System and method to facilitate centralized radio resource management in a split radio access network environment

• US 10,143,002 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2016
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Madan, Ritesh K., Nabar, Rohit Umesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Dung B
• Application Number:
  US14/993,859
• Publication Number:
  US 20170202005A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/26 using explicit feedback to the source, e.g. choke packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/56 implementing delay-aware scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6255 queue load conditions, e.g. longest queue first
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes generating feedback information at a first remote access point (AP), wherein the feedback information is associated with one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP; determining constraints for the first remote AP at a central controller based on the feedback information received from the first remote AP and feedback information received from one or more other remote APs that neighbor the first remote AP, wherein the constraints are determined for a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs); and scheduling resource blocks (RBs) for the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP for one or more of the plurality of TTIs based, at least in part, on constraints received from the central controller.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating feedback information at a first remote access point (AP), wherein the feedback information is associated with one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP;

transmitting the feedback information to a central controller, wherein the central controller dynamically determines constraint values for the first remote AP for a first horizon of time comprising a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) using an objective function to at least one of;

(i) improve meeting delay targets for delay sensitive QoS bearers and (ii) improve fairness of frequency resource sharing across users and bearers, wherein the constraint values are based, at least in part, on feedback information relating to a remote AP other than the first remote AP, and wherein the constraint values for the first remote AP are based on the feedback information received from the first remote AP and feedback information received from one or more other remote APs that neighbor the first remote AP;

scheduling resource blocks (RBs), at the first remote AP, for the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP for the first horizon of time based, at least in part, on the constraint values received from the central controller;

determining a second horizon of time comprising a plurality of TTIs; and

scheduling RBs for the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP for the second horizon of time based, at least in part, on the constraint values received from the central controller.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more interference levels that the first remote AP can expect, on average, as a function of frequency.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more maximum interference level(s) that the first remote AP and the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP can cause toward the one or more other remote APs as a function of frequency.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more maximum interference level(s) that the first remote AP and the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP can cause toward the one or more other remote APs as a function of frequency and time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling RBs for the user equipment served by the first remote AP for the first horizon of time further comprises:

determining local scheduling information available at the first remote AP, the local scheduling information relating to a plurality of user equipment served by the AP; and

scheduling RBs for a first user equipment served by the first remote AP using the local scheduling information available at the first remote AP, including local scheduling information related to at least one user equipment other than the first user equipment, and the constraints.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the local scheduling information available at the first remote AP includes one or more of:

Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) information associated with the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP;

a per user equipment Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) associated with each of the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP; and

per user equipment bearer packet information associated with each of the of the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback information includes one or more of:

estimated queue state information associated with one or more queues maintained by the first remote AP for one or more user equipment bearers;

estimated delay information associated with each of the one or more queues maintained by the first remote AP; and

channel state information associated with the one or more user equipment for the first remote AP and one or more user equipment served by the one or more other remote APs that neighbor the first remote AP.

8. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that includes instructions for execution that when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

generating feedback information at a first remote access point (AP), wherein the feedback information is associated with one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP;

transmitting the feedback information to a central controller, wherein the central controller dynamically determines constraint values for the first remote AP for a first horizon of time comprising a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) using an objective function to at least one of;

(i) improve meeting delay targets for delay sensitive QoS bearers and (ii) improve fairness of frequency resource sharing across users and bearers, wherein the constraint values are based, at least in part, on feedback information relating to a remote AP other than the first remote AP, and wherein the constraint values for the first remote AP are based on the feedback information received from the first remote AP and feedback information received from one or more other remote APs that neighbor the first remote AP;

scheduling resource blocks (RBs), at the first remote AP, for the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP for the first horizon of time based, at least in part, on the constraint values received from the central controller;

determining a second horizon of time comprising a plurality of TTIs; and

scheduling RBs for the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP for the second horizon of time based, at least in part, on the constraint values received from the central controller.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more interference levels that the first remote AP can expect, on average, as a function of frequency.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more interference levels that the first remote AP can expect, on average, as a function of frequency and time.

11. The media of claim 8, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more maximum interference level(s) that the first remote AP and the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP can cause toward the one or more other remote APs as a function of frequency.

12. The media of claim 8, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more maximum interference level(s) that the first remote AP and the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP can cause toward the one or more other remote APs as a function of frequency and time.

13. The media of claim 8, wherein scheduling RBs for the user equipment served by the first remote AP for the first horizon of time further comprises:

determining local scheduling information available at the first remote AP, the local scheduling information relating to a plurality of user equipment served by the AP; and

scheduling RBs for a first user equipment served by the first remote AP using the local scheduling information available at the first remote AP, including local scheduling information related to at least one user equipment other than the first user equipment, and the constraints.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein the local scheduling information available at the first remote AP includes one or more of:

Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) information associated with the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP;

a per user equipment Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) associated with each of the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP; and

per user equipment bearer packet information associated with each of the of the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP.

15. The media of claim 8, wherein the feedback information includes one or more of:

estimated queue state information associated with one or more queues maintained by the first remote AP for one or more user equipment bearers;

estimated delay information associated with each of the one or more queues maintained by the first remote AP; and

channel state information associated with the one or more user equipment for the first remote AP and one or more user equipment served by the one or more other remote APs that neighbor the first remote AP.

16. A system, comprising:

one or more memory elements for storing data; and

one or more processors that execute instructions associated with the data, wherein the system is configured for;

generating feedback information at a first remote access point (AP), wherein the feedback information is associated with one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP;

transmitting the feedback information to a central controller, wherein the central controller dynamically determines constraint values for the first remote AP for a first horizon of time comprising a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTIs) using an objective function to at least one of;

(i) improve meeting delay targets for delay sensitive QoS bearers and (ii) improve fairness of frequency resource sharing across users and bearers, wherein the constraint values are based, at least in part, on feedback information relating to a remote AP other than the first remote AP, and wherein the constraint values for the first remote AP are based on the feedback information received from the first remote AP and feedback information received from one or more other remote APs that neighbor the first remote AP;

scheduling resource blocks (RBs), at the first remote AP, for the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP for the first horizon of time based, at least in part, on the constraint values received from the central controller;

determining a second horizon of time comprising a plurality of TTIs; and

scheduling RBs for the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP for the second horizon of time based, at least in part, on the constraint values received from the central controller.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more interference levels that the first remote AP can expect, on average, as a function of frequency and time.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein scheduling RBs for the user equipment served by the first remote AP for the first horizon of time further comprises:

determining local scheduling information available at the first remote AP, the local scheduling information relating to a plurality of user equipment served by the AP; and

scheduling RBs for a first user equipment served by the first remote AP using the local scheduling information available at the first remote AP, including local scheduling information related to at least one user equipment other than the first user equipment, and the constraints.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the constraints are associated with one or more maximum interference level(s) that the first remote AP and the one or more user equipment served by the first remote AP can cause toward the one or more other remote APs as a function of frequency and time.