Abstract: Transmitting downlink reference signals includes transmitting a first plurality of subframes comprising a first reference signal associated with a first antenna port, the first reference signal having a first format within the first plurality of subframes, transmitting a second plurality of subframes comprising a second reference signal associated with a second antenna port, the second reference signal having a second format within the second plurality of subframes, and switching a format of each of the first and second reference signals, such that a third plurality of subframes is transmitted with the first reference signal in the second format, and a fourth plurality of subframes is transmitted with the second reference signal in the first format.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for extending coverage of a wireless device. A plurality of wireless devices located in a coverage area of a first access node can be monitored for a first condition. At least one wireless device of the plurality of wireless devices that meets the first condition can be classified as a high power wireless device. Two or more indicators reported by the at least one wireless device are compared to a criteria. When the two or more indicators meet the criteria, a handoff of the at least one wireless device from the first access node to a second access node can be performed.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method and corresponding system for controlling operation of a user equipment device (UE) in a communication system comprising a first network and a second network interconnected with the first network. The UE may detect a public land mobile network identifier (PLMN ID) broadcast by a base station of the first network, where the base station does not support circuit switched fallback (CSFB) between the two networks The UE may determine, based on the detected PLMN ID, whether to operate in a first mode or a second mode, where (i) the first mode comprises, in response to the base station not supporting CSFB, the UE declining to be served by the base station and the UE instead being served directly by the second network and (ii) the second mode comprises the UE being served by the base station. The UE may then operate in the determined mode.

Abstract: A potential interference is determined for specific geographic locations of a wireless network based on signal measurements performed by wireless devices at said specific geographic locations. Obtaining power measurements of reference signals sensed at a wireless device at a specific location, and determining a potential interference caused at the specific location based on the power measurements. The power measurements comprise measurements of a reference signal power (RSRP) performed by a wireless device at the specific location. The wireless device may perform multiple measurements of signal power at various locations, and submit to the network measurements recorded at each location. The measurements may be performed periodically or triggered by the network.

Abstract: In a wireless network comprising a plurality of carriers available for carrier aggregation transmissions between a base station and UE, the base station: (i) determines whether a requirement exists to transmit data between the UE and the base station via a carrier aggregation transmission; (ii) in response to determining that the carrier aggregation transmission requirement exists, selects a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers from the plurality of carriers for the carrier aggregation transmission based on one or more of each carrier's receive power at the UE, transmit power at the base station, and frequency; (iii) allocates the selected primary and secondary component carriers to the carrier aggregation transmission; (iv) informs the UE of the allocation; and (v) executes the carrier aggregation transmission according to the allocation.

Abstract: A cellular base station and/or associated equipment will detect the presence of nearby public safety communication and, in response, will automatically change the base station's antenna beam pattern to be directed to a predefined safe direction, so as to quickly minimize the likelihood of the base station producing harmful interference to the public safety communication. Further, after thus quickly working to minimize the likelihood of such interference, the base station and/or associated equipment could then more specifically determine a direction from which the public safety communication is arriving and could further adjust the base station's antenna beam pattern to be directed away from the determined direction.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for transmitting multicast content via a unicast mode of transmission. An access node schedules wireless transmissions to a plurality of wireless devices to transmit separate control and header information to each of the wireless devices. The access node also schedules wireless transmissions to the plurality of wireless devices to transmit a single multicast content payload that is commonly used by all of the wireless devices.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for allocating resource blocks based on uplink transmission parameters, resulting in beneficial coverage and capacity of a wireless system. A headroom report that comprises a transmission power headroom for a wireless device may be received. Potential resource block allocations for the wireless device may be generated based on channel information for a plurality of frequency bands, the generated potential resource block allocations comprising a frequency band and a time slot. A potential resource block allocation may be selected from among the potential resource block allocations based on a maximum power reduction for the allocation and the reported transmission power headroom for the wireless device. The selected resource blocks may then be allocated for the wireless device.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for performing carrier aggregation based on subframe configuration. It may be determined that conditions for a wireless device in communication with an access node meet a carrier aggregation criteria, wherein the access node and wireless device communicate using a first subframe configuration. Signal information may be received from the wireless device comprising received signal levels for a plurality of candidate secondary carriers. Subframe configurations used by the candidate secondary carriers to communicate with wireless devices may be retrieved. One or more of the plurality of candidate secondary carriers may be selected based on the received signal level information and the retrieved subframe configurations. And carrier aggregation may be activated such that the one or more selected secondary carriers are used to transmit downlink data to the wireless device.

Abstract: A method and system for improved management of UE service. A base station will predict that its air interface will become threshold highly loaded. And, in response to that prediction but before the predicted threshold high load occurs, the base station will proactively manage service of UEs based on a prediction of how much each UE would suffer from bearer loss if and when the predicted threshold high load occurs. For instance, the base station may predict for each UE a level of service degradation based on service value of each bearer, if any, that the UE would lose if the threshold high load occurs. And the base station may take proactive action, such as triggering a handover and/or providing an alert message, with respect to each UE whose predicted level of service degradation is threshold high.

