The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing devices access to wireless base stations. An exemplary method embodiment includes the steps of: receiving over the air at a wireless base station a plurality of random access preamble signals from a plurality of devices; and determining, by the wireless base station, the order in which to respond to the received random access preamble signals based on an access priority list. The access priority list being determined based on customer premises equipment devices characteristics, attributes and/or properties.

Techniques for controlling transmissions in wireless communication networks are described. In one aspect, transmission control for a mesh network may be achieved by ranking mesh points or stations in the mesh network. In one design, the rank of a first station in the mesh network may be determined. At least one station of lower rank than the first station in the mesh network may be identified. At least one transmission parameter for the at least one station of lower rank may be set by the first station. At least one transmission parameter value may be selected for each station based on the rank, QoS requirements, amount of traffic, and/or achievable data rate for that station and may be sent (e.g., via a probe response message) to the station.

In a method for improving the transmission efficiency in a communication system with a layered protocol stack, data packets are processed on an upper protocol layer. Data packets are forwarded to a lower protocol layer for transmission and the transmission is performed with variable channel access delays. The upper protocol layer is notified by the lower protocol layer when a transmission is started to allow a synchronization of timers in the upper protocol layer. If a layer performs a scheduling of data packets for the transmission, a rescheduling is performed alternatively or in addition during a channel access delay. Devices and software programs embodying the invention are also described.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to prioritized random access procedures in wireless systems. An exemplary method generally includes receiving, from a user equipment, a random access request including information identifying a type of a random access event being invoked, identifying one or more parameters associated with a backoff interval to be observed at the user equipment based, at least in part, on a priority associated with the type of the random access event, and transmitting, to the user equipment, a random access response including the identified one or more parameters.

Aspects relate to spectrum sharing for use in a wireless communication network that serves both prioritized and non-prioritized user access terminals. In one example, a user access terminal, e.g., a user equipment (UE), senses an amount of signal energy within a frequency band during one or more sensing intervals in response to a determination that the access terminal is a non-prioritized access terminal. If the amount of signal energy does not exceed a sensed energy threshold, the user access terminal transmits wireless signals following the sensing intervals. On the other hand, if the amount of signal energy exceeds the sensed energy threshold, the user access terminal modifies transmissions while the amount of signal energy sensed during one or more subsequent sensing intervals exceeds the sensed energy threshold. For example, the access terminal may delay or adjust transmissions until the amount of signal energy no longer exceeds the sensed energy threshold.

Access priority for wireless devices located in an area in which radiofrequency (RF) coverage areas of a first wireless access point and a second wireless access point overlap is controlled by coordinating operation of the first wireless access point and the second wireless access point. The wireless devices access a common RF channel via a collision sense multiple access/collision avoidance mechanism. The probability of accessing the RF channel may be varied by adjusting the length of interframe spacings and the length of contention windows. The length of the interframe spacings and the length of the contention windows associated with the first access point and associated with the second access point are configured such that the probability of wireless devices associated with the first wireless access point accessing the RF channel is greater than the probability of wireless devices associated with the second wireless access point accessing the RF channel.

Disclosed is a method of performing random access by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. The method includes generating at least two random access signals with their own priorities, and transmitting the at least two random access signals with their own priorities. The random access method may include transmitting at least two random access signals to at least two target communication nodes. Further, the random access method may include transmitting at least one random access signal, and selecting at least one of at least two random access response signals received in response to the at least one random access signal and performing random access control by using the selected random access response signals.

Systems and methods are provided for controlling behavior for overriding grants for channel state information (CSI) feedback. A user equipment (UE) may control override of a first grant of a first radio resource by a second grant of a second radio resource. The UE determines that the second radio resource at least partially overlaps with the first radio resource. The UE also determines a physical layer priority of the first grant of the first radio resource and the second grant of the second radio resource. The physical layer priority is based on at least one of the first grant of the first radio resource and the second grant of the second radio resource being configured for transmitting CSI feedback over a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to a base station. The UE then generates a transmission according to the physical layer priority.

Disclosed are a method for transmitting, by a terminal, a sounding reference signal to a base station without a physical uplink shard channel in a licensed assisted access (LAA) system in which a base station or a terminal performs listen-before-talk (LBT)-based signal transmission, and an apparatus supporting the same.

A wireless network having one or more access points and one or more stations may improve spectrum efficiency for uplink transmissions by assigning a plurality of stations to a channel (or subchannel), each with a different priority. A channel may be assigned to a first station with the first priority, a second station with a second priority, and so on (e.g., instead of assigning the channel to just one station). An access point may transmit information indicative of the channel assignments, priorities, and other information used by stations to perform uplink transmissions. If a station with the highest priority receives the data from the access point, it may start transmission. A station with a lower priority may listen, during a listening period, to the same channel and determine whether the higher priority station started transmission during the listening period. If the higher priority station did not start transmission during the listening period, the lower priority station may transmit uplink data to the access point.