Method and apparatus for signal interference processing

• US 10,327,255 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Original Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Inventors: Abdelmonem, Amr, Galeev, Mikhail, Cordone, Sean S., Wang, Zhigang, Wong, Howard, Seoane, Jorge
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Assistant Examiner(s): Decker, Cassandra L
• Application Number:
  US15/792,400
• Publication Number:
  US 20180069682A1
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 measuring a power level in at least a portion of a plurality of resource blocks occurring in a radio frequency spectrum, wherein the measuring occurs for a plurality of time cycles to generate a plurality of power level measurements, calculating a baseline power level according to at least a portion of the plurality of power levels, determining a threshold from the baseline power level, and monitoring at least a portion of the plurality of resource blocks for signal interference according to the threshold. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

for at least some of a plurality of resource blocks used for communication in a wireless communication system;

measuring, by a processing system including a processor, a plurality of power level measurements over a plurality of frequency increments across a radio frequency spectrum, wherein each power level measurement of the plurality of power level measurements includes a plurality of samples, and wherein each sample of the plurality of samples is measured at a respective time cycle included in a plurality of time cycles;

calculating, by the processing system, an average power level for each frequency increment of the plurality of frequency increments according to the plurality of power level measurements, resulting in a plurality of average power levels;

determining, by the processing system, a baseline power level according to the plurality of average power levels; and

determining, by the processing system, a threshold according to the baseline power level;

detecting, by the processing system, a signal interference in a first resource block of the plurality of resource blocks according to the threshold; and

determining, by the processing system, whether to mitigate the signal interference based on a correlation analysis of the signal interference in the first resource block.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the processing system, a plurality of highest average power levels of the plurality of average power levels; and

discarding, by the processing system, the plurality of highest average power levels from the plurality of average power levels prior to the step of determining the baseline power level according to the plurality of average power levels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein priority for mitigation is given based on a time of day of occurrence of the signal interference.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein priority for mitigation is given based on a frequency of occurrence of the signal interference.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising mitigating, by the processing system, the signal interference in the first resource block responsive to a determination to mitigate the signal interference.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the mitigating includes filtering the signal interference.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the mitigating includes submitting a notification message, wherein the notification message comprises spectral information associated with the signal interference.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the mitigating includes avoiding the signal interference.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processing system, an identification of a source of the signal interference in the first resource block.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising instructing, by the processing system, the source of the signal interference to perform an action that reduces or eliminates the signal interference.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication system operates according to a long term evolution (LTE) protocol.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the processing system, signals, including the plurality of resource blocks, to perform downlink communications or uplink communications, wherein the signals transmitted in the downlink communications are orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) signals, and wherein the signals transmitted in the uplink communications are single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) signals.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising ignoring, by the processing system, a second resource block of the plurality of resource blocks if the second resource block is determined to have no data traffic.

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

for at least some of a plurality of segments used for communication in a wireless communication system;

determining a plurality of normalized power levels over a plurality of frequency increments across a radio frequency spectrum, wherein each normalized power level of the plurality of normalized power levels is based on a plurality of power level measurements over time;

determining a baseline power level according to at least a portion of the plurality of normalized power levels;

determining a threshold from the baseline power level;

detecting a signal interference in a first segment of the plurality of segments according to the threshold; and

determining whether to mitigate the signal interference based on a correlation analysis of the signal interference in the first segment, wherein priority for mitigation is determined based on time of day of an occurrence of the signal interference.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

measuring the plurality of power level measurements for each segment of the plurality of segments over the plurality of frequency increments across the radio frequency spectrum; and

calculating the plurality of normalized power levels according to the plurality of power level measurements.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying a plurality of highest normalized power levels of the plurality of normalized power levels; and

discarding the plurality of highest normalized power levels from the plurality of normalized power levels prior to the step of determining the baseline power level.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein priority for mitigation is further determined based on frequency of occurrence of the signal interference.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise mitigating the signal interference in the first segment responsive to a determination to mitigate the signal interference.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining an identification of a source of the signal interference in the first segment.

20. A base station device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

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

for at least some of a plurality of segments used for communication in a wireless communication system;

determining a plurality of normalized power levels over a plurality of frequency increments across a radio frequency spectrum, wherein each normalized power level of the plurality of normalized power levels is based on a plurality of power level measurements over time;

determining a baseline power level according to at least a portion of the plurality of normalized power levels;

determining a threshold from the baseline power level;

detecting a signal interference in a first segment of the plurality of segments according to the threshold; and

determining whether to mitigate the signal interference based on a correlation analysis of the signal interference in the first segment.