Abstract: Backhaul data may be communicated between an access node and a relay wireless device, wherein the relay wireless device serves as backhaul for a plurality of end-user wireless devices and a set of the plurality of the end-user wireless devices comprise a quality of service metric that meets a quality of service criteria. Wireless resources may be scheduled for the relay wireless device using semi-persistent scheduling such that wireless resources are pre-allocated for the relay wireless device based on a periodicity. And data may be transmitted according to the semi-persistent scheduling from the access node to the relay wireless device based on the periodicity, wherein data for the set of end-user wireless devices that is received at the access node between transmissions for the semi-persistent scheduling is queued such that it is transmitted to the relay wireless device at a next transmission for the semi-persistent scheduling.

Abstract: When a first base station is serving a wireless client device (WCD), the first base station provides the WCD with a copy of the WCD context information that the first base station maintains for serving the WCD. When the WCD then experiences a radio-link failure and connects with the second base station, the WCD will forward the provided WCD context information to the second base station, for use by the second base station as a basis to serve the WCD. This process of transferring the context information through the WCD from the old base station to the new base station could help to avoid the need for the second base station to engage in direct context-transfer signaling with the first base station, which could be especially useful in a scenario where the base stations are unable to engage in that direct transfer.

Abstract: A method and system for controlling a reference signal power boosting settings based on power headroom of one or more wireless devices and retransmission rates within a wireless network. The method of controlling reference signal power boosting at an access node includes monitoring at an access node a received surplus transmit power and retransmission requests of a wireless device over a period of time; determining an average received surplus transmit power and an average retransmission request rate of the wireless device; and modifying a power of a reference signal based on the average received surplus transmit power meeting a first criteria and the average retransmission request rate meeting a second criteria.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and system for managing carriers on which a wireless communication system serves a UE over an established radio-link-layer connection. As disclosed, a base station serves the UE with carrier aggregation service using (i) a first carrier as a primary carrier for the UE and (ii) a second carrier as a secondary carrier for the UE. While serving the UE, the system determines that the base station should serve the UE with the carrier aggregation service using (i) the first carrier as the secondary carrier and (ii) the second carrier as the primary carrier. In response to the determination and while maintaining the established radio-link-layer connection with the UE, the system causes the base station to serve the UE with the carrier aggregation service using (i) the first carrier as the secondary carrier and (ii) the second carrier as the primary carrier.

Abstract: A method and system for controlling TTI bundling in a wireless communication system that includes a base station configured to serve UEs over an air interface, where each UE has a maximum transmit power for air interface transmission, where the UEs include a first class of UEs and a second class of UEs, and where the maximum transmit power of the UEs of the second class is higher than the maximum transmit power of the UEs of the first class. The base station detects a capacity constraint on the air interface, such a threshold high air interface load, and the base station responds by operating in a mode in which the base station differentially controls application of TTI bundling as between the first class of UEs and the second class of UEs, based on the second class of UEs having higher maximum transmit power than the first class of UEs.

Abstract: A method and system for paging of a wireless client device (WCD). When a wireless communication system encounters a trigger to page a WCD, the system will identify the WCD's most recent serving base station (e.g., the WCD's currently registered base station, or the base station providing the WCD's currently registered coverage area) and will determine whether that base station is a relay base station or rather a non-relay base station. If the base station is a non-relay base station, then the system will provide the initial page of the WCD via just that base station (e.g., as in the zone based paging process discussed above). Whereas, if the base station is a relay base station, then the system will provide the initial (ordinal first) page of the WCD via both that base station and the donor base station that provides the relay base station's wireless backhaul connection.

Abstract: A relay node is enabled to transmit, to an end-user wireless device, any data packets remaining in a buffer associated with the end-user wireless device, prior to executing a handover of the end-user wireless device. Upon initiating a handover, the relay node adjusts a scheduling operation to use a lowest-possible modulating coding scheme (MCS) in order to transmit the remaining buffered data to the end-user wireless device. Moreover, the scheduling operation is adjusted to ignore any subsequent channel quality indicator (CQI) reports from the end-user wireless device, thereby ensuring that the end-user wireless device has a higher chance of receiving the data. When the buffer is empty, the handover is executed.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and system for adjusting a transport block size used for uplink transmissions from a user equipment device (UE) when engaging in uplink coordinated multipoint service (UL CoMP), under conditions in which a propagation delay to a receiving CoMP base station (BS) exceeds a threshold. Based on predicted delay reported to a serving BS from the CoMP BS, the serving BS may compute a reduced transport block size such that uplink resource blocks transmitted from the UE to the CoMP base station will be temporally under-filled by an amount corresponding to the predicted delay. As received at the CoMP BS, the under-filled resource blocks will not overrun their assigned transmission time interval (TTI), and therefore will not be a source of potential interference.

Abstract: Estimating uplink interference includes determining any wireless devices having available uplink resources, and instructing the wireless devices to estimate and report uplink interference. A method for estimating uplink interference in a wireless network includes determining that a wireless device attached to an access node has available resources within an uplink schedule of the wireless device, and instructing the wireless device to enter a listening mode during the available resources of the uplink schedule. In the listening mode, the wireless device determines a measurement of an uplink interference caused at the wireless device. The method further includes receiving the measurement of the uplink interference from the wireless device via an uplink channel.

Abstract: Transmitting data via frame reconfiguration comprises encoding, at a source node, the data into a plurality of frame configurations, each of the plurality of frame configurations comprising a sequence of uplink and downlink subframes, and communicating, via an antenna of the source node, using the plurality of frame configurations, wherein a target node is configured to identify the plurality of frame configurations and decode the data.