Method and apparatus for signal interference processing

• US 10,313,087 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2015
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Original Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Inventors: Abdelmonem, Amr, Galeev, Mikhail
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shand, Roberta A
• Application Number:
  US14/640,815
• Publication Number:
  US 20150189668A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,551 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1036 with automatic suppression of narrow band noise or interference, e.g. by using tuneable notch filters H04B1/123 takes precedence; filter circuits H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/709 Correlator structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/71 the interference being narrowband interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7103 the interference being multiple access interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 15/00 Suppression or limitation of noise or interference by means associated with receiver H04B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/00 Monitoring; Testing of line transmission systems H04B3/46; arrangements for monitoring or testing transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio waves H04B10/07
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/21 for calibration; for correcting measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/327 Received signal code power [RSCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/345 Interference values signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR] H04B17/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/373 Predicting channel quality or other radio frequency [RF] parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2201/709709 Methods of preventing interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2201/709745 Iterative interference mitigation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2634 for channel frequency control
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/0066 of narrowband interference narrowband interference reduction H04B1/1036
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0026 Division using four or more dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 : Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 : Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 : using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 : Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 : Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 : Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 : radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 : Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 : using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/16 : based on interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/04 : TPC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/14 : Separate analysis of uplink or downlink
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 : taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 : Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 : with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 : Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 : based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 : based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for mitigating interference by filtering or redirection of communications traffic. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting according to at least one threshold, by a processing system comprising a processor, signal interference in a first resource block of a first plurality of resource blocks of a first wireless communication system;

responsive to determining an availability to utilize a second resource block of the first plurality of resource blocks to avoid the signal interference, redirecting, by the processing system, a first portion of traffic in the first resource block to the second resource block;

determining, by the processing system, that a second wireless communication system has a resource block available to transport a second portion of the traffic in the first resource block; and

responsive to determining that the second wireless communication system is less affected by the signal interference than the first wireless communication system, redirecting, by the processing system, the second portion of the traffic in the first resource block of the first wireless communication system to the resource block of the second wireless communication system,

wherein the determining that the second wireless communication system is less affected by the signal interference than the first wireless communication system comprises;

comparing a first frequency of occurrence of the signal interference in the first wireless communication system and a second frequency of occurrence of the signal interference in the second wireless communication system; and

determining, based on the comparing, that the second wireless communication system experiences the signal interference less frequently than the first wireless communication system,

wherein the signal interference in the second wireless communication system occurs periodically, and

wherein the second portion of the traffic is redirected according to a schedule based on a periodicity of the signal interference in the second wireless communication system, thereby avoiding the signal interference in the second wireless communication system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processing system, that the signal interference degrades a quality of service of the traffic in the first resource block.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring, by the processing system, power levels of the first plurality of resource blocks;

determining, by the processing system, at least one baseline power level from the power levels; and

determining, by the processing system, the at least one threshold from the at least one baseline power level.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processing system, that using the resource block of the second wireless communication system for transporting the traffic improves a quality of service of the traffic.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processing system, that the resource block of the second wireless communication system is not affected by the signal interference.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processing system, that a quality of service of the traffic of the resource block of the second wireless communication system is affected by the signal interference or other signal interference less than a quality of service of the traffic of the resource blocks of the first plurality of resource blocks of the first wireless communication system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing system comprises a mobile communication device, a wireless base station, a switching station, a wireless router, or a wireless hub used by a satellite communication system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mobile communication device comprises a cellular telephone, wherein the wireless base station comprises a cellular base station, wherein the switching station controls a plurality of cellular base stations, and wherein the wireless router comprises a wireless fidelity router.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring, by the processing system, a plurality of wireless communication systems including the first wireless communication system and the second wireless communication system; and

identifying, by the processing system, a portion of the plurality of wireless communication systems having resource blocks available for interference mitigation.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processing system, that the second wireless communication system is in a communication range for redirecting the second portion of the traffic.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting, by the processing system, the signal interference to another system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic comprises non-voice traffic.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processing system, that interference suppression by one or more filtering techniques is not feasible,

wherein the redirecting of the first portion of traffic in the first resource block to the second resource block is responsive to the determining that the interference suppression by the one or more filtering techniques is not feasible.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:

detecting signal interference in a first channel of a first plurality of channels in a first wireless communication system;

redirecting a first portion of traffic in the first channel to a second channel of the first plurality of channels in the first wireless communication system responsive to identifying an availability to utilize the second channel to avoid at least some of the signal interference; and

redirecting a second portion of the traffic in the first channel to a third channel in a second wireless communication system to avoid at least some of the signal interference, responsive to determining that the second wireless communication system is less affected by the signal interference than the first wireless communication system,

wherein the determining that the second wireless communication system is less affected by the signal interference than the first wireless communication system comprises;

comparing a first frequency of occurrence of the signal interference in the first wireless communication system and a second frequency of occurrence of the signal interference in the second wireless communication system; and

determining, based on the comparing, that the second wireless communication system experiences the signal interference less frequently than the first wireless communication system,

wherein the signal interference in the second wireless communication system occurs periodically, and

wherein the second portion of the traffic is redirected according to a schedule based on a periodicity of the signal interference in the second wireless communication system, thereby avoiding the signal interference in the second wireless communication system.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein each of the first, second and third channels comprises a respective resource block conforming to a long term evolution (LTE) protocol.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining at least one threshold for detecting the signal interference in the first plurality of channels.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining the at least one threshold comprises:

measuring power levels of the first plurality of channels;

determining a baseline power level from the power levels; and

determining the at least one threshold from at least a portion of the power levels.

18. A system, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

detecting signal interference in a first portion of spectrum in a first wireless communication system;

instructing a communication device to redirect a first portion of traffic in the first portion of spectrum to a second portion of spectrum in the first wireless communication system responsive to determining an availability to utilize the second portion of spectrum in the first wireless communication system to avoid at least some of the signal interference; and

instructing the communication device to redirect a second portion of the traffic in the first portion of spectrum in the first wireless communication system to a third portion of spectrum of a second wireless communication system to avoid at least some of the signal interference, responsive to determining that the second wireless communication system is less affected by the signal interference than the first wireless communication system,

wherein the determining that the second wireless communication system is less affected by the signal interference than the first wireless communication system comprises;

comparing a first frequency of occurrence of the signal interference in the first wireless communication system and a second frequency of occurrence of the signal interference in the second wireless communication system; and

determining, based on the comparing, that the second wireless communication system experiences the signal interference less frequently than the first wireless communication system,

wherein the signal interference in the second wireless communication system occurs periodically, and

wherein the second portion of the traffic is redirected according to a schedule based on a periodicity of the signal interference in the second wireless communication system, thereby avoiding the signal interference in the second wireless communication system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise determining that the signal interference reduces quality of service in the first portion of spectrum in the first wireless communication system.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the traffic comprises voice traffic.