the transmission interval of the access point beacon of the wireless local area communication system is adjusted based on a discovery channel duty cycle. 
     
     
         50 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the discovery channel comprises a predefined sequence part and a signaling content part. 
     
     
         51 . The apparatus according to  claim 50 , wherein a timing and frequency resource of the signaling content part of the discovery channel is linked to the sequence part of the discovery channel by a predefined offset. 
     
     
         52 . The apparatus according to  claim 50 , wherein the signaling content part of the discovery channel uses a modulation and coding scheme or a transmission diversity as a transmission scheme. 
     
     
         53 . The apparatus according to  claim 27 , wherein the transmission interval of the access point beacon of the wireless local area communication system is adjusted based on a discovery channel duty cycle. 
     
     
         54 . The apparatus according to  claim 27 , wherein the discovery channel comprises a predefined sequence part and a signaling content part, and wherein a timing and frequency resource of the signaling content part is linked to the sequence part by a predefined offset